Mistletoe Mother

‘Make sure you get a good night’s sleep, now,’ he warned when he stuck his head around the door. ‘Stress won’t do any of you any good and, with any luck, you’re going to need every bit of your strength when that little one arrives in another six months.’

He glanced at Ella and her pulse gave a silly skip at the intensity she saw in those clear grey eyes, especially when they lingered for an extra moment.

‘You can page me if you’re worried about anything,’ he said quietly. ‘I don’t think there’ll be any problems, but I won’t be far away if you need me.’

She nodded, but even before he disappeared down the corridor she was silently kicking herself. There might have been a special intensity in his gaze when he’d looked at her but it was obviously purely as a result of his concern for his patient. There was nothing personal in it at all.

‘That’ll teach you to let the attraction get out of hand,’ she muttered crossly to herself as she set the examination room to rights. ‘Just because there are lights, bells and whistles going off inside you whenever he’s around doesn’t mean that he feels the same way. Grow up!’

The trouble was, these were all the symptoms of growing up that she’d missed out on when she’d been a teenager. She’d seen her classmates and even her sister go through the clammy hands, racing pulse and gooey eyes stage over the boys without ever suffering a hint of it herself.

Unfortunately, it looked as if she was coming down with a massive case of it now.

‘If you’ve finished in here, would you like to see if you can do anything with this?’ Carol asked, hefting the scruffy-looking cardboard box in her arms.

‘It depends what “this” is,’ Ella said, taking a wary peep inside the flaps. ‘Oh! Christmas decorations! I’d almost forgotten how close it was getting. I’d be delighted to have a go. Any guidelines?’

‘Well, the hospital usually puts a big tree up in the main reception area and threads lights through the ones either side of the entrance outside. They give us a smaller one for the central reception area dividing the two halves of this unit but it’s up to us to do the decorating of that and the wards. That box you’re holding is the treasure trove of almost every bit of tatty tinsel from the first Christmas since the hospital opened this wing.’

‘It doesn’t look as if there’s enough in here to make a cheerful show in one room, let alone the whole department,’ Ella said with a grimace. The closer she examined it, the tattier everything appeared. It also seemed as if it had all been squashed flat when it had been piled in the box at the end of last Christmas.

‘Well, I’ll leave it all in your capable hands,’ Carol said, beating a suspiciously hasty retreat.

‘Gee, thanks!’ Ella muttered as she made her way to the staff lounge, wondering what on earth she was going to be able to achieve with so little to work with. Some of their patients were in for such a long time for bed rest that they would need the department brightened up for the festive season. It was bad enough to endure months of uncertainty with a threatened miscarriage without having to stare at the same old walls while the rest of the hospital was decorated in a celebratory mood.

‘Problem?’ enquired a dark brown velvet voice and Ella nearly dropped the box.

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ she gasped when Seth had to grab to prevent the contents cascading onto the floor. ‘I didn’t realise there was anyone in here and you made me jump.’

Well, it was nearly true. She hadn’t known he was here and her reaction to hearing his voice right beside her had nearly caused her to drop her burden.

‘In which case, I’m sorry,’ he said sincerely as he relieved her of the unwieldy carton and placed it on the nearest coffee-table. ‘Am I allowed to ask what this is?’

‘Feel free to have a look,’ she offered, frustrated to hear how breathless she sounded. He was going to think she was some sort of brainless twit at this rate. It really was time she got herself under control.

‘Ah,’ he said solemnly. ‘I can quite understand why you were looking glum. I take it this is the departmental box of decorations.’

‘I hope it isn’t the sum total of festive cheer for the whole hospital or we might all be in for a pretty miserable time,’ Ella said wryly. ‘Any suggestions as to how these can be rejuvenated? At the moment they’re more likely to induce deep depression.’

‘Hmm.’ He held up a very ragged-looking fairy and raised an eyebrow. ‘I see what you mean. I can’t imagine this granting anybody’s wishes.’

‘The rest of it isn’t any better. Look at it,’ she groaned. ‘How is that supposed to cheer up the whole department, including a tree in the central reception area?’

‘The short answer is that it won’t,’ he said, his voice suddenly decisive. ‘I’ve got an idea. Will you come for a quick walk through the department and give me an idea of what we need to do this properly?’

‘What do you mean—properly?’ she said warily.

‘I don’t know exactly. Not masses of kids’ stuff because they have that on their wards, and I presume that the kids who visit their mums in here have their own stuff at home.’

He looked up to glance around the fairly spartan room they were standing in before fixing her with that surprisingly intense grey gaze.

‘I’m not thinking about anything over the top. Just something fairly simple—and tasteful—that can be repeated with variations in each area.’

‘You mean the same sort of decorations at the doors and windows of each room, or over each bed, but in a different colour scheme for each area.’

‘That sort of thing, yes. Do you think it would work?’

