Playboy Doctor to Doting Dad (8 page)

Abby grinned in sympathy for Kieran. He was learning breakfast wasn’t as straightforward as he’d previously believed.

Time to rescue the man. Back in the kitchen she placed Seamus in his highchair and put his toast in front of him before grinning at Kieran. ‘I heard you getting your instructions from little miss bossy britches.’

Kieran placed a mug of tea on the table in front of her. ‘I never knew making toast could be so difficult. I hope your
tea is to your satisfaction?’ He grinned back before looking over to the highchair.

His eyes fixed on Seamus poking food into his mouth and over his cheeks. A mask of indifference hid whatever he truly felt about his little boy and the situation he found himself in. Were his feelings good ones? Or did he still want nothing to do with the kids? Her heart squeezed for Kieran and Seamus. They needed time together, lots of it.

Seamus dropped a piece of toast on the floor. Wrong way up, of course. And Kieran grimaced. It didn’t seem to register with him there was a mess to clean up.

Abby grabbed a dishcloth and wiped the floor. He mightn’t have leapt in to do it but looking at Olivia’s jam-covered toast now cut into squares, albeit very large ones, he seemed to be getting the hang of breakfast under his niece’s tutelage.

Abby asked cheekily, ‘Do I get any toast?’

Kieran dragged his eyes around to her. ‘Coming up. Squares or oblongs? Jam or honey?’

‘Definitely squares and jam. What about you? Have you eaten?’

He ran a hand over his chin. ‘I think I’ve just gone off toast. I’ll head away to ED in a moment.’

Abby grinned to hide the flutter in her tummy. He looked totally unlike the perfectly turned-out doctor with a streak of jam now decorating his chin. She reached over with a paper towel and wiped it clean. ‘Rule number one with children. Never go out before checking in the mirror. You’ll be surprised what you might find.’

Something like horror filled his eyes and he quickly checked his immaculate, crease-free shirt front, flicking a crumb off his tie.

She laughed. ‘Relax. You’ve managed to stay clean despite everything. Now go. I’ve got to get these two ready.’

‘Now who’s the bossy britches?’ he muttered.

‘You’re welcome to stay and help some more.’

‘I think not. You make it look so easy and I’m learning it’s not.’

‘I’ve had more practice,’ she quipped without thought to the ramifications.

‘To be sure, and whose fault is that?’

Tea splashed over her hand as she jolted from the shock of his suddenly harsh tone. So, Kieran’s good mood had been a facade. And the guilt she’d tamped down overnight swamped her again. He would never forgive her.

Abby dashed into ED, pretending to herself she wasn’t looking out for Kieran. She wanted to avoid him for a while if at all possible. For the whole day would be better but that would be asking too much. ‘Hi, Sally, sorry I’m late but it was a disaster zone at my house this morning.’

That had to be the understatement of the century. For some inexplicable reason Olivia had demanded that she stay home with Grandad instead of going to the crèche workers. Abby had delivered one very grumpy little girl to the crèche. Thank goodness Seamus seemed happy enough to be there with his little friends. At least Kieran had left before all the fuss had started. It might’ve kept him away permanently. She sighed. She was being unfair again.

All the way to work she’d thought about him, how his usual confidence had been undermined by the children. Would he have coped better if it had only been Olivia he’d had to contend with? Was it because of finding himself a father that he was outside his comfort zone?

Sally tossed a file on the desk in front of Abby. ‘I thought you might’ve given our new boss a lift to work for his first day since he’s part of your family.’

Abby dropped onto a chair. She’d given the guy dinner, a son and probably a headache. She didn’t need to give him
anything else. ‘I don’t think he’d be happy squashed into my car among car seats and kids.’ Or within touching distance of her.

Sally grinned at her. ‘Here I was hoping Dr Flynn might not have gone to his new apartment last night.’

Abby snatched the file up and jerked it open. ‘I know. You only want to see me happily married.’ They’d had this conversation so often Abby knew the lines off by heart. ‘Do me a big favour, drop the whole Kieran thing. For ever.’

One thing for sure, Kieran seemed to have way too many hang-ups when it came to family and commitment for her to consider him for the role of husband. But Sally didn’t know the score and Abby just couldn’t bring herself to explain. The tension in the back of her head wound tighter.

‘For now.’ Sally looked around the department. ‘Can you give Barbara a hand?’

‘Sure.’ Something other than Kieran to focus on.

