He didn’t blame her for being wary of him. He’d hardly given her a warm welcome, had he?
‘Please.’ Alfie slipped his hand into hers. ‘Come and see my kittens. And I can show you the presents under the tree.’
Hayley murmured another refusal but Alfie gave her hand a determined tug and she stepped over the threshold of the barn, as cautious as a deer sensing danger. ‘Just for a moment. Then I’m calling a cab.’
Patrick put her cases down and closed the door on the cold. ‘I’ll make a hot drink while we decide what to do. Tea? Coffee? Hot chocolate?’ Was she nauseous? No, she couldn’t possibly be nauseous. It was too early.
‘Tea, please.’ Her tone was polite and she seemed to be making a point of not looking at him. ‘Tea was the thing I missed most. It just doesn’t taste the same in America.’
‘You’ve come from America?’ Alfie’s eyes were round. ‘My dad went to America a few weeks ago. He had an interview for a job, but he didn’t like it.’
Patrick closed his eyes briefly. This was her chance to drop him in it but she merely smiled at Alfie, her cheeks dimpling prettily.
‘Is that right? Well, you live in a beautiful place and I can quite see why he wouldn’t want to leave it. After all, he has family here.’ Her eyes slid to Patrick’s and he saw the accusation in her gaze. ‘A lovely family.’
Alfie opened the cake tin and helped himself to a brownie, oblivious to the sudden tension between the two adults. ‘Are you American?’
‘No.’ Her smile didn’t slip. ‘I’m English.’
‘Then why were you working in America?’
Her hesitation was so brief it was barely noticeable. ‘I wanted a change. A fresh start. So a year ago I took a job there.’
‘Why did you need a change?’
‘Alfie!’ Patrick’s tone was sharp and he turned away to fill the kettle, still trying to work out how he was going to engineer privacy so that they could have the necessary grownup conversation. ‘It’s rude to ask so many questions.’
‘It’s all right. I’m not big on secrets.’ Her swift, pointed glance in his direction was another accusation. ‘I wanted to do something completely different, Alfie, to prove to myself that I could. Sometimes when people have knocked your confidence, you start to see yourself the way they see you. Then it’s good to get away from everyone and see what you can do when you haven’t got people waiting for you to make a mistake.’
‘Someone was waiting for you to make a mistake?’ Alfie’s horrified expression reflected Patrick’s own thoughts.
‘Who?’ He barked the question angrily and then saw Alfie’s startled look and frowned. ‘What?’
‘Dad, you look really mad.’
‘I’m not mad,’ he lied. ‘I just…’ He gestured with his hand. ‘I mean, Alfie and I would both—we’d like to know who undermined your confidence.’
Hayley was looking at
him as if he was slightly mad and he didn’t blame her. The strength of his reaction had shocked him, too.
‘That doesn’t really matter,’ she said faintly, turning her attention back to Alfie. ‘Anyway, as I was saying, I wanted to prove myself so I took a job in this big, fantastic hospital in Chicago.’
Alfie nodded. ‘I’ve seen Chicago on television.’
‘Right. Well, I’d never even been to America before. I didn’t know anyone and at first it was hard—strange…’ She frowned slightly. ‘But then I settled down and it felt good. I love midwifery.’
‘You’re a midwife?’ Alfie gave a gasp. ‘Dad, did you hear that? Hayley is a midwife!’
Patrick ran his hand over the back of his neck. Alfie was a bright boy and any moment now he was going to put two and two together. And there was absolutely nothing wrong with his son’s maths. ‘That’s…great.’
‘My Dad’s an obstetrician,’ Alfie said proudly. ‘You guys can talk about babies if you like. I don’t mind.’
Patrick winced. He had a feeling that the subject of babies was going to be right at the top of their list of conversation topics.
What were her plans?
Was she upset about being pregnant?