Spanish Doctor, Pregnant Nurse

by Carol Marinelli

  ‘Harriet?’ Ciro’s voice was a summons but Harriet chose to ignore it.

  ‘I haven’t got time to talk,’ Harriet called over her shoulder. ‘I’ve got a meeting scheduled in Maternity at three.’

  ‘Maternity?’ He was walking alongside her, pushing for more information. ‘I’m heading that way, I have to go to Admin to sign some forms. I will walk with you.’

  It would have been childish to argue, silly to make a scene, so instead she walked quickly, hating Ciro for trying to be friends.

  ‘I see you are not coming to my leaving do tonight.’

  Harriet glared fixedly ahead, didn’t even deign to reply. The entire emergency department, it would seem, were heading to Sydney Harbour at the end of Ciro’s shift and boarding a boat for a boozy cruise around the harbour. The staff changing room was lined with plastic dry-cleaning bags containing stunning evening dresses, and the usual white shoes that lined the benches were littered now with strappy sandals and make-up bags, curling wands and hair straighteners.

  Ciro might have only been in Sydney for a couple of months but there was certainly nothing simple or discreet about his farewell.

  The whole department was going to miss him, Harriet most of all, and saying goodbye to Ciro in front of everyone in such a beautiful setting had been enough disincentive for Harriet, not to mention her queasy stomach!

  ‘So what is your meeting about?’ Ciro asked when clearly Harriet wasn’t going to respond to his first question, but once on the far safer topic of work Harriet cleared her throat and managed to answer, praying the conversation would last long enough to see her to her destination.

  ‘We’re just going over Pippa’s birth. Even though it went well, it raised a few issues.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘Well, we tend to rely on the fact that there’s a maternity department in the hospital, but, as Pippa’s baby proved, not every mother gets to the labour ward in time. We’re just going to go over the equipment that was used and see if we need to update it. We’re also going to discuss the possibility of a short rotation through the delivery unit for some of the senior staff—just to keep everyone up to date.’

  ‘Sounds like a good idea. Was it yours?’

  ‘Partly,’ Harriet admitted modestly.

  ‘Quite the upcoming ANUM,’ Ciro responded with a tight smile. ‘I’m sure you’ll do very well.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She swallowed hard. She hadn’t meant to do this, had never intended to probe, but it was killing her, not knowing. ‘What about you? Where are you going?’

  ‘Admin,’ Ciro started, then laughed at his own mistake. ‘Ah, you were talking more of my long-term plans. Yes?’

  ‘Yes.’

  But Ciro didn’t answer, glancing up at the sign above the door as they came to Maternity. ‘This is you.’

  ‘It is.’

  And suddenly it was goodbye. The meeting would drag on for ever and her bag was over her shoulder so there was no reason at all to go back down to Emergency. No reason at all to prolong the agony a moment longer.

  ‘If you change your mind about tonight…’ Ciro started, but Harriet shook her head.

  ‘I won’t.’

  A couple were coming out of the lift, the man calling urgently to them for directions as his wife limped along beside him, a pained expression on her face.

  ‘Hold the door, mate!’ he called, stress etched on his every feature, but his partner wasn’t about to be rushed.

  ‘Rex, we’ve got hours to go yet.’ She managed a tired eye-roll at Ciro and Harriet. ‘I wanted to stay at home, but he was getting that worked up.’

  ‘Good luck.’ Harriet grinned as they made their way past, but even the simple exchange took a mammoth effort. She watched Rex’s arm wrapped protectively around his wife’s thick waist as they made their way into the world of Maternity, and even though Ciro stood beside her now, smiled down at her with a look in his eyes she couldn’t read, never had Harriet felt more lonely.

  Ciro even held the door open for her, pushed on the black swing door and stood aside as she walked alone into the carpeted wards of Maternity.

  And the irony wasn’t lost on Harriet.

  Seeing the signs for the birthing suite, baby photos lining the walls, the delicious milky scent of babies in the air, Harriet could scarcely fathom that in just a few short months she’d be here herself.

  That one day or night in the not too distant future she’d be heading down this corridor just as she was now—excited and terrified and very much alone.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  ‘YOU want the next floor,’ Harriet explained patiently, before the stunning woman had even spoken, trying to keep the weary note from her voice as yet another of Ciro’s ravishing sisters landed up at her door.

