Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc

by Alison Roberts

  ‘You never did tell me where you disappeared to for so long during that party.’

  Georgia froze.

  ‘Oh, my God,’ Kate said. ‘You did hook up with somebody. And you never told me?’

  ‘Wasn’t much to tell.’ Georgia’s forced the words out. ‘I’d rather forget about it.’

  But Kate didn’t take the hint. ‘It can’t have been Matteo,’ she said, ‘because I saw him and asked if he knew where you were and he said he had no idea.’

  Oh, help... Kate must have seen him shortly after he’d slammed the door and stormed off after making love to her. Had Kate been aware of how angry he’d been? Had Matteo said anything to Luke that might make this whole mess even messier in the near future?

  There was no point crossing that bridge until it became unavoidable but that meant that Georgia had to kill this conversation. Now. She glared at her friend.

  ‘Why would it have been Matteo?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know... Because he was gorgeous maybe? Or because you two seemed to be getting on incredibly well?’

  Georgia put considerable effort into a dismissive shrug. ‘I guess some people aren’t okay with casual sex. I don’t think I am any more either. It wasn’t my best idea, was it?’ She reached for the television remote. ‘Let’s see if there’s something worth watching, shall we?’

  The silence between them was odd. Georgia hated that she was deceiving Kate but she couldn’t tell her the truth, could she?

  If Kate had any inkling how she felt about Matteo, she would try and fix things, wouldn’t she? Like Georgia had been trying to fix things between Kate and Luke by encouraging her to text him?

  Kate might think she was doing the right thing by enlisting Luke’s assistance. And then Matteo would find out and it would just make everything messier. Because he wouldn’t want to know.

  He wouldn’t want her name to even pass his lips because she had lied to him.

  Besides...she wanted to stop thinking about it. To stop the ongoing battle between her head and her heart about whether it could be worth taking the kind of risk that another relationship represented.

  To move on from thinking that she’d made a mistake that could never be fixed.

  And she was so tired...

  Kate finally seemed to pick up the vibe. She sat on the couch beside Georgia and gave her a quick hug.

  ‘It’s in the past now,’ she said. ‘And, yeah...it wasn’t your best idea but you’ll know not to do it again.’

  Wasn’t that the truth?

  She’d never have the chance to do it again.

  ‘Are you okay? Really?’

  Georgia nodded, hugging her back. ‘I’m fine. Really.’

  ‘Want a coffee?’

  The wave of nausea the idea of coffee produced was weird. She must be a lot more tired than she’d realised.

  ‘No.’ Georgia shook her head, closing her eyes and swallowing hard in the hope that her stomach would settle quickly. ‘Let’s just chill out and watch some telly.’

  * * *

  After an adrenaline-filled day of big-city emergency response, there was nothing better than chilling with an old mate and an icy-cold beer.

  And today had been one to remember. A huge pile-up on one of the motorways just outside Milan with critically injured people who’d needed to get to a major trauma facility in less time than any ambulance was capable of. They’d had to land their helicopter on the motorway, more than once, in a tight space that the police had managed to create in the middle of a traffic jam that would be making national headlines tomorrow.

  Matteo Martini leaned back into the body-shaped dent on his favourite couch, his laptop on his knees, thoroughly enjoying one of his regular catch-ups via Skype with Luke. They’d just had a very interesting conversation about 4D magnetic resonance imaging and the implications that such an advance in technology could give the world of medicine.

  And then the conversation got more personal.

  ‘What’s happening in your life?’ Luke asked.

  Matteo shrugged. ‘Nothing exciting. Same old.’

  ‘How did the date work out last week? With...um...what was her name again? That nurse?’

  ‘Marcella.’ Matteo wasn’t proud of the fact that it was an effort to remember. ‘It was okay. I think she only wanted my body.’

  Luke laughed. ‘Lucky you.’

  Yeah... It had been a welcome release after several weeks of abstinence.

  But it had also been disappointing because that was all it had been.

  Because she hadn’t been Georgia Bennett?

  No... He wasn’t going to think about her. He had dismissed her from his life in the instant he’d learned that she’d been cheating on someone to be with him.

  He was still angry.

  Still felt cheated on himself, in fact.

  No. It was more than that.

  He had given away a piece of his heart.

  And he wanted it back, dammit.

  He was only half listening to Luke telling him how good things were between him and Kate now. About the new adventures they were sharing. He was happy for his friend, he really was. It was just unfortunate that the new woman in his life was such close friends with the woman Matteo was determined to forget.

  A bubble of something he couldn’t control put her name on his lips. Maybe it was the mention of having gone out dancing because it dragged him back to that time on the dance floor in Rakovi. To the time when he’d been so sure that he’d found the only woman in the world who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

  ‘Did Georgia go too?’ He had to fight to keep any hint of bitterness from his tone. ‘And her...her boyfriend? Are you double dating?’

  Thinking about the man who was lucky enough to have Georgia in his life created a tightness in his chest that made it noticeably more difficult to suck in a new breath.

  When some of that initial anger had burned off, he’d actually thought of trying to contact Georgia. Of getting her number from Luke, via Kate.

