What next, indeed?

Ryan sat at the table as Janet and Abbey talked across him, and he felt as if he’d been knocked sideways.

Why on earth had he made that offer?

To do a hip replacement here… in such a place…

It wasn’t that he doubted his ability to organise it. Routine procedures such as hip replacements were now left to those working under him and there were favours he could call in to get equipment and staff. It was just…

Well, this was his honeymoon, after all. He’d have to beg, borrow or steal equipment from a bigger hospital. Pull in favours from all over the place. It’d take a couple of days to get everything he needed. At a guess, Felicity would arrive just as he’d lined up Theatre.

Felicity would not be happy.

But Abbey was.

Ryan looked over the table and Abbey’s eyes were misting as she looked at her mother-in-law. And then Abbey turned to look at him.

‘If you could organise it, it’d be the best thing…’ she said, and her voice shook.

Ryan’s astonishment at what he’d just offered lifted a little.

He’d eased just a fraction of the load on Abbey’s slight shoulders and for some reason-well, for some reason he suddenly didn’t give a toss what Felicity would say. He had to do it. He felt lighter himself.

And then the phone rang.

One thing Ryan had learned early in medical school was that the most emotional moments of his life-or the most embarrassing-were always punctuated with the phone.

The mobile phone shrilled, and both Abbey and Ryan looked down at their waists.

Abbey grinned and held up her hands.

‘You win,’ she said, as Ryan flipped his phone open.

Then her smile faded as she watched Ryan’s face.