Kate Hardy - Hot Docs On Call - One Night To Forever?

‘Exhausted. They’re going to be staying with him overnight, of course.’

And tomorrow? she wanted to ask.

Would he be opening his home to them?

But it was not her place to ask such personal questions; Victoria had made very sure of that, so she was vague in her questioning.

‘Do your parents know?’

‘Of course. They’ll be landing in an hour or so,’ Dominic said. ‘I’ll be heading to the airport soon to pick them up.’

‘I thought you weren’t speaking.’

‘We’ve always spoken,’ Dominic said. ‘We just didn’t know what to talk about for a while.’

And she just looked at him as if he was speaking in a foreign language, and then she gave her smile.

‘I’ve got to go,’ Victoria said. ‘Glen’s waiting.’

‘Okay.’

‘I hope things go well.’

He watched her walk off, somehow elegant in boots and green overalls, and he did not want it left there. ‘Victoria...’ he called out, but she carried on walking.

She was, Dominic decided, a complicated lady.

And he wanted to understand her.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

DOMINIC RAN DEEP.

His thoughts he did not readily share and his emotions he kept under wraps.

And it took all that he had within him to keep it like that today.

He was on the phone when Jamie knocked on his office door.

‘How is William doing?’ Dominic asked.

‘A lot better than he was this morning,’ Jamie said. ‘He’s got a hole in his heart and he’s going to be reviewed tomorrow by a cardiac surgeon to see if they’ll repair it or wait.’

‘Well, he’s certainly in the right place,’ Dominic said.

It was a phrase used often here but it was a heartfelt one and Dominic better understood it now. There was something very special about this place and he could see why Victoria and the others were fighting so hard to save it.

Little William really would get the very best care.

‘Lorna can see that now. She didn’t want to come down to London given...’ Jamie gave a tense shrug. ‘I insisted though. I wanted you to take a look at him rather than wait.’

‘You did the right thing.’ Dominic nodded.

‘Look, about—’ Jamie said, but Dominic interrupted him.

‘Let’s just leave it for now.’

‘I don’t want to leave it though!’ Jamie said, his voice becoming distressed as he started to get upset. ‘I’m beside myself, Dominic.’

‘Listen,’ Dominic said. ‘For now, you’re to focus on Lorna and William. That’s it.’

‘I need to know that you’ve got my back.’

‘I’ve always had your back,’ Dominic answered. ‘You know that I do or you wouldn’t have come down to London to have me take a look at William.’

Jamie nodded but he was impatient and wanted resolution. But Dominic would not discuss it today. ‘All of that can wait,’ Dominic said. ‘You need to take care of your wife and son and let nothing else get in the way of that.’

‘I know.’

He wanted to tell Jamie that it was time to grow up, but that took things too close to personal and it was everything Dominic knew they had to avoid for now.

‘What time do they get in?’ Jamie asked.

‘Soon,’ Dominic said. ‘In fact, I need to get to the airport.’

* * *

He brought his parents back to the hospital where they fretted for a while, and then somehow the MacBrides did what families do in an emergency—they put differences aside and dealt as best they could with the new hand they had rapidly been dealt.

Most families.

He understood that look now from Victoria.

That brief look where she clearly hadn’t understood what he was saying, but he wanted her to understand.

More than that, he wanted to see her.

It was late, he was tired and, yes, he had been told by her to stay back, but instead he found himself at her door.

Victoria opened it and she was wearing the same short white robe that she had been wearing the last time he was here.

She rolled her eyes when she saw him. ‘It didn’t go well, then?’

‘What?’ Dominic frowned.

‘The family reunion.’

‘It went very well, Victoria. I’m just here to see you.’

‘Why?’ she asked, and then she laughed. ‘Stupid question.’

Sex was the last thing on his mind. Well, not quite, but with those three words he knew her a little bit more.

She didn’t get relationships.

Not in the least.

‘I’m actually here because I’ve had a crap day and I wanted to see you at the end of it. Are you going to let me in?’

Her flat was dark; clearly she had been about to go to bed but she let him in and turned on a side light.

He took a seat on the sofa and she sat on a chair as if they were in a waiting room.

‘How are your parents?’ she asked.

‘Worried, but they feel better now that they’ve seen him. They’re back at mine.’

‘How’s the baby?’

‘He’s on the cardiac unit and he’s settled for the night. Lorna’s staying with him.’

‘Is Jamie back at the hotel?’

‘No, he’s staying at mine too.’ He saw her eyes widen a fraction and chose to explain how it had come about. ‘Jamie didn’t know the way to the underground, nor about Oyster cards and things, so I offered to drop him off at the hotel. In the end I said to just check out and to come and stay at mine.’

‘Are you two talking, then?’

‘A bit,’ he said, and then admitted more. ‘Not really.’

‘Then how come he’s staying at yours?’

‘Because he’s my brother and his baby is sick, and right now the baby is the priority. The rest will have to wait.’

His voice was brusque, though he hadn’t meant it to be. ‘Sorry.’

‘No, no...’ Victoria said.

It really had been a difficult day.

‘Thomas seems to think he might need surgery.’

‘Thomas?’ Victoria checked.

‘Thomas Wolfe. He’s a new cardiologist.’

‘He’s not new,’ Victoria said, and shook her head.

‘Yes, he is. He only just started at Paddington’s the other day.’

‘No, he used to work there years ago when I first started. He’s a lovely guy.’

Dominic didn’t comment; lovely wasn’t how he’d describe any guy, but certainly it was not a word he’d expect to hear to describe Thomas, who he had found rather stand-offish.

Still, he didn’t dwell on it.

He took in a breath and closed his eyes. It was the first time he had properly paused since he had looked up and seen Victoria walking towards him with Jamie by her side and Lorna and William on the stretcher.

‘Jamie was going to call and ask me to take a look at him this afternoon...’

‘I know that.’

And it was then she knew for certain that she loved him.

She didn’t even have to ask what his response to that phone call would have been.

And yes, while she wanted happy reunions and for him to say that his family was fine, she was starting to understand that Dominic did not say what you wanted him to. He spoke the truth.

Having seen Lorna and Jamie for herself, she was starting to comprehend the magnitude of the betrayal.

It was a miracle, really, that Dominic had followed her into the underground that night when she had first told him she was pregnant, and that he kept coming back when so many men would have turned away.

She wanted to ask him about Lorna, how it had felt to see her today after all this time, but she knew that wasn’t needed now.

‘Jamie tried to talk about it,’ Dominic admitted. ‘But I told him that for now he has to focus on the baby. I am trying to work on things with my family, Victoria,’ he said. ‘But I need to do it at my own pace, not theirs.’

‘I know that,’ she said. ‘But how can you sort it out living so far apart?’