The Baby of Their Dreams (Contemporary Medical Romance)

by Carol Marinelli

  He seemed to know her better than everyone else.

  It was strange, it was nice.

  It was unexpected.

  She took down a picture from the fridge and showed Dominic the absolute disaster the kitchen had once been.

  ‘I didn’t have a sink for the first three months. I had to do my dishes in the purple room of pain upstairs.’

  ‘Show me your purple room of pain, Cat...’

  Whoops, were they flirting?

  Up the stairway they went, admiring the wooden bannister as they did so. ‘There were about twenty layers of gloss paint,’ Cat told him, and then she opened the bathroom door and took a photo from a small dark wooden chest so he might understand just how painful purple could be.

  ‘Everything was purple,’ Cat said, ‘even the toilet seat cover...’

  ‘But it’s like something you’d find at a yoga retreat now,’ he said. ‘Not that I frequent them, but if I did...’ he looked at the rolled white towels on the dark wood and the gorgeous claw-foot bath ‘...well, I’d demand a bathroom like this.’

  ‘It’s fabulous, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘But the place is tiny. No room for a nanny.’

  ‘A nanny?’

  ‘I’m going to be working full-time, Dominic.’ She didn’t look to see his expression. ‘Do you want to see her room?’

  ‘The nanny’s?’

  ‘The baby’s.’

  ‘I would.’

  She was a little nervous about opening the door, she wasn’t sure why, but as she did and he stepped in, she found she was holding her breath. Dominic looked around.

  ‘It’s like...’ he started, and she braced herself for ‘a brave choice’ or to be told how dark it was, or for Dominic to point out that it was dark blue when they were having a little girl. ‘It’s like a magical night-time,’ Dominic said. ‘It’s amazing. You just want to...’

  ‘Say it!’

  ‘Sleep!’

  ‘Yes.’ Cat was delighted. ‘That’s what I thought. It’s just so dark and peaceful and once the curtains are in and the light fittings...’

  ‘And the cot,’ he said, looking at it all piled against the wall. ‘Do I have to do that?’

  ‘You’d look a right bastard if you left it for me to do.’

  ‘Fair call,’ Dominic said. ‘Right, shall I go and get dinner?’

  Cat nodded.

  ‘Anything in particular?’

  ‘I’d love a hot curry,’ she said. ‘And mango chutney...’

  ‘How hot?’

  ‘Very hot.’

  ‘Okay.’ Dominic frowned. ‘But I thought pregnant women would avoid curries...’

  ‘What’s the population of India?’ Cat asked as they walked back down the hall. ‘I’d like a beef curry and lots of naan. You get dinner and I’m going to have a bath and get changed.’

  ‘What’s in there?’ Dominic asked, fully knowing they were passing her bedroom door.

  ‘Something you’ll never see.’ She smirked as he headed off.

  But as Dominic got into the car and Cat stripped for the bath, she wondered if she should just run it cold to put out the fire down below. They’d both known she was lying.

  Her bedroom was yet to be seen.

  Which was a problem.

  A very real one.

  Sex would only make things complicated.

  And they were complicated enough already.

  CHAPTER NINE

  HE WAS GONE for ages.

  Ages.

  So much so that when Cat came out of the bath and peered out of her bedroom window and saw that there was no car coming down the street, instead of quickly dressing, she took a few minutes to put on moisturiser. As she rubbed it into her stomach she wondered just how much bigger she could get.

  She put on a long grey tube dress and then combed through her hair.

  Still no car.

  Was he shopping for ingredients? she wondered.

  She didn’t bother with make-up.

  Instead, she poured a nice big glass of iced water, her latest favourite drink, and then she put the door on the latch and went back upstairs and started taking the cardboard off the cot.

  ‘It’s open,’ she called, when he finally arrived. ‘I’ll be down soon.’

  Dominic was serving up dinner when she came down five or so minutes later, carrying a pile of cardboard.

  ‘Come and eat.’

  She did so, but first she poured herself a small glass of antacid for her inevitable heartburn and he smiled as she took a seat on the floor at the coffee table, where he had set up.

  ‘If I’m going to get heartburn, I want it to be worth it,’ she said. ‘It smells fantastic. Where did you go?’

  ‘About fifteen minutes away. I worked near here a few years ago and I was guessing this curry house wouldn’t have closed down.’

  She could see why it hadn’t when she tasted the curry.

  ‘We can put the cot up after dinner,’ he suggested, and Cat nodded.

  ‘It will be good to have that room done.’

  ‘You had some questions for me.’

  ‘I do,’ she agreed, and took a breath. ‘Are you going to tell people at work that, well, that you’re going to be a father?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘And if you do, are you going to say that the mother is me?’

  Dominic pondered for a moment. He hadn’t thought this through properly. ‘I guess not. Well, not at first. Maybe once you’ve gone on leave, or you’ve had the baby. Has anyone actually asked who the father is?’

  ‘Not at work,’ Cat said. ‘Well, not directly. I keep my personal life to myself pretty much.’

  ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Well, you don’t have to worry about me saying anything. What else?’

