by Annie O'Neil
‘Lizzy?’
Leon was looking at her inquisitively. As if for just a second he’d caught a glimpse of something of her life she’d not let him have access to when they’d been together.
A part of her crumbled. There was no chance she could consider marrying someone she didn’t know and who, more to the point, she hadn’t trusted to know her. The real her.
Leon waved a hand in front of her face. ‘Lizzy? Buongiorno! Are you feeling a hit of jet lag?’
She shook her head, unwilling to admit that she’d been raking over the past when she should have been focussing on the future.
Leon’s forehead creased with concern. ‘Maybe we should find you an on-call room before our meeting with Dr Lombardi and the Bianchis, so you can have a rest? I’m happy to finish the rounds on my own.’
She shook her head again, and gave what she hoped was a light-hearted laugh, feeling her topknot loosen into a very messy bun as she did. Work. Work was the one thing they could talk about without any sort of additional angst. That was what she would focus on for now.
‘Any sign of the bands tightening on the umbilical cord?’
Leon’s features sobered. ‘No, thank goodness. Just the cheek, so the baby’s getting all the nutrition it needs. I’ll be in surgery this afternoon, if you’d like to join me?’
‘Absolutely.’ She gave him a play punch on the arm. ‘You didn’t think I flew all the way over here just to be a pretty face on the sidelines, did you?’
His expression clouded for a moment and then, as if he’d made a decision, cleared. For the first time since she’d arrived Leon looked exactly like the man she’d told herself she’d fallen in love with all those years ago. Intense, keenly passionate about his work, and present in a way few people could be. All his energies were trained on her, and with that came a heated rush of exhilaration. A spine-tingling energy that coursed through her as the world around her faded.
‘Lizzy you are one of the most exacting, fearless antenatal surgeons in the world. That’s why I wanted you to be part of my team. These conjoined twins deserve the very best, and as far as I’m concerned you are at the top of that list. Do not discredit yourself by even suggesting you’re here to decorate the place.’
He waited until she gave him a nod to acknowledge the compliment. Not, she knew, because he wanted recognition for being so magnanimous, but because he wanted her to champion herself.
Even in the highly charged, ego-fuelled environment of surgical internships, where one surgery could make or break your career, Lizzy had never been comfortable tooting her own horn. Her father had drilled into her his belief that modesty was the only attribute a woman should fully embrace. That, and loyalty. In her mother’s case, a loyalty fuelled by fear.
‘If you want to join in any of my surgeries you are more than welcome,’ Leon continued. He briefly broke his gaze, glancing over her shoulder as if, like her, he’d suddenly become aware of the people around them. He lowered his voice and said, ‘I also appreciate you coming over for the personal reason. It was a brave thing to do.’
Lizzy’s heart-rate accelerated yet again. Work talk she could do. But baby talk...? She’d thought they were going to shelve that for now. They had to. Until she knew exactly what was going on between the two of them and that would take time.
She hastily told the part of herself that knew the two were inextricably linked to be quiet. ‘Maybe we can talk about that later?’
Leon fixed her with a solid look. ‘Do you want to know why I asked you over here?’
She gave him a side-on look. ‘You just said. The conjoined twins, right?’
‘They were the excuse, but they weren’t the reason.’
He reached out and tucked a tendril of loose hair behind her ear, his fingertips tracing down the length of her neck. It was a gesture that elicited far too many inappropriate memories. Memories she had vowed to consign to the past.
His fingers lingered just that infinitesimal bit longer than they should have. And when his eyes met hers she felt as though her body had finally, at long last, found the energy source it had been seeking for so long. Her heart bashed against her ribcage. Was this Leon’s way of telling her he had actual genuine feelings for her? This was definitely not what she’d bargained on when she’d boarded the plane.
She must have stood there, blinking at him like an idiot, to the point when he felt she needed help. Because, with a hand on her elbow, he began to steer her towards an on-call room. ‘Lizzy, there’s something I think you need to know—’
‘Ah! Leon. Just the man I was looking for!’
