Sydney Harbor Hospital: Marco's Temptation

by Fiona McArthur

  ‘Jail?’ The horror in Emily’s voice said it all. Did it all. Sealed it all. Marco sighed. Pictured that boy’s face. Empathised. Felt the whoosh of time, of scornful villagers, of police questioning. He winced and walked away. And to think he had considered telling Emily about his past. About his reasons for choosing not to settle. Why? Did he hope she would not care? Fool.

  He knew exactly what she was thinking. Of course. And he didn’t blame her. Marco kept walking. Each step to the lift more final with his decision. He would stay away. Not seek out Emily. He had done enough damage. He would just do his work and then leave.

  He pressed the lift button. Stepped inside, saw little, had trouble deciding on the floor he wanted and totally oblivious to the other occupant.

  ‘What are you doing here today?’ A gruff masculine voice.

  He looked up. Hard blue eyes scrutinised him. Finn Kennedy. He was rubbing his shoulder.

  ‘Just checking on my patients. You?’ Ball back in Finn’s court because his mind wasn’t working real well at the moment. He’d been delusional to think he could just have fun with Emily.

  ‘Same.’ Finn nodded. ‘Want a drink?’

  * * *

  Emily was trying to make sense of it all. Of this woman who was and yet wasn’t her daughter. ‘What do you mean done time? Rodney?’

  ‘See. I knew it. It’s not Rodney’s fault his brother made mistakes. Rodney’s had a difficult life but he is still a good man.’

  ‘Annie.’ She sat on the edge of the bed. ‘I don’t care what Rodney’s family have done. What Rodney’s background is. It’s what he himself is doing with his life now and that he makes you happy that I care about. That he loves you and your baby. Treats you both right. Every woman and every child deserves that.’

  Annie’s lip quivered. ‘I thought you’d look down on him because of his brother’s past; you think I’d be tied for ever to a family of trouble.’

  ‘Why? How could I do that?’ She shook her head. ‘Your father was from a very well-to-do family. An upstanding future citizen. Once a year his parents send money, sure—but he dropped me, and you, like a hot potato.’

  She patted Annie’s hand. ‘Your father never visited me in hospital like Rodney has visited you. Why would you think I’d look down on that?’ Her voice firmed. ‘But if Rodney ever treated you badly then he’d have me after him.’

  Annie shrugged. ‘If he treated me badly, I wouldn’t be there.’

  ‘That’s my girl.’

  They looked at each other and then Annie held out her arms for a hug. ‘I’m sorry, Mum. I should have told you.’

  Emily hugged her and Annie squeezed back. ‘Is this why we’ve been fighting the last few months?’

  Annie nodded. ‘I hated having a secret and I should have known you’d understand.’

  Emily swallowed the thickness in her throat. Maybe she’d have her normal daughter back now. She glanced down at the plastic bag on the table. ‘Now I have two melted ice creams we were going to share because I got lonely and needed my baby’s company.’

  She pulled out a droopy ice cream and gave it to Annie. Annie looked at it, took it gingerly and stripped it of its wrapper. She grinned. It didn’t quite fall off the stick. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘That’s fine.’ Emily pulled hers out and it looked worse. They both giggled.

  Emily pulled the towel off the end of the bed and spread it between them as a safety net for dripping ice cream. ‘I guess I have to realise you won’t be there for ever. You have your own life. But when you’re ready I need you to tell me about Rodney and what your plans are.’

  ‘There’s not much to tell. I love him.’

  Emily’s brows went up. ‘Really. Where did you meet him? How long have you known him? Though I’m guessing more than twenty-six weeks?’

  ‘Mum!’

  Emily raised her brows and glanced at Annie’s belly. ‘Well?’

  ‘I met him in a chat room. Just after Gran died. And before you go, “Oh, Annie”, it’s okay. We’d been chatting for about three months before I met him, and we can talk all night. He understands me, likes the same things—music, books, movies. We laugh. A lot. And when I met him...’ Annie rolled her eyes ‘...it was just right.’

  ‘Okay. I can understand that.’ Boy, could she understand that. ‘But did you mean to have a baby with Rodney? I mean, how old is he?’

