Midwives On-Call. Alison Roberts

in love with the orangutans, which was possibly to be expected, given her job, but the babies were so adorable.

      ‘They are as hairy as some of my premmies,’ Alessi said.

      Isla glanced at him, hearing the genuine warmth in his voice.

      ‘Your premmies?’

      ‘Until they go home.’ Alessi nodded.

      ‘Wouldn’t that take its toll?’

      ‘Perhaps, but the night that my brother died it looked as if my parents might lose all three of us. There was a doctor there who stayed night after night and my parents always say that were it not for him, they could have gone home with no children.’

      ‘That’s your parents’ memory, Alessi,’ Isla said, ignoring the set of his jaw. It worried her, all the pressure that he put on himself. ‘I’m sure there were a whole lot of others who played their part.’

      ‘I don’t need to be told to delegate.’

      ‘Lucky you, then,’ Isla said, ignoring the edge to Alessi’s voice that told her this was out of bounds. ‘I’m constantly being reminded to delegate by my team. Anyway, I just hope your phone’s off, because I’ve never been to the zoo before and I might prove a terrible disappointment for Niko if you suddenly have to dash off.’

      He gave a reluctant smile, which turned to a wry one an hour or so later when Jed rang through some results that Alessi was waiting for.

      ‘Thanks for letting me know,’ Alessi said. ‘Yes, just continue with the regime.’ As he ended the call Alessi looked over at Isla. ‘I’ll never turn my phone off.’

      Isla just laughed. ‘Neither will I.’

      They just wandered, eating ice cream and taking it in turns to push Niko in his stroller. ‘He gets tired,’ Alessi explained. ‘He’s walking so much better now but on days like today it’s better to bring the stroller along.’

      ‘How bad was he when he was born?’ Isla asked.

      ‘Bad enough that we thought he might not make it,’ he said. ‘Allegra was very sick, too. It was a terrible time. My parents …’ He was quiet for a moment. ‘I think it brought a lot back for them.’

      ‘About your brother?’

      Alessi nodded but then tried to turn the conversation a little lighter. ‘God, could you imagine the pressure if anything had happened to Allegra?’

      ‘Pressure?’

      ‘“Do your homework, Alessi, your brother would have loved the chance. When are you going to get married …?”’ He rolled his eyes. ‘“Your brother would have loved that chance, too!”’ He gave a wry smile. ‘Thankfully Allegra and Steve have taken some of that heat off by marrying and having Niko. Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents but they make it clear that I’m not doing all the things a good Greek son should.’

      ‘Well, I don’t do all the things that a good Delamere girl should.’

      ‘Such as?’ Alessi asked as they headed towards the elephants and he took Niko out of the stroller and put him onto his shoulders.

      ‘Such as being a midwife. My parents thought I should study medicine, like my sister. It caused a lot of rows. Even when I got the position of head midwife my father suggested I’d be better off heading to medical school. Finally, though, he seems to get that it’s not a hobby.’

      ‘Don’t you get on with them?’

      ‘Oh, I do,’ Isla said. ‘We’ve had our differences. My midwifery for one, and that they were pretty absent when we were growing up. I get on much better with them now that I’m an adult. I can understand better why, now—their charity work is really important.’

      ‘Family is more so.’

      ‘I agree,’ Isla said. ‘I guess it’s all about balance. My parents didn’t have that, it was all or nothing for them.’

      They stopped at the elephants. A calf had recently been born and there was quite a crowd gathered. ‘Imagine delivering that,’ Isla grinned.

      ‘You love your job, don’t you?’ Alessi said, feeling more than a touch guilty at his assumption that her father had paved her way—clearly she’d had to fight to get where she was.

      ‘I do.’

      ‘Did you always want to be a midwife?’

      ‘Not always,’ Isla said, but didn’t elaborate. She just watched as the little calf peeked out from between his mother’s legs.

      ‘I love the elephants,’ Alessi said into the silence. ‘I like the way they always remember.’

      ‘I hate the way they always remember,’ Isla said.

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because some things are best forgotten.’

      ‘Such as?’ Alessi asked.

      She turned and gave a weak smile but shook her head. She simply didn’t know how to tell him or how to answer his questions about when she had decided to be a midwife. At what point did you hand over your heart, your past? At what point did you reveal others’ secrets?

      Isla didn’t know.

      ‘He’s getting tired,’ Alessi said as he lowered Niko from his shoulders. ‘We’ll take him to see his favourite thing and then get him home.’

      ‘What is Niko’s favourite thing?’ Isla asked, glad for the change in subject.

      It was the meerkats!

      Niko hung over the edge of the barrier, shrieking with laughter every time they stood up and froze, calling out to ‘‘Lessi’ to watch.

      ‘Look at that one,’ Alessi said to Niko. ‘He’s on lookout while the others dig for food.’

      Niko didn’t care if he was on lookout; he just laughed and laughed till in the end so, too, were Isla and Alessi.

      It was fun.

      Just a fun day out and Isla hadn’t had too many of those. She finally felt as if she was being herself, only it was a new self, someone she had never been—someone who was honest and open, except for the lies she had promised to keep.

      At six, Alessi strapped an already fast asleep Niko into his car seat. ‘Hopefully he will stay that way till tomorrow,’ he said. ‘I’ll get him home and then we can go and get some dinner.’

      ‘Won’t it look odd if I’m with you?’ Isla asked.

      ‘Odd?’ Alessi checked.

      ‘For Allegra, seeing me out with you …’

      ‘I’m not going to hide you around the corner and pretend that I’ve spent the day with Niko alone. Anyway, he’s three, he’s going to tell her that you were there.’

      ‘I guess.’ There was a flutter in her stomach as they pulled up at Allegra’s house, but thankfully Alessi didn’t put her through the torture of coming up to the door when Isla said that she’d prefer to wait for him in the car.

      ‘I’ll just carry him up the stairs and put him into bed,’ Alessi said. ‘I won’t be long.’

      Famous last words.

      ‘Is that Isla in the car?’ Allegra asked as she let him in.

      ‘It is.’

      ‘Alessi …’ Allegra started, but didn’t elaborate until Niko was tucked up in bed and the bedroom door was closed behind him.

      ‘What?’ Alessi said. He’d heard the note of reprimand in his sister’s voice when she’d seen who was in the car. ‘It’s no big deal.’

      ‘Well, it is to me,’ Allegra said.