  If the last two had been stunning, this one was gorgeous! Clearly she’d spent the day at the Alannah Hill boutique in Paddington.

  Clearly, because a price tag was still attached to the top of the blouse, falling over her very impressive bosom. On any other woman it would have been the biggest fashion faux pas, but somehow it just added to her mystery. Her olive-skinned body was encased in pink ruffles, a massive fake water-lily adorned her glossy black hair and her impossibly skinny legs were strapped into the highest sandals Harriet had ever seen. On anyone else the ensemble would have looked like an over-decorated Christmas tree, but this feminine parcel, standing easily six feet tall, wore it all well, even, Harriet thought with an inward sigh, somehow managed to make it look understated. ‘Dr Delgato lives on the fifth floor.’

  ‘Oh, I’m on the right floor! You are Harriet?’ she checked. Not waiting for an answer, she invited herself into Harriet’s apartment. ‘I have waited all day for you to come home. My name is Nikki.’

  And Harriet could only rather reluctantly admire such confidence. Nikki hadn’t actually needed an introduction and it had nothing to do with the process of elimination that this was the last of Ciro’s three sisters and everything to do with her appearance.

  After all, Spanish super-models weren’t exactly hard to miss!

  ‘You are nothing like I expect.’

  ‘I’m sure I’m not,’ Harriet answered stiffly. ‘And now you mention it, neither are you. From Ciro’s description I expected someone rather more…’

  ‘Delicate?’ Nikki finished for her. ‘Oh, no!’

  What she lacked in basic English Nikki certainly made up for in bad manners. Eyeing Harriet coolly, she sat down without an invitation and proceeded to light a cigarette. Harriet was damned if she was going to get her an ashtray, especially as she didn’t even possess one!

  Her steely resolve lasted about ten seconds. Rummaging through the cupboard, Harriet finally produced a saucer, but it wasn’t entirely due to Nikki’s rather intimidating stance—Harriet actually wanted to hear what she had to say and the diversion of producing a saucer gave Harriet sufficient time to drag the wind back into her sails before taking a seat on the sofa beside Nikki.

  ‘So how can I help you?’ Harriet ventured. ‘Presumably you’re here for a reason?’

  ‘I want to see myself this woman who is too good for my brother.’

  ‘I’m not sure what Ciro has told you…’ Harriet frowned ‘…but our break-up certainly doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that I think I’m too good for him.’

  ‘Your job, then.’ Nikki gestured to Harriet’s rather drab-looking uniform, then dragged on her cigarette again, slanting almond eyes eyeing Harriet up and down. ‘Your stupid career!’

  As intriguing as this woman was, as much as Harriet yearned to glean any information about Ciro and his family, she certainly wasn’t going to sit there and be insulted. ‘Look, Nikki.’ Harriet gave a tight smile. ‘I don’t know what’s been said, and as far as I’m concerned it’s none of your business, but for the record Ciro and I both decided this relationship was over. Both of us agreed that we wanted different things.’

  ‘Your job,’ Nikki said again, but this time Ha
rriet shook her head.

  ‘My self-respect!’

  ‘What about my brother’s self-respect?’ Nikki demanded. ‘My brother could be Chief of Emergency in Barcelona, my brother could be a Master of sports medicine, and instead he is talking about throwing everything away and staying in this backwater.’

  ‘Hardly a backwater,’ Harriet flared, gesturing to the gorgeous view of Sydney through the window. But her heart was hammering in her chest, her mind racing, trying to process Nikki’s furious comments, trying and failing to keep a lid on the bubbling cauldron of emotions that was simmering inside her.

  ‘Junior consultant in a suburban hospital.’ Nikki somehow made the title about as appealing as working in the sewers. ‘That is what you are prepared to reduce him to.’

  Harriet had had enough. Whatever story Ciro had been spinning for his sisters, it was clearly so far removed from the truth it didn’t even merit comment.

  ‘I think you should leave now.’ Picking up the saucer, Harriet made a great show of flushing it down the waste disposal, flapping the air with her hands, but Nikki didn’t give a hoot, tossing her hair and heading for the door.

