Midwife...to Mum!

‘I’ll feed Adam dinner, then.’

Flynn sighed. ‘I owe you. Again.’

Marie chuckled. ‘Get over yourself. I love having him.’

Yeah, she did, but that didn’t make everything right. For Adam. Or for him.

William lived ten minutes away and halfway there Flynn decided he should’ve rung first to make sure the man was at home and not at the club, enjoying a beer. William didn’t know it yet, but beer would be off the menu for a while.

William opened his front door on the third knock, and appeared taken aback to find Flynn on his doorstep after dark. ‘Doc, what’s up?’

‘Can I come in for a minute?’

William’s eyes shifted sideways. ‘What you want to tell me?’

The man was ominously pale. He hadn’t been like that earlier. ‘Let me in and we’ll discuss it.’ From the state of William’s breathing and speech, Flynn knew there’d be a bottle of whisky on the bench. That wouldn’t be helping the situation. ‘It’s important.’

With a sigh the older man stepped back, hauling the door wide at the same time. ‘I haven’t done the housework this week, Doc, so mind where you step.’

This week? Flynn tried not to breathe too deeply, and didn’t bother looking into the rooms they passed. It was all too obvious the man was living in squalor. He wasn’t coping with Edna’s passing, hadn’t since day one, and nothing Flynn or William’s daughter had done or said made the slightest bit of difference. The man had given up, hence Flynn’s visit. A phone call would never have worked. Besides, he needed to be with William as he absorbed the news.

In the kitchen William’s shaky hands fidgeted with an empty glass he’d lifted from the table. He didn’t look directly at Flynn, not even for a moment, but every few seconds his eyes darted sideways across the kitchen. Sure enough, an almost full whisky bottle was on the bench, as were three empty ones. How long had it taken for him to drink his way through those?

It would be too easy to tell the man some cold hard facts about his living conditions and his drinking, but Flynn couldn’t do it. He understood totally what it was like to lose the woman he loved more than life. He suspected if it hadn’t been for Adam and having to put on a brave face every single day, he might’ve made as big a mess of his own life after Anna had been killed. He still struggled with the sense of living a life mapped out by fate, one that held none of his choices.

Pulling out a chair, he indicated William should sit down. Then he straddled another one, not looking at the condition of the once beautiful brocade on the seat. ‘William, your test results have come back. They’re not good, I’m afraid.’

‘Figured that’d be why you’re here.’

‘The major concern is that you’ve had a cardiac incident. A heart attack, William.’

Rheumy eyes lifted to stare at him, but William said nothing, just shrugged.

‘You need to go to hospital tonight. They’ll run more tests and keep an eye on you until they find the cause of the attack.’

‘What else?’ William wheezed the question.

‘They’ll give you advice on diet and exercise.’ Things he’d have no inclination to follow. The same as with any advice he had given him.

‘I meant what other tests were bad?’

He was about to add to the man’s gloomy outlook, but couldn’t see a way around it. All he could hope for was that he shocked his patient into doing something about his lifestyle before it was too late. ‘Your cholesterol’s high, which probably explains your cardiac arrest. You’ve got diabetes and your liver’s not in good nick.’

‘I hit the jackpot, didn’t I?’ The sadness in William’s voice told how much he didn’t care any more. ‘I don’t suppose you went on a bender when you lost your wife, Doc.’

Yeah, he had. Just one huge bender, when he’d almost killed himself. Big enough and frightening enough to put him off ever doing it again. But he knew he still might’ve if it hadn’t been for Adam. ‘I couldn’t afford to, William.’

‘I get it. Your boy.’

‘You’ve got family who care about you, too.’ Flynn tried to think of something that might interest William in getting his act together, but nothing came to mind, apart from his daughter and grandkids. That had been tried before and William hadn’t run with it. ‘Now, don’t get upset, but I’ve ordered the ambulance to transfer you to hospital. It should be here any minute.’

‘I don’t need that. I can drive myself there.’

‘What if you have another heart attack and cause an accident that hurts someone?’

There was silence in the kitchen. Not a lot William could say to that. He was a decent man, unable to cope with a tragedy. He wasn’t reckless with other people.

