All was quiet. There were only four patients in the little bush nursing hospital-four patients plus Cady and Mia. And there were no problems tonight. Everyone seemed to be sleeping. Nate made his way through to kids’ ward and Jane was there, sitting beside Cady. When the nurse saw him she smiled and rose.
‘They’re both fine. I’ve just taken Cady’s blood pressure and sugar levels and he didn’t stir. You want to see?’ She handed over the chart.
Twenty. His sugar level was dropping already. Good. It looked good. He gazed down at the sleeping child and he thought, Hell, what a diagnosis. It was so unfair.
But at least this was the twenty-first century, he thought thankfully. Fifty years ago this diagnosis would have meant major health problems. Now, as long as Cady was careful with himself, there was no reason to think he couldn’t look forward to a long and eventful life.
But he’d still have to cope with insulin injections. Maybe medical researchers would develop a constant infusion mechanism, he thought, to halt the need for constant injections. Or a cure. Soon…
‘Nate, he’ll be fine,’ the nurse said, watching his face and obviously puzzled by his reaction. ‘Kids take to diabetes really easily-much more so than adults. My nephew’s diabetic and he lectures me about good and bad foods all the time.’
‘Yes. I know.’
Still she was watching him with curiosity. There was a lot going on here that Jane didn’t understand.
But she did understand one thing.
‘Your daughter needs feeding.’ There was a vague whimpering from behind the partition. Mia was stirring and her whimpering was threatening to build to a full-throated roar. But not yet. She was simply letting them know it was time.
‘Do you want to feed her?’
‘No, I-’
‘I’ll prepare the formula,’ she told him, disregarding his refusal as if he hadn’t made it. ‘You change her nappy.’
‘Me…?’
‘You have to start some time-Daddy.’ And she grinned and headed to the kitchen before he could say another word.
His daughter.
Mia was his daughter.
Somehow Nate changed her nappy-a thing he would have thought impossible. There was nothing to it, he thought as he adjusted the tapes. He lifted her from the change table feeling smug.
Her nappy fell to the floor.
Whoops.
‘OK, young lady, let’s try again.’
The second attempt was no better than the first but he had the sense not to pick her up straight off. He wrapped her up in her bunny rug before lifting her and when he picked her up he carried her horizontally back to his chair.
Miraculously the nappy stayed put. Great. Well done, he thought, and his chest expanded a notch or two with paternal pride. Nothing to this parenting caper…
Now what? He’d hauled on jeans and a T-shirt before he’d come into the hospital and it had been a good choice. His T-shirt was soft and warm, and the baby nestled in as if she belonged. Her tiny rosebud mouth puckered as she turned her cheek, searching for a teat.
‘It’s coming,’ he told her. Jane entered with Mia’s bottle and he looked up at her and smiled. ‘Just in time. She looks as if she’s planning a riot.’
‘They’re good at getting what they want.’ And she handed him the bottle.
‘Aren’t you-?’
‘She’s not a patient,’ Jane said softly. ‘She’s your daughter. Your baby. You feed your baby, Dr Ethan. From this day forth…’
Gemma woke and it was still dark. For a moment she couldn’t think where she was and then the events of the previous day flooded back.
Cady…
She’d just check.
By the glimmer of moonlight streaming in across her bed she could see there was a gown of sorts hanging behind the door. Where was she, for heaven’s sake? She’d been three-quarters asleep when she’d fallen into bed.
It wasn’t worth taking her bearings now. The gown looked big and warm-in fact, it fell all the way to the floor and would have wrapped around her twice. She snuggled into it and made her way through the darkened house to the hospital next door.
Nate was there.
For a moment she thought she was dreaming. She opened the door of kids’ ward and there he was.
He was settled into an easy chair beside the crib, and he was holding his baby daughter in his arms. The overhead light was off. Only a dim night-light shone beside the chair.
But it was enough to see him by. And the look on his face…
It made her catch her breath in sheer astonishment.
He hadn’t heard her. He was intent only on the baby in his arms. Mia was nearing the end of the bottle, sated with milk, warmth and the security of a baby who knew that everything in her life was right.
And why shouldn’t it be? Gemma thought, dazed. That such a man should hold her. And love her…
It might just work, she thought incredulously. Nate was looking down into his daughter’s tiny face with such a look of wonder and awe…
It was as if he’d been granted a miracle.
She would have tiptoed away. If she could have. But Cady was beyond him, through the partition separating babies from children. She took a step forward and Nate looked up and saw her.
‘Gemma?’
He sounded as surprised as she was-and maybe he was. She must look a sight. This was some crazy dressing-gown. It was made of quilted velvet-vast and luxurious and totally over the top. She felt like she had an insect-sized head on a vast crimson body.
‘Um…sorry. I was just checking on Cady.’
He didn’t move. How could he? He was holding his daughter.
‘Cady’s fine,’ he told her. ‘His sugar’s down past twenty. The saline drip’s being running for six hours now so he’ll have fluids aboard. The worst is over.’
The worst is over… Gemma let that sink in. The enormity of it.
The last four weeks had been hell. Culminating in tonight. She walked around the partition, looked down at Cady’s sleeping face and thought, Is it true?
Is the worst over?
Maybe. And if Nate could learn to love his daughter…
She’d only have one responsibility. Only Cady. And with Cady she could cope.
She loved him so much. She closed her eyes and trouble flooded back. The thought of tomorrow. Of saving her job. Of facing Alan with this further drain on her salary. He’d known she was bringing Mia here and he’d approved, but she should be back in Sydney now.
If she lost her job he’d be furious, and with good reason.
But how could she cope? Would the child-care centre take Cady back, knowing that he was a diabetic?
She’d resign and take care of him-but if she lost her job, Alan would-
‘Worry about tomorrow tomorrow,’ Nate said gently, and she jumped. Heck, what was it about the man? Did he have a crystal ball?
‘I’m not-’
‘You’re worrying about the future. One day at a time, Gemma. Or one night. And speaking of nights, you have no business being awake. I put you to bed.’
‘I’m not very good at staying put.’
‘I can see that.’ Nate rose and stood looking down at her, his tiny daughter cradled in his arms. ‘But there are no problems tonight. I’m in charge. And look,’ he told her, and there was a huge amount of pride in his voice, ‘I’ve fed her, I’ve changed her nappy and I’ve put her back to sleep.’
‘That’s wonderful.’ And it was. Gemma smiled up at him, their smiles caught and held-and all of a sudden the room was full of something she didn’t understand.
What?
It was like an electric charge. Her body felt weird-tingly-strange, and Nate’s eyes were warming her from the toes up.
When finally she found her voice it came out wrong. Like a breathless whisper. Which was stupid.
‘Um…maybe I’d best go back to bed.’
‘Maybe you had.’ He grinned but the tiny flicker of uncertainty behind his eyes told her that he’d felt it, too. Whatever it was. ‘Don’t worry about me,’ he told her. ‘I’m coping brilliantly. Superdad, that’s me.’