Christmas-Eve Baby (11 page)

She stared into Chloe’s gentle, caring eyes another second, then looked away hastily, her eyes prickling with tears. ‘I hadn’t realised gossip was that rife.’

‘Oh, Lucy, this is Penhally. And it’s only because everybody loves you and wants a happy ending for you.’

She swallowed hard. ‘I wish.’

Chloe squeezed her arm. ‘Come on. You’ll get there. Fancy coming round to mine this evening and letting me feed you?’

She opened her mouth, shut it, then said, ‘I ought to talk to Ben. My father doesn’t know yet but, judging by the sound of it, it won’t be long.’

‘OK. But make him feed you properly, and get an early night. And go straight to the hospital tomorrow—in fact, sit there, I’ll book you in now.’

She rang the hospital while Lucy sat obediently, and thought about her friend’s revelations. Did the whole world
really
know about Ben? Or did it just seem like it?

‘Right. Eight-thirty. So you can stay at Ben’s, and you won’t have such a long drive in the morning.’

‘I can organise my own life,’ she grumbled gently, but Chloe just laughed and opened the door for her.

‘Of course you can. I’ll get them to call me with the results. Don’t forget to eat.’

‘Stop nagging,’ Lucy said, and went into the staffroom. It
was empty, but the coffee-tables had been moved to the centre, the chairs were grouped around them and there were clean mugs set out on the side next to a tin of Hazel’s fairings.

Eat, Chloe had said, so she ate. She had one, then another, and then there was a tap on the door and Ben came in.

‘Hi!’ she said, overjoyed to see him, and he shut the door and pulled her into his arms.

‘How’s my favourite girl today?’ he murmured, smiling down at her and nuzzling her nose with his.

She sighed and rested her head on his chest. ‘In trouble. I’ve just had a lecture from my midwife. Apparently I need to eat more.’

‘Well, I keep telling you that. Are there any of Hazel’s biscuits around?’

‘Yes, in that tin—and I’ve had two, before you start. And I’ve got to have a scan tomorrow morning—eight-thirty. Can I stay with you tonight?’

He paused, his hands on the tin, and turned back to her. ‘Of course you can.’

‘Do you want—?’

‘Can I—?’

They spoke together, and Ben laughed and said, ‘You first.’

‘I was going to ask if you want to come.’

‘And I was going to ask if I could.’

‘That’s a yes, then.’

‘If you don’t mind.’

‘I’d love you to be there.’

He tipped his head on one side and studied her thoughtfully. ‘Funny time for a scan.’

‘My placenta was a little low at the eighteen-week scan, so they wanted to check at thirty-four.’

His brows clamped together. ‘Low? How low?’

‘Nothing to worry about. It’s just a routine check.’

‘But you’re not even quite thirty-two weeks,’ he said, holding her at arm’s length and searching her eyes. ‘So why now? Two weeks early? Is this because you’re not gaining enough? It’s that bad?’

She sighed and confessed. ‘I haven’t put any weight on for two weeks.’

‘Then I’m definitely going to be there,’ he said firmly. ‘Now, about these fairings,’ he said, opening the tin and holding one out to her.

‘Ben, I’ve had two.’

‘That’s not enough. Come on, open wide.’

She was laughing up at him, pushing him away and fighting over the biscuit when the door opened and her father walked in and stopped dead in the doorway.

Oh, rats. Of all the timing…

Ben dropped his hands, stepped away from her and met his ice-cold eyes. ‘Dr Tremayne.’

‘Carter,’ he said, but she could tell the word nearly choked him. Even the sound of Ben’s name had been like a curse for years. He hated him. Blamed him for her mother’s death, and hated him, and no amount of reasoning would get him to see sense.

This afternoon, clearly, wasn’t going to be the time. His taut, still firm jaw was clenched, the dark eyes unyielding as he stared at Ben for an endless, breathless moment.

Please, don’t let him be rude, Lucy prayed. Don’t let him start anything. Not here, not with everyone due here in moments.

God was obviously otherwise engaged.

‘Bit early, aren’t you?’ Nick said softly, but there was a deadly edge to his voice that made Lucy’s heart beat faster.

Ben shrugged. ‘Not really. I didn’t want to be late. I consider this expansion to be very important for the local community, and since I’m part of it I take my contribution very seriously—’

Her father’s snort cut him off and his mouth tightened. ‘Really? I can see just how seriously you were taking it.’

