The Heart Surgeon's Baby Surprise Read online

  she was looking at him, her mind was elsewhere.

  On the question she wanted to ask?

  It was looming larger and larger in his mind, so

  surely it was swooping around inside her head.

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  35

  ‘We’re going in?’ he asked, and she nodded, though

  she indicated the outdoor area with a wave of her slim,

  thin-fingered hand.

  ‘Could we sit outside?’

  He was still thinking about her hands—he’d noticed

  them in Theatre, where, even gloved, they’d looked…

  aristocratic somehow.

  ‘Of course.’

  The waitress seated them at a corner table, close by

  a rambling vine that drooped tiny purple flowers, drop-

  ping them when the wind rustled through the leaves so

  a vagrant few rested in Grace’s golden hair like tiny am-

  ethyst gemstones.

  Theo opted not to tell her, sure she’d be annoyed by

  such frivolous beauty and brush them out.

  ‘I’ll have the lamb,’ Grace announced, one minute’s

  perusal of the menu enough for her to make up her

  mind. The decisiveness fitted what he knew of her. He

  ordered moussaka—wondering if she could tell as

  much about him from his order. A man of habit—that’s

  about all she’d gather.

  ‘So, the question?’ he prompted when the waitress

  had disappeared to the kitchen with their orders.

  She seemed startled, then, to his surprise, she

  blushed.

  ‘It should be easy for a person as blunt and plain-

  spoken as I am,’ she muttered, looking more embar-

  rassed by the second, ‘but it’s not that kind of question.’

  ‘Oh?’

  He wasn’t going to help her. He was already regret-

  ting agreeing to this dinner. Getting even mildly entan-

  gled with a particular member of the team wasn’t on his

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  THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE

  agenda. His private life was just that, private, and he

  wanted to keep it that way.

  ‘It’s personal—very personal—and you’ll think I’ve

  got a cheek, a terrible cheek. And presumptuous—very

  presumptuous.’

  She stopped and tried a smile that failed dismally,

  although something about the pathetic attempt struck

  Theo as brave—valiant.

  ‘Perhaps if I explained, just a little about myself—

  no, that won’t work, it’s better just to ask. The thing is,

  you see, I badly want a child. I’m thirty-five and

  running out of time, and while I’m here in Sydney is

  the ideal time to get pregnant and I wondered, if you’d

  mind—if you had no objections and I know it’s a totally

  outrageous thing to ask, but you’re everything that

  would be fantastic—I wondered if I could use…’

  The floundering stopped as suddenly as it had started

  and, scarlet-faced, she stared at the far corner of the

  courtyard, swallowing convulsively.

  ‘Don’t mind me,’ she managed a little later. ‘I’m an

  idiot! Let’s just forget all about it and eat.’

  ‘Except our meal hasn’t arrived,’ he told her, speak-

  ing quietly and gently for he could see she was genu-

  inely upset. Somehow she’d convinced herself that

  whatever it was she wanted to ask was OK, yet when

  it came to saying it, she’d baulked.

  What could have been so outrageous?

  He tried to remember what she’d said, but the words,

  spoken so quickly in her crisp South African voice, had

  all run together and he’d been more interested in

  watching her face and seeing her mounting embarrass-

  ment to really listen.

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  37

  ‘Moussaka?’

  ‘Mine,’ he told the waitress, then watched as she

  placed the lamb dish in front of Grace.

  ‘Perhaps a bottle of wine, the Newnhams Shiraz,’ he

  suggested, more to the waitress than Grace. Neither of

  them would be involved in Theatre the following day,

  and the alcohol might help Grace relax.

  Though why he was worrying about her, he didn’t

  know. She was a self-confident, thoroughly together

  woman—and very capable of getting her own way. His

  presence in this restaurant right now was evidence of

  that.

  Had he ordered the wine to dull the impact of dinner

  with her? Grace wondered, thinking how idiotic she

  must have sounded, words somersaulting out of her

  mouth, tumbling over each other and making no sense

  at all. She couldn’t even remember how far she’d got,

  her embarrassment so acute her cheeks had been

  burning!

  She tried to concentrate on her meal, which looked

  and smelled delicious, but she was afraid her hands

  would shake when she picked up her knife and fork.

  ‘Ah, wine. Try this. It’s not well known—in fact, the

  restaurant gets it from a small producer so you won’t

  find it in bottle shops. You do drink wine?’

  Even if she’d been a lifelong and committed teeto-

  taller she’d have agreed to try it. Anything to stop this

  man thinking she was a complete klutz!

  She nodded and watched as he poured the ruby-

  coloured wine into her glass, then she picked the glass

  up and lifted it towards him, trying desperately to be-

  have normally, although despair had taken over every

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  THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE

  cell in her body as she’d finally realised just how stupid

  her idea had been.

