and everything would be just fine.
It would.
ELLA SLEPT BADLY that night. She kept waking up, shivering, after horrible dreams of Oliver delivering the baby and then his mother snatching the child before he could give it to Ella and slamming the door behind her.
When her alarm clanged, Ella was feeling out of sorts and upset. A shower and washing her hair didn’t make her feel much better, and she could barely face a single slice of dry toast for breakfast.
She drove in to work and was relieved to discover that Oliver was in a meeting, so she wouldn’t have to face him. Even though part of her wanted to tell him about what his mother had said—and to get a bit of reassurance about her nightmare—she knew that wouldn’t be fair to him. It’d be like asking him to choose between her and his family. Annabelle was off duty, so Ella couldn’t discuss it with her, either. Annabelle had texted her that morning.
How did it go?
Ella had texted back with a total fib, saying it was all fine. She didn’t want to burden her best friend, especially as she knew how hard things had been for Annabelle and Max. She was glad it had worked out for them, but at the same time she felt slightly wistful, as she couldn’t see how things could ever work out between herself and Oliver. Prue and Ned had been kind, but his parents would never accept her, and Ella didn’t want to be responsible for the final rift between Oliver and his parents.
‘Hey, sweetie. Are you doing OK?’
Ella looked up to see their heavily pregnant neonatal cardiothoracic surgeon, standing before her. ‘Morning, Sienna. Of course I’m OK. Why wouldn’t I…?’ Her voice tailed off as she realised what Sienna meant. ‘Oh. You know.’
‘’Fraid so.’ Sienna patted her arm. ‘You’ve replaced me as the hottest topic of gossip at the Royal Cheltenham, right now.’
Ella bit her lip. ‘Hopefully everyone will find something else to think about soon.’
‘Of course they will. How did the scan go?’
‘Good, thanks. Everything’s positive.’
‘That’s great.’ Sienna smiled at her. ‘I’m glad that Oliver supported you, too.’
Oh, help. They’d used the cover story that her family was far away so Oliver was supporting her, but had everyone guessed the truth—that Oliver had been there as the baby’s father? ‘He’s the Assistant Head of Obstetrics, so I guess he feels responsible for his staff,’ Ella said hesitantly.
‘He’s a good man. He offered to go with me for my scans, too.’
So Sienna didn’t know that Oliver was the father of Ella’s baby. Which meant that nobody else did either—because Ella knew that Annabelle would’ve kept her confidence. ‘Thanks for not asking.’
‘About who the dad is?’ Sienna laughed. ‘Given my situation, I could hardly be that hypocritical. Sometimes this is just how things happen—and it’s much better for a baby to have one parent who really loves them, than two who fight all the time.’
That sounded personal, but Ella wasn’t going to intrude by asking. ‘Yes, you’re right.’
‘I just wanted to say, if you need a confidential ear at any time, you know where I am—I know I’m going on leave soon, but I’ll still be around.’
‘Thanks, Sienna.’ It was kind of her to offer, even though Ella thought that the doctor was going to be way too busy with her newborn baby. ‘And I’m still on your babysitter list—the bump won’t change that.’
‘Glad to hear it.’ Sienna patted her arm again. ‘It’ll be good practice for you. We’re both used to newborns, but we’re also used to handing the babies over and I think it’s going to be a bit of a shock to our systems.’
‘Ah, but I get to teach new mums how to change nappies and put on a sleep suit,’ Ella pointed out.
‘Then you have the advantage over me. I know who to call when I get stuck, then.’ Sienna smiled. ‘Right, I’m due in Theatre. I just wanted to catch you first and see how you were getting on.’
Tears pricked Ella’s eyelids. ‘That’s so kind.’
‘And invest in tissues,’ Sienna advised. ‘You wouldn’t believe the stupid things that are going to make you cry. Or how often.’
‘I believe you—especially now, because you were right about tins smelling, too,’ Ella admitted wryly.
‘It’ll be fine,’ Sienna reassured her. ‘See you later.’
‘Ella, could we have a wo—?’ Oliver began.
She lifted her hands as if shoving him away. ‘Sorry—I’ve been called down to Ultrasound.’
He couldn’t argue with that.
But the next time he saw her in a corridor, Ella couldn’t stop to have a quick word because she was in a rush on the way to help Jennie, their trainee midwife.
Was he being paranoid, or was she avoiding him?
And she’d been so quiet on the way back to Cheltenham last night.
He’d shared a part of his life with her that he’d always kept private; but, instead of bringing her closer to him, it seemed to have driven her further away.
The third time Oliver tried to talk to Ella, she was backing away as soon as he started speaking. ‘Sorry, Oliver. I can’t talk right now. I’ve been called to the Emergency Department.’
‘If that was to see the mum with the suspected placental abruption,’ he said grimly, ‘then you’re working with me.’
She bit her lip. ‘Oh. I thought I’d be working with Charlie.’
So yet again she’d been hoping to avoid him. ‘No. He’s in the middle of a complicated delivery.’ Hurt made him snap at her. ‘So you’ll just have to put up with it being me, won’t you?’
She gave him a speaking look, but said nothing.
Oliver sighed inwardly. He hated to think that their working relationship was as bad as their personal relationship right now. He knew he should apologise for being abrupt with her, but her coolness had really got to him.
‘Ella,’ he said when they got into the lift. ‘Are you going to be OK with this?’
‘An abruption? I’ve come across them before,’ she said coolly.
Oh, great. She’d misunderstood and was about to go prickly on him. ‘I don’t mean clinically. I know you know your stuff,’ he said. ‘I meant emotionally. You’re pregnant and this might not have a good outcome. If you’d rather someone else took this case, I’ll organise that for you.’
‘No, it’s fine.’ She took his hand and squeezed it briefly. ‘But thank you for thinking about that.’
Her touch flustered him so much that he didn’t say a word until they were in the Emergency Department with Mike Wetherby.
‘Courtney Saunders, age thirty-six, and she’s currently thirty-four weeks,’ Mike explained. ‘This is her second baby; her last pregnancy and birth were straightforward, and this pregnancy’s been straightforward so far but today she slipped on the ice while she was getting off the bus and had quite a bad fall. She tried to protect the baby by throwing herself sideways; she banged her hip and her head. I’ve sorted that side of it out for her, and obviously there’s still a bit of tachycardia but I think that’s probably stress.’