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‘Urgent message, Mr de Luca.’
‘What is it, Nicole?’ The expression on the young woman’s face suggested that his secretary was anxious. She was right behind him as he kept moving into his office.
‘A meeting at the Hunter Clinic at five p.m. With Leo and Ethan Hunter. In Leo’s office. Gwen said she’s checked your calendar and you’re available, so...’
The sentence was left hanging but Nicole might as well have finished it. The unsaid words were that no excuses would be acceptable short of the direst emergency.
‘Did she say what it was about?’
‘No. Shall I order a cab for you?’
‘I suppose you’ll have to,’ Rafael growled. He didn’t have any consultations booked at the exclusive Hunter Clinic that he could think of so he had no idea why it was suddenly so important to meet with the Hunter brothers this afternoon, and if he did have a space on his calendar, he’d much rather be spending that time with Ella.
Now he’d barely have time to eat the sandwich he’d just bought on the run for a late lunch. He dropped the plastic triangular package on his desk, along with the other purchase he’d made in the gift shop beside the café.
‘Oh, what’s that?’ Nicole’s face lit up with a wide smile. ‘It’s gorgeous.’ She reached out to pick up the huge teddy bear that was wearing a sparkly pink tutu and had pink ballet shoes on its feet. She hugged the bear. ‘I love it. It’s so soft and squishy. And huge. It must be just as big as Ella is now.’
‘Almost.’ It wasn’t really a baby’s toy either, but his Fiorella was growing up, wasn’t she?
‘I heard she was back. And that she’s doing well. That’s wonderful, isn’t it?’
‘It certainly is.’
Nicole put the bear down with some reluctance. ‘She’ll want to be a dancer when she grows up after she sees this. Look at those cute ballet shoes. Oh...I would have loved something like this when I was a little girl.’
A little girl. Not a baby any more. Yes... He had been shocked by how much Ella had changed since he’d last seen her. It was mainly due to such an improvement in her condition but three months was a long time in a baby’s life. She had more teeth and her smile looked different. Her hands were so much cleverer and her baby babble was beginning to have the inflections of real speech. She could stand up and even walk if someone held her hands. She’d barely been able to sit unaided when he’d last seen her.
He’d missed so much and that added another painful layer to the guilt he already felt at having left Abbie to cope alone in New York.
Rafael tried to shake his swift train of thought. ‘Order the taxi for four-thirty,’ he instructed Nicole, picking up the bear and depositing it in a corner of the office. ‘I don’t want to get stuck in rush-hour traffic. Anything else urgent I should know about?’
‘No.’
‘Good. I’ll get on with my clinic notes, then.’
Except that the pink bear sitting in the corner kept catching his peripheral vision. Making him think of Ella.
And of Abbie.
Would she forgive him for leaving her to cope alone in New York like that? For sending her away with the threat that their marriage was finished? It wasn’t the time to push too hard right now. Not when she was exhausted and trying to get settled back into being in London. When she not only had Ella to care for but she was starting work again as well. He wanted to help but between Abbie and the wonderful staff on the paediatric oncology ward there was nothing he could do there. It hadn’t gone down very well when he’d tried to lighten Abbie’s workload at the outpatient clinic this morning either.
And she didn’t seem to be making any effort to close the distance between them. She hadn’t even followed him into the room when he’d rushed in to see Ella yesterday, and ever since then it had felt like she was enclosed in a bubble. There but not there.
It was frustrating.
So was fighting London traffic to get to the Hunter Clinic by 5:00 p.m. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he could have gone home after this meeting because home was in Primrose Hill, about halfway between the Lighthouse and Harley Street, where the Hunter Clinic was located. But he had to get back to the Lighthouse as soon as he could because he still had patients to see, including Anoosheh. Apparently she was running a slight temperature and there was concern about potential infection. His entire day had run a little behind schedule thanks to taking on extra outpatients to ease the load on Abbie this morning.
Rafael desperately wanted to spend time with Ella, too. As long as possible. He wanted to give her the bear and see if it made her smile. If it didn’t, he would have to go looking for something else. What did make her smile these days? What did she like best of all to eat? What songs did she like to have sung to her?
There was so much he needed to find out.
And home wasn’t really home any more, anyway, was it? It hadn’t been, from the moment Abbie had walked away from that final, dreadful row, when he’d told her that if she took Ella to New York, their marriage was over.
Oh, her clothes still hung in the wardrobe and her books were still in the bookshelves. It was still the same gorgeous period-conversion apartment that they’d both fallen in love with and purchased in the week before their wedding. It still had the same fabulous view towards the Regent’s Canal and the bonus of the private courtyard garden that boasted a tree.
A tree they’d put a baby’s swing in to celebrate the six-month mark of Abbie’s pregnancy. A swing that had never been used. It had collected leaves in autumn and been filled with snow in the winter. Now it just hung there, too bright for a garden that had yet to blossom for spring. A cruel reminder of what could have been.
All these things taunted Rafael now so he spent as little time as possible in the apartment. He couldn’t stay there if their marriage was truly over. Maybe Abbie would want to live there with Ella. So that she could use the swing...
