Once Upon a Christmas (28 page)

Her stomach lurched and she looked at him helplessly. ‘There’s no point. I wouldn’t know what to say. All I know is that I’ve never behaved like that with anyone before. You must think I’m …’ She covered her face with her hands, just mortified, and felt him gently tug her hands away.

‘You really want to know what I think of you?’ His eyes darkened and his gaze dropped to her mouth for a lingering moment. ‘On second thoughts, this is not the time to have that conversation. Pretty soon I’m going to tell you what I think of you, Helen,’ he promised hoarsely, ‘but not two minutes before we go to see a patient.’

He was standing so close to her that she could feel the warmth and strength of his body, see the rough stubble on his hard jaw.

‘You want me to come with you?’

He gave her that boyish smile that never failed to charm her. ‘I could do with some moral support.’

It was late, she was tired but suddenly all she wanted was to be with Oliver. ‘All right.’

Some of the tension seemed to leave him. ‘Good. Let’s go. She lives in a village on the other side of town.’ He grabbed his coat and bag and then turned to look at her, a
strange gleam in his blue eyes. ‘And, Helen—’ his voice was soft ‘—when we come back, we’re having that conversation.’

She stared at him, too confused by her own response to answer him.

She’d thought that the only man in the world for her was David, but suddenly the only man on her mind was Oliver.

L
ILY
H
ENDERSON
opened the door to them but it was obvious that she was in severe pain.

‘You should be lying down,’ Oliver scolded, and she gave him a weary smile.

‘How? I’ve just put the other one to bed and Nick isn’t home yet. I’ve rung him. He’s on his way. Come into the sitting room.’

She flopped down on the sofa and took a deep breath. ‘Something’s not right, Dr Hunter I can feel it. This pain isn’t right.’

‘You’ve been in labour before, Lily,’ Oliver said calmly. ‘Does the pain feel like labour pain?’

She shook her head and pulled a face, rubbing a hand over her swollen abdomen to ease the discomfort. ‘No. It doesn’t feel like labour pain. It feels like something else. But it isn’t good. I’m not going into hospital, Dr Hunter.
I’m not going.’

‘Let’s not worry about that at the moment.’ Oliver
grabbed the sonicaid. ‘I just want to listen to the baby’s heart, and then we’ll talk about our options.’

Seconds later the steady, rhythmic pounding of the baby’s heart echoed through the room and Lily gave a soft sigh.

‘Oh, I’m so glad to hear that.’

Oliver nodded and switched off the machine. ‘Your baby’s fine at the moment, Lily, but any pain that bothers you that much should be investigated and I can’t do that properly at home. You should be scanned and examined.’

Lily shook her head. ‘No.’

‘We have a brilliant maternity unit here,’ Oliver said softly, ‘and it has one of the lowest rates of intervention in the country.’

Lily looked at him, her eyes suddenly frightened. ‘You know I don’t want to go in. I want to have this baby at home.’

Oliver sighed and ran long fingers through his hair. ‘I know you had a bad experience with your last delivery, Lily, but you were just unlucky. You never were anybody’s idea of a good candidate for home birth, you know that. And you’re even less so now.’

Lily’s mouth tightened and Helen saw the sparkle of tears in her eyes. ‘The doctors didn’t know what they were doing,’ she muttered. ‘You said you’d deliver me at home if you had to. You and the midwife.’

‘And if I have to, I will, but how much of a risk are you willing to take with this baby, Lily?’ Oliver’s voice was soft. ‘I can promise that whatever happened to you last time won’t happen this time. I’m going to call my brother.
He’s the consultant there—remember, I’ve told you about him? I’ve told him about you, too.’

‘But I don’t know him.’

‘Fortunately, I’ve known him for thirty-four years,’ Oliver said easily, rising to his feet in a fluid movement and reaching for his phone. ‘And he is going to take the very best care of you and this baby.’

Lily started to cry and Oliver gave a soft curse.

‘Make your phone call,’ Helen said quickly, sliding her arms around Lily and giving her a hug. ‘Lily, why don’t you tell me what happened last time?’

‘He didn’t even talk to me,’ Lily sobbed, her hand covering her mouth. ‘That doctor just strode into the room, yanked the baby out with forceps and left again without saying a single word. He was horrible! And I was in agony for months and months. I couldn’t sit for six weeks I was so bruised, and I had to have ultrasound and everything—I just couldn’t enjoy the baby.’

Helen winced and hugged her tighter. ‘You poor, poor thing,’ she said gently. ‘But you were just really unlucky, Lily. There is no way Tom Hunter would let that happen.’ She didn’t even know Tom, but if he was even half as good a doctor as his brother he would be a brilliant obstetrician. ‘Trust Dr Hunter, Lily. And think of the baby.’

At that moment the front door flew open and Lily’s husband flew in, breathless and visibly stressed.

