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  ‘You’d better get back.’ Her voice was strangely thick. All she wanted to do was lay her head on that chest, feel those strong arms around her, for just an ounce of his strength to somehow rub off on her. ‘And I’ve got to go.’

  ‘Not yet,’ Ross moaned. ‘I’ll get stuck with Tania. If you think Melissa was bad, just wait till you see how Tania’s behaving. I swear she’s wearing lipstick. I think she’s got a crush on me.’

  ‘She has.’ Shelly laughed. ‘So watch yourself.’ Pulling her bag over her shoulder, Shelly swallowed hard. ‘I really do have to go. I just popped in to say goodbye. I’ve got an appointment with Dr Forbes at two.’

  ‘I thought Dr Lim was your obstetrician.’

  ‘He is. This visit is for Neil. I know it’s not going to change anything, but he just wants another opinion.’

  ‘Come on, I’ll walk you out to your car and say hi to Neil. It would be nice for us both to put names to faces and maybe I can answer some of his questions. His mind must be working overtime.’

  ‘Neil’s at work.’ She saw a hint of a frown mar Ross’s near-perfect features and instantly jumped on the defensive. ‘He can’t take an afternoon off work every time I see a doctor, he’d never get anything done.’

  ‘Of course not.’

  There was a tiny awkward moment as Shelly turned to go. What should she do, shake his hand? A casual wave as she got to the door? Ross answered the question before it had even formed in her mind. Pulling her towards him, he held her for a moment, her bump pressing against his toned abdomen, until he moved away just enough to place his hand on her swollen stomach. ‘Look after that mum of yours,’ Ross whispered to the babe beneath his hand. ‘She’s one in a million.’

  A tiny kiss was aimed at her cheek but Shelly moved nervously, his lips grazing hers for less than a second, but it felt as if they were both moving in slow motion, every tiny movement magnified, the soft warmth of his mouth on hers as unexpected as it was welcome, and Shelley swallowed hard as he pulled away, biting back tears as he squeezed her shoulder in one final supportive gesture and then he was gone. Off to his party, off on his travels again, off to the outback to impart and absorb, a million miles away from Chisholm Hospital, from the beach and the world he’d become so much a part of in the six months he’d been back.

  Her lips were burning from his briefest touch and Shelly shook her head as she walked, her speed increasing as she pushed the unwelcome stirrings from her mind.

  Of course Ross Bodey was going to say the right thing, he was a doctor, for heaven’s sake! He’d just spent the last six months on a children’s ward, dealing with anxious parents and sick kids. Of course he knew how to handle her, that was his job. She was being unfair, comparing his reaction to Neil’s.

  Neil was the one living it. Neil was the one whose life had changed for ever when they’d found out the news.

  Still…

  Starting her car, Shelly pulled off the handbrake and indicated to turn right, gliding into the afternoon traffic as she headed for her doctor’s appointment, for an afternoon of scans and blood tests, an afternoon of being prodded and poked in a futile attempt to obtain a different version. A little piece of news that might brighten Neil’s day. But no amounts of scans, no amount of technology or statistics were going to change the outcome. Their baby was handicapped, and no amount of wishing was going to change that fact.

  But she could still have dreams for him.

  Ross’s words washed over her, a soothing interlude in an awful day. And in the weeks and months that followed they comforted her with increasing regularity, a life raft to cling to in the turbulent times that followed.

  She could still have dreams for her son.

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘SORRY, darling.’ Marlene put down her basket on the hall floor and haphazardly deposited a kiss on Shelly’s cheek. ‘The match went on for ever.’

  Shelly gave her mother an easy smile to show there was no harm done. ‘I’ve got plenty of time before my shift starts. Is Dad still there?’

  ‘Of course,’ Marlene replied crisply, with a slight edge to her voice. ‘This twilight tennis competition is supposed to be a combined effort for the two of us to get fit, yet your father undoes all of the hard work in one fell swoop. He’s in the clubhouse guzzling beers and eating lamingtons as I speak. Goodness, Shelly,’ Marlene said, finally looking at her daughter properly for the first time since she’d arrived. ‘You look nice—very nice, in fact! What have you done to your hair?’

