The Fiancé He Can't Forget by Caroline Anderson Page A

close over her…
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    â€˜She woke for a moment. She coughed, and she tried to open her eyes.’
    â€˜OK, well, that’s good. Let’s have a look. Amy? Amy, wake up, please, open your eyes. Come on.’
    The doctor squeezed her ear, pressing his nail into the lobe, and she moaned slightly but she didn’t open her eyes or react in any other way.
    He checked her reflexes, scanned the monitor, listened to her chest, checked her notes for urine output and fluid balance, and nodded.
    â€˜She’s shifting a lot of fluid, which is good. Have you noticed any change?’
    â€˜Her hand’s thinner.’
    He picked it up, pressed it, nodded again, had a look at her incision and covered her, but not before Matt had seen it. He smiled. It was neat. Very neat, for all the hurry. Ben had done a good job. She wouldn’t have unsightly scars to trouble her.
    â€˜I gather the baby’s doing well.’
    â€˜Yes, he is. I went to see him. He’s beautiful. Amazing. Really strong.’
    â€˜Well, she’s resting now if you want to go and see him again. I don’t think she’s about to wake up.’
    He nodded. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He wanted to be told she was lightening, that any minute now she’d drift out of the fog and open her eyes and smile, but he knew it was a vain hope.
    Nevertheless, he took the advice and went to see their baby, and as he walked in, he was assailed by fear. He was exhausted, worried sick and for the first time understanding just what all the parents of sick and preterm babies went through.
    And it wasn’t great.
    The shifts had changed, of course, and Rachel wasn’t there, but there was another nurse who he’d met before, in September, and she greeted him with a smile. ‘Matt, come and see him, he’s doing really well. Do you want to hold him?’
    He nodded. ‘Could I?’
    â€˜Of course.’ She sat him down, lifted the baby out of the crib and placed him carefully in Matt’s arms. Well,hands, really. He was too tiny for arms. With his head in the crook of his arm, his little feet barely reached Matt’s wrist, and those skinny, naked feet got to him again. He bent his wrist up and cupped them in his hand, keeping them warm, feeling them flex and wriggle a little as he snuggled them.
    He pressed a fingertip to the baby’s open palm, and his hand closed, gripping him fiercely. It made him smile. So did the enormous yawn, and then to his delight the baby opened his eyes and stared straight up at him.
    â€˜Hello, my gorgeous boy,’ he said softly, and then he lost eye contact because his own flooded with a whole range of emotions too huge, too tumultuous to analyse. He sniffed hard, and found a tissue in his hand.
    â€˜Thought I might find you here.’
    â€˜Are you checking up on me?’ he asked gruffly, and Ben dropped into a chair beside him with an understanding smile.
    â€˜No, checking up on your son. Daisy wants to see photos, if that’s OK?’
    â€˜Of course it is. I’ve been thinking about that. I took one on my phone and sent it to Mum and Dad, but it’s not the same.’
    â€˜No. I’ve got my camera, I’ll take some and print them. Does he have a name yet, by the way?’
    He shook his head. ‘I thought you might be able to tell me. I have no idea what Amy was thinking. Not Samuel…’ His voice cracked, and he broke off, squeezing his eyes shut and breathing slowly.
    Ben squeezed his shoulder, and gave him a moment before going on. ‘She’d talked about Joshua—Josh. ButDaisy said she thought Amy was going to ask you about names.’
    â€˜She was going to tell me about him, then?’
    â€˜Oh, God, yes! She said she’d tell you when—’
    â€˜What?’ he asked, when Ben broke off. ‘When what?’
    He sighed. ‘She said she’d tell you when it was over, one way or the other.