‘Are you all right, pet?’ He scooted across the room to his wife and looked at Helen with anxious eyes. ‘What’s happening?’

‘I’m trying to persuade her to go to hospital,’ Oliver said, flipping his phone shut and walking over to them.
‘I’ve talked to Tom and he’s going to meet us at the hospital. We’re going there now.’

‘I can’t leave Bruce.’

‘I’ve called your mum,’ Nick said quickly. ‘She’s on her way over.’

Lily bit her lip and looked at Oliver. ‘Do you promise it won’t go wrong?’

Oliver sighed and dropped to his haunches beside her, his handsome face serious. ‘What I can promise is that there is no better person than Tom to deliver a baby.’

‘But if you were married, would you let him deliver your wife’s baby?’

Oliver smiled. ‘Oh, yes.’

Helen had a sudden painful vision of Oliver with a pregnant wife and felt a sudden stab of pain in her chest.

He would make a wonderful husband and an even more wonderful father.

Thoroughly unsettled by her own thoughts, Helen forced herself to concentrate on the situation.

Lily looked at him for a long moment and then gave a sniff. ‘All right …’

‘Good girl.’ Oliver straightened in a smooth movement and looked at her husband. ‘Has she got a bag packed?’

Lily shook her head. ‘No. I didn’t bother because I was so determined not to go in.’

Nick slid an arm around her shoulders. ‘It’ll be all right, babe,’ he said firmly, giving Oliver a nod. ‘If Dr Hunter trusts his brother, so should we. I’ll pack you a bag and I’ll follow you to the hospital as soon as your mother arrives.’

Tom Hunter met them in the labour ward. Dressed in
green theatre scrubs, he looked broad-shouldered and handsome, a more serious version of his brother.

‘Hello, Lily.’ He smiled at his patient, his voice surprisingly gentle. ‘I gather you had a rotten time of it when you had your last child. Let’s try and do better, shall we?’ He lifted his eyebrow towards his brother. ‘Need my help, do you Oliver?’

‘Someone’s got to keep your ego intact,’ Oliver replied smoothly, winking at Lily. ‘You’d better look after my patient or you’ll have me to deal with.’

‘Very professional, I’m sure.’ Tom jerked his head towards a midwife who was hovering. ‘Emma, can you settle Lily in, please? I’ll be there in five minutes.’

Oliver turned to Lily and gave her a smile. ‘You’re going to be fine,’ he said firmly. ‘I’ll see you soon.’

Emma took them down the corridor and Tom looked at Oliver. ‘That woman should never have been promised a home delivery.’

Oliver met his gaze full on. ‘She’s seriously terrified, Tom. It was the only reason I was given access to her house. She’s only been in the area for a month. I’ve promised her that you’re the best and nothing will go wrong.’

‘No pressure, then,’ Tom drawled, taking a chart from a hovering midwife. ‘Obstetrics is nothing if not unpredictable, as you well know. Promising a fairy-tale birth might not have been the best approach.’

‘You would have rather she bolted the door from the inside and did it by herself?’ Oliver’s tone was hard. ‘Because that’s what she would have done, Tom. And she doesn’t need a fairy-tale. She just needs to feel that there’s someone she can trust. The last guy didn’t even speak to her.’

Tom winced. ‘Weird, these southerners.’ He checked the chart and handed it back to the midwife with a nod. ‘That’s fine. Call Rob and ask him to come up here, will you? I’m going to be tied up with Lily.’

Oliver let out a sigh of relief. ‘You’re going to deliver her yourself? Do you promise?’

‘I’m not a midwife,’ Tom said mildly. ‘I’m the guy who steps in when things go wrong. You’d be better with a midwife.’

Oliver shook his head. ‘You’ve got the best instincts of any doctor I’ve met. If you keep an eye on her all the way through, nothing is going to go wrong.’

Something flickered in Tom’s eyes as he looked at his brother. ‘Your faith in me is touching.’

‘You’re the best.’ Oliver gave a lopsided smile. ‘Arrogant, smug, stubborn and totally self-absorbed, but still the best when it comes to delivering babies.’

Tom laughed. ‘I can live with that.’ His gaze flickered to Helen and his eyes gleamed wickedly. ‘How’s your roof coming along, Oliver?’

‘Slowly.’

‘Of course it is.’ For some reason that Helen couldn’t fathom, Tom’s smile widened and he clapped his brother on the shoulder again. ‘All right, I’m off to give your Lily the dream delivery. You owe me a pint. I’ll meet you in the pub tomorrow night.’

‘Done.’

They left the hospital and drove back to the cottage. Oliver was strangely silent and Helen wondered if he was worrying about Lily.

Or was he thinking about that kiss?

Remembering his promise that they were going to talk about it, Helen was suddenly anxious to delay their arrival home.

She didn’t want to have the conversation. She didn’t know what she was going to say.

‘So your brother doesn’t approve of home deliveries?’ Perhaps if she kept to work, they could both forget about that kiss.

