The Emergency Specialist. Barbara Hart
‘Weren’t we all?’ Jack laughed, casting his mind back to his mad student days. ‘She liked partying into the night—and almost got fired from her job because of it!’
‘Oh, dear,’ said Anna, deciding that she and his late wife would have had very little in common apart from the blonde hair.
Jack was still in the happy world of the past as he recalled the angry scene on the doorstep between Anneka and her employer when he’d taken her home in the early hours of the morning after a particularly riotous all-night party.
Anna and Jack had been in the pub less than an hour. Anna finished her wine and glanced at her watch.
‘I ought to be getting home soon,’ she said, hoping that he wouldn’t cross-examine her on why she needed to be leaving so soon. She hadn’t worked out a convincing answer and was relieved when he too said it was time he was on his way. It wasn’t that she found his company boring, far from it. There was something magnetic about him and, if she hadn’t been so traumatised by her recent break-up, she might have found herself falling for him.
They walked into the pub car park, saying very little, preoccupied with their own thoughts. When they were in the car he put the key in the ignition and started the engine. Then he switched it off. He turned towards her and put his arm round the back of her seat.
Oh, God, she thought, he’s going to kiss me.
Before she could make up her mind about how she was going to handle the situation, it turned out he wasn’t intent on kissing her at all—he was only trying to get at his mobile phone.
‘Would you mind if I made a quick phone call?’ he asked.
‘No, please do,’ she said, relief flooding over her. He was a gorgeous, handsome man, with a sexy voice, and no doubt most other women would have been delighted for him to kiss them, but not Anna. She was completely immune to his obvious charms…indeed, she was completely immune to any man’s charms. She must have a heart in there somewhere, but she felt as if it was made of stone.
Jack retrieved his mobile from a bag he’d placed behind her seat. He dialled a number which was answered almost immediately.
‘Hi, it’s me,’ he said. ‘I’m on my way home. Is there anything you need me to pick up from the shops on the way back?’
He paused while the person at the other end replied.
‘OK,’ he said, ‘just some yoghurts. Is strawberry still her favourite?’
Another pause.
‘Fine. See you in a few minutes.’ He ended the call and replaced the mobile in his bag.
Anna didn’t show any curiosity about the phone call. Her mind was elsewhere, conjuring up images of Liam, wondering what he was doing right now.
Jack started the car again. ‘I was just phoning my housekeeper,’ he explained. ‘Damn, I meant to ask her if Saskia was still awake. I like to see her before she goes to bed but it’s not always possible with my irregular hours of work.’
‘Saskia?’ Anna asked.
‘My daughter.’ Jack gave her a quick glance. ‘Didn’t I mention her? I suppose I was too busy boring you with stories of my misspent youth.’
Anna felt stung. ‘You didn’t bore me!’ Was her disinterest so obvious to him? And now, just as he was about to take her home, he mentioned that he had a child! She would have found that a much more interesting topic of conversation than hearing all about Anneka-the-party-girl.
‘Tell me about Saskia,’ coaxed Anna. ‘How old is she?’
‘Three. She had her birthday last week…we had a little tea-party for her.’
‘We?’ All of a sudden she was finding the conversation intriguing.
‘There was Christine, my housekeeper-cum-nanny, Saskia’s three little chums from nursery school and my parents, who came up from Cornwall. And I managed to make it through the whole party without getting called in to the hospital.’
‘Sounds fun, the party,’ said Anna. ‘I’ve got three nephews and two nieces and I adored helping out at their birthday parties when they were small… Oh, you turn left here and my road is immediately on the right,’ she instructed. ‘I live in the block of flats near the postbox.’
Jack followed her directions and pulled to a stop outside her flat. He ran his eyes over her but this time they had a softer look, not the unsettling scrutiny that he’d been giving her ever since they’d met.
‘Do you like children?’ he asked.
‘Very much,’ she replied, reaching for the doorhandle. ‘Anyway, Jack, thanks for the drink.’
He saw her to the front door and then walked back to his car.
‘See you at the hospital,’ he called to her retreating back.
* * *
Jack drove home via the supermarket and picked up the strawberry yoghurt. When he arrived at his house he was told that Saskia was already in bed and asleep. He’d been hoping that Christine might have kept her up after her bath, as she often did, so that he could see his daughter and put her to bed himself. He liked reading bedtime stories to her and asking what she’d done during the day. It was for him one of the highlights of the day.
‘I thought you’d probably be home late,’ said Christine, ‘with you going out with a colleague.’ He noted the hint of criticism in her voice.
He couldn’t remember whether he’d mentioned that it was a female work colleague—but from the disapproving way she was reacting he guessed that he must have let slip that it had been a woman he was meeting. Christine, wonderful nanny and housekeeper that she was, was also overly protective of her employer. She was always warning him about ‘unscrupulous women’—according to her, there were hordes of them who were just waiting to grab someone like him and trick him into marriage. If there were women throwing themselves at him, Jack had been too grief-stricken or too busy to notice. In fact, Anna Craven was the first woman he’d asked out since his wife died.
He went upstairs and crept into his daughter’s room. He could see in the soft glow from her nightlight that she was asleep. He knelt by the side of her small bed and moved the teddy bear that was pressed up against her chubby cheek. She stirred slightly before resuming her blissful slumber. Her rounded features were still those of a baby even though she proudly told everyone that she was a ‘big girl’ now that she was three.
He touched her golden hair, stroking it gently with his fingers. Her mother’s golden hair…the mother she’d never known.
‘Saskia,’ he whispered softly, ‘Sweet dreams, my darling.’
He gazed at her silently for several minutes, conscious of the almost imperceptible rise and fall of her breathing, watching over her like a guardian angel.
What a strange couple of days it had been! Days of such contrasting emotions. Yesterday, when he’d first seen Anna, the shock had almost felled him. He truly had thought he’d been starting to hallucinate…the pain he’d experienced had almost been physical in its intensity. Three years had been swept away in the blink of an eye when he’d come face to face with Anneka’s double. Anneka, his adored wife, taken from him so suddenly and so cruelly.
Jack sighed deeply. Thank goodness for work, he mused. It had given him something other than his bereavement to focus on. And, later that day, when he’d found himself working with Anna, he’d been able to put the whole episode in perspective. He now realised that, apart from the close physical resemblance, Dr Anna Craven was very different from his late wife. He was so glad she’d agreed to go out with him for a drink—especially as she was the only woman he’d found remotely attractive in the last three years. Asking her out tonight had helped him to get over yet another obstacle as he clawed his way back to emotional normality. It hadn’t been easy…to other