‘Thank you,’ Gina whispered, and with a last, uncertain glance down at the table she started to move away.

Then she paused. Her finger dropped for a fleeting moment to trace the tiny cheekbone, to just touch…

‘Fight, little one,’ she whispered. ‘Fight.’

And then she was gone.

‘That’s one amazing doctor,’ Emily said as she left, and Cal could only agree.

‘Yeah.’

‘Charles said you knew her five years back.’ Em was still concentrating but she had room to cast a curious glance at her friend. ‘He’s saying she’s your lady-rat.’

‘Leave it, Em.’ Dammit, he couldn’t think of what else to say. And it was none of her business.

Since when did privacy considerations ever stop anyone in this place sticking their nose in anyone else’s business? It certainly didn’t stop Em now.

‘Charles says there’s a little boy.’

‘Leave it, Emily,’ Cal snapped again-harder-and Emily had the temerity to grin.

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Is he yours?’ Grace asked from behind them, and Cal groaned.

‘Look, this is my business.’

‘Hey, we’re your housemates,’ Emily told him. ‘And Mike says there’s something really funny going on. He’s laying odds on this being your son-but no one’s taking bets until we’ve seen him. So tell us, Cal. Save us our betting money. Is it true?’

They were still working, but the atmosphere in the room had lightened by about a thousand per cent. Something about a tiny heartbeat that was steady and growing stronger by the minute was making even such a serious subject sound frivolous.

‘You might as well tell us. You know we share all your dearest concerns,’ Emily told him, and Grace choked.

‘That’s another way of saying we have a right to stick our nose into whatever we like.’

‘I don’t know how you do it, Cal.’ For once Jill was also smiling, the nursing director’s tight personality unbending a little in the face of this shared triumph. ‘Having all your concerns shared. Ten medicos living in the same house…’