Mistletoe Mother

‘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.

CHAPTER THREE

‘BRR! I hadn’t realised it was so cold out here!’ Ella exclaimed through chattering teeth as she slid hastily into Seth’s car.

‘And the forecast is for worse to come,’ he warned as he leaned forward to turn the heater up to maximum then glanced across at her, obviously checking that she’d fastened her seat belt before he set off. ‘Apparently, there’s some local man who’s been doing his own forecast for the last forty years or so—gets it right more often than the pundits with their electronics, by all accounts—and he reckons it’s going to be another long cold wet winter.’

‘Thanks! That’s just what I needed to hear! Couldn’t he at least have sweetened the pill by mentioning a few brief spells of sunshine and unseasonable warmth?’

He laughed. ‘Sorry. Not a balmy breeze in sight. Still, what are you worried about? You work in a fully heated hospital, warm enough for people to wander about in their shirtsleeves all year round.’

‘That’s the trouble. It makes coming out into the cold so much more of a shock to the system.’ Almost as much of a shock as finding herself sitting side by side with Seth Gifford in the intimate confines of his quietly luxurious car. Thank goodness they had the weather and other allied subjects to talk about or she’d be sitting here tongue-tied.

‘I’m sure that central heating has a lot to do with all these flu epidemics we keep having each year,’ she continued hastily, not wanting the silence to stretch too long in case she leapt into the void with something embarrassing. ‘My grandmother always maintained that people aren’t nearly so hardy as they used to be when they lived in virtually unheated houses.’

‘Tell that to the ones who died of the flu pandemic just after the First World War,’ he argued. ‘Twice as many died of that in a matter of weeks as were killed in the four years of the war itself, and none of them were living with central heating.’

‘I know, but they didn’t have access to the Health Service or the variety of drugs we have now, so there would have been far more people in the “at risk” category.’

‘True,’ he conceded, more than half his concentration on manoeuvring the car into a parking space in the car park attached to the shopping centre. ‘There are fewer deaths from flu these days than back in 1918, but…Oh, for goodness’ sake, what are we debating this for?’ he exclaimed with disbelief clear in his voice as he turned to face her with the keys in his hand. ‘We’re on our way to buy Christmas decorations, so let’s declare a truce.’

‘A Christmas truce, like they had in the trenches during the War?’ she proposed cheekily.

‘Does that mean that hostilities could break out again as soon as the last mince pie has been eaten?’ Seth frowned as he pretended to consider the idea seriously. ‘Still, a Christmas truce that starts now means that there should be at least two weeks of peace, so I accept.’

He held out his hand and without a moment’s thought Ella took it.

It didn’t matter that she was wearing gloves this time, the effect of the contact between them was just as strong and just as startling. What was going on here?

His hand tightened briefly around hers and her eyes flew up to meet his. He was frowning again, his gaze flicking from her face to their joined hands and back again before he suddenly released his hold on her.

‘Well,’ he said, his voice rather too hearty for the enclosed space as he turned away to open his door, ‘I hope you know where we’re going to be able to get these things because I haven’t a clue.’

So, what happened there? she mused as he strode off to fetch a parking ticket from the dispenser. It didn’t seem very likely that he had felt the same reaction that she had, there’d certainly been no evidence of it in his expression. Dear God, she hoped he hadn’t seen something in her own face. It would be just too embarrassing if he knew how strongly he affected her.

‘Time for a little self-control,’ she muttered grimly as she found herself watching his long legs eating up the distance as he returned with the ticket in his hand, then deliberately looked away to let herself out of the car. ‘That’s the last time you let your stupid hormones get the better of you.’

‘Ready to go?’ he said as he stuck the ticket to his windscreen and shut the door. The car bleeped obligingly when he pressed the button to lock it. ‘I’m in the mood to spend some money on glitter and glitz, so lead the way!’

Two and a half hours later they were both laden down with parcels, none of which had anything to do with decorating the department.

‘Well, all I can say is thank goodness that shop was willing to deliver!’ Ella exclaimed breathlessly as she struggled to untangle her fingers from various loops and strings. ‘We’d never have been able to carry all those decorations as well as this lot.’

‘You didn’t mind me hijacking you like that?’ he asked with a frown. ‘I did ask you if you’d help me choose some gifts for my brother’s family.’

‘I didn’t mind at all,’ she said with a laugh. ‘How else was I going to be able to get free transport to get this lot home? I’ve actually been able to find something for absolutely everyone on my list, and there’s still two weeks to go till Christmas. That’s an all-time record for me. I’m usually one of those demented souls racing around as the shops are locking up on Christmas Eve.’

‘What? You?’ Seth said with every evidence of amazement. ‘Calmness and order personified actually gets into a flap about buying Christmas presents? I don’t believe it. You’ve ordered me about like a seasoned field marshal barking at his troops. You knew exactly where we needed to go and what we needed to buy.’

‘That was just the decorations and I was only so well organised because I’d made a list of everything we needed. It’s different with presents for family and friends. There are either too many choices or I haven’t got a clue what to get.’

‘Well, I shall certainly be taking all the credit for your inspired suggestions this year. My lot aren’t going to know what’s hit them when they don’t get the usual box of chocolates and bottle of booze.’

He slammed the boot down on the dozens of bags and packages as she let herself into the passenger side and sank into the blissfully comfortable upholstery.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

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