‘Stop!’
But he wasn’t stopping. ‘Mrs McCurdle-our housekeeper-“does” for us, and she loves kids.’
‘What on earth…?’
‘And we’re desperate for another doctor.’
And there it was. Stunning in its simplicity.
The words swam round and round Gemma’s head, like some crazy rhyme she couldn’t decipher the meaning of.
‘London Bridge is falling down…falling down…falling down…’
The nursery rhyme suddenly sounded really appropriate. Her sense of order was crumbling around her.
‘I’m an anaesthetist,’ she said at last, faintly, and he grinned.
‘Perfect.’ He beamed. ‘I’m a surgeon so it’s perfect.’
A surgeon. ‘You’re kidding.’
‘Would I kid about something as important as that? I’m actually Mr Ethan but that just confuses the locals. They want a family doctor so a family doctor they have. But I’m a fully paid-up member of the Australian College of Surgeons, so if you’ve an appendix you’d like to be rid of then call on me. I’m your man.’
Was Nate always laughing? He stood smiling down at her and it was all she could do not to throw something at him.
‘Will you be serious?’
And all of a sudden he was. ‘I’m deadly serious,’ he told her. ‘This place is screaming for another doctor. We’re desperate. Graham can’t do anaesthetics any more, so all our surgery has to go to the city. I’m run off my legs. I have no social life to speak of-’
‘Except for Donna.’ It was a stupid thing to say but she couldn’t help herself.
‘Donna fits in at the edges.’
‘Poor Donna.’ She glared at him. ‘This job offer… It wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that as of yesterday you have a daughter, would it?’
‘No, I-’
‘You think you’ll ask me to stay so that I can take care of Mia?’
‘No.’ His voice firmed on that one. And then that lurking twinkle appeared behind his eyes-as if he couldn’t help himself. ‘Though if you’re offering…’
‘No. I’m not offering. Do you intend to keep her in hospital for ever?’
‘I’ll take steps…’
‘What steps? You’ll marry Donna?’
‘I haven’t made up my mind about that,’ he said with a wounded dignity that still contained a trace of lurking laughter. ‘I’m working on it.’
‘By asking me to stay?’
‘No.’ And he was serious then. ‘No. I spent a large part of last night awake…’
‘As you would when you’ve just found out you’re a father.’
He ignored her. ‘And I thought about you.’
‘Me?’
‘You need to look after yourself.’
‘And I’ll do it by becoming a country doctor?’
‘There are worse fates. It’d give Cady the childhood he’s missing out on now.’
‘He’s not missing out…’
‘Gemma, face facts. He’s a little boy with special needs. More special now that he’s a diabetic. He’s lost his mum, as far as I know he doesn’t have a dad-all he has is you and you’re spending your life making enough money to support him. But if you moved here… Gemma, you could cut back your hours. Cady would be just through the door while you worked. Every time you stopped for a cup of coffee he’d be here. Mrs McCurdle would love him to bits-and he wouldn’t need to be separated from his baby sister.’
She glared even harder at that, latching onto his last point like a terrier to a bone. ‘I might have known we’d get back to Mia.’
‘She is Cady’s half-sister,’ he said gently. ‘You need to face it.’
‘But…’ She shook her head, trying to clear the gathering fog. ‘I don’t want to be a country doctor.’
‘Don’t you? Have you ever thought about it?’
‘No. I-’
‘You know, it’s not such a bad life. I came down for a few weeks to help Graham out-that was six years ago and I’m still here.’
‘I don’t-’
‘You don’t know.’ Nate smiled, his all-enveloping smile that had her heart doing things it had no business doing. ‘Tell you what. Why don’t you get yourself dressed, come out and join us for breakfast and then I’ll take you on a tour? We’ll go from there. One step at a time, Dr Campbell. What about it?’
And he smiled again and walked out of the room.
Join us for breakfast…
Join who?
Gemma had a long shower and tried to make her muddled mind process her overload of problems.
She’d lost her job. But, facing facts, with Margot’s attitude that had been inevitable, and if Nate’s lawyer friend could win her compensation that would be nothing but relief for the time being.
She’d have to work somewhere.
Alan?
Leave Alan out of it, she told herself harshly. He hadn’t been near since Fiona’s death and, please, God, he’d stay away.
He’d know by now that she’d quit. He knew everything…
Ignore Alan!
She’d have to move. So why not move here?
Cady would love it.
Her heart twisted when she thought of her little boy. He’d had it so tough. He’d had a couple of years of living with Fiona-and Alan-where he’d had nothing but neglect. And then he’d come to live with her and…
Damn, she should have noticed the diabetes. Had medicine taught her nothing?
She closed her eyes, going over and over the last few weeks. In hindsight the diagnosis was so obvious.
He’d love it here. This was a great place for him to regain his health.
Could she work here?
Join who? Nate and Donna?
She couldn’t live here with the pair of them. The idea was ridiculous. And how would it fit with Mia?
She’d be an unpaid nanny, she thought, because if Nate and his precious Donna didn’t love Mia to bits then she’d be forced to step in and take her back. She knew she would.
She’d tried hard not to admit it to herself but she knew the truth. Despite her resentment at the hand fate had played her, she loved the baby already.
Damn. Damn, damn and damn. She towel-dried her hair with a viciousness that brought tears to her eyes. How dared they put her in this situation? Fiona and Nate and Donna. How could they ask the impossible?
She tugged on her jeans and T-shirt. Heck, they were already travel-stained but she had nothing else to wear. She pulled back her curls into the same frayed ribbon and turned to face the mirror.
Her reflection stared back. She was big-eyed and her eyes were still shadowed with fatigue. And grief. Still there from Fiona’s death. There’d been so little time for grieving. She was waif-thin. Her jeans were at least a size too big and her T-shirt could be any size at all.
‘Why on earth is he offering you a job?’ she asked her reflection. ‘You’re hardly desirable.
‘He doesn’t want anyone desirable. He wants a medical degree and a mothercraft nurse. You’re perfect. He
