Their Unexpected Babies

He gave another of his winning smiles, hoping the screaming child would soon be quiet, and the mother smiled back, thanking him.

‘I’ll be back in a few minutes.’

He left the cubicle, intending to fill in a chart or two and give the boy time to get his breath back, then glanced up to see how the waiting room was filling up.

And there she was.

The woman from last night, walking towards him in a floaty white blouse and a pencil-slim skirt that hugged in all the right places.

Leah.

She stopped upon seeing him.

He watched in delight as her cheeks flushed once again, and he knew that that was something he would never tire of seeing.

But why was she here? Was she hurt? Or had she known somehow where he worked and come to throw his telephone number back in his face?

‘Hi,’ he said, somewhat lost for words.

He never usually had this. The morning after. That awkward conversation. The embarrassed excuses. He got the good part—the flirting, the excitement, the kissing, the hot sex. He never had to worry about the afterwards because there never was one.

She looked like a startled deer. He saw her swallow.

‘Wh...what are you doing here?’

CHAPTER TWO

OH, MY GOD. You idiot! He’s wearing scrubs and has a stethoscope around his neck. What do you think he’s doing here?

She felt her cheeks colour again and sucked in a deep, steadying breath.

Okay, think. He’s obviously a doctor here, but maybe he’s from another department and he’s only down here providing a consult...

Because it would be mortifying to have to work closely with the guy she’d met in a club and slept with last night. A guy she’d kicked out of her flat because he’d overstayed his welcome.

Oh, dear. What must he think of me?

But then a bit of courage pushed its way forward and reminded her that what she’d done last night had not been done alone. He’d done it, too. So what did she think of him?

Her brain provided her with a helpful reminder of what he’d looked like naked on her bed after she’d swooped up with the quilt.

Blushing—again!—she managed a smile. ‘I say stupid things sometimes. Clearly you’re a doctor, here. Obviously...’

He smiled back and it did strange things to her insides. The way he was looking at her...as if she were edible and he wanted to gobble her up!

‘I am. You’re right.’

‘A...um...registrar? Consultant? From... I don’t know. Maybe Orthopaedics, or something?’ she asked hopefully.

‘Consultant. Emergency medicine.’

‘Oh.’

She looked about her, panicking slightly. He worked here? In this department? That wasn’t good. Oh, no, that wasn’t good at all!

‘May I ask why you’re here?’ He grinned his cheeky chappie smile and then leaned in to whisper, ‘Physically you seem to be in full working order, so...?’

She laughed. Almost hysterically. Then stopped. What to say? She could lie and say she was here visiting someone? Or maybe she could say...?

No other lies popped into her head. She was stuck with telling the truth. Because she had to. The ‘visiting someone’ lie wouldn’t help, would it? She had a job to do here. She needed the money and she’d been hoping for the possibility of the position becoming permanent.

‘I’ve...um...come here to work.’

She smiled quickly, alarmingly, then continued before he could say anything.

‘I start today. Here. In this department. As a...locum.’

She saw the dawning realisation on his face and was glad to see that he was somewhat taken aback too. That was good. It was nice to feel that they were on even footing.

He laughed. ‘You’re my new doctor?’

She matched his laugh. ‘That’s me!’

Leah watched him take this in—watched as an interesting fleet of emotions passed over his face—and felt her own heart beat faster as she realised just how much she would be working with this man over the next few months. Her one-night stand. Her boss.

Had she screwed up? Already? Or would he be the decent guy she hoped he was and let them start with a fresh new page?

That was possible, right? To pretend as if nothing had happened when in reality you knew more about a man than you should and exactly what touch would make him gasp with delight and ecstasy? They’d be able to work together as if they’d never met before.

Right?

Right?

Molly, one of the nurses, was asked to show her around as Ben had got called in to Majors. A trauma was coming in via helicopter.

Molly was about the same age as her, and was bright, friendly and chatty. She took her around Minors, showing her where everything was, who to ask for help, and what the password was for the computer system, and then she took her into Majors.

