Best Friend to Perfect Bride (Contemporary Medical Romance)

by Jennifer Taylor

  Bella worked her way through the list. There was nothing really serious, just a lot of cuts and bruises, as could be expected when so many children were on holiday. She patched up several cut knees and sent a couple of youngsters for X-rays, and that was it. By the time she was due to take her break, there was just one child waiting to be seen. Mac had finished with his patient and arrived at the desk at the same time as her. He shrugged as he reached over and picked up the last file.

  ‘I’ll take this if you want to go for your break, Bella. We may as well make the most of it while it’s quiet.’

  ‘Fine.’

  Bella headed for the lift. Although she wasn’t hungry, a cup of tea would be very welcome. Mac had taken his patient to the cubicles and the waiting room was empty. She was about to step into the lift when the main doors opened and a couple of police officers came in. The female officer was carrying a baby in her arms and Bella paused, wondering what was going on. When Janet, their receptionist, beckoned to her, she hurried over to them.

  ‘What’s happened?’

  ‘We received a report to say that a baby had been left at home on its own,’ the male officer explained. ‘When we got to the flat, we found the front door open. The child was inside, screaming its head off. It doesn’t appear to be injured, from what we can tell, but we need you to check it over, just to make sure.’

  ‘Of course.’ Bella led the way to the treatment room. ‘If you can put the baby on the bed, I’ll examine it.’

  She undid the poppers down the front of the child’s sleepsuit and slipped it off then removed its vest and nappy. It was a little girl and she appeared to be both clean and well-nourished. Bella carefully checked her over and shook her head.

  ‘No, there’s nothing wrong with her. She’s a little bit dehydrated but that can soon be sorted out once we give her a drink. Do you know where the mother is?’

  ‘No idea. The neighbour who phoned in the report wasn’t able to tell us very much.’ The officer sighed. ‘Apparently, she’s little more than a kid herself, from what we can gather. We’ve been on to Social Services and we’re hoping they might be able to help us.’

  ‘Do you know her name?’ Bella asked slowly, although she had a feeling that she already knew the name of the baby’s mother.

  ‘Yes. The neighbour was able to tell us that much at least.’ The officer consulted his notebook. ‘Freya Watson. We’re trying to find out if she’s local. If we can trace her family then they might know where she’s gone.’

  ‘I can give you their address.’ Bella brought up Freya’s file on the computer. She gave the policeman the Watsons’ address then quickly explained the situation. ‘I’d like to think that Freya’s parents know where she is, but they were furious when they found out about the baby and refused to have anything more to do with her,’ she concluded. ‘If Freya has been living in the flat on her own with the baby then it doesn’t look as though they’ve had a change of heart, does it?’

  ‘No. It doesn’t.’ The policeman sighed as he wrote everything down in his notebook. ‘Right, then. It might turn out to be a waste of time but I’ll get on to the station and ask them to send someone round to speak to the girl’s parents. The sooner we find out what’s happened to her, the better.’

  Both officers went outside to make the call, leaving Bella alone with the baby. She sighed as she picked her up and cradled her in her arms. It was no wonder that Freya had found it difficult to cope. Caring for a child on your own was a lot for any woman to deal with. Why, even she would find it hard and she was a lot older than Freya and had far more resources at her disposal. Quite frankly, she couldn’t imagine how she would cope if she found herself in the position of being a single parent, not that it was likely to happen. Mac had taken great care to ensure she didn’t get pregnant that night they had made love.

  A tiny ache awoke in her heart, even though she knew how stupid it was. However, his determination to make sure that there were no consequences from their night of passion simply proved how he really felt about her. Maybe he’d been keen enough to sleep with her but he certainly wasn’t looking for anything more.

  * * *

  Mac was surprised to see the police there when he got back from attending to his patient. He went over to the reception desk and asked Janet what was going on.

  ‘They brought in a baby that had been left home alone.’ She lowered her voice. ‘From what I overheard just now, they seem to think it’s Freya Watson’s baby.’

  ‘Really?’ Mac exclaimed.

  He glanced round when he heard footsteps, feeling a whole raft of emotions hit him when he saw Bella walking towards him, carrying the baby in her arms. He had never really thought about having children. Although he liked kids, the fact that he had always avoided commitment meant that it had never been an issue before. Now, however, as he looked at Bella holding the baby, he realised all of a sudden what he was missing.

  He could picture it now, imagine how wonderful it would be to have a child of his own, a son or a daughter to love and cherish. His vision blurred as the image inside his head grew stronger. He could see a chubby little baby laughing up at him from its mother’s arms now. It was only when the mother’s face started to become clearer that Mac realised what was happening and groaned. Picturing Bella as the mother of his children was something he mustn’t do! It was a mistake of gigantic proportions to allow himself that much licence. Maybe Bella would have children one day, but one thing was certain: their father would be someone very different from him, a man who came from a background similar to her own.

