Alison Roberts - Midwives On-Call

As Rupert walked off Alessi’s angry eyes met Isla’s. ‘He’s got a nerve,’ Alessi said, ‘telling you that you’ve had too much wine and coming to check up on you, yet he gets to carry on exactly as he chooses …’

‘Our relationship is not your concern,’ Isla said, her voice shaking. There was no doubt about the sudden flare of possessiveness in Alessi’s voice. ‘Anyway, you flirt, you …’ She tripped over her words, not quite sure of the point she was trying to make. ‘You’re such a chauvinist.’

‘It’s the Greek in me.’

They stood angry and frustrated. A kiss was there but not happening. They were back to where they had been a year ago, only the stakes were much higher now. Alessi looked at her full mouth and noticed that she ran a very pink tongue over her lips as if to tempt him.

And tempt him it did.

Isla was looking at his mouth. She was back to how she’d felt in the shower, only now Alessi was less than a step away. Her body was on fire, there was sex in the air, and when walking away might be safer, because it was Alessi, he forced the issue, voiced the truth, stated what was. ‘I could kiss you now.’

Isla lifted her eyes to his and saw that the lust and the want in his matched hers. ‘You could,’ she invited.

She wanted his kiss. The world had disappeared and she had no thought about anything other than now and a kiss that was nearing, but she blinked at his caustic response to her provocative words.

‘But I won’t,’ Alessi said, distaste evident in his voice. ‘I happen to have respect for the person I’m with. I have no intention of getting mixed up in whatever twisted game it is that you’re playing.’

Isla stepped back, felt the wall behind her and wished it would swallow her up. Alessi was right. It was twisted. The wall would not give, though, and she had to stand there and take it as Alessi continued venting, eleven months of frustration contorting his lips savagely. ‘And there’s another reason that I shan’t kiss you—I won’t give you the chance to blow me off again, Isla. You’ll be the one to kiss me,’ he warned. ‘After you’ve suitably apologised.’

And with that he walked off, leaving Isla standing there, trying to think of an appropriate response to that most delicious threat.

‘Never,’ she called to his departing back.

‘We’ll see,’ Alessi called, without turning around.

He was furious. He flashed a look at Rupert as he left but what angered Alessi most was that to not kiss Isla had taken all the self-control he could muster. To not press her to the wall and angrily claim her mouth had taken every ounce of his resistance.

He wasn’t like that.

Yes, he might have dated an awful lot of women but he was always faithful.

This was why he ended things with Amber that night.

He wanted Isla.

He wanted her in a way he never had.

He wanted to see that snobby, derisive woman begging.

Yes, for the best part of a year he’d convinced himself otherwise but the truth remained—he wanted her.

DARCIE REALLY WAS DROOPING. Once home she thanked Isla and Rupert for the night out and went straight to bed. Thankfully Isla didn’t have to work out what to say—Rupert said it for her.

‘I’m guessing we’re breaking up?’

‘We are.’ Isla forced a brave smile. ‘You can say that I’m sick and tired of all your other women.’

‘How are you going to go at the ball with your Greek friend there? I assume he’s a big part of the reason for us finishing tonight.’

‘He hates me,’ Isla said. ‘And I don’t particularly like him, either.’

‘Well, that sounds like a good start to me.’ Rupert smiled. He knew Isla very well and there were very few people that she allowed to get under her skin. He had felt the undeniable tension all night and had seen Alessi’s eyes all too often turn to look towards Isla. ‘It’s more than time you got out there.’

‘Well, I shan’t be getting out there with Alessi. His relationships seem to last as long as a tube of toothpaste.’

‘Ah, but you have to brush your teeth, Isla.’ To Rupert, it was that simple. ‘Go for it. It’s as clear as anything that you fancy each other. Why not just give the two of you a try? If it doesn’t work out, it’s no big deal.’

It was to Isla, though.

They said goodbye at the door—it was possibly the nicest break-up in the world.

‘This is way overdue, Isla,’ Rupert said as he gave her a cuddle. Even he didn’t know about Isabel and just how deep Isla’s fears ran, and saying goodbye to her rock of ten years was hard.

‘I know.’ She gave him a smile. ‘Will you be okay?’

‘I shall, but, Isla, can I ask that you don’t—’

Isla knew what he was about to say and said it for him. ‘I shan’t tell anyone about you.’

‘Promise me.’ His voice was urgent. ‘I’m auditioning soon for a really big role. If I do get it then I’m going to be even more in the spotlight …’ She could hear his fear and she understood it. She, too, would be terrified to have her sex life, or lack of it, put under the scrutiny of anyone, let alone having it discussed the world over. ‘I haven’t even told my parents, Isla …’

‘It’s okay,’ Isla soothed, remembering the promise she had made all those years ago. ‘I gave you my word.’

When Isla awoke the next morning and headed into work with Darcie, the world felt very different without her safety net.

Not that anyone could know just how exposed and vulnerable she felt. She was her usual cool self while secretly hoping that the world might treat her gently.

The world, though, had other plans for Isla—around eleven, she answered a page from the antenatal clinic. It was Sophia, one of the community midwives, who, because of low staff numbers, was doing an extra shift onsite today and running the antenatal clinic.

‘Thanks for answering so quickly,’ Sophia said. ‘I wasn’t sure whether or not to page you. I’m probably—’

‘Always page me,’ Isla interrupted. ‘It doesn’t matter how small your concern is, I hope you know that.’

‘I do,’ Sophia said. ‘It’s not a patient I’m concerned about, more a situation that I’m not sure how to handle. Alessi dropped by this morning and said that when his sister arrived for her antenatal visit I was to page him so that he could come down. Allegra is actually his twin sister.’

‘Okay,’ Isla replied, wondering where this was leading as Sophia continued.

‘She’s thirty-two weeks gestation and Darcie has asked her to go onto a CTG monitor now for a checkup—all is well but Darcie just wanted to be thorough as she’s taking over her care and Allegra has quite a complicated history. The trouble is, when I said that I would let Alessi know that she was here, Allegra asked me not to. She wants me to just say that I forgot to page him …’

‘And no doubt you’re worried about what Alessi will say when you tell him that you forgot to let him know?’ Isla said, and then thought for a moment. ‘It is a bit awkward,’ she admitted as she pondered the issue while doing her level best to think this through as she would for any patient who was related to one of the staff here. She had to somehow forget that the staff member happened to be Alessi who, after last night, she was doing her level best to avoid.

Ignore that fact, she told herself.

‘I’ll come over to Antenatal now and speak with Allegra,’ Isla offered. ‘And I’ll also deal with Alessi. Thank you for letting me know, Sophia.’

Isla made her way down to the antenatal clinic and Sophia told her where Allegra was. Isla knocked on the door and went in and smiled when she saw Allegra. She was the female version of Alessi with black eyes and black hair and, while strapped to the CTG monitor, she was also doing her level best to keep a wriggling little boy of around three years old amused.