“We ask for a new one at the start of any assessment. It’s perfectly standard, I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.”
Of course there wasn’t but that was hardly the point. The health authority was hardly going to let him practice medicine at their hospital if he had been barred from working with children for any reason.
“How long will that take?”
“I’m afraid I can’t answer that. Where were you working?”
Adam named the small African nation he’d lived in for the last six months. “Will that be a problem?”
“I don’t see there being any problem but we do have procedures we must follow. I’m so sorry, I’m sure this isn’t the news you were hoping for.”
That was the understatement of the century. His neat and tidy life had turned into a tornado of feelings and thoughts swirling around, threatening to suck him down and under. Adam refused to go under, he needed to pull himself together and focus on proving he was the right person to care for his niece.
Because he wasn’t going to lose another member of his family.
#
Adam’s proud head dipped as though conceding defeat, his face ashen. Penny wished she hadn’t added to his misery by jumping to conclusions instead of asking questions. She’d presumed he was a rich brother too busy on holiday to care about his sister.
It wasn’t like her to be so judgemental but she had sat with the baby every day since the day after she was born. Her visits had given her ten days to hope no family members could be traced and she could take the baby home—forever.
Penny’s heart already belonged to the little girl she dressed warmly to combat the stinging cold wind coming off the north sea that swept through the car park of Seacrest Hospital.
Adam obviously felt a sense of duty towards the baby and she could understand that, but duty was no substitute for love—she knew that better than anyone else.
“So,” Megan said, pulling papers out of her bag. “We need to work out a contact schedule. Are you happy to supervise contact, Penny?”
Penny blinked. Supervise contact between Baby and Doctor Gorgeous? She hated herself for the nickname that had immediately lodged itself in her brain but it absolutely suited him.
Tall, dark and with dimples deep enough to park bicycle tyres in, he had the type of looks that would make even the most self respecting patient check her appearance in a mirror before he did his rounds.
Of all the people to fall in lust with, it would have to be him. Someone so totally off limits and out of bounds it wasn’t funny.
No, Megan would have to find someone else to supervise the contacts. She was way too busy to spend time with Adam Reynolds. Which was why it was such a surprise to hear herself saying, “No problem, how many times a week are you thinking?”
“I think three times a week to begin with.” Megan smiled at Adam. Penny bit her lip, the interaction between Adam and the pretty social worker shouldn’t bother her. But it did.
For once, it would be so nice to have a man look at her with desire instead of giving her a quick once over and deciding she wasn’t worthy of more attention. Her friends insisted men were scared off by the group of children she always had with her, but Penny didn’t think that told the whole story.
“Three?” Adam cocked an eyebrow towards the statuesque brunette. He was clearly accustomed to getting his own way. “I can’t visit every day?”
“I presume you’ll come back to work at the hospital now you’re home? Three times a week should be enough for now, we can always increase the time you spend with Baby if your assessment is progressing well.”
“I was thinking of working part time. If I’m going to be a single father, I’ll need to adjust my lifestyle.”
Penny watched emotions play across his handsome face before his customary shuttered look wiped all trace of shock, guilt and remorse from his features. She wondered if he even knew he showed how he felt or whether he thought he was successful in keeping his innermost thoughts secret.
She glanced at the large clock on the wall of the unit. “Sorry, guys, but I’m really going to have to get Baby home. The other kids are with my neighbour and I need to get back to them and get Baby settled.”
Adam opened his mouth as though to say something, frowned and changed his mind. No doubt he was going to insist he should be the one to care for his niece because she was already busy with the other kids. She’d heard that a million times before. She was busy, a single parent, already had ‘a lot on her plate’. Luckily for her, the local social services department knew her well and were well aware of what she could and couldn’t cope with.