  ‘This you will regret,’ Nikki said hotly.

  ‘I doubt it,’ Harriet answered tartly. ‘By the way, you forgot to take the price tag off your blouse!’ she added.

  Nikki glanced down, a tiny arrogant smile forming on her pretty rosebud mouth. For a second she looked so like Ciro, it almost made Harriet want to weep.

  ‘Oh, I did not forget, darling! As I said, I’ve been waiting for you so the boutique brought over a few items for me to try on. If Nikki can’t get to Alannah then Alannah comes to Nikki…’

  A second bang erupted just after Nikki slammed the door behind her—Harriet’s shoe, spinning through the air and hitting the door—an attempt to vent the sheer frustrated rage coursing through her.

  Damn Ciro and his bloody sisters. If she never saw another Delgato, it would be too soon.

  So what was she doing, teetering along the ramp to the boat that was hosting Ciro’s farewell party in strappy sandals and holding onto the captain’s outstretched hand for dear life as she boarded? What on earth was she doing, dressed to the nines in a slinky black dress and not much else?

  ‘Harriet.’ Ciro was the first person to greet her, coming straight over, clearly delighted she had made it from the smile breaking out on his face. He dusted her cheeks with his lips, his hand warm around her waist, but as he pulled back, on closer examination Harriet could see the smile was strained, a thousand questions running through his dark, pensive eyes. But now just wasn’t the time to voice them. Everyone wanted their last little fix of Ciro, and drinks were being thrust at him, toasts being made. As the boat started to pull away from the dock, Harriet gave him a tiny smile. ‘You’d better get back to your party.’

  ‘Later,’ Ciro said. ‘You won’t leave without saying goodbye?’

  ‘I’m hardly going to jump ship! Go,’ Harriet added, grateful when Judith came over, beer bottle in hand and the smile of true friendship on her face.

  ‘You look ravishing!’ Harriet didn’t even blush, just very glad that Judith was beside her, the one person she’d been able to confide in during these difficult times. ‘Are you going to tell him? Is that why you came?’

  ‘I don’t know why I came,’ Harriet admitted, taking a glass of orange juice from a passing waiter, watching the raucous emergency staff starting to party as only emergency staff could. ‘I had every intention of staying home and watching a DVD when I met the third sister.’

  ‘Had she lost her way, too?’ Judith raised an eyebrow that had never met tweezers, and Harriet gave a low, mirthless laugh.

  ‘I think Nikki knows exactly where she’s going in life!’

  ‘So what did she want?’ Judith boomed, then grimaced at the sound of her own voice as Harriet shushed her.

  ‘Who knows?’ Harriet said bitterly. ‘The way she was talking to me, you’d think I was the one who dumped Ciro. Does he look heartbroken to you?’ It probably wasn’t the most fortunate moment to voice that question because as the two women looked over they were greeted with the sight of Charlotte and Ciro doing a very strange version of the flamenco, being cheered on by the increasingly boisterous crowd. Harriet decided there and then she’d had enough. She wished now that she could jump ship, could just go back to her apartment and will the next few hours away. Telling Judith to cover for her, she made her way up the stairs and stood on the deck. She choked back jealous, angry tears, hating what she was reduced to, hating Ciro for the way he made her feel.

  ‘I’ll be down in a moment,’ Harriet sniffed, hearing Judith clumping along behind her. ‘Just tell them I’m enjoying the view.’

  ‘A very beautiful view!’

  The sound of Ciro’s voice made her jump, and if there had been anywhere to go except the ocean floor Harriet would have stormed off. But instead she stood there, staring at the magnificent sight of Sydney Harbour at night, multi-million-dollar homes jutting out of the cliff face, anchored boats bobbing on the water and, tall and proud, overlooking them all, the opera house, its resplendent sails rigid in the wind. Even if Harriet saw it a million times, it was and always would be beautiful.

  ‘Hardly a backwater!’ Harriet said tersely, then checked herself, remembering it hadn’t been Ciro who’d said it.

  ‘You’ve been speaking to Nikki?’ Ciro groaned.

  ‘Actually, no, Nikki’s been speaking to me.’