There was an almost boyish enthusiasm in his voice that surprised her, having seen how seriously he seemed to treat life.

‘I think it would be perfect!’ she exclaimed, completely bowled over by this unexpected side to him. ‘Much better than tired tinsel that should have been pensioned off years ago. The only question is, how do we do it?’

He hesitated a moment, and Ella had the impression that there was an argument going on inside his head before he spoke again in a slightly diffident voice.

‘If you’ve got a list of your times of duties over the next few days, perhaps we could go out together and see what we can find.’

‘You mean…we’d go shopping…together?’ She sounded breathless again, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. She’d only met the man a few hours ago and it had just sounded as if he was suggesting the two of them go shopping for Christmas decorations together.

‘I don’t see that there’s any alternative, unless you can think of a way to magically resuscitate that lot.’ He hitched a dismissive thumb at the box. ‘I’m prepared to foot the bill for the new stuff if you’ll come with me to give some input on the selection. Deal?’

His final word almost sounded like a challenge and there was a suspicious glint in his eyes as he held his hand out towards her.

‘OK. Deal,’ she agreed rashly and put her hand in his.

That first contact between them sent a shiver through her and her heart seemed to take an extra beat before it settled into a faster rhythm.

‘So when are you free? This afternoon?’

Ella couldn’t think. Not with her hand still firmly held in his. Had he forgotten it was there or was he holding it hostage until he’d pinned her down to a specific time?

‘Um. I think so. Yes. I’ve been rostered for a short day, as it’s my first day here, in case there was any paperwork still to be sorted out. I know there isn’t because I went to the personnel department yesterday after I’d picked up my uniforms.’

‘So, what time shall we meet and where? Do you know the area at all? Do you know if there are any shops around here that specialise in things like Christmas decorations? It’s not something I’ve had much experience with buying.’

She gave her hand a little tug and for the briefest second he seemed strangely reluctant to release her, then let go of her hand with a jerk as though suddenly remembering where they were and what he was doing.

‘I’m due to finish at three, but—’

‘But that will depend on whether you’re in the middle of a delivery,’ he finished for her. ‘You don’t have to tell me how it works.’ He thought for a minute. ‘I’ll come up at three to see how the land lies and we can take it from there. Did you drive to work this morning or shall we go in my car?’

Ella’s head was still whirling with the speed of events long after he’d left the room. Thank goodness the department was so quiet. She wasn’t at all sure that she would have been capable of concentrating on managing even the most straightforward delivery.

Even the simple task of wandering around the department to get an idea of just how many doors and windows there were seemed to be beyond her. It wasn’t until she nearly tripped over her own feet that she finally got her head on straight and began to think logically. She even managed to take a wicked delight in weaving a web of suspense about what she was up to, carefully keeping Seth’s part in the plans strictly to herself.

It nearly drove the rest of the staff mad as they pestered her for details. It was only when a couple of them cornered her during her lunch-break that she realised that the decorating of the department was an annual bugbear that everyone tried to palm off to whoever didn’t run fast enough in the opposite direction.

As the newest member of staff she had been a sitting duck.

‘Well, this duck won’t quack,’ she murmured to herself, knowing that her mysterious grins and misleading hints were putting everyone off the scent. As if she’d actually intended taking the tinsel home to iron the crumpled sections!

On the other hand, the patients were thoroughly enjoying the situation, taking an almost evil glee in winding the rest of the staff up for her.

As she’d gone into each room, from the four-bedded wards to the single-occupancy rooms, she’d sworn each inmate to secrecy before explaining what she was doing.

Several of them had offered suggestions, either of decorating schemes or of good places to find the decorations at a reasonable price.

By the time three o’clock came around without a potential new arrival in sight, Ella had a notepad full of diagrams, measurements and totals and was ready to go.

The sight of Seth’s dark head appearing round the door of the staff lounge was enough to double her heart rate, but she determinedly told herself that it was just a result of their subterfuge.

‘You’re ready,’ he said with a satisfied nod. ‘I’ll get the car and meet you down by the entrance to the staff car park.’

‘Um…’ She paused, suddenly tongue-tied because she didn’t know what to call him. ‘Ah, Mr Gifford, I don’t know—’

‘Ella, it’s Seth,’ he interrupted quietly. ‘I’m only Mr Gifford in front of the patients. OK?’

‘OK.’ She swallowed, surprised by how intimate it felt to be invited to use his first name. ‘I was only going to say that I don’t know what your car looks like.’

‘It’s white. A BMW, 3-series.’

She couldn’t help the grin.

‘What’s wrong with that?’ His forehead pleated in a swift frown.

‘I wouldn’t know a 3-series from a moon-rocket,’ she explained with a chuckle. ‘But I do know what the BMW logo looks like on the bonnet and I know the colour white.’

He raised his eyes in typical male exasperation and one corner of his mouth actually lifted in a wry grin before he raised a hand in farewell and let the door close behind him.

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