The Best Of The Year - Medical Romance. Carol Marinelli
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Candy nodded.
‘Hawaii would be a beautiful place to go with the right man …’
‘It would,’ Candy agreed, her heart twisting as she thought how close she had come to sharing a part of her holiday with Steele.
‘You don’t have a boyfriend, though,’ Macey continued. ‘If I remember rightly.’
‘No.’
‘And you’re carrying?’ Macey said gently, and Candy’s eyes filled with tears as she nodded.
‘I’m having twins.’
‘Congratulations, my dear.’
Macey was the first person to offer congratulations and she said it so nicely that Candy started to cry.
‘Pull the curtains,’ Macey said.
‘No, no.’ Candy sniffed. ‘I’ll go to the staffroom.’
‘You’ll pull the curtains and sit with me for a while.’ Macey’s orders were clear and Candy did as she was told.
‘Have you told …?’ Macey hesitated. She had been about to ask if Candy had told Steele, if that was what the argument the other day had been about, but her sharp mind was returning. Macey sat quietly for a moment, remembering when she had been admitted and had snapped at Steele for being a locum. It had only been his second day here, Macey recalled.
Certainly there had been a romance between Candy and Steele. She had seen it unfold in front of her own eyes.
‘Have you told the baby’s father?’ she asked instead.
‘Macey …’
She saw Candy swallow and reached out to take the hands of the younger woman to encourage her to speak on.
‘I made a mistake a few months ago, so please don’t feel sad for me when I say this—I’m not a grieving widow. The baby’s father died a week ago.’
‘Gerry?’ Macey said, and watched Candy’s eyes widen in surprise. ‘I hear all the gossip.’
‘Yes.’ Candy gave a watery smile. ‘It was him.’
‘That’s very sad.’
‘It is,’ Candy said. ‘I don’t know how he’d have felt about it,’ she went on. ‘We wouldn’t have got back together but I’m sure we’d have sorted something out.’
‘What about Steele?’ Macey asked, and she watched the tears spill down Candy’s cheeks, though she neither confirmed nor denied there was anything going on.
‘You have your holiday to look forward to,’ she said, and Candy nodded. ‘It’s a good job you booked it before you knew.’
‘Oh, yes,’ Candy said, because it would be her first and last overseas adventure alone. ‘I don’t think I’ll be lounging around on the beach next time I go. It will be buckets and spades …’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t see how I’ll manage,’ she admitted.
‘You know, I can remember being alone and pregnant,’ Macey said. ‘I expect it’s still a very scary place even fifty years on, even with all the choices you girls have these days. I still remember how scared I felt when I got pregnant but I’ll tell you this much—by the end of my pregnancy I wasn’t scared about having a baby. I wanted him so much and I know you’ll feel the same way about your two.’
Candy nodded. She knew Macey was right. ‘I’m sorry for what happened to you, Macey.’
‘I know you are but don’t be sorry. My nieces are getting into contact with him. If I can see him just once I’ll be happy …’ Her voice trailed off and she looked up and Candy followed her gaze and saw that Steele had popped his head in.
‘Sorry,’ Candy said, standing up from the bed. She was supposed to have removed Macey’s dressing and she was embarrassed at him seeing her cry.
‘It’s fine,’ Steele said. ‘I’ll come back later.’
He left them to it. He was glad that Candy was having a chat and a cry with Macey and when she came out a little while later and told him Macey’s dressing was down, instead of ignoring what he’d seen he addressed it.
‘Do you feel better after speaking with Macey?’
‘I do,’ she said. ‘I’m going to miss her.’
And I miss you, Candy thought, but she could not say that without starting to cry again.
‘Could we go somewhere after work?’ he said. ‘Just to talk.’
She didn’t really want to say goodbye to him here, not like this, so she nodded.
They returned to the café he had first taken her to, yet it felt so different now—the innocence and fun of before had left them.
‘What would you like to eat?’ he asked.
‘I’ll just have a cup of tea,’ she said. ‘I’m meeting my parents tonight.’
‘Have you told them?’
Candy shook her head ‘I’ll tell them about the twins when I get back.’
‘They’ll know very soon.’ He’d tried not to notice her bump but now that he had he couldn’t not see it. ‘I’m not a very good doctor, am I?’
He somehow made her smile.
‘I think it popped out about ten seconds after I found out …’ Candy said. ‘I’ll just wear a big baggy top tonight. They’re not talking to me anyway, because I changed the locks and I’m going to Hawaii, so I doubt I’ll be there for very long.’
‘Yet you still go.’
‘I love them. I don’t agree with them a lot of the time but I still love them very much and I know when I do tell them I’ll break their hearts.’
‘For a little while,’ Steele said.
He took a breath. He could do this type of thing so easily for his patients but when it came to matters of a very private heart, things were very different, but he forced himself to step up.
‘Would you like me to tell your parents for you?’
Candy frowned. ‘Why would you do that?’
‘Because I’m used to breaking news to difficult, stubborn, immutable people. I do it every day,’ he said, and then made her smile. ‘I promise to leave out the part that we’ve been at it like rabbits. I’ll just say I’m a colleague. A doctor …’
Candy smiled. She really understood why he wore a suit and tie for work—the older people liked it. And he was right, her parents would respond very differently to Steele from the way they would to her. If not at first then fairly soon, they would calm down for the dottore.
‘I need to do this myself, Steele. It’s really nice of you to offer and I admit I’m tempted to pass it over, but … no. Thank you, though.’
‘Is there anything I can do to help?’
‘It’s not your problem, Steele.’ Then she looked over to him. ‘Actually, this has helped and talking to Macey too. It makes it feel a bit more real.’
‘Keep talking, then,’ he said, but she shook her head.
‘I can’t really. I mean, I’m upset about Gerry too and I’m trying to work out how to tell his family and I don’t think getting upset about Gerry is fair to you,’ Candy said. ‘I know I felt jealous when you spoke about your wife. I got an Annie burn.’
He loved her openness and he smiled when she admitted to having felt jealous. ‘Candy, you can talk to me about that.’ Ten years older, there were some things he did know. ‘Two days before I turned thirty