A Mother for His Twins

‘Who? Who are you talking about? How do you know about my girls?’

Jennifer stopped walking and turned to face him. ‘Sara.’ Her tone was cross and after shaking her head she continued on her way.

‘Sara? Matt’s wife?’

‘Yes, Matt’s wife. How many Saras do you know?’

‘A few. That’s not the point. Obviously you know Sara.’

‘Yes, and obviously we spoke on the phone last week.’

‘What?’ Jasper couldn’t believe how bewildering this woman was. She was smart, gorgeous and his new boss. To top it all off, she knew about his daughters. It wasn’t that people around the hospital didn’t know he had children, they did, but Jasper had worked hard to keep his private life as far away from the hospital world as possible.

When he’d started dating again two years ago, he’d made a pact with himself to protect the girls as much as possible. He’d started out by not wanting to date anyone who worked at the hospital but as he spent the majority of his time there—and the rest at home with the twins—he realised it was virtually impossible to meet anyone who wasn’t associated in some way with the medical profession. To ensure the girls were protected, he’d compartmentalised his life and things had been going swimmingly…until now. If Jennifer knew Sara then his two worlds had just collided with a very loud bang and he wasn’t quite sure what to do next.

‘What do you mean we spoke on the phone? When?’

‘The other day when you called Sara’s house. The line was bad. Remember?’

‘That was you?’ His eyebrows shot up in surprise. ‘Why did you say you were Sara?’

‘I didn’t. I told you it wasn’t Sara but you couldn’t hear me.’

He nodded. ‘The line was bad.’

They weren’t far from the ward now and Jennifer was having difficulties slotting Jasper ‘call me Eddie’ Edwards into a nice, neat compartment. He didn’t fit under the ‘work colleague’ banner, neither did he fit under the ‘friend’ banner, and in the past those were the only two banners she’d had. Knowing he was a friend of Sara’s automatically connected her professional and private lives together and she didn’t like that at all. She needed to get this sorted out and now.

She came to a halt and grabbed Jasper’s arm, pulling him into a small nook near a drinking fountain.

‘Look. I don’t like it when my personal and private lives mix.’

‘Neither do I.’

‘Good. Then Sara can just forget her wild ideas and we can simply work together as colleagues and nothing more. Agreed?’

Jasper frowned. ‘What wild ideas? What on earth are you talking about?’

‘Sara!’

‘I’ve gathered that much. I’ve also realised you’re the friend who’s been staying with Sara for this past week.’

‘Yes.’ It was her turn to frown.

‘The girls came home on Thursday, after spending the day with Sara, talking about Sara’s friend, Jen. I’m guessing you’re Jen.’

‘You really are very smart, Dr Edwards. Good to know you can connect the dots so easily.’ Her tone was laced with light sarcasm.

‘Hey. Why are you cross with me? It’s just a coincidence, that’s all.’

‘Yes, but one I could have at least prepared myself for.’

‘You’re talking in riddles again.’

‘Sara’s been trying to get me to date again.’

Jasper’s eyebrows hit his hairline at her words. ‘Sara wants to set us up!’

‘Now you’re getting the picture.’ Jennifer looked down at her clenched hands for a moment, then lifted her head, raising her chin with a hint of defiance. Jasper found he liked the action but pushed that thought aside for now. ‘We were talking about you the other day. After you’d called.’

‘You were?’ Should he be worried? Jennifer had already mentioned that Sara was trying to set them up. Had Sara been touting his good points? He waited.

‘I was trying to figure out the loose family connection.’ She waved her words away and shook her head as though a little embarrassed by her confession. ‘Anyway, I asked her where you worked and she quickly changed the subject. You see, she knew I was coming to work here—in this department. She knew you worked here so why do you think that a woman as bright and intelligent as Sara wouldn’t tell us about each other?’

‘I don’t know. It slipped her mind?’

‘Do you really believe that? If you do, you don’t know Sara all that well.’

‘Wait a minute. Why does she want you to start dating again?’