Bonnie was shocked by Jess’s words. She reached over and squeezed her hand. ‘Competitive siblings can be a nightmare. My ex-husband was like that with his brother. It made him even harder to live with.’ She sucked in a breath. ‘And if Cambridge Royal is like every other hospital I’ve worked in, you’ll have heard that I found my ex-husband in bed with my best friend. So, I sympathise. At least I had the option of walking away. I don’t need to look at them together.’ She leaned back and took a sip of her coffee. ‘It sucks that you have to do that.’
Jess burst out laughing and reached over towards Bonnie. ‘Yes, the hospital grapevine is in full flow and I love that you just say it like it is.’
Bonnie shrugged. ‘After thirty-two years there’s not much point in changing the habit of a lifetime.’
Jess gave her a rueful stare. ‘I might have heard that about you too. Men suck. Unfortunately, men are my biggest issue. Or namely the fact I don’t have one. That’s the reason I’m dreading the anniversary party so much. Everyone is just waiting for me to produce who is going to be Mr Jessica Black and create the two-point-four kids we’re supposed to have.’
Bonnie took a bite of her tuna sandwich. ‘Can’t you take a friend?’
‘Yeah, but the friend would need to reach my family’s exacting standards. They would have to be devastatingly handsome, completely charming and totally unfazed by my sister trying to be the centre of attention.’
Bonnie gave a little smile. ‘I have to say, there’s more than a few handsome guys around here. Can’t you ask one to accompany you?’
Jess frowned. ‘Like who?’
Bonnie swallowed and tried to appear casual. ‘What about Jacob Layton?’
Jess waved her hand. ‘Oh, he’s handsome enough but way too grumpy.’
Bonnie tried not to let the wave of relief sweeping over her be obvious. ‘Aaron Cartwright, the infertility specialist? An American might go down well.’
She smiled and shook her head. ‘He might. But he’s not for me. He’s too committed to his work. That’s the problem with most of the guys around here.’
Bonnie thought again. She was just here. But she’d met most of the consultants in the last few days. ‘I’ve got it. What about an Australian, then, Sean Anderson, the obstetrician that arrived just a few weeks before me?’
‘Are you serious?’ Jess laughed and wagged her finger. ‘I’m going to forgive your observational skills, Nurse, because you’ve just started. But have you noticed how jumpy Isabel is since he got here?’
Bonnie racked her brains. Isabel was also an Australian obstetrician. Bonnie hadn’t connected the two, but maybe there was something... She’d been warm and friendly towards Bonnie since she arrived. She shook her head and shrugged. ‘I’ve never seen them together, so I can’t say I’ve noticed.’
Jess raised her eyebrows. ‘She’s like a proverbial cat on a hot tin roof. Mark my words, there’s some history there. I’m not getting embroiled in that.’
Bonnie took a final bite of her tuna sandwich. When she’d finished chewing she had the perfect answer. ‘I’ve got it. Why didn’t I think of him before? You’ve got the perfect answer right under your nose. Dean Edwards, the SCBU doctor.’
Something flickered across Jess’s eyes. Bonnie was on it in an instant.
‘What? Has something happened between you two already?’
Jess almost choked. ‘No. Absolutely not. But I’ll be the only one. He has a different lady for every day of the week. His phone goes off constantly.’
Bonnie took a sip of her tea and sat back in her chair. ‘Dean’s a ladies’ man? Who has he dated at work?’
Jess was quick to shake her head. ‘Oh, no. He doesn’t date anyone at work.’ She held out her hands. ‘But that leaves the rest of the world wide open for him.’
‘And you struck off his list?’ Drat. That came out too bluntly. She’d only met Jess on a few occasions.
But it was just the two of them and Jess looked up from her coffee, her light brown eyes rueful. Maybe it was easier to open up to someone who was new?
She blew out a long, slow breath from her lips. ‘I guess so. He wouldn’t look at me anyway—and even if he did, once he met Wonder Sister he’d be entranced by her. They all are. It wears pretty thin.’
Bonnie reached out towards her again. ‘You’re a gorgeous girl, Jess. It would be wrong of me to say anything about your sister, but, to be honest, she seems like a piece of work. You’ve got much more integrity than that, and somewhere—’ she held up her hands ‘—out there, is a man who is just waiting to find a woman like you. You’ll probably find him when you least expect to.’ She glanced at the clock. ‘I’m sorry but I better go. We’ve got a woman expecting twins due in.’ She put her plate and cup on the tray and winked at Jess. ‘I gave you the option of three gorgeous men and you said no to all of them. Don’t let it be said that you’re picky.’
Jess winked back and put her plate on her tray, standing up and walking towards the catering trolleys. ‘You gave me the option of four, Bonnie. Now I’m wondering if you’re keeping one to yourself.’
And she left, before Bonnie could pick her chin off the floor and stop kicking herself.
* * *
By the time she reached the ward she could feel herself blushing like crazy. This was ridiculous. No one knew she was staying at Jacob’s. Everything at work was entirely professional.
Everything at home was entirely professional too. But Jacob was surprising her. For a guy that acted as though he would run a million miles from kids, he’d been surprisingly good with Freya. Yes, he was still a bit awkward, but he was definitely making an effort. And that mattered. A lot.
It was a dangerous line. If he hadn’t been friendly, they could have felt like trespassers in his home. Jacob still didn’t give much away. He was obviously a private person. And that was fine. Except five-year-olds weren’t always good at knowing when to stop asking questions.
He met her at the doors of the ward. ‘You’re helping with the twin delivery?’
She grinned. ‘I am. Is she your patient? Anything I should know?’
In a labour unit some women would be classed as midwifery care and some as medical care. Any woman with a multiple pregnancy automatically fell under medical care as they were at higher risk of complications. An average woman, with a normal pregnancy, could come into the unit and not come into contact with a medic at all. She would be delivered by the midwives and her follow-up care carried out by them. Babies were different—they were always checked over by a paediatrician.
Bonnie dumped her bag as Jacob kept pace with her. ‘Hayley Dickson has had a textbook pregnancy but her blood pressure has gone up a little in the last two weeks. I’m actually glad she’s gone into spontaneous labour because I was considering inducing her. She’s been scanned for the last few weeks. No problems with the babies. It’s non-identical twins and both babies are around six pounds.’
‘Does she know what she’s having?’
He shook his head. ‘She didn’t want to know.’
Bonnie smiled. ‘Do you?’
‘I might do—’ he tapped his mouth ‘—but my lips are sealed. Let’s go and introduce Mum to these beautiful babies.’ He put his hand on Bonnie’s shoulder. ‘If it’s okay with you, I’d like to let you and Kerry take the lead. I’m only here if there are any issues. I’ll set up the epidural I know she wants. But Hayley is keen to have a normal delivery.’
Bonnie gave a nod. ‘No problem. I’ll go and pick up the cots, be back with you in a minute.’
She was glad that Jacob didn’t want to try and take over and respected the birthing plan his patient had decided on. Sometimes medics could be a bit overzealous. She hated when that happened.
She collected the cots and baby warmers and headed back into the room. Kerry gave her a nod
as she entered. ‘Hayley, this is Bonnie, our new ward sister. She’ll be helping with the delivery. Bonnie, this is Hayley and her husband, Jordan.’