‘But where is Dr Flynn? I’d have thought he’d be the type to always be early.’ Sally flipped through some files, her gaze fixed somewhere out in the department.

Abby shook her head at her friend. This was what Kieran did so well; how he got everyone in a twitter. Then she saw Sally’s eyes widen and her mouth slide into a beautiful smile. And she knew without looking around that Kieran had arrived. If he could do this to a sane, married woman, what chance did anyone else have?

What chance did she have?

She turned and faced him, but he was too busy introducing himself to Pete and Rose to see her. The interns were drinking up every word Kieran uttered. ‘Making fools of themselves,’ she muttered.

Damn but the man knew how to work a scene. She looked to Sally for some sanity and was sadly disappointed. ‘Stop drooling, it doesn’t suit you.’

‘Why not? Everyone else is.’ Sally grinned. ‘Look at those eyes, that body. Are you sure I’m married?’ Then she nudged Abby. ‘You’ve got a patient. And if I didn’t know better I’d say you were interested in Dr Charming. Why else are you still hanging around the station?’

She wouldn’t lower herself to answer. If only Sally knew the half of it. Kieran hid so much behind those twinkling eyes. He gave away nothing of last night’s turmoil at meeting his son for the first time. Laughter carried across the department and caused Abby’s stomach to roll over agonisingly. She had to admire his nerve. His world had been rocked right off its axis and no one watching him now would ever guess how he felt about that.

‘Hey, Abby, Darren Shore’s here again. He’s had a wee disagreement with his skateboard.’ Barbara took care as she helped a lad onto the bed in a cubicle.

‘Hi, Darren, Jim.’ Abby nodded at the weary man already slouching in the chair on the other side of the bed. ‘Can’t trust those skateboards not to want to go their own way.’ Abby noted Darren’s careful movements. ‘Where does it hurt?’

‘Here.’ Darren tapped his wrist gingerly. ‘And here.’

The ulna. Two breaks? Or transferred pain? Abby carefully slid the sleeve of Darren’s shirt up and felt the swelling of his wrist. A massive bruise covered most of his arm. ‘We’ll send you for an X-ray after I get a doctor to look at you and sign a form. First we’ll clean you up, see how much skin you’ve removed. What did you crash into this time?’

‘The concrete wall by the school gates.’

‘Guess you came off worse than the wall, then.’

‘Yeah. Ouch.’ The boy sucked in a mouthful of air.

‘Let’s give you some Entonox to take away the pain and make you feel happy.’ Abby handed Darren a mouthpiece attached to tubing leading from a gas tank. ‘Take a deep breath of that every time your arm hurts. I think you need a stitch
or two in your head to stop the bleeding.’ A large bruise had formed there.

Barbara slipped out of the cubicle, saying, ‘I’ll go find a doctor.’

Darren squinted up at Abby. ‘Is my arm really broken? I’ll still be able to ride my board, won’t I?’

‘No, you won’t.’ Darren’s father spoke for the first time. ‘That damned board can go in the rubbish. I’m tired of you coming off it and hurting yourself. There’s not a day goes by that you’re not covered in bruises.’

More bruises? Abby glanced at Darren’s legs but he wore jeans.

‘Dad, no. You can’t throw my board away.’ All pain was momentarily forgotten as Darren sat up and glared at his parent. ‘Gramps gave it to me for my birthday and he’ll go bonkers if you take it off me. It’s a really expensive one with the best wheels you can get.’

Jim growled, ‘I’ll deal with your grandfather. Believe me, that board is trash.’

Abby gently pushed Darren back against the pillow. ‘Let’s get you patched up, and worry about the board later.’

‘I’m going home to hide it.’ But Darren’s bravado quickly evaporated as pain struck again.

Abby began swabbing the cut on Darren’s head, noting an older bruise above his eye. An earlier skating accident? ‘Do you wear protective gear? Like a helmet, for starters?’

‘Yes. Dad won’t let me go out without it.’

‘He’s right. You don’t want to injure your head.’ Abby noticed purple swelling on the uninjured arm. ‘Darren, I want to remove your jeans and examine your legs.’

His father growled, ‘Spends more time falling off than actually riding the damned skateboard.’

Abby could sympathise with both of them. Darren was obviously full of spirits and not put off by his accidents, but
what parent would be happy about always taking their child to get stitched up? She’d hate seeing Seamus or Olivia hurt. She might be hiding the skateboard, too, despite knowing life was about getting out there and taking risks.

