The Night Before Christmas. Alison Roberts
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sat back, toying with the stethoscope hanging around his neck, listening to Dave Kingsley explain how her case had been chosen out of all the ones they’d reviewed yesterday afternoon for just this purpose.
He could understand why she was uncomfortable with having to deal with an unexpected new development. This morning’s appointment was a crucial point in the journey she was on and lives were at stake on this journey. Specifically, the life of a six-year-old girl. What he could see in front of him was a mother who was prepared to do whatever it would take to keep her family safe.
She didn’t need a father for her children because she loved them so much she didn’t need anybody else. Because they were the best little girls in the whole world.
He’d been right, of course. Her eyes were as blue as her daughter’s.
‘I don’t care about myself,’ she was saying, ‘but I’m not having Misty turned into some kind of reality TV show.’
‘It’s nothing like that,’ Dave assured her. ‘She won’t be identified and it’s purely for the purpose of training other surgeons.’
Lizzie shot a suspicious glance in his own direction and Jack tried to look suitably serious. She was a fighter, this one. Determination like that, especially on behalf of someone else, was admirable. It was hard not to give her an encouraging smile.
She was also … absolument magnifique.
Quite possibly, the most attractive woman Jack had ever seen. So soft and feminine with those curves and the shining waves of her hair. It was her eyes that really caught him, though. They were utterly compelling. The urge to win her trust and thereby win permission to be part of the team that could remove some of the sadness from those eyes was so powerful it made him tighten his grip on the stethoscope he was fiddling with. The plastic cover on the disc popped off and provided him with a momentary and probably very timely distraction.
He shouldn’t be so aware of Lizzie like this. It was unprecedented. Unprofessional. Jack took a steadying breath as he clicked the clear plastic circle back into place. It was only then that he noticed Dave getting out of his chair. He was reading his pager.
‘Have a chat to Jack about it before you make a decision,’ he was saying to Lizzie. ‘We certainly won’t do anything you’re not happy with. Excuse me for a few minutes. They want a decision made about this kidney. It shouldn’t take long.’
And then he was gone and Jack was again alone with Lizzie. He smiled at her.
‘Do you have any questions you’d like to ask, Mrs Matthews?’
‘Yes, I do, Dr Rousseau.’
Jack raised his eyebrows to encourage her.
‘Dr Kingsley said you chose this case as being perfect for filming.’
‘This is true.’
‘He said you spent all afternoon reviewing every case available.’
‘Also true.’
Her gaze was accusing. ‘So how come I saw you in town, then? In Bennett’s?’
She remembered him. Jack tried to ignore the pulse of something pleasant that was warming his gut. ‘I was trying to fit in a bit of Christmas shopping.’ Any further personal-type conversation was entirely unnecessary but Jack found himself continuing nonetheless. ‘Unsuccessful, unfortunately. Partly due to those crowds but mainly thanks to my interlude of impersonating a nelf.’
Lizzie gave her head a small shake that send a wayward curl onto her cheek. She pushed it back. ‘An elf? Holly said something about elves when she saw you but I had no idea what she was talking about.’
She was staring at Jack, clearly puzzled. There was a question in her eyes, too. One that carried an expectation. He had something she wanted.
An explanation? He could give her that, no problem. He could give her a lot more than that, if she would let him. He could potentially make a real contribution to giving her what she wanted more than anything—her child’s health.
For some reason, this case was special. So special there was a distinct niggle at the back of his mind that it was unprofessional to want to be involved this much. Was it because the consultant surgeon he was working with felt the same way? Maybe the concern expressed when they had been discussing it yesterday had been contagious. Whatever the cause was, it had certainly never happened to Jack before and the pull was too powerful to resist. Maybe the ‘nelf’ was his ace card.
‘An elderly woman became unwell after climbing the stairs. I needed somewhere to look after her and one of the saleswomen showed us a private space that happened to be Santa’s rest area. Curtained off behind where he was sitting. Holly saw me through the gap in the curtain and wanted to know who I was and I said I was a helper.’
‘Oh-h …’ Lizzie was smiling now. Just a small smile but it was encouraging. ‘I suppose it was her that decided you were an elf.’
‘I got demerit points because I didn’t have a hat.’
The smile widened. Then it faded and Lizzie’s eyes widened. ‘You were right there?’
‘Yes.’
‘So you heard what Holly was saying to Santa?’
‘Ah …’ The truth was probably obvious in his face. Or the way he diverted his gaze hurriedly. He couldn’t tell her what he’d overheard, could he? Apart from the potential for mutual embarrassment, he was just getting further and further away from what needed to be discussed, which was Lizzie and Misty’s surgeries and the permission for him to be involved.
In an effort to cover his discomfort, he pulled an impressive set of patient notes from the side of his desk to sit right in front of him. He even opened it to the latest sheaf of notes and test results, knowing that consent forms for both the surgery and the filming rights had been tucked behind them. When he glanced up, however, he could see that Lizzie was having none of the change of direction. It reminded him very strongly of the way Holly had refused to budge from Santa’s knee.
‘You’re smiling,’ Lizzie said accusingly. ‘You do know.’
Jack sighed. He was probably blowing his chance of persuading Lizzie to trust him here and welcome his involvement in her case but Holly deserved respect for her determination and courage. So did Lizzie. He wasn’t about to betray a small girl but Lizzie deserved nothing less than the truth.
‘Yes, I do know,’ he acknowledged reluctantly.
She leaned forward a fraction, clearly expecting to hear more. Her lips parted slightly in anticipation and she even moistened the lower one with the tip of a very pink tongue.
Jack felt a groan somewhere deep inside his body. One that could not be allowed to form properly, never mind escape.
‘But I can’t reveal anything,’ he added firmly.
Lizzie’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Why not?’
‘Nelf law, I’m afraid. We’re expressly forbidden to reveal Christmas wishes. If we do, they lose any power they have to come true.’
Lizzie’s lips twitched. She was silent for a moment and then it was her turn to sigh. ‘Are you at least allowed to give an opinion on whether or not this wish might be granted?’
Jack rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ‘I think that’s permissible. And, yes, I think the odds on that wish being granted are quite high. Possibly not before Christmas, though.’
Lizzie’s face fell.
‘But it will happen,’ he added hurriedly. ‘I’m sure of it.’
How could it not happen when this woman was, quite simply, adorable?
If he could see that, as a man who had no interest whatsoever in finding a wife, surely she would be able to pick and choose from any available male that happened to come into