Chapter Two

The walk back to the hotel was a pleasant one for Jac. Who'd have thought the ultimate city girl could start to warm to the country. It was summer time and she could feel the warm sun on her bare shoulders. Smiling Jac was glad that she was going to have a summer baby. Hopefully by Christmas she could have a drink. She missed red wine the most. After a heavy day at the hospital she'd come home, kick back with a glass or two and forget her troubles.

She missed work, she'd only been on maternity leave a couple of weeks but she was already bored. She wasn't really one for lazing around. She had considered doing something constructive in preparation for the birth but she wasn't one for knitting booties or decorating nurseries. Instead she used her credit card in mothercare and convinced Greg he was a dab hand with a paint brush. The funny thing about Greg Douglas was after many years of him acting like a total pain in the arse he finally came through. When Jac needed someone to support her he had been there. It happened a couple of months ago, there had been a scene on the ward and a patient had become aggressive and Jac had been in the way. She had hit the floor so hard that the pain in her stomach had been crippling. Greg had been the one to check her over. All he had asked was if she was ok and the normal calm and cool Jac Naylor had fallen apart. Crying like banshee she broke down and told him everything. How Joseph had left her, how she was pregnant with his child and alone and scared. He held her as she cried and promised her that he would keep her secret. And he had, he covered for her when she was late due to spending many a morning throwing up, he had even accompanied her to her next scan.

She felt slightly guilty when she didn't correct the nurse doing the ultrasound when she assumed Greg was the father. Come to think of it Greg hadn't either. She had to admit that she liked having him around. He had become her closest friend, her only friend if she was honest. Things would be so much easier if the baby were his, yet her heart couldn't deny that she was glad she was having Joseph's baby. This was the only way she got to keep apart of him. She very much doubted that he would actually want to reconcile with her. He had pretty much forgotten her after the first couple of months after his departure. But she was sure that he would want to have something to do with the baby though. Joseph loved children, he pretty much doted on Harry always putting him first Jac thought glumly, remembering how she ended up in this place.

Jac made her way to the village shop and wandered around aimlessly looking for something that might take her fancy. She had been getting cravings for anything lemon at the moment. Normally she hated lemon but what the baby wants the baby gets. The sound of two women at the counter gossiping caught her attention.

"That Doctor Byrne is well fit. I've started making up reasons to go to the surgery," Jac rolled her eyes as the young brunette swooned over her man. She smiled to herself she liked the idea of him still being her man.

"There's no way he would go for you Lee," her friend laughed

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well come on Lee," she grinned " `He's like champagne and well your like a bottle of white lightning,"

Jac chuckled to herself trying really hard not to be noticed.

"Well for your information, the doctor and I have a date this evening," Lee lied unconvincingly.

"As if," her friend mocked.

"Fine don't believe me," Lee spat defensively "I don't care, but just you wait and see the doctor will be mine,"

Jac approached the counter trying to contain her laughter. Was this girl for real? Joseph wouldn't go near her with if she were the last woman on earth.

"I haven't seen you round her before," Lee's friend commented as she rang Jac's purchase through the till.

"I've just moved here," Jac lied.

"I'm Lucy Matthews," The girl said holding out her hand towards Jac.

Taking it, Jac didn't know what made her say it but the look on the girls' faces was well worth it. "I'm Jac Byrne," As lies go it was a big one, but she liked the sound of her new name when it rolled off her tongue.

"Any relation too Doctor Byrne?" Lucy asked.

"Yes, he's my husband," Jac cringed inwardly as the lie got bigger.

"We didn't realise the doctor was married," Lee barked looking very annoyed that her plans to seduce Joseph were squashed.

"I've been working away," Jac answered "But you know how it is, life gets in the way," She placed her hand on her belly and rubbed it gently "And this little guy kind of made my joining Joseph a little quicker than expected," This lie was getting so big that it might soon be able to form it's own website, Jac thought.

. .

Oh she was good at this lying thing. If she put her mind to it she could probably fabricate a story of the perfect romance taken place between her and her newly required husband. She'd leave out the mentally unstable ex wife and the father in law she slept with.

She shook herself from her thoughts. She hated think about Faye and Joseph's father. Quickly noticing that the girls' were still starring at her she decided that it was time to leave. "Well I must be going," she smiled sweetly "Joseph will be home soon and I haven't even thought what I should cook him for dinner," Picking up her shopping bag she headed towards the door "I'm sure I'll be seeing you girls again soon as were neighbors," Even at eight months pregnant and as hormonal as a teenager Jac Naylor still had it!

At half five Joseph left the surgery in daze. Jac was having his baby and the thought made him warm inside. Grinning from ear to ear Joseph began to picture the future. He could see Jac chasing the children around the garden bare foot in a short summer dress, her hair wiping across her face with a smile a mile wide. He pictured his children running from their mother with laughter escaping their perfect faces. He pictured his son Harry protecting his little sister from any dangers ahead, like all big brother's do. A girl, he was sure it would be a girl. A daughter to spoil would please Joseph so much. A little girl with her mother's eyes and hair and stubborn determination, that's what he wanted. A little girl who would look up at her father with such love and admiration that would make his heart swell with pride whenever he saw her.

This could be the second chance that he and Jac needed. Up until now they had always been one step ahead or behind the other. Neither of them really knowing what they wanted or where this would go, now they had a chance to put things right. And there was no way that Joseph was going to let an opportunity like that slip through his fingers.

Pulling out his phone he quickly dialed the number he desired. "Hello Mrs Walker it's Joseph…. Look I know its a lot to ask but something really important has come up and I was hoping you would be able to keep Harry for another couple of hours….That's great, thank you ,"

Joseph hung up the phone and headed over to Jac's hotel. It was time to man up and fight for the woman he loved.