  But then what?

  Would he knowingly set out to break an existing relationship?

  Would he want to be with a woman who would leave someone else for him?

  Of course not. You’d spend the rest of your life with the suspicion that the person you were devoting your life to was capable of cheating on and abandoning you if a better prospect came along.

  ‘No.’ Luke was sounding a little puzzled. ‘I haven’t seen Georgia since Kate and I have been together. We meet somewhere. Or Kate comes to my place.’

  ‘Why don’t you go to hers?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Luke frowned. ‘I guess because she hasn’t suggested it yet.’

  ‘Maybe Georgia disapproves.’

  ‘Why would she do that?’

  ‘Dunno.’ Matteo shrugged again. ‘She’s got some funny ideas, that one.’

  ‘I thought you liked her.’ Luke was still frowning.

  Like...

  What an insipid word. It wasn’t even on the same verbal planet as something that could begin to describe the feelings Georgia had evoked.

  Even love didn’t quite encompass the sense of promise and potential fulfilment that that connection had provided.

  That connection that should never have happened because it had resulted in someone being cheated on.

  ‘I thought I did, too,’ he muttered. ‘Shows how wrong you can be about some people, I guess.’ He needed to stop talking about Georgia. It certainly wasn’t helping his determined effort to stop even thinking about her. ‘Hey, man. I’d better go. Early shift tomorrow.’

  ‘No worries. Let’s do it again next week.’

  Matteo grinned back. ‘We might be doing it for real before long. Don’t forget you can’t get married unless I’m your best man.’


  He stared at a blank screen for a long moment when the call had ended.

  Marriage...

  Children. A family of his very own. He’d always known that was going to be the very best part of his future. It had been no more than a pleasant daydream all through his twenties because he’d known he had plenty of time to play. To do all the things that a devoted father and family man would never dream of doing.

  Besides, he’d needed to play the field to make sure he found the perfect woman to share his life with. Because there would only ever be one woman he would marry and she wasn’t just going to be his wife. She was going to be the mother of his children.

  How had all those years slipped past so quickly? He’d begun to feel the clock ticking as he’d hit his early thirties and he had begun to take his relationships more seriously—when his hectic work hours had allowed, that was. He’d known that his dream of being a father instead of merely an uncle wasn’t going to happen all by itself. He had to make it happen.

  And he had truly believed, just for the tiny blink of time that that competition had provided, that he had found the person he could make it happen with.

  But now that dream seemed further away than it had ever been and the reality check was laced with doubts. Sadness even. Maybe it wouldn’t even be as good as he’d believed it would be.

  Because the woman he married was not going to be Georgia Bennett.

  * * *

  ‘It’s just a bug or something, Sean. I’m fine. Unlock the door and let’s get back to station. I want to go home.’

  ‘Nope.’ Georgia’s partner leaned against the back of the ambulance. ‘I’m not going anywhere until you go and get checked out. You’ve been off colour for way too long. You’re tired all the time and you turned your nose up at one of Nico’s kebabs today. You have to be sick not to want the best kebab ever.’

  ‘I wasn’t hungry, that’s all.’

  ‘You’re off colour. You’ve been off colour for weeks. Get back into ED and find a nice doctor. It’s quiet. Get a blood test or something.’

  ‘That would take ages. We’re off duty. It’s time to go home.’

  ‘Exactly. We’ve got all the time in the world. I’m going to let them know we’ll be delayed getting the truck back to station and then I’m going to get coffee and chat up some nurses. Page me when you’re done.’

  And Sean walked off, the keys to the ambulance still in his pocket.

  Fifteen minutes later and Georgia was sitting in the office of Kathryn—one of the emergency department consultants who’d been only too happy to talk to her.

  ‘The bloods won’t be back for a few minutes yet, Georgie.’ Her gaze was thoughtful. ‘Are you sure there’s no possibility of you being pregnant?’

  ‘I’m sure.’ But Georgia bit her lip. ‘I mean, theoretically there is. I did have unprotected sex a while back but I haven’t missed a period.’

  ‘And your periods have been normal?’

  The overwhelming memory was the anticipated relief at the first sign of that period, with that disturbing aftertaste of sadness, but what had the next day been like? Georgia thought harder.

  ‘Lighter than normal, I guess. Especially the last one.’

  Kathryn nodded. ‘I think we might go and borrow the portable ultrasound while we’re waiting for those bloods.’

  Georgia couldn’t identify the emotion that seemed to be gathering somewhere deep inside her gut.

  Horror...or hope?

  ‘You’ve heard of decidual bleeding, haven’t you?’ The consultant was leading her into a cubicle and whisking the curtain shut behind them. She carried on speaking as Georgia got onto the bed and unbuttoned her uniform trousers. ‘Twenty to thirty percent of women will have some type of bleeding in the first trimester. It’s not uncommon for spotting or light bleeding to carry on into the second or even third trimesters.’

  ‘Yeah... I’ve heard of it.’ The gel was cold against the skin of her abdomen.