‘Dad!’ she cut in, trying to avert a scene. ‘Come on. This isn’t the time or the place.’

His eyes flicked back to her. ‘No—and I would have thought you could have found yourself something more useful to do than fighting over the biscuits,’ he growled, and she felt her temper start to fray.

‘Actually, he was trying to get me to look after myself,’ she pointed out, but her father just snorted again.

‘It’ll be a cold day in hell when a member of the Tremayne family needs advice on their health from Ben Carter,’ he said, his voice harsh. ‘And I would have thought you’d have greater loyalty to your mother than to be playing the fool with the man who—’

‘Leave my mother out of this,’ she snapped. ‘You know perfectly well that Ben wasn’t at fault.’

‘Do I?’ He looked Ben up and down with eyes that blazed with anger and pain, and a lesser man would have flinched.

Ben just calmly returned his stare. ‘Dr Tremayne, this was settled two years ago—’

‘You expect me to believe that report? You know damn well the inquiry was rigged.’

Lucy gasped, and there was a muted sound of reproach from Kate. Behind him, she could see the practice manager
with the trust architect and finance executive in tow, the other GPs clustered on the landing behind them.

How much had they all heard? She didn’t know. Anything would be too much. A muscle twitched in Ben’s jaw, but apart from that and the dull run of colour on his cheekbones there was no other reaction from him.

‘I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,’ he said, and made to turn away, but Nick’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

‘What—the truth?’ her father went on doggedly, but Ben had had enough.

He turned back, eyes blazing with anger, and said, his voice deathly quiet, ‘Dr Tremayne, I’m not here because I want to be, but because I believe in this project. I was asked to contribute, and if you don’t want me here, all you have to do is say the word and I’ll leave. Believe me, I have plenty to do.’

They glared at each other, then Nick took a deep breath and let it out. ‘We’re in the same boat, then. I’m only here because I want what’s best for my practice and my community. You, I keep being told, are the best. So stay, and we’ll get this damned meeting over, and then we can all go and get on with our lives. But stay away from my daughter, Carter. There are some nasty rumours flying around, and I hope they’re just that. If I ever hear you’ve laid so much as a finger on her—’

‘You’ll what?’ Lucy cut in, furious with him and on the verge of tears. ‘He’s a friend of mine. I can’t help it if you don’t like that, but I’m twenty-nine, for heaven’s sake! You don’t get to dictate my friendships, so just get over it and let’s move on. Everybody’s waiting.’

Kate gave Nick a none-too-gentle shove in the ribs, and
he took a step forward. Ben moved back out of his way and the cameo broke up, everyone busily settling themselves down and not knowing quite where to look.

Except Ben. He sat opposite her while Kate made the tea and handed it round, his eyes fixed on her, and every time she looked up he was there, the look in his eyes reassuring.

‘Right, shall I introduce everybody?’ Kate said, and gradually the awkward silence eased. She and Ben both put in their contributions on the proposed plans, she talked the architect through it on paper, Dragan and Marco chipped in with their take on it—only Nick was silent, speaking when he was spoken to but otherwise just watching, his eyes never leaving Ben’s face.

He knows, she thought with sudden certainty. Or thinks he does. He certainly suspects.

‘What do you think, Lucy?’

Think? Think about what? She dragged her mind back to the discussion, apologised and asked Marco to repeat what he’d said.

‘We were talking about the advisability of delaying the implementation of the new MIU until after you return from maternity leave,’ Kate said.

‘Um—no,’ she said, wondering if she would be returning from maternity leave or if she’d even have a job to come back to once her father knew the truth. ‘I think you should go ahead, at least with the planning stage. That’ll take some time, won’t it?’

‘Indeed,’ the architect said. ‘I need to examine the outside of the building before it’s dark, and see where you’re proposing to put this extension.’

‘Right behind you, down there,’ Kate said, getting up and
pointing through the window. ‘Dragan, would you like to show him? To save Lucy going down?’

‘I can do it,’ she said, and got to her feet at the same time as Ben and her father. ‘No, really, I can do it. Ben—your comments might be useful,’ she said, and they trooped out, leaving Kate and the other members of the practice to discuss financing it with the bean counter, while her father glowered after them in brooding silence.

‘You OK?’ Ben asked softly, and she nodded.

