And as he lifted his daughter toward her crib one small nappy hit the floor.
Dawn found Nate wide awake, waiting for eight o’clock. Waiting until he could make a few phone calls to Sydney.
‘If I’m not back tomorrow I risk being sacked.’
He remembered what Gemma had said when she’d been facing the long drive back to Sydney. That alone warranted a phone call but Nate hesitated before making it, thinking it through. There was an idea germinating in his head. A way out of this mess. Maybe…
First things first. Gemma had to be a better doctor than her sister, he thought, and any fool could tell that she was.
But he needed to check. Never again would he risk patients’ lives by employing someone without thorough checking. He’d employed Fiona on the basis of written testimonials and fantastic academic results and look where that had landed him. So instead of ringing Gemma’s direct boss he found himself ringing a friend of his. He’d trained with Jeff. Jeff was a pathologist based at Sydney Central and the hospital wasn’t that big. He must know Gemma.
He did. Jeff’s response was direct and filled with warmth. ‘Gemma. Of course I know Gemma. What the hell’s she doing down there?’
Nate told him and there was a long silence on the end of the line.
‘Poor kid. Is there no end to her troubles? And Margot will have kittens,’ he said at last. ‘Hell.’
‘Margot being Gemma’s boss?’
‘That’s the one. I could put you through to let you explain but I don’t like your chances of keeping Gemma’s job open until she gets back. Margot’s not one for suffering fools gladly.’
Nate frowned. ‘Meaning Gemma’s a fool.’
‘Hell, no.’ There was no hesitation there. ‘There’s no one I’d rather work with than Gemma. She’s a fine anaesthetist-a fine doctor.’
‘But Margot’s attitude…’
‘Margot couldn’t stand the sister. Come to think of it, no one could-once they saw past that beautiful face. She was as mad as a cut snake and what she and that husband of hers did to Gemma…’
Husband? Fiona’s husband? Nate was confused but Jeff continued without pausing for breath. He sounded indignant.
‘They fed her a pack of lies. And she believed it. Hell, as far as I know, she still believes it. She won’t talk about Fiona to anyone. And now she’s dead. I still can’t believe it. Of all the waste… Stupid cow.’
Nate was no longer sure who they were talking about-and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. Fiona’s lurid background had nothing to do with him any more. Except for one baby…
‘But Gemma’s OK?’
‘Gemma’s great.’ The indignation was replaced again with warmth. ‘She works herself to death-burning the candle at both ends just trying to stay afloat-but she’s a wonderful team member. When do you reckon she’ll be back?’
‘I guess that depends on Margot.’
‘Well, good luck with that, mate,’ Jeff said ruefully. ‘I’ll put you through but I warn you-hold your earpiece away from your ear or you’ll risk a perforated eardrum.’
‘Awake?’
If she hadn’t been, she was now. Gemma opened her eyes and sat bolt upright, and she said the first thing that entered her mind.
‘Cady.’
‘Cady’s fine.’
Nate’s voice said she’d better believe him and she did. She closed her eyes and a shudder went right through her. And then she opened them.
She was in bed-and it was some bed. It was some bedroom.
She’d been so tired the night before that she’d fallen into bed without noticing, and her foray into the hospital had been done in the dark. But now… Daylight brought reality and reality was…well, wow!
The room was enormous, with a huge four-poster bed claiming pride of place in the centre of the room. There were high ceilings, vast, billowing curtains, a fireplace complete with glowing coals from the fire lit the night before-and wide French windows looking out to the veranda and down to the river beyond.
And between here and the river… There was a vast wing that looked like a conservatory but Gemma blinked and looked again as she saw through the huge wall of glass. It was a swimming pool! A magnificent indoor pool. She could see the steam rise gently from here and she thought, Wow!
This was the bedroom of dreams-the house of dreams-and this was a doctors’ residence?
Well, this was certainly a doctor. Nate was watching her with amused eyes, and this morning he was all doctor. He was wearing a white coat over his casual jeans, and a stethoscope dangled erratically from his pocket.
Doctor at ease…
‘Good morning,’ he told her-and smiled. And she blinked.
What a smile! It was enough to make a girl forget about taking the next breath.
‘Good morning,’ she managed, and if her voice was feeble, well, who could blame her?
‘Um… Have I died and gone to heaven?’
His grin deepened. ‘It’s great, isn’t it?’
‘I feel like I should at the very least be wearing a tiara.’ She stared around her in deep appreciation. ‘It’s wonderful.’
‘It is at that.’
‘You did say it was the doctors’ quarters.’
‘We believe in living well.’
We…
Was he living with someone, then? The 1920s woman?
Who Nate Ethan was living with was hardly important. Cady was important.
‘You said Cady is fine?’
‘I said Cady is fine. He’s been awake, he’s eaten a little breakfast, we have his sugar levels down to fourteen-still high, I know, but it’s a vast improvement-and he’s now asleep again.’
‘But he woke.’ Gemma’s face creased in distress. ‘And I wasn’t there. You said you’d wake me…’
‘If Cady needed you,’ he finished for her. ‘He slept right through the night, he stirred before Jane went off duty, she fed him herself and she cuddled him back to sleep. He’s fine. He’s a very self-assured young man.’
‘He has to be,’ she said, still distressed. ‘He spends his time in a crèche. It’s so unfair.’
‘He’s quite a kid.’
Her eyes flashed to his-checking to see if this was just politeness. Something he’d say to all his patients about their children. But it was no such thing. His eyes met hers and held, and she thought she could believe what this man said.
He liked Cady.
‘I like him myself,’ she told him, and he smiled.
‘Is that why you took him on?’
She hesitated. ‘I took him on because Fiona refused to have him adopted and refused to care for him. She knew I couldn’t bear to see him neglected. She thought it’d finish my medical career, you see.’
He shook his head. ‘No. I don’t see.’
She shrugged. ‘Maybe you don’t have to. Fiona’s jealousy of me was almost unbalanced. Or maybe I should say it was definitely unbalanced.’
‘She was psychotic?’
‘In a way-yes.’ Then she glanced down at the clock on her bedside table and she started in dismay. ‘Yikes!’ She tossed back the covers-then she hauled them hastily back when she remembered what she was wearing. She’d gone to bed in her T-shirt and panties but she’d hauled off her jeans and she was scarcely respectable. ‘Um…sorry.’
She must really look a sight, she thought ruefully, in her too-big T-shirt, with her black curls in a tangled mat around her shoulders and… And not much else.
But Nate was smiling. ‘Think nothing of it,’ he said magnanimously and his mischievous grin flashed out. ‘I’ll just think of you as a patient.’
‘Yeah, right.’ But her mind was moving on past his dangerous smile to the next problem. ‘I can’t believe it.’
‘You can’t believe what?’
‘It’s eight-thirty. Why didn’t you wake me?’
‘You needed to sleep as much as Cady did.’