Carrying The Single Dad's Baby

‘Iain, can you move your arms for me and copy what I do?’ he asked.

‘Aye, Dad.’

He checked Iain’s pulses, which were fine, then talked Iain through a range of movements. The little boy copied every movement without flinching or stopping as if he was in pain. Everything seemed completely normal.

‘I hardly need to tell you what happens next,’ Beatrice said.

‘Pain relief if he needs it, put him in a sling for the rest of today to support his elbow, and if he stiffens up and doesn’t use his arm tomorrow take him in for an X-ray.’

She spread her hands. ‘Textbook perfect, Dr Capaldi.’

‘Thank you for looking after him,’ he said.

‘That’s what I’m here for. That,’ she said, ‘and chocolate brownies. I haven’t forgotten what I promised you, Iain.’

‘My dad doesn’t like chocolate. We never have chocolate brownies,’ Iain said.

‘Then your dad can go and finish playing football while you sit and eat brownies with me,’ she said.

‘I...’ Daniel looked at her, wanting to be with his son but not wanting to let the rest of the team down, either.

Beatrice shooed him back to the field. ‘He’ll be fine with me.’ And then she gave him the sassiest smile he’d ever seen, one that made him want to grab her and kiss her. Not good.

‘Trust me—I’m a doctor,’ she said.

It was the cheesiest line in the book. But he’d seen her at work and he’d heard others praising her, saying that she always put the patient first. And Iain seemed to like her. He gave her a speaking look, but headed back to the field. He played for another ten minutes, and then to his relief he was substituted by one of the nurses.

When he went back over to where the spectators were, Iain was chatting animatedly to Beatrice. And Beatrice had used the scarf from her hair to fashion into a sling.

‘Dad! You’re back!’

‘That’s my playing over for today,’ he said. ‘Thank you for looking after Iain. I’ll take over now.’

‘My pleasure. We’ve had a nice time, haven’t we, Iain?’ she asked.

‘She made me a special sling,’ Iain said. ‘Look.’

‘Very nice,’ Daniel said. ‘I’ll wash it when we get home and get it back to you on Monday at work. And now we must let Ms Lindford get on, Iain.’

The little boy frowned. ‘But I like talking to Bee.’

‘She’s busy.’

Out of Iain’s view, she shook her head.

She wasn’t undermining him as a parent—he appreciated the fact she’d disagreed with him without actually saying so in front of his son—but the idea of spending time with her was dangerous. Right now Beatrice’s hair was loose, she was wearing denims cut off at the knee, a strappy top and canvas shoes; and she looked more approachable than she did at work in tailored trousers and a white coat. The way she looked right now, he could just imagine walking hand in hand with her in the sunshine and kissing her under a tree.

He didn’t want to walk hand in hand with anyone in the sunshine or kiss them under a tree, and that included Beatrice Lindford, he told himself sharply.

‘Five more minutes, Dad?’ Iain pleaded. ‘Please.’

Again, out of Iain’s view, she nodded.

Iain’s brown eyes were huge and pleading. How could he resist? ‘All right. Five more minutes.’

‘Bee makes the best chocolate brownies in the world,’ Iain said. ‘Even you would like them, Dad.’

‘I made flapjacks as well.’ She gave him a cheeky grin. ‘And don’t tell me that you don’t like oats. You’re a Scot.’

‘Aye, he is.’ Iain was all puffed up with pride. ‘And so am I.’

‘Peas in a pod, you two.’

But Daniel could see she was laughing with them, not at them.

‘Can I have some flapjacks, too, Bee?’ Iain asked.

‘That’s your dad’s call, not mine,’ she said, lifting her hands in a gesture of surrender.

‘Yes,’ Daniel said. ‘Though there’s a word missing, Iain Capaldi.’

‘Please,’ Iain said.

Daniel ended up trying a flapjack himself, and it surprised him. ‘That’s actually better than my grandmother’s—and don’t you dare tell your great-gran I said that, Iain,’ he added swiftly.

‘My great-granny makes the best ice cream in the world,’ Iain said. ‘Do you like ice cream, Bee?’

‘I do,’ Beatrice said with a smile, completely charmed by the way he pronounced his Rs.

‘You should come to Glasgow and try my great-granny’s special ice cream. It’s fab.’

‘Maybe sometime,’ Beatrice said.

Iain chattered away to her, and Daniel couldn’t help watching them. Iain was usually shy with strangers, so it was unusual for him to be so talkative. Maybe it was because Beatrice had reduced his dislocated elbow and stopped him being in such pain. Or maybe he was responding to her gentleness.

Against his better judgement, he was starting to like Beatrice Lindford. Too much for his own peace of mind. She was the first woman since Jenny he’d even thought about holding hands with, let alone anything else. Which made her dangerous.

Iain didn’t stop talking about her all the way home, either.

‘She looks like a princess,’ he said. ‘She’s got real golden hair.’

Hair that Daniel couldn’t get out of his head, now he’d seen it loose.

‘And it’s long.’

Yeah. Daniel had noticed.

‘Like the princess in the story Miss Shields told us in class. The one in the tower. Her hair was so long she could make it into a ladder. Ra...’ He paused, his forehead wrinkled in a frown as he tried to remember the princess’s name.