Sleigh Ride With The Single Dad. Alison Roberts

Daddy.’ Cameron dropped to his knees and picked up a toy. His brother sat on the floor beside him. ‘Here...you can have the fire truck, Max. I’m going to have the p’lice car, ’kay?’

      Max nodded. But as he took hold of the plastic fire truck that had been generously gifted with both hands, the back wheels came off.

      ‘Oh...no...’ Cameron sounded horrified. ‘You broke it.’

      Max’s bottom lip quivered. Grace slid off the arm of the couch and crouched down beside him.

      ‘Let me have a look. I don’t think it’s very broken. See...?’ She clipped the axle of the wheels back into place. ‘All fixed.’

      She handed the truck back with a smile and, unexpectedly, received a smile back. A delicious curve of a wide little mouth that curled itself instantly right around her heart.

      Wow...

      ‘Fank you,’ Max said gravely.

      ‘You’re so welcome.’ Grace’s response came out in no more than a whisper.

      Love at first sight could catch you unawares in all sorts of different ways, couldn’t it? It could be a potential partner for life, or a gorgeous place like a peaceful forest, or a special house or cute puppy. Or it could be a small boy with a heartbreaking smile.

      Cameron was pushing his police car across the top of the coffee table and making muted siren noises but Max stayed where he was, with the mended fire truck in his arms. Or not quite where he was. He leaned, so that his head and shoulder were pressed against Grace’s arm. It was impossible not to return this gesture of acceptance and it was purely instinctive to shift her arm so that it slid around the small body and let him snuggle more comfortably.

      It would only be for a moment because Nurse Jackie would be back any second. Grace could hear people in the corridor outside. She could feel the draught of air as the door was pushed open behind her so she closed her eyes for a heartbeat to help her lock this exquisite fraction of time into her memory banks. This feeling of connection with a precious small person...

      ‘Daddy...’ Cameron’s face split into a huge grin.

      Max wriggled out from under Grace’s arm, dropping the fire truck in his haste to get to his feet, but Grace was still sitting on the floor as she turned her head. And then astonishment stopped her moving at all.

      ‘Charles?’

      ‘Grace...’ He sounded as surprised as she had. ‘What on earth are you doing in here?’

      She felt as guilty as a child caught with her hand in a forbidden cookie jar. ‘It was only for a minute. To help out...’

      ‘Jackie had to go to the bathroom.’ Cameron had hold of one of his father’s hands and he was bouncing up and down.

      ‘She fixed the truck,’ Max added, clearly impressed with the skills Grace had demonstrated. ‘The wheels came off.’

      ‘Oh...’ Charles scooped Cameron up with one arm. Max was next and the ease with which two small boys were positioned on each hip with their arms wrapped around their father’s neck suggested that this was a very well-practised manoeuvre. ‘That’s all right, then...’

      Charles was smiling, first at one twin and then the other, and Grace felt her heart melt a little more.

      She could feel the intense bond between this man and his children. The power of an infinite amount of love.

      She’d been wrong about that moment of doubt earlier, hadn’t she? Charles did have the perfect life.

      ‘Can we go home now? Is Maria all better?’

      Grace was on her feet now. She should excuse herself and get back to where she was supposed to be but something made her hesitate. To stand there and stare at Charles as she remembered hearing the concern in his voice when he’d recognised the new patient in ER.

      He was shaking his head now. ‘Maria’s got a sore back after falling down the stairs. She’s going to be fine but she needs to have a rest for a few days.’

      He looked up, as if he could feel the questions buzzing in Grace’s head.

      ‘Maria is the boys’ nanny,’ he said. ‘I’ll be taking a few days’ leave to look after them until she’s back on her feet. Fortunately, it was only a sprain and not a fracture.’

      That didn’t stop the questions but Grace couldn’t ask why the head of her new department would automatically take time away to care for his children. Where was their mother? Maybe she was another high-achieving medic who was away—presenting at some international conference or something?

      Whatever. It was none of her business. And anyway, Jackie the nurse had come back and there was no reason for her to take any more time away from the job she was employed to be doing.

      ‘I’d better get back,’ she said. ‘Do you still want me to cover Trauma One?’

      ‘Thanks.’ Charles nodded. ‘I’ll come with you. Jackie, I just came to give you some money. The cafeteria should be up and running again now and I thought you could take the boys up for some lunch.’

      Planting a kiss on each small, dark head, he deposited the twins back on the floor.

      ‘Be good,’ he instructed. ‘And if it’s not still raining when we go home, we’ll stop in the park for a swing.’

      He led Grace back towards the main area of the ER.

      ‘It’s still crazy in here,’ he said. ‘But we’ve got extra staff and it’s under control now that we’ve got power back on.’

      ‘I’m sorry I took so long. I probably shouldn’t have stopped to help Jackie out.’

      ‘It’s not a problem.’

      ‘They’re gorgeous children,’ Grace added. ‘You’re a very lucky man, Charles.’

      The look he gave her was almost astonished. Then a wash of something poignant crossed his face and he smiled.

      A slow kind of smile that took her back through time instantly. To when the brilliant young man who’d been like royalty in their year at med school had suddenly been interested in her as more than the only barrier he had to be a star academically and not just socially. He had cared about what she had to say. About who she was...

      ‘Yes,’ he said slowly. ‘I am.’

      He held open one of the double doors in front of them. ‘How ’bout you, Grace? You got kids?’

      She shook her head.

      ‘Too busy with that exciting career I was reading about in your CV? Working with the flying doctors in the remotest parts of the outback?’

      Her throat felt tight. ‘Something like that.’

      She could feel his gaze on her back. A beat of silence—curiosity, even, as if he knew there was a lot being left unspoken.

      And then he caught up with her in a single, long stride. Turned his head and, yes...she could see the flicker of curiosity.

      ‘It’s been a long time, Grace.’

      ‘It has.’

      ‘Be nice to catch up sometime...’

      People were coming towards them. There were obviously matters that required the attention of the chief and Grace had her own work to do. She could see paramedics and junior staff clustered around a new gurney in Trauma One but she took a moment before she broke that eye contact.

      A moment when she remembered that smile from a few moments ago. And so much more, from a very long time ago.

      ‘Yes,’ she said quietly. ‘It would...’

      * * *

      The rest of that first shift in Manhattan Mercy’s emergency