she was looking at him, her mind was elsewhere.
On the question she wanted to ask?
It was looming larger and larger in his mind, so
surely it was swooping around inside her head.
MEREDITH WEBBER
35
‘We’re going in?’ he asked, and she nodded, though
she indicated the outdoor area with a wave of her slim,
thin-fingered hand.
‘Could we sit outside?’
He was still thinking about her hands—he’d noticed
them in Theatre, where, even gloved, they’d looked…
aristocratic somehow.
‘Of course.’
The waitress seated them at a corner table, close by
a rambling vine that drooped tiny purple flowers, drop-
ping them when the wind rustled through the leaves so
a vagrant few rested in Grace’s golden hair like tiny am-
ethyst gemstones.
Theo opted not to tell her, sure she’d be annoyed by
such frivolous beauty and brush them out.
‘I’ll have the lamb,’ Grace announced, one minute’s
perusal of the menu enough for her to make up her
mind. The decisiveness fitted what he knew of her. He
ordered moussaka—wondering if she could tell as
much about him from his order. A man of habit—that’s
about all she’d gather.
‘So, the question?’ he prompted when the waitress
had disappeared to the kitchen with their orders.
She seemed startled, then, to his surprise, she
blushed.
‘It should be easy for a person as blunt and plain-
spoken as I am,’ she muttered, looking more embar-
rassed by the second, ‘but it’s not that kind of question.’
‘Oh?’
He wasn’t going to help her. He was already regret-
ting agreeing to this dinner. Getting even mildly entan-
gled with a particular member of the team wasn’t on his
36
THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE
agenda. His private life was just that, private, and he
wanted to keep it that way.
‘It’s personal—very personal—and you’ll think I’ve
got a cheek, a terrible cheek. And presumptuous—very
presumptuous.’
She stopped and tried a smile that failed dismally,
although something about the pathetic attempt struck
Theo as brave—valiant.
‘Perhaps if I explained, just a little about myself—
no, that won’t work, it’s better just to ask. The thing is,
you see, I badly want a child. I’m thirty-five and
running out of time, and while I’m here in Sydney is
the ideal time to get pregnant and I wondered, if you’d
mind—if you had no objections and I know it’s a totally
outrageous thing to ask, but you’re everything that
would be fantastic—I wondered if I could use…’
The floundering stopped as suddenly as it had started
and, scarlet-faced, she stared at the far corner of the
courtyard, swallowing convulsively.
‘Don’t mind me,’ she managed a little later. ‘I’m an
idiot! Let’s just forget all about it and eat.’
‘Except our meal hasn’t arrived,’ he told her, speak-
ing quietly and gently for he could see she was genu-
inely upset. Somehow she’d convinced herself that
whatever it was she wanted to ask was OK, yet when
it came to saying it, she’d baulked.
What could have been so outrageous?
He tried to remember what she’d said, but the words,
spoken so quickly in her crisp South African voice, had
all run together and he’d been more interested in
watching her face and seeing her mounting embarrass-
ment to really listen.
MEREDITH WEBBER
37
‘Moussaka?’
‘Mine,’ he told the waitress, then watched as she
placed the lamb dish in front of Grace.
‘Perhaps a bottle of wine, the Newnhams Shiraz,’ he
suggested, more to the waitress than Grace. Neither of
them would be involved in Theatre the following day,
and the alcohol might help Grace relax.
Though why he was worrying about her, he didn’t
know. She was a self-confident, thoroughly together
woman—and very capable of getting her own way. His
presence in this restaurant right now was evidence of
that.
Had he ordered the wine to dull the impact of dinner
with her? Grace wondered, thinking how idiotic she
must have sounded, words somersaulting out of her
mouth, tumbling over each other and making no sense
at all. She couldn’t even remember how far she’d got,
her embarrassment so acute her cheeks had been
burning!
She tried to concentrate on her meal, which looked
and smelled delicious, but she was afraid her hands
would shake when she picked up her knife and fork.
‘Ah, wine. Try this. It’s not well known—in fact, the
restaurant gets it from a small producer so you won’t
find it in bottle shops. You do drink wine?’
Even if she’d been a lifelong and committed teeto-
taller she’d have agreed to try it. Anything to stop this
man thinking she was a complete klutz!
She nodded and watched as he poured the ruby-
coloured wine into her glass, then she picked the glass
up and lifted it towards him, trying desperately to be-
have normally, although despair had taken over every
38
THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE
cell in her body as she’d finally realised just how stupid
her idea had been.