Leah couldn’t help but look at Ben as he assessed his new patient, strapped to a backboard that was being brought in by the helicopter medics. He was more than just handsome. He was breathtaking. No wonder he had caught her eye in the club last night. Broad-shouldered, flat stomach, trim waist...

And I know all the other details, too...

The tiny mole just above his left hipbone. The smoothness of his skin. The toned musculature of that inverted V below the hipbones that led down to his...

Molly must have caught her staring, because she chuckled. ‘Ah, yes, you’ve noticed Mr Willoughby. I don’t blame you. We all think he’s gorgeous! Just beware, though, you don’t fall for his charms.’

Leah blinked. ‘What? Oh, no, I wouldn’t. I—’

‘He’s gone out on dates with quite a few members of staff and he likes to play the field, if you know what I mean? Not that I want to talk badly about someone I work with—he’s a really nice guy, actually—but he’s quite the heartbreaker.’

Molly was talking to her in that all-girls-together-against-men way, so Leah played along.

‘I understand perfectly.’ She nodded as if she were a wise old woman. But for some strange reason it hurt to think that she was one in a long line of conquests. She’d hoped that because she’d indulged in once-in-a-lifetime behaviour maybe he had, too.

How many others had he slept with? He was a Lothario and she’d fallen for his charms and given him everything. It was the oldest trick in the book. Knowing that made her feel even more glum that her hot one-night stand was definitely not going to settle for a woman who was about to become a mother, no matter how hot the sex with her had been!

She resigned herself to seeing no more of that kind of action with him. They’d had one night and one night it would stay—never to be repeated. She was just a notch on his bedpost and she would not pine after him, despite how he had made her feel. She had a future ahead of her. It was never going to be with him. It was a good thing that she had thrown away his telephone number.

‘What else is there to see?’ Leah walked away from the trauma, wanting to move on from Ben. To stop staring at him as if she was hypnotised. In more ways than one.

She felt foolish for thinking that there’d been more to her one-night stand. That her night with Ben, even though a one-off, had somehow had more meaning to it than any one-night stand other people might have. That theirs had been different. That it hadn’t just been a tacky get-together so that both people could scratch an itch.

But apparently it had. Sleeping with a woman for one night was normal behaviour for him, it seemed, and she was just one more in a long line of women who’d probably thought for a brief moment that they were special.

It had felt good to feel special. She’d never really had that. Had never been wanted. So it had felt good to let herself believe that maybe she did have something that he wanted. She did have value.

But it had just been sex. All he’d wanted was release. It hadn’t been her in particular. Any woman would have done.

And he’d used her—the way he probably used all women.

Even if he had made the bed for her afterwards.

Leah felt a little sick, but it was a feeling she was used to. The realisation that she wasn’t special.

She never had been. Not in her entire life. She’d had to make her own happiness.

I should be used to it.

Which was why she had a surrogate. Leah had always wanted a family and, knowing she couldn’t get one the normal way, by having one herself, she had decided to take matters into her own hands and find her own happiness.

She could only ever rely on herself not to let her down.

Because anyone she had allowed to get close had always let her down.

The thought of having to rely on a surrogate had seemed an almost impossible task. How could she not suspect that the surrogate would change her mind? That she’d want to keep the baby for herself? She’d got her mind so twisted on all the things that could go wrong she’d even considered not doing it!

Until Sally had offered. Her best friend Sally. Who already had three children of her own. Whose family was already complete. Sally had loved her enough to offer to do this.

So, okay, maybe she had one person in her corner.

And when the baby was born Leah would have two. Sally and the baby. And the baby would be her own flesh and blood. From her egg. Used after months of injections and hormones to help her ovaries produce an egg that was in a healthy enough condition to use.

It had been important that the baby was her own. Because she’d never had a family. No mum or dad. No siblings. No friendly aunts or uncles or grandparents.

Leah had had the care system. And it had been horrible. And her yearning for a family had become so strong since she’d become an adult and started working in medicine.

