Guilty Secret Read online

  ‘Daniel’s already left to get his two—’ Mara began, only to be interrupted.

  ‘I can get them,’ offered a voice behind her, and she nearly groaned again.

  ‘No one knows you, so the school wouldn’t release them to you,’ she pointed out with a crazy sense of relief. ‘It’s a safety precaution, so no one can snatch children.’

  ‘So you’ll need to phone the school to tell them I’m coming, and then give me a note to confirm I’m who I say I am,’ he said logically, already reaching for his keys.

  ‘But—’

  ‘That will certainly solve the problem,’ Mara jumped in, and slid a piece of the surgery’s headed notepaper across the desk towards Frankie. ‘I can keep an eye on them until you’re finished with Mrs Vidler. I’ll be looking after her Pam anyway.’

  Frankie gave in with good grace, quickly writing a note confirming that Dr Nick Johnson had her permission to pick Laura and Katie up as she’d been unavoidably detained.

  ‘You’d better give Dr Johnson a photo of the girls,’ Mara suggested as she straightened up from her task.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Extra identification, and so that you’ll recognise them,’ she explained with a smile for Nick.

  ‘Oh, but—’ Frankie began, her mouth almost getting ahead of her brain until she caught the quick shake of his head.

  But he’s already seen a photo of them, she’d been about to say, and wouldn’t that have given people something to get their teeth into? As far as anyone else knew, Nick had merely turned up at her house yesterday to pick up the mobile phone and some paperwork. Hopefully no one would ever know exactly how much time he’d spent with her and what they’d done during that time.

  Silently she fished her purse out of the depths of her handbag and extracted the photo that always travelled with her wherever she went.

  ‘Pretty girls,’ he said with a smile as he looked at the picture that was almost the twin of the one on the notice-board in her kitchen, then met Frankie’s wary eyes. ‘They obviously take after their mother.’

  ‘Do you want me to get the school on the phone?’ Mara prompted, breaking the current of awareness that had begun to flow between them again.

  It didn’t take long to explain the situation to the school secretary—it wasn’t the first time such a situation had arisen with one member of staff or another—but all the parents felt happier knowing that the security system was in place.

  Frankie was exasperated to find her eyes following Nick as he left the reception area, and she had to force herself to turn away.

  ‘Send Mrs Vidler straight through as soon as she gets here,’ she said, setting one foot firmly in front of the other on her way to her room. It felt very strange thinking that Nick, the man she’d shared her bed and her body with, was on his way to collect her daughters from school. The fact that she had a sudden insane wish that the three of them would take to each other was just one more guilt trip to add to the mounting tally. All she could do was try to concentrate on the possible complications that were bringing Marian Vidler here in such a panic.

  Tm sorry,’ the young woman began as soon as she reached the door. ‘I know you’re supposed to be getting your kids from school. I’ve had Pam home all day because we couldn’t get out of the lane this morning.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Frankie soothed. ‘One of the other doctors is collecting them. Now, come over here and sit down. Tell me what’s wrong.’

  Marian took a step forward then suddenly stopped, and Frankie saw a strange expression spreading over her face.

  ‘Oh!’ she exclaimed in panic. ‘Oh, no!’

  She didn’t need to say anything more. The rapidly spreading puddle between her feet was enough to tell Frankie what was happening.

  ‘I think we need to get you to a midwife,’ Frankie said as she leapt to her feet to hurry to her patient’s side.

  ‘No! It’s too soon!’ she moaned, feebly fighting the supporting arm Frankie tried to wrap around her shoulders. ‘It’s not due to come for weeks yet.’

  ‘I think Junior Vidler has other ideas about that,’ Frankie teased gently while she did some mental calculations.

  Was it four weeks early, or closer to three? Either way, they were going to have to make the best of it because labour-delaying drugs weren’t an option. With her waters gone, so was the baby’s barrier against in utero infection. There was no choice now but to deliver the baby as quickly and as safely as possible.