‘This is fine.’ Rafael rapped on the glass partition to alert the cab driver. ‘I can walk from here.’
Giving the driver a generous tip, Rafael took his briefcase and umbrella and strode down Harley Street, his long coat flapping. He should button it up to protect his suit because the leaden sky looked as if it could open at any moment but he was in too much of a hurry. The usual reverence the old buildings in this street instilled was gone, too. He didn’t even glance at any of the brass plaques that advertised the famous medical people who had once worked in these fabulous old buildings.
The facade of the Hunter Clinic, at 200 Harley Street, blended seamlessly with its historic neighbours but the interior made it look more like an exclusive hotel than a clinic. The heels of his Italian shoes tapped on a polished marble floor as Rafael marched through the huge reception area, past the inviting white sofas bathed in soft light from the table lamps beside them.
Only Helen, the senior receptionist, was on duty at the moment. In her late forties, Helen was always immaculately groomed and conveyed just the sort of welcome the clinic wanted. Capable, calm and compassionate. Weren’t those words in the clinic’s mission statement somewhere?
‘Mr de Luca.’ Helen’s smile held no disapproval of the fact that he was nearly ten minutes late. ‘How lovely that you could make it. They’re all ready for you in Leo’s office.’
Leo’s office? They were all ready for him?
What the hell was going on here?
Leo was the older of the two brothers—sons of the celebrated plastic surgeon, James Hunter. Rafael had never delved too deeply into the scandal that had surrounded James’s death. He only knew that it was through the tireless efforts of Leo that the clinic had survived and the cloud had been lifted from the Hunter name. He also knew that a huge rift had appeared between the brothers when Ethan had joined the army and left Leo to fight alone to save the clinic, but that was in the past, wasn’t it?
Ethan was back. And Leo had finally settled for one woman.
These were happier times for the Hunter brothers. So why weren’t they looking happy right now?
And what, in nome di dio, was Abbie doing here?
She looked pale. Frightened, almost. Rafael hadn’t seen her look like this since that terrible time when they had been waiting for the first results to find out what was wrong with their tiny baby. What had Leo and Ethan said or done to make her look like this now?
How dared they?
The need to protect Abbie was sudden and fierce. Rafael dropped his briefcase and umbrella on the nearest chair but he didn’t sit down. He didn’t take his coat off. Instead, he stepped behind Abbie’s chair and gripped the back of the seat.
‘What’s going on?’ he snapped.
Had they fired her? Because she couldn’t give the kind of focussed dedication to her job that she’d been known for before she’d become a mother?
Before she’d become his wife?
Surely not. Everyone here at the clinic, especially these brothers, had done all they could to support the de Luca family through the crisis. They’d given Abbie unlimited paid leave. Helped enormously with the logistical details and appalling expenses that Ella’s treatment in the States had engendered.
He shouldn’t have let them be so involved. This was his family.
He would look after them.
No matter if Abbie had been fired. He could support them. All of them. He would protect them. With his life, if necessary.
The Hunter brothers exchanged a glance. It was Leo who spoke.
‘Sit down, Rafael. Take your coat off for a minute. This won’t take long.’
‘I do not want to sit down.’ The anger was building rapidly. ‘I want to know what you’ve said to my wife to make her look so upset.’
He heard Abbie’s sharp intake of breath at his tone. Or was it the way he’d referred to her as his ‘wife’—as if she were some kind of possession?
Rafael closed his eyes and took a deep, inward breath as he deliberately dialled down his anger. Whatever was going on, becoming too passionate about it would only make things worse. Hadn’t he learned that lesson already?
Towering over everybody else in this room wasn’t going to help anything either.
Opening his eyes again, Rafael inclined his head in acquiescence that something clearly needed to be dealt with and he moved to lower his body into the empty seat beside Abbie.
He took a sideways glance at her, still concerned by how pale she looked, but Abbie was staring down at her hands. He wanted her to look at him so that he could send her a silent message that everything would be all right. He would deal with whatever it was that had prompted their summons into this office.
There was a beat of silence in the room and then Ethan cleared his throat.
‘We asked you both to come in this afternoon,’ he said into the silence, ‘because an issue has been brought to our attention that we thought needed urgent resolution. A complaint has been made—’
‘Che cosa?’ Rafael’s gaze jerked to meet Ethan’s. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘It’s not a complaint, exactly.’ Leo flicked an unreadable glance at his brother. ‘I would phrase it more as an expression of disappointment that a client feels strongly enough about to bring it to our attention.’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ Rafael snapped. ‘Is someone unhappy with my work? And why is Abbie here?’ The speed of his speech was increasing. So was the volume. ‘Nobody could have complained about her work because she hasn’t even been in the country for three months.’ Rafael shook his head in frustration and tried to calm down again. ‘Or is that what this “disappointment” is about? The fact that we have had to deal with a family crisis that has disrupted our ability to work?’
Again the brothers exchanged a meaningful glance.
‘You could say that,’ Leo said. ‘Sort of.’
‘Spit it out, man,’ Rafael growled. ‘I’m hoping to have enough time after my work to visit my daughter before she’s asleep for the night.’