Seeing what other people had.

Seeing what she could have if she were brave enough to try.

And now she would be a mother soon.

And she was going to let no one, most especially not Mr Ben Willoughby, ruin that for her.

Ben peered closer at the X-ray. There were clear fractures of the distal end of the ulna and radius. Thankfully they weren’t displaced. The motorcyclist had put his arms out to break his fall when he’d come off his bike. He’d need to get an orthopaedic consult to make sure what treatment was needed. Most probably an open reduction and internal fixation with plates and screws.

He was just about to pick up the phone to call Orthopaedics when Leah came to sit beside him.

‘Hi.’

He turned to look at her with a smile. It had been a pleasant surprise to learn that she was his new locum, and if he was honest about it he was quite pleased. He’d wanted to hear from her again and get to know her a bit more, and now that she was here for the next few months he’d get that chance.

Which is a first for me...

He gazed at her more intently, trying to work out why this woman intrigued him. Apart from the obvious gorgeousness that she didn’t seem to know she had. Perhaps it was that smiley persona? Perhaps it was the way she could blush so innocently and yet also be a siren in bed? That clash and juxtaposition of opposites was completely messing with his head.

Maybe it was her eyes? They twinkled and shone with a brightness he’d never noticed before in a woman. Maybe it was the way she couldn’t hide what she was feeling—everything was written there for him to see on her face.

And, looking at her now, he could sense she had something to tell him. She was biting her lower lip. Out of anxiety, clearly, but all it did was pull his focus to her mouth, her full lips, and he felt a physical yearning to reach out and brush his thumb over her lower lip, to free it, and then pull her face towards his and...

‘I need to talk to you.’

Oh. Conversations like this never end well.

And the reason he knew that was because it was usually him saying stuff like that. Trying to tell some woman he’d dated for one night to stop calling him. That he wasn’t interested. That she really ought to start looking elsewhere because he wouldn’t be going out with her again. He always tried to be nice about it, though. Polite. Kind.

Was she really going to do that to him? When they’d had something so good?

‘I think I know what you’re going to say.’

She looked at him, her brows furrowed. Confused. ‘You do?’

He nodded. ‘I do. You’re going to say something along the lines of, Look, we’re colleagues...we really shouldn’t be going out with each other...can we just be friends? Am I right?’

She bit her lip again.

He really wished she wouldn’t do that. It was downright distracting. Wonderfully so.

‘Well, yes...kind of.’

He turned to face her, making sure there was no one else in earshot. ‘I think you’re wrong.’

She blushed, and he felt his insides go funny again.

‘I’m not wrong. You wouldn’t be interested in me. Not at all. Not if you knew the truth...’ She trailed off, clearly trying to find the right words to explain whatever predicament she thought she was in.

‘Are you married?’ He didn’t think she was. There’d been no sign of someone living with her in that flat of hers.

‘No.’

‘Do you have a steady boyfriend?’

She looked about, also checking there was no one else listening in to their conversation. ‘No.’

‘Then what’s the problem? You’ve got to see this from my point of view. Boy meets girl...boy goes back to girl’s apartment and they have a great time. Boy knows this. Girl knows this. It makes sense that they do it again to see how great they can really make it.’

He grinned, feeling all sorts of things firing inside his belly at the thought of another night with this woman. And not just his belly. Being this close to her, almost touching her, inhaling that gentle perfume of hers...it was intoxicating! Surely she wasn’t going to throw this opportunity away? They could have fun for a bit...

She was staring deeply into his eyes, almost as if she were looking into his soul, and then suddenly she blinked and sat back, moving away from him. She glanced nervously around them, before scooching closer again on her chair.

‘I had a great time with you, yes. Of course it was...’ She blushed. ‘Hot. But I’m not the kind of woman you would want to get involved with right now.’

‘You’re wrong—’

‘I’m going to have a baby.’

He sat up straight and looked at her, the smile gone from his face.