  ‘Come and sit down for a minute while I make some calls,’ she urged as she draped a towel over the mock-leather seat of a nearby chair and helped the young woman to lower her less than agile frame onto it.

  A quick call across to the little maternity department over in the hospital’s north wing was enough to confirm that Faith, the midwife, would meet them when they arrived. Then it was just a case of alerting the practice receptionist to what was going on and instructing her to grab the nearest wheelchair.

  ‘What about Pam?’ Marian Vidler gasped as Jane appeared with a purloined wheelchair sporting the word PHYSIO stencilled across the back. ‘And my husband. He doesn’t know that the baby’s coming,’ she added, her face screwed up with the sudden onset of pain.

  ‘We can take care of all that. Trust us,’ Jane promised, standing by as Frankie waited for the pain to ebb then helping her into the chair. ‘All you have to do is concentrate on bringing this little one into the world. I’ve got your phone number on my computer and I’ll call him as soon as I get back to my desk.’

  ‘And Pam?’

  ‘At the moment, she’s busy feeding the fish for me, so I’d better get back before she gives them enough for a month.’

  ‘Happy now?’ Frankie asked, hoping she sounded more relaxed than she felt. She was torn between wanting to deliver the young woman into expert hands as soon as possible and needing her to be calm. As yet she had no idea why labour had started so early, or why Marian had been so sick. If there was something wrong, the sooner it was discovered the better, and there she saw no point in delaying down here to do things like blood-pressure checks when they were only going to be repeated as soon as they arrived at the other end of the building.

  ‘I’m scared,’ Marian admitted in a shaky voice, suddenly sounding close to tears. ‘I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to this baby.’

  She laid protective hands over her prominent bump and Frankie could remember just how she felt. She’d had those same feelings with both of her pregnancies, but had put it down to the fact that she’d known far too much for her own peace of mind about all the things that could go wrong.

  ‘Couldn’t wait to see us, could you?’ Faith quipped with a cheerful smile when the lift doors opened, the hint of her Irish accent giving the words a musical lilt. ‘Or was it the babe you’re in a hurry to meet?’

  ‘I don’t seem to have any say in the matter,’ Marian Vidler grumbled into the brief gap between the sudden onset of fierce contractions. She’d had two just in the time it had taken to travel from the GP unit to the other side of Denison Memorial.

  ‘Ow!’ she whimpered, signalling the onset of a third and Frankie glanced quickly at her watch.

  ‘How quickly?’ Faith demanded briskly, obviously alerted by something in Frankie’s expression.

  ‘Three minutes and accelerating rapidly,’ the GP supplied, letting her know that they needed to move quickly.

  ‘Evidently, this isn’t going to be any sort of leisurely delivery,’ Faith commented with a practised smile to hide her sudden concern. ‘Let’s get you in here and take a look.’

  Frankie had stepped back to allow the midwife to take over when her hand was seized in a fierce grip.

  ‘Come with me,’ Marian begged. ‘Please!’

  Frankie glanced up at Faith who nodded swiftly.

  ‘I don’t mind having extra assistance,’ she agreed cheerfully as she lent a steadying hand while the young woman perched uncomfortably on the edge of the table. �
�I can get them to do all the boring stuff so I get to do the exciting things—like get my hands on the babe.’

  ‘I can take a hint,’ Frankie retorted, glad to see that their banter was helping her patient to relax. ‘I get to do the fetching and carrying while you get all the glory.’

  ‘Exactly so!’ Faith exclaimed, snapping a pair of sterile gloves on and reaching into the delivery kit while Frankie helped their charge out of her wet clothing.

  She refused to think of other wet clothing and the lean muscular body it had covered, concentrating on wrapping a warm blanket around Marian’s shoulders in place of the gown she didn’t have time to don.

  This time, the contraction made her groan heavily. ‘I need to push,’ she exclaimed through gritted teeth.

  ‘Not yet, sweetheart, please!’ Faith demanded sharply enough to grab her patient’s attention. ‘Pant a moment while I take a look. We don’t want you doing the babe a mischief because the door isn’t open wide enough.’

