Seduction In Sydney

She sighed. ‘What is it about me that men don’t want to stay around?’

Maybe Annie would welcome her for a short time. She winced at this morning’s hurt at her daughter’s dismissal. Well, she was always there for Annie and right at this moment her mother needed her.

She glanced at the grandmother clock on the wall. It was almost the end of visiting hours. She could take an ice cream, sit with her daughter for the last fifteen minutes. Then maybe she would be able to come home and settle for an early night. She started her week of night duty again tomorrow night so it was important she feel refreshed before the new week began.

Refreshed? She felt like she’d been plugged into a power source. ‘If that’s what sex does for you, my battery must have been low for years,’ she muttered to herself as she locked the door behind her.

When Emily walked into Annie’s room in the hospital a little later, at first glance she thought she’d taken the wrong doorway. The woman on the bed was wrapped in the arms of a dark-haired tattooed boy and their absorption in each other forcibly reminded her of what she’d been doing earlier in the day.

‘Ahem …’ She cleared her throat, and the couple on the bed jumped apart. No mistake on the room number, then.

‘Mum!’

‘Annie.’ She waited.

‘Um. This is Rodney.’ Annie looked at the young man and lifted her chin. ‘My baby’s father.’

Tattoos. Undernourished. Torn jeans. Emily tried not to cry. ‘Hello, Rodney. Nice to meet you.’ She paused. ‘At last.’ Very dry.

Rodney stood up awkwardly. Wiped his palms on his jeans and held out his hand.

Emily forced a smile and shook. ‘So is this an unexpected reunion or the reason I wasn’t supposed to visit today?’

‘Um. Hello, Mrs … Miss …’ He glanced agonisingly at Annie, and then struggled on manfully, ‘Emily. I’m sorry we haven’t met before.’ He sent one last agonising look at Annie. ‘I—I have to go.’ And hurried from the room.

Marco stepped out of the lift as a young man, his face painfully red from embarrassment, hurried past. Christo. He remembered that feeling. Unworthy. Scorned by someone he wanted to impress. Too many times this had happened to him at his age. He wanted to take the boy aside and tell him he must love himself before others could love him. But for all his efforts he had never learned that lesson. He shook his head and walked on to the nurses’ station, the memories circling like bats around his head. Work. He needed work.

In Annie’s room the young girl sat higher in the bed. ‘Look what you did.’ She adjusted her pyjamas and glared at her mother.

Good grief, times had changed, Emily thought. Imagine if she’d said that to her mother. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t understand? What I did?’

Annie crossed her arms over her chest. ‘You made him leave.’

‘Not guilty.’ Emily held up her hands. ‘I did no such thing. Not my fault Rodney didn’t want to stay while I was here.’

Annie fumed. ‘You shouldn’t have been here. I asked you not to come.’

Emily took a step closer to the bed. The idea of a cosy chat with her daughter, a mutual salve for unstable times, lay in tatters around her feet. ‘You said friends. When were you going tell me you were seeing your baby’s father again? You went behind my back. Sneakily. Annie? Where has all this come from?’

Annie glanced away. ‘I knew you’d judge him just because he doesn’t come from a good family.’

Emily shook her head. ‘That’s unfair. Since when have I ever—’ she stressed the ‘ever’ ‘—tried to influence your choice of friends?’

‘I know what you’re thinking, Mum!’ Annie’s voice rose.

Marco paused outside the room. Unwilling to interrupt when he was obviously not wanted but unable to avoid the conversation.

‘I know how you looked at Rodney. As if he’s not good enough for me.’

Emily’s voice. Quieter. Calm. ‘That’s unfair.’

‘He’s tainted by a family that doesn’t live in the best part of Sydney. Doesn’t work all day.’ A bitter pause then a little softer and Marco tried not to strain his ears. ‘Or all night, like you.’ Ouch.

Annie went on, ‘I know it’s going to be because his brother’s done time.’ Marco straightened as if stung.

‘Jail?’ The horror in Emily’s voice said it all. Did it all. Sealed it all. Marco sighed. Pictured that boy’s face. Empathised. Felt the whoosh of time, of scornful villagers, of police questioning. He winced and walked away. And to think he had considered telling Emily about his past. About his reasons for choosing not to settle. Why? Did he hope she would not care? Fool.