  She was rather nervous to ask the next one. ‘Are you going to want to be there at the birth?’

  This question Dominic had thought about. ‘I think that depends on what you want, and I would guess that you might not want me there...’ He gave a tight shrug and then he looked at Cat for her response.

  ‘I don’t want to rob you of anything, but...’

  ‘Just the first six months of the pregnancy,’ he sniped, and then he stopped trying to score points. ‘Sorry, go on.’

  She didn’t really know how best to say it. ‘If you add it all up, we’ve probably spent less than forty-eight hours together.’

  ‘I get that.’

  ‘And I just think I’d do better on my own.’

  ‘Fair enough.’

  She was grateful for his words but she knew that it wasn’t completely fine with him, that she was denying him being present at the birth of his daughter.

  Well, tough, she thought, scooping some curry onto her naan. Surely some things were better unseen!

  ‘My parents both want to be there, though,’ Dominic said suddenly, and she nearly choked on the water she was drinking. She looked at his expressionless face and she had no idea if he was joking. ‘I pointed out that I didn’t even know whether I’d be there and they suggested that you film it...’

  ‘For them?’ she croaked, and he nodded. ‘I know we don’t know each other very well,’ she said, ‘but I trust we know each other enough that you said an emphatic no.’

  ‘I did,’ he said. ‘While I wouldn’t normally presume to speak on your behalf I delivered that no for you and reminded my father that he was away on business when I was born and didn’t see me till I was six weeks old.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘This apple fell very far from that tree. I’ll be seeing her very soon after she’s born.’

  ‘Of course.’

  He got up then and Cat waited as he went out to the car an
d when he came back he handed her a bag. ‘I wasn’t going to give this to you.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘My mother’s been shopping.’

  She most certainly had. Wow, the Spanish had amazing taste in baby clothes. There were tiny little sleepsuits and little hats and cute socks and a thick envelope, which Cat opened with a frown.

  ‘I’ve no idea...’ Dominic said.

  ‘They just wanted to say congratulations,’ she said as she read the letter, ‘and to let me know that whatever goes on between us two, I’m welcome any time in their home.’

  ‘Too much?’ he checked.

  ‘No,’ she admitted. ‘That’s actually very nice of them.’ She thought for a moment—it really was. Suddenly her baby had a whole other family and, aside from Dominic, they included her.

  ‘Don’t expect the same from my family,’ Cat warned.

  ‘Oh, I don’t.’ Dominic smiled. ‘Next question.’

  ‘I’m hoping to breastfeed. I know that you’ll want to see her and have her stay over, but...’

  ‘Not till she’s old enough,’ he said. ‘I understand that she’ll need her mum. Maybe we play that one by ear, trust that we’ll work out what’s right for her.’

  ‘Okay.’

  It sounded a lot better than trying to work out some neat arrangement with a lawyer.

  ‘Any more questions?’

  ‘I think that’s it,’ she said. She’d had loads but, really, now that he’d said they’d play things by ear she felt soothed by that.

  ‘You’re sure?’ he said, as if he expected there to be more, but Cat nodded.

  ‘Do you?’ she asked.

  ‘Well, I guess that I do... Are you seeing anyone at the moment? I mean, is there someone who’s going to...?’ He couldn’t really admit that he didn’t like the idea of another man being more of a constant in his child’s life than he was but Cat had started to laugh.

  ‘I have no idea why, Dominic,’ she said, ‘but I can’t seem to pull lately. It’s like I’ve got two heads or something.’ Then she was serious. ‘No, I’m not seeing anyone.’

  It didn’t fully answer the sudden questions that filled both their minds, how they’d feel about the other dating, but they decided to drop that hot coal for now.

  After dinner they headed upstairs and between them they put up the cot.

  ‘This is about as far as my DIY skills go,’ Dominic warned. ‘I only know how to use a drill from my orthopaedic rotation.’

  It was more a fiddly job than a difficult one, though it was easier with two, but after a few attempts it was up. Cat put in the mattress and then Dominic checked that the side slid up and down.

  ‘Do you think,’ Dominic asked as they surveyed their handiwork, ‘that I should maybe get the same wallpaper for her room at my place?’

  ‘I think that would be really nice for her.’

  For the first time she glimpsed the two of them getting this right, not just able to manage but that their daughter’s future would be better for having him in her life.

  ‘I’m sorry I didn’t let you know,’ she said. ‘I had my reasons.’

  ‘You thought I was married,’ he said. ‘I really wish you hadn’t gone snooping that day. I don’t like snoops.’

  ‘I don’t usually. Remember on the beach, when I went to get the mouthguard?’

  He frowned in recall as Cat spoke on.

  ‘I saw a ridge in your wallet that felt like a ring and then I kept seeing a pink line on your ring finger, and the more you stayed out in the sun the pinker it got. When you were having a shower I let curiosity get the better of me.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ he said. ‘I’d only just started to take the ring off.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were widowed?’

  ‘I wasn’t ready to share her with you,’ Dominic said. ‘That might sound odd...’

  ‘No, no, I get it.’

  That part Cat did, because she still wasn’t ready to share Thomas.

