Their Baby Bond. Amy Andrews

sponsor everyone, sell raffle tickets, do my bit. But this year I’m going to lead by example.’

      Will shook his head, not really able to believe that she was seriously going to go through with it.

      ‘Are you really going bald?’ asked a mystified Kristy.

      ‘No.’ Lou laughed, not quite indignant enough to agree to that. ‘But shaved all over. Like Lydia’s Matt. How short does he have his?’ she asked her friend. Lydia’s ten-year-old son always got a crew cut.

      ‘He usually gets a number four blade,’ Lydia said, almost as horrified as Kristy.

      ‘Good.’ Lou nodded emphatically. ‘A number four it is.’

      Will still couldn’t believe the direction of the conversation. He searched around for something to deter her, one last-ditch effort.

      ‘Jan will have a fit,’ he said. Lou’s sister probably coveted Lou’s hair even more than he did. Jan had always bemoaned her thin, stringy, can’t-do-anything-with-it hair, especially as Lou’s was the exact opposite.

      Lou blinked, and braced herself for the inevitable pain. She heard a slight gasp come from Kristy, and felt rather than saw the sudden tension emanating from Lydia and Pete. It was suddenly deathly quiet, as if the entire ward had chosen that moment to cease all noise and activity.

      ‘Hardly,’ she said, keeping the gut-wrenching sorrow from her voice. ‘Jan’s dead.’ And she pushed herself off the desk and calmly walked away, before she did something awful—like burst into tears at the unexpected reminder of her sister’s tragic death.

      CHAPTER TWO

      WILL watched her go, completely dumbfounded. That was twice today she had utterly shocked him. His head rejected the information instantly, but one look at the faces of the others in the nurses’ station and he knew it was true.

      ‘Lydia?’

      She nodded. ‘Jan and Martin died in a light plane crash just over five months ago.’

      ‘Oh, God, how terrible,’ he said, remembering all the good times he and Lou had had with Jan and Martin. Remembering how close Lou had been to her big sister. And how the couple had doted on Candy. ‘Why didn’t somebody tell me?’

      ‘Maybe if you’d bothered to check on her at any time during the last year you may have found out,’ Lydia chided.

      He looked at Lydia and knew he deserved the criticism. He had deliberately avoided any contact, believing it was best for both of them. And poor Lou had gone through this all alone. No, not alone, he thought, as he looked at her fiercely loyal staff. But still… If he’d only known, he could have. Could have what? Rung? Sent her some flowers? A sympathy card? How trite. He could have come back and comforted her. Gone to the funeral at least.

      He left the station and headed directly for her office. He knocked on her door and didn’t wait for her to reply, opening it straight away. Empty. He thumped his hand against the door in frustration. He needed to talk to her about it. To let her know how very, very sorry he was. She might have dropped the bombshell calmly, but he knew her well enough—or at least he had—to know it hid a whole heap of anguish.

      He looked at his watch. He was due at Human Resources five minutes ago. But he was coming back this afternoon, for an in-service with Lynne on the computer system. He was torn between what he had to do and what he needed to do, but her disappearing act left him with little choice. Talking with Lou was just going to have to wait until then.

      A couple of hours later, after sorting out payroll and rostering issues and lunching with Harold, the Medical Director, Will walked back onto Ward Two. He tried Lou’s office first. Damn it! Not there. He entered the nurses’ station and found Lynne waiting for him, so he sat down with her, completely distracted, while she tried to impart the intricacies of the computer system.

      He toyed with the idea of pumping Lynne for information about Lou. There probably wasn’t anything the ward clerk didn’t know about the goings-on at the hospital, and he’d bet his last cent that Lynne knew all there was to know about Jan and Martin. But he restrained himself. Lynne was good at her job, but he abhorred gossip—had been on the nasty end of it, thanks to Delvine—and he would not encourage her.

      Will was passing time waiting for Lou’s return, performing some dummy tasks Lynne had set him, when Pete entered the nurses’ station with an inconsolable child. It was a little boy who looked about five, and he was sobbing broken-heartedly.

      ‘Oh, my,’ said Will, looking up, pleased for any respite from the screen. ‘What do we have here?’ he asked.

      ‘Josh’s mum has just left to go and pick up his sister from school. He’s a little upset,’ Pete said, sitting on the chair next to Will.

      Will raised his eyebrows at Pete’s understatement. The kid looked as if he’d lost a million bucks. ‘Oh, dear,’ said Will. ‘Never mind, mate. She’ll be back soon.’

      Josh buried his head in Pete’s shoulder and sobbed louder.

      ‘So, Pete? Does Josh like magic?’ Will asked, raising his voice a notch and winking at Pete.

      ‘Ah, no, Will. I don’t think so.’

      Josh’s cries started to wane, and he peeked out at Will.

      ‘Are you sure? Because you do know I’m a magician and a doctor, right?’

      ‘Really?’ said Pete, fake incredulity dripping from his words. ‘I didn’t know you were a magician as well, Dr Galligher.’

      Josh’s sobs were slowly quieting. Lou peeked her head around the corner. She had heard Pete and Will’s efforts to placate the child from halfway down the corridor.

      ‘Sure.’ Will nodded. ‘In my spare time I’m Captain Incredible.’

      Josh’s crying had stopped, and he watched the two men’s magic discussion solemnly. Lou felt a lump rise in her throat. Will was so good with kids. His doctoring method was incredibly unique. He was the kind of doctor who really understood how kids ticked. Maybe it was having a child of his own? But he always had a magic trick up his sleeve, and a dozen different jokes on the tip of his tongue. And it worked—his patients loved him. And so did their parents.

      ‘Ohhhh. You’re Captain Incredible? I heard he hung around the hospital a lot.’

      ‘Shh,’ said Will, and winked at Josh. ‘It’s a secret. Can you keep a secret, Josh?’

      The little boy looked at Will with starstruck eyes and nodded seriously. ‘Can you really do magic?’ he asked, his voice hushed with awe.

      Will grinned at him and moved closer to the little boy. ‘I sure can,’ he said, and pulled a coin out from behind Josh’s ear.

      The little boy gasped, and looked at Will as if he was Santa Claus. Lou stifled a laugh at the look of complete hero-worship on Josh’s face as Will made the coin disappear into thin air. Then he held out his two downwards-facing fists and got Josh to choose one, and the coin was miraculously back again.

      ‘Cool!’ said an excited Josh.

      Will laughed. ‘Hey, you want to come over here with me and help me with this computer thing? Captain Incredible isn’t so good with computers. My magic computer wand broke.’

      Josh giggled and went eagerly, jumping off Pete’s lap and launching himself onto Will’s. Will swivelled his chair back to the screen and showed Josh a few different things to try. He did have a vaguely horrible thought that if Josh pushed the wrong button the entire hospital computer system could go down, but what were the chances? Josh was happy. And Lynne wasn’t here to mind.

      Lou watched Will a little longer. He’d taken a crying, fretting child and turned his fears around in minutes. If ever there was someone born to their field it was him. Josh obviously thought he was the bee’s knees. She remembered a time when she’d