  ‘I just put a bit of mousse in it in when I washed it,’ Shelly answered vaguely as Marlene gave her a rather sceptical look.

  ‘I’ll have to try some. Where’s Matthew?’

  ‘Asleep.’ Shelly rolled her eyes. ‘At long last. But I think this new routine is finally starting to work. I gave him his bath at seven, read his blessed book five times and now he’s out like a light.’

  ‘Oh, really?’ Marlene’s face broke into a wide grin and she gestured behind Shelly. ‘So who’s this, then?’

  ‘Matthew,’ Shelly wailed. ‘You’re supposed to be asleep.’

  Holding up his dog-eared book, Matthew’s podgy little face broke into a wide and very engaging smile, instantly dousing Shelly’s irritation. ‘Wun, wun,’ he begged.

  ‘No more run, run,’ Shelly corrected, smiling despite herself. ‘The little gingerbread man is fast asleep now and so should you be.’

  ‘Wun, wun.’ Matthew insisted, his grin widening as he saw Marlene. ‘Nanny.’

  ‘Yes, darling.’ Marlene scooped her grandson into her arms. ‘Nanny’s looking after you tonight while Mummy goes to work.’ Marlene pulled Matthew closer, whispering loudly in his ear so that Shelly could hear. ‘Or at least that’s where she says she’s going, but I’ve never seen Mummy looking quite so stunning for a shift on the children’s ward!’

  ‘Mum,’ Shelly moaned. ‘Don’t talk like that—you’ll confuse him.’

  ‘I’m just teasing,’ Marlene soothed, turning her attention back to Matthew. ‘Now, give Mummy a big kiss goodnight and we’ll wave goodbye to her, then how about we go and see if there’s any nice biscuits in the cupboard?’

  ‘Mum.’ Shelly’s voice had a warning note to it which Marlene dismissed with a wave of her hand.

  ‘The biscuits are for me, darling. Why should your father be the only one ruining his waistline? I’m going to have a nice cuppa then I’ll read Matthew his story. You go off to work. Don’t worry about us two, we’ll be fine.’

  ‘I know,’ Shelly admitted, giving Marlene a quick kiss before lingering a while longer with Matthew’s. ‘Love you, Matthew.’ He smelt of baby soap and lotion and as she kissed him gently Shelly wondered, not for the first time, how she could bear to go to work and leave him. Reluctantly Shelly picked up her bag and, turning in the doorway, she forced a cheerful wave. ‘If one of those biscuits does happen to find its way to Matthew…’

  ‘I know,’ Marlene sighed. ‘Make sure I brush his teeth.’ Holding up one of Matthew’s hands, she guided him into a wave as Shelly opened the car door, the tempting scent of a neighbour’s barbeque wafting over the fence. Even though it was nudging eight-thirty, it was still so light Shelly wouldn’t even need to put on her headlights, and it would have been so tempting not to go, to curl up on the sofa with Matthew and read him his beloved book.

  Not that Matthew would thank her for it, Shelly mused as she turned onto the freeway and headed towards the hospital, Matthew would be having the time of his little life right now, gorging on biscuits and dancing around the lounge with his eccentric grandmother, who would end in one night the routine Shelly had been so painfully attempting to implement.

  ‘Who are you trying to kid?’ Shelly mumbled, rallying slightly as she caught sight of herself in the rearview mirror, her pale eyelashes gone for ever, or at least the next couple of months, thanks to this afternoon’s tint. As tempting as a cuddle on the sofa with Matthew might be, tonight, for the first time in ages, she couldn’t wait
to get to work. Putting her foot down slightly, Shelly felt a tremble of excitement somewhere in the pit of her stomach as the signs for the hospital loomed ever closer, the brightly lit building coming into view, the hub of staff outside Emergency indicating something serious was on its way in. A security guard indicated for Shelly to clear the entrance road. Pulling over, she sat in her car patiently waiting as an ambulance flew past, its flashing blue lights adding to the theatre of it all, watching as the emergency staff leapt forward to greet it. Shelly felt the bubble of excitement in her stomach rapidly expand.

  Chisholm Hospital had never looked so exciting!

  ‘Thank goodness you’re on tonight, Shelly.’ Melissa patted the seat beside her at the nurses’ station. ‘I’ve had agency staff with me every night this week—it will be nice to have someone who actually knows the place.’