  ‘To your stay in Australia,’ he proposed, and Grace

  acknowledged the toast with a dip of her head. Tiny

  flowers fell forward onto the table and, realising they

  must be in her hair, she lifted a hand to brush them out.

  ‘Don’t,’ he said, reaching out his free hand to catch

  hers in mid-air. ‘They look so pretty.’

  ‘Pretty?’ she echoed, the despair finding voice in bit-

  terness. ‘That’s the last thing anyone’s ever called me.’

  Still holding her hand, he brought it down to the

  table, where he rested it, leaving his lying negligently

  on top of it.

  ‘The flowers are pretty—they’re pretty in your hair,’

  he said, and her bitterness deepened. ‘But you, you’re

  way past pretty—you’re beautiful.’

  He raised his glass again then took a sip of the wine,

  but she was too flabbergasted by what he’d said to even

  think about sipping hers.

  Beautiful?

  He must want something.

  She was good-looking, she knew that, even attrac-

  tive most of the time, but her mouth was too big and

  her nose too long for beauty and she was too tall…

  She shook her head, denying his assertion, and

  sipped some wine, then wiggled her hand out from

  under his and tucked it under the table where she had

  hoped it would stop remembering the feel of the weight

  of his and the texture of his skin.

  Eventually!

  ‘Eat!’ he ordered, and by now she was too confused

  to do an
ything but obey him.

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  39

  The meal was delicious, the wine smooth and mel-

  low, slipping down so easily he was filling her glass be-

  fore she realised she’d emptied it. They talked of the

  hospital, of the genesis of the paediatric surgery unit at

  the hospital called Jimmie’s, its future, and the people

  in the team. Doctors and nurses, Theo classified them

  all for her, every one of them good in their own way but

  each with special talents.

  ‘And your future—after your time in Sydney?’ he

  asked as the waitress took her plate and she’d said no

  to dessert. She sat back to enjoy the rest of the wine in

  her glass, more relaxed than she could believe possible.

  ‘I’ll go back home. I’ve been offered a place on a

  similar team in Cape Town. My father lives there and

  as he’s not getting any younger I want to be near him.’

  ‘Family’s important,’ Theo agreed, and whether it

  was the wine, or that simple statement, or just that she

  really, really needed to find out if he was the one, she

  found herself explaining once again.

  ‘My father is to me,’ she said. ‘He brought me up.

  My mother died when I was too young to remember

  her, and though he was a busy man—he was an ortho-

  paedic surgeon—he always had time for me, time to

  read me a story at bedtime, and to listen to my worries

  and concerns, and to encourage me to do better, and to

  help me with my studies.’

  She paused, wondering what effect this sudden out-

  pouring of information was having on her companion, but

  Theo was leaning back in his chair, sipping his wine, if

  not absorbed in her conversation at least listening politely.

  So she barged on, anxious to get it said once and

  for all.

  40

  THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE

  ‘It’s because of him I want a child—well, partly be-

  cause of him. He’s seventy at the end of the year and I

  know a grandchild isn’t a normal kind of birthday

  present, but you have to understand my father. He can

  trace his family back for generations—back to the

  Scottish Jacobite rebellions, and further, even to the

  Vikings who conquered parts of Scotland from time to

  time. His grandfather emigrated to South Africa, but my

  father has always been interested in his Scottish heri-

  tage—in family. But with my mother dying, and him

  not marrying again, he was left with an only child and

  one who, at the moment, looks like being the end of the

  line. I know he’s proud of all I’ve achieved, and he’d

  never think less of me for not having a child, but deep

  down I feel I’ve let him down by not producing one—

  not producing someone to carry on his bloodline.’

  She sneaked another look at Theo but he hadn’t

  fallen asleep neither was he yawning with boredom.

  ‘As I said, I’m thirty-five so I haven’t got much time,

  quite apart from his milestone birthday being this year.

  Which is what I wanted to ask you—being single and

  not in a relationship and all. I considered IVF but I don’t

  really want an unknown donor and there’d be no re-

  sponsibility on your part, of course, it would be like you

  gave at the sperm bank—’

  ‘Grace!’

  He didn’t yell her name but he said it with enough

  force to stop her in mid-flight.

  ‘Yes?’

  He’d abandoned his wineglass and his relaxed pose

  and was leaning forward across the table, frowning

  fiercely at her.

