“Maybe they wait until the baby is in its own room.”
“I’m sorry.” She drew his head down to hers and kissed him, wanting to carry on but knowing the moment had passed—for her at least. “I should probably check on him.”
“Frankie?”
“Don’t, Lucas.”
“Don’t what? You don’t know what I’m going to say.”
“No,” she agreed. “But I know I’m not going to like it.”
“You do know that baby’s mother is going to come back? You can’t take him with you when you go back to England? He has family here.”
It wasn’t what she expected. But she was right. She didn’t like it.
“Don’t patronise me, Lucas.” She scrambled to her feet, turning her back on him and refastening her bra. “I know he can’t come home with me.”
“You’re getting too close to him. You need to…”
“He’s a tiny baby, Lucas. He has no one to care for him. I’m simply looking after him until something more permanent can found.”
“I worry you’re going to have your heart broken.” He got up and, standing behind her, pulled her back towards him. He kissed the back of her neck so softly it made her heart squeeze tight. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Frankie.”
She knew he wasn’t just talking about the baby, but she couldn’t—wouldn’t—admit that. It would be a sign of weakness and new Frankie didn’t do that. She might still hide difficult feelings, but she coped with them later instead of bottling them up as old Frankie had done.
Frankie longed for the fun, flirty vibe they’d had only moments earlier. Because this feeling, the horrible sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, reminded her all too clearly of how it felt to have her emotions hung out to dry.
#
Lucas got through the busy day by not thinking what had nearly happened between him and Frankie in the store room/private bedroom. He was right to challenge Frankie about the baby. She stroked and kissed his head more times that any nurse had a need to. Whether she realised it or not, she was acting like a parent, and that could only equal disaster for her further down the line. Especially when her emotions were already so raw.
Charles, their heart patient, had healed well and, despite his wishes to get up and about, he had adhered to Lucas’s strict policy of bed rest. Otherwise, Lucas was sure the older man would’ve been out building more bridges and carrying patients from one part of the island to the other.
“I’m thinking we can release you tomorrow,” Lucas told him. “But no lifting or anything strenuous. The heaviest thing you can lift, for now, is a cup of tea.”
“Yes, Doc, I need to stay healthy for my family. When I find them, that is. And I will.”
Lucas didn’t doubt Charles’s determination. But given no family members had turned up at the hospital asking for Charles, he had to believe there was no one left. “You definitely need someone to care for you.”
“My granddaughter, Victoria, is a good girl. She will look after me. Though, she will have her own little one to look after soon, of course.”
The pieces snapped into place in Lucas’s head and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t considered the possibility before now. “Victoria, you say? And she was due to give birth in the next few weeks?”
“Yes, that’s right. Have you seen her? Please tell me you know where she is?” Charles’s eyes became wet, his hand gripped Lucas’s.
“We had her here.”
“Had? Please tell me she didn’t pass. Oh, that baby, she wanted it so very much.”
“No, she had to have an emergency delivery, but she and the baby did well. In fact, you see that baby over there? That’s Victoria’s baby. Your great grandson.”
“The baby Nurse Frankie has?” Charles smiled, a tentative movement of his lips, as though he couldn’t quite believe Lucas’s words.
“The very same. Victoria said she wanted him to be named Edward before she left.”
“Where did she go? Why didn’t she stay to take care of him?”
“She told me she had no family left, that she couldn’t take care of him by herself, and she left the hospital early one morning. I don’t know where she went.”
“She will return.” Charles said with conviction. “Once she remembers herself, she will come back for him. I am certain of that. Perhaps she has gone to look for our family? Her husband, her parents, they would’ve been out working when the earthquake hit. Maybe they are safe?”
“It’s impossible to know right now. People are still trapped. Some are in camps in different parts of the island. Victoria, I know, felt helpless. That she was all alone and couldn’t offer anything to the baby.”
“The baby will have his mother’s love. I will look after him until she returns. To think, I held that little guy without knowing he was my own flesh and blood.”