Jack's Baby

“Tell me what to do and I’ll do it,” came the quick, decisive reply.

“Go to a chemist shop and buy up whatever you’ll need to feed a newborn baby. Tins of formula, bottles, teats, sterilising solution. Ask the pharamacist. He should know everything. It might not be necessary, but it’s better to be prepared. You can always exchange these items for other stuff. Next feed is two o’clock, but Charlotte might want it before then.”

“I’ll go right now.”

“Hold it! If Nina has to go to hospital, can you step in and take over with Charlotte?”

“No problem. I’ll take her home with me. Nina, too, if the doctor only gives her medication. I’ll look after both of them.”

“Sure you can handle it?”

“They’re my family. Thanks for letting me know, Sally.”

“I left my secretary with the baby at the flat. I’ll report to her when I know more.”

“I’ll go to the flat as soon as I have the stuff for Charlotte.”

“Right. Bye for now.”

Charlotte. He’d called her Charlotte. Surely that had to be a good sign, Nina told herself. And the possessive way he’d said my family…Jack had the best of intentions.

She didn’t know why she was crying. The tears rolled from a seemingly unstoppable well.

“That guy is coming through really well, Nina,” Sally asserted as she drove her BMW into the parking lot behind the medical centre. “His heart is in the right place. Having met countless bridegrooms in my time as a wedding director, let me tell you Jack scores a high distinction in many areas.”

“Thanks, Sally.” Nina managed to choke the words out. She wished she’d consulted Sally before she’d reached this awful state.

“Now let’s get you inside to the doctor.”

It was out of her hands now, Nina thought. Fate had done it to her again, throwing her a curve she could never have anticipated. She couldn’t exercise any control over where it would end. It was all up to Jack to make it come out right.

If he had the heart for it.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHARLIE girl was yelling her lungs out and wouldn’t listen to a word Jack said. He walked her up and down Nina’s living room, rubbing and patting her back with no better result. The kid was beyond reason and comfort. Jack was desperate for news of Nina and more instructions when the telephone rang.

“I’ll answer that,” he shouted at Sally’s secretary, and quickly thrust the baby into her arms. “Take her into the bedroom and shut the door. I don’t want Nina hearing her over the phone and getting upset. Hurry!”

He grabbed the receiver the moment the door shut. “It’s Jack. How’s Nina?” he demanded anxiously.

“Worst-case scenario. Abscesses. The doctor’s given her intravenous antibiotics and booked her in at Royal North Shore Hospital. I’m taking her there now. A surgeon will see her this afternoon.”

“A surgeon?” Alarm shot through him.

“No big deal. It’s called incision and drainage. Nina will have a general anaesthetic.”

“That could make her pretty damned sick,” he said worriedly, his gut twisting at what she had to go through.

“She is pretty damned sick. They’ll probably hold her in hospital for a couple of days. Have you got everything for Charlotte?”

It hit him with nerve-shattering force that he was on his own with the kid. Not for an hour or two. For a couple of days! And nights! No fall-back situation with Nina on hand. The responsibility was all his. He fought down an incipient sense of panic. Hadn’t he said all along that a little kid couldn’t beat him?

“All equipped and ready to go,” he said, firmly projecting confidence. “Tell Nina not to worry. Tell her Charlotte couldn’t have a more competent dad. I’ll handle everything at this end.”

Charlotte…That’s what Nina called her. Since he had to be both Mum and Dad to the kid, he’d better use that name, too. Give himself double-barrelled power.

“Good,” Sally said approvingly, as though she’d heard his thought. “I’ll come over to your place this evening and mind Charlotte while you visit Nina and reassure her. Okay?”