Leon’s body language instantly shifted from doting father-to-be about to bare his soul to briskly efficient surgeon. Instead of relief, she felt a hit of loss that she might never know what Leon had been about to tell her.
‘Giovanni. I’d like to introduce you to—’
‘No need,’ said the handsome doctor, tapping the side of his nose with a mischievous smile. ‘I know all about Dr Beckley.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
LEON IGNORED LIZZY’S lightning-fast glare.
‘It sounds like something other than my professional reputation precedes me,’ Lizzy said, smiling and giving Giovanni’s hand a shake.
‘Nothing that wouldn’t add to your accolades,’ said Giovanni charmingly. ‘How could one work in our business and not know about the world-famed Baby Heart Doctor Elizabeth Beckley?’
Lizzy gave Leon another look, this one saying, What exactly have you told this man?
She let go of Giovanni’s hand. ‘Sounds like you already know who I am. And you are...?’
‘Giovanni Lombardi.’
Leon was about to jump in and apologise for his lack of manners, for not making a formal introduction and for his absence of brain power, but he was still trying to regroup from having been almost caught steering Lizzy into an on-call room, where he would have been dangerously close to repeating his foolhardy proposal.
The words were banging round his head. He loved her. It was a hell of an epiphany. He’d finally admitted to himself that he loved this woman and had done from back in those days in New York. He wasn’t single these days by choice. He was single because he loved the woman he’d arrogantly and ignorantly let slip through his fingers five years ago.
He didn’t want to let it happen again. Perhaps his next proposal should be more thought-out. Now was his chance to change history. It would be messy. No doubt about that. He was a gifted bachelor, but he’d do everything in his power to make sure she knew he was going to change. Somehow.
What sort of evidence would she need? A diamond? A public declaration? Learning how to sing opera? No. She’d see right through those gestures for what they would be. Disingenuous. None of them were him, apart from the diamond, but his gut told him that with her colouring she was more of a sapphire girl.
Oh, Dio. That was a whole new rabbit hole he could disappear in. The whole point of Lizzy being here was to concentrate, not become a ring expert!
After a few more easily rejected ideas, he forced himself to tune in to a discussion that was in full flow.
‘Amazing! Though I have to say with his track record I’m not surprised,’ Lizzy was saying.
‘Absolutely. A stroke of genius. Leon’s ability to look beyond the obvious is exemplary.’
She threw him a quick, inquisitive look, clearly impressed by whatever it was she and Giovanni were talking about.
As he was completely clueless, and didn’t want to betray the fact that he hadn’t been listening, Leon put on what he hoped was a modest expression and gave them a benign smile. ‘It was nothing, really.’
‘It was innovative. Well,’ Giovanni qualified, ‘it was ancient. But it was an innovation we wouldn’t have thought of if Leon hadn’t put it forward.’
‘Who would’ve thought it? Honey! I’m impressed.’ Liz
zy gave Leon an admiring smile then turned back to Giovanni. ‘Is it available elsewhere in the world?’ Lizzy asked, looking truly interested.
He wished like hell he knew what they were talking about. And why was Lizzy calling him ‘honey’ in front of his boss? He’d thought they’d agreed to keep things professional here.
‘Leon?’ Giovanni prompted. ‘It’s available elsewhere, isn’t it?’
Leon gave a cautious nod. ‘In some areas...’ He hoped that was true. Certain medical supplies or treatments would be difficult to offer in, say, Antarctica. Then again, he hadn’t invented any medical supplies. His mind reeled, trying to catch up.
‘Nonsense!’ Giovanni cut in. ‘You know as well as I do that it’s available everywhere. It’s just that not everyone sees medicine the way you do. A true Leonardo da Vinci, our Leon.’
‘Hey!’ Lizzy clapped. ‘That’s what I used to call him. Da Vinci. Ha! A visionary with a flow chart.’
Giovanni rocked back on his heels and roared with laughter. ‘Oh, Dio! That’s him, all right. He likes to dot his “i”s and cross his “t”s—don’t you Leon?’
