‘How did you get served so quickly? I’d given up.’
‘Perk of the job.’ Ben winked. ‘I got you something to eat...in case you’re hungry.’
Celeste screwed up her nose. ‘How much do I owe you?’ She scrabbled in her purse for some money, but Ben just shook his head.
‘Don’t be daft.’
‘Add it to my slate!’ Celeste said, and then leant forward, rested her head on her arm for a moment and let everything pass by, the noise, the traffic of a busy hospital, the glare of the windows, everything except Ben’s concerned voice.
‘Should I be taking your pulse or something?’ he teased gently to hide his real worry.
‘No.’
‘You’re not very good company today.’ He lifted her forehead a little, then saw her grey face and put it back down to rest on her forearm.
‘They told me to wait half an hour...’ came her muffled voice. ‘I should have listened.’
‘Should I be sending for a gurney from Emergency?’ he asked lightly.
‘Please don’t!’ Slowly she sat up and gave him a weak smile.
‘Better now?’
‘Better.’ She blew out a breath. ‘That’s twice you’ve saved me from embarrassing myself.’
‘Childbirth is hardly embarrassing,’ he pointed out.
‘In the middle of the road, with a crowd gathered?’
‘Okay.’ He grinned. ‘So it could have been embarrassing—if I hadn’t managed to get you into the relative privacy of what is now my garden! As would fainting outside the hospital gift shop. So what happened to make you feel like this?’
‘I just had my postnatal check.’
‘Oh.’ He was a doctor, so why were his ears going a bit pink? He could walk into the staffroom in Emergency this very minute into a gaggle of nurses who wouldn’t halt their discussion with him in the room.
‘He suggested that I have a coil inserted, in the unlikely event that I want to resume sexual relations over the next five years!’
She did make him laugh—even at awkward things.
‘You will want to, eventually,’ he said.
‘I doubt it!’ She took another long drink and then picked at the muffin. ‘It seems like a lot of fuss for nothing, to tell you the truth—well, not nothing,’ she mused. ‘Having had a family fallout, a baby in Special Care...’ She broke off the list of her woes—he wouldn’t be interested in all that, especially when she came to the part about how Willow’s father didn’t want to know her. ‘Anyway, he also suggested that I lie down for half an hour afterwards.’
‘You clearly didn’t listen,’ he said a little sternly.
‘I felt fine.’ Celeste shrugged.
‘Well, listen next time,’ he ordered.
Colour was coming back to her lips now, and to her cheeks. It had been nice to sit and chat but she’d been gone for a while now and wanted to be back to give Willow her bottle.
‘I’d better get up to Special Care...’
She was still a touch pale. ‘Maybe you should wait another ten minutes,’ he suggested.
Which she probably would have, except the pager she wore went off, telling her that Willow was awake and ready to be fed.
‘I should go.’
‘I’ll walk up with you,’ Ben offered, still concerned with her colour.
They walked through the corridors and up to the lift, Ben seeing her right up to the entrance to Special Care, and as they arrived, Celeste was suddenly nervous.
‘Do you want to come in?’ It was, oh, so casually offered. ‘You’ll see a huge difference in her...’
‘I’d love to,’ Ben said, and she could hear the ‘but’ even before it was said, knew it was coming before it was uttered. ‘But I really ought to get back to Emergency. Another time, maybe?’
‘Sure.’ She didn’t get him—just didn’t. He seemed to enjoy her company, was always there when she needed him, and yet sometimes all he wanted to do was get away from her!
‘Hey...’ He turned around. ‘Have you thought about coming out on the boat with me?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Celeste declined. ‘They’re saying that Willow might be ready for discharge next Monday, and I’ve got loads to get ready.’
‘Well, I’m off next weekend,’ Ben said. ‘So the offer’s there...just let me know.’
* * *
She was ready.
Well, as ready as she would ever be!
