‘Thank you for coming back,’ I said, gazing at him. I knew my love for him was written all over my face but I couldn’t help it. I was tired of being coy about my feelings and not wanting to admit how much I cared for fear of it not being reciprocated. I thought back to what Evie had said about how she and Darren had stopped communicating; I wasn’t going to make that mistake.

He smiled.

‘I think I’m destined to be your second doctor, whether you like it or not.’ He kissed the top of my head and started to get up. ‘I’ll get you some dry clothes.’

I held on to his arm to stop him from moving.

‘Did you mean it?’ I swallowed. ‘What you said earlier?’

‘About being really mad with you?’ His lips twitched. ‘A bit. I thought I’d lost you.’

I smiled. ‘No. The other thing. Did you mean that?’

His eyes softened and he cupped a hand to my face. ‘Did you?’

‘I asked first.’

He covered my lips with his. ‘I love you, Lottie. With all my heart. Satisfied?’

I traced a line down his beautiful face with my fingertip. ‘Completely.’

The sonographer opened the door to the same ultrasound room I’d been in last time.

‘Miss Allbright?’ she said.

‘Call me Lottie,’ I said.

She smiled and ushered us in.

‘Hop on the bed and make yourself comfy,’ she said. If she knew this was an emergency appointment due to an unspecified bleed, her tone gave nothing away. She was calm and unhurried, which was very reassuring. ‘I’m Rachel. And you are?’

‘Jensen, apparently I’m called the birth-partner.’ His eyes sparkled as he tugged my trainers off for me. ‘I can’t wait to see him again.’

‘Or her.’ I smiled back, even though my heart was crashing against my ribs with nerves.

‘I don’t mind what it is, do you?’ he said, plumping up the pillow before I lay back.

My heart leapt with hope. That sounded like the sort of thing, well, that a father might say. I shook my head. ‘Just as long as it’s healthy.’

This scan was just a precaution and as I’d been booked in tomorrow for a slightly belated routine twenty-week scan, it was agreed they’d fit me in while I was at the hospital. So far this evening, I’d been examined and poked and prodded and roundly told off for overdoing it. But I didn’t mind. The amazing thing was that the baby’s heart was beating as it should be. And the second amazing thing was that Jensen was here, by my side, not as a friend as he’d been last time, but as someone I loved and who loved me.