HER MIRACLE TWINS Read Free Page A

her.
    ‘Ah, I see. So Michel brought you back to hospital, set up your treatment and then disappeared.’
    ‘He’s coming back this evening to check on me. How’s young Philippe?’
    Julia’s expression softened. It was always obvious that she adored her husband’s son from his first marriage.
    ‘He’s fine. Marianne—you remember our brilliant housekeeper who’s been with the family since she was sixteen? Well, she’s at home with Philippe. We told him we were going to see you but that he couldn’t come to see you this time because he had an early start tomorrow. School in the morning, so it was an early night tonight. Marianne was giving him supper when we left and we’ll be back in time to read him a bedtime story.’
    Chantal gave a nostalgic sigh. ‘I always loved the bedtime stories you and I had when we were staying together at your house or mine in Montreuil before Mum and I went to live in Paris, didn’t you?’
    Julia smiled. ‘We lived more like sisters in those days, just like our mothers had been, didn’t we?’
    Chantal giggled. ‘And because our mothers are identical twins I used to wake up sometimes in the night at your house, calling out for my mother. When your mother came in I was convinced she was mine. Oh, hello, Bernard.’
    Her cousin-in-law came over and kissed her cheek. ‘How are you getting on, Chantal? Are they treating you OK?’
    ‘I’m being spoiled rotten.’
    ‘Even by the exacting Michel?’
    Someone else was pushing open the door. Chantal watched as Michel advanced into the crowded side ward. He grinned as he overheard Bernard’s comment about him.
    Bernard shook his colleague’s hand. ‘Sorry, Michel, I didn’t know you were coming back this evening. Such devotion to duty.’
    Michel raised an eyebrow. ‘And on my day off too!’
    ‘Actually, we were just leaving. Promised to be back home before Philippe goes to sleep. He adores Marianne but there’s nothing like a paternal voice reading the bedtime story, is there?’
    Bernard held out his hand to help his wife as she got to her feet.
    She smiled up at him. ‘Oh, so you’re volunteering to read the story tonight, are you?’
    ‘Don’t want to tire you out, my love.’ He placed a hand gently over Julia’s pregnant bump. ‘Only a few weeks to go now.’
    ‘Don’t forget you promised to make me godmother,’ Chantal said.
    ‘You’ll be the most perfect godmother,’ Julia said as she bent over the bed to give her cousin a kiss.
    * * *
    After they’d gone Michel lost no time in checking out her injured ankle. He looked down at her as his experienced fingers gently palpated the damaged area. She winced but refrained from comment as she looked up at him. His expression was so sensitive, so caring, so totally wrapped up in what his patient had suffered and was going through. She told herself that was all she was, another patient. And that was how she wanted their relationship to remain.
    ‘Good. The swelling’s going down. Sister’s done a good job this afternoon.’
    He sat down in the chair beside the bed. ‘Anything you’d like to ask before I go?’
    She found herself wishing she dared ask him to stay longer but instead she shook her head and told him she was sure the nurses would continue to take care of her. Better to dampen down the ridiculous feelings she was experiencing. Who needed male company anyway? Certainly she didn’t.
    He stood up. ‘I’m sure they will. I’ll go and see Sister now and find out who’s on duty this evening. You must have some supper, Chantal. Got to keep up your strength. I’ll be back in the morning to see you.’
    She watched as the door closed after him, willing the sad feeling to go away. She knew she mustn’t allow these insane seductive feelings about Michel to enter her mind. In her post-Jacques life she’d convinced herself that she could never trust a man with her heart again. She would never open herself up to potential pain. She must remind herself