Taking risks? Like she did? The biggest risk she’d taken since getting engaged to Phillip had been flying to Ireland for the funerals. Then her grief had been so crippling she hadn’t thought about dealing with Customs and Immigration and all the things people had warned her about. She’d just clung to her sisters and followed the arrows.

The cubicle curtains swished open, revealing a confident Kieran with a boggle-eyed Barbara in tow. Another victim. Careful, or you’ll be dribbling. Abby sighed. As if she could talk. From the moment she’d met Kieran she’d fallen under his spell. Even if he hadn’t been so good looking and sexy, he only had to open his mouth and speak in that lyrical accent and her knees weakened.

‘I hear some stitches are required.’ Kieran spoke into the sudden quiet.

There, just as she’d thought. The Irish lilt. Her knees were ready to dump her on the floor, despite her wariness of him. ‘Darren, this is Dr Flynn. Darren’s one of our regulars. I’m just going to get his file. I want to check on something. Barbara can assist you, Doctor.’

His brow creased but he didn’t try to stop her leaving the cubicle that felt as small as a kennel with five people crammed in there. Especially with Kieran present, all the air seemed to have disappeared. She needed to put space between them before she became a brainless ninny. She’d better get over herself. And especially get over Kieran. At least the accusatory tone Kieran had directed as he’d left her house had gone, no doubt put aside for a more suitable time.

Darren’s file lay in the in-tray at the nurses’ station. Sinking onto a chair, she read through the notes recording a previous
broken arm, and on three separate occasions he’d had cuts requiring stitches. No mention of bruising. So why the excessive bruising today? Her heart slowed. She didn’t like to think about what the sudden onset of severe bruising could mean.

Pete sat down beside her to write up notes on his patient. Peering at her file, he asked, ‘Why are you interested in that?’

‘That Darren’s file?’ Kieran asked from above her.

‘Yes.’ How had she missed his approach? She thought she had extra-supersensory feelings whenever Kieran was around. Looking up, she saw him watching her intently. What did he see? Someone suitable to bring up his niece? And his son? Or a woman who he’d once enjoyed a few special hours with? What did he remember of that night in Dublin?

‘Are you worried about Darren? You seem a little distracted.’

Of course she was distracted. Who wouldn’t be in the circumstances? With a flick of her ponytail she focused on their patient.

‘I’m not sure. Darren falls off his skateboard a lot. But I can’t find any record here of severe bruising associated with previous injuries. He’s got bruises in more places than I’d expect from this morning’s accident.’

Pete said, ‘He’s a boy. Of course he’s always falling off and getting bruised. Nothing sinister there.’

But Kieran took her doubts seriously. ‘Are you worried that there might be a medical cause?’

‘Yes. I think we should be investigating further.’ She didn’t go as far as to say what tests she’d do if it was up to her. Occasionally even she knew when to keep quiet.

Pete muttered, ‘If Dr Flynn has checked him out, why are you concerned?’

‘Abigail has a valid point. Darren’s bruising is abnormal. It doesn’t hurt to take another look. Better to find she’s wrong
than send the boy away with an illness we overlooked. Always listen to your staff. They see things you might not.’

Abby knew Pete would give her a hard time about this later, but it felt good to have her concerns taken seriously. After all, she did have some knowledge about these things.

‘I’m going to take a blood sample from Darren. Clotting factors and a blood count. Is that what you had in mind?’ Kieran cocked an eyebrow at her.

‘Yes. But I hope I’m wrong about the diagnosis I’m considering.’

Unfortunately she wasn’t. The lab rang within an hour.

‘Darren has leukaemia.’ Kieran’s jaw tightened. ‘We’re sending him to Day Stay for a pathologist to do a bone-marrow aspiration to determine the type.’

Abby’s heart squeezed for Darren and his father. Their lives were about to be turned upside down and inside out. Their situation was unimaginable for any parent.

‘I’d better go and tell Jim.’ Kieran stood as though glued to the floor. His hand dragged down his cheek. ‘I hate this part of the job.’ Then he muttered something like, ‘And today it seems worse.’

‘Want me to come with you? Or sit with Darren while you take his father to your office?’ Abby didn’t know how she’d cope if anyone ever had to tell her something as devastating about Seamus or Olivia.

‘How does a parent deal with this?’ Kieran croaked.