A baby? What? He looked down at her abdomen, trying to think back to how she’d looked, naked in the moonlight streaming in through her open curtains. The soft swell of her abdomen...her wondrous curves...

‘No, not me. Not me in person. I have a surrogate. My best friend Sally—she’s carrying my baby for me and she’s got seven more months before she gives birth.’

He stared. Shocked beyond words. He’d found the perfect woman. At least he thought he had.

This changes everything!

She was going to have a baby. She was going to become a mother. Which was great for her, but not for him. He didn’t need that kind of complication in his life. Parenthood? Responsibilities? Resentment? Exhaustion?

No, thanks. No way, José.

CHAPTER THREE

‘YOU’RE SHOCKED. I know you’re shocked. I would be, too, if I were in your shoes.’

She smiled a little, to show him she understood. That she wasn’t going to blame him if he walked away now. In fact she needed him to walk away. Because he was a complication that she didn’t need in her life right now. A stunningly attractive complication, yes, but not the kind she would be able to rely on with a baby around. He’d hardly signed up for this, after all. It was only right he knew from the start, so he could make decisions with all the facts at his fingertips.

He could cause wonders with those fingertips... Don’t think about those. Focus!

‘A baby? You’re going to be a mum?’

‘Yes. I am.’

‘But...isn’t surrogacy like a last chance kind of thing?’

She could see what he wanted to ask. Why can’t you have the child yourself? Perhaps she needed to explain? But this felt awkward. She barely knew him, after all. Carnal knowledge of a person didn’t count in this situation. She wasn’t used to sharing personal information with someone she hardly knew. But it had to be done.

‘It is a last chance kind of thing.’

‘But why? You’re only in your thirties, I’m guessing. You still might meet someone.’

‘I appreciate your optimism—I do. But it’s not that simple.’

‘I don’t understand. What aren’t you telling me?’

Boy, those eyes of his are intense!

She sucked in a deep breath. Here goes.

‘I’ve been told that I probably can’t carry a baby to term due to an anomaly in my uterus, but I want to start a family and this seemed the safest way to do that.’

Ben frowned, a small divot forming between his brows. ‘What kind of anomaly?’

‘A bicornuate uterus.’

He sucked in a breath. ‘It’s partially split?’

He was a good listener. It made him easy to tell.

‘Mine’s quite severe. My doctors told me that any baby I carry would most likely be lost in the second trimester, or that there’d be foetal growth retardation—especially if the foetus implanted in one of the two halves.’

He nodded. ‘I’ve heard of it. But I’ve never met anyone with it before.’

‘That you know of.’

He smiled. ‘You’re my first.’

She nodded, smiling. ‘Yes, well. There you go. Intimacy and a medical revelation. Aren’t you a lucky guy?’

He nodded.

‘I’ve never had family,’ she said. ‘I want to belong to someone. I want someone who is my blood. Someone to love and cherish, who cherishes me in return. I always knew I wanted a child and I just felt that time was running out for me to find that with someone I could trust enough.’

He looked doubtful. ‘So you’re doing it on your own?’

She smiled, glad that he understood and didn’t appear to be judging her. ‘So I’m doing it on my own.’

He didn’t need to hear about the long months of needles and hormones and egg collection procedures. She’d had one hot night with this man—she didn’t want him to think of her lying back in a room with her legs in stirrups. She didn’t want him thinking of her as a patient. Those days, she hoped, were over. The future was going to be everything.

‘Which is why you needed to know.’

‘And you think I won’t be interested in you because you’re about to become a parent?’

Leah cocked her head to one side, smiling. ‘Well? Are you?’

He leaned back in his chair, considering his answer. ‘You think I’ll run a mile because a baby is on the way?’

She laughed. ‘Yes.’

He held his chest as if she’d just stabbed him in the heart and mock-groaned. ‘I’m hurt!’

‘Come on! Are you seriously trying to tell me that a man like you isn’t put off by a woman like me?’

