CAROL MARINELLI - Special Deliveries - Her Gift, His Baby - Secrets of a Career Girl / For the Baby's Sake / A Very Special Delivery

She was absolutely immaculate. Her straight blonde hair was tied low at the back of her neck. Her sheer cream blouse looked as if it had come straight off a mannequin at an expensive boutique and her charcoal-grey skirt was perfectly cut to show a very trim figure. If she had been just a few inches taller she could be walking down a runway instead of the corridor of the emergency department.

‘What do you respond to, Penny?’ The words were out of Ethan’s mouth before his brain had even processed them, and how he wished, the moment they were uttered, that he could take them back.

He was more than aware of the not-so-slight sexual undertone to them, and Ethan half expected her to turn on her low heels and march back to give him a sharp piece of her mind, or perhaps to head straight to Mr Dean’s office, but what happened next came as a complete surprise.

Ethan watched as Penny threw her head back and laughed and then glanced over her shoulder at him. He saw not the glitter of ice in those cold blue eyes but something far more fetching. And her mouth was parted in a slightly mocking yet somehow mischievous smile as she answered him. ‘That’s for me to know!’

Ethan found himself smiling back, a proper smile this time. He almost called out that he was looking forward to finding out but then he checked himself, the smile fading, and he turned back to the roster he had been viewing before Penny had come along, and wondered what the hell had just happened. She had been completely immutable with the roster, thoroughly unfriendly and yet somehow it had ended in a smile.

A flirtatious one at that.

Ethan had no trouble with flirting—he was an expert at it, in fact. He had just never expected to find himself going there with Penny, but more to the point, Ethan thought darkly, he still didn’t have anyone to cover him for the funeral.

‘Not now!’ Penny said a few moments later when Jasmine knocked on her office door as she came in to start her late shift. Penny was seriously rattled by the small confrontation she’d had with Ethan and wanted a few moments alone to process things and to ring the IVF nurse to see if she could possibly swap. More unsettling than that, though, was the flutter in her throat and the blush on her cheeks at her response to him. Her face still burnt red even as she tried to put off her sister from coming in, but Jasmine wanted a quick word.

‘It won’t take a second—I’m just letting you know that Mum rang this morning from a satellite phone.’

‘Where is she?’ Penny smiled and it was genuine. She was thrilled to hear from her mum.

‘Heading for Mykonos,’ Jasmine said, and Penny groaned her envy.

‘I’m sure that I don’t need to ask if she’s having a good time.’

‘Completely loving it,’ Jasmine said. ‘She said that she should’ve done this years ago and … don’t fall off your chair, but I think she might have met someone.’

‘You mean a man?’ Penny blinked in surprise. ‘I don’t know what to say … I don’t know what to think.’

‘I know.’ Jasmine smiled. ‘I can’t imagine Mum with anyone.’

Louise Masters had been single since the day her husband had left. A very volatile marriage had made Louise swear off men and instead she had focused heavily on her career and had done her best to instil the same very independent, somewhat bitter values into her daughters.

‘Anyway,’ Jasmine continued, ‘we didn’t talk for long. I’ve no idea how much it would have cost her to call. She just wanted to send her love and to find out how you were getting on. I told her that you were doing fine.’ Jasmine hesitated. She’d heard a few whispers, knew that Penny was putting noses out of joint everywhere, which wasn’t unusual. Penny was known for being tough, it was just a lot more concentrated at the moment. ‘ Are you doing fine, though?’

‘Not really,’ Penny admitted. ‘Actually, Jasmine, I think you’re right, I might have to let a few people at work know. It’s proving impossible. I’ve just had an argument with Ethan—he needs me to come in early tomorrow so that he can go to a funeral. God.’ Penny buried her face in her hands. ‘Imagine saying no to that—it’s a funeral!’

‘Penny, it was a football match a couple of weeks ago that Ethan asked you to cover him for.’ Jasmine was indignant on her sister’s behalf. ‘And Mr Dean has a corporate golf day on Thursday and Rex is getting a divorce. The fact is that this place needs more doctors, but they still won’t employ another one.’

‘A funeral, though.’ Penny groaned.

‘Penny, you go to more funerals than anyone I know.’ It was true. Of course they couldn’t attend the funeral of every patient who died, but Penny’s black outfits were taken for a trip to the dry cleaner’s more than most. ‘You have to keep the next few weeks clear.’ Jasmine was firm. She knew how hard this was for Penny and just how hard her sister worked. ‘And I do think you should let your colleagues know. Not everyone, but if you told Lisa …’

‘How can Lisa help with the doctors’ roster?’

‘Well, just tell Ethan or Mr Dean …’ Her voice trailed off.

‘It’s hopeless, isn’t it?’ Mr Dean wasn’t going to be exactly thrilled to find out that his senior registrar was trying to get pregnant—it was the reason he had hesitated to promote her a few years ago—of that Penny was sure.

‘Penny, you can’t come in early tomorrow. You can’t miss a blood test, it determines the whole day’s treatment.’

‘I know. I just really thought I could handle working and doing this. I thought that it might be easier the second time around, that I’d know more what to expect, that I’d at least be used to the needles.’

‘Penny.’ Jasmine sat on the edge of her sister’s desk. ‘I think you are going to have to face the fact that you are never going to get over your fear of needles.’

‘I’m an emergency registrar!’

‘With one weakness.’ Jasmine gave a sympathetic smile. ‘It’s just a horrible weakness to have when you’re going through IVF.’

‘I made a right fool of myself this morning at my blood test.’ Penny shuddered at the memory. ‘It took two of them, one to hold me and one to take the blood. I was crying and carrying on like a two-year-old!’

‘Then it’s just as well that you’re not having your IVF treatment here.’

Penny blanched at the very thought of that happening. Even if Peninsula Hospital offered IVF, which they didn’t, Penny wouldn’t take it. Oh, for the convenience, it would be wonderful to just pop upstairs for the endless blood tests, injections and scans that were part of the tumultuous ride she was on, but not so convenient would be to have your colleagues see you a shivering, terrified mess. She was bad enough at the best of times, but right now, tired and with her hormones all over the place, it was the worst of times.

‘Do you have to work?’ Jasmine asked gently.

‘I took time off last time,’ Penny said. ‘And I had all that time off when Mum came out of hospital. I’d actually like to have some annual leave up my sleeve if I ever do get pregnant.’

‘You will.’ Jasmine slipped off the desk and gave her sister a hug, but it wasn’t returned. Penny wasn’t particularly touchy-feely. ‘You’re going to get your baby.’

‘Easy for you to say.’ Penny tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. She loved Simon very much, but he had been an accident. Just one mistake had seen Jasmine pregnant. Yes, Jasmine had had a terrible time with a horrible husband and later as a single mum before she’d married Jed. But now, just a few months into her marriage, she was pregnant, although she hadn’t told Penny.

Penny felt her sister’s arms around her tense shoulders and it was time to face the white elephant in the room before it came between them.