Page 14 of Welcome to the Cornish Country Hospital

‘I could only do that because I already knew what to say to them and what treatment Ollie was going to need.’ He turned to face her, and she felt the impact of Lucas’s presence every bit as much as Ollie’s mother had. ‘I knew that your examination of him and the analysis of the X-rays would be accurate. This has always been my favourite team, Dan. You and me.’

For a moment she couldn’t speak and the only thing she could think of was this man standing right in front of her, but she forced herself to blink three times so that she could conjure up another image, and the words it provoked came tumbling out of her mouth. ‘You should have seen Esther with Ollie’s teacher. The poor woman was beside herself, but Esther just did that thing she always seems to do and made her feel better. I don’t know how she does that. She was brilliant with Ollie too. You two will make such fantastic parents one day. You’re so lucky to have her.’

‘I know, I just wish—’

It was Lucas’s turn to get cut off as Esther came through the double doors just ahead of them, her smile making Danni’s scalp prickle with guilt. Why couldn’t she love someone else?Anyone else. It didn’t matter who it was, as long as it wasn’t Lucas. She was the worst person in the world for feeling the way she did.

‘I know that look. What are you two up to?’ Esther was still smiling, but nausea swirled in Danni’s stomach all the same. ‘I hope you aren’t cooking something up for my birthday again. That zip wire over Penrhyn Quarry was enough excitement to last me for the rest of my life. If you’re planning anything, nice and simple works for me.’

‘It works for me too.’ Danni didn’t look at Lucas again, but she hoped he got the message anyway.

* * *

‘I’m sorry about the way Jen was when we first got here. She’s just gone to call her parents to let them know what’s going on, but she feels really bad about it.’ Dean looked at Danni as she came back to the cubicle, just before Ollie was due to be taken up to theatre. ‘I know all children are precious, but we thought for years we’d never get to have a child of our own. He’s the result of six rounds of IVF and it’s been all I can do to get Jen to let him do the usual stuff an eight-year-old boy wants to do. But everyone here has been great and we’re really grateful.’

‘There’s no need to apologise. I can’t imagine how terrifying parenthood must be, but you’ve got an amazing little boy.’

‘We’re very lucky, aren’t we, Jen?’ Dean looked up as his wife came back into Ollie’s bay.

‘The luckiest.’ Ollie’s mum took hold of his hand as she spoke, and Danni moved towards the head of the bed.

‘Right then, young man, I’m going to leave you with your mum and dad now, so you can have them to yourself for a bit before you go up and get that amazing cast Lucas promised you. I wish all my patients were as good as you.’

‘If I don’t play for Man City when I grow up, I might be a doctor. Or maybe an ambulance driver, ’cos they get to drive really fast and have lights and sirens and all of that stuff.’

Danni couldn’t help laughing and Ollie’s parents did too. He really was a great kid. ‘I bet you’ll be brilliant at whatever you do.’

‘Thank you.’ Jen reached out and touched her arm as Danni left, and she nodded. She hadn’t done anything really. It had been the paramedics who’d stabilised Ollie’s injury and got him to the hospital, and now Lucas would get him on the road to recovery. But it was a group effort, and it was why she loved working as part of a hospital team. She hated the thought of having to give that up, but she would if it came down to a choice between that and ever crossing the line in her relationship with Lucas. She was just praying she’d never have to choose.

8

Connie was certain her blood pressure reading would have gone back down to acceptable levels by now, if she wasn’t still waiting for Danni to return her letter. How the hell was she supposed to ‘relax and concentrate on getting well’, as the nurses kept telling her, if she had no idea where the letter was? For all Connie knew, the doctor might be one of those people who thought she knew what was best for others and who’d decided that posting the letter was the only possible course of action. She couldn’t bear the thought of going into surgery for a third time and not knowing where the letter was.

Her memories of the day of the accident weren’t as clear as she’d have liked them to be and every time someone had come into the ward who looked even vaguely like the young doctor who’d treated her, Connie’s hopes would surge, only for disappointment to wash over her when she realised that it wasn’t Danni. So it took a while for her to realise the moment had finally come.

‘Hi, Connie, how are you doing?’ The woman standing at the side of her bed had long, wavy, dark hair and eyes the colour of amber. It was the eyes that Connie would have recognised, even if four years had passed, instead of four days. They were the eyes she’d looked into when she’d been terrified that her life might be slipping away, without Richard ever knowing the truth.

‘Have you got the letter?’ There was so much she needed to say to Danni, so much she wanted to thank her for, but she couldn’t think of anything until she knew where the letter was.

‘It’s right here.’ Danni passed it to her, and Connie could tell the seal hadn’t been broken and the respect she had for the young doctor rose even higher.

‘Thank you.’ She sighed, but there was still one more question she needed to ask. ‘You didn’t contact Darcy, did you?’

‘You asked me not to, unless something happened to you. And you’re still here, just like I said you would be, so I haven’t been in touch with anyone. But I think it would be good to let your family know what’s going on. They must be so worried.’

‘One of the nurses gave my phone back after my operation, but I didn’t want to contact Darcy in case you’d already spoken to her. She won’t be worried; she knows I sometimes go out of contact for a few days when I’m on a research trip and that’s what she thinks I’m doing here. But I’ll phone her now I know you haven’t called her. I don’t want her to see any reports of the accident online and panic that I’m seriously hurt. I’m just terrified that when she finds out the truth about me, she might never want to speak to me again.’

‘Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad.’ Most people would have asked outright what the secret was, but not Danni. ‘And hasn’t everyone got something they’d rather not everyone knew about?’

Connie narrowed her eyes. It wasn’t just what Danni had said that made her wonder if the young woman was also keeping a secret, it was the expression on her face. ‘Do you ever worry that people wouldn’t feel the same way about you, if your secret came out?’

‘None of my secrets are that exciting.’ Danni attempted a shrug, but Connie was more certain now than ever that there was something significant the young woman was hiding.

‘How about if I tell you mine, you tell me yours? I think I owe you an explanation, as you were good enough not to go snooping for yourself.’

‘Ah, well, that’s not strictly true.’ Two spots of colour had appeared on Danni’s cheeks and Connie couldn’t keep the sharp edge out of her voice.

‘You opened my letter?’ She hadn’t spent her entire working life as a university lecturer without developing the ability to hold a person’s gaze when she was asking a question, until they felt they had no choice but to answer.

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