Page 25 of Together Again at the Cornish Country Hospital

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‘Here she is, Ellis Ciana Kennedy-Taylor. I know it’s a bit of a mouthful, but it’s a name that means a lot to us.’ Aidan held up the photo of his daughter on his phone, looking every inch the doting father he was, a whole crowd gathering round to look. ‘I’ll be bombarding you with photos on our WhatsApp group all the time, but I wanted this to be the first time you all saw just how beautiful she is, because let’s face it, she’s the most amazing baby ever born.’

Aidan laughed as if acknowledging how biased he was, but Amy nodded. ‘She’s absolutely gorgeous and I love her already, because she’s bringing Isla and Reuben home early.’

‘Some might call that selfish.’ Aidan laughed again, as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer towards him. ‘But I completely agree with you.’

Isla and Amy had quickly become close after they’d started working together, and she missed her friend. She’d been so glad to see Isla set off on an adventure after her diagnosis, but St Piran’s just wasn’t the same without her. The fact that Amy wanted to speak to Isla about Lijah, was just one of the many reasons she couldn’t wait for her friend to come home.

‘I love her name and I’m sure Cian would have been really touched.’ Amy laid her head against Aidan’s shoulder for a moment. He’d told her before about losing his childhood friend and it was obvious his daughter’s middle name was a tribute to him. She’d been about to ask him about the baby’s first name, when Gwen took the words out of her mouth.

‘Did you choose Ellis for a special reason too?’

‘About as special as it gets.’ Aidan let out a long breath. ‘She’s only here because of the generosity of two amazing woman Ellen and Isla, so what better name could we have given her, than a combination of the two. We could never thank them for what they’ve done, but this feels so right.’

‘It’s beautiful!’ It was Esther who’d taken the words out of Amy’s mouth this time. ‘And I know Danni is already lining up play dates with baby Caleb soon as Ellis is out of hospital.’

‘I can’t wait.’ Aidan couldn’t seem to stop smiling, and Amy was thrilled to see her friend so happy. It was almost impossible to believe how distraught he’d been the day before and it was amazing how quickly things could change. He squeezed her waist again. ‘In the meantime, while she’s here and Jase and I still have a bit of free time to call our own, I want to say thanks in a bigger way. I haven’t worked out how I’m going to do it yet, but I feel like the luckiest person in the world right now. I’ve got everything I ever wanted, and it only feels right to give something back. We see so many people who are struggling; families who can barely afford to feed their children, and people who should have decades left, but who suddenly find themselves facing a life-changing diagnosis. Not to mention the loneliness of some of the elderly people we treat. That hits me right here every time.’

Aidan slapped his hand against his chest, shaking his head. ‘I know I’m probably not making any sense, but it’s like I’ve had… what’s the word?’

‘An epiphany?’ Amy tilted her head to one side.

‘I wouldn’t go that far, I don’t want to be struck by lightning.’ He grinned. ‘It’s more of a re-evaluation of what really matters. You know, like Scrooge on Christmas Eve. I woke up this morning with the knowledge that my daughter is going to be okay, and I just want to give something back.’

‘Maybe you’re on to something with that Scrooge reference.’ Gwen laughed at the look of mock outrage on Aidan’s face. ‘Not because you’re a skinflint, you’re always the first to buy the coffees, and once or twice I’ve even known you to share a Twix.’

‘To be fair he only said he wanted to give back, not share his chocolate.’ Meg grinned.

‘Why do I suddenly feel picked on?’ Despite his question, Aidan still couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

‘You didn’t let me finish.’ Gwen furrowed her brow for a moment, as if she was struggling to remember what she’d been about to say, but then it seemed to come back to her. ‘I just meant we could do something that focuses on the past, the present and the future. You know, like the ghosts in Scrooge. We need some kind of project that would help out the very young, the elderly and a group in the middle.’

‘We?’ Aidan sounded surprised. ‘It’s a brilliant idea, but I don’t want to railroad anyone into something they might regret.’

‘And I don’t want to muscle in, but I’ve felt a bit…’ Gwen paused again. ‘I don’t know, a bit flat lately. I’d love to get involved in a new project, something to give me back my get up and go. So, if you want any help, you can count me in.’

‘Me too.’ Eden sounded almost nervous as she made the offer. ‘All I’ve done since I moved back home is work and look after my little boy. It would be great to get involved with the community somehow.’

‘You can count me in as well.’ Amy looked up at Aidan. ‘It sounds like we might have a St Piran’s charity project in baby Ellis’s honour.’

‘Fabulous, so what now?’ Aidan scanned his friends’ faces for a second time.

‘Whatever it is I’m in too, and I hate to be a party pooper.’ Esther sighed. ‘But some of us really ought to get back to work. Maybe we can meet up later in the week and bounce around some ideas. I know Danni will want to be involved too.’

‘Getting together sounds like a great idea. I’ll put something in the WhatsApp group.’ Aidan’s face must have been hurting from so much smiling.

‘Brilliant.’ Amy really wanted to get involved with the project, whatever it turned out to be. It might mean asking Lijah if he could look after Monty a bit more often, but that was no bad thing either. Even if their kiss had been a one-off, she couldn’t deny how much she liked having him around; it was too late to protect her heart, it was already Lijah’s and it always had been. She just had to remember it would never be the same for him, and try her best to play it cool, even if that felt next to impossible.

16

‘Everything okay?’ Wendy blurted out the question as soon as Gwen picked up her phone, the urgency in her voice obvious.

‘Yes, I’m fine, why?’

‘Because you were going to pick me up for the dance class.’ Her friend sounded confused. ‘You did say you would, didn’t you?’

‘Oh God, Wendy, I’m so sorry. It’s just that there’s been…’ She blinked frantically, trying to think up a possible reason why she’d forgotten the arrangement. But she’d already told Wendy everything was okay, so she could hardly invent some kind of domestic crisis. There had to be a rational explanation for why she’d not only forgotten to pick up her friend, but had forgotten the dance class altogether. The trouble was, there was no explanation that would cut it, and it scared the life out of her. ‘I’m sorry, I got distracted doing something else, but I’m on my way now and I’ll give Nicky a ring on the way over to let her know we’re running late. We’ll only miss the warmup, so it should be fine.’

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