Read Online The Surgeon's Fatherhood Surprise by Jennifer Taylor - Free Book Online

big cut on my left cheek? Is it going to need a skin graft?’
    ‘Yes, it is.’ Jack sat back in the chair, knowing that he needed to explain exactly what would happen without frightening her. ‘Do you know what happens when skin is grafted?’
    ‘Not really.’ Becca pulled a face. ‘I’ve never thought about it.’
    ‘Of course you haven’t. Nobody does until they need to have one done,’ Jack assured her. ‘Basically, there are two types of graft—split thickness and full thickness. I will need to use a full-thickness graft on your cheek because the match will be better, and that’s very important.’
    ‘You said you would take the skin from behind my ear,’ Becca reminded him, and he laughed.
    ‘Go to the top of the class for remembering that! Most people don’t remember a word they’re told after an accident, and no wonder either.’
    He carried on when Becca laughed, pleased to see that she was looking a little more relaxed. It would be an ordeal for anyone to have to face this type of surgery and it must be doubly difficult for a teenage girl.
    ‘I shall remove a small section of skin from behind your ear, slightly larger than the area it needs to cover to allow for shrink age. I’ll have to put a couple of stitches into the site from where I take the graft, but it will heal pretty quickly and shouldn’t cause any problems. Once I have the graft, I will fit it precisely over the area on your cheek and make sure it’s securely attached. You’ll need to wear a pressure bandage on it for a while afterwards to keep it flat, but that’s basically it.’
    ‘And will everyone be able to tell that it’s a graft? I mean, will it look different to the rest of my face?’
    ‘There’s bound to be some scarring,’ Jack explained gently. ‘But the results are usually excellent. In a year or so, you will hardly notice it at all.’
    ‘A year!’ Becca sounded stricken. ‘It will take that long to heal?’
    ‘It could do.’ Jack leant forward and looked her straight in the eyes. ‘I know it’s going to be hard, sweet heart, but I promise you that you will hardly notice any difference in time.’
    ‘But I’ll still look like a freak when I start university this October,’ she wailed.
    Jack tried to console her, but nothing he said calmed her down. In the end, he wrote her up for a mild sedative and went to have a word with her parents who had arrived back from holiday that morning. They too were distraught when he explained the situation to them, and that made him feelworse. He wished with all his heart that there was something more he could do, but he couldn’t perform miracles. All he had was his skill as a surgeon, and in some cases it simply wasn’t enough.
    A cloud of gloom seemed to hang over him for the rest of the day. He checked on Becca before he left, but she was very subdued and barely responded when he spoke to her. He drove back to Penhally Bay and collected Freddie from the nursery, and it seemed fitting that his son was in an equally downbeat mood.
    He took Freddie home and made his tea, then phoned Lucy for a chat, but he could tell that he’d caught her at a bad moment so he didn’t stay on the phone very long. Freddie was playing with some of his toys, but he turned away when Jack knelt down beside him. He sighed. It seemed that he was persona non grata wherever he went today.
    He was heading to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee in the hope it would chase away the blues when the doorbell rang, so he veered off to answer it and was surprised when he found Alison standing outside. She had Sam with her and she looked unusually serious.
    ‘I’m sorry to disturb you but I’ve just discovered that Sam has nits.’
    ‘Nits?’ Jack repeated blankly.
    ‘Yes. One of the other mums told me that she’d found some in her little girl’s hair when I collected Sam from the nursery at lunchtime, so I made a point of checking.’ She grimaced. ‘Apparently, he and Freddie