  ‘Again I apologise. I do not know what has got into my sisters—I didn’t even know they were coming.’

  ‘Well, they’re here,’ Harriet snapped. ‘And don’t I know it. I don’t know what you’ve been telling them, Ciro, but they’re under the impression that I’ve left you heartbroken, that I’m not prepared to give up my career—’

  ‘You’re not!’ Ciro broke in, and as her aghast eyes swung towards him his confident voice broke slightly, that beautiful full mouth struggling to hold it all together as he finished what he had started. ‘And you have.’

  ‘Have what?’ Her voice was a mere croak.

  ‘Left me heartbroken.’

  ‘Ciro.’ She shook her head in bewilderment. ‘You’re the one leaving, you’re the one who said that you’re not ready to settle down, you’re the one walking away.’

  ‘I have to, Harriet.’ His eyes implored her to understand. ‘I have worked all my life for this and finally it is happening. I have been accepted to study for a masters degree in sports medicine. It is the one thing I have been chasing for years and I understand why you don’t want to move again after all you have been through, but please try and understand why I cannot stay. I have to go to Canberra.’

  ‘Canberra?’

  ‘The Australian Institute of Sport. I applied and never thought they would even consider me, but they wrote back…’ Harriet thought of the letter he had hastily pushed to the bottom of the pile and closed her eyes in regret. ‘They called me in for an interview. I wasn’t going to say anything, thought it wasn’t worth worrying you with something that might never happen. But it did.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Harriet, this is such an honour. I cannot believe I have even been accepted…’

  ‘You’re moving to Canberra?’ If she said it again and he nodded, maybe, just maybe it could be true. ‘You’re not going back to Spain? But Charlotte said that you were, and Nikki said you were going to be Chief of Emergency…’

  ‘Nikki has delusions of grandeur on my behalf, and as for Charlotte…’ Ciro rolled his eyes. ‘She has caused me enough problems.’ His voice was serious now. ‘Harriet, my sisters are worried about me, that is why they came. They decided to return the favour…’ He smiled at her frown. ‘Chocolate, red wine, a slushy DVD and, I am not too proud to say, many tissues…’

  ‘Over me?’

  ‘Over you, Harriet.’ He took her face in his hands. ‘The one woman who would make me throw it all away. My sisters have been trying to convince me otherwise, telling me th
at I am crazy. But, no, I say to them, I am just in love.’ He stared down at her, utter adoration blazing in his eyes. ‘I tried to make it palatable for you. When the job interview came up and I went to Canberra, I even stopped at the university and picked up some brochures on psychology. I thought maybe that would make you happy…’

  ‘Canberra?’ Third time lucky. The third time she said it, it actually sank in. ‘But that’s just a hop and a skip away. Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you just ask me?’

  ‘Because you had made it very clear that you were not moving again, and I understand completely. You had messed up your life enough, chasing Drew’s career. I couldn’t ask you to do it for mine. And then when the ANUM position came up…’ He closed his eyes in bitter regret but Harriet’s were wide open, seeing the past couple of months through Ciro’s eyes, how difficult it must have been for him to broach the subject, to ask the woman he loved to give it all up for him.

  Loved.

  She did close her eyes then, as sweet realisation dawned.

  This amazing, talented, beautiful man actually loved her—and she’d follow him to the end of the earth if she had to, live in a mud hut with two sticks if that was what he asked her to do. It had nothing to do with selling out or giving in, nothing to do with rewriting a promise she’d made to herself, and everything to do with the man staring down at her, holding her face tenderly in his hands.

  ‘When you said you weren’t ready to settle…’

  ‘I meant here,’ Ciro said. ‘But if that is what will make you happy, Harriet, I will, without hesitation or regret…’

  ‘There’s no need,’ Harriet broke in. ‘Ciro, I don’t want to hold you back. I want us both to move forward.’

  ‘And we will,’ Ciro said gently. ‘Together, just us two.’

  ‘Or three.’ She screwed her eyes closed then felt his whole body become still as she not-too-gently dropped the news, bracing herself for his reaction. The heady feel of his lips on hers, the sweet, sweet taste of his mouth finally back on hers was all the affirmation she needed.