  * * *

  Bella was relieved when her shift finally ended. It had been a stressful night for so many reasons. The police were still searching for Freya Watson and it was obvious that they were becoming increasingly concerned as time passed and they failed to find any trace of her. The baby had been placed with a foster carer so at least she had the comfort of knowing that the infant was being looked after. However, as she left the hospital, she couldn’t shake off the feeling of gloom that weighed her down.

  Tim had only wanted to have a child with her to stop her divorcing him—he’d certainly not wanted one before then. And Mac had been at pains to ensure that nothing untoward happened in that department either. Even though she couldn’t blame him for behaving responsibly, she couldn’t rid herself of the thought that her inability to get in touch with her emotions had a huge bearing on the way both men had acted. The future had never seemed bleaker than it did right then and she realised that there was no point going home as she would never be able to sleep with all these thoughts whizzing around her head.

  She left the hospital and headed to a supermarket on the outskirts of town that should open shortly. She hadn’t done any food shopping for several weeks and the cupboards were bare. She filled a trolley then paid for her shopping and loaded everything in to her car. At least it had helped to distract her but, as she set off home, she found the same thought churning round and round inside her head: unless she got in touch with her emotions she would never be truly happy.

  Maybe it was the stress, but somehow she must have taken a wrong turning because she found herself on a road she had never driven along before. She drove on for a few more miles, searching for any clues as to where she was. The car’s satellite navigation system wasn’t any help; it just showed an unmarked road and nothing else. When the road suddenly petered out into a track, Bella decided to turn round rather than risk going any further and getting completely lost. She carefully manoeuvred the car, shunting it backwards and forwards across the narrow track. She had almost completed the turn when there was an almighty bang from the rear of the vehicle.

  She got out, her heart sinking when she discovered that one of the back wheels had hit a boulder and had buckled under the impact. There was no way that she could change the wheel herself, but maybe there was a farm up ahead and peopl
e who would help her?

  Lifting her bag out of the car, she started walking. Although it was almost the middle of the morning, heavy black clouds hung overhead, obscuring the tops of the surrounding mountains, and she shivered. Although she was wearing a jacket, it wouldn’t be much use if it started to rain.

  She must have walked a couple of miles before she decided to give up. There had been no sign of a farmhouse and it seemed pointless carrying on. She turned back, grimacing when she felt the first drops of rain start to fall. Within seconds, it was pouring down, sheets of water falling from the sky and soaking through her clothing. Bella walked as fast as she could but the increasingly slippery ground hampered her progress and it took her twice as long to get back to the car.

  She climbed in, shivering violently as she started the engine and switched on the heater. Digging in to her bag, she found her mobile phone, intending to call the local garage and ask them to come out and fetch her. It was only when she saw the phone’s blank screen that she realised the battery was flat. Tipping back her head, she groaned. What a perfect end to a miserable night!

  * * *

  Mac couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something wrong with Bella. Oh, he understood that it must have been a strain for her to work with him—heaven knew he hadn’t found it easy, either. Nevertheless, he couldn’t rid himself of the nagging thought that there was something else troubling her. As he left the hospital, he knew that he wouldn’t rest until he found out what was the matter, even though he doubted Bella would appreciate his concern. If last night was anything to go by, she would much prefer it if he steered well clear of her!

  He drove into town, drawing up in front of the apartment block where she lived. There was no sign of her car in the courtyard and he frowned. He had assumed that she would go straight home after working all night but maybe she had stopped off along the way. He decided to wait but when she still hadn’t appeared an hour later, he realised that he might as well give up. There was no point in him hanging around if she had gone off somewhere. He would just have to try again later.

  Mac headed home and went straight to bed but, even though he was tired after the busy night, he couldn’t sleep. His mind kept churning over all the reasons why Bella might be upset. The fact that Freya had gone missing was bound to have upset her, but was it really that which was troubling her or something of a more personal nature? Try as he might, he couldn’t come up with an answer and it was frustrating, to say the least, not to be able to find an explanation.

  In the end he gave up any attempt to sleep and got up. He made himself a cup of coffee and stood on the deck while he drank it. It had started to rain but he barely noticed. Was it something he had said? Or was he deluding himself by thinking that anything he did could affect her?

  He sighed. The truth was that he had no idea how Bella really felt about him. Maybe he should be glad that she seemed to have put what had happened that night behind her, but in his heart he knew it wasn’t relief he felt. It was something far more disturbing, an emotion he shouldn’t allow himself to feel. To wish that Bella would never forget that night, as he would never forget it, was selfish in the extreme.

  * * *

  Bella trudged on. Although the rain had eased off, it hadn’t stopped and cold little flurries of raindrops stung her face as she made her way back along the track. She had decided to walk back to the main road and try to flag down a car in the hope that she could beg a lift into town. However, she hadn’t realised just how far she must have driven. At this rate it would be midnight before she reached the road!

  Spurred on by the thought, she quickened her pace then had to slow down again when she came to a section where the hillside had caved in. Mud and boulders had been washed down by the rain and covered the track. Bella carefully made her way around the obstruction, pausing when she heard a cry coming from somewhere to her left. She looked around, trying to determine where it had come from, and gasped when she spotted a woman huddled against some bushes. She hurried towards her, her feet slipping this way and that on the muddy ground. It was only as she got closer that she realised it was Freya Watson.