‘I’ll wait here until you’re on your way. Want me to talk to your daughter?’ Working in the ED, he’d have phoned the cardiologist and had William wheeled to the ward, no argument. Patients were in the ED because someone recognised the urgency of their situation. Urgent meant urgent—not talking and cajoling. He missed that fast pace at times, but if he got William under way to getting well then he’d feel deep satisfaction.

‘After I’ve left. Don’t want her telling me off tonight.’ William stared around the kitchen, brought his gaze back to Flynn. ‘Don’t suppose I can have a whisky for the road.’

By the time Flynn finally made it home Adam was in his pyjamas and glued to the TV. ‘Hiya, Dad.’

‘Hello, my man.’ Tonight he couldn’t find it in him to make Adam stop watching—an Anna rule or not. Instead, he turned to Marie. ‘I appreciate you bringing him home.’

Marie was already buttoning up her coat, the gaps between the buttons splayed wide over her baby bulge. ‘Have you decided who’s going to look after Adam when my little one arrives?’ Marie was determined to look after Adam right up to the last minute. She’d also sorted through the numerous girls wanting to take her place until she was ready to take Adam back under her wing and had decided on two likely applicants.

‘Caught. I’ll get onto it.’ He pushed his fingers through his hair. ‘Tonight?’

‘Whenever.’ She laughed. ‘It’s not as though you’ll be left high and dry. Half the island would love to look after Dr Reynolds’s boy. Not just because he’s such a cute little blighter either. There’s a family likeness between father and son.’

‘Haven’t you got a husband waiting at home for his dinner?’ He wasn’t keen on dating any of the island’s females. Too close to home and work. Anyway, no one had caught his interest in the last two years. Not until Ally had got knocked over by Sheba, that was.

Ally wasn’t answering when he phoned after putting Adam to bed. She wasn’t answering her phone when he called at nine, after giving in to the tiredness dragging at his bones and sitting down to watch a crime programme on TV. She might’ve answered if he’d rung as he was going to bed at ten thirty, but he didn’t want her to think he was stalking her.

But she sure as hell stalked him right into bed. As he sprawled out under the covers he missed her not being there beside him, even though she’d never seen his bed, let alone lain in it. He stretched his legs wide to each side and got the same old empty spaces, only tonight they felt cold and lonely. Make that colder and lonelier. In his head, hot and sexy Ally with those brilliant hazel eyes was watching and laughing, teasing, playing with him. How was he supposed to remain aloof, for pity’s sake? He was only human—last time he looked.

Was this what happened when he hadn’t had sex for so long? Should he have been making an effort to find an obliging woman for a bit of relaxation and fun? He yawned.

Did Ally know she’d cranked up his libido? Yeah, it was quite possible she did, if the way the air crackled between them whenever they came within touching distance was any indication.

So follow up on it. Have some fun. Have sex. Have an affair with her. It would only be four weeks before Ally moved on. He wouldn’t disrupt Adam’s routine too much or for too long.

Flynn rolled over to punch his pillow and instead squashed his awakening reaction to the woman in his head. The air hissed out of his lungs as he grinned. That had to be a good sign for the future, didn’t it?

‘Morning, Ally,’ Megan called as she stepped through the front door of the clinic on Tuesday. ‘I see you’ve found the best coffee on the island already.’

‘First thing I do on any job.’ She sniffed the air appreciatively just to wind Megan up.

Scowling happily at her, Megan lifted her own container then asked, ‘What did you think of the movie?’

‘It was great. Nothing like a few vampires to fill in the evening.’ She’d bumped into the receptionist and her boyfriend as they’d been walking into the theatre. ‘Seeing you there made me feel I’d been living here for a while.’

Megan laughed. ‘Small towns are like that. Believe me, people around here will know what you had for dinner last night.’

‘Then they’ll be giving me lectures on healthy eating. Fried chicken and chips from Mrs Chook’s.’ It had been delicious, even if she should’ve been looking for a salad bar. In winter? Hey, being good about food could sometimes be highly overrated. Anyway, she’d wanted comfort food because when she had gone back to the flat after work she’d felt unusually out of sorts. Arrival day in a new place, yes, that was normal; every other day thereafter, never.

This nomadic life had been one of her goals ever since she’d left school and become independent of the welfare system. Those goals had been simple—earn the money to put herself through a nursing degree then support herself entirely with a job that she could give everything to but which wouldn’t tie her to one place. Along with that went to establish a life where she didn’t depend on anyone for anything, including friendship or love.