CHAPTER ONE

      ‘HOLLY, PUT THE decorations back. I’ve already told you that there are quite enough already. This is the emergency department, not the children’s ward.’

      Holly, dressed in baggy scrubs and weighted down with tinsel and glittery silver snowmen, jumped when she heard Kay’s strong Irish accent and realised that the nurse unit manager was sitting at the nurses’ station.

      Caught!

      Holly had also thought that locum registrar Daniel Chandler was on his supper break but, no, he was drinking a coffee at the desk. Holly’s blush spread like spilled red wine across her chest as she stood, dripping glitter, and was scolded in front of the very suave Daniel.

      ‘I thought that you’d gone home,’ Holly admitted to Kay.

      ‘I know that you did,’ Kay tartly responded, but then she let out a long sigh. ‘I’m staying back to try and sort out the Christmas roster.’

      ‘But it’s already done.’ Holly frowned. The last thing she wanted were any alterations to the roster—her plans to be with her family over the festive break had been made weeks ago. But Kay had other ideas and proceeded to tell Holly the reasons that things might have to change.

      ‘Yes, but since then I’ve had two members of staff go on extended sick leave. Thank goodness for Nora, she’s offered to work Christmas night but things are very tight. Now, put the tinsel back where it belongs, please and, when you’ve done that, tie up your hair.’

      ‘It’s already tied up.’

      ‘No, Holly, it’s not.’

      Holly’s long, curly brown hair always started the shift in a neat ponytail and then proceeded to work its way out of its confines, curl by wild curl.

      * * *

      As Holly slunk back to the storeroom Daniel found himself smiling.

      He’d only been doing locum shifts at The Primary for a couple of months but it was enough to know that Holly Jacobs took her Christmas decorations very seriously. She had been waiting all afternoon for Kay, who was supposed to have finished at four, to go home so that Holly could, as she put it, ‘Christmas the place up’.

      The Primary Hospital was a modern, busy, North London teaching hospital. It was very different in character from the prestigious Royal, where Daniel had started as a medical student and worked his way up to Accident and Emergency Registrar.

      Working at The Primary was a step down, his father, an esteemed professor of surgery, would say. Certainly, renowned Professor Marcus Chandler could never fathom why his son was doing locum shifts at various hospitals around London when he could have any hours he chose at the Royal.

      For Daniel, though, working at The Primary felt, if not a step up, then a step in the right direction. When he had commenced his first shift here Kay had rolled her eyes at the prospect of giving a tour to yet another temporary doctor but had soon realised Daniel was very good at his job.

      More importantly, Daniel was really enjoying his work. Here there was no reputation to uphold; instead, he was slowly making his own.

      And it had been noticed.

      ‘You know there’s a consultant’s position coming up,’ Kay said. She stared at the computer as she spoke.

      ‘I do,’ Daniel responded, and confirmed that he had been approached. ‘I’ve already told Mr Edwards that I’m not interested.’

      ‘Are we not good enough for you, Daniel?’

      ‘There was a consultant’s position at the Royal when I left,’ Daniel pointed out. ‘I wasn’t interested then either.’

      ‘You’re a mystery,’ Kay said, and gave a soft laugh then brushed from the desk some glitter dust that Holly had left in her wake. ‘Holly would have glitter everywhere,’ she tutted. ‘It’s an emergency department, not Santa’s Grotto. People don’t need festivities waved in their face when they come here. This time of year is often hard enough for our patients. I’m already over Christmas and it’s only the second of December.’

      ‘You’re preaching to the converted,’ Daniel agreed.

      ‘Are you not a fan of Christmas?’ Kay asked.

      ‘Nope.’

      ‘Nor me,’ Kay agreed. ‘It brings out the worst in everyone. You should see this place on Christmas night.’ She got back to the staring at the computer screen, though she carried on chatting with Daniel. ‘Are you going to the emergency department Christmas party tonight?’

      ‘Nope.’

      Kay laughed at his truculent response but then she frowned. ‘How come you’re still here? I thought you were just doing a few locums until your friend got married. The wedding was last week, wasn’t it?’

      ‘It was.’ Daniel nodded and carried on writing.

      He had finished up his role at the Royal at the end of September and had just been killing time until his best friend Rupert’s wedding had taken place. Soon he would be taking a year off. First he would hit the ski slopes in Switzerland and then...well, he’d see what happened when it happened.

      ‘Why didn’t you just start your travels and fly back for the wedding?’ Kay asked.

      ‘Oh, no...’ Daniel shook his head. ‘Once I’m gone, I’m gone for good.’

      ‘That sounds profound!’ Holly was back, minus tinsel and snowmen. Her hair had been scraped back into an even tighter ponytail but was now dotted with glitter. She had a worried expression aimed at Kay because she really needed Christmas off this year.

      Holly knew that, if the roster had to be changed, she didn’t really have a leg to stand on—around this time last year her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Then, despite Holly being rostered to work Christmas and New Year, Kay had been wonderful, giving Holly ten days off so that she could have some family time.

      The trouble was, a cancer diagnosis didn’t follow a specified timeline with a neat conclusion to signal the end.

      The last year had been a fraught one, with Holly taking her little red car up and down the motorway every chance she could and wrestling the off duty around her mother’s treatment. Esther had recently had to have a second round of chemotherapy, and while the news was a whole lot better Esther really wanted her family home for Christmas.

      And lately, what Esther wanted, Esther got!

      Holly blew out a tense breath. She loved her family dearly but things had been a bit difficult lately, to say the least.

      While she hoped that Kay would understand when she came to make the necessary changes Holly needed to be sure. ‘Kay, could I have a word?’

      ‘If it’s about the Christmas roster, the answer is no. Your request has been noted. And, yes,’ she added. ‘I do know it’s also your birthday.’

      ‘Were you a Christmas baby, Holly?’ Daniel asked.

      ‘Why do you think I’m called Holly?’

      ‘Because you’re so prickly.’

      It was a small