‘You needed to sleep as much as Cady did.’
‘But now…’
‘Now?’
She bit her lip, reality dawning with sick certainty. ‘I was supposed to be at work at eight and I haven’t even rung. I think I’ve just lost my job.’
‘You have.’
Her eyes flew to his. ‘What…?’
‘I phoned,’ he told her, and took the card she’d given him from his pocket. ‘You told me-remember?-that you’ve already taken every one of your sick days and if you weren’t back this morning you risked being sacked.’
‘Yes, but-’
‘So I thought I might do some good,’ he told her. ‘I figured if I rang in early and found your boss I could explain before she fired you.’
‘You don’t explain things to Margot.’
‘I know that now. She’s an appalling woman.’
‘She’s a dragon. She’s unmarried and bitter as hell and she’s never taken a day off sick in her life. She thinks women who do are wimps. And me… She thinks I’m the world’s worst. She knew Fiona, you see, and she told me I should have let her rot rather than try to help. According to Margot, taking on the children was just ridiculous.’
‘Did you explain that in coming down here you were trying to offload one of the children?’
‘You talked to Margot,’ Gemma said shortly. ‘Do you think it’s possible to explain anything to that woman?’
‘Maybe not.’ Nate hesitated, watching her face. ‘She shouted at me, in fact. She said she’d reorganised your operating lists for the last time. That if you can’t make it in by ten this morning then you needn’t bother returning.’
‘Great.’ Gemma winced. In truth, she felt ill. The thought of the debts accumulating all the time was appalling and now she’d have Cady’s medical bills to add to them.
Alan would have kittens…
‘I can go above her if you like,’ Nate suggested. She looked a real waif, he thought, sitting up in bed, hugging her knees, her deep black curls wisping over her eyes-the crazy red ribbon had given up the ghost and her curls were any which way. ‘I have friends who are higher in the medical establishment than your Margot.’
‘Yeah, right. So they’d get me my job back but I’d still have to work under Margot. Who’s impossible.’
‘That makes me feel better.’
‘Sorry? Feel better about what?’
‘About what I’ve done. You know, maybe it’s not such a satisfactory job.’
‘I know,’ she said bitterly. ‘But where else can I get on-site child care?’
‘Here.’
Here.
The one syllable took her breath away. She stared in open-mouthed astonishment. But Nate didn’t appear to notice.
‘It’s time to confess all,’ he told her, with an expression that said he didn’t feel guilty in the slightest about what he’d done. ‘You didn’t get the sack,’ he told her. ‘I saw which way the wind was blowing so you quit.’
He had her pole-axed. ‘I quit?’
‘It seemed the best thing to do. I could have told your dreadful boss that Terama was a five-hour drive from Sydney and that you had a snowball’s chance in a bushfire of getting there by ten. But then she would have just said you were sacked. So I thought it was better that you leave on the high ground. I told her you felt her attitude made your continued employment untenable and that your resignation would be faxed through by lunchtime.’
‘My resignation…’ Gemma was almost speechless.
‘Your resignation.’ Nate smiled. ‘You were quite up-pity,’ he told her. ‘Talk about holding the moral high ground…’
‘I was quite uppity?’ Oh, great.
His smile faded. ‘Gemma, there wasn’t any choice. You know there wasn’t.’ He hesitated as he watched her face. He was assessing her gathering anger. But he forged on, regardless. ‘I also rang a friend of mine who’s a Sydney barrister. I explained the situation. And I played him the tape…’
By now she was thoroughly confused. Angry but confused. ‘What tape?’
‘I taped the conversation.’
‘With Margot?’
‘That’s the one. I thought I’d better tape the conversation and I was right.’ His cheerfulness reasserted itself- the man was incorrigible. ‘And it’s great. When I told her Cady had collapsed with ketoacidosis Margot said that had nothing to do with her-or your employment. Women who didn’t keep their lives organised weren’t welcome on her staff. In fact, doctors with young children were a damned nuisance and if she had her way she’d sack the lot of them. Given her attitude, your resignation was inevitable and the discrimination board will love it.’
‘The discrimination board…’ She was so confused she could hardly believe her ears.
But Nate wasn’t confused in the least. He’d acted with ruthless purpose. ‘That’s right. Women with children have rights, too, you know. Mike-my lawyer mate-reckons the hospital will pay compensation so fast you won’t be able to blink. The tape itself isn’t admissible evidence but Mike knows-and the hospital administration knows-that it would severely embarrass them. He’s onto it now. He says you’ll have a cheque by the end of the month and if it’s not equal to a year’s salary or more, he’ll eat his wig.’
‘You’re kidding,’ she said faintly, and his smile blazed out in force.
‘Nope. I don’t kid about important things like this. So, can we move on?’
Move on? He’d just removed her pressing financial commitments. A year’s salary…
She could stay home and care for Cady.
‘You know, I don’t actually see how being a stay-at-home parent will solve your problems,’ he told her, and she blinked.
‘How do you know what I’m thinking?’
‘You have a very transparent face.’
Oh, great. The man really could read minds and the thought was frightening.
‘Well, you’re wrong,’ she snapped crossly. ‘It would solve my problems and I’d make a very good stay-at-home mum. Cady needs me so much.’
‘And… Let me see. It’s my guess you have a tiny hospital apartment?’
‘Yes, but-’
‘Now you’re no longer a hospital employee you’ll have to move. And without a creche… Can you find playmates for Cady? Do you have many friends outside work?’
She caught her breath. ‘No. But I can find some.’
‘After you’ve found somewhere else to live.’
She started to snap back-and then she paused. He was right. She’d have to leave the hospital, and city apartments were expensive. Maybe if she looked in the outer suburbs she could find something. The thought was daunting.
‘Um… I don’t think I can afford much…’
‘What about this place?’
Here we go again. He was moving so fast he was taking her breath away. She stared at him across the room, then hauled her bedding up to her chin, hugged her knees and glared.
‘You’d better explain.’
‘It’s easy.’ Nate gestured around them at the magnificent bedroom. ‘This place is huge. We have six bedrooms. The doctor who built this was into palaces. He went bankrupt, by the way-but that was forty years ago so let’s not worry about him.’
‘Oh, right. Let’s not.’
‘But he left us this great place, and we’ve modernised it really well. The hospital’s a wonderful little set-up and the house is magnificent. We have a garden with huge trees-you can see them from here. They’re full of hiding places and are great for climbing. Graham brought his kids up here so the place is kid-proof and there are cubby houses and tree houses and swings and…’