  ‘You smell nice.’ Turning, she smiled at Shelly who sat blushing as red as her hair. ‘You look lovely too—been to the hairdressers?’

  ‘No,’ Shelly lied. ‘You’re just used to seeing me coming on an early shift at seven in the morning.’

  ‘Hmm.’ Melissa looked at her knowingly but didn’t push further. ‘So, how many nights are you down for?’

  ‘You’re stuck with me for a month.’ Shelly rolled her eyes. ‘I’ve been avoiding it for ages so it had to catch up with me sooner or later. Tania rang me at home this morning and told me you were tearing your hair out.’

  ‘I was and I know it’s probably the last thing you need right now, but I for one am glad you said yes to a stint on nights.’

  ‘I really didn’t have any choice.’ Shelly shrugged. ‘There’s been a big fat zero beside my name where night shifts have been concerned recently. Bring back the old days, I can’t stand internal rotation.’

  ‘Sounds painful!’

  Shelly let out a gurgle of laughter and stood up delightedly. ‘Ross!’

  ‘The one and only.’

  ‘Only you could find a sexual connotation with the nursing roster! So how are you finding it? Back in civilisation after all this time?’

  ‘I’ve had a very civilised couple of years, thank you very much,’ Ross corrected, wagging his finger playfully. ‘There’s a bit more to the outback than tents and billy tea but, yes, it’s good to be back, I think.’

  ‘You think?’ Shelly questioned with a grin. ‘I would have thought they’d be treating you gently on your first day back.’ She was blushing to her toenails now, shamefully aware that the perfume, the hairdresser’s, even the shaved legs and smooth bikini line had been done entirely for the benefit of this quick delicious moment at handover, to show Ross somehow that she hadn’t completely let herself go just because she’d had a baby. There was nothing like an old friend reappearing after a prolonged absence to force a critical look in the mirror, and now that the vague chance she’d catch Ross on his way off duty had materialised, Shelly was taken back by the rush of emotion that had engulfed her.

  Ross Bodey was back in town, and he looked absolutely divine, his blond hair practically white now, courtesy of the hot Australian sun, and his face brown and smooth, accentuating the impossibly blue eyes.

  ‘I’ve only just set foot in the place.’ Ross grimaced. ‘Luke Martin is off sick so they rang me at the crack of dawn this morning to tell me I’m going to be stuck on nights for the next week, so there goes my social life. How about you?’

  For a second Shelly’s eyes flickered to Melissa who sat innocently staring at the whiteboard, jotting down the names of the children and babies under the care of the ward that night. ‘I don’t have a social life, Ross. I’ve got a son to think of now. Wine bars and night-clubs are but a distant memory these days.’

  ‘I meant what shift are you on?’

  ‘Nights.’ Shelly had to forcibly remove the grin from her face and remember she was supposed to be disgruntled about the fact.

  ‘So we’re stuck with each other?’ Ross wasn’t even pretending to look disgruntled. He was grinning from ear to ear, teasing her with his smile.

  ‘It looks that way.’

  ‘So you don’t have a social life.’ Smiling, he tutted a few times. ‘Haven’t you heard of babysitters?’

  ‘Not with the tantrums my son’s been throwing lately. I wouldn’t inflict that temper on anyone just yet.’

  Ross just laughed. ‘So Matthew’s hitting the terrible twos with a vengeance?’

  ‘That’s an understatement.’ Shelly’s voice stayed light, her grin stayed put, but her mind was whirring as the beginning of a frown puckered her forehead. ‘How did you know his name?’

  Ross shrugged. ‘Melissa told me. So who’s looking after him tonight?’

  Her frown deepened. Melissa had obviously told Ross a bit more than Matthew’s name. ‘My parents are, they’ve been really good. You know about Neil and me, then?’

  Ross nodded. Moving away from the desk slightly, they found their own private space in the corridor, slipping so easily back into their ways of old. ‘It can’t have been easy for you.’

  Shelly gave a slightly brittle laugh. ‘That’s an understatement.’

  Ross didn’t comment at first, the silence around them building as Shelly stood there wondering how much to tell, scuffing the highly polished floor with her rubber soles and leaving little black marks that would have the cleaners in hysterics in the morning.

