He hung up the phone but stood there staring at it for what seemed a long time.
‘Problem?’ Kate asked.
‘Not for me.’ Connor’s voice sounded curiously thick. He cleared his throat. ‘She’s not even my patient.’
‘Oh?’
‘Little girl up in the ward. Lucy. She’s seven and she’s got leukaemia.’
Kate had finished her photography. She should dictate all her findings about the coronary arteries so she could complete her paperwork accurately later, but something wasn’t making sense here. Something Connor had asked about what was involved on his part.
‘Do you know her?’
‘I’ve seen her. Totally bald from her chemo but she’s got the biggest smile you’ve ever seen. Gorgeous kid.’
Something tightened in Kate’s belly. An unpleasant sort of tightness which wasn’t the sort she was used to associating with thoughts about Connor. This wasn’t the first evidence that he liked children, was it? How had she managed to push that so far to the back of her head?
She stared at Connor and something must have shown on her face because he looked away.
‘She needs a bone-marrow transplant,’ he said. ‘The family all lined up but they found a better match on the register. Me.’
Kate’s jaw dropped. ‘You’re on a register to donate bone marrow?’
‘Yeah… Been on it for a long time.’
‘Have you ever made a donation?’
‘Nope. This’ll be the first.’
‘So you’re going to do it?’
‘Sure.’ Connor sounded surprised. ‘Wouldn’t you?’
‘It wouldn’t even occur to me to get tested in the first place to go on a register.’
‘Don’t you donate blood?’
‘Of course I do. But that’s nothing. They don’t have to drill holes in my pelvis to get it out.’
Connor shrugged. ‘Be a bit sore for a day or two, I guess. I don’t mind.’ He met Kate’s stare. ‘It’s not a big deal.’
Was he kidding? It was a huge deal. Even for a close family member it would be a big deal to go through a bone-marrow donation, but Connor only knew this child by sight. By her smile.
The depth of care he gave his own patients was something that had blown her away, but this showed an even greater compassion. Was this kind of involvement instinctive for him because of how much he loved children?
What would he be like if he had children of his own?
He’d be an amazing father, that’s what.
Maybe he couldn’t wait for that to happen and that was why he got so involved with the children of total strangers.
The tight feeling inside Kate became sharper. Like a knife that was twisting and turning. Her voice came out much more sharply than she’d intended, as though that knife was real and not emotional.
‘I can’t believe how involved you get with your patients. With other people’s patients, even.’
Connor seemed to grow taller. He was frowning. ‘What are talking about?’
‘I’m talking about the things you do for kids. Like riding a motorbike into a ward, for God’s sake.’
