‘She is.’ Daniel placed his hand under her elbow as he led her away from the desk.
Ellie drew in a quick breath, trying to stem the nervous fluttering of her heart, but it refused to quieten down. It was as though Daniel’s touch had set off a chain reaction, ripples of awareness flowing from where his fingers lightly gripped her arm and spreading throughout her entire body. It was hard not to show how alarmed she felt when he stopped and looked at her.
‘However, between you and me, Eleanor, I’m trying to cut down the amount of work Beth is doing. She’s eight months pregnant and this is her last week in work before she goes on maternity leave, so I don’t want her overdoing things and making herself ill. If she’s showing you the ropes, at least I know that she isn’t rushing around all over the place.’
‘Oh, right. I see.’ Beth carefully withdrew her arm, stifling a wholly ridiculous feeling of disappointment. Of course Daniel was more concerned about his long-time colleague than he was about her!
‘I knew you’d understand.’ Daniel treated her to a strangely intimate smile before he led the way along the corridor. He stopped at one of the doors, tapping lightly on the beechwood panels before opening it. ‘Beth, I’ve got Eleanor with me. If you can show her how we do things, as we discussed, that would be great.’ He gestured for Ellie to step forward, winking at her as she passed him. Ellie felt a rush of warmth engulf her. It was as though they were two conspirators sharing a secret and she had to admit that she rather liked the idea. She was smiling when she stepped into the room and the pretty, fair-haired woman seated behind the desk smiled back.
‘Hi, Eleanor. It’s good to meet you. Come on in and make yourself comfortable.’ She chuckled, her hazel eyes filled with mischief as she glanced at Daniel. ‘This is going to be your room next week, so it will give you a chance to try it out for size. Anything you don’t like tell the boss. I’m sure he’ll do everything possible to sort it out!’
‘Don’t go putting ideas into Eleanor’s head,’ Daniel retorted. ‘She’ll be giving me a list of things she wants before I know it.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Like that singer who demanded a basket of kittens to play with in her dressing room before she would go on stage and perform!’
‘Oh, you don’t need to worry about finding me any kittens,’ Ellie said, completely deadpan. She waited a beat then grinned at him. ‘I much prefer puppies!’
Everyone laughed, Eleanor included, and it was such a shock that she found it hard to believe what was happening. She couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed, couldn’t recall when she had felt so light-hearted. Ever since that dreadful day when she had found Michael and Stacey together, her world had been filled with darkness, but all of a sudden it felt as though the gloom had lifted and it was all thanks to Daniel. Even if they were destined to be no more than colleagues, Ellie knew that she would be grateful to him for ever for that.
* * *
The morning flew past. Ellie was surprised by how differently things were done at The Larches. Although there were all the usual forms to fill in, the surgery offered a range of services to its patients that hadn’t been available on-site where she had worked before. She mentioned it to Beth when they stopped to drink the coffee Marie had made for them.
‘It’s all down to our location,’ Beth explained, blowing on the hot liquid to cool it. ‘It takes almost an hour to reach the nearest hospital on a good day and far longer than that if the weather’s bad. A lot of patients both here at The Larches and at Hemsthwaite can’t undertake that kind of a journey. That’s why Daniel fought so hard to secure funding to provide more facilities on site.’
‘So what else do you offer?’ Ellie asked as Beth paused to sip her coffee. ‘You said that several consultants from the hospital hold clinics here—did you mention something about a dentist as well?’
‘Yes. That’s right. We have an arrangement with a dental practice—they see patients here once a week. The same goes for the optician—patients can make an appointment to see him here on a Wednesday,’ Beth explained and grimaced. ‘Dratted Braxton Hicks contractions. They woke me up this morning. I was not pleased either as it was the first time I hadn’t had to get up through the night to go to the loo.’
‘What a nuisance,’ Ellie said sympathetically. ‘Daniel said that you only have a few weeks before your baby is due.’
‘Hmm, three, although first babies are notoriously late.’ Beth wriggled around, trying to get comfortable, and Ellie frowned.
‘Are you sure they’re Braxton Hicks? You do seem to be in a lot of discomfort.’
‘Oh, I’m sure it will pass,’ Beth said, levering herself up off the chair. She let out a gasp as water suddenly gushed out from between her legs.
‘I doubt it!’ Ellie exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Putting her arm around Beth’s waist, she helped her to the couch and got her settled. ‘It looks as though it’s the real thing so let’s get you out of those wet undies and have a look. If your waters have broken then it won’t be long before your baby’s on its way too.’
‘I can’t believe this!’ Beth exclaimed, wriggling out of her sodden underwear. ‘I should have another three weeks before the baby arrives.’
‘It’s easy to get confused about the dates,’ Ellie said soothingly, lifting Beth’s skirt so she could examine her.
‘But I’m not confused. I know exactly when I got pregnant. It was the night before Callum went away. It couldn’t have happened any other time because we hadn’t spoken let alone made love for almost a year before that!’
‘Oh.’ Ellie wasn’t sure what to say, and Beth sighed.
‘Callum and I split up last year. We’d been trying for a baby for the best part of three years—ever since we got married, in fact—but it just didn’t happen.’ Her voice echoed with pain and Ellie’s heart went out to her.
‘It must have been difficult for you,’ she said quietly.
‘It was. We tried fertility treatment but it didn’t work, and in the end the constant pressure of hoping that this time we’d get lucky proved too much.’ Beth bit her lip. ‘Callum told me that he couldn’t handle it any more and that he wanted a divorce.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Ellie said sincerely. ‘It must have been awful for you both, although surely it made a difference when you found out you were pregnant?’
‘I was thrilled, thrilled and shocked that it should have happened right out of the blue like that. As for Callum, well, I’ve no idea how he feels, although I can guess.’ She laughed harshly. ‘I wrote to tell him I was pregnant, you see, but he’s never bothered to reply. I think that says it all, doesn’t it? No, this baby’s my responsibility and no one else’s.’
She broke off as another contraction began. Ellie frowned, wondering how she would have reacted in similar circumstances. She sighed because the likelihood of her having found herself in the same position was zero. Michael had been fanatical about making sure she didn’t get pregnant. At the time, Ellie had thought it was because he had wanted to do the right thing, make sure they were married before they embarked on parenthood. Now she wasn’t so certain any more. Had Michael been desperate to avoid her getting pregnant so that it wouldn’t impact on him?
It was something Ellie knew she needed to think about but not right now. Now she needed to focus on Beth and the baby. She waited until the contraction had passed then examined Beth again. ‘You’re already about six centimetres dilated so your baby’s definitely going to make his appearance very soon.’
‘Oh, no!’ Tears filled Beth’s eyes. ‘It’s too early! I couldn’t bear it if something went wrong now. I’ve waited so long for this child.’
‘Nothing is going to go wrong,’ Ellie assured her, mentally crossing her fingers that she wasn’t tempting fate. Delivering Beth’s baby wouldn’t