The Unsung Hero

‘What?’

He was looking at her as if she was some kind of alien species, clearly unable to make any sense of her request. Sarah glanced at Max but he was watching his friend and had an expression of sympathy that made her heart sink. He knew how hard it would be for Rick to accept the idea he could be Josh’s father. And maybe he wasn’t. Maybe she was making life difficult for all sorts of people unnecessarily but she had no choice, did she?

This was about Josh.

Mike Randall was frowning. ‘I’m confused,’ he confessed. ‘What’s Rick got to do with this, Sarah?’

‘Absolutely nothing.’ Rick held up his hands in an eloquent gesture of denial. ‘Look, I’m sorry, Sarah. I’ve got no idea where this is coming from but you couldn’t be more wrong.’

Sarah swallowed hard. She directed her next words at Mike rather than Rick. ‘I was chasing someone I thought was called Richard. Known as Rick. I couldn’t find any Richard. Then someone suggested that Rick could be short for Eric and…bingo.’

She heard an angry huff of sound from Rick. He turned, walked a couple of jerky steps, shoving his sleeves clear of his wrists as though preparing to do battle. Then he swung back to face them all, shaking his head incredulously.

‘I mean, I know I haven’t exactly been a monk but…for God’s sake, I wasn’t even in the country at the time Josh would have been conceived…what, eight or nine years ago? I was in Sydney on a postgraduate surgical course for two years. Wasn’t I, Max?’

‘Ah…Yes, but—’

‘There isn’t a “but”.’ Rick was staring at Max with lines of bewilderment creasing his face now. He was being attacked here. Where was the back-up he clearly expected? Max looked as though he was in physical pain. He wanted, more than anything, to be able to provide the support his friend desperately wanted but he couldn’t do it because he knew something Rick didn’t.

Sarah waited, knowing that Rick would turn back to her eventually. She was the one initiating this attack, wasn’t she? So she watched him, seeing the way he straightened his spine and the way his hands curled into fists of frustration. It was the bewilderment that really got to her, though. A window of vulnerability in a man who might otherwise seem invincible. Big. Strong. Clever. Impossibly gorgeous right now with the sleeves of that dinner jacket shoved onto his forearms and the top button of his shirt undone with the ends of that black tie hanging on each side.

Sure enough, he turned to make eye contact with her and it was like a physical blow. As though she had betrayed him.

She had to swallow hard. ‘How old do you think Josh is, Rick?’

‘Seven,’ he said promptly, dredging up another fragment of a conversation in past weeks. ‘Or maybe eight.’ He flicked a challenging glance at Max.

‘That’s what I thought,’ Max said apologetically. ‘But it was a guess, Rick. I—’

‘I know he’s small for his age,’ Sarah interrupted, trying to let Max off the hook. ‘But he’s nine. Coming up to nine and a half. He was conceived in Auckland a bit over ten years ago.’

Rick was still glaring at Max. ‘You knew about this, didn’t you?’

‘Only since last night.’ Max sighed heavily. ‘It’s not as if I’ve had a chance to talk to you. Sarah promised not to say anything until after the wedding. I was going to warn you, mate.’

Sarah caught Mike’s glance. Friction on a personal level between these two men wasn’t going to be helpful. He raised his eyebrows and Sarah nodded.

‘I went to the States,’ she said, ‘to find the man who was on Josh’s birth certificate. The man my sister genuinely thought was Josh’s father as far as I could tell. He thought he might be, too and actually got excited by the idea. He couldn’t wait to do the DNA test and he was gutted when it turned out that Josh couldn’t possibly be his son.’

Rick snorted. ‘You’ll get the same result from me,’ he said coldly. ‘Except I won’t be pretending I’m gutted.’ He shook his head. ‘You’re wasting your time.

And mine.’

Sarah was finding it hard to stay calm. He was simply going to refuse to accept the possibility, wasn’t he? This might turn into a dead end that could haunt her for ever.

