Dear Reader
Iâve loved being a part of the Gold Coast Angels series, and canât wait to catch up with all the amazing people who work there.
My heroine, Lucy, is ready to take on the world. Sheâs a dedicated midwife, of course, and loves her jobâuntil she finds out she is going to be a single mother with twins.
Without support of family, Lucy would be finding it even tougher without the warmth and caring of her work friendsâand thatâs where Gold Coast City Hospital comes into its own.
But itâs gorgeous Dr Nikolai Kefes who really takes her under his gorgeous wing (those shouldersâ¦!), and Lucy discovers that sheâs not the only person who has someone special missing in her life. Can she heal Nikolaiâs past hurts and make this wonderfully caring doctor love again?
I hope you have as much fun as I did with Nick and Lucyâs love lifeâenjoy the Gold Coast Angels series.
Warmest wishes
Fiona McArthur
LUCY PALMER WAS so excited even the ride up in the lift made her feel queasy. Sheâd thought sheâd grown out of that.
Today, officially, she could say she was a part of the state-of-the-art Gold Coast City Hospital and sheâd done it all herself. Her excitement had been building since graduation fourteen weeks ago.
This wasnât just three years of hard study and unpaid practical placements, this was the start of a mission sheâd lived and breathed for ever.
Lucy couldnât wait to be allocated her first birth suite caseload because she was going to be the best midwifery grad theyâd ever seen.
The midwifery floor manager, Flora May, ex-air force medic with a gruff voice and, Lucy suspected, a well-camouflaged heart of gold, had met Lucy in one of her placements during her training. Floraâs assessment of Lucyâs aptitude for the profession had helped very much in her successful interview and Lucy couldnât have asked for a better role model than Flora.
As the orientation tour ended Flora snapped her heels together and waved to the busy floor. Unexpectedly her angular face changed and she smiled with genuine warmth.
âAnd welcome, Palmer. Iâve given you Monday to Friday shifts for the first month, so Iâll be here if you need advice.â
A friendly face while she settled in. Lucy decided that sounded blissful. âThank you.â
âHmph.â Sentiment should be set aside, obviously, Lucy thought with an internal smile as Flora went on. âTake Sally Smith, sheâs a teen mum admitted for threatened premature labour at thirty-three weeks. She needs someone she can relate to.â
This was accompanied by a dry look. âNight staff will give you Sallyâs handover in birth suite one.â Flora raised an eyebrow. âYouâll be fine. Let me know if you need help and Iâll be your wing man. Any questions, find me.â
The boss would be her wing man? Lucy grinned at the funny wordage and resisted the urge to salute.
Flora marched off and Lucy felt for the first time that someone other than her fellow ex-students was willing to believe she had the makings of a good midwife.
It would have been nice if her mother had been supportive instead of bitter and twisted, but she wasnât going there because nothing was going to spoil this day. Or her confidence, because Flora believed she could do this well.
Her stomach fluttered uncomfortably again and she sucked in a breath. Forget nerves, this was what sheâd been born for.
When she knocked and entered the first birth suite and the night midwife didnât look up from writing her notes, Lucy faltered, felt tempted to cough or go back and knock again, but she didnât.
The pale young woman lying curled on her side blinked so Lucy stepped just inside the door and smiled, but the girl on the bed rolled her eyes, and then looked away before shutting them. Tough room, Lucy thought ruefully before, with another deep breath, she crossed to the bed.
The night midwife still didnât look up, so Lucy passed her by and smiled at her patient as she tried to imagine what it would be like to be seventeen, pregnant, and now scared her baby would be born prematurely, in a place where she knew no one.
âHello, Sally, Iâm Lucy. Iâll be looking after you today when your night midwife goes home.â Lucy glanced around the otherwise empty room, and no boyfriend or mother was tucked into any corner she could see. Maybe Sallyâs mother had trained in the same school as hers, Lucy thought, and she knew how that felt. Lack of family support was not fun at all.