He knew exactly what she was thinking. Of course. And he didn’t blame her. Marco kept walking. Each step to the lift more final with his decision. He would stay away. Not seek out Emily. He had done enough damage. He would just do his work and then leave.

He pressed the lift button. Stepped inside, saw little, had trouble deciding on the floor he wanted and totally oblivious to the other occupant.

‘What are you doing here today?’ A gruff masculine voice.

He looked up. Hard blue eyes scrutinised him. Finn Kennedy. He was rubbing his shoulder.

‘Just checking on my patients. You?’ Ball back in Finn’s court because his mind wasn’t working real well at the moment. He’d been delusional to think he could just have fun with Emily.

‘Same.’ Finn nodded. ‘Want a drink?’

Emily was trying to make sense of it all. Of this woman who was and yet wasn’t her daughter. ‘What do you mean done time? Rodney?’

‘See. I knew it. It’s not Rodney’s fault his brother made mistakes. Rodney’s had a difficult life but he is still a good man.’

‘Annie.’ She sat on the edge of the bed. ‘I don’t care what Rodney’s family have done. What Rodney’s background is. It’s what he himself is doing with his life now and that he makes you happy that I care about. That he loves you and your baby. Treats you both right. Every woman and every child deserves that.’

Annie’s lip quivered. ‘I thought you’d look down on him because of his brother’s past; you think I’d be tied for ever to a family of trouble.’

‘Why? How could I do that?’ She shook her head. ‘Your father was from a very well-to-do family. An upstanding future citizen. Once a year his parents send money, sure—but he dropped me, and you, like a hot potato.’

She patted Annie’s hand. ‘Your father never visited me in hospital like Rodney has visited you. Why would you think I’d look down on that?’ Her voice firmed. ‘But if Rodney ever treated you badly then he’d have me after him.’

Annie shrugged. ‘If he treated me badly, I wouldn’t be there.’

‘That’s my girl.’

They looked at each other and then Annie held out her arms for a hug. ‘I’m sorry, Mum. I should have told you.’

Emily hugged her and Annie squeezed back. ‘Is this why we’ve been fighting the last few months?’

Annie nodded. ‘I hated having a secret and I should have known you’d understand.’

Emily swallowed the thickness in her throat. Maybe she’d have her normal daughter back now. She glanced down at the plastic bag on the table. ‘Now I have two melted ice creams we were going to share because I got lonely and needed my baby’s company.’

She pulled out a droopy ice cream and gave it to Annie. Annie looked at it, took it gingerly and stripped it of its wrapper. She grinned. It didn’t quite fall off the stick. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘That’s fine.’ Emily pulled hers out and it looked worse. They both giggled.

Emily pulled the towel off the end of the bed and spread it between them as a safety net for dripping ice cream. ‘I guess I have to realise you won’t be there for ever. You have your own life. But when you’re ready I need you to tell me about Rodney and what your plans are.’

‘There’s not much to tell. I love him.’

Emily’s brows went up. ‘Really. Where did you meet him? How long have you known him? Though I’m guessing more than twenty-six weeks?’

‘Mum!’

Emily raised her brows and glanced at Annie’s belly. ‘Well?’

‘I met him in a chat room. Just after Gran died. And before you go, “Oh, Annie”, it’s okay. We’d been chatting for about three months before I met him, and we can talk all night. He understands me, likes the same things—music, books, movies. We laugh. A lot. And when I met him …’ Annie rolled her eyes ‘… it was just right.’

‘Okay. I can understand that.’ Boy, could she understand that. ‘But did you mean to have a baby with Rodney? I mean, how old is he?’

‘Eighteen. And no. We only did it once. And we weren’t going to do it again until I went on the Pill. But when I finally went to the doctor he told me I was pregnant.’

Oh, my poor baby. ‘We must be very fertile women.’ That thought came with a shudder of relief that she’d started the Pill after Annie’s birth and never missed it. So she could banish the horrible vision of the two of them eating ice creams with pregnant bellies. And Marco had been careful too.

Emily accepted how it had happened. ‘Though for the record, if you like a boy enough to want to have sex, it would be good to let me into the secret so I could at least meet him. When all this is over, we’re going to discuss contraception again.’

Annie blushed. ‘It’s a bit late now.’

‘Not for the next one it’s not.’ And if she could cover herself for the last sixteen years and not use it, her daughter would be doubly covered. ‘And condoms.’

‘Mu-u-um.’ Annie rolled her eyes again.

She grinned. ‘Sorry. Having a belated stress attack. This has all happened pretty fast, you know.’

Annie’s fingers crept across and squeezed her mother’s hand. ‘I know. And I’m sorry. I’ve been crabby because I was hiding Rodney and it felt rotten to be sneaky.’

‘You didn’t need to do that. You can always tell me anything. I may not like it but I’ll always love you.’

Annie sighed. ‘Rodney wanted to. He wanted to drive around to home and be with me when I told you. But I didn’t want you to meet him for the first time then.’

Emily felt her heart squeeze. Wished for a different scenario, but it was all too late now. ‘You’ll have to grow up too fast. But we’ll talk more about that later.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Visiting hours are over. I’d better go.’

Annie reached out her hand. ‘Mum?’

Emily stopped. ‘Yes?’ She caught her daughter’s hand and held it.

‘Can we put your birthday decorations up when I come home?’

Emily squeezed Annie’s hand. ‘Sure. I’d like that.’

Annie hung on for another second. ‘And thanks for the ice cream.’

‘Thanks for the conversation.’ Their hands dropped apart. ‘I’ve missed having them with you.’

They hugged again because they were both a little teary as they waved goodbye.

Marco hunched over his beer at Pete’s Bar, a watering place across the road from the hospital where most of the staff drifted if they didn’t want to be alone—or wanted to be alone in a section Pete called Off Limits.

The aroma of beef pie permeated the walls and Pete himself remembered every name he was told. He had twenty years of hospital names stored in his head.

Finn ordered the pie. ‘You should try it. To die for.’

Marco looked at it consideringly. ‘I have eaten but maybe I could manage one. I think I ran that off.’ And some other exercise, he reminded himself sardonically.

‘Evie says you’re seeing Emily Cooper.’

His appetite disappeared. So she had told her in the lift. And he’d apologised. Before he could say anything, Finn went on. ‘Good woman. Good midwife in an emergency too. Not the kind I would have thought up for a fling.’

‘We went out once.’ And slept together twice.

Finn looked at him under his brows. Must have seen something in his face. ‘Emily hasn’t said anything. Evie said she was in the lift with you two and could’ve cut the air with a knife.’

He’d got it wrong, again. Suspicion would kill him one day. ‘Very observant of her. I think I will have the pie.’ He stood up and walked over to the bar to order.

Man after his own heart. ‘Use your staff card. It’s half price,’ Finn called out, suddenly in a good humour because he’d found some other poor bastard who didn’t understand women either.

There was a lot of Marco D’Arvello that reminded Finn of Isaac. His brother had had that same kindness and warm exterior, and Finn wondered if Marco hid a similar feeling of homelessness. Thankfully Isaac had found happiness for the time he’d had with his wife, Lydia, something Finn had never allowed himself to find. The closest he’d come had been when he and Lydia had comforted each other after Isaac’s death. Lydia had been smart enough to know there was no future with Finn.

But now there was Evie. The reason he’d decided to come across here and think. That and the pain that was eating him alive.

Headstrong, defiant, warm-hearted Evie who for some incomprehensible reason said she loved him and he couldn’t quite believe it.

That was the problem. He didn’t want to risk becoming a quadriplegic—or worse—if she was going to hang her future on him. But there was the chance this surgery could remove the shrapnel and give him back full control of his hands.

Did he owe it to Evie to try? Or owe it to Evie to be half a man instead of just a shell? If he chose the surgery he’d just have to make a back-up plan to get away if it all went wrong.

‘You okay? You look worried. What’s up?’ Marco was back and he could see Finn was in pain. He set the pie down.

‘Nothing.’ Subject change. ‘So you’re leaving in a couple of weeks?’

‘Is it that close?’ Marco shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter. You want to roster me on?’ He tried not to think of Emily. Of her character-filled house. Her family. He didn’t do families.

Of course Finn jumped at the offer. ‘The O and G guys would be thrilled. It’s always a pain getting cover.’

‘Fine.’ So this was penance. He could have left Sydney in fourteen days. ‘But I wish to be gone by the twentieth.’

‘Planning something special?’

He said the first thing that appeared in his mind. ‘Times Square.’ He’d be in New York for the new contract but it was unlikely he’d be out partying.

‘So, you going out with Emily again?’ Finn’s curiosity surprised him. Marco had never known him to be interested in someone else’s social life. Perhaps his friend was becoming more human.

‘I doubt it. She has a lot on her mind with her daughter.’

‘It’s a big responsibility. She does seem fairly consumed by her. I wouldn’t like to have a teenage daughter. Especially a pregnant one.’

‘Emily is a good mother.’

‘No doubt about that but she wouldn’t know squat about teenage boys and that’s how their life is going to change.’

Marco thought about that. Thought about the young man he’d seen. Emily’s natural reservations. About who was going to help her? And maybe the boy?

CHAPTER NINE

EMILY walked onto the ward Monday morning to collect Annie and the dull ache behind her eyes wasn’t helped when she saw Marco was still there.

‘Ah. Here is your mother.’ His glance swept over her. No doubt he could see the bags under her eyes. What did he expect if she’d been awake most of the night, reaching out for his hand in the bed beside her, or, worse still, scared she was falling in love?

His voice seemed to soften—or was it just her imagination? ‘Good morning, Emily.’

Cautiously Emily returned the greeting. ‘Marco.’ She could see Annie’s glance from one to the other and she prayed her daughter would hold her questions till later.

She made an effort to forestall her. ‘Dr D’Arvello has been very good when I was worried.’

‘Si. But today you look worried again.’ He smiled at Annie and then back at Emily. She wanted to look away but couldn’t because it felt too damn good to bask in the light. ‘All is good. Annie’s baby has increased the amount of liquid in the uterus quite substantially, which is a good sign of kidney function. I am very pleased.’

Emily felt one burden ease. ‘That’s wonderful news. So we can go?’

‘Si. But Annie must rest. I have clinics for another two weeks and I would like Annie to have another ultrasound at the end of this week and see me Friday morning in the rooms here.’

She glanced at Annie, who nodded. ‘Fine. We can do that.’ That meant one more definite time she would see Marco and the occasional ward sighting. She could handle that. Just.

‘So you’ll be here for a while?’ Annie was on a different track, a mission of her own, and Emily’s neck prickled.

‘Si. I have said I will work and do the on-call before I leave for the States.’

Annie looked so sweet and Emily’s trepidation grew. She knew that look. ‘So you have no family here, do you?’

Emily froze, wanted to put her hand out or even over her daughter’s mouth as she sensed what was coming.

‘No.’ Marco wasn’t stupid either and Emily held her breath.

So innocent Annie. ‘Would you like to come to my baby shower?’

‘Annie!’ Emily’s voice came out strangled.

‘I’ll see.’ Marco’s smile was crooked. ‘Perhaps your mother would prefer if I didn’t?’

Annie feigned horror. ‘Mum!’

Emily knew she was trapped. ‘What?’

Annie cajoled, ‘Well, I’d like to invite Rodney and his friends and maybe you could invite Dr D’Arvello and yours?’

Emily’s face reddened. ‘We’ll see. I’m sure Dr D’Arvello has other plans.’ She hoped.

Marco didn’t offer anything and she glared at him as she was obliged to fill the gap. ‘But of course he’s welcome.’

Annie was full of mischief. ‘You could even come home this afternoon and help us put up the decorations for Mum’s birthday.’

Emily blinked in shock. It got worse. ‘Annie! That’s enough.’

He looked at Emily. ‘It is your birthday?’

‘Not until Friday.’

Annie sighed. Rolled her eyes. ‘Okay. I’ve already invited Rodney.’ She grinned at Marco. ‘If you get bored you can get the address from my notes.’

Marco smiled at her. ‘Strangely, I know where you live.’

Annie nodded as if he had just confirmed her suspicions. ‘I thought you might.’ She glanced at her mother’s red cheeks.

Going down in the lift Emily fumed. She gripped the handle of Annie’s overnight bag and squeezed it until the plastic bit into her fingers. She’d kill her. The little witch had planned that.

She speared a look at her daughter and Annie was innocently staring at the numbers on the console. Avoiding her, as well she should.

Emily stopped grinding her teeth. ‘Please don’t invite any more people without asking me, Annie.’

Annie swung to face her. Mischief clear and bold. ‘Oh, come on. You two can’t keep your eyes off each other.’ Annie raised her brows and for a moment she looked like her grandmother and Emily felt her anger drain away like water from a leaky pipe.

Until her daughter said, ‘And for the record, who was it who said if you like a boy enough to want to have sex, it would be good to let me into the secret?’ She grinned cheekily. ‘I hope I don’t have to discuss contraception with you, Mum.’

It was that obvious? Emily buried the fingers of her free hand into her forehead. This was all too much. She felt like the daughter here. ‘Touché.’ She huffed her breathe out. ‘He is a nice man but he’s leaving soon.’

‘Come off it, Mum. The guy’s gorgeous and he’s smitten with you. Even more reason to have some fun, for goodness’ sake. And Friday is your birthday.’

Who was this young woman? Then again, Annie had no idea how much fun her mother had already had. Her ears heated. ‘I’ll think about it.’

By the time she’d driven home and Annie was settled into the big squishy living room chair with her feet up, Emily had calmed down. She even whipped up a batch of date scones to set on the table with butter and jam. Men were always hungry. She couldn’t help feeling it would be a bit of an anticlimax if Marco didn’t turn up along with Rodney.

She glanced out the window. A black Aston Martin stopped across the road.

Marco turned off the engine. He’d been kidding himself that he wouldn’t come. He was glad now because he could see Rodney sitting in his car, staring at the front gate. He’d bet the young man tried to build up the courage to knock on the door.

Marco crossed the street and knocked on Rodney’s car roof. ‘Hello?’

‘Oh. Hi.’ Rodney drooped in his seat.

Marco bent down. ‘You are coming in?’

Rodney poked his finger down his T-shirt. ‘I don’t think Annie’s mother likes me.’

Marco opened his door. ‘Annie’s mother will like anyone who makes her daughter happy. You can come with me. We will go in together. Your lady will be glad to see you.’

Marco wasn’t real sure about his own lady but he could understand her reluctance to become more involved when he had stated his intention to leave.

Today he was going to help Rodney.

It would be cathartic to help. To help an insecure boy like Marco had been all those years ago. He certainly would have benefited from some advice from another man.

To Emily it must have seemed as if Marco and Rodney had arrived at the same time and she opened the door with a smile that welcomed.

She greeted them both warmly and he couldn’t help his relief. Though why he was surprised was a measure of his own insecurity because she had always been polite.

‘Come in. Welcome. Annie will be pleased to see you and we have scones ready.’

The house floated on the aroma of fresh baking, Emily’s cheeks were flushed, and Annie lorded over them all from her chair.

It felt like a family. He swallowed the fear in his throat.

Or how he imagined a family would feel. He shouldn’t be here. Only when his father had been in jail had he had any idea of a stable life with his mother and he’d been ready to leave home by then. Was there any chance one day his life might come to this?

‘Marco, can you help, please?’ Perhaps Emily had sensed his ambivalence because she didn’t leave him to ponder too deeply for long.

Within minutes industry ensued as Emily directed and he could see where her daughter had inherited her organisational skills from.

A doting Rodney carried buttered scones across to his lady and Marco lifted down the heavy box of decorations that overflowed with a family history he could only imagine. Even at a glance he could tell some of them were very old.

‘Thanks.’ Emily peered in. ‘That’s the hardest part—getting that box down from the top of the cupboard.’

She lifted a handful of paper chains from the box, some of them falling apart, and set them on the table ready to hang or repair.

‘Annie and I make these every year with the greeting cards from her birthday we saved from the year. So there’s lots of them. It’s a family tradition. We usually put them up a week before someone’s birthday so that they can really soak in the lead-up.’

‘A birthday that lasts for a week?’ Marco had very few memories of any celebrations for his birthday.

Emily looked a little embarrassed. ‘It was really for Annie and Gran more than me. Some of these are from when Annie was only a toddler and just started to play with paper. See, that strip has part of her fourth birthday card on it.’

Marco shook his head and tried to imagine a home that stayed still long enough to hoard such things.

Rodney carried the ladder inside and they discussed their plan of attack.

Emily grinned at him. ‘You’ll be sorry you came. By the time you’ve finished blowing up the balloons—and they’re big ones that Annie loves—you’ll be exhausted. I’ve been dreading that job.’

Marco’s first sight of the balloons confirmed the reason she’d dreaded the thought.

‘They’re huge.’ Rodney was wide eyed.

Emily shook her head sadly. ‘I know. I had a pump but it broke and I’ve never got around to buying a new one.’

She frowned at the bag of hand-sized balloons. ‘I should insist on the little ones, these ones kill me.’ She looked up. ‘But Annie loves these.’