The Nurse's Secret by Sue MacKay

Author:Sue MacKay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-06-03T14:55:15+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

STACEY SAT IN a chair at the bedside, her arm through the bars keeping Holly from rolling out if—when she woke up. Because she was going to come round. There was no alternative. Her baby would get through this. They would get through this. What had the radiology technician said? She looked around the room, locked eyes with Noah. ‘Holly’s going to be all right, isn’t she?’

‘Yes.’

He could’ve said a lot of medical stuff, talked in jargon that normally she’d understand but not today without having to put a lot of effort into thinking. Obviously he understood because all he’d said was, ‘Yes.’ She wanted to cry. Wanted, and very nearly did. But she wouldn’t cry in front of Holly, not even when her girl wouldn’t notice. She was the mother. The strong adult in this partnership. Holly was not going to see her wailing and carrying on. So she sniffed, and dug deep for a smile. ‘Thanks for that.’

‘You’re welcome.’

‘Noah?’ Unbeknown to Noah, he was the strong person in their relationship, whatever that was. She had to tell him. This was not the time to be avoiding the truth. Wiping her eyes with a handful of tissues, she drew a breath. But not while her family were here.

‘Yes?’ he asked.

She thought about what to say, staring at him, believing in him, and yet worried. He might cry for their daughter and be pleased to know he was Holly’s dad. He might swear and accuse her of fabricating his fatherhood for her gain. There were a hundred things he might do and say. She wasn’t ready. She had to be. ‘Nothing.’

‘You sure?’

Not at all. ‘I need to talk to you.’ She pulled another tissue from the box and blew noisily.

Her mother was watching them from the other side of Holly’s bed. ‘Noah, we’ll give you and Stacey time together, but first can you tell us what the scan means? Apart from Holly is going to be all right. How all right? No lasting damage? Or will there be ongoing problems?’

Her parents hadn’t ignored Noah, had taken to him as she’d hoped. Almost. There was still a seed of doubt that would probably last until he’d been told about Holly and they all knew if he accepted her. ‘Do you mind explaining, Noah?’ Stacey asked, giving him permission to talk about her daughter to her family.

‘Sure.’ He gave a brief outline of what had shown up on the brain scan and the X-ray of Holly’s arm. ‘Basically it all comes down to a concussion that the doctors want to keep an eye on over the next twenty-four hours at least. Her arm’s broken, hence the cast. I can tell you that with very young children it doesn’t take long for a fracture to heal. Holly has been lucky.’

‘Luckier still if it hadn’t happened,’ Stacey’s father said.

Knowing how her father felt about the accident that had caused him to lose a foot, Stacey knew he was aching for Holly. Now that she’d calmed down and felt some relief at what Noah told them, she quietly admonished her father.

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