‘My sister’s name was Lucy,’ she said with a tiny wobble in her voice. ‘She was two years older than me and we looked very alike.’

He couldn’t deny he found her attractive, surely? His interest had been flashing like a neon sign from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her. The kind of physical attributes people found attractive in the opposite sex didn’t change that much. She had always been drawn to tall, dark men. Like Rick.

She sighed again, inwardly this time, at the regret that tugged deep inside. In another lifetime she might have been having a very different kind of conversation with Rick Wilson.

‘Lucy Prescott?’ she prompted. ‘Ring any bells?’

‘No.’ The word was a growl.

‘The man who wasn’t Josh’s father remembered her. It had only been a brief affair but he’d been in love with her. He’d said he’d known he was failing to measure up to the previous man in her life. Only a one-night stand, Lucy had said, and it was never going to go anywhere, but it was all too obvious that she would have preferred it to.’

And Sarah could understand why now. She could also begin to understand why her sister had always kept it a secret. A private fantasy that might have been discredited by sharing it with anyone, even her sister. Rick was one of a kind and he would have been completely out of her league back then when Lucy had been just a shy, country girl starting out on her nursing training.

‘He went to the States a month or so later,’ she finished. ‘He never knew Lucy was pregnant. She refused to tell him. Or say who the father was. I only found that out when I requested Josh’s birth certificate after he got sick.’

Silence fell as she finished speaking. Through the crack in the nearby door came a soft whimper.

Sarah tensed and then breathed out with a sigh of resignation. She had to go back to Josh, to be there when he woke up, but it wasn’t as if there wasn’t any point in saying anything more right now. She had dropped the bombshell. The best thing she could do was give Rick the space to get his head around it.

It was hard not to add a plea of some kind before she turned away. Especially seeing as Rick was giving her his undivided attention. Or maybe he was hoping he could make her go ‘poof’ and disappear from his life by sheer willpower. She held his gaze for a long second.

Please, she begged silently. Just…please.

Mike followed Sarah back into the room to check on his young patient and Rick was left in the corridor with just Max for company.

He turned on his heel and began to walk away.

‘Hey…’ Max sounded alarmed. ‘Where are you going?’

‘To find someone to talk to,’ Rick snapped. ‘A mate who might genuinely be in my corner.’

‘I’m in your corner.’ Max caught up with him well before he reached the elevators.

That hadn’t been the impression he’d just got. Rick didn’t pause to push the button or wait for a lift. He didn’t want to give Max the chance to say anything else. Shoving the fire-escape door open, he took to the stairs, ignoring the sound of the footsteps following him. He didn’t even look over his shoulder as he barged into the emergency department.

Jet was listening to a patient’s chest in a cubicle near the internal doors. He glanced up, took in the expression on Rick’s face and smoothly unhooked the earpieces to hang the stethoscope around his neck.

‘You’re quite right,’ he said to the registrar beside him. ‘Order a chest X-ray and start some diuretics. I’ll be in the office for a few minutes. Page me if I’m needed.’ With a commanding jerk of his head, he led both Rick and Max into one of the consultants’ offices.

‘What the hell’s the matter with you two?’

‘Why don’t you ask him?’ Rick growled. He glared at Max.

Jet hooked one leg up to perch on the edge of the desk. He studied Rick for a moment and then turned his attention to Max. And then, surprisingly, he grinned.

‘Takes me right back, this does. Remember when the headmaster caught you two fighting on the dorm floor? You got detention for a month and had to pick up rubbish on the rugby grounds. Matt and I used to fall over ourselves laughing, watching you with your spiky sticks and bags.’

His smile faded, his gaze settling on Max. ‘What? What did I say?’

Max sighed. ‘This has kind of got something to do with Matt, that’s all.’

‘For God’s sake,’ Rick exploded. ‘How can you say that? It’s got nothing to do with Matt.’