Carrying The Single Dad's Baby

‘I’m glad. We don’t have to be friends,’ she said. ‘As long as we agree that our patients come first.’

‘That works for me,’ he said. ‘We’d better get back to the ward.’

‘OK.’ She swallowed the last of her own coffee. ‘Let’s go.’

CHAPTER TWO (#uf6fe56d3-ee73-5743-8a67-de2d8778a848)

THE REST OF the week went smoothly; Beatrice still wasn’t rostered in the same part of the department as Daniel during their shifts, but at least he was civil to her if they happened to be in the staff kitchen at the same time.

On Saturday morning, she headed to the park for the team’s football day out. As Sam had requested, she made some brownies. Remembering that Daniel didn’t like chocolate, she also made flapjacks, as a kind of peace offering. Then again, Daniel might not be there.

She’d just added her offerings to the picnic table when Daniel turned up with a small boy in tow. Even if she hadn’t known that he had a four-year-old son, she would’ve known that the little boy was Daniel’s because they looked so alike. And she was faintly amused to discover that the little boy had a Glaswegian accent almost as strong as his father’s.

But what she hadn’t expected was that Daniel would look so gorgeous in a football kit. The tight-fitting T-shirt showed that he had good abs, and his legs were strong and muscular. He looked more like a model than a doctor, and she wasn’t surprised to see how many admiring glances were headed his way.

‘I didn’t think you’d be here today,’ Daniel said. ‘Or are you a football fan as well as a boxing fan?’

She pushed away the thought of getting hot and sweaty in a boxing ring with him. That really wasn’t appropriate. ‘Hayley and Sam said everyone turns up and has a huge picnic afterwards. I thought it might be a nice way to get to know the team outside work,’ she said.

Daniel shrugged. ‘Fair enough.’

‘Do you work with my daddy?’ the little boy asked.

‘I do,’ Beatrice confirmed.

He looked at her. ‘You’re really tall for a girl.’

‘Iain, don’t be rude,’ Daniel began.

‘It’s fine, and he’s right—I am tall.’ She smiled, and crouched down so she was nearer to the little boy’s height. ‘Is that better?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Hello. I’m Iain.’

‘I’m Beatrice.’ She held out her hand for him to shake.

He shook her hand, but frowned. ‘That’s a strange name.’

‘You can call me Bea, for short.’

He wrinkled his nose. ‘Like a buzzy bee?’

She couldn’t resist Iain’s charm and chutzpah. ‘Just like that,’ she said.

‘Hello, Bee. Are you going to play football?’

‘No, I’m just going to watch,’ she said.

‘I play football. Just like my dad,’ Iain told her proudly, puffing out his chest.

‘Then I’ll make sure I cheer really loudly when you score a goal,’ she said.

Although football really wasn’t her thing, she enjoyed chatting to Hayley on the sidelines, and dutifully clapped and cheered every time a goal was scored.

Iain was running past her, clearly intent on getting to the ball, when he tripped and fell over. Instinctively, she looked up to see where Daniel was: on the far side of the field.

Iain was on his knees, crying and shielding his arm.

What could she do but go over to him until his dad arrived and see if she could sort out the problem?

‘You’re lucky we’re all in the emergency department so we know just how to deal with things when people fall over,’ she said. ‘Where does it hurt, Iain?’

‘Here.’ He pointed to his elbow.

It was very obvious to her that he’d twisted his arm when he fell, so the ligament holding the radial bone in place had slipped, letting the bone dislocate. Given that he was so young, it would be easy to manipulate the bone back into place—but she also knew that it would hurt like mad, very briefly.

‘I need you to be super-brave for me, Iain,’ she said. ‘Do you like chocolate?’

‘Aye.’

‘OK. I can fix what’s wrong, but it means I have to touch your poorly arm and it’ll hurt for about three seconds. After that, it’ll stop hurting,’ she said. ‘I made some really special chocolate brownies you might like, so you can have one afterwards. I just need you to be brave for three seconds, that’s all. Can you do that for me?’

Iain sobbed, ‘I want my dad.’

‘And he’s running across the field towards you right now. He’ll be here really soon. But I really need to slip that bone back into place for you,’ she said. ‘Close your eyes and sing me a song, Iain.’

‘I don’t know any songs,’ he wailed, clearly too scared to be able to think.

‘I bet you know “The Wheels on the Bus”,’ she said. ‘I’ll help you sing it. And I want you to sing it really, really loudly. Can you do that?’

He nodded, his face wet with tears.

She started singing, and the little boy closed his eyes and began to sing along with her, very loudly and very out of tune. The perfect distraction, she hoped. One quick movement and she’d manipulated his arm to put the bone back into place.

Iain was halfway through yelling when he clearly realised that his arm had stopped hurting.

‘Oh. It doesn’t hurt any more,’ he said. ‘You fixed me!’

‘I did,’ she said with a smile.

* * *

Daniel arrived just as Iain flung his arms around Beatrice and hugged her. ‘Thank you, Bee!’

‘What happened?’ he asked.

‘He fell over and dislocated his elbow. I’ve just manipulated it back, but we need to check his pulses and his range of movement.’ Just in case there was a problem and Iain needed an X-ray, Daniel knew.

His own heart was racing madly with fear for his child, but she’d been calm and sorted out the problem without any fuss. He’d do the same. It was what he’d trained all these years for: to be calm when there was an accident or an emergency.