  ‘Eighteen. And no. We only did it once. And we weren’t going to do it again until I went on the Pill. But when I finally went to the doctor he told me I was pregnant.’

  Oh, my poor baby. ‘We must be very fertile women.’ That thought came with a shudder of relief that she’d started the Pill after Annie’s birth and never missed it. So she could banish the horrible vision of the two of them eating ice creams with pregnant bellies. And Marco had been careful too.

  Emily accepted how it had happened. ‘Though for the record, if you like a boy enough to want to have sex, it would be good to let me into the secret so I could at least meet him. When all this is over, we’re going to discuss contraception again.’

  Annie blushed. ‘It’s a bit late now.’

  ‘Not for the next one it’s not.’ And if she could cover herself for the last sixteen years and not use it, her daughter would be doubly covered. ‘And condoms.’

  ‘Mu-u-um.’ Annie rolled her eyes again.

  She grinned. ‘Sorry. Having a belated stress attack. This has all happened pretty fast, you know.’

  Annie’s fingers crept across and squeezed her mother’s hand. ‘I know. And I’m sorry. I’ve been crabby because I was hiding Rodney and it felt rotten to be sneaky.’

  ‘You didn’t need to do that. You can always tell me anything. I may not like it but I’ll always love you.’

  Annie sighed. ‘Rodney wanted to. He wanted to drive around to home and be with me when I told you. But I didn’t want you to meet him for the first time then.’

  Emily felt her heart squeeze. Wished for a different scenario, but it was all too late now. ‘You’ll have to grow up too fast. But we’ll talk more about that later.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Visiting hours are over. I’d better go.’

  Annie reached out her hand. ‘Mum?’

  Emily stopped. ‘Yes?’ She caught her daughter’s hand and held it.

  ‘Can we put your birthday decorations up when I come home?’

  Emily squeezed Annie’s hand. ‘Sure. I’d like that.’

  Annie hung on for another second. ‘And thanks for the ice cream.’

  ‘Thanks for the conversation.’ Their hands dropped apart. ‘I’ve missed having them with you.’

  They hugged again because they were both a little teary as they waved goodbye.

  * * *

  Marco hunched over his beer at Pete’s Bar, a watering place across the road from the hospital where most of the staff drifted if they didn’t want to be alone—or wanted to be alone in a section Pete called Off Limits.

  The aroma of beef pie permeated the walls and Pete himself remembered every name he was told. He had twenty years of hospital names stored in his head.

  Finn ordered the pie. ‘You should try it. To die for.’

  Marco looked at it consideringly. ‘I have eaten but maybe I could manage one. I think I ran that off.’ And some other exercise, he reminded himself sardonically.

  ‘Evie says you’re seeing Emily Cooper.’

  His appetite disappeared. So she had told her in the lift. And he’d apologised. Before he could say anything, Finn went on. ‘Good woman. Good midwife in an emergency too. Not the kind I would have thought up for a fling.’

  ‘We went out once.’ And slept together twice.

  Finn looked at him under his brows. Must have seen something in his face. ‘Emily hasn’t said anything. Evie said she was in the lift with you two and could’ve cut the air with a knife.’

  He’d got it wrong, again. Suspicion would kill him one day. ‘Very observant of her. I think I will have the pie.’ He stood
up and walked over to the bar to order.

  Man after his own heart. ‘Use your staff card. It’s half price,’ Finn called out, suddenly in a good humour because he’d found some other poor bastard who didn’t understand women either.

  There was a lot of Marco D’Arvello that reminded Finn of Isaac. His brother had had that same kindness and warm exterior, and Finn wondered if Marco hid a similar feeling of homelessness. Thankfully Isaac had found happiness for the time he’d had with his wife, Lydia, something Finn had never allowed himself to find. The closest he’d come had been when he and Lydia had comforted each other after Isaac’s death. Lydia had been smart enough to know there was no future with Finn.

  But now there was Evie. The reason he’d decided to come across here and think. That and the pain that was eating him alive.

  Headstrong, defiant, warm-hearted Evie who for some incomprehensible reason said she loved him and he couldn’t quite believe it.

  That was the problem. He didn’t want to risk becoming a quadriplegic—or worse—if she was going to hang her future on him. But there was the chance this surgery could remove the shrapnel and give him back full control of his hands.

