Louisa Heaton – Winter Wonderland Wishes: A Mummy to Make Christmas / His Christmas Bride-to-Be / A Father This Christmas? (страница 10)
She could do with some sun. A long, relaxing swim at the beach or in a pool was just what the doctor ordered. With no preference, but also no idea where to go, she looked up some local beaches and public pools on the internet.
The beach, she discovered, would mean a thirty-minute tram trip to Glenelg, or there was a pool about a ten-minute cab ride away in Burnside. She opted for the pool.
Searching in her suitcase, she found her floral bikini, sarong and sunblock. She slipped on the bikini, stepped into her denim shorts and popped a white T-shirt over the top. Then, with a good book, a towel, a wide-brimmed hat and a bottle of water in her beach bag, she called for a cab.
Phoebe had found a perfect spot on the lawn area, adjacent to a huge shade cloth and overlooking the pool. She surmised the sun would get intense later, and she would shift into the shade, but she wanted to enjoy a few minutes of the warm rays and assist her vitamin D intake.
The pool was picturesque, with huge gum trees and parklands surrounding the fenced area. There were quite a few families and some small groups of young mothers with babies enjoying the peaceful ambience of the late morning. Children were laughing and splashing in the crystal water of the wading pool and more serious swimmers were head down, doing lengths of the main pool.
Phoebe had spread out her large blue towel and set up camp. She had spied the fruit in the refrigerator before she’d left home, so she had packed an apple and some strawberries in with her water. Slipping out of her shorts and T-shirt, and putting her hair up atop her head, she strode across the lawn and climbed into the water for a long, relaxing swim.
She was right—it was just what the doctor had ordered. Quite literally.
She lay on her back, lapping the pool slowly and looking up at the stunning blue sky through the filter of her sunglasses. Her worries seemed to dissipate—not completely, but more than she had imagined they would when she had alighted from the plane just a day earlier.
Fifteen minutes later she climbed from the pool and dried herself off with her sun-warmed towel before she spread it out and sat down. With her sarong beside her, in case she needed to cover up, she put on her floppy straw hat, pulled out her book and flipped the lid on her sunblock. She thought of how if she was back in Washington she would be trying to get the ice off her windscreen—instead she was about to cover herself in sunscreen. Perhaps there was justice in the world—or at least a little compensation in the form of sunshine.
She poured a little lotion into her palm and began to rub it over her shoulders.
‘Phoebe?’
Phoebe spun around to see Heath standing so tall he was blocking the sun. His chest was bare and his low-slung black swimming trunks left little to her imagination. Beside him was the cutest little boy, with the same blond tousled hair, dinosaur-patterned swim trunks, and a very cheeky smile. But very different eyes. While Heath’s were the most vivid blue, his son’s huge, twinkling eyes were a stunning deep brown.
‘Hello, Heath,’ she managed, a little shocked to find him in front of her, and a little more shocked by how gorgeous he looked in even less clothing than the day before.
‘I didn’t expect to see you here. I didn’t think you’d actually take my advice about getting some sun and a swim.’
‘It sounded like a good idea,’ she replied, trying not to show how embarrassed she felt in choosing the same outdoor pool as Heath. He had described the city as a large country town, but now she wondered how small Adelaide was to have found them in the same place. ‘And I do need to get some vitamin D.’
As she said it Phoebe realised she was wearing only a string bikini, and suddenly felt very self-conscious. She hadn’t thought twice about it with the other pool guests, as she didn’t know them, but for some reason she felt more exposed in front of Heath. She wanted to reach for her sarong and bring it up to her neck, but realised how silly she would appear.
Heath sensed that Phoebe was feeling awkward in that very brief and very stunning bikini. He had witnessed her discomfiture the previous day, when she had been so intent on tugging her skirt into place. But suddenly his eyes just naturally began to roam her body. Every curve was perfect, he thought, before he quickly slipped on his sunglasses, then turned his attention back to his son. Where it had to stay.
‘Oscar.’ Heath began ruffling the little boy’s hair with his hand. ‘This is Phoebe—she’ll be working with me for the next month, while Grandpa gets better.’
