Louisa Heaton - A Father This Christmas?

But he had to stay. For observation. Couldn’t she observe him at home? She was an A&E doctor after all...

‘May I have a word with you, Dr Corday?’

Oh, this is it. Here it comes...

‘Sure. But...um...later, maybe? I need to arrange cover if I’m going home.’

‘Could we talk now ?’

She looked at Seb. Then back at Jacob.

‘Let me get him sorted first.’

She rummaged in his backpack and found his reading book. She passed it to him.

‘Have a read of your book, Seb. I’m just going to step outside the curtains and have a talk with Dr Dolan.’

Eva followed Jacob from the cubicle and went with him over to the quiet corner by the Christmas tree.

It looked beautiful this year. The team had really done themselves proud. For years they’d had a tired old fake tree that had been packed away each year in an old cardboard box, battered and unloved. But this year they had a real tree, beautifully decorated in gold and silver, with lots of pretend presents underneath.

Eva and Seb had been really looking forward to Christmas. This year it seemed Seb really understood what was going on, and what was happening, and the story of Santa Claus had got him so excited! They’d already put their own tree up at home.

But Eva wasn’t excited right now. She felt dread. And guilt. All those emotions she’d kept hidden away for years, since that first night with Jacob, neatly locked down, were now threatening to overwhelm her with their enormity.

She stood in front of Jacob like a naughty child before the headmaster. But then she thought about how he was guilty, too. About his part in all of this.

She squared her shoulders back and looked him in the eye. ‘Yes?’

‘You seem a little...distracted.’

She said nothing. Just stared at him. Waiting for the axe to fall.

‘Seb’s a great kid.’

‘He is. The best.’

‘You weren’t a mother when we met.’

Her cheeks flamed. ‘No.’

‘But you are now. And he’s three?’

‘Yes.’

Jacob seemed to be mulling over his next words. Thinking about what he might say next. Whether she would rebut his words or accept them.

‘He looks like me.’

Eva stared deeply into his bright blue eyes...eyes so much like Seb’s. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—deny him the truth. He deserved that.

‘Yes.’

Jacob’s voice lowered. ‘Is he mine, Eva?’

Of course he’s yours! Surely it’s clear to everyone?

She wanted to yell. She wanted to confirm it to him angrily. Rage at him for all he’d put her through after he left. But she didn’t. She knew that could come later. Right now he just needed the plain facts.

‘Yes. Seb’s your son.’

He stood staring at her, his face incredulous.

The Christmas tree twinkled between them.

She couldn’t help but notice how his broad shoulders narrowed down into a neat, flat waist. How his expensively tailored trousers moulded his shape, his long, muscular legs. He looked mouth-wateringly good. The years he’d spent in Africa had obviously been good to him. He was vital and in peak condition.

Years before, when they’d met at that party, there’d been only hints of the man he was to become. But even then he’d been delicious... Now the heavier muscle and perfectly toned body looked amazing on him...

She swallowed hard.

All she’d known about him that night was his name and that he was going to work for some charity. That he was a doctor, like her, and was going to Africa. But just because that was what he’d said, she hadn’t been sure it was true. People lied. Especially at parties. To make themselves sound better or more interesting than they actually were.

Jacob. In her A&E. Standing there. As large as life. As gorgeous and as sexy as he’d ever been. A hundred times more so.

He was just staring back at her, his mouth slightly open, as if he’d had something he was about to say only it had never come out.

She couldn’t just stand there! Waiting for the axe to fall. To see his reaction. Waiting for him to reject them.

So Eva turned and headed in the opposite direction—back through the curtains of the cubicle that held her son.

Their son.

If she just accepted right now that Jacob wasn’t going to be sticking around—he was just a locum after all, here for the busy Christmas period—then it wouldn’t hurt as badly. She couldn’t expect him to stay. She and Seb deserved to be loved 100 percent. Eva refused to accept anything less.

* * *

‘Seb will be okay to go home soon. I’ll have to take the rest of the day off. There’s no one else to take him, and I can’t get my neighbour Letty in—not after this.’

‘The new doc can pick up the slack,’ Sarah said.

‘Jacob.’ Her mouth and lips and tongue flowed over his name like a caress.

Eva turned to go and get Seb, then realised her coat and bag were in her locker on the other side of the department. She hurried to get them, flushing as she went past the double doors to Resus.

She had to be quick. Her fingers fumbled over the combination lock and her hands were shaking by the time she managed to open it.

She’d worried so much about how Jacob would react upon finding out he had a son that she hadn’t given a thought as to how Seb might react if he found out! He didn’t even know he had a father. Seb hadn’t yet asked, and she’d been too afraid to broach the subject with her very young son, deciding to wait until he was older to tell him what little she knew about Jacob.

Eva hurried from the staff locker room and headed for the cubicles.

She wanted to go home now !

CHAPTER THREE

HE HAD A SON? A son !

That little boy. Seb. He’d just been talking to him, taking care of him, and he’d not once suspected that he was his son.

But why would he? Just because the boy had had the same hair as him and the same eye colour...that didn’t mean he should have suspected at all...

Why the hell hadn’t Eva told him about Seb? Why had she kept him a secret?

He couldn’t bear that. Secrets were dangerous.

He had to talk to her. Find out more. Find out what had happened after he left.

Walking away from the Christmas tree, he headed back to the cubicles—only to find Eva there, putting on her coat and scarf.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Home. I can observe Seb there. I am qualified.’

‘He needs to stay here.’

She looked at him. ‘This is nothing to do with you. You don’t have to pretend to care.’

‘Seb is everything to do with me—and not just as his doctor. And I do care.’

Eva stared at him, and as he waited for her to say something Seb peeked at him over his book and smiled.

Jacob couldn’t help but smile back. Seb was a cute little guy.

Then he looked back at Eva. ‘You both need to stay. We need to talk.’

She shook her head. ‘I’m not ready for this right now.’

‘Tough. It’s happening.’

He dared her to defy him. If she chose to walk away right now, then he had no idea what he would say. He’d probably have to chase her until she gave up and headed back to A&E. But thankfully he didn’t have to do any of that.

Eva let out a big huff, and then removed her scarf and unbuttoned her coat. ‘Fine.’

Jacob let out a breath and his shoulders sagged down. He hadn’t realised how tense he’d been. He couldn’t help but look at Seb now.

He looked tall for a three-year-old. Like himself, he supposed. He could remember his mum saying that he’d always been tall for his age. Then again, Eva wasn’t short, either. But now, the more he looked at his son the more he could see himself in the little boy. Seb’s eyes were the same shape and colour as his, he had the same wavy hair, the same shaped mouth...