Unlocking The Italian Doc's Heart

‘Fine.’ Jenna poured herself half a glass of wine. ‘The new senior reg started today.’

‘What’s he or she like?’

‘He’s nice. Robert asked me to look after him in the PAU today.’

Lucy smiled. ‘Because you, my dear sister, are brilliant at tucking new people under your wing.’

‘Because I had a good example to follow in the best primary school teacher ever,’ Jenna pointed out, and lifted her glass in a toast. ‘So how was your day?’

‘Fine. Ava spent the whole day chatting.’

Jenna grinned. ‘That’s because she takes after her aunt.’

‘Strictly speaking—’ Lucy began.

‘I’m her aunt,’ Jenna said firmly. ‘Lu, we’ve been through this enough times. In every way, Ava is your and Will’s daughter. All I did was lend you my womb for a few months—which I know you would have done for me if our situations had been the other way round.’

‘Of course I would.’ Lucy bit her lip. ‘Though the egg was yours, too.’

‘And, as we’re identical twins, that means our genes are the same, so my egg is exactly the same as yours would’ve been,’ Jenna reminded her. ‘As far as I’m concerned, Ava’s biologically yours, as well as legally and morally.’

Their friends and family—apart from one notable exception—had all been supportive about the surrogate pregnancy, but Jenna knew Lucy felt guilty about it. And usually Lucy’s doubts came to the surface when someone had upset her on the subject. ‘Has someone said something to you?’ she asked gently.

‘No—well, yes,’ Lucy admitted.

‘I hope you told them to walk a mile in your shoes and learn a few facts before they give you any more of their uninformed opinions.’

Lucy winced. ‘It’s my fault. The subject of surrogacy came up at toddler group. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.’

‘You have nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, your story might actually help someone who’s struggling with the same issues you went through, and could see that there might just be a light for them, too, at the end of the tunnel.’ Jenna sighed. ‘But we seem to live in an age where everyone thinks their opinion is more valid than anyone else’s, and they don’t consider anyone else’s feelings before they open their mouths.’ Someone had clearly hectored her sister on the subject of surrogate babies. Jenna would’ve quite liked a serious chat with whoever had been so thoughtless, so she could put them very straight on the subject—and then shake them very hard until their teeth rattled.

‘I guess.’

Jenna frowned. ‘Lu, you know Ava’s yours.’ Had Lucy not been in a serious car crash which had ruptured her womb and damaged both her ovaries, five years ago, she wouldn’t have needed an emergency hysterectomy at the age of twenty-seven, putting an end to any hope of having her own children naturally.

‘I know.’

Jenna’s frown deepened. ‘Please tell me whoever it was didn’t say something as vile as Danny did.’

‘No-o.’

Which meant they had and Lucy didn’t want to admit it. Jenna put her glass on the worktop and hugged her twin. ‘Listen to me, you numpty. I love Will dearly, but purely as a brother. I don’t fancy him and I never have. He doesn’t fancy me, either. He’d drive me absolutely crackers if I had to live with him and all his vague professor stuff—just as I’d drive him crackers by bossing him around and organising him down to the last second instead of letting him get away with it, the way you do. And I love you more than anyone else in the world, Lu. I offered to be your surrogate because I was the one person who could actually make things right again after the adoption agency turned you and Will down. I hated seeing you with a broken heart and I desperately wanted to be able to help you. Just as you would’ve done, if it had been me in your shoes. And you already know all that, Lu, so I don’t know why I need to tell you again.’

Lucy swallowed hard. ‘I know.’

‘So please don’t listen to some over-opinionated, thoughtless woman who clearly doesn’t have a clue what it’s like to be in that situation or care how she makes other people feel.’

Lucy swallowed hard. ‘But I do feel guilty, Jen. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be married to Danny by now.’

‘And we’d probably be divorced,’ Jenna pointed out dryly. ‘Marrying him would’ve been a huge mistake.’

Lucy frowned. ‘Would it? Because I worry that you’re lonely.’

‘I don’t need a partner to have a fulfilling life,’ Jenna said firmly. She wasn’t going to admit to her twin in a million years that yes, sometimes she did feel lonely, when she woke at three in the morning and couldn’t sleep. ‘And I definitely don’t need a partner who’s going to issue ultimatums every time I suggest something that doesn’t fit in with his world view. Any man who asks me to choose between him and you is going to lose—every single time.’ She sang a snatch from the old song ‘Sisters’, just to emphasise the point, and hugged Lucy again. ‘Danny lacked compassion. If anything, you did me a favour, because his reaction to the surrogacy is what made me finally realise that he saw everything in terms of financial cost.’

‘But being our surrogate lost you your relationship.’

‘Which wouldn’t have worked in the long run, believe me. I don’t want to be with someone who puts a price on everything and can’t see any value if it can’t be counted in cash. That isn’t how I see things, and that kind of attitude makes me really unhappy. Marrying Danny would’ve been a disaster.’

‘With the IVF treatment and the pregnancy, it cost you a year out of your career,’ Lucy persisted.

‘Which I can make up.’

‘And it hit your earnings.’

That had been one of Danny’s biggest arguments, and Jenna had despised him for it. Some things were way, way more important than money. Like her sister’s happiness. Family. Love. ‘I really don’t care about the money, Lu. I had savings, and you and Will helped out with my rent. We managed just fine. It isn’t an issue.’

‘You’ve got an answer for everything, haven’t you?’ Lucy asked with a sigh.

‘Yup. So, oh, best sister in the world, try to stop worrying about it and let me go and take a peek at my gorgeous niece—and I promise not to wake her.’

‘I love you,’ Lucy said.

‘I love you, too,’ Jenna said with a smile.

She tiptoed upstairs and crept into the nursery; Ava was fast asleep in her cot, with her hands thrown back over her head, looking totally angelic. Although Jenna had given birth to the baby, she’d always considered Ava as being Lucy’s, not hers. And the love she felt for Ava wasn’t that of a mother: it was that of a doting aunt. Which was just how it should be, in her view.

‘Sleep tight, my beautiful niece,’ she whispered, and tiptoed out of the nursery.

* * *

Back down in the kitchen, Will had joined Lucy and greeted Jenna with a hug.

‘Perfect timing,’ Lucy said with a smile, and served up.

Jenna took one mouthful and sighed in bliss. ‘You really do make the best lasagne in the world.’

‘And at least I know you’re going to eat properly when you have dinner with us on Monday nights,’ Lucy said.

‘I do eat properly,’ Jenna protested.

‘Not when you’re really busy on the ward, you don’t. You grab a chocolate bar or a bowl of cereal.’

Jenna grinned. ‘You do exactly the same when you’re up to your eyes in baseline assessments in the first three weeks of the new school year and Will’s forgotten the time and that it was his turn to cook that night.’

‘I don’t forget the time,’ Will protested.

The sisters looked at him and laughed. ‘Oh, you do, honey,’ Lucy said, and leaned over to kiss him. ‘Half the time you live in the first century, not the twenty-first.’