His eyes twinkled. ‘“A man like me”?’

Clearly he wanted clarification.

‘You have a reputation, Mr Willoughby. As a bit of a player.’

He shook his head, smiling, as if he were disappointed in her. ‘You’ve been here one morning and already you’re listening to gossip?’

She maintained eye contact. ‘You still haven’t answered my question.’

He stared back, giving a half-smile, considering how to answer.

She knew the answer in her heart. And it was a shame, because she really had had a great night with him. And it hadn’t been just the sex, but all the talking they’d done beforehand. The laughing. The enjoyment of his company. The great foot massage! There’d been something there. Something not acknowledged by either of them. A spark. A connection. A flame.

But she never got his answer. An alarm sounded from Majors. A cardiac arrest. So they both leapt from their seats and made a mad dash towards the noise.

Answers would have to wait.

The next two weeks were difficult and awkward. Ben wasn’t sure how to be around Leah. He liked her. Really liked her. She was funny and smart and everyone in the department loved her. She had such a friendly manner people would confide in her, talk to her. And her laugh... Whenever he heard it, he felt as if it was warming his soul. He wanted to be pulled into her orbit. He did. But he kept holding back.

She was going to become a mother soon. And he wanted to be happy for her, but he couldn’t help but feel that she’d rushed this decision. All that stuff she’d said about wanting a family, feeling that bond and having someone who loved her... It was an idealised view of what family could be. She was looking at life through rose-tinted spectacles. People—families—they didn’t all live in Happy Land, where everyone got on and loved one another. There could be discord and hatred and resentment. Being someone’s blood relative didn’t guarantee you happiness. Didn’t guarantee you a free pass in life to joy.

Families were hard work. His own had been. And families could rip your heart out.

Leah probably thought that having a baby would mean everything to her—and maybe it would to begin with. But had she thought about sleepless nights and tantrums? Problems at school?

His younger brother and sister had run the whole gamut. In their early teens they’d hated him and rebelled against him. They would stay out all night with friends in lonely parks whilst he stayed at home. Worrying about them. Often having to head out to try and find them.

Families equalled stress, and there would be so many moments when she would want to run away but would feel unable to. Because of her responsibility.

But how could he tell her any of that? How could he squash her dream, knowing how much it meant to her?

He was pondering this problem as he went to see his first patient of the day. He was working in Minors today, and he held a triage form that stated his next patient had been hurt during a bout of shoplifting.

He shook his head in disbelief. Shoplifting!

Ben pulled back the curtain and there on the bed sat a teenage girl, probably no older than fifteen or so, and across from her a burly-looking security guard.

‘Miss Tammy Fields?’

The girl glowered at the guard. ‘Yeah.’

He pulled the curtain around them for some privacy. Tammy sat on the bed, one leg on a pillow. He could see her ankle looked a little swollen.

‘You’ve hurt your left foot? How did that happen?’

‘He did it!’

‘I did not—’ the security guard began, bristling.

‘How else did I end up on the floor? You tripped me!’

‘You were stealing!’

‘Wait a minute!’ Ben held up his hands for quiet. ‘You’re not her parent?’

‘No, thank goodness. If she were mine, I’d—’

‘Then why don’t you wait outside? I’ll come and talk to you in a moment.’

‘I’m not taking my eyes off her. She’ll make a run for it.’

‘With this ankle? I highly doubt it. Now, please...’ He held the curtain open so the security guard could pass through, albeit reluctantly. ‘If you wait in the waiting room, I’ll be through to see you soon.’

The guard disappeared, with one last look over his shoulder that seemed to say, If you run...

Ben sighed with relief when he’d gone, then sank back onto his stool and looked at the young girl. ‘Tell me what happened.’

‘I was getting some food—tinned stuff. Only I didn’t have enough money for all of it and I thought they wouldn’t miss it. It was a pound shop! It means nothing to them! And we’re starving...’

‘We?’

‘Me and my brothers. Only they’re really little so I left ’em at home.’