A Fling to Steal Her Heart

‘Not a lot I’ll be doing other than monitoring the progress. You’ll still be doing all the work.’ He leaned down to kiss her cheeks just as a contraction tightened her body. His hand was in a vice. ‘Breathe out slowly. That’s it.’

‘Easy for you to say,’ Haley muttered as the tension let go. ‘You’re not the one going through hell here.’

‘True. How far apart was that contraction from the previous one?’

‘Five minutes,’ Cooper answered for her.

‘Five minutes, four, six. Who cares?’ Haley began tensing again. ‘Bet you haven’t timed this one, huh? Standing around talking to your buddy like all is well in your world. Which it is. You’re not the one going through this agony.’

Raphael struggled not to laugh. He’d heard it all before but to hear Haley talk so much was a surprise. ‘And I thought you were shy.’ She’d become a radiologist since they didn’t have to talk to patients very often, mostly spent their days reading X-rays and MRIs.

‘You can shut up too. Get on with making this baby come out.’ Then she stared behind him. ‘Who are you?’

Izzy stepped forward. ‘Hello, Haley. I’m Isabella, Rafe’s friend.’

‘You made it, then. Raphael was unsure whether you’d turn up.’

I was? ‘Hardly. When Isabella says she’s going to do something, then there’s no changing her mind.’ She just didn’t always last the distance.

Haley tilted her head at him. ‘You’ve been on tenterhooks ever since she accepted the job here.’

‘Lie still. I’m going to listen to baby.’

And shut you down before Isabella starts getting the wrong idea.

‘Ah!’ Haley cried. ‘Here we go again.’

Cooper took her hand, held tight.

Raphael moved to the end of the bed, and gently lifted the sheet covering Haley.

‘Are you comfortable lying down through the contractions?’ Isabella asked when the current one was over.

‘I prefer standing, but when one starts I can’t get off the bed quick enough to see it through. I know I should sit on the side, ready to be hauled to my feet by Cooper. It’s just that every way I sit or lie it’s uncomfortable.’

‘Want to try standing next time? I’ll help you.’ Isabella began rubbing Haley’s back, easing out the knots that were no doubt in her muscles, and she started relaxing.

‘All right.’ Haley was surprisingly acquiescing.

Raphael made the most of Izzy’s distraction to examine Haley. ‘Eight centimetres. You’re back in business.’

‘Knew the little blighter was waiting for you to get here. Now there’ll be no stopping him.’ Cooper’s tension had backed off some since he and Izzy had arrived.

Isabella was still rubbing Haley’s back. ‘Walking around the room might help too, could ease the pain some and get the labour moving along faster. What do you think?’

‘I’ll try anything. I just want this over.’ Haley sat up and slowly slid her legs over the side of the bed. Then another contraction gripped her and Raphael and Cooper took an arm each and hauled her to her feet.

Cooper held her against him, whispering sweet nothings in her ear and rubbing up and down her sides. ‘You can do this, darling.’

‘Not a lot of choice,’ she groaned through clenched teeth. She’d barely got through the contraction and another came. As it finished, she growled, ‘Don’t think I’ll be walking anywhere at this rate.’

‘Let’s give it a go,’ Izzy encouraged. ‘Anything’s worth a try.’

Raphael watched her with Haley. She had a way about her that made Haley relax. She was going to be an asset on the ward. And when the next contraction came she was right there, encouraging her while Cooper held his wife and murmured in her ear.

‘I’m feeling pressure, like I need to push. That’s supposed to happen, isn’t it?’ Haley said some time later.

‘Back on the bed,’ Raphael told her. ‘I’ll take another look at what’s going on.’

Izzy stood beside him. ‘Looking good.’

‘It sure is.’ Raphael grinned. ‘Baby’s crowned. Let’s get him out here so we can all met the little man.’

Cooper took Haley’s hand. ‘Come on, darling, give it everything you’ve got.’

‘What do you think I’ve been doing?’ This time there was no anger, only exhaustion, in her voice, and she gave her husband a smile before drawing in a breath and beginning to push.

Raphael glanced across to Izzy, who was back to rubbing Haley’s tense back muscles. ‘That’s it. You’re doing great.’ She looked up at him and smiled as though to say, ‘I love this job.’