  ‘Heather had several brain tumours and that’s all I want to say about it.’

  ‘Okay,’ she said, and she glanced over and saw how uncomfortable he was with the topic. ‘We didn’t sign up for this, did we?’

  He understood what she was trying to say. ‘The baby’s actually the easy part.’

  It was opening up and sharing your life with another person that was the difficult bit.

  He looked down at her stomach and the mini-gymnast within, because in her tight dress you could see the baby moving. Cat did the right thing.

  She took his hand and he felt the solid bulge of their child’s head trying to climb into Cat’s ribs, and then she guided his hand down past her belly button to a foot, and then she left him free to roam.

  And that lump of hot coal that they had dodged was back, it had to be, because she was terribly hot and for once it had nothing to do with the extra person she was carrying.

  It had more to do with the reason her baby was there.

  ‘Haven’t you got another question, Cat?’

  Her cheeks were pink and she wondered how to broach the most difficult question of all.

  ‘Us.’ Dominic did it for her. ‘Dating.’

  She swallowed.

  ‘My parents and sister all seem to think we should give us a go,’ he said. ‘I’ve told them that it’s the most terrible idea I’ve ever heard.’

  ‘Terrible?’

  ‘Well, we know the sex part would be fine...’

  ‘You assume it would be fine,’ Cat corrected.

  ‘I know it would be fine for me,’ he said. ‘I’ve never found a pregnant woman attractive till now...’ His hand was on her stomach and it wanted to move up to the thick nipple and stroke it, he wanted that dress off, and from the loaded silence between them he guessed that she did too. ‘From my perspective,’ he said with a low, sexy huskiness, ‘I’d have no problem doing you on the floor right now.’

  ‘You could,’ she admitted.

  ‘But then what?’ He looked at her and met eyes that glittered with lust. ‘What if we break up? What if it doesn’t work out between us?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘So,’ he said, when he’d far rather not, ‘no sex for us, none of the easy part. What I’m proposing is six months...’

  ‘Of what?’

  ‘No dating anyone else...just us, getting to know each other, working out how we can be friends, concentrating on the baby...’

  It was the most sensible thing she had ever heard.

  She should be cheering really.

  No pressure, no stepping on the roller-coaster, no promises made that might prove impossible to keep.

  No sex.

  It was the last part she was wrestling with.

  ‘Sure.’ She smiled. ‘Can you remove your hand, please?’

  ‘Yep.’ He did so. ‘I’m going to go,’ he said.

  ‘Where are you staying?’

  He didn’t answer her question. ‘I start work in three weeks on Monday...’

  ‘Where will you stay? I mean, even if you put in an offer on the house...’

  ‘Not your problem, Cat,’ he said, though he said it nicely. ‘You worry about yourself and the baby. I’ll sort out things at my end.’

  He did.

  The next day he had another look at the house before heading for home. It was a ten-minute walk from Cat’s.

  Two weeks later, driving home, Cat found herself slowing the car down as she always did when she drove past it.

  Actually, she had no need at all to be driving past.

  She just did these days.

  SOLD.

  She tried to imagine the future.

  Stopping the car at this very sp
ot and getting her baby and its bags out and handing her heart over to him.

  She couldn’t.

  And it was even harder to imagine driving off.

  Going home alone to an empty house when the people she loved were in another one.

  No, Cat corrected, the baby she loved...

  No, a little voice told her, you are crazy about him and have been since the moment you met him.

  They just didn’t know each other at all.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THERE WASN’T REALLY the chance to get to know each other.

  Cat’s pregnancy continued to gallop along at breakneck speed and for Dominic, seeing the bank, sorting out the purchase of his house, working his notice and arranging to move his stuff to England had his blood boiling about how hard Cat had made it by not telling him.

  Then he’d remember the reason he was moving his life several hundred miles and not in the planned direction of Spain and he chose to let it go.

  He didn’t move in on the weekend before he started working at the Royal. Cat knew that because, after a long weekend on call, she drove home on the Monday morning and the house was still untouched.

  And even if their paths didn’t cross during those first few days at work she certainly knew that he had started because she heard the nurses discussing the sexy new doctor.

  ‘Is he seeing someone?’ Cat heard Marcia asking Julia on their coffee break early one evening. ‘He doesn’t have a ring.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Julia said. ‘I’m going to ask him when he comes on.’ She smiled at Cat, who was taking a seat. ‘How many weeks now?’

  ‘Thirty-four,’ Cat said.

  ‘When do you finish up?’ Marcia asked.

  ‘Just next week to go.’

  If she lasted that long.

  She ached, her stomach was huge and she felt as if she was wearing some awful fake pregnancy outfit. She was all boobs and belly and even though it was cold and just coming into spring, she was permanently too hot and felt as if she was wrapped in a blanket.

  She was dressed in her grey tube dress with her hair worn up just to keep it off her neck and a small cotton cardigan to stop people asking her if she was cold. ‘You’re on nights next week, aren’t you?’ Julia groaned in sympathy. ‘I am too. I can wheel you around in one of the wheelchairs.’