  Marian groaned again, wild-eyed, but she managed to comply.

  ‘Dear Lord, you are in a hurry!’ Faith exclaimed as she made her examination. ‘I can almost shake hands with the babe already!’

  Marian was startled into a huff of laughter.

  ‘Does that mean I can push? Please?’

  ‘As soon as you like,’ Faith confirmed as she straightened up. ‘You’re fully dilated and ready to go.’

  ‘Thank God for that,’ she moaned, clearly feeling the start of the next contraction.

  There was hardly time for any of them to breathe over the next ten minutes, Frankie taking over the task of monitoring Marian’s elevated blood pressure and acting as her cheering squad while Faith concentrated on the other end of the job.

  In an almost frighteningly fast time they were watching the emergence of a head crowned with thick dark hair, swiftly followed by a slippery body and surprisingly long limbs.

  ‘It’s a boy, Marian,’ Frankie said with sudden tears in her eyes, not caring that her hand had nearly gone numb in her patient’s tight grip. ‘You’ve got a son.’

  ‘And he’s a real beauty,’ Faith added as she checked him over then wrapped him in the waiting blanket with the speed and efficiency born of much practice. ‘Not a bad size in spite of the fact he was in a hurry to get here,’ she went on with a twinkle in her eye as she placed him in his mother’s arms.

  ‘I’m just glad you decided to come in when you did, or Pam might have ended up having to deliver her brother at the side of the road,’ Frankie managed to say, fighting the ridiculous tears that burned behind her eyes.

  This was such a special moment with each new baby. One that she hadn’t forgotten in spite of the fact that her girls were now nine and eleven.

  Suddenly she was swamped by desolation at the knowledge that she’d never know that magic again—that instant when a new life born of her body was placed in her hands and her heart reached out to it to enfold it for ever.

  It had happened with both Laura and Katie, and she’d known that from that moment she would protect them with the ferocity of a mother lion with her cubs.

  The knock on the door behind her dragged her out of her thoughts. It announced the arrival of Marian’s husband and reminded her that it was long past time that she went to retrieve her children from Jane’s supervision.

  She promised that Pam would be escorted up to be introduced to her baby brother but there were more personal thoughts whirling furiously through her head.

  She had carried her two babies, nurturing them inside her body until they were ready to be born, and had continued to care for them the best she could for the last eleven years. The commitment she’d felt towards them in that first moment that they’d been placed in her arms hadn’t dimmed one iota in spite of the time that had passed. They were her babies to love and protect and they would still be her babies even when they were old enough to have babies of their own.

  And Martin thought she would calmly stand by while he took them away from her? No way!

  He might be a successful lawyer, but there were some things that were more important to young girls on the brink of womanhood than the legal niceties of a newly established two-parent unit. While they were going through the traumas and upheavals of puberty and adolescence, they needed the security of knowing that the parent they lived with had never wavered in her commitment to love them and care for them.

  By the time she reached the reception area that served the GP unit she could feel a new resolve in her step.

  She was going to fight.

  Just because Martin was a lawyer, that didn’t mean that he automatically had to win. The fact that she’d cared for Laura and Katie since they were born—and single-handedly for the last seven years—and the fact that they were growing up normal, happy, healthy children must surely count for something when such decisions were being made.

  Then she stepped round the corner towards the lines of chairs in the waiting area and came to a complete halt, her breath halted in her throat.

  Whatever she’d expected when Nick had volunteered to collect Laura and Katie from school it hadn’t been that he would still be sitting with them nearly an hour later. And it certainly hadn’t been that Katie would be sitting beside him while he read to her out of one of the books from the children’s corner, or that Laura—watchful, newly moody Laura—would be laughing out loud at whatever it was that Nick had just said.

  Something inside clenched tight around her heart. This was what had been missing from her girls’ lives, and it wasn’t something they’d had from their father even when the two of them had been married.

