Paddington Children's Hospital Complete Collection. Kate Hardy

heard,’ Dominic answered. ‘I didn’t make a note of the time when I got in.’

      He had tea and toast all prepared by Katie, and Dominic laughed to himself at his own suggestion last night that Victoria should come here.

      Dominic loved his parents very much but they were straight into his business and he could only imagine a very independent Victoria’s response to his parents’ fussing.

      ‘What time will you be back?’ his mother asked as Dominic went to leave at seven when he didn’t really need to leave until half past.

      ‘I’m not sure,’ Dominic answered. ‘And tomorrow I’m on call all weekend so I’ll be staying at the hospital.’

      ‘What about Jamie and Lorna?’ William asked. ‘Will you be in to visit your nephew?’

      ‘I am going to be working!’ Dominic pointed out.

      ‘You should speak with your brother instead of avoiding him.’

      ‘Jamie’s here now.’ Dominic pointed down the hall to the bedroom. ‘How can I be avoiding him?’

      Except deep down Dominic knew that he was.

      * * *

      Friday night was hell because little William had a run of atrial fibrillation and Dominic had to race Jamie back to be by Lorna’s side.

      Dominic sat in the waiting room on the cardiac unit and saw on the news that there was an incident at Piccadilly.

      He had never felt fear watching the news until he had met Victoria.

      It was hell watching flashing lights on the screen and brawls taking place and knowing she may well be in the thick of it.

      And what was he supposed to do?

      Did he send a text asking if she was okay and just irk her some more?

      Or did he just sit there feeling ill while hoping to God she was safe?

      * * *

      She wasn’t.

      Victoria wasn’t gung-ho but she could never be accused of holding back, yet as she climbed out of the vehicle to the sounds of a brawl, for the first time in her career she did hold back.

      Victoria did not feel safe.

      ‘Hey!’ Glen warned the guy lying on the kerb as he lashed out with his boot. ‘We’re trying to help.’ He looked over to Victoria. ‘Can you bring the stretcher closer?’ Glen said, and then he asked the police who were holding the man to get a better grip on him.

      It was Victoria who drove the patient to hospital while Glen stayed in the back.

      Nothing was actually said, but Victoria knew only too well that she wasn’t carrying her share of the load.

      Glen was lovely; he always was.

      He sensed that she had lost her nerve and so he put his big body in between Victoria and the patients during a few of the trickier call-outs. But late on Sunday night, coming into the early hours of Monday morning, after attending a domestic dispute, Glen told her something.

      ‘You need to tell work.’

      ‘I know.’

      She was on leave after this shift but she would tell her line manager about the baby this morning, when they returned to base.

      And then the wheels would all be put into motion, and on her return from leave her duties would change and Victoria would no longer be operational.

      ‘What time’s your ultrasound at?’ Glen asked.

      ‘Ten.’

      ‘You’ll be wrecked,’ he said because they finished at eight.

      ‘I’ll grab an hour of sleep at the station after we finish,’ Victoria said.

      ‘Is Dominic coming with you?’

      ‘I don’t want him to.’

      ‘Let him be there.’

      ‘Just leave it.’

      She took a bite of her sandwich. She was not going to be discussing this with Glen, but also, she noted, he didn’t offer to come with her this time.

      Perhaps now that Glen knew who the father was, he felt that it wasn’t his place to offer, but all the same, she felt terribly alone.

      Victoria’s job was her rock and a huge part of her identity.

      She was excited to become a mother, yet it felt a little as if everything familiar was being stripped away.

      How was she going to work and be a single mum?

      Just who would be looking out for the baby on nights such as this?

      Would Dominic really be there for them?

      She tried to imagine him dropping over to her flat to look after their little one while she headed out, or taking the baby over to his.

      How long would that last? How long till he tired of any arrangements they made or, like her father, suddenly got called into work and decided that his job was more important than hers?

      Or what if he met someone else, which of course he would one day, and decide that his new family was his priority?

      As her mother had done.

      And then she tried not to think of the other possibility—the two of them together, knowing the odds were that they wouldn’t work. He still hadn’t sorted things out with his family. Even with a desperately ill baby the brothers were unable to be close.

      And as for her?

      Victoria had never been close to anyone.

      That was her real fear—that, even with the best of intentions, he might give them a go for the sake of their baby, but that Dominic would one day tire of her and simply leave.

      ‘How do you and Hayley make it work?’ Victoria asked, but she didn’t get her answer—a call-out came and as the address was given Victoria recognised it straight away.

      ‘That’s Penny.’

      They put on the lights and Glen drove skilfully through the dark London streets and soon they were pulling up at her house.

      The lights were on both upstairs and down and, as they made their way up the path, Victoria saw that the front door had been left open.

      ‘Through here.’ Penny’s father was on the phone trying to find out how much longer the ambulance would be, which Victoria knew from experience meant things were bad. She took a breath and went through to the lounge.

      ‘Hello, beautiful!’

      Victoria’s smile was bright and no one would ever guess that Victoria’s heart sank when she saw Penny.

      Julia was lying on the sofa with her daughter and holding her little girl’s body in her arms.

      Penny’s hair was loose and it was damp with sweat; her eyes were sunken and she was struggling so hard simply to breathe. Glen put on oxygen as Victoria carefully checked the little girl over.

      ‘I’m going to use the bag to help you breathe, Penny,’ Glen said, and as Penny breathed in, Glen assisted her, pushing vital oxygen into her lungs.

      She was terribly hot, though as Victoria peeled back the blanket she saw that she still had on her little tutu.

      Victoria chatted to the little girl, but made sure she didn’t ask too many questions so that Penny could save her energy.

      Her lungs were full of fluid and as Victoria inserted an IV into Penny’s arm she barely flinched.

      ‘You are such a brave girl,’ Victoria said. ‘I’m going to give you some medicine now and that’s going to get rid of all that horrible fluid that is making it so hard to breathe.’

      Penny