‘To your stay in Australia,’ he proposed, and Grace
acknowledged the toast with a dip of her head. Tiny
flowers fell forward onto the table and, realising they
must be in her hair, she lifted a hand to brush them out.
‘Don’t,’ he said, reaching out his free hand to catch
hers in mid-air. ‘They look so pretty.’
‘Pretty?’ she echoed, the despair finding voice in bit-
terness. ‘That’s the last thing anyone’s ever called me.’
Still holding her hand, he brought it down to the
table, where he rested it, leaving his lying negligently
on top of it.
‘The flowers are pretty—they’re pretty in your hair,’
he said, and her bitterness deepened. ‘But you, you’re
way past pretty—you’re beautiful.’
He raised his glass again then took a sip of the wine,
but she was too flabbergasted by what he’d said to even
think about sipping hers.
Beautiful?
He must want something.
She was good-looking, she knew that, even attrac-
tive most of the time, but her mouth was too big and
her nose too long for beauty and she was too tall…
She shook her head, denying his assertion, and
sipped some wine, then wiggled her hand out from
under his and tucked it under the table where she had
hoped it would stop remembering the feel of the weight
of his and the texture of his skin.
Eventually!
‘Eat!’ he ordered, and by now she was too confused
to do an
ything but obey him.
MEREDITH WEBBER
39
The meal was delicious, the wine smooth and mel-
low, slipping down so easily he was filling her glass be-
fore she realised she’d emptied it. They talked of the
hospital, of the genesis of the paediatric surgery unit at
the hospital called Jimmie’s, its future, and the people
in the team. Doctors and nurses, Theo classified them
all for her, every one of them good in their own way but
each with special talents.
‘And your future—after your time in Sydney?’ he
asked as the waitress took her plate and she’d said no
to dessert. She sat back to enjoy the rest of the wine in
her glass, more relaxed than she could believe possible.
‘I’ll go back home. I’ve been offered a place on a
similar team in Cape Town. My father lives there and
as he’s not getting any younger I want to be near him.’
‘Family’s important,’ Theo agreed, and whether it
was the wine, or that simple statement, or just that she
really, really needed to find out if he was the one, she
found herself explaining once again.
‘My father is to me,’ she said. ‘He brought me up.
My mother died when I was too young to remember
her, and though he was a busy man—he was an ortho-
paedic surgeon—he always had time for me, time to
read me a story at bedtime, and to listen to my worries
and concerns, and to encourage me to do better, and to
help me with my studies.’
She paused, wondering what effect this sudden out-
pouring of information was having on her companion, but
Theo was leaning back in his chair, sipping his wine, if
not absorbed in her conversation at least listening politely.
So she barged on, anxious to get it said once and
for all.
40
THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE
‘It’s because of him I want a child—well, partly be-
cause of him. He’s seventy at the end of the year and I
know a grandchild isn’t a normal kind of birthday
present, but you have to understand my father. He can
trace his family back for generations—back to the
Scottish Jacobite rebellions, and further, even to the
Vikings who conquered parts of Scotland from time to
time. His grandfather emigrated to South Africa, but my
father has always been interested in his Scottish heri-
tage—in family. But with my mother dying, and him
not marrying again, he was left with an only child and
one who, at the moment, looks like being the end of the
line. I know he’s proud of all I’ve achieved, and he’d
never think less of me for not having a child, but deep
down I feel I’ve let him down by not producing one—
not producing someone to carry on his bloodline.’
She sneaked another look at Theo but he hadn’t
fallen asleep neither was he yawning with boredom.
‘As I said, I’m thirty-five so I haven’t got much time,
quite apart from his milestone birthday being this year.
Which is what I wanted to ask you—being single and
not in a relationship and all. I considered IVF but I don’t
really want an unknown donor and there’d be no re-
sponsibility on your part, of course, it would be like you
gave at the sperm bank—’
‘Grace!’
He didn’t yell her name but he said it with enough
force to stop her in mid-flight.
‘Yes?’
He’d abandoned his wineglass and his relaxed pose
and was leaning forward across the table, frowning
fiercely at her.
