Page 16 of Prognosis Do Over

Lou looked down at Candy as she showed off her expensive laptop. Will was right. She did seem to be taking the separation from her mother better than expected. But Candy had always had a resilience that belied her years. Thanks to Will’s love and devotion, Candy’s world had always had stability and security — even if it had come at a personal cost to him.

‘Do you miss her, sweetie?’ she asked gently.

‘A little.’ Candy shrugged. ‘But I would have missed Brisbane and Rilla and all my friends too much, and I didn’t really want to go to Europe and be so far away from Daddy. And with this —’ She tapped the keyboard ‘It’s just like having her in the next room. She sends me pictures and stuff all the time. I can even go on holidays to Italy when I’m older.’

Lou nodded, and again wondered how it was possible for a mother to leave her child. She knew as sure as her next breath that Jan would never have abandoned her baby through choice. She absently rubbed her stomach.

‘Can I come and visit you and the baby?’ Candy asked.

Lou returned her attention to Candy and noticed her watching Lou’s involuntary belly-stroking. ‘Of course.’ Lou smiled.

Candy sighed. ‘I wish you and Daddy would get back together, so you and the baby could live with us. I’d be able to help you.’

Lou’s breath hitched at the rosy picture painted by the eight-year-old child. It was terribly seductive, but she knew one thing for sure — she couldn’t get involved with Will again. She was over him, and even if she hadn’t been she had a baby to think about now.

It was funny how things worked out, she thought. She’d always tried really hard to understand Will’s position. His initial caution before throwing himself fully into their relationship, and then his retreat as Delvine threw a spanner in the works. But it was only now she had a child to think about also that she truly understood his actions.

The urge to protect your child was very strong and that included protecting it from people who could come and go with devastating consequences. But it had been more than that for Will. He had also been protecting himself. And she understood that as well — Delvine had scarred him. But his emotional wariness had hurt.

And she wouldn’t do that again. Not to her or the baby.

‘I’m sure you’d be a tremendous help, sweetie. So you’ll have to come and visit...a lot.’ Lou grinned and ruffled Candy’s hair to soften the subtle rejection.

Just then the baby stomped on her cervix, and Lou let out a yelp as she clutched underneath her bump.

‘Ooh! Did it kick?’ asked Candy. ‘Can I feel it? Please, Lou?’

‘Sure,’ she said, grimacing as the pain eased. ‘Here.’ She picked Candy’s hand off the desk and placed it on the spot where the baby was now looping the loop.

‘I can’t feel it,’ said a disappointed Candy after a few moments.

‘Just wait,’ said Lou, willing the now still baby to move. ‘It can be tricky sometimes.’

They waited a few more moments, and then Lou felt the baby give a hefty kick to the spot where Candy’s hand was resting.

Candy squealed excitedly. ‘It kicked! It kicked!’

Lou laughed. ‘Ouch. I know.’

Will chose that moment to enter the room. What he saw stopped him in his tracks. Candy gazing wondrously up into Lou’s face, her hand pressed to Lou’s swollen stomach. Lou looking down in shared awe. The bond between the two women in his life obviously as strong as ever.

His heart blipped to a brief stop before galloping away - it could be like this again.

But even as he watched them he knew it wasn’t possible. Lou’s pregnancy was a timely reminder of how much such a huge life-changing event could put relationships at risk. As it had with him and Delvine. And how much a new baby would impact on their lives.

Candy had to come first. She deserved that.

His daughter had to be uppermost in his mind. She’d been to’d and fro’d enough in her eight years. And Jan’s baby would be Lou’s priority. Neither of them was free to commit fully to the other. Bad timing — as usual.

Will’s eyes met Lou’s, and their gazes locked for a brief moment in time.

God, he’d missed her.

‘Here you both are,’ he said, injecting a light note into his voice. ‘Dessert’s up.’

‘Okay, then,’ Lou said, and was the first one out of the room.

She didn’t linger after dessert. The look on Will’s face in Candy’s room had been so conflicted she’d wanted to run a mile. He’d looked as if he wanted to push her away and pull her close all at once, and she knew exactly how he felt.

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