Max to do the operation? Jodi could not swallow the lump blocking her throat. Max? Too weird. Too family. But she’d always known it would come to this. ‘What about Carleen Murphy? I hear she’s very good.’
Lucas studied her so long Jodi knew he had to be seeing right into her head, seeing her confusion, her unwillingness to have Jamie’s uncle operate on him. ‘You’ll be meeting with the whole transplant team. We’ll leave deciding who does the operation until afterwards.’
She couldn’t ask for better than that.
*
Mitch wanted to run from the room, to get as far as possible from the kind eyes and disastrous words of Lucas Harrington, to block out the horror. But he couldn’t. He’d run out of time. This was when he stood up to be counted. Acted like the strong male he’d always pretended to be.
Unwittingly he looked at Jamie. Another look at the boy with the pale face and the small frame. Wished he hadn’t because what he saw made his heart tighten painfully. Surprisingly it continued pumping.
Face the truth. Face what I’ve been hiding from since Jodi told me about Jamie’s illness. This kid needs a new kidney. He’ll die without it. And I’ve only just met him. My flesh and blood. I don’t want to lose him before I’ve got to know him.
I don’t want to lose him at all.
My flesh and blood. My kidneys might be compatible.
‘Mitch?’ Jodi nudged him. ‘We’re finished with Lucas for now. I need to take Jamie up to the lab.’
He saw the pain for Jamie in her eyes. Saw the way she held on to her son for dear life and knew she wouldn’t let him carry Jamie for her. Not now, at this moment, when she’d faced the truth of the situation—again.
‘Hell, Jodi, how have you held yourself together through all this?’ He wasn’t managing very well after one doctor’s consultation. Jodi would’ve had plenty of those. She’d done it all alone. Her mother might’ve helped but Alison wasn’t known for dealing with the emotional stuff when it came to her daughter’s needs. Just like him. He could blame the fact he hadn’t had long to get used to having a son who was seriously ill, but that was a cop-out.
Jodi might’ve been right not to want involve him in Jamie’s life.
But it was too bloody late. He was involved. Like it or not. And he was coming to like it, horrendous problems or not.
In the corridor she peered at him over the top of Jamie’s head, those beautiful, suck-him-in eyes filled with resignation. ‘There’s never been any choice. Jamie needs me to be strong, to fight his battles, to love him. If I fail he has nobody.’
Time to start thinking about these two, not himself. Mitch swallowed hard. ‘He has me. For what it’s worth, I accept I’m his father and therefore have a role to play in his life.’
As Jodi’s eyes widened in relief he felt a surge of pride. And astonishment. It hadn’t hurt a bit to say that. Would that come later when he thought through the consequences? No, actually, he didn’t think it would.
You’ve just taken a giant step forward, boyo.
Then dismay shivered through him, knocking down the good feeling. What about Sydney and that fabulous job he’d been angling to get for over a year now? Was he prepared to give that away? He hadn’t thought about that for a few hours. Relax. Jodi and Jamie could join him over there. After the transplant, of course. Yeah, that would work. Jodi could find work in a general practice if she wanted to, and he’d be able to spend time with Jamie in his downtime. They might even find adjoining apartments somewhere central.
Definitely a solution to everything. For the first time since he’d opened his eyes to find Jodi in his office, things were looking up.
If he ignored the axe hanging over them.
Jamie needed a new kidney. Fast.
And he had one to spare.
*
As Mitch took her elbow and eased her through the throng of people streaming in the opposite direction, Jodi tried to assimilate the full extent of what he’d just said. Did he understand how big the role of father could be? Why wouldn’t he? He’d spent all his adult life avoiding getting into the situation where he’d have to be a dad.
‘Mummy, can we go home?’ Jamie sniffled against her neck. ‘I don’t like it here.’
‘Oh, sweetheart, I know you don’t.’ She tried to avoid saying an outright no. ‘We’ll go back to the motel soon.’
Despite the phlebotomist being so careful and gentle, Jamie had still felt the needle that had drawn his blood. His little face had puckered up with resignation. She’d had a sudden urge to pick him up and run. Run from all the uncertainty, the kind medical staff, the big question of Mitch. Run and hide in a warm place where they could pretend none of this was happening. If Mitch hadn’t been there, watching over them like a fierce male protector, she really might’ve taken off.
‘I don’t want to go there. I want to go home and see Bambi.’
‘Who is Bambi?’ Mitch asked.
‘My cat.’ Jamie’s head twisted around as he sought out this man who didn’t seem to understand anything.
‘A cat named Bambi? That’s novel.’
Jodi smiled despite everything. ‘Better than Knickers, which is the name of the boy next door’s puppy.’
Mitch chuckled. ‘I didn’t realise there was quite such a wide range of pet names out there. Whatever happened to Socks or Blackie?’
‘My cat’s not black. He’s ginger,’ Jamie informed him through a sniff.
‘And he is really a she, proof being the litter we found in the bottom of the hall cupboard last month.’ Jodi smiled her thanks at Mitch for the diversion. Hopefully they’d got past Jamie’s need to go home for a little while longer, at least until they’d collected his prescription and dosed him up.
Mitch asked Jamie, ‘Feel like going to the canteen and getting a juice, sport?’
‘I think so.’
‘What do you say?’ Jodi nudged her boy.
‘Thank you, Mitch. Are you going to get Mummy a coffee? She likes one when I have a juice.’
‘Then, yes, that’s what we’ll do.’ His hand tugged her left along another corridor. ‘This way. The canteen shouldn’t be too busy at this time of the morning.’
Thankfully Mitch was right. Only a few people sat at the scattered tables. About to give a sigh of relief, Jodi suddenly froze, her feet unable to propel her any further forward as she stared at the man seated in the far corner reading the newspaper as he drank from a mug.
Max Maitland.
She so wasn’t ready for this man. She hadn’t sorted everything out with Mitch yet, so how could she explain to his twin about Jamie? Because the way these two didn’t get on, always tried to outdo the other in absolutely everything, Max was going to want to score points out of her sudden appearance with a child in tow. Mitch. Her head flipped back as she sought his face. But he was staring across the room with the same emotions racing through his eyes as she was feeling.
‘Let’s go.’ She nudged him in the side. ‘We can get a juice somewhere else.’ Preferably on the other side of the moon.
*
Mitch turned to propel Jodi out of the canteen. He definitely wasn’t ready to have Max learn about his son. Probably never would be, but there’d be no avoiding it. All he asked right at this moment was that they got out of here without being seen so they could go somewhere quiet and discuss how much Max should be told. One day. One whole day, that was all he wanted.
‘Why can’t I have it now, Mummy?’ Jamie’s voice rose to a loud squeal. ‘You promised.’
Mitch bit down on his frustration. The little guy didn’t understand what was going on. ‘We’ll find a better place, okay?’
‘Mitch?’ Max called across the room. ‘Disappearing before you’ve even got here?’
Damn. Luck was definitely not on his side today. But maybe it would be better getting this out of the way. Huh. As if. Resigned, Mitch braced himself and tucked Jodi under his arm to turn around with her—and met the startled glower of his brother as h
e noticed who was with him.
‘Jodi? Is that you?’ Max unfolded himself from the chair to stand tall, a smile spreading across his handsome face. ‘What brings you to town?’ Then his eyes widened further still. ‘And who’s this?’