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‘OK, don’t get in a state. It’s not good for you at your age.’
‘My age?’
And so it went on until Brooke felt as though she’d never had a happier day in her life. And Toby was enjoying himself, too, petting the dogs until Brooke was afraid they might be fed up with the attention.
By the time they’d said their goodbyes and piled into Jed’s car, it was ten o’clock and Toby had been asleep for hours on the Matthews’ comfortable sofa.
‘Your family are wonderful,’ Brooke said softly as they lifted the sleeping boy into the car and drove back down the lane, Jed cursing fluently under his breath as his car lurched into potholes.
‘Did you have a nice time?’
She nodded. ‘You know I did.’
‘You seemed happy.’
She smiled in the darkness. ‘I was.’
And it was true. At some point during the day she’d stopped feeling like an outsider and started feeling as though she were a part of that wonderful family, and it had felt so good.
‘Your mum is lovely.’
Jed nodded. ‘She missed us so much when we were all in London. Now she’s got two of her boys living in the same county she’s a happy woman. She loves nothing better than having hordes of people around her kitchen table.’
‘Does she ever—’ Brooke broke off as the car in front of them braked suddenly, skidding across the road and exploding through a low stone wall before coming to a halt in a field. ‘Oh, my God! Jed!’
‘Stay with Toby! And call an ambulance!’ Jed ordered, jerking on his handbrake and leaving the car at a run.
Brooke fumbled in his coat pocket for his mobile phone and called for an ambulance, before checking that Toby was still asleep. Anxiously she glanced at Jed and realised that he probably couldn’t see a thing because of the darkness. Praying that he wasn’t too territorial about his precious car, she slid across into the driver’s seat and started the engine, driving it a few yards along the road to the safety of a gateway and putting the headlights on full beam.
‘At least now he should be able to see what he’s doing,’ she muttered, checking Toby again before leaving the car and sprinting towards the accident.
Jed was still trying to open the passenger door, his foot planted on the car as he tried to get more leverage.
‘Someone help us!’ The man in the driver’s seat was obviously conscious and in pain, and Jed redoubled his efforts.
‘We’re doing our best. The door must have buckled on impact.’ He braced himself and then yanked at the door with all his strength. It groaned and opened reluctantly with a sickening sound of tearing metal. Jed glanced over his shoulder and glowered at Brooke. ‘You shouldn’t be here! It isn’t safe to leave Toby in the car.’
‘I’ve moved the car off the road,’ she told him briskly, ‘and I’ve locked it. He’ll be fine and you need help.’
‘Get my wife out.’ The man was sobbing now, panic evident in his face. ‘Get my wife out.’
‘We’ll get both of you out, sir,’ Jed said calmly, feeling the woman’s pulse and frowning at Brooke.
‘What’s the matter?’ She was by his side in an instant and he lowered his voice so that the woman’s husband couldn’t hear.
‘There’s a hell of a lot of blood here and I don’t know where it’s coming from. Damn, the light’s non-existent!’
‘She’s pregnant.’ The driver spoke again, his voice little more than a groan. ‘My wife’s pregnant.’
‘How pregnant?’ Jed asked urgently, loosening the woman’s seat belt and glancing up as the shriek of an ambulance siren cut through the night air. ‘How pregnant is your wife?’
‘I can’t remember—about twenty-five weeks, I think. Yes, twenty-five weeks.’
The woman groaned and Jed crouched down beside her, his voice calm. ‘You’re all right, I’m a doctor. What’s your name?’
‘Linda.’ The woman winced and stifled a sob. ‘The pain’s terrible.’
‘OK, we’ll do something about that straight away,’ Jed assured her, glancing up as the paramedics sprinted across to them, carrying powerful torches.