Giovanni gave him a clap on the shoulder that felt strangely like a prompt to laud his own merits.
Lizzy laughed appreciatively. ‘That’s definitely the Leon I know.’
She started telling Giovanni about one of the first surgeries they performed together. Leon had made massive wall charts of the entire innovative surgery and posted them around the walls of the operating theatre, so that everyone had quite literally been on the same page as they’d changed a child’s life for the better.
Giovanni laughed along with her, saying that sounded just like the Leon he knew as well, and adding that his fastidiousness was one of the many reasons they had wanted him to head the antenatal unit at St Nicolino’s. Did Lizzy know he headed the department? he asked.
She gave him a punch on the arm. ‘You didn’t tell me that.’
He forced a modest smile to come into play again. What was going on here?
Giovanni shook his head and said that he hoped while Lizzy was there she’d teach their cherished Dr Cassanetti a thing or two about sharing his genius in the world’s medical journals, as she had done.
Lizzy’s smile softened as her eyes lit on him. ‘I’ll do my best. He has a way of seeing the world that’s...extraordinary.’
‘Yes, he does,’ said Giovanni, dropping a duplicitous wink in Leon’s direction before drawing Lizzy’s attention back to him. ‘And I think you’re just the woman to make sure he sees that for himself!’
Suddenly it occurred to him what was happening. Giovanni Lombardi was flirting on his behalf. Or—wait! His heart jammed in his throat. Had Lizzy told Giovanni she was pregnant with his child?
No. She wouldn’t have done that. Not without checking with him.
Giovanni gave Lizzy a courtly bow. ‘It’s absolutely lovely to meet you, Dr Beckley. I can’t tell you how grateful we are that you’ve joined us here at St Nicolino’s. I look forward to spending more time with you.’
All right. No need to slather on the gratitude, Leon grumbled silently. Protectively. Very protectively.
Giovanni threw a discreet look over Lizzy’s shoulder at Leon. A look that said very clearly, Now I see why you’ve been so distracted.
‘Shall we...?’ Giovanni gestured towards a small lecture theatre where they had agreed to meet the entire team and discuss the conjoined twins.
‘Absolutely!’ Leon said, a tad too enthusiastically.
As they entered the room Lizzy gave him a nudge in the ribs and blew out a low whistle of approval. ‘Honey... Who would’ve thought it? Well, you did, obviously.’
What was she talking about? And, again, since when did Lizzy call him ‘honey’?
And then he twigged. Giovanni had been talking about his idea to put medical grade honey around prematurely born infant’s feeding tubes as an antidote to extravasation injuries—wounds that sometimes struggled to heal. Let the honey do the healing—that had been his tagline when he’d first tried out the ancient remedy, for its antimicrobial and wound-healing properties.
He forced his nervous system to cool its jets. Not everything was about him and Lizzy. Well... Yes, it was. Because as they entered the room a twenty-strong team of medical professionals rose and, as one, applauded their entrance as if they were royalty.
An hour later he was back on much stronger footing. Science. Medicine. One very specific goal.
‘And that is how we see the procedure going from our end—pending, of course, any complications. We are a team, Dr Beckley and I. Think of us as one unit. Keeping Baby A well on a cardiovascular level is critical to both of the Bianchi babies’ welfare—and, of course, their mother’s. If you have any questions at any time about the Bianchis you come to either of us. We are one.’
He pressed his two fingers together so that the group could see that he really meant it. His eyes shot to Lizzy’s. It was a speech he regularly gave whenever he worked with a visiting physician, but the language felt more potent when it was about Lizzy.
Lizzy cocked an eyebrow at him. We? it was saying. One unit?
The Lizzy he’d worked with five years ago had loved working with him as a unit. This Lizzy, for some reason, looked really annoyed.
‘Dr Beckley and I will, of course, be keeping you updated in advance of the surgery. That’s it for now. Grazie mille, everyone. Let’s make this a sure-fire success so that Dr Lombardi and his team—as yet to be announced—will have two healthy babies when the time comes.’
