Dr Right For The Single Mum

‘You’re facing this head-on,’ he added. ‘I really admire your determination and how positive you’re being.’

Laura looked down at her hands, which were clasped in her lap. ‘It’s not the first time Harry and I have faced a challenge. He was born nearly nine weeks premature and it was a bit touch and go here and there.’ Her breath came out in a sigh. ‘Apparently a low birth weight is one of the risk factors for hepatoblastoma. I’m glad I didn’t know that at the time. I had rather a lot of other stuff to worry about.’

Tom was curious to know what that other stuff had been but stifling any questions was automatic. He hated people asking him personal questions so he’d always made a point of not intruding on the private lives of the people he worked with. Having this conversation with Laura was well out of his comfort zone and it wasn’t just the subject matter. She looked different, being in civvies rather than the scrubs he was used to seeing her in.

She actually sounded different, too. ‘I learned then that you just had to get on with it,’ she said, her voice soft enough to make Tom lift his gaze to catch hers. ‘You get to choose some of the cards you play with in the game of life but others just get dealt out, don’t they? There’s nothing you can do about that except to play the absolute best game you can. And you have to fight for the people you love. For yourself, too.’

It was impossible to look away from those warm, brown eyes. She totally believed in what she was saying. Laura McKenzie was quite prepared to fight to the death for someone she loved. There was real passion there, mixed with that courage and determination. He was seeing a whole new side to the person he was so comfortable to work with and it was more than a little disconcerting because it was making him curious. Apart from being an amazing nurse and clearly a ferociously protective single mother, just who was Laura McKenzie? No... It was none of his business, was it?

The half-smile that tugged at one corner of her mouth made it seem as if she could read his thoughts and sympathised with his small dilemma.

But she was just finishing off her surprisingly passionate little speech. ‘I guess that’s the same thing, isn’t it? If you’re fighting for yourself that means you can’t do anything other than to fight for the people you love.’

Okay... That did it. Tom had to back off fast before he got sucked into a space he had vowed never to enter again. He didn’t want to think about what it was like to live in a space where you could love other people so much they became more important than anything else in life. That space that was too dangerous because, when you lost those people, you were left with what felt like no life at all...

He had to break that eye contact. And he had to move. Making a noise that was somewhere between a sound of agreement and clearing his throat, Tom slid off the corner of his desk.

‘I’d better get back to the department.’ He opened the door and there was an instant sense of relief. Escape was within touching distance. ‘As I said, we’ll work around whatever you need. Send me a copy of the chemotherapy calendar and I’ll make sure Admin’s on board for when you’re rostered.’

Laura nodded as she got out of her chair. ‘Thank you very much.’

Her formality was just what Tom needed to make things seem a little more normal. ‘It’s the least I can do,’ he said. ‘The least we can do. You’re a valued member of this department, Laura. We’ll all do everything we can to support you.’

* * *

Oh...help...

Where had that all come from?

Laura was cringing more than a little as she made her way back to the paediatric ward, where she’d left Harry happily watching a movie with his new friend, Aroha—a little girl with Down’s syndrome who had been admitted to be reassessed and prepared for heart surgery.

Prattling on about playing the best game you could with cards being dealt in the game of life had made her sound like the kind of inspirational quotes that went around on social media.

And what about the way Tom had been looking at her while she’d been saying it all? She’d never seen an expression like that on his face. As if he understood. As if that whole conversation had been very, very personal. That had felt weird.

Okay, Laura was well aware of how attractive Tom Chapman was. She’d heard plenty of women—staff members and even patients—who’d sighed over that combination of height, wavy hair, dark eyes and that killer smile. It wasn’t just his looks, either. He had a way of focusing on people that made it obvious he was really listening. That what you thought or what you had to say was important.

That he cared.

Surely there wasn’t a woman on earth who wouldn’t have her heart touched by feeling that someone really cared. Maybe that was why she had stumbled into saying things that were too personal. Too emotional. For the first time, Laura had been affected by this man’s personality on a level she’d never encountered before. She’d never thought of Tom as anything but one of the best doctors she’d ever had the privilege of working with. And a man she could trust not to come too close.

She took the stairs rather than stand with the group of people waiting for a lift to arrive. It could have been worse, she reminded herself as she began the climb to the third floor. She could have broken even more personal barriers and told him why Harry’s premature birth and the months that had followed had been such a challenge—a fight for her own survival as much as her precious baby’s.

It had been a long time since Laura had allowed herself to remember the horror of what had happened but it was inevitable that being on a staircase right now would set off those flashbacks she’d thought she’d conquered long ago.

The fear of believing that she was about to be hurt. Again. That the baby she was carrying could be in danger from its own father. Stepping back to try and find safety, only to feel that there was nothing beneath her foot, that she was falling and knowing in that same moment that the accusation that would come—that this was all her own fault—would certainly be true this time. Brent’s voice when the paramedics had arrived.

‘She just missed the step somehow... I tried to catch her but I couldn’t... She fell all the way to the bottom of the stairs... Is she bleeding? Is she going to be okay? What about the baby?’

Laura’s breath hitched as she pushed herself up the last flight of stairs. “The baby”—her precious Harry—had survived the emergency Caesarean and those weeks in the paediatric intensive care unit. He would never know about the night, just before he’d been allowed to come home, when Laura had stood up to his father during one of his alcohol-fuelled rages and threatened to call the police, and told him that she would do whatever it took to make sure her baby was safe from him. He had vanished from her life by the time she took her baby home and that was the start of a whole new struggle where Laura had to try and ensure that they both not only survived but thrived.

The early years had been incredibly tough but when she’d chosen to live with flatmates so that she and Harry weren’t cooped up in a tiny flat and so isolated, life had settled into something that was as good as it could get, as far as Laura was concerned. Harry had been so happy at home, especially after he’d started at the nearby school. Laura had found great friends in her flatmates and then their partners, and had two jobs that she loved equally—being a senior nurse in the Royal’s Accident and Emergency department and being Harry’s mum.

Laura pushed open the firestop door in the stairwell and walked towards the brightly decorated entrance to the paediatric ward. Totally out of the blue, she had a new challenge that was every bit as terrifying as when she’d sat beside that incubator in Intensive Care, praying that her baby would make it. And yeah... Tom probably thought she was flaky, talking about playing the best game of life that you could with the cards you had been dealt and how you had no choice but to fight for the people you loved, but...those words of hers had been true, hadn’t they?

At least Laura knew how to fight and that it was possible to win in the end.

She’d never been more determined that she was going to win a battle, either. Previous experience was helpful in reassuring her that she did have the strength. That, even if it felt like an impossible ask and you were on the brink of losing absolutely everything, you just had to keep going somehow—one step at a time—and eventually you’d find yourself on the other side. And it was going to be the winning side. It had to be.

For Harry.

And for herself.

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