Unlocking The Italian Doc's Heart. Kate Hardy

considered Ava as being Lucy’s, not hers. And the love she felt for Ava wasn’t that of a mother: it was that of a doting aunt. Which was just how it should be, in her view.

      ‘Sleep tight, my beautiful niece,’ she whispered, and tiptoed out of the nursery.

      * * *

      Back down in the kitchen, Will had joined Lucy and greeted Jenna with a hug.

      ‘Perfect timing,’ Lucy said with a smile, and served up.

      Jenna took one mouthful and sighed in bliss. ‘You really do make the best lasagne in the world.’

      ‘And at least I know you’re going to eat properly when you have dinner with us on Monday nights,’ Lucy said.

      ‘I do eat properly,’ Jenna protested.

      ‘Not when you’re really busy on the ward, you don’t. You grab a chocolate bar or a bowl of cereal.’

      Jenna grinned. ‘You do exactly the same when you’re up to your eyes in baseline assessments in the first three weeks of the new school year and Will’s forgotten the time and that it was his turn to cook that night.’

      ‘I don’t forget the time,’ Will protested.

      The sisters looked at him and laughed. ‘Oh, you do, honey,’ Lucy said, and leaned over to kiss him. ‘Half the time you live in the first century, not the twenty-first.’

      ‘It’s my job,’ Will said. ‘And I’ll join Lu in nagging you about eating properly, too, Jen.’

      ‘Oh, give me a break!’ But Jenna was laughing, knowing that her brother-in-law meant well. ‘Now the new senior reg has started, it should be a bit less frantic on the ward.’

      ‘So what’s the new doctor like?’ Will asked.

      ‘He’s good with kids. He has two packs of cards in his pockets as distractions—one with cars and one with puppies. It came in handy today when we had a toddler who slipped on the stairs and banged his head badly enough to need stitches,’ Jenna said.

      ‘Cars,’ Will said dryly, ‘shouldn’t be gender specific.’

      ‘Agreed, and Renzo isn’t sexist. He says that girls also like cars.’ Jenna smiled. ‘But that might be because he’s Italian and he loves fast cars and thinks everyone else does, too. He and little Billy—the lad who needed stitches—were practically drooling over this sports car.’

      ‘I’d be drooling over that, too. Except we wouldn’t be able to fit a baby seat in it,’ Will said.

      ‘Italian,’ Lucy said thoughtfully.

      ‘No, no and no,’ Jenna said, knowing exactly what was going through her twin’s mind. Tall, dark and gorgeous. Which pretty much summed up Lorenzo Conti. She definitely wasn’t going to tell Lucy that he was single, because she knew her sister would go straight into matchmaker mode. ‘But he did agree to help at the danceathon.’

      ‘That’s good. Though I still feel guilty about not being able to make it,’ Lucy said.

      ‘You have Will’s niece’s wedding in Edinburgh. And Will’s parents need some catch-up time with Ava,’ Jenna reminded her. ‘You both gave me a massive donation and a raffle prize, so you’ve more than done your bit.’

      ‘We wanted to help,’ Will said.

      ‘And you have. A lot,’ Jenna said. ‘So how’s your day been, Will?’

      ‘Full of deciphering illegible student handwriting—I swear it’s twice as bad on exam papers,’ Will said with a groan.

      ‘Ah, the joys of May,’ Jenna teased, laughing; she knew how much her brother-in-law loved his job and he adored his students—just as they adored him.

      It was the perfect family evening, and Jenna was thoroughly relaxed by the time she got home. Though she couldn’t quite get Lorenzo Conti out of her head. He’d been very adamant about being single and not looking for a partner; it sounded to her as if someone had really hurt him. Or maybe he’d lost someone to illness or an accident and didn’t want to risk his heart again because the loss had hurt him too much. Not that it was any of her business. And she absolutely wasn’t interested in anything other than a professional relationship with her new colleague. After Danny, as far as she was concerned, love was completely off limits. She didn’t trust her judgement any more, not after she’d got it so badly wrong with him. She had a family she adored and a job that fulfilled her. She was lucky. Wanting to have the same kind of closeness with someone that Lucy had with Will, and a baby of her own—that would just be greedy.

      * * *

      Jenna’s first patient in clinic the next morning, eight-year-old Maddie Loveday, was a puzzle.

      ‘It started six weeks ago,’ Maddie’s mum said. ‘She’d been at football club and came home with really red cheeks. It looked a bit like windburn, but it seemed a bit odd because it’s not that cold and windy at the end of April. Then she went down with a really nasty virus. It hit the whole family and even I was in bed for three days with it.’

      A rash and a virus. Two things that were really hard to narrow down, and half the time there wasn’t an effective treatment and you just had to wait it out. Jenna smiled and waited for Mrs Loveday to continue.

      ‘The rash didn’t go away and it spread down her arms and legs. She said her legs hurt, she had pains in her tummy, and it hurt to swallow.’ Mrs Loveday grimaced. ‘Then she was really down and a bit weepy—which just isn’t my Maddie. I took her to the doctor.’

      ‘What did your GP say?’ Jenna asked.

      ‘He thought it might be allergic eczema, but my youngest has eczema and I’m really careful with laundry detergent and conditioner. Maddie’s never had any kind of reaction to food, and that rash didn’t look like any eczema I’ve ever seen.’ Mrs Loveday sighed. ‘I think he referred Maddie here just to shut me up.’

      Seeing that she was close to tears, Jenna put a reassuring hand on her arm. ‘Mrs Loveday, when our mums tell us that their kids aren’t right, we listen. You’re the experts on your kids, so you know when there’s something wrong. It’s our job to listen and help you.’

      ‘Thank you.’ Mrs Loveday swallowed hard. ‘I know you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet, but I wondered if the rash was some kind of autoimmune thing.’

      ‘That’s a possibility,’ Jenna said. ‘Rashes have lots of different causes and they can be really tricky to diagnose. And you’re absolutely right not to believe everything you read on the Internet, because there are a lot of scaremongering stories out there.’ She turned to the little girl. ‘Maddie, is it OK if I examine you?’

      Maddie nodded.

      Jenna looked at the rash. Coupled with the pain in Maddie’s legs and tummy, and her difficulty in swallowing, the rash could well be a sign of an autoimmune problem, but Jenna wasn’t sure quite which one. ‘I’ve not seen a rash like this before,’ she said. ‘I think you’re right, Mrs Loveday, and it’s very likely an autoimmune disease. Do you mind if I have a quick discussion with one of my more senior colleagues?’

      ‘As long as you can find out what’s wrong with Maddie and make her better, then do whatever you need to,’ Mrs Loveday said.

      Jenna headed for the offices. None of the consultants was around, but Lorenzo was in his office. Given that he was her senior and had three or four years’ more experience than she did, there was a chance that he’d seen a condition like Maddie’s before. She rapped on his office door. ‘Renzo, have you got a minute, please?’

      ‘Sure,’ he said.

      ‘How are you on autoimmune diseases?’

      ‘I’ve treated a few in my time,’ he said. ‘What are you looking at?’

      ‘I’m not