  ‘Neil told me he was leaving us the day I was due to be discharged from hospital, the day I was supposed to bring Matthew home.’ Her voice was shaky and she couldn’t even look up as she recounted her story, sure the inevitable pity she was so tired of seeing in people’s eyes would send her into floods of tears. ‘He said he couldn’t cope with a handicapped child, that it just wasn’t what he was cut out for.’

  ‘Then you’re better off without him.’

  Shelly looked up with a start. There was no pity in his voice or in his gorgeous blue eyes, just the cool sound of reason.

  ‘So everyone keeps telling me,’ Shelly sighed. ‘And they’re all probably right. But is it better for Matthew? Surely he needs a father?’

  ‘Not that sort,’ Ross said quickly, his voice strangely flip, a defiant jut to his chin. Suddenly he looked older than twenty-seven. He certainly didn’t look like the carefree backpacker she’d built in her mind. He looked every bit the man he was. ‘Children need to feel loved, safe and wanted, which are the three things Neil can’t give him, so if you ask me, Matthew’s better off without him. You, too, so I’m not going to make small-talk, passing on my condolences about the demise of your marriage when your divorce obviously agrees with you. You look the happiest I’ve seen you in a long time.’

  ‘I am,’ Shelly said slowly, the words a revelation even to herself. The divorce had hurt, but her grief had been expended long ago. The tears she cried now when she thought about the end of her marriage weren’t for herself and what she’d lost but for her little boy, a two-year-old child whose father simply didn’t want to know. Yet for all the angst, for all the struggle, both financially and emotionally, for all the responsibility of being a single parent, for the first time in over two years Shelly actually realised just how much she had moved on.

  That she was finally making it.

  Not happy exactly, but definitely getting there.

  As Melissa stood up Shelly picked up her notepad. ‘I’d better go and get the handover. I’ll catch up with you later.’

  ‘No doubt about that.’

  Her cheeks were burning as she took handover, her mind flitting as she desperately tried to concentrate, tried to ask intelligent questions and make sure she had all the drip rates and drugs due diligently written down in her usual neat handwriting as Annie, the sister in charge of the late shift, told the night staff about the patients on the ward. But there was no chance of that. Her mind was saturated with Ross, going over and over their brief but long-awaited exchange. Still, when Annie gave the details of the latest admission, Shelly’s ears pricked up and all thought of Ross fle
w out of the window, momentarily at least.

  ‘We’ve got a new patient direct from Theatre—Angus Marshall, twenty months old with a spiral fracture of the femur.’

  Shelly’s eyes shot up as Annie continued. A spiral fracture in a child was an injury that sounded alarm bells and Shelly’s were ringing, but Annie quickly shook her head to dispel any worries.

  ‘The staff in Emergency are happy with the story—they don’t think it’s a non-accidental injury. Apparently he’s just started walking so the injury could have happened when he fell.’

  ‘Could have?’ Shelly questioned, knowing that injuries like that were sometimes caused by an abusive parent.

  ‘They’re not sure how it happened, there’s a big sister and a new baby at home so it’s obviously a busy house. Apparently Angus was very grouchy and reluctant to weight-bear and his mum noticed the swelling so she took him to their GP who sent them over to us. They’re nice people, the child’s beautifully looked after.’

  ‘That doesn’t mean anything.’ Melissa’s stern voice matched Shelly’s thoughts exactly.

  ‘I’m going on what I’ve been told. They’ve been interviewed extensively by Dr Khan down in Emergency and he’s satisfied that it was a simple accident, so it’s not up to us to go jumping to conclusions.’

  ‘Nobody’s jumping,’ Shelly said in a calm voice, trying to diffuse the undercurrents. ‘But with an injury like that, child abuse has to be considered.’

  ‘Which it has been,’ Annie answered stiffly. ‘And it’s been discounted.’

  ‘So, how many beds does that leave us with?’ Shelly asked when she realised the discussion was going nowhere.

  ‘One bed and two cots,’ Annie said, closing the folder she was reading from. ‘But Emergency just rang and they’re probably going to be sending up a three-month-old boy with bronchiolitis, which will leave you with just the one cot.’