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  41

  ‘Are you for real? Are you honestly sitting there,

  asking a virtual stranger—we only met yesterday, after

  all—for some of his sperm? Why not ask some hobo out

  in the street? For a few dollars you’d probably get all

  you need. Better still, go down to the beach and ask

  some of the board-riders—they’re outdoors all day,

  healthy—’

  ‘Stop! What you’re saying is ridiculous. Of course,

  what I asked was ridiculous as well, but you’re a doctor,

  you should understand. If I know where it’s come from

  I have some idea of genetic qualities. Yes, I know it was

  stupid to ask you when we’ve only just met, but I’ve

  thought about—about getting, you know, into a kind of

  relationship with someone so I could do this, but I’m

  not good at flirting and I’m a disaster with relationships,

  and anyway going to bed with someone I didn’t like just

  to get pregnant seemed wrong somehow, quite apart

  from the fact that if I did get pregnant I’d feel guilty, as

  if I’d stolen something from him.’

  ‘And asking a man for some sperm over dinner

  seemed OK?’ His voice, crisp with disbelief, seemed

  to echo around the outdoor space. She knew she was

  blushing fiercely again and that made her even an-

  grier—mostly with herself, but surely this man could

  have been just a little more understanding!

  ‘Of course it’s not ideal but when would be? Think

  about it—halfway through a team meeting can I say,

  “Would one of you guys mind obliging?” And, anyway,

  most of the team are married and having a biological

  child by someone other than their wife, even if they

  didn’t acknowledge it, could cause problems in their

  marriage. I’m not totally insensitive!’

  42

  THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE

  ‘No?’ He was smiling now, the rat! Taking absolute

  delight in her embarrassment. ‘I must say it would

  enliven team meetings no end for you to suddenly come

  out with a request for a sperm donor.’

  ‘It’s all very well for you to joke,’ Grace snapped,

  hating him more and more for she’d never found it easy

  to deal with teasing. ‘But this is a serious problem for

  me.’

  She sank back in her chair, swigged down the rest

  of the wine, and sighed.

  Theo looked at her, reading the dejection in her pose,

  the embarrassment that lay behind it, and seeing also,

  behind the façade of confidence, the motherless little

  girl who wanted nothing more than to please the father

  she obviously adored.

  It was the little girl who sneaked through his defences,

  although when he replayed Grace’s rationale in his head

  he suspected there was more to her wanting a child than

  she’d said. Oh, it had sounded very sensible—but was she

  using her father’s desire to see the family line continued

  to hide her own longing? He’d seen her at the hospital—

  seen the way she looked at the small patients—and

  wondered if she felt it would weaken her somehow to

  admit she wanted a child for herself?

  He sighed.

  ‘Look, I’m sorry for teasing you, and I do see how dif-

  ficult it must be for you, but if you’ve thought this

  through at all, you must realise that the chances of you

  getting pregnant right
off from one…er, donation are

  very slim. What are you going to do then? Ask someone

  else?’

  She stared at him, such horror in her eyes he knew

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  43

  immediately she hadn’t considered the possibility of

  not getting pregnant straight away.

  ‘But I ovulate regularly and I’ve been tested and I’m

  still producing viable eggs so if I time it right, why not?

  People get pregnant accidentally all the time, so surely

  if I stick to the right date, so will I.’

  Theo shook his head at her desperate protest.

  ‘Are you really such an innocent?’ he demanded, then

  was sorry when he saw the colour creep into her cheeks

  again. And although he found her blushing attractive he

  was sure she hated it, so he regretted he’d embarrassed

  her.

  ‘Of course not!’ she said indignantly, but he heard a

  lie in the words. Then she shrugged her shoulders.

  ‘You must think I’m stupid—stupid for not realiz-

  ing. Even more stupid for having such a pathetic idea—

  a baby for a birthday present…’

  She stood up, adding, ‘Let’s go. I’m paying,’ in the

  kind of voice he heard from her in the hospital—cool,

  efficient, in control.

  But not totally in control for her handbag had fallen

  from her lap, spilling its contents on the floor.

  She bent to gather things, obviously flustered, and

  he bent with her, picking up a lipstick tube, thinking

  how attractive she was when her mask of self-control

  slipped. And suddenly the idea of being a sperm donor

  for this woman didn’t seem such a bad idea, although…

  ‘There, I think that’s it,’ he said, pressing a small

  pack of tissues into her hand, touching her fingers,

  looking into her clear eyes, the full lips so close he

  could have kissed them.

  Tension he didn’t understand built between them,

  44

  THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE

  growing stronger by the second until he had to diffuse

  it—or kiss her!

  He let her pay the bill, and as they left the restaurant

  she turned back towards the hospital.

  ‘Aren’t you living on Kensington Terrace?’ he asked.

  She nodded, as if still afraid to speak in case she said

  something more she’d regret.

  ‘Then you don’t have to go back to the hospital. We

  can walk across the park.’

  ‘Do you live in that direction?’ she asked, studying

  him now, suspicious…

  ‘I don’t, I live closer to the city, but it’s not much