‘The doctor will be through to see you as soon as he’s examined her,’ a fresh-faced young nurse informed them.

Thankfully Ivy had been taken to University College Hospital so Holly knew the procedure. ‘I’ll give it a few minutes then I’ll go through to see what’s happening,’ she told her mother. ‘Most of the doctors here know me by now so I’m sure they won’t mind.’

The minutes ticked away as Emma and Holly paced the room like caged animals.

‘She’ll be fine,’ Emma told her daughter, who was clearly upset. ‘She’s young and strong.’

‘Yes … but she’s also pregnant,’ Holly exclaimed and promptly burst into tears. ‘That’s what I was about to tell you when she arrived at the flat.’

Emma’s hand flew to her mouth and for a moment she was so shocked that she was speechless but then pulling herself together she placed her arm about her daughter.

‘Well, at least you won’t have to worry now about telling her what you’ve discovered,’ she said. ‘There’s no way she’s going to want to go back to him after this.’

‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that,’ Holly told her between sobs. ‘I don’t think this is the first time he’s hurt her, in fact I know it isn’t. But she’s so besotted with him she always forgives him.’

A nurse appeared in the doorway then. ‘The doctor will see you now, if you’d like to come this way.’

Sniffing back her tears, Holly swiped her eyes and followed the girl to the doctor’s office. As they entered Holly was shocked to see that it was Richard.

‘B-but I thought you were still away,’ she gasped before she could stop herself.

Richard’s face had lit up at the sight of her and he smiled. ‘I was but there are three doctors off here with the flu at the moment so they asked for volunteers to come and help out. I was going to track you down tomorrow to tell you.’ And then seeing that she wasn’t alone he smiled apologetically at Emma. ‘I’m so sorry. Holly and I are … friends. But let me tell you about Miss Massey.’ His professional head was back on now as he steepled his fingers and rested his elbows on the desk before asking cautiously, ‘Were you aware that Miss Massey is pregnant?’

Holly nodded. ‘Is the baby … I mean, has she lost—?’

‘No,’ he assured her quickly. ‘At present the baby seems fine. She does, however, have a broken arm and also two broken ribs so she’s going to be in considerable pain and we’ll have to monitor her closely for a few days. Unfortunately a shock like this could cause her to miscarry but hopefully that won’t happen.’

Holly breathed a huge sigh of relief. It wasn’t the baby’s fault who its father was, after all.

‘So what can we do?’

He shrugged. ‘Apart from visit and bring in anything she might need from home not a lot at present, but she’ll need someone to keep an eye on her when she comes home until the ribs have healed. She’s gone to have her arm set at present and that could take some time so I suggest you go home and get some rest and come back tomorrow. But then, of course you will.’ He grinned. ‘You might even find yourself working on her ward. Do you think she might wish to press charges against whoever did this to her?’