  Sadness washed over her in an icy deluge at the realisation. It was one thing to finally understand what had been missing from their lives and to know that Martin was never going to be the one to give it to them.

  It was another thing entirely to realise that the man who could have given it to them was promised to another woman.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ‘MUMMY!’ Katie sang out as she caught sight of her. ‘Come and listen. Nick is telling us a ’tically correct story and it’s ever so funny.’

  ‘Politically correct,’ Laura amended with all the disdain of an older sister, then couldn’t help grinning in turn. ‘You know, where everyone has to say “chairperson” or “postperson” instead of “chairman” or “postman” and the princess gets arrested for kissing the frog without his permission. Come and listen, Mum. Nick won’t mind, will you?’

  She turned to him with shining eyes as she made her appeal but he didn’t notice. His eyes were already fixed in Frankie’s direction, their searing intensity a strange mixture of anger and compassion that she couldn’t decipher.

  All she knew was that it made her feel things that she shouldn’t, deep inside where she hid her most intimate secrets.

  ‘Girls, it’s time we were going,’ she managed in a rusty voice before she managed to drag her eyes away from his. ‘You shouldn’t have made Nick…Dr Johnson,’ she corrected herself firmly, ‘stay here with you. He has other things to do.’

  ‘But, Mum…’

  ‘He said we could…’

  As usual, they both began to speak at once, their words emerging as a hopeless muddle.

  ‘They didn’t make me—I volunteered,’ Nick interrupted quietly, his deeper, almost baritone voice easily overriding their lighter trebles. ‘And I didn’t have anything better to do.’

  ‘He hasn’t even got anything to eat for tea,’ Katie informed her importantly. ‘I said he could come and share our casserold but he said you hadn’t invited him, but you will, won’t you, ’cos there’s always lots left over so he could eat it.’

  ‘Casserole,’ Laura corrected with an air of long-suffering while Frankie stood lost for words.

  What was she supposed to say now? What could she say, especially with Jane standing there with her ears flapping?

  To put him off would seem the height of churlishness, especially when he’d been kind enough to
collect them from school, to say nothing of entertaining them like this. But to confirm the invitation was equally impossible. He was an engaged man, for heaven’s sake. If he needed feeding, Vicky should be the one doing it.

  Or was that just her guilty conscience speaking?

  She’d done something far worse than feed the man, for heaven’s sake. Where was the harm in inviting him to eat with them? It was hardly champagne and oysters, and a plateful of casserole was little enough recompense for his time and trouble.

  ‘Vicky’s working late,’ he offered quietly, and she couldn’t disguise the jolt of surprise that he’d apparently read her mind or the flash of unreasonable jealousy that he was obviously spending time with his beautiful fiancée outside the hospital.

  When Katie shifted impatiently on her seat she also realised that she’d been hovering indecisively for far too long.

  ‘So you’re not above Jack’s bachelor trick of mooching a meal,’ she teased.

  ‘Home-cooked beats take-away hands down,’ he confirmed, then turned to grin at Katie. ‘Especially when I’ve been reliably informed that it’s been cooking for a million hours.’

  ‘And afterwards he could tell us some more of that story,’ Katie added with an excited little bounce.

  ‘Please, Mummy?’ Lauren added with a persuasive smile.

  ‘Please, Mummy,’ Nick added as an echo, making them all laugh.

  It was so good to see the two of them smiling again that she couldn’t find it in her heart to refuse.

  It didn’t matter that she knew only too well that having the man in her house again was the last thing she needed. It was already far too hard to go into any of the rooms they’d shared so passionately together without reliving every second in her mind. Spending another evening with him, even though they would be safely chaperoned by two eagle-eyed daughters, was not the way to get her over-active imagination under control.

  ‘All right,’ she conceded. ‘Provided you promise to get straight down to your homework as soon as we get home.’

  She had a feeling that her proviso had been completely lost under the cheers of victory but it was too late now. The two of them were already grabbing their bags and coats and talking at the tops of their voices.