  Did he owe it to Evie to try? Or owe it to Evie to be half a man instead of just a shell? If he chose the surgery he’d just have to make a back-up plan to get away if it all went wrong.

  ‘You okay? You look worried. What’s up?’ Marco was back and he could see Finn was in pain. He set the pie down.

  ‘Nothing.’ Subject change. ‘So you’re leaving in a couple of weeks?’

  ‘Is it that close?’ Marco shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter. You want to roster me on?’ He tried not to think of Emily. Of her character-filled house. Her family. He didn’t do families.

  Of course Finn jumped at the offer. ‘The O and G guys would be thrilled. It’s always a pain getting cover.’

  ‘Fine.’ So this was penance. He could have left Sydney in fourteen days. ‘But I wish to be gone by the twentieth.’

  ‘Planning something special?’

  He said the first thing that appeared in his mind. ‘Times Square.’ He’d be in New York for the new contract but it was unlikely he’d be out partying.

  ‘So, you going out with Emily again?’ Finn’s curiosity surprised him. Marco had never known him to be interested in someone else’s social life. Perhaps his friend was becoming more human.

  ‘I doubt it. She has a lot on her mind with her daughter.’

  ‘It’s a big responsibility. She does seem fairly consumed by her. I wouldn’t like to have a teenage daughter. Especially a pregnant one.’

  ‘Emily is a good mother.’

  ‘No doubt about that but she wouldn’t know squat about teenage boys and that’s how their life is going to change.’

  Marco thought about that. Thought about the young man he’d seen. Emily’s natural reservations. About who was going to help her? And maybe the boy?

  CHAPTER NINE

  EMILY walked onto the ward Monday morning to collect Annie and the dull ache behind her eyes wasn’t helped when she saw Marco was still there.

  ‘Ah. Here is your mother.’ His glance swept over her. No doubt he could see the bags under her eyes. What did he expect if she’d been awake most of the night, reaching out for his hand in the bed beside her, or, worse still, scared she was falling in love?

  His voice seemed to soften—or was it just her imagination? ‘Good morning, Emily.’

  Cautiously Emily returned the greeting. ‘Marco.’ She could see Annie’s glance from one to the other and she prayed her daughter would hold her questions till later.

  She made an effort to forestall her. ‘Dr D’Arvello has been very good when I was worried.’

  ‘Si. But today you look worried again.’ He smiled at Annie and then back at Emily. She wanted to look away but couldn’t because it felt too damn good to bask in the light. ‘All is good. Annie’s baby has increased the amount of liquid in the uterus quite substantially, which is a good sign of kidney function. I am very pleased.’

  Emily felt one burden ease. ‘That’s wonderful news. So we can go?’

  ‘Si. But Annie must rest. I have clinics for another two weeks and I would like Annie to have another ultrasound at the end of this week and see me Friday morning in the rooms here.’

  She glanced at Annie, who nodded. ‘Fine. We can do that.’ That meant one more definite time she would see Marco and the occasional ward sighting. She could handle that. Just.

  ‘So you’ll be here for a while?’ Annie was on a different track, a mission of her own, and Emily’s neck prickled.

  ‘Si. I have said I will work and do the on-call before I leave for the States.’

  Annie looked so sweet and Emily’s trepidation grew. She knew that look. ‘So you have no family here, do you?’

  Emily froze, wanted to put her hand out or even over her daughter’s mouth as she sensed what was coming.

  ‘No.’ Marco wasn’t stupid either and Emily held her breath.

  So innocent Annie. ‘Would you like to come to my baby shower?’

  ‘Annie!’ Emily’s voice came out strangled.

  ‘I’ll see.’ Marco’s smile was crooked. ‘Perhaps your mother would prefer if I didn’t?’

  Annie feigned horror. ‘Mum!’

  Emily knew she was trapped. ‘What?’

  Annie cajoled, ‘Well, I’d like to invite Rodney and his friends and maybe you could invite Dr D’Arvello and yours?’

  Emily’s face reddened. ‘We’ll see. I’m sure Dr D’Arvello has other plans.’ She hoped.

