Alison Roberts - The Doctor's Secret Family

‘Are the psych services intended for the mother or the child?’ Jack’s interest was courteous but Hannah had no desire to continue this conversation. Shades of her talk with Caroline earlier today about the difficulties of being a solo parent were haunting her now but instead of feeling proud of having coped so well by herself Hannah was aware of a rapidly building resentment.

It was because of this man standing in front of her that she had had to fight to keep her career alive. Had struggled to keep a roof over her head and pay the bills and keep herself and Livvy clothed and fed. She had managed to get through the episodes of illness, including that nasty dose of chickenpox last year. Had survived countless sleepless nights with a tiny baby and the worries of new parenthood without the kind of relief or simply support a loving partner could have provided. Life over the last five years—and for the foreseeable future— would have been very different indeed if it hadn’t been for Jack Douglas.

‘Possibly for the doctor at this rate,’ she said lightly in response to Jack’s query. ‘You’ll have to excuse me but I don’t want to be late collecting my daughter from day care.’

‘You use day care ?’ Jack’s interest was not merely courteous now. It was focused and intense enough to make Hannah grit her teeth. She had come across this kind of prejudice often enough, but to have it come from the person who had created the need for it in her life was enough to push her past any intended boundaries of staying politely aloof.

‘I have a career as well as a child.’ Hannah knew that at some point in the very near future she would admire the control she was managing to achieve right now. ‘I don’t find them to be mutually exclusive despite the fact that I’m a woman.’

‘I didn’t mean to—’

‘I’m sure you didn’t.’ Hannah’s interruption was as smooth as it was forceful. Her gaze was locked on Jack’s so it was safe enough to let him know that her mood in no way matched her words…or her tone. ‘And I’m sure you don’t intend to hold me up any longer. Enjoy the rest of your tour.’ She turned away, deliberately cutting off any attempt Jack might have made to say anything else. ‘Catch you tomorrow, Pete. 8 a.m. start for the ward round?’

‘Sounds good. Have a great evening.’

Hannah was already walking away. Every step was going to take her farther away from Jack. Her evening was getting better already.

The improvement continued. Hannah could feel her spirits lifting as she hurried along the ground-level corridor past Orthopaedic Outpatients and the plaster room on her right, the hospital pharmacy and chaplain’s office to her left. A sharp turn just before the entrance to the bone marrow transplant unit took her through a door into a fire-exit stairwell that was a short cut to the main car parking area for staff. Now she just had to negotiate the route past the hospital kitchens, Medical Records and the pathology department. Hannah kept up her brisk pace, trying to shake off the remnants of her reaction to seeing Jack again. The beginnings of the smile that tugged at her lips had a hint of smugness. If he tried to follow one of her private routes around this hospital he would get lost in no time at all.

* * *

If only she hadn’t got lost trying to find her way around that unfamiliar and huge children’s hospital in Auckland all those years ago. Dressed to the nines in a tailored skirt and jacket, nervously clutching the same briefcase she held now and panicking just a little. She had only scant minutes left to find the venue for her interview, and the sign hanging from the ceiling ahead of her indicated she had still not found the general medicine office suite.

He had been standing just beneath the unhelpful sign, wearing a suit and apparently absorbed in reading the contents of a manila folder. There had been a faint air of tension about him as though he’d been reading something important. Or waiting for someone who was late showing up. There had also been an aura of assurance. He’d obviously belonged there. He’d looked like a doctor. He would know where General Medicine was.

So Hannah approached him. Her determination to find her own way and handle the nerve-racking process of applying for her first permanent job with aplomb had been replaced by a desire to avoid looking stupid by arriving late and confessing she hadn’t been able to find her way. The solitary man beneath the sign seemed to be her best chance of resolving her predicament. She had cleared her throat to attract his attention away from the folder.

‘Excuse me. I’m wondering if you might be able to help me?’

He’d looked up from the folder and Hannah found herself the new focus of a pair of the darkest…and warmest brown eyes she had ever seen.

‘That would be a pleasure.’ The frown line between the unusually dark eyes disappeared and then the man smiled and Hannah knew that the conviction she had cemented over the last year that she had lost the capacity to find men attractive was completely wrong. The totally unexpected and badly timed realisation was disconcerting and Hannah dragged her gaze away from the disarming smile only to find it caught again by those dark, dark eyes. She could see a distinctly amused gleam in them now.

‘ How can I help?’

‘I…ah…’ Hannah caught her bottom lip between her teeth, unhappily aware that she was probably compounding an image of being a helpless female. Not only had she been unable to follow directions but she was now rendered incoherent by the smile from a good-looking man. There was only one way out before this got any worse and Hannah took it. She smiled wryly as she made her confession. ‘I’m kind of lost.’

‘I’m not surprised. This is a very large hospital.’

Hannah’s deep breath was almost a sigh of relief. She didn’t feel so stupid any more. His tone was understanding. Sympathetic. And he had an accent. English, but not the public-school variety. It was more of a lilt that added colour to an already attractively deep voice.

‘Where are you heading?’

‘General Medicine. Not the ward, though. I’m looking for the head of department’s office.’ The movement to push her wrist clear of her navy jacket sleeve and check her watch was automatic. ‘I’ve got a job interview in five minutes.’

‘Have you?’ Thick, dark eyebrows rose until they almost vanished beneath the wayward curls above. ‘What’s the job?’

‘A registrar’s position. It’s the first one I’ve ever applied for and I really don’t want to be late.’ The words tumbled out. This was no time to be distracted into conversation no matter how attractive this stranger was. ‘Look, I’m getting a bit desperate here. Can you help me?’

‘I’d love to.’ The sincerity in the statement was obvious. ‘But…I’m afraid I can’t.’

Hannah held back a renewed surge of panic. ‘What?’

‘I hate to admit this…but I’m as lost as you are.’

‘What?’ Hannah knew she probably looked like a fish stranded out of water but she didn’t care. She had just wasted another precious two minutes and she was no closer to finding her goal.

‘I’ve got a job interview myself.’ The explanation was apologetic. ‘For a surgical consultancy. First one I’ve ever applied for as well and I’m damned if I can read this map and find the department.’

They stared at each other.

And then they laughed.

The tension evaporated by magic then and they both studied the map in the manila folder together. The stranger’s hand touched Hannah’s and she decided it really didn’t matter if she was a minute or two late. He was going to be even later for his appointment because he insisted on taking the stairs to the next level and making sure Hannah had found her destination.