A Proposal to Remember

Several of the children were stroking the reindeer, totally enraptured by the soft covering on its antlers. It was totally docile, stan

ding quietly while they swarmed all around it.

‘I have to confess that I never knew reindeer were so small,’ Kim muttered as she delved into the sack for another present.

‘Does size matter in a reindeer?’ Carlo’s eyes twinkled suggestively and Zan laughed.

She couldn’t believe he’d arranged real reindeer. When she’d asked him to be Father Christmas she’d never thought for a moment that he’d enter into the spirit of things to quite this extent.

But the children were loving every minute of it.

And as they sat on the floor, ripping open their presents, the hospital choir arrived at the entrance of the ward and started to sing carols.

The moment was so magical that Zan felt her eyes grow hot.

‘I feel really Christmassy,’ Kim said happily, and then she glanced across at Carlo and lowered her voice. ‘He’s fantastic, Zan. After tonight, I’d have his babies, too.’

Zan watched as Carlo hugged a little girl who had her leg in plaster, his dark eyes warm and kind as he listened to her breathless requests for presents.

Kim was right. He was fantastic.

And then he looked up and caught her looking at him. The benign, fatherly look in his eyes vanished, to be replaced by a look of such sexual intensity that her insides burned with excitement.

She could hardly breathe for wanting him, and she wondered how she was going to show him that she didn’t want him to slow the pace any more.

It was obviously going to be up to her to take the initiative.

* * *

Finally the reindeer were loaded back into their trailer and the children were settled into bed.

‘Not that I expect them to sleep much,’ the ward sister admitted with a sigh as she tried to calm the excited children.

Zan moved closer to Carlo. ‘How’s Kelly’s baby doing?’

‘I’ve been too busy to go up and check.’ He looked at her quizzically. ‘Shall we go up now?’

‘Dressed like this?’ Zan glanced down at herself doubtfully and he laughed.

‘Why not? It’s Christmas Eve after all.’

So they took the lift to the labour ward and walked through to SCBU. The ward was warm and festive and the staff greeted them with amusement as they strolled onto the ward in their costumes.

‘How’s baby Turner?’ Carlo walked over to the incubator and gazed down at the baby lying attached to tubes and monitors.

‘Actually, he’s doing pretty well.’ The doctor looking after the baby glanced at the machines with a frown and twiddled a knob. ‘They’re scanning him later because they’re worried about the risk of intraventricular haemorrhage.’

‘Oh.’ Zan looked shocked. ‘Why are they worried about that?’

‘It’s a fairly routine procedure in premature babies,’ Carlo assured her, picking up the chart and scanning it. ‘Brain haemorrhage can occur in up to forty per cent of babies who weigh under 1500 grammes. How’s everything else?’

The doctor adjusted her glasses. ‘His blood gases deteriorated so we had to ventilate him overnight but he’s stabilised now.’

She and Carlo proceeded to have a detailed conversation about the baby’s progress and then Zan looked up and saw Kelly and Mike hovering in the doorway, looking out of place and uncomfortable.

‘Hi.’ Zan moved towards them, waving an apologetic hand over her costume. ‘Sorry about the way we look—we dressed up for the children’s ward earlier and we haven’t had time to change. How are you?’

‘We’re fine.’ Kelly looked pale and thin and she was gazing longingly at the baby. ‘He’s being fed through a tube and I so wanted to breast-feed.’