  Marco didn’t offer anything and she glared at him as she was obliged to fill the gap. ‘But of course he’s welcome.’

  Annie was full of mischief. ‘You could even come home this afternoon and help us put up the decorations for Mum’s birthday.’

  Emily blinked in shock. It got worse. ‘Annie! That’s enough.’

  He looked at Emily. ‘It is your birthday?’

  ‘Not until Friday.’

  Annie sighed. Rolled her eyes. ‘Okay. I’ve already invited Rodney.’ She grinned at Marco. ‘If you get bored you can get the address from my notes.’

  Marco smiled at her. ‘Strangely, I know where you live.’

  Annie nodded as if he had just confirmed her suspicions. ‘I thought you might.’ She glanced at her mother’s red cheeks.

  Going down in the lift Emily fumed. She gripped the handle of Annie’s overnight bag and squeezed it until the plastic bit into her fingers. She’d kill her. The little witch had planned that.

  She speared a look at her daughter and Annie was innocently staring at the numbers on the console. Avoiding her, as well she should.

  Emily stopped grinding her teeth. ‘Please don’t invite any more people without asking me, Annie.’

  Annie swung to face her. Mischief clear and bold. ‘Oh, come on. You two can’t keep your eyes off each other.’ Annie raised her brows and for a moment she looked like her grandmother and Emily felt her anger drain away like water from a leaky pipe.

  Until her daughter said, ‘And for the record, who was it who said if you like a boy enough to want to have sex, it would be good to let me into the secret?’ She grinned cheekily. ‘I hope I don’t have to discuss contraception with you, Mum.’

  It was that obvious? Emily buried the fingers of her free hand into her forehead. This was all too much. She felt like the daughter here. ‘Touché.’ She huffed her breathe out. ‘He is a nice man but he’s leaving soon.’

  ‘Come off it, Mum. The guy’s gorgeous and he’s smitten with you. Even more reason to have some fun, for goodness’ sake. And Friday is your birthday.’

  Who was this young woman? Then again, Annie had no idea how much fun her mother had already had. Her ears heated. ‘I’ll think about it.’

  By the time she’d driven home and Annie was settled into the big squishy living room chair with her feet up, Emily had calmed down. She even whipped up a batch of date scones to set on the t
able with butter and jam. Men were always hungry. She couldn’t help feeling it would be a bit of an anticlimax if Marco didn’t turn up along with Rodney.

  She glanced out the window. A black Aston Martin stopped across the road.

  * * *

  Marco turned off the engine. He’d been kidding himself that he wouldn’t come. He was glad now because he could see Rodney sitting in his car, staring at the front gate. He’d bet the young man tried to build up the courage to knock on the door.

  Marco crossed the street and knocked on Rodney’s car roof. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Oh. Hi.’ Rodney drooped in his seat.

  Marco bent down. ‘You are coming in?’

  Rodney poked his finger down his T-shirt. ‘I don’t think Annie’s mother likes me.’

  Marco opened his door. ‘Annie’s mother will like anyone who makes her daughter happy. You can come with me. We will go in together. Your lady will be glad to see you.’

  Marco wasn’t real sure about his own lady but he could understand her reluctance to become more involved when he had stated his intention to leave.

  Today he was going to help Rodney.

  It would be cathartic to help. To help an insecure boy like Marco had been all those years ago. He certainly would have benefited from some advice from another man.

  To Emily it must have seemed as if Marco and Rodney had arrived at the same time and she opened the door with a smile that welcomed.

  She greeted them both warmly and he couldn’t help his relief. Though why he was surprised was a measure of his own insecurity because she had always been polite.

  ‘Come in. Welcome. Annie will be pleased to see you and we have scones ready.’

  The house floated on the aroma of fresh baking, Emily’s cheeks were flushed, and Annie lorded over them all from her chair.

  It felt like a family. He swallowed the fear in his throat.

  Or how he imagined a family would feel. He shouldn’t be here. Only when his father had been in jail had he had any idea of a stable life with his mother and he’d been ready to leave home by then. Was there any chance one day his life might come to this?

  ‘Marco, can you help, please?’ Perhaps Emily had sensed his ambivalence because she didn’t leave him to ponder too deeply for long.