All the new baby clothes had been washed in soap flakes, there were nappies and baby wipes and bottles and formula, the crib that Ben had set up and which Celeste had lined with bunny rugs. All it needed now was Willow—and that was happening tomorrow.
The nurses had practically frogmarched her out of the department, insisting she spend a day at home and strongly suggesting she didn’t come back till morning—that she should grab one last night of uninterrupted sleep while she still could.
Her parents, having helped her set up, had gone home, and with nothing to do, Celeste had decided to walk down the road to get a magazine, with the intention of sitting on the beach to read it. Or rather that was her excuse for walking past Ben’s new house!
It felt strange, being out in the fresh air—strange to be out in the afternoon sunlight instead of in the nursery—but the nurses had given her very little choice in the matter, so she decided to enjoy it.
She was wearing denim shorts and a white halter-neck T-shirt, pre-pregnancy clothes that were actually a bit big for her now. Her feet were wrapped in thin red leather sandals, and it felt nice to have the sun on her legs, nice to walk along the street, though she felt as if she’d forgotten something, kept pulling out her phone to check it in case the hospital had rung and she’d missed it, or kept scrambling in her bag to check she had her keys. It already felt completely weird to be anywhere without Willow.
Still, the world had carried on very nicely without her. Flowers hung heavy on the trees, the bay was blue and still glistening in the background—and there was Ben, with his new boat all hooked up to his four-wheel drive.
‘Very nice.’ Celeste commented, walking around and inspecting his new baby. ‘Very nice indeed.’
‘I think I’m in love.’ Ben grinned, running a loving hand over his new toy, and all Celeste could do was laugh. ‘How’s Willow?’
‘Very well. She looks like a complete fraud—she’s way too healthy to be in hospital.’
‘All ready for tomorrow?’ he asked.
‘As ready as I’ll ever be.’
‘You’ll be great,’ he said reassuringly.
‘So, are you taking her out?’ She wouldn’t ask to go with him, Celeste decided, but if he happened to offer again...
‘I’ve just got back,’ Ben said. ‘I went out with a friend—I’m still not sure about launching her on my own yet.’
‘Ooh, no!’ Celeste agreed, smiling, but her heart sank a little, realising that she had very literally missed the boat with him. ‘The boat ramp is not the place to practise.’
‘Yeah, I’m still a novice—but it is nice to be out there again. I’d forgotten how good it feels.’
‘There’s another launching ramp by the creek,’ Celeste said, ‘for when you do want to take her out on your own. It’s probably the quietest one and you won’t be holding everyone up.’
‘You’ve done this before, then?’ he asked curiously.
‘All the time,’ Celeste said with a cheeky grin. ‘Well, when Dad and I were talking, I used to go fishing with him.’
‘You?’ Ben raised his eyebrows. ‘Fishing?’
‘No, daydreaming,’ Celeste said. ‘But I’m fishing now...’
It took a second for him to get her meaning and when he did he smiled.
‘Let’s go, then.’
It was the perfect evening to try out a new boat—the bay was calm, with barely a breeze. For a novice, he did a pretty decent job of reversing the boat and trailer down the ramp, then jumped out and dealt with the boat as Celeste took the driver’s seat, just as she had when she had been out with her dad. Having parked his four-wheel drive, she then walked down to the water, Ben holding her hand as she stepped in. His new engine purred into life and she was so glad she had said yes, so glad, as Ben weaved the boat, to feel the wind in her hair and to just breathe again after these last few weeks.
Ben watched as slowly, slowly she unwound.
The weight had fallen off her since Willow’s birth, and seeing her slender frame emerging he’d realised just how ill she’d been, probably since the day he’d met her. Too much time in the hospital, both as a patient and visiting Willow, had given her that pale, unhealthy colour. Still, the sea air was bringing back some much-needed warmth to her cheeks and when she didn’t check her phone for a full ten minutes, Ben knew that finally, even if it was just for a little while, the Celeste of old was back.