Charlotte sat with Maggie on the grass, hugging her knees in front of her.
‘So, Edward’s...a friend of yours...?’
‘Yes, I work with him.’
‘Ah. A colleague. Well, it was lucky he was here today. He was a real hero.’ Maggie laughed. ‘I told Isaac and Sam that I thought he was a hero, an
d Isaac asked if that made him a hero, too. Since Edward was his friend.’
Charlotte grinned at the thought. ‘What did you say?’
‘I said that it did. Then Sam wanted to know if he was a hero, too, as he was Isaac’s friend...’
‘I reckon it’s catching, this hero business.’
‘Definitely.’ Maggie leaned towards Charlotte confidingly. ‘Mind you, even my heart skipped a beat when he walked out of the water carrying that little girl.’
‘Yeah?’
Charlotte’s heart had almost stopped. Edward’s jeans, moulded tight around his strong thighs... His shirt clinging to a broad, muscled chest which had been heaving from the effort of getting to Laura in time and pulling her from the lake... The droplets of spinning silver that had scattered as he shook his head... It was an image that she wasn’t going to forget in a hurry.
‘Guess mine did, too.’
‘It’s instinct. Man saves child. Guaranteed to pull at the heartstrings.’
Head, heart and all points south. If Laura hadn’t been the most pressing priority she would have had little choice but to fling herself into his arms.
‘Yeah.’ She turned to Maggie with a bright smile. ‘And it all ended well.’
‘Yep. Thanks to you two.’ Maggie lay back in the grass. ‘I think it’s going to be a great afternoon.’
* * *
‘So, if you ever tell me again that you’re no good at reassuring patients...’
Charlotte was grinning at him, as if she knew that Edward was expecting something of the sort from her. At least she’d left it until Isaac was safely tucked up in bed.
‘Okay.’ He looked up from his book, holding his hands up in mock surrender. ‘You just had to say it, didn’t you?’ But it had felt good to be the one who gave comfort for a change. He could see the extra dimension that it added to Charlotte’s job.
She laughed. ‘Do you mind?’
‘No. I’d mind if you hadn’t noticed.’
Charlotte’s approval was becoming more important to him than he was strictly comfortable with. It was one thing to gain satisfaction from trying out a new approach and finding that it worked, but that didn’t mean that he’d changed. He might be older, and a bit wiser, but were Kathy’s words so very wide of the mark?
She jutted her chin at him. ‘So you admit that you’ve underestimated yourself?’
The phone interrupted any possible answer to that, and Edward reached for the handset. He heard his father’s voice, with a quick enquiry about how he was doing and a request to speak to Charlotte.
‘Here.’ He spun the handset across the coffee table and she caught it adroitly. ‘It’s my father. He wants to speak to you.’
He couldn’t have asked for a better illustration of Kathy’s point. Even his father seemed to be captivated with her, and somehow found far more to chat about with Charlotte than he did with Edward.
He retreated into a book, hardly hearing what Charlotte was saying on the phone. After half an hour she replaced the handset into its cradle.
‘Everything okay?’
‘He wanted to set up a meeting for this week. I’m going to see him on Wednesday, after work. He’s got some things for me to sign.’