‘Hello, Phoebe,’ the little boy responded. ‘You’re pretty—like Aunty Tilly.’
Phoebe felt herself blush. ‘Thank you, Oscar, that is a very nice thing to say.’
‘It’s the truth,’ he replied. ‘My kindy teacher isn’t as pretty as you, but she can sing really well. Can you sing?’
‘No, I’m afraid I can’t.’
‘That’s okay. Don’t feel bad. My grandpa can’t sing either—he tries in the shower, but it sounds terrible and the dog next door barks. He barks a
‘That’s because my voice is worse than Grandpa’s,’ Heath added, knowing his inability to sing Christmas carols had nothing to do with the quality of his voice. There was much more to it than that. ‘It’s best I don’t try or the dog next door might run away.’
‘You’re silly, Daddy. The dog can’t open the gate.’
Phoebe smiled at their happy banter. It was the first time she had seen a full smile from Heath. The other time there had been only the hint of a smile. She thought he should do it more often.
‘Can I go in the pool now? Can I? Can I? Please, Daddy?’ Oscar’s words became faster and louder as they came rushing out.
‘Sure can.’ Heath said, eager to move away from Phoebe in her skimpy bathing suit. ‘I hope you enjoy your time here today, Phoebe,’ he added before he took his son’s hand. ‘If you need anything we’re not too far away.’
‘Thanks, I’m sure I will be just fine.’
Heath positioned his sunglasses on the top of his head, nodded in Phoebe’s direction and then reached for his son’s hand and walked towards the water’s edge.
Phoebe suddenly felt a little shiver run all over her body. She ignored it. She had no intention of asking Heath for anything or paying any attention to her body’s inappropriate reaction to her boss. It was her hormones, simply out of sorts after the emotional rollercoaster of the last few months, she decided. Perhaps jet-lag was playing a part too.
She had worked with some very attractive medics over the years and he was just another one—nothing more, she thought as she reached for her book. Once Heath Rollins exited from the practice she would never see him again. And that was how she wanted her life to remain. No men and all about her career.
Heath loved being with his son. He always gave him one hundred per cent of his attention when they were together. Oscar was his reason for getting up every day, although he never let the little boy feel that pressure or carry that load. He didn’t want his family to attempt to change that dynamic or to question his reasons for still being alone five years after Natasha’s death. His choices were no one else’s business. He would cover for his father at the practice and then return to Sydney, where he and Oscar would live life the way he wanted. With no interference or futile attempts at matchmaking.
Heath knew that no woman would ever replace Natasha. And, even more than that, he thought every day of how Natasha had been denied the joy of watching her child grow into a man. Some days were harder than others. The sadness, the guilt, the emptiness … Aside from Oscar, Heath’s work was his saviour. It was a distraction that gave him purpose.
But today he felt as if someone else was pulling his thoughts away momentarily. Someone who was not only academically and professionally astute, and beautiful from head to toe, but whose humility appeared genuine. But, he reminded himself as he took Oscar to the bigger pool for a father-son swimming lesson, he barely knew her and he was happy with his life just the way it was. He had Oscar and he had his career and that had been enough for him for five years.
He slipped small brightly coloured goggles over his son’s eyes and held him securely, encouraging him to take big strokes and put his head under the water, and he didn’t look back in Phoebe’s direction. Not once.
Despite her best efforts, Phoebe couldn’t concentrate on her book. Initially she thought it was tiredness that made her read and reread the same sentence until there was no point continuing. But then she realised it was curiosity, or something like it, that drew her to glance back at Heath and his son. Through her sunglasses Phoebe could see how the two were incredibly close, and the love between them was palpable. Heath looked to be the perfect father, and watching them made Phoebe smile just a little.
She had never thought too much about having children. She’d assumed she would, and had looked forward to being a mother one day, but it hadn’t been a driving force in her life. Unlike some of her friends, who had set a date by which they wanted to have the picket fence and three children, Phoebe liked to live her life as it unfolded and had never been one to over-plan. She had spent so long studying, achieving her career goals through long hours at the hospital and in surgery, and then she had got caught up in the wedding …