was right, she’d enjoy her holiday much more without that hanging over her.
And she dealt with the second question on everyone’s minds as she stepped back in.
‘I’m not comfortable yet discussing who the father is, but you’ll all be very excited to know I’m expecting twins.’
There were smiles and congratulations and even a bottle of iced lemonade to toast her at the end of her shift.
‘Have fun!’ Lydia said. ‘Lots of it.’
‘Oh, I shall.’
She headed up to the geriatric unit and said goodbye to a couple of patients before she got to her very favourite one.
‘Enjoy yourself,’ Macey said. ‘You deserve to be happy. A rather clever doctor told me that.’
Candy nodded. She had every intention of being happy, but as she gave Macey a cuddle and said goodbye she asked a question, desperate for the older woman’s sage thoughts.
‘Macey,’ Candy said carefully. ‘I want to be happy but what if you’re not certain that the other person truly is? What if they might be there only out of a sense of duty?’
‘Duty?’ Macey thought for a long moment and Candy realised she was holding her breath as she awaited her answer, but Macey clearly didn’t quite understand her question. ‘Duty to who?’ Macey asked.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Candy said, and gave her a smile. ‘Stay well and I shall send you a postcard.’
As she left Macey she saw Steele going into his office and she went and knocked at the door.
‘Are you off?’
‘I am,’ Candy said. ‘Well, I’ve just got to see the obstetrician, buy a bikini, pack, take the Underground …’
‘You’re sure you don’t want me to take you?’
‘I’m very sure,’ she said, and he took her in his arms. ‘Thank you,’ Candy said. ‘I know we only had a short time and I know it was a bit fraught but you really helped and I just …’ She couldn’t really finish saying what she wanted to say without crying. ‘I might write to you,’ she said. ‘Or call you. I really don’t know …’
‘You stop worrying about me and just go and have a wonderful time,’ he said. ‘Do what you have to do. Oh, one thing …’ He took out his wallet and peeled off some US dollars.
‘Stop!’ Candy said. ‘I don’t need a sugar daddy.’
‘I’m not old enough to be your sugar daddy.’ He laughed. ‘Seriously, I’ve had these for about five years, since my last trip to the States. Have fun with it.’
‘Thank you!’ Candy smiled.
‘Go,’ he said.
‘But—’
‘Go,’ he said again, and she was glad that he did because she wanted to say goodbye smiling and if she stayed a moment longer she might possibly cry.
Then it was time for her official appointment with Anton.
‘I told you that you were about to start showing,’ he said with a smile as she walked in. ‘Have people started noticing?’
‘Yes, though no one had the nerve to ask if I was pregnant just yet, though a patient told me that I was before I even knew. I’ve just announced it. I also said that I’m not comfortable with telling them who the father is.’
‘Well done.’ Anton smiled again.
He checked her blood pressure and all was well then Candy climbed up onto the examination table and he spoke to her about twin pregnancies. He said her babies would probably be born at around thirty-seven weeks and that he would see her more regularly than he would for a singleton pregnancy.
‘Have you told your parents?’
Candy nodded. ‘They didn’t take it very well at all.’
‘They’ll come around.’
‘I know,’ she said. ‘I told them to contact me when they do. I think I’m going to tell Gerry’s parents when I return from my holiday. I think that it is only fair to them to know.’
‘What about your new partner?’
‘He’s not really my partner, I don’t think,’ Candy said as Anton helped her to sit up. ‘It was supposed to be just a casual thing. He starts a new job soon and is moving. He’ll be gone by the time I get back from my holiday. I don’t know what will happen then, if anything.’ She smiled at Anton. ‘My bad for falling in love.’
‘You have told the insurance companies that you’re pregnant?’
‘I have.’
‘Go and have and amazing holiday. Grieve, cry, smile and heal.’
‘Thank you.’
They sounded like pretty straightforward instructions and as she packed the last few pieces into her suitcase she called for a taxi to take her to the Underground.
Usually her parents would go with her to the airport to wave her off as if she were going on an expedition for a year but they were clearly not over the news yet so Candy took the Underground and battled with evening commuters and her suitcase.
She caught sight of a pregnant woman’s reflection in the window and it took a second before she realised that it was her own.
We’ll get there, she said in her mind to her small bump. She loved them already. The numb shock had worn off. The fear had gone. Already Candy knew she’d cope.
They would get through this.
As she checked in at Heathrow and watched her case shoot away she turned and saw her parents.
‘Ma …’ Candy ran over and hugged them.
‘We love you.’
‘I know you do.’
‘We’ll help.’
‘I know you will,’ Candy said, and they kissed and made up with much relief.
‘You move from that flat and come home,’ her mother said. ‘We can help you to raise them—’
‘We’ll talk when I get home,’ Candy said. ‘Thank you so much for coming to the airport. It means an awful lot to me.’
It had but as she sat on the plane she knew she was moving from her flat but not to her parents’ home.
She thought of Steele raised by his grandmother. No, she didn’t want that for the twins. She wanted to raise her children herself, her way, and not her parents’ way.
There was so much to sort out, so very much, but as she disembarked from the plane nearly a day later and a lei was placed around her neck Candy was the happiest tourist on the planet and knew Hawaii was the right place to be.
‘Aloha,’ a gorgeous woman said.
Yes, she was happy, yet that evening as she walked along the beach, how she wished Steele was here beside her—dipping his red toenails in the Pacific, making her laugh, making her smile, letting her be who she was.
Candy loved the way he accepted her just as she was.
‘ARE YOU GOING to a funeral?’ Macey checked, seeing Steele’s dark suit and tie the following Tuesday morning. ‘Wait till you get to my age. I go to one a month.’
‘It’s a memorial service,’ he said. He really liked speaking with Macey. She was so blunt about everything.
‘Oh, is it for that nurse