‘Croup,’ Daniel muttered as he held her on his lap along with the velvet comforter. ‘Poor mite.’
Wondering how he could possibly think he was no good at comforting kids, Stella carried on helping Alfie make Christmas cards.
They were lying on the rug in the living room, everything they needed spread out in front of them.
‘Just one more,’ Alfie said, carefully writing a name on an envelope, ‘for my teacher. Do you think she’d prefer the reindeer or the snowman?’
‘Reindeer.’ Stella passed him the glitter. ‘Not too much—Oops…’ She watched as a shower of silver covered the livingroom floor.
‘We could leave it there,’ Alfie suggested. ‘It sparkles.’
‘I’ll clean it up later. Don’t worry. Those paper chains look nice.’
‘Daniel put some in my bedroom. And we put some in Dad’s room, ready for when he comes back.’
Posy started to cough again, and this time the cough was much worse.
With a frown, Daniel lifted her little pink T-shirt and looked at her chest. ‘I need my stethoscope.’
Alfie sprang to his feet, sending glitter flying everywhere. ‘I’ll fetch it—tell me where it is.’
‘In the spare room. In the black bag by the bed.’
Alfie flew out of the room and Daniel watched him go. ‘He’s a good kid.’
‘He’s fantastic.’ Stella was looking at Posy. ‘You’re worried about her, aren’t you?’
‘As a doctor? No, not yet. But I’m watching her. As a man with responsibility for his brother’s kids—yes, I’m terrified.’ He gave a hollow laugh. ‘It’s hard to be detached when you know what’s at stake. And it’s pretty daunting, having that much responsibility. I’m counting the hours until he’s back. As long as they’re both still alive, I’ll consider that I’ve done well.’
‘If I had a sick child, there’s no one I’d rather trust him with. Patrick felt the same way, or he wouldn’t have left
them with you.’
His eyes met hers. ‘Maybe that was a mistake.’
‘It wasn’t a mistake.’ Stella looked at Posy, curled up against his chest. ‘She doesn’t exactly look traumatised. She couldn’t be in better hands.’ Thinking how much she’d like to swap places with Posy, Stella started to clear up glitter.
‘I noticed that you managed to remove the stain from the sofa cushion. And the marks from the walls.’ Daniel gave a tired laugh. ‘You’re a genius.’
Alfie hurried back with Daniel’s stethoscope. ‘Can you teach me how to do it?’
‘Yes, but let me listen first.’ Daniel slipped the stethoscope into his ears, murmured something reassuring to Posy and then listened to her chest. ‘She has good air entry but she had some stridor earlier when she was upset. I think some moist air would help. I’ll take her into the shower room in my bedroom. It’s a fairly small room. If I turn the shower to hot, it should create some steam fairly quickly.’ He caught Stella’s questioning glance and gave a wry smile of understanding. ‘Yes, as a doctor I know that the data shows no clinical benefit for steam. As a worried uncle, I need to do something. And at least standing in a steamy bathroom is doing something. If that doesn’t work, I’ll take her out into the cold air.’
‘You’re going to put her in the snow? Won’t that give her frostbite?’ Alfie contemplated that possibility with a mixture of fascination and excitement. ‘I learned about frostbite in school. Your toes can go black and then they drop off.’
‘Why are little boys so gruesome?’ Daniel stood up, still holding Posy. ‘Cold air can help reduce the inflammation in her airways. I can promise you I’m not going to put her in the snow and I can also promise you that no bits of her are going to drop off.’ Rolling his eyes towards Stella, he carried Posy out of the room.
Stella tidied up the remains of the glitter and stacked Alfie’s cards into a neat pile. Once or twice she glanced towards the door but there was no sign of Daniel. ‘You can write your cards now,’ she said absently, ‘and then there’s a Christmas film on TV. Why don’t you curl up and watch it? I’ll go and check on Posy.’
She was concerned that Daniel hadn’t brought the child back downstairs. Hoping that the little girl wasn’t worse, she walked up the stairs and along the wide, airy landing. The door to one of the spare rooms was ajar, and she heard the sound of the shower running as she walked inside.
The door to the bathroom was closed, but that didn’t surprise her because she knew Daniel would be trying to create as much steam in the atmosphere as possible.
Wanting to help, Stella opened the door and slid inside, closing the door quickly behind her so that she didn’t let the steam out.
Then she gave a gasp of shock.
Daniel was naked except for a pair of black boxer shorts, his soaked clothes in a heap on the floor. ‘Don’t even ask,’ he warned darkly, and Stella gave a weak smile, wishing she’d knocked before she’d walked into the bathroom.