  ‘It’s due to hormones being a bit out of whack. More common in the early days, before the lining of the uterus has completely attached to the placenta. In most cases, it’s not thought to be a threat to the baby.’ Kathryn was staring at the screen of the ultrasound machine as she angled the probe.

  There was silence for a long moment. Too long for Georgia to keep holding her breath.

  ‘Oh, my God...’ she whispered. ‘You can see something, can’t you? I am pregnant?’

  The sideways glance she received was cautious. ‘How would you feel about that?’

  ‘Um...’

  Unidentifiable emotions were roiling now. Fear and excitement. Memories of how strong that desire to have a baby had been. Strong enough to have made her come up with the plan that the international competition was the perfect place to find the father of her longed-for baby.

  An intense flashback to how it had felt being with Matteo. Being touched by his hands and lips.

  That twist of sadness that fate hadn’t stepped in to override her decision that she couldn’t possibly go through with the plan.

  ‘I think... I think I would be very happy about that.’

  ‘Hmm...’ Kathryn angled the screen so that Georgia could see the image. Not that she could recognise the blobs amongst the grainy black and white shapes but she could see something moving rhythmically. The beat of a tiny heart...

  No...wait...

  Time seemed to be standing still as her startled gaze caught the doctor’s steady one.

  ‘So...’ Kathryn’s question was somewhat tentative. ‘You’re going to be twice as happy to know that you’re pregnant with twins?’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  IT COULDN’T REMAIN a secret.

  If it was a singleton pregnancy, she could probably have kept her situation private for months and passed off any new roundness in her belly and breasts as a bit of weight gain due to being slack with her healthy eating or exercise regime. But she had two babies growing inside her belly.

  Two...

  In a very short space of time—weeks at the most—Georgia knew that the changes in her body were going to be blindingly obvious to the whole world.

  So she might as well spill the beans now, yes?

  No.

  One look at the puzzled frown on Sean’s face as she re-joined her colleague, who had been waiting patiently for more than an hour, was enough to change her mind. The news would be like throwing a large stone into a pond. There were going to be big ripples that would affect other people as well. She could be taken off the road sooner rather than later and probably given some boring tasks that involved a lot of paperwork or time in storerooms. She would lose the joy of working with Sean on the road and the distraction that the variety and challenges of every job could provide. Being consigned to light duties would give her far too much time to think. About the future.

  About the father of her babies...

  This was a multiple pregnancy that carried higher risks for complications, she reminded herself, and she wasn’t even that close to the end of her first trimester. It might be unwise to throw that rock before it was absolutely necessary.

  ‘What is it?’ Sean demanded.

  ‘Nothing,’ Georgia told him airily. ‘I’m fine. Let’s go home.’

  Sean started the ambulance a minute or two later but his sideways glance was suspicious.

  ‘I don’t believe you.’

  ‘I’m not sick, Sean.’ It was easy to sound convincing. Pregnancy wasn’t an illness. It was a perfectly normal state for a woman’s body to be in.

  ‘You look...different.’

  ‘Do I?’

  ‘Yeah...’ It took another couple of searching glances before Sean could identify what was puzzling him. ‘You look... I dunno...like you thought you had a terminal illness and you’ve been given the all-clear. Like you’ve won the lotte
ry or something.’

  Georgia’s response was a bubble of laughter.

  ‘You’re right. I’d started wondering if I had some horrible disease but I haven’t. I’m just...’

  Pregnant.

  ‘Just a bit rundown. I’m going to live to be a hundred years old and I’m happy.’ She beamed at her partner. ‘You should be happy, too. We’ll be working together until we’re old and grey.’

  Sean laughed as well. ‘I’ll be grey by the time I’m thirty, working with you, champ. Don’t scare me like that again.’

  * * *

  It was fortunate that Kate was staying with Luke tonight, Georgia decided when she arrived home. She had never needed a bit of quiet time more than she did right now.

  Snatches of her conversation with Sean were still running through her mind. She had told him that she wasn’t sick and it was the truth because pregnancy was a completely normal state for a woman’s body to deal with.

  Except it wasn’t normal for her, was it?

  It was... It was...

  Incredible...

  She was going to have a baby. No...two babies...

  In a matter of months she wouldn’t be simply a single mother with a baby. She’d be a mother with an entire little family.

  A smile was trying to break out but there was a prickle behind her eyes that was so unfamiliar it took a moment for Georgia to recognise the imminent threat of tears.

  Tears? She had learned how useless tears were when she’d been five years old and she’d only cried once since then—at her mother’s funeral. Or, rather, well after the funeral, where there was nobody around to witness the evidence of weakness.

  Maybe that was the reason for this current threat. If there was one person she’d want to talk to about how she was feeling right now, it would be her mother.

  Closely followed by Kate, of course, but throwing her rock in that direction would be more like aiming for a minefield than a pond.

  Kate would be horrified at her flagrant disregard of how to achieve what she wanted within the rules of normal social behaviour. Wanting a family was no problem, but you were supposed to at least try to do it the right way. To be careful about contraception until you believed you had found a partner in life. Preferably until after you had married that partner.