LITMIR.BIZ

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quite severe. My doctors told me that any baby I carry would most likely be lost in the second trimester, or that there’d be foetal growth retardation—especially if the foetus implanted in one of the two halves.’

      He nodded. ‘I’ve heard of it. But I’ve never met anyone with it before.’

      ‘That you know of.’

      He smiled. ‘You’re my first.’

      She nodded, smiling. ‘Yes, well. There you go. Intimacy and a medical revelation. Aren’t you a lucky guy?’

      He nodded.

      ‘I’ve never had family,’ she said. ‘I want to belong to someone. I want someone who is my blood. Someone to love and cherish, who cherishes me in return. I always knew I wanted a child and I just felt that time was running out for me to find that with someone I could trust enough.’

      He looked doubtful. ‘So you’re doing it on your own?’

      She smiled, glad that he understood and didn’t appear to be judging her. ‘So I’m doing it on my own.’

      He didn’t need to hear about the long months of needles and hormones and egg collection procedures. She’d had one hot night with this man—she didn’t want him to think of her lying back in a room with her legs in stirrups. She didn’t want him thinking of her as a patient. Those days, she hoped, were over. The future was going to be everything.

      ‘Which is why you needed to know.’

      ‘And you think I won’t be interested in you because you’re about to become a parent?’

      Leah cocked her head to one side, smiling. ‘Well? Are you?’

      He leaned back in his chair, considering his answer. ‘You think I’ll run a mile because a baby is on the way?’

      She laughed. ‘Yes.’

      He held his chest as if she’d just stabbed him in the heart and mock-groaned. ‘I’m hurt!’

      ‘Come on! Are you seriously trying to tell me that a man like you isn’t put off by a woman like me?’

      His eyes twinkled. ‘“A man like me”?’

      Clearly he wanted clarification.

      ‘You have a reputation, Mr Willoughby. As a bit of a player.’

      He shook his head, smiling, as if he were disappointed in her. ‘You’ve been here one morning and already you’re listening to gossip?’

      She maintained eye contact. ‘You still haven’t answered my question.’

      He stared back, giving a half-smile, considering how to answer.

      She knew the answer in her heart. And it was a shame, because she really had had a great night with him. And it hadn’t been just the sex, but all the talking they’d done beforehand. The laughing. The enjoyment of his company. The great foot massage! There’d been something there. Something not acknowledged by either of them. A spark. A connection. A flame.

      But she never got his answer. An alarm sounded from Majors. A cardiac arrest. So they both leapt from their seats and made a mad dash towards the noise.

      Answers would have to wait.

      The next two weeks were difficult and awkward. Ben wasn’t sure how to be around Leah. He liked her. Really liked her. She was funny and smart and everyone in the department loved her. She had such a friendly manner people would confide in her, talk to her. And her laugh... Whenever he heard it, he felt as if it was warming his soul. He wanted to be pulled into her orbit. He did. But he kept holding back.

      She was going to become a mother soon. And he wanted to be happy for her, but he couldn’t help but feel that she’d rushed this decision. All that stuff she’d said about wanting a family, feeling that bond and having someone who loved her... It was an idealised view of what family could be. She was looking at life through rose-tinted spectacles. People—families—they didn’t all live in Happy Land, where everyone got on and loved one another. There could be discord and hatred and resentment. Being someone’s blood relative didn’t guarantee you happiness. Didn’t guarantee you a free pass in life to joy.

      Families were hard work. His own had been. And families could rip your heart out.

      Leah probably thought that having a baby would mean everything to her—and maybe it would to begin with. But had she thought about sleepless nights and tantrums? Problems at school?

      His younger brother and sister had run the whole gamut. In their early teens they’d hated him and rebelled against him. They would stay out all night with friends in lonely parks whilst he stayed at home. Worrying about them. Often having to head out to try and find them.

      Families equalled stress, and there would be so many moments when she would want to run away but would feel unable to. Because of her responsibility.

      But how could he tell her any of that? How could he squash her dream, knowing how much it meant to her?

      He was pondering this problem as he went to see his first patient of the day. He was working in Minors today, and he held a triage form that stated his next patient had been hurt during a bout of shoplifting.

      He shook his head in disbelief. Shoplifting!

      Ben pulled back the curtain and there on the bed sat a teenage girl, probably no older than fifteen or so, and across from her a burly-looking security guard.

      ‘Miss Tammy Fields?’

      The girl glowered at the guard. ‘Yeah.’

      He pulled the curtain around them for some privacy. Tammy sat on the bed, one leg on a pillow. He could see her ankle looked a little swollen.

      ‘You’ve hurt your left foot? How did that happen?’

      ‘He did it!’

      ‘I did not—’ the security guard began, bristling.

      ‘How else did I end up on the floor? You tripped me!’

      ‘You were stealing!’

      ‘Wait a minute!’ Ben held up his hands for quiet. ‘You’re not her parent?’

      ‘No, thank goodness. If she were mine, I’d—’

      ‘Then why don’t you wait outside? I’ll come and talk to you in a moment.’

      ‘I’m not taking my eyes off her. She’ll make a run for it.’

      ‘With this ankle? I highly doubt it. Now, please...’ He held the curtain open so the security guard could pass through, albeit reluctantly. ‘If you wait in the waiting room, I’ll be through to see you soon.’

      The guard disappeared, with one last look over his shoulder that seemed to say, If you run...

      Ben sighed with relief when he’d gone, then sank back onto his stool and looked at the young girl. ‘Tell me what happened.’

      ‘I was getting some food—tinned stuff. Only I didn’t have enough money for all of it and I thought they wouldn’t miss it. It was a pound shop! It means nothing to them! And we’re starving...’

      ‘We?’

      ‘Me and my brothers. Only they’re really little so I left ’em at home.’

      ‘So you were shoplifting?’

      ‘To feed the kids! I had to. I had no other choice!’

      He frowned, taking in her slightly neglected appearance. ‘Where are your parents?’

      ‘Mum’s away.’

      ‘At work?’

      Tammy laughed. ‘Yeah, right. She’s at her boyfriend’s house. She does this. Goes away for

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