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‘There’s just one thing, Luke …’
‘What’s that?’ Let’s hear it. Let’s get it over with.
‘Mommy!’ A human cannonball burst through one of the nearby doors, causing several of the security detail to jump out of their skins and slide their hands inside their jackets. It catapulted across the department in a flash of red and jumped straight into Abby’s automatically outstretched arms.
‘Reuben,’ she said as he wrapped her in a bear hug and smothered her in kisses.
‘Look, I’ve caught a crab!’ he shouted, holding his bucket aloft.
Luke hadn’t moved. He hadn’t breathed. The human cannonball had white-blond hair and pale blue eyes.
CHAPTER FOUR
FOR Luke it was like a blast from the past. He felt as if he were looking at an old photograph of himself and his brother. Carbon copies of each other, with their white-blond hair and pale blue eyes. And now this. Reuben. Like a little mini-me. He was stunned as a million thoughts catapulted into his brain at once.
Abby was engrossed in her son and didn’t seem to notice his reaction. When on earth had Abby had a child? And why didn’t he know about it?
For a second, just for the tiniest second, a wild thought flitted through his brain. It was like looking into a mirror. He tried to approximate Reuben’s age. Was he around four? Could, by some miracle, Reuben be his?
Almost as soon as the thought appeared, he shook it off. He was infertile. Tests had shown beyond any doubt that he was infertile. Reuben could never be his child. So whose child was he? And just how quickly had Abby moved on?
He cleared his throat, attracting her attention. ‘You have a son.’
‘Yes, yes, I do.’ Abby turned Reuben around in her lap to face Luke with a proud smile on her face. ‘Reuben, this is Mommy’s friend. He’s called Luke and he’s a doctor, like Mommy.’
‘Does he look after kids too?’
‘No, he looks after hearts.’
‘Wow.’ Reuben eyed Luke suspiciously for a few seconds before he obviously decided he must be okay. ‘Hi, Dr Luke.’
Luke watched the little figure Abby had clutched closely to her chest, his heart beating frantically. ‘Pleased to meet you, Reuben.’ He held his hand out to the little guy, who frowned at it before holding his own hand up for a high-five instead.
Luke slapped the hand held aloft and leaned closer. ‘How old is Reuben, Abby?’
‘He’s four,’ she answered quickly as she handed Reuben one of Nancy’s home-made cookies.
Four. A new sensation flitted through him. She’d replaced him almost instantly.
Fury started to build inside him. All rational thought was leaving the building. He was infertile. He couldn’t have kids. That’s the reason he’d broken up with her—because he couldn’t fulfil her dreams of having a family. And he hadn’t wanted to make her lose that chance.
And she obviously hadn’t. Abby had moved on and had the family she deserved. So why did it hurt so much?
He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. James Turner—the Man in Black. ‘We need to have a word.’
Luke nodded and scraped his chair along the floor as he stood, following James Turner to the nearby admin office.
‘There’s been a change of plan.’
‘She’s going to San Francisco?’ Right now, Luke couldn’t care less.
‘If only. No, there’s been a change of plan for you.’
‘What do you mean?’
James Turner had the grace to avert his eyes. ‘This has been a highly unusual situation.’
‘You can say that again.’
He raised his hand to stop Luke speaking. ‘Dr Storm, right now you are the only Presidential doctor in the vicinity. We have a range of protocols for these circumstances. The most important is that the First Family is looked after by doctors that are obviously well qualified but who have also been subject to our rigorous security checks.’ He looked along the corridor towards the cath lab. ‘Dr Blair is physically unfit to serve as the First Lady’s doctor right now.’
Luke nodded in agreement.
‘However, she is quite insistent that she values his opinion and wishes him to be consulted regarding her condition.’
‘That’s well out with my realm of expertise, Mr Turner. I’m happy to look after Dr Blair but I’ve no idea about the First Lady. To be honest, we’ve landed really lucky here. Dr Fairgreaves may be retired but he’s considered by many to be one of the finest obstetricians in America, so you would need to seek his opinion on the First Lady’s condition.’ Luke was in a hurry to get away. His mind was on other things. The ‘no ring’ thing didn’t mean Abby wasn’t married. He’d worked with lots of female doctors who didn’t routinely wear their jewellery to work. Was he going to have to make small talk with Abby’s husband?
The unimpressed voice cut into his thoughts. ‘I wouldn’t call this luck, Dr Storm.’
‘What?’
James Turner fixed him with a hard stare. ‘This is not a situation that I would deem “lucky”. In fact, I would deem this as anything but “lucky”, Dr Storm.’
Luke scratched his chin. He had no idea what was going on here but, to be frank, he’d other things to worry about right now, like whether or not Abby was married. He couldn’t possibly have any say in what happened with Jennifer Taylor. It was absurd. He knew nothing about obstetrics and only had a limited knowledge in paediatrics.
‘Our protocols say you have to be on staff, Dr Storm. I hope you packed enough for four days—or maybe longer.’
Luke felt a cold sweat breaking out on his body. ‘On staff? What does that mean? That’s ridiculous! I’m happy to take care of Dr Blair for the next twenty-four hours—as a professional courtesy, of course—but anything else, forget it. I’m not your man.’ He’d expected to have to stay overnight—but four days?
‘Actually, Dr Storm, you are.’ He waved a contract with a presidential seal at the bottom. ‘It’s in the small print. You can check with Captain Leon Gibbs if you want. He will clarify your position for you. No matter what your specialty, if you are the only presidential doctor available at the time, you have to stay on staff until a suitable replacement is found.’
‘But you’ve got a suitable replacement in Dr Fairgreaves!’ Luke’s voice rose to crescendo pitch. Leon Gibbs was the navy captain who was the head of the White House medical unit—the man who had recruited him. The man was terrifying on a good day. He really didn’t want to have to check anything with him.
‘He hasn’t had the necessary checks.’
‘And how long does that take?’
The corner of James Turner’s mouth lifted upwards. ‘Longer than four days.’
‘This is absurd!’
A flicker of exasperation passed over James Turner’s face. ‘Let me clarify exactly what I, and your country, expect from you, Dr Storm. You have to take care of Dr Blair. You have to make sure he is mentally competent to be consulted on Mrs Taylor’s condition. Anything that could compromise his ability to consult—procedures, medications, et cetera—should be notified to me. You also have to be sure that all decisions taken are medically sound. If you have doubts, you can feel free to ask the opinions of others that you trust—as long as they sign a confidentiality agreement, that is.’
‘So I’ve got to stay here for four days—or longer—until all this is over?’ Luke ran his hand through his hair. A few hours ago he would have given anything to stay here for the next few days. But now? He didn’t know what to think.
‘That’s right. You don’t need to be here. You just need to always be available to me.’ He handed Luke a new phone. ‘Don’t switch it off, Dr Storm, it has a tracker in it. Now I guess you’d better find somewhere suitable to stay.’ He glanced over in Abby’s direction. ‘Somehow I don’t think that will be too much of a problem, will it?’
Luke stalked back into the emergency department in time to see Abby kissing Reuben goodbye and waving out the window to him. He crossed to t
he window to see Reuben walking hand in hand along the coastal path with a young woman with long brown hair.
‘Who’s that?’
‘What? Oh, that’s Lucy. She’s my childcare worker and she’s awesome with Reuben. Childcare workers are like gold around here. I’m lucky to have her.’
Something twisted in Luke’s gut. It was clear Abby was besotted with her son. Was she as besotted with his father?
