From Duty to Daddy by Sue MacKay

*
    ‘Another scorcher of a day,’ Marshall said as he pushed Aimee’s stroller along the footpath.
    ‘Hope Dad remembers his sun block. The number of times he’s come home off the lake redder than a strawberry is unbelievable, considering he’s a family doctor supposed to be warning his patients about the dangers of melanoma.’
    ‘Did you become a doctor because your father was one?’
    The things Marshall didn’t know about her. ‘In some ways I guess I did. I liked the way he helped people and could make them better. The community spirit of general practice also appealed. But I honestly can’t remember a time I wasn’t going to do medicine. At ten I thought surgeons were the best then at twelve I liked the idea of radiology. Pathology followed until Dad pointed out how isolated pathologists could be.’
    ‘I can’t quite see you sitting behind a microscope all day.’
    ‘No, I’m definitely more of a people person and being a GP suits me, though I toyed with the idea of specialising in emergency medicine right up until I found out I was pregnant.’
    ‘Did that have anything to do with your time in Honolulu?’
    ‘You can wipe that cheeky grin off your face.’ She playfully whacked his biceps and wished she could wrap her hand around it. ‘Yes, you made the ED exciting for me.’ When his grin stretched further she shook her head at him. ‘Not the after-hours stuff back in our rooms but the nitty-gritty urgency of traumatised patients. I liked not knowing what was coming through the door in the next moment. I loved being tested again and again. It was stimulating.’
    ‘So why change your mind because you were pregnant?’
    ‘I wanted to have my baby in Taupo and there isn’t a big hospital with a major emergency department here. Also, being a solo parent didn’t faze me but I preferred to be near Dad. He brought me up on his own. I wanted him to be a part of Aimee’s growing up.’ Please leave it at that.
    Of course he didn’t. ‘I looked this place up and saw that there’s a major hospital down the road at Rotorua. Not too far away from your father.’
    She’d spent too much time in Rotorua Hospital having treatment to ever want to work there. ‘I considered it and flagged the idea.’ So he hadn’t just hitched a ride down to New Zealand on a whim. He’d done some research. Interesting. But how far should she go with what she told him? He was leaving in a few hours and she didn’t know if he’d ever come back. Did he even need to know about her illness unless everything went pear-shaped?
    ‘Are you a partner in the medical centre?’ After looking along the road both ways, he edged the stroller over the kerb to cross the street.
    ‘You’re a natural at this kid stuff,’ she teased, and laughed out loud at the stunned look on his face.
    ‘You reckon? I’ve never taken a toddler for a walk in my life.’ The stunned look became slightly smug and his chest puffed out a little.
    ‘Hidden talents. Who’d have thought?’ Then she pointed to a building further down the road. ‘There’s your rental company. And, no, I haven’t taken a partnership but Dad’s thinking about retiring soon and the other partners are keen for me to buy him out.’
    She genuinely wanted to pay the going rate for Dad’s share of the practice but so far hadn’t been able to convince him of that idea. He kept telling her it was her inheritance and he didn’t need the money anyway. ‘We’re also looking for another partner. Patient numbers are growing rapidly and it’s hard to turn people away when they need our help.’
    ‘I can understand that.’ They’d reached the rental place. He stepped away from the stroller. ‘I’ll go and sort this car business out.’
    She watched him saunter through the gleaming cars lined up facing the road. He walked with his back straight, his head high, shoulders back. Like a soldier. Her pathetic hint about another partner at the centre had been a waste of breath.