‘This would be the link through if we went two-storey,’ she pointed out to the architect as they stood on the landing. ‘At the moment it’s staff cloakroom and showering facilities, but there’s a big lobby area that could be taken to make a way through.’

She showed him around, then they went downstairs and out into the garden.

‘Hmm.’ The architect was studying the land behind, the steep granite escarpment behind the practice which ended in an outcrop of rock right where they wanted to build. ‘You want to put it here?’

‘It’s dead space, and it links in well,’ she explained.

The architect frowned. ‘I don’t know. I think it could be very expensive. The rock would have to be cut away and there isn’t room round the side to bring in heavy gear to do it. Is there anywhere else? At the front, for instance?’

She struggled to pay attention. ‘Not really. We need all the car parking space we can get our hands on, so we can’t take that, and there isn’t enough room at the side.’

‘Pity.’ The architect looked up at the building to the side of them. ‘What’s this?’

‘A boatyard—repairs, engineering works and sail loft, and
a chandlery. Don’t worry, we’ve already considered it. The practice manager is co-owner, but there isn’t any possibility of taking part of the land, even if we could afford to buy it from them. They’re already overcrowded.’

‘Hmm. How about going out over the top of the car parking area?’ he suggested as they walked back round to the front. ‘It would be expensive, but not as expensive as buying the land next door or shifting the rock. Planning might be a bit of an issue. I’ll have to think about that one and come back to you on it.’

He glanced at his watch. ‘Right, I need to get a move on. Let’s go and break the news to the others, and we’ll have to reconvene after I’ve had a think. Can I borrow your plans? I’ll get them copied and have them sent back to you tomorrow.’

‘Of course,’ she agreed, and they went back upstairs.

‘Ah, you’re back. More tea?’ Kate offered, but the two men from the trust shook their heads.

‘We need to get away. If we could just take these?’

They were folding the plans, shuffling paper into briefcases, putting on their coats, and Lucy sneaked a quick glance at her father. He was talking to Kate and the finance man, ignoring Ben, and as she looked away she caught Dragan’s eye.

He raised an enquiring brow, and she smiled reassuringly. He nodded, apparently satisfied, and, glancing at his watch, he stood up. ‘If you’ll all excuse me, I have a visit to make.’

‘Really?’ she said as he walked past her. ‘I didn’t think you were on call this evening.’

He smiled a little awkwardly. ‘I’m not, but there’s a certain dog who seems to be expecting me to go and play games with her. And I may well be offered supper, so I don’t have to cook. As I have no food, that would be good.’

‘Ah.’ She smiled. ‘Well, give Melinda my love,’ she said, and watched in fascination as his neck darkened slightly. Poor Dragan, it was mean to tease him. He was such a serious, thoughtful man so much of the time, and on the few occasions she’d seen him with Melinda he’d looked genuinely happy.

‘I will,’ he said, then paused and looked at Ben, standing beside her. ‘Look after her, OK? She’s looking tired. She’s doing too much.’

No! Don’t tell Ben to look after me in front of my father, she thought frantically, but Nick was busy talking and Ben just smiled.

‘Leave her to me,’ he said softly. ‘I’ll take care of her.’

‘Good. Someone needs to.’ And he nodded to the others and left. The men from the trust followed, then Marco and, rather than have to talk any more to her father, she propelled Ben towards the door, grabbing his coat on the way.

‘In a hurry to get rid of me?’ he murmured as they went downstairs.

‘Not at all. I’m in a hurry to get you away from my father before you kill each other. Ben, I think he knows.’

He stopped dead on the bottom stair. ‘Really?’

‘Really. Come on. We’ll talk about it this evening. I’ve got a surgery starting in a minute.’

‘I’ve rescheduled you,’ Hazel said, overhearing. ‘Chloe told me to, so I’ve put your patients in with your father and Marco, and you’ve got tomorrow off.’

She opened her mouth to argue, then changed her mind. She felt sorry for Marco, but her father deserved it. She smiled at Hazel. ‘Thank you.’

‘Pleasure. Oh, and Charlie’s wife called. He’s out of
Theatre and he’s in ITU. Apparently they got him there just in time, so well done.’

‘Good,’ she said, then added more softly, ‘At least that’s one thing I’ve done right today.’

‘You’ve done nothing wrong today,’ Ben said gruffly.

‘My father wouldn’t agree. I’m so angry with him.’

‘Don’t be. He’s just hurting.’