‘Of course not.’ Oliver’s smile was wry. ‘He’s an obstetrician. He thinks every birth should take place in a hospital no matter what.’

‘And you don’t agree?’

He gave a shrug. ‘I think a proportion of women are perfectly safe delivering at home providing they understand that in certain circumstances they might need a rapid transfer to hospital. In fact, for some women I think it is definitely the preferred option.’

‘Like Lily.’

He pulled a face, his expression troubled. ‘Not like Lily, actually. Tom’s right. She was always a terrible candidate for home birth, but hers is a classic example of the theory not working in practice. On paper she should definitely have been booked for a hospital delivery, but nowhere on paper does it say how severely traumatised the girl was by her first delivery.’

‘Why did she have such a bad experience? Were they negligent?’

‘Evidently she had a locum doctor who couldn’t be bothered or else wasn’t sufficiently experienced. Either way he was very heavy-handed with the forceps and made a terrible
mess of her insides. When they first moved here they were refusing any medical help at all.’

‘Do you think she’ll be OK?’

‘Providing Tom doesn’t get called away to deal with anything urgent, yes.’ Oliver smiled. ‘My brother is an amazing obstetrician. He’s Mr Super-Cool. You should see him in a crisis. He delivered Ellie, the staff nurse who leant you the uniform—Ben’s wife. She had a car accident just before Christmas when she was eight months pregnant. Jack and Tom were both amazing. And Tom’s always the same. I think he thrives on crisis. While everyone around him is panicking he barely flickers an eyelid. I’ll give him a call later and see how Lily is getting on.’

He pulled up outside the cottage and switched off the engine. For a moment he sat still, staring into the darkness, and then he turned to look at her and tension throbbed between them.

‘Helen, we need to talk about what’s happening between us.’

Her heart stumbled in her chest. ‘Nothing’s happening, Oliver. It can’t be.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because five weeks ago I was marrying another man.’ But she had to admit that she was thinking less and less of David. Everything had started to blur in her mind. ‘It’s too soon—we don’t even know each other.’

‘Yes, we do,’ he said softly, sliding a hand behind her head and gently turning her face to his. ‘We do know each other, Helen.’

She closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. ‘You’ve been so kind to me. Without you I would have fallen apart.’

Oliver lifted an eyebrow. ‘You’re suggesting that that episode on the kitchen table was gratitude?’

His voice was husky and masculine and she felt a shiver of excitement pass through her body.

What did this man do to her?

She flushed. ‘I can’t believe I behaved like that.’

‘Well, you did,’ Oliver said softly, ‘and since it’s obvious that you’re not in the habit of indulging in rampant sex on the kitchen table I think that should tell you something about the strength of the attraction between us, don’t you?’

She stared at him helplessly. ‘I don’t know what I’m feeling.’ She bit her lip. It would have been so tempting to just fall into his arms and take their relationship to its natural conclusion. But she couldn’t do that. Not when everything seemed so muddled. ‘I can’t promise you anything, Oliver. I’m afraid I’ll hurt you.’

‘That’s my problem.’

‘No, it isn’t. I would never want to hurt you.’ She flushed. ‘This just isn’t the way things happen. I can’t be about to marry one man and then—’

‘And then fall for another?’ Oliver’s voice was soft as he finished her sentence. ‘Why not?’

‘Well, for a start because we haven’t met during normal circumstances. We haven’t had a normal relationship.’

There was a hint of amusement in his eyes. ‘What’s a normal relationship?’

She shrugged helplessly. ‘Well, dating, I suppose. Getting to know each other. I went out with David for six years.’

The amusement faded. ‘I don’t need six years to know
that you’re the woman for me, Helen. I knew within six seconds.’

His words made her gasp and her heart almost stopped beating. ‘Oliver …’

He couldn’t possibly mean that.

‘Look …’ He gave a sigh and slid his fingers through her hair. ‘I know that you still haven’t sorted out how you feel about David. But sooner or later you’re going to realise that he did you a favour. Not the way he did it—that was cruel and cowardly—but what he did. And I happen to think that what you feel for me is real. But I’ll hang around while you find that out for yourself and if dating is important to you, then we’ll date.’

She was breathlessly aware of every powerful inch of him. ‘You said that living and working with me was driving you nuts.’

‘And I can think of a very good way of relieving that frustration.’ He flashed her a wicked smile. ‘But I’m just a simple mountain man. If dating is what it takes then dating is what we’ll do. Tomorrow night is quiz night at the Drunken Fox. The pinnacle of our monthly social calendar up here in the wilds. Most of the mountain rescue team should be there. It will rival anything you have in London, city girl.’

At the moment nothing was further from her mind than London.

All she could think about was Oliver. The lazy, sexy look he was giving her from underneath thick, dark lashes, the way a tiny dimple appeared in the corner of his mouth when he smiled.