A Mother For His Child. Lilian Darcy

I was usually too terrified about making a mistake to think of making a connection like that…

      Did he belong in her practice? She owed it to both of them, perhaps, and to little Daniel as well, to explore the issue more deeply.

      ‘I want you and Daniel to come over and talk tomorrow, Will,’ she told him seriously. ‘I do need to take on a new partner, and I don’t doubt that you’d be an asset to the practice. But there are…other factors to consider. We both need to think about whether this can possibly work. I’m sorry I gave you such a knee-jerk reaction at first.’

      ‘Apology accepted. And I know the fault wasn’t all on your side. Will you go to the hospital to see Matthew in the morning?’

      ‘Well, there’s no need…’

      ‘A statement which doesn’t answer my question.’

      ‘Yes, I’ll probably go,’ she admitted. ‘For Kathy’s sake. I—I just hate to think how she’d deal with it if he doesn’t pull through this.’

      She shook her head. In certain circumstances, meningitis could result in amputation, brain damage or death. Kathy already had enough to deal with.

      ‘Let me check on Daniel, then I’ll walk you out to your car,’ Will said quietly.

      A quick signature charged their meal to his room account and they left, choosing the stairs to reach his second-floor room. Maggie waited outside, listening to the murmur of voices within. All seemed quiet. She held the flowers Will had given her, which the restaurant staff had placed in water for her during their meal.

      Will closed the door of the hotel room silently behind him a few moments later.

      ‘Hasn’t stirred,’ he reported. ‘The babysitter was almost asleep.’ They headed for the stairs once more. ‘How do you want to do this tomorrow?’

      ‘Well, I’m on call all weekend, so I was only planning to hang around the house in any case.’

      ‘How do you arrange cover when you need time off?’

      ‘I work out a roster with a couple of other local doctors.’

      ‘The ones your office manager recommended when she told me you weren’t taking new patients?’

      ‘Yes, that’s right. Anyhow, if you and Daniel just come over in the morning…’ After everything Will had said about his son, she was curious to see the little boy—Alison’s son, flawed in a way that apparently Alison hadn’t been able to deal with. ‘For breakfast, if you like,’ she added.

      ‘Are you still a morning person?’

      ‘I’ve never been a morning person.’

      ‘You used to get up at six every morning to study.’

      ‘That doesn’t mean I’m a morning person, it just means I’m disciplined. Sorry,’ she added at once. ‘That wasn’t an attempt to score points. I was just—’

      ‘Stating a fact,’ he cut in. ‘I can see that. I’m starting to wonder if a lot of what I used to think was point-scoring was actually stating facts. Back then, I was used to girls who swooned, not girls who fought back.’

      ‘And back then, I was point-scoring.’

      ‘Never tempted to swoon?’ He grinned, and she didn’t credit him with an ounce of serious intent behind the question.

      ‘No!’

      ‘I can see you wouldn’t want to risk tactful wording obscuring the clarity of your reply!’ Something flickered in the back of his eyes, but she couldn’t read it.

      She sighed. ‘We’re still point-scoring, aren’t we?’

      ‘But this time it’s fun,’ he answered. ‘Isn’t it? I’m trying for that.’

      ‘Mmm…’

      ‘Maybe we were both too…too raw back then, too brash and clumsy and young, to enjoy it the way we should have done,’ he suggested.

      I’m too raw now, Maggie thought.

      Not brash and young any more, but still, where Will was concerned, far, far too raw.