Before he could respond the phone in her pocket began to vibrate—her own, not the one that Ben had given her. The sound of it was audible in the silence that had fallen.
Her hand was shaking as she reached into her bag then glanced at the screen. What she saw made her body stiffen. ‘Sorry, it’s the hospital. I have to check this.’ She turned her face to the window to hide her expression as she replied. ‘Yes, this is Lily Gray.’
She listened to the voice on the other end before giving a deep sigh of relief. ‘That’s marvellous, thank you so much, thank you.’
She turned, smiling, and responded to his arched brow with a shake of her head. ‘Sorry, it’s good news. It was the hospital to say there is a match on the register—a perfect match, they said, for Emmy. They are trying to contact him so it’s possible you won’t need to do anything.’ She frowned. Ben was not listening. He was scrolling through his own phone—perhaps he didn’t understand the significance of what she was saying. ‘Apparently this person is someone who lives here in England. They warned me the odds were incredibly remote that they would find a match. If he agrees—’
Ben slid his phone back into his pocket. ‘They’ve contacted him and he does agree.’
She looked at him, her blank look fading as he held up his phone and said softly, ‘I’ve just been contacted.’
‘You’re on the bone-marrow register?’
‘For a couple of years. A friend’s wife needed a bone-marrow transplant so I got tested.’
‘Did she get it?’
‘Yes.’
His face told her nothing but she knew, she felt a cold clutch in her belly but ignored it. Emily was going to be all right. She’d make it all right.
‘She didn’t survive, did she...?’ The impotent rage and ice-cold fear warring within her fought for an angry release. ‘You can say it, you know.’ Hearing the shrill note of irrational accusation in her voice, Lily took a steadying breath and dug into her reservoir of inner calm and found it empty.
‘I’m not going to fall apart.’ Falling apart was not an option. Emmy needed her; her mother needed her.
Studying her pale face and refusing to acknowledge the sharp stab of tenderness, he wondered if she thought saying it often enough would make it true.
‘She’ll be fine, you know, Lily.’
She nodded but couldn’t meet his eyes. She was grateful that he was saying what she wanted to hear but she couldn’t let herself believe it.
‘So what do you think she’ll make of me?’
It took her a moment to translate the emotion behind his question. Maybe because insecurity and fear were not words she associated with big, take-charge, in-control Ben.
Her tender heart ached ‘She’s two—she loves everyone.’
Ben gave a tight smile; he knew that love had to be earned. ‘If I do it wrong, tell me.’
‘There’s no handbook, just wing it. It’s what I’ve been doing for two years.’ If genes had anything to do with it, Emmy would adore him—just like her mother.
CHAPTER SIX
AFTER A SELF-CONSCIOUS moment Lily disentangled her fingers from Ben’s. She had no recollection of grabbing them.
‘Could you drop me back at the hospital? I’m staying the night. Mum needs some sleep.’
It occurred to Ben that so did she, but, recognising that nothing he said would make her change her mind, he kept his opinion to himself.
‘I’m seeing this Dr...?’ Ben asked, when the limo drew up outside the glass-fronted hospital entrance.
‘Sheridan,’ she supplied. ‘He’s really nice.’
‘I don’t want nice,’ he scorned. ‘I want excellent.’
‘I think he’s both,’ she said, finally releasing herself from the seat belt.
‘Let’s hope so.’
‘The appointment is at nine. Apparently it shouldn’t take long. Shall we meet up on the ward about ten? I’ll introduce you to Emmy. You do know I’m grateful for this...’
He arched a sardonic brow. ‘But...?’
She shook her head. ‘No but, it’s just... I think it might be better if we don’t tell Emmy you’re her dad straight away...’ The words she had been silently rehearsing all the way emerged in a rush.
He looked at her with cynical ice-blue eyes. ‘Better for who?’ he asked bluntly.