‘Of course.’ Leo turned to smile at Abbie. ‘And can I just say again how wonderful it is to have you and Ella back? Especially when you’ve come back with such a great result.’
‘Thanks, Leo.’ Abbie’s nod was stiff. She caught Rafael’s gaze briefly then and he could see that she was just as mystified as he was by the reason for this meeting.
Ethan took his cue from Leo’s nod. He looked directly at Rafael, who had the strange impression that a game of ‘good cop, bad cop’ was going on here. And Ethan had been designated ‘bad cop.’
‘I believe you saw the MacDonald family at your outpatient clinic this morning? With their seven-month-old son, Angus, who’s now ready for admission for repair of his bilateral cleft lip and palate?’
‘That is correct.’ Rafael frowned. What on earth had the MacDonalds found to complain about? ‘They seemed perfectly happy to know how well the stretching and reshaping of the tissues has been with the taping and use of the retainer. He’s a good candidate for a single initial surgery to repair the defects in both his lip and palate.’
‘He’ll still need further surgery for cosmetic improvements, though.’ It was Abbie who spoke.
It was Abbie who’d first seen Angus back when the newborn had been brought down from Scotland by his distressed parents. She’d immediately called Rafael to share the consultation and reassure them that they would be able to achieve an almost perfect result for their son.
He nodded. ‘You can deal with that further down the track. And I’ll do the gum repair later. When Angus is around seven years old.’
Ethan had listened to the exchange and was shaking his head. Rafael glared at him. ‘The MacDonalds were delighted to know that their son can be admitted for the surgery as early as the end of the week. What is the problem here?’
‘The MacDonalds came to the Hunter Clinic for a private consultation within weeks of Angus being born,’ Ethan said. ‘Do you know why they chose us out of all the places they could have taken their baby for surgery after they’d decided they didn’t want to go on a National Health waiting list?’
‘We treat a lot of these types of cases,’ Rafael responded. ‘Our reputation is very good.’
‘No.’ It was Leo who was shaking his head this time. ‘Our reputation for dealing with this particular birth defect is the best. And you know why?’
Rafael met his gaze squarely. ‘My background in craniofacial surgery for paediatric oncology patients gave me a very good training that has easily transferred to birth defects.’ He shrugged, still puzzled. ‘I’m good at what I do.’
Repair of this kind of deformity that was so distressing to parents wasn’t just about the reshaping of bones and tissues, though, was it? How good the final result was was largely dependent on the skill of the plastic surgeon involved in the finer, external work.
‘And Abbie’s very good at what she does,’ he added. ‘The best, in fact.’
‘Exactly.’ Leo and Ethan exchanged a satisfied glance this time. ‘And therein lies our issue.’
Rafael raised an eyebrow.
‘You saw the MacDonalds this morning.’
‘Yes. You know this already.’
‘But Abbie didn’t see them. We understand that the case had been on her list, with a note to share the consultation with you. But you...ah...rearranged the lists this morning.’
‘Only so that Abbie wasn’t overwhelmed with work on her first day back.’
‘You also told the MacDonalds that you would be performing the whole surgery. Alone. That Abbie would not be available to work with you on the case.’
‘Ah...’ Rafael could feel Abbie’s stare. She wasn’t happy. But it had been her choice to let him shift the case onto his list this morning. Women! Dio... The way their minds worked was an unfathomable mystery sometimes.
‘The MacDonalds came to the Hunter Clinic because of the reputation that both of you have in dealing with a case like theirs. The emphasis here is on both of you. They’d heard about the Hunter Clinic’s “dream team.” Now they’re feeling...cheated.’
‘Look...’ Leo sounded uncomfortable. ‘We’re well aware of your personal issues but whatever problems you have need to be put aside in working hours for the benefit of the clinic, not to mention the benefit of our clients.’
‘There’s a waiting list of elective cases like this,’ Ethan added swiftly. ‘And an even longer list of potential charity cases. This is an incredibly common birth defect.’
‘We can’t support this separation at a professional level,’ Leo put in. ‘You have to be able to work together.’
‘We were working together,’ Abbie said. ‘This morning. And, yes, Rafe did take the MacDonald case off my list but I had the choice. I could have kept it.’
‘You’re missing the point,’ said Ethan. ‘It’s not a case of who gets who. Even a few minutes ago you were both talking about future surgery that Angus would need like it was some kind of “pass the parcel” game. That might be all very well with elective cases but what’s going to happen with an acute case? An emergency? Are you two going to be squabbling in a corner because you’re not professional enough to work on the same case? In the same theatre? Together?’
‘No.’ Abbie’s voice sounded strangled.
‘Of course not.’ Rafael was insulted. ‘That suggestion is ridicolo...’
‘You were a tight team,’ Leo said quietly. ‘The best. We want that back.’
‘Everybody knows how tough it’s been,’ Ethan said. ‘And we’ve all done our best to help but the worst is over now and the kind of disruption we’ve seen today can’t be allowed to happen again.’ He shook his head. ‘If word gets out that you two are not happy working together, it will cause untold damage to our reputation and we’re not going to allow that to happen.’