MEREDITH WEBBER
41
‘Are you for real? Are you honestly sitting there,
asking a virtual stranger—we only met yesterday, after
all—for some of his sperm? Why not ask some hobo out
in the street? For a few dollars you’d probably get all
you need. Better still, go down to the beach and ask
some of the board-riders—they’re outdoors all day,
healthy—’
‘Stop! What you’re saying is ridiculous. Of course,
what I asked was ridiculous as well, but you’re a doctor,
you should understand. If I know where it’s come from
I have some idea of genetic qualities. Yes, I know it was
stupid to ask you when we’ve only just met, but I’ve
thought about—about getting, you know, into a kind of
relationship with someone so I could do this, but I’m
not good at flirting and I’m a disaster with relationships,
and anyway going to bed with someone I didn’t like just
to get pregnant seemed wrong somehow, quite apart
from the fact that if I did get pregnant I’d feel guilty, as
if I’d stolen something from him.’
‘And asking a man for some sperm over dinner
seemed OK?’ His voice, crisp with disbelief, seemed
to echo around the outdoor space. She knew she was
blushing fiercely again and that made her even an-
grier—mostly with herself, but surely this man could
have been just a little more understanding!
‘Of course it’s not ideal but when would be? Think
about it—halfway through a team meeting can I say,
“Would one of you guys mind obliging?” And, anyway,
most of the team are married and having a biological
child by someone other than their wife, even if they
didn’t acknowledge it, could cause problems in their
marriage. I’m not totally insensitive!’
42
THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE
delight in her embarrassment. ‘I must say it would
enliven team meetings no end for you to suddenly come
out with a request for a sperm donor.’
‘It’s all very well for you to joke,’ Grace snapped,
hating him more and more for she’d never found it easy
to deal with teasing. ‘But this is a serious problem for
me.’
She sank back in her chair, swigged down the rest
of the wine, and sighed.
Theo looked at her, reading the dejection in her pose,
the embarrassment that lay behind it, and seeing also,
behind the façade of confidence, the motherless little
girl who wanted nothing more than to please the father
she obviously adored.
It was the little girl who sneaked through his defences,
although when he replayed Grace’s rationale in his head
he suspected there was more to her wanting a child than
she’d said. Oh, it had sounded very sensible—but was she
using her father’s desire to see the family line continued
to hide her own longing? He’d seen her at the hospital—
seen the way she looked at the small patients—and
wondered if she felt it would weaken her somehow to
admit she wanted a child for herself?
He sighed.
‘Look, I’m sorry for teasing you, and I do see how dif-
ficult it must be for you, but if you’ve thought this
through at all, you must realise that the chances of you
getting pregnant right
off from one…er, donation are
very slim. What are you going to do then? Ask someone
else?’
She stared at him, such horror in her eyes he knew
MEREDITH WEBBER
43
immediately she hadn’t considered the possibility of
not getting pregnant straight away.
‘But I ovulate regularly and I’ve been tested and I’m
still producing viable eggs so if I time it right, why not?
People get pregnant accidentally all the time, so surely
if I stick to the right date, so will I.’
Theo shook his head at her desperate protest.
‘Are you really such an innocent?’ he demanded, then
was sorry when he saw the colour creep into her cheeks
again. And although he found her blushing attractive he
was sure she hated it, so he regretted he’d embarrassed
her.
‘Of course not!’ she said indignantly, but he heard a
lie in the words. Then she shrugged her shoulders.
‘You must think I’m stupid—stupid for not realiz-
ing. Even more stupid for having such a pathetic idea—
a baby for a birthday present…’
She stood up, adding, ‘Let’s go. I’m paying,’ in the
kind of voice he heard from her in the hospital—cool,
efficient, in control.
But not totally in control for her handbag had fallen
from her lap, spilling its contents on the floor.
She bent to gather things, obviously flustered, and
he bent with her, picking up a lipstick tube, thinking
how attractive she was when her mask of self-control
slipped. And suddenly the idea of being a sperm donor
for this woman didn’t seem such a bad idea, although…
‘There, I think that’s it,’ he said, pressing a small
pack of tissues into her hand, touching her fingers,
looking into her clear eyes, the full lips so close he
could have kissed them.
Tension he didn’t understand built between them,
44
THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE
growing stronger by the second until he had to diffuse
it—or kiss her!
He let her pay the bill, and as they left the restaurant
she turned back towards the hospital.
‘Aren’t you living on Kensington Terrace?’ he asked.
She nodded, as if still afraid to speak in case she said
something more she’d regret.
‘Then you don’t have to go back to the hospital. We
can walk across the park.’
‘Do you live in that direction?’ she asked, studying
him now, suspicious…
‘I don’t, I live closer to the city, but it’s not much