Their Marriage Miracle by Sue MacKay

That only gave him more to worry about.

Chapter Five
    A FTERNOON surgery lasted until a little after four. Fiona repaired the harelip on the ten-year-old boy who should have had the surgery when he was a baby and there were two patients for skin grafts.
    Fiona went to see young Shaun Elliott and his parents in his room after she’d finished in Theatre.
    ‘How is he?’ his father asked. ‘I mean, did the operation go well, or will Shaun need more surgery in the future?’
    ‘I’m very confident we’ve done all we can for him. Unless something goes wrong over the next few weeks Shaun has had his last skin graft. I also tidied up that scar that runs across the back of his hand.’
    ‘By something going wrong, you mean infection, don’t you?’ Shaun’s mother asked, her worry causing a frown. ‘He had a problem with that last time and it took for ever to heal. It’s so hard to see him putting up with the pain and trying to keep his hand still.’
    Fiona nodded. ‘Yes, I’m referring to infection, and because of his history I’m giving him a heavy dose of antibiotics right from the start.’ Fiona looked down at the tiny figure under the bedcovers. ‘He’s small for his age. Does he eat well?’
    ‘He’s always been a picky eater,’ his mother replied. ‘It doesn’t matter what I put before him, he doesn’t get excited about food.’
    ‘Maybe when Shaun’s got over this operation you should look into that. I know children can be fussy about food, but he needs to be eating well. The infections he gets might be explained by the fact he’s lacking in nutrients and vitamins.’
    ‘I’ll give him a check-up while he’s here.’ A familiar voice cut across the room.
    Fiona spun around. She hadn’t heard Tom arrive. Her heart thumped at the sight of his tall frame filling the doorway.
    ‘If that’s all right with you both?’ Tom asked Shaun’s parents.
    ‘Absolutely. We’ve taken Shaun to our family doctor, but she tells us not to worry, that he’ll grow out of it in time. But we are worried. He turned seven last month, and at his party I couldn’t believe how much all his friends ate compared to him.’
    Seven. Fiona looked at the boy, who had the body size of a small five-year-old. His cute face, despite being pale, made her itch to reach out and smooth back the fair curls lying on his forehead. Her heart squeezed. ‘Seven years old. It’s such an innocent time of life.’
    Although not for Shaun. He’d had to deal with the results of an accident for more than a year now. But it wasn’t this particular seven-year-old she thought about. Liam would have been turning seven in two months time. Her fists clenched, and then she felt a hand on her shoulder, gentle fingers pressing through her clothes. Turning, she met Tom’s intense gaze, saw the understanding there.
    Tears pricked her eyelids. A crazy, out-of-place reaction. She hadn’t been this bad for a long time. She dropped her head, stared blindly at the floor, striving for control. She didn’t need sympathy. Especially not from Tom. It would be her undoing.
    With a quick toss of her head, she said vaguely in the directionof the boy’s parents, ‘I’ll call in again later tonight to check on Shaun.’
    Then she left the room and walked rapidly along the ward, determined to get away from Tom for a while. A walk in the grounds would be just the thing. The fresh air would clear her head after a big day in Theatre. Fresh air and time alone.
    But, wrapped in the thicker of the two jerseys she’d brought and her jacket, she couldn’t stop the images of Tom popping into her mind as she wandered around the expansive hospital grounds. All day he’d acted as her assistant, a highly competent one too, with an uncanny knack of predicting what she needed almost before she did. Then there was the way patients responded to him during ward rounds. He’d lightened up a lot over the intervening years, but his manner still remained firm and definitely