He grinned. So did he. Bringing babies into the world had to be the best experience he could have. And when the baby was his friends’ he couldn’t be happier. ‘And again,’ he told Haley. ‘The shoulders are out.’ Then, ‘One more push.’ Moments later he held a tiny, new human being in his large hands, quickly checking him over before gently laying the baby on Haley’s stomach. ‘Haley, Cooper, meet your son.’ Blink, blink. Damn it, he wasn’t supposed to get emotional over this, but these two deserved this moment. ‘Izzy, Cooper wants to cut the cord. Could you assist, please?’

‘Sure.’ She found gloves on the trolley to pull on and helped Cooper cut the cord when it had stopped pulsing.

Raphael watched as Izzy carefully wiped the baby with a towel. She looked so right doing that. What would she be like with her own baby? Besotted, no doubt. But like all midwives she’d probably be a nervous wreck over doing something wrong when she knew exactly how to look after a newborn. Now she carefully lifted the baby and wrapped him in a clean towel before handing him back to his mother, a look of awe on her tired face.

Raphael tapped her on the shoulder, nodded towards the door. ‘We’ll give you time to bond. Just holler if you want anything.’

For once Cooper was silent, and Haley seemed to have returned to her normal quiet self.

Outside the suite, Izzy leaned against the wall, and grinned. ‘Wow. It never changes, does it? The thrill that comes with a baby arriving in our hands?’

‘It certainly doesn’t.’ Not caring who saw him, he pulled her into a hug. ‘Welcome home, Izzy.’

Her body tensed. Then relaxed. ‘Yes, at last.’

* * *

Late the next morning Raphael nudged the shower off and reached for his towel. The tension in his legs put there by a harder than usual run had at last diminished under the onslaught of hot water. Outrunning the images of Izzy rushing at him in the arrival terminal, her wide-eyed gaze as she explored his house and yawning into her chips at the pub hadn’t worked. Then there was the one after where they’d returned from the hospital and he’d helped her up the stairs to the third floor and the bedroom that was temporarily hers, her body struggling to put one foot in front of the other as exhaustion outdid everything else. He’d nearly swung her up into his arms to carry her up there, but common sense had stepped in just in the nick of time, forcing him to take her arm instead. Once he’d not have hesitated, but now the very thought of getting close to her and then letting her down was frightening.

After pulling on knee-length shorts and an open-necked shirt he tidied up his room, and made the bed. Earlier, when he’d popped into the kitchen to grab his keys on the way out for his run, he’d been saddened by the empty water bottles on the bench, evidence that Isabella had been downstairs during the night. The way she’d been all but comatose when they’d got home she should’ve slept right through the night without once opening her eyes. Something needed doing pronto about her insomnia. That sort of tiredness undermined everything a person did if left too long.

He hadn’t reckoned on being quite so rattled on seeing her yesterday, and hearing her laugh and talk. Except it’d been Izzy with a difference. The laughter was strained, the conversations awkward. His heart had stirred at th

e sight of her, which once he’d have said was because of their friendship, yet now felt it might be about something more intense. They loved each other, platonically. But no denying that since the day he’d had to watch her marry Darren he’d felt he’d lost something, that he loved her in a way he shouldn’t. Not that he trusted his feelings. Look where love had got him last time. He’d fallen fast and hard, and gave Cassie everything, only to have her continually complaining it wasn’t enough. And that was before her final treachery.

When Isabella first told him she and Darren were splitting his heart had soared with selfish relief. Then, as the sordid details of their marriage registered, he’d been angry and distressed for her. Since then his emotions had run the gamut from hope to despair and everything in between for her. And for himself. Something he only admitted at four in the morning when sleep was elusive.

Now he had to cope with Izzy living in his own space, however temporarily. A space she’d slotted into last night as easily as he’d seen her shrug into a puffer jacket in midwinter on the Rhône years ago. Nothing unusual in that. Except he also had to ignore how his heart was involved. Cassie had finally taken a back seat. But not the loss of his child. He’d never forgive her for that, which meant his heart wasn’t ready for anyone else.

Goosebumps lifted on his forearms. Rubbing hard did nothing to knock them down. Nor did the light woollen jersey he pulled over his head in the bedroom. His nose twitched. Coffee vapour was filtering up the stairs. Coffee. Had to be the answer. Obviously Izzy was in the kitchen. Damn, no dashing into the hospital for a bit of time out.

She was leaning one hip against the bench, a full mug wrapped in her hands, and a bewildered smile lifting her lips as she glanced down at the creature rubbing against her legs. ‘You’ve got a cat.’