  ‘Freya! What are you doing out here?’ she demanded, crouching down beside her.

  ‘I’ve hurt my ankle,’ the girl told her. She ran a grimy hand over her face and Bella’s heart went out to her when she realised that she was crying.

  ‘It’s OK,’ she said, putting her arm around the girl’s shoulders. ‘We’ll get it sorted out so don’t worry. Here, let me take a look.’

  She eased up the leg of Freya’s jeans, hiding her grimace when she saw her ankle. It was very badly bruised and swollen, the flesh black and purple in places. ‘Can you wiggle your toes?’ she asked, trying to assess if it was broken or badly sprained, not that it made much difference. It must be extremely painful whichever it was.

  ‘No. I can’t move them. Is it broken, do you think?’ Freya asked miserably.

  ‘It looks like it.’ Bella unwound her scarf from around her neck. ‘I’m going to use this as a temporary support. I’ll be as gentle as I can but it might hurt a bit.’

  Leaving the girl’s shoe and sock on, she carefully wound the scarf in a figure of eight fashion around Freya’s foot and ankle. ‘That should help,’ she said after she had finished. ‘How did it happen, though? And what were you doing out here in the first place?’

  ‘I was hiding from a man who gave me a lift,’ Freya told her. She bit her lip, looking for all the world like a child who knew she had done something wrong.

  Bella sighed. ‘I think you’d better start from the beginning. But, before you do, have you a mobile phone I can use to call the mountain rescue services? My battery’s flat.’

  ‘No. My dad used to pay for my phone but he stopped it after I had Ava and I can’t afford to pay for it myself.’

  ‘Don’t worry. We’ll work something out,’ Bella told her, wondering what sort of parents could treat their child the way the Watsons were doing. She would never do that to her child, she thought angrily, then sighed when it struck her that it was highly unlikely that she would ever be in the position of having a child of her own.

  ‘So what happened, sweetheart?’ she asked, trying not to think about how bleak the future seemed. ‘I know you walked out of your flat because the police brought Ava into the hospital to be checked over. She’s fine,’ she said hastily when she saw the fear in Freya’s eyes. ‘She’s with a foster carer at the moment so she’s being well looked after. But what made you leave her in the first place?’

  ‘She wouldn’t stop crying,’ Freya explained. Tears began to stream down her face once more. ‘I tried everything I could think of, too. I fed her and changed her, rocked her and sang to her, but she wouldn’t stop. I know I shouldn’t have left her on her own but I just couldn’t stand it any longer.’

  ‘It must be hard when you don’t have anyone to help you,’ Bella said gently. ‘I take it from what you just told me that your parents haven’t had a change of heart?’

  ‘No. They won’t even speak to me when I try phoning them.’ Freya dried her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘I know I was stupid, but it’s not as though I’ve murdered someone or anything like that!’

  Bella wholeheartedly agreed although she didn’t say so. To her mind, the Watsons had behaved deplorably. ‘So what happened after you left your flat?’

  ‘I got on a bus. I’ve no idea where it was going ’cos it really didn’t matter. I just needed to get away, you see. The trouble was that when I tried to catch a bus back home, it was after midnight and they’d stopped running.’ Freya sighed. ‘I started walking when this car drew up and the driver offered me a lift.’

  ‘And you accepted?’ Bella asked, her heart sinking at the thought of Freya getting into a stranger’s car.

  ‘Yes. He said he’d drive me home but he brought me here instead.’ Fre
ya’s eyes welled with tears again. ‘I was so scared! I managed to jump out of the car when he stopped and hid until he had left. It was pitch-dark and I had no idea where I was so I just stayed here until the morning. I was making my way back to the road when I slipped and hurt my ankle. If you hadn’t come along then, I don’t know what I’d have done,’ she added tearfully.

  ‘Well, I did come so let’s not think about that,’ Bella said rousingly. She stood up. ‘Now, we need to get you back to the main road. Do you think you can hop if I support you? It’s either that or leave you here while I go for help.’

  ‘Oh, don’t leave me!’ Freya exclaimed, obviously terrified by the thought of being left on her own once again.

  Bella looped the girl’s arm across her shoulders as she helped her to stand up. It wasn’t going to be easy to get Freya back to the road, but what choice did she have? Nobody knew they were here and nobody would come looking for them either. Just for a second the thought that Mac might notice her absence crossed her mind before she dismissed it. Mac wouldn’t miss her, as he had made it abundantly clear.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  MAC WAS GROWING increasingly concerned. He had tried phoning Bella several times but she hadn’t responded. He would have put it down to the fact that she didn’t want to speak to him, only it appeared that her mobile phone had been switched off. It seemed odd to him, bearing in mind how conscientious she was. How would work contact her in case of an emergency if her phone was switched off?

  In the end he went back to her apartment. Although there was still no sign of her car, he rang the bell anyway. There was always a chance that her car had broken down and she had made her way home by some other means. However, after half a dozen rings on the bell, he gave up. She obviously wasn’t here, so where was she?