Tia considered for a moment, rubbing her hand gently over her precious bump. ‘Better,’ she said with a nod. ‘Definitely better. Maybe rest was all it took.’
‘Let’s hope so.’
Tia bit her lip, anxious for reassurance. ‘Do you think the baby is all right, Luca?’
‘The baby is fine,’ he murmured, his voice deep in the semi-darkness. ‘You are still feeling movements and I saw the trace that you had done before you went to sleep. There is no evidence of foetal distress. Go back to sleep now. The best thing that you can do for that baby is get some rest.’
Rest.
Tia snuggled back down under the covers and did as he’d suggested.
When Tia finally awoke the next morning she was feeling much better.
The pain had all but gone and the prospect of a day doing nothing but lying on the bed, watching television and reading the magazines that Sharon had brought her was suddenly very appealing.
There was no sign of Luca but presumably he’d had to leave before she’d woken up. She knew that he usually did a ward round first thing in the morning.
It was only as she lay doing nothing that she realized just how hard she’d been finding it to be on her feet all day at work.
One of the nurses brought her breakfast and she sat in bed and munched toast and drank tea.
‘Lady Muck.’ Sharon arrived a few minutes later, a broad grin on her pretty face. ‘I’d be feeling quite jealous if it weren’t for the fact that I’m about to stab you in the bottom with another injection of dex.’
‘Oh, thanks.’ Tia pulled a face. She’d forgotten that she was due to have another steroid injection. She knew that they gave steroids to women under thirty-four weeks because they helped to mature the baby’s lungs in the event of a premature delivery.
She chatted to Sharon while she finished her toast and then wriggled down on the bed, screwing up her face as Sharon gave her the injection.
‘I hope you don’t expect me to thank you,’ she grumbled, pulling her nightie down and sitting back up. ‘Horrible.’
‘Yes, well, with any luck it will have been for nothing. If you hang onto that baby, you won’t need it.’ Sharon sat down on the edge of the bed and checked Tia’s pulse and blood pressure.
‘Midwives should not sit on the bed,’ Tia recited, and Sharon grinned.
‘But I’m the boss. Are you going to report me?’
‘Not for that. But if you carry on stealing chocolates when I’m asleep then I definitely am.’ Tia shook her head, her expression one of complete disbelief as she watched Sharon eat four chocolates in quick succession, even though it was only breakfast-time. ‘I’ve never known anyone eat as much as you. How do you stay so slim?’
‘It’s probably something to do with running round after people like you.’ Sharon stood up and scribbled on the chart. ‘Well, that’s all fine. You’re pretty healthy for someone who looks like a baby elephant.’
Tia laughed. ‘I am huge, aren’t I?’ Then she stroked her bump anxiously. ‘The scan didn’t indicate I was any bigger than average but I feel like I’ve swallowed a balloon.’
‘I suppose that’s because you’re basically a very small person,’ Sharon observed, her eyes sweeping over Tia’s arms and legs. ‘Any size of baby would
seem massive on you. Any more bleeding or pain, Tia?’
Tia shook her head and they chatted for a while longer, then Sharon went off to do her work and Tia snuggled down and promptly fell asleep again.
Tia woke up in time to eat her lunch and then slept right through until teatime when Luca strolled through the door.
Tia felt her heart miss a beat.
He was a spectacularly good-looking man.
She couldn’t take her eyes off him as he sat down in the armchair by her bed and stretched long, powerfully muscled legs out in front of him.
‘What a day.’ He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. ‘No one seemed to be able to manage a normal delivery.’
Safe in the knowledge that he wasn’t watching her, Tia treated herself to a long look at him, her eyes sliding over his thick, dark lashes and resting on his roughened jawline.