CAROL MARINELLI - One Night With The Italian Doc - Unwrapping Her Italian Doc / Tempted by the Bridesmaid / Italian Doctor, No Strings Attached

It was far too glamorous for work but, then, Louise’s underwear was always far too glamorous for work.

Instead of having another cup of tea and watching the news, Louise decided to simply go in early and hopefully put her mind at rest by not finding Emily there.

She lived close enough to walk to work. It was very cold so she draped on scarves and walked through the dark and damp morning. It was lovely to step into the maternity unit, which was always nice and warm.

There was Anton sitting sulking at the desk, writing up notes amidst the Naughty Baby Club—comprising all the little ones that had been brought up to the desk to hopefully give their mothers a couple of hours’ sleep.

Louise read through the admission board, checking for Emily’s name and letting out a breath of relief when she saw that it wasn’t there.

‘How come you’re in early?’ she asked Anton, wondering if he was waiting for Emily.

‘I couldn’t sleep,’ Anton said, ‘so I thought I’d catch up on some notes.’

They were both sulking, both jealous that the other had had a better night than they’d had.

‘I’m going to make some tea,’ Louise said. ‘Would you like some?’

‘Please.’ Anton nodded.

‘Evie?’ Louise asked, and got a shake of the head from the night nurse. ‘Tara?’

‘No, thanks, we’ve just had one.’

Louise changed into her scrubs then headed to the kitchen and made herself a nice one, and this time Anton got a hospital teabag.

He knew he was in her bad books with one sip of his tea.

Well, she was in his bad books too.

‘You and Rory left very suddenly,’ Anton commented. ‘I didn’t realise that the two of you …’

‘We’re not on together,’ Louise said. ‘Well, we were three years ago but we broke up after a few weeks. We’re just good friends now.’

‘Oh.’

‘Rory took me home early last night because I’m worried about Emily,’ Louise admitted. She was too concerned about her friend to play games. ‘She hasn’t called you, has she? You’re not here, waiting for her to come in?’

‘No.’ Anton frowned. ‘Why are you worried? She seemed fine last night.’

‘She was at first but then she was suddenly tired and went home. Rory said that she’d had a big day at work but …’

‘Tell me.’

‘She snapped at me and she had that look,’ Louise said. ‘You know the one …’

‘Yep,’ Anton said, because, unlike Rory, he did know what Louise meant and he took her concerns about Emily seriously.

‘How many weeks is she now?’

‘Twenty-seven,’ Louise said.

‘And how many days …?’ Anton asked, pulling Emily’s notes up on his computer. ‘No, she’s twenty-eight weeks today.’ Anton read through his notes. ‘I saw her last week and all was fine. The pregnancy has progressed normally, just the appendectomy at six weeks.’

‘Could that cause problems now?’ Louise asked.

‘I would have expected any problems from surgery to surface much earlier than this,’ Anton said, and he gave Louise a thin smile. ‘Maybe she was just tired …’

‘I’ll ring Theatre later and find out what shift she’s on,’ Louise said. ‘In fact, I’ll do it now.’

She got put through and was told that Emily was on a late shift today.

‘Maybe I am just worrying about nothing,’ Louise said.

‘Let us hope so.’

A baby was waking up and Tara, a night nurse, was just dashing off to do the morning obs.

‘I’ll get him.’

Louise picked up the little one and snuggled him in. ‘God, I love that smell,’ Louise said, inhaling the scent of the baby’s hair, then she looked over at Anton.

‘Did Saffron have a good night?’

She watched his lips move into a wry smile.

‘Not really,’ Anton said, and then added, ‘And her name is Saffarella.’

‘Oh, sorry,’ Louise said. ‘I got mixed up. Saffron’s the one you put in your rice to make it go yellow, isn’t it?’ Louise corrected herself. ‘Expensive stuff, costs a fortune and you only get a tiny—’

‘Louise,’ Anton warned, ‘I don’t know quite where you’re going there but, please, don’t be a bitch.’

‘I can’t help myself, Anton,’ Louise swiftly retorted. ‘If you get off with another woman in front of me then you’ll see my bitchy side.’

Anton actually grinned; she was so open that she fancied him, so relentless, so aaagggh , he thought as he sat there.

‘I didn’t get off , as you say, with Saffarella. We danced.’

‘Please,’ Louise scoffed.

Maybe he wanted to share the relief he had felt when he had just heard that she and Rory were only friends but, for whatever reason, he put her out of her misery too.

‘I took Saffarella back to the hotel she is staying at last night.’

He gave her an inch and, yep, Louise took a mile.

‘Really!’ Louise gave a delighted grin and covered the baby’s ears. ‘So you didn’t—’

‘Louise!’

‘The baby can’t hear, I’ve covered his ears. So you and she didn’t …?’

‘No, we didn’t.’

‘Did she sulk?’ Louise asked with glee, and he grimaced a touch at the memory of the car door slamming.

‘Yes.’

‘Oh, poor Saffron, I mean Saffarella—now that I know you and she didn’t do anything, I can like her.’

They both smiled, though it was with a touch of regret because last night could have been such a nicer night.

‘Thanks so much,’ Tara said, coming over and looking at the baby. ‘He’s asleep now, Louise. You can put him back in his isolette.’

‘But I don’t want to,’ Louise said, looking down at the sleeping baby. He was all curled up in her arms, his knees were up and his ankles crossed as if he were still in the womb. His little feet were poking out of the baby blanket and Louise was stroking them.

‘They’re like kittens’ paws,’ Louise said, watching his teeny toes curl.

‘You are so seriously clucky,’ Tara said.

‘Oh, I’m more than clucky,’ Louise admitted. ‘I keep going over to the nativity scene just to pick up Baby Jesus. I have to have one.’

‘It will ruin your lingerie career,’ Tara warned, but Louise just laughed.

‘I’m sure pregnant women can and do wear fabulously sexy underwear—in fact, my agent’s going to speak to a couple of companies to see what sort of work they might have for me if I get pregnant.’

‘Surely you’re missing something if you want a baby …’ Tara said, referring to Louise’s lack of a love life, but now she had told her mum, now she’d told Rory and Emily knew too, Louise had decided it was time to start to let the world know.

‘No, I’m not missing anything.’ Louise smiled. ‘In fact, I might have to pay a visit to Anton.’

She was referring to the fact she’d found out he was a reproductive specialist too and he gave a wry smile at the ease of her double entendre.

‘I have an excellent record,’ Anton said.

‘So I’ve heard.’ Louise smirked.

Then Anton stopped the joking around and went to get back to his notes. ‘You don’t need to be rushing. How old are you?’

‘Thirty next year!’ Louise sighed.

‘Plenty of time. You don’t have to be thinking about it yet,’ Anton said, but it turned out that the ditzy Louise ran deep.

‘I think about it a lot,’ she admitted. ‘In all seriousness, Anton,’ she continued, as Tara headed off to do more obs, ‘I’m actually confused by the whole thing. I recently saw my GP but she just told me to come off the Pill for a few months.’

Anton frowned, fighting the urge to step in while not wanting to get involved with this aspect of Louise, so he was a little brusque in response. ‘The fertility centre at this hospital runs an information night for single women,’ Anton offered. ‘Your questions would be best answered there.’