Free Knight on the Children's Ward by Carol Marinelli Page B

shift was over, and tonight she didn’t have to work at the nursing home, but tonight she was going to her mother’s for dinner.
    â€˜Why don’t we—?’
    â€˜You’re not helping, Ross,’ Annika said. ‘Can you just be a doctor at work, please?’
    â€˜Sure.’
    And she wanted to call him back—to say sorry forbiting his head off—but it was dinner at her mother’s, and no one could ever understand what a nightmare that was.
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    â€˜How’s the children’s ward?’
    Iosef and Annie were there too, which would normally have made things easier—but not tonight. They had avoided the subject of Aleksi’s latest scandal. They had spoken a little about the ball, and then they’d begun to eat in silence.
    â€˜It’s okay,’ Annika said, pushing her food around her plate.
    â€˜But not great?’ Iosef checked.
    â€˜No.’
    They’d been having the same conversation for months now.
    She’d started off in nursing so enthusiastically, raving about her placements, about the different patients, but gradually, just as Iosef had predicted, the gloss had worn off.
    As it had in modelling.
    And cooking
    And in jewellery design.
    â€˜How’s Ross?’ Iosef asked, and luckily he missed her blush because Nina made a snorting sound.
    â€˜Filthy gypsy.’
    â€˜You’ve always been so welcoming to my friends!’ Iosef retorted. ‘He does a lot of good work for your chosen charity.’ There was a muscle pounding in Iosef’s cheek and they still hadn’t got through the main course.
    â€˜Romany!’ Annika said, gesturing to one of the staff to fill up her wine. ‘He prefers the word Romany to gypsy.’
    â€˜And I prefer not to speak of it while I eat my dinner,’ Nina said, then fixed Annika with a stare. ‘No more wine.’
    â€˜It’s my second glass.’
    â€˜And you have the ball soon—you’ll be lucky to get into your dress as it is.’
    There was that feeling again. For months now out of nowhere it would bubble up, and she would suddenly feel like crying—but she never, ever did.
    What she did do instead, and her hand was shaking as she did it, was take another sip of wine, and for the first time in memory in front of her mother she finished everything on her plate.
    â€˜How are you finding the work?’ Iosef attempted again as Nina glared at her daughter.
    â€˜It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be.’
    â€˜I was the same in my training,’ Annie said happily, sitting back a touch as seconds were ladled onto her plate.
    Annika wanted seconds too, but she knew better than to push it. The air was so toxic she felt as if she were choking on it, and then she stared at her brother, and for the first time ever she thought she saw a glimmer of sympathy there.
    Annie chatted on. ‘I thought about leaving—nursing wasn’t at all what I’d imagined—then I did my Emergency placement and I realised I’d found my niche.’
    â€˜I just don’t know if it’s for me,’ Annika said.
    â€˜Of course it isn’t for you,’ Nina said. ‘You’re a Kolovsky.’
    â€˜Is there anything you want help with?’ Iosef offered, ignoring his mother’s unhelpful comment. ‘Annie or I can go over things with you. We can go through your assignments…’
    He was trying, Annika knