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'Keekee hurt,' Phoebe said solemnly, her thumb in her mouth. 'Keekee poorly. Daddy cuggle Keekee.'
Keely met Zach's piercing gaze and immediately looked away, a hot flush spreading over her cheeks. Help. She didn't need the matchmaking attempts of a toddler, that was for sure!
'Daddy cuggle,' Phoebe said firmly, and Zach gave a grin and sat down on the edge of the bed, his daughter on his lap.
'Everyone seems to be matchmaking, don't they? First Ally and now Phoebe. Maybe it's time we listened to them.' He put his fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him. 'There's something I want to say to you and I need to do it quickly before A and E or some other wretched department rings and tries to drag me away.'
Her heart started to thump. 'Wh-what?'
'I want to tell you about Catherine. It's time you knew the truth.' Zach's expression was grim and he lifted his daughter off the bed in an easy movement. 'You, young lady, are going to play with the nurses for five minutes while I talk to Keely.'
Keely watched him leave the room, her brain totally jumbled. What was he going to say? She wasn't sure she could stand hearing him tell her just how much he'd loved his wife. She just wasn't up to it.
He returned a few minutes later without Phoebe and closed the door firmly behind him.
Instead of sitting on the bed, he walked over to the window, his body tense as he looked out over the mountains.
'I don't really know where to start, except to say that what I'm going to tell you now is between you and me.' His voice was low and she had to strain to hear him. 'I've never said this to anyone else and I don't ever want Phoebe to find out the truth.'
Keely stared at him. Find out what? What didn't he want Phoebe to find out about? What was the man talking about?
'After I finished my surgical job with your father I took another surgical job in a different London hospital, and that's where I met Catherine.' There was a slight pause. 'She was an orthopaedic surgeon and a very good one. In fact, she was brilliant. I admired her work, we went out a few times and then one night we'd both had a bit too much to drink and—well, let's just say that the result was Phoebe. She was a complete accident.'
Keely lay still, wanting to ask questions but not knowing where to start.
'But...I thought you were in love with her?'
'Well, I wasn't.' Zach turned round to face her, his broad shoulders blocking out most of the light in the little room. 'We were just colleagues really. But I respected her and we had plenty in common—or so I thought. I really believed we could make it work.'
'She was pleased to be pregnant?'
'Pleased? Catherine?' Zach gave a laugh that rang with bitterness. 'Catherine was a career-woman, through and through. She'd made up her mind never to have children. She was even considering being sterilised but, of course, I didn't know that when I met her. So, no, she was not pleased when she found out she was pregnant. She wanted a termination.'
Keely gasped, her eyes wide with horror. 'Oh, Zach...'
'I talked her out of it.' Zach's voice was gruff. 'I promised that I'd help, that she could still work, that we could have a nanny for some of the time. I asked her to marry me.'
Keely swallowed. 'And she did...'
'Yes, she did.' Zach sighed and rubbed his fingers over his rough jaw. 'But it was a mistake. I thought that once the baby arrived she'd settle down, but she was back at work two days after Phoebe was born.'
Keely gaped at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. 'Two days?'
'Shocking, isn't it? She hired a nursery nurse and went back to work—full time.' Zach's expression was grim and his blue eyes were suddenly hard. 'And when I say full time, I mean full time. She was never at home.'
Keely was finding it hard to grasp. 'But Phoebe...'
Zach gave a derisive laugh. 'She wasn't interested in Phoebe. She didn't want to be with Phoebe. As far as Catherine was concerned, Phoebe was just something that could ruin her career. Catherine wasn't there when she took her first step or when she said her first word—and she didn't care.'
'Zach, I'm so sorry.' Keely's voice was soft. She found it impossible to imagine anyone not being interested in their child. 'So what happened?'
He shrugged. 'Catherine spent less and less time at home so I spent more time at home to compensate. In the end I gave up on a career in surgery and switched to A and E because the hours were better. It meant that on most days I could be home to bath Phoebe and we had most weekends together.'
'And what happened to Catherine?'
Zach's jaw tightened. 'We muddled along for a while and then she accepted a job in the States—'
'The States? You mean America?' Keely's voice was a horrified squeak and he gave a wry smile.