* * *
Lizzy waited until the crowd of doctors who had swarmed around Leon to ask questions specific to their own roles had eased. Some of the team had, very kindly, taken the time to introduce themselves to her. She had never known there were so many Marias in the world!
She made a mental note to ask Leon for a cheat sheet later, so she could tell them all apart. Nothing made a surgical team work better than genuinely feeling like a team. Knowing everyone’s name without having to look at their name tag was the easiest place to start. And another factor that made a team work was feeling included in the decision-making. Something she hadn’t yet felt on this case. Sure, she’d only been here twenty-four hours, but...
She was used to being in charge of her own team—not following someone else’s lead. Particularly when the ‘leader’ was a certain someone who was yanking her emotions hither and yon. Marry me. Don’t marry me. Let’s be a family. Let’s not be a family.
Okay. Perhaps he hadn’t said some of those things, but it felt as if he had, and that surely had to mean her gut was trying to tell her something, right?
But what, exactly?
Lizzy sighed. Maybe this up, down, all around stretchy emotional boundaries thing was what all the expectant mothers who burst into tears for no reason in the tinned vegetable aisle at the supermarket were talking about. She wasn’t feeling weepy, though. She was feeling cross. Very cross. Which didn’t make sense.
The logical part of her brain knew Leon was a fortnight ahead of her on the project, so of course he’d given the introductory lecture. But the part of her brain that had received a marriage proposal and that knew she was as good a surgeon as he was, shook with anxiety that this might be what life with Leon would be like. Taking a back seat to his opinion, no matter what she had to say. Just like her mother had done with her father.
She tried to shake some common sense back into her body.
It’s his hospital, dummy! He’s the MFMS. Of course he’s taking the lead! He’s also lauded you as critical to the twins’ survival! The last thing he’s doing is sidelining you. He’s trying to include you, not exclude you.
Grr! Feelings. They were annoying when you didn’t want them.
The part of her that wasn’t a raging torrent of hormones knew for a fact that her time that day would’ve been bette
r spent studying the case, not following him on his rounds like a lovesick puppy. She looked up at him, still standing on the small lecture hall stage, with staff gathered round him as if he were a superstar. Which he kind of was. Who wouldn’t be with those looks and a brain like his? And the things that man could do with his hands...
She looked away, her body responding a little too viscerally to the mere suggestion of his touch. Maybe if she saw him every day the tingles would fade...or maybe she should have sex with Leon while she was here? Just to properly get him out of her system.
‘Lizzy!’ Leon appeared before her, his eyes bright with anticipation. ‘So! What did you think?’ He clapped his hands together and gave them a good rub, his eyes glinting brightly, the way they always had when a particularly complicated case presented itself.
‘Nice presentation, Dr Cassanetti,’ she said crankily, to disguise the fact that she had just been thinking of him naked and in an extremely compromising position.
‘Thanks, I think...?’
‘No, seriously.’ Her clipped tone was making it entirely clear that she was annoyed. ‘It was kind of you to make it look as though I actually know what’s going on, but if you remember I haven’t actually met the patients yet. A bit dangerous, wasn’t it, to announce that I’m going to help make this operation “a sure-fire success”?’
Leon threw a look over his shoulder, as if he expected some sort of reason for her mood-change to appear before him. He looked back at her, more warily this time. ‘What do you mean? You’ve done this kind of operation dozens of times before.’
‘Not on a conjoined twin with a shared aortic valve.’ She gave him a knowing look, indicating that it wasn’t wise to make promises you weren’t sure you could keep. Like, for example, proposing marriage when you didn’t want to be married.
Or did he...?
Pregnancy hormones, Lizzy was beginning to realise, could quickly become exhausting.
‘Hey. Where’s this coming from? You’re an excellent surgeon.’
Leon reached out to touch her arm, but she pulled it back before he could touch her. She could see what he was thinking. That it wasn’t like her to be insecure. And he would be right. She wasn’t. She was a strong, independent, very happy, not to mention incredibly well-adjusted woman, who didn’t need the most gorgeous man in the universe, whose child she happened to be carrying, to make her feel better.