Playboy Doctor to Doting Dad

‘You haven’t done your shopping yet?’ Pete looked astonished. ‘Whoa, man, you’d better take a three-hour break. But, I suppose, you’ve only got one niece to buy for. Just hit the toy shop and you’ll be right.’ He grinned. ‘They also have great plastic trucks that little boys go crazy over.’

‘Thankfully I’ve already done that. I just need to pick up something on order,’ Kieran commented.

Abby scrutinised Pete’s face. Had he guessed who Seamus’s father was? It wouldn’t be that hard. Sally probably wasn’t the only one to notice the likeness between her boy and Kieran last Saturday. Not to mention how much time Kieran spent with Seamus.

Pete kept his face blank, but his eyes were twinkling with knowledge. Oh, well, nothing to be done about it. Had Kieran realised? One look at him and she shrugged. If he had, it didn’t seem to be bothering him. Now, there was a turn-around. He’d been adamant he didn’t want anyone in the department knowing. She sat back in her chair. Did this mean he was accepting Seamus completely? It certainly looked that way. Her feet tapped the floor. Brilliant.

Pete asked, ‘We doing any work today?’

Abby grabbed the top set of patient notes in the in-tray. ‘Sure. Guess the coffee break’s over. Your next patient.’ She handed the notes to Kieran.

‘The boss has spoken.’ He smiled and read the patient details.

‘Yep, and here’s yours, Pete. Barbara can help you.’ Abby stood up and stretched her back before following Kieran to cubicle four. She may be tired but she was enjoying being nurse in charge this week while Sally took leave. It was great experience and she knew she’d done a good job, made easier by working with people she knew well.

Kieran was talking to her. ‘I’ve never been as aware of Christmas as I am this year. While your shops are not as heavily decorated as those back home, and there don’t seem to be as many carol singers on the streets and the weather’s weird, there’s a buzz in the air.’

‘Could be something to do with being involved with children.’ Let’s face it, Christmas must have been lonely, even boring, for him in the past with no little ones around.

‘There’s something in that.’ He tapped her elbow. ‘Tomorrow morning with the kids and their stockings from Santa should be fun.’

‘You have no idea.’ She grinned and slipped into the cubicle where an elderly woman waited.

‘Good morning, Mrs Atkins. I’m Nurse Brown and this is Dr Flynn. I hear you’ve taken a tumble.’

Mrs Atkins had fallen at the shopping mall, sustaining a suspected fractured hip. ‘Got knocked down by a boy on his skateboard, more like. I don’t know why those people in the mall let skateboarders inside. It’s downright dangerous.’

‘I have to agree with you.’ Abby took Mrs Atkins’s wrist and began counting her pulse.

‘On a scale of one to ten, Mrs Atkins, can you tell me your pain level?’ Kieran asked as he gently shifted the woman’s skirt so he could examine her hip area.

‘Eleven. Dratted children. Where are their mothers?’

‘I’ll give you some more painkiller shortly, Mrs Atkins. I see the paramedic gave you a shot of morphine before leaving the mall.’

‘Yes, he did. Helped to get me on that stretcher thing. Am I going to be here long? I need to get home. I haven’t finished my Christmas baking and the family depend on me for that. My daughter works long hours at the fish factory so I like to do my bit to help her out. She’s got five children, you see, had them late, and there’s not a lot of money to go round in that house, I can tell you.’

Abby gave her a sympathetic pat. ‘I’m sorry but until we know exactly what you’ve done to your hip you won’t be going anywhere except to Radiology. Can I ring your daughter at work and see if she can come in to keep you company for a while?’

‘Oh, no, dear. She can’t afford to take time off. She needs the money for Christmas holidays. I don’t think the factory owners would pay her while she sat with me, do you?’

Abby thought they might. Most employers gave their staff leave in these circumstances. ‘I’ll see what I can find out.’

Kieran nodded at Mrs Atkins. ‘Let’s get your X-ray done. The sooner we know the damage, the sooner you’ll be able to make some plans for your family.’

‘Thank you, my boy.’ Mrs Atkins hesitated, then went on, ‘You’re thinking I’ve broken it. I don’t suppose I’ll be very mobile if you’re right. I knew I should’ve stayed at home to bake the cake instead of racing out to beat the crowds.’

Kieran looked taken aback at being called ‘my boy’.

Abby winked at him as they left the cubicle. ‘She’s got your number.’

‘She’s one tough cookie. I guess that family is what keeps her so active. Unfortunately that doesn’t stop her bones aging and becoming fragile. She’s not going to enjoy her Christmas as much as usual this year.’

Abby reached over the top of the nurses’ station and lifted the phone to call for a porter to take Mrs Atkins for her X-ray. Before she’d pressed any numbers Kieran leaned close, his aftershave alerting her to his proximity. She sucked in a lungful of man scent, igniting that deep longing she carried all the time now. Why did he have to stand so close? Why didn’t she move away?

His arm brushed hers, and she found herself holding her breath. Why? It wasn’t as though he would haul her into his arms and kiss her wildly in the middle of ED. Pity. She would give her sisters away for one of Kieran’s kisses.

Nothing had happened since the evening they’d decorated the Christmas tree and that interrupted kiss. She should be grateful because it was becoming increasingly difficult to turn off her feelings for Kieran when he only had to touch her and she melted. Grateful be damned.

‘Radiology department, Clive speaking.’ When had she pressed the numbers for X-Ray?

Swallowing and stepping aside to put space between her and Kieran, Abby quickly arranged Mrs Atkins’s visit, then hung up. ‘Who’s next?’

Looking up, she found Kieran watching her. ‘You’re flushed. Need to take another coffee break?’

A break from him, more likely. ‘I don’t think so. What time are you heading downtown?’

‘As soon as there’s a lull.’

‘That could mean never. Go now while you can.’

He laughed. ‘Worried I won’t pick up your present?’

‘Not at all. I just hope you’re not taking the sports car because it’s way too small for mine.’

‘Cheeky woman. Don’t you know some of the smallest things are the most expensive?’

‘Are you saying size doesn’t count?’ She grinned. Then really flushed. Bright scarlet. Spinning away, she grabbed another patient file and dashed past the station, Kieran’s laughter following her.

‘More than cheeky,’ he called after her. ‘Interesting.’

Of course, it took for ever to drive home with the traffic banked up as far as she could see. It hadn’t helped that she’d had to call into the berry gardens to collect the fruit she’d ordered and her father had forgotten to pick up. Christmas pavlova wasn’t right without strawberries and raspberries piled on top.

Olivia and Seamus were irritable in the hot car. The air-conditioning didn’t work anymore so she’d opened all the windows a crack, with dismal results.

‘Finally,’ she muttered as she turned into her road. ‘We’re nearly home, kids.’

‘There’s a truck at our place.’ Olivia pointed across Abby’s shoulder.

‘The driver must be lost.’ What other reason was there for a truck decorated in a local furniture outlet’s logo to be parked at her open front gate?

‘Can I ask him?’ Then Olivia squealed, ‘Uncle Kieran’s there. And Grandpa.’

‘So they are.’ What’s more, they were both helping some guy carry a large couch towards her front door. ‘What’s going on?’ she wondered aloud as she lifted Seamus out of his car seat in front of her garage.

After putting down his end of the couch, Kieran came to draw Abby in

side to her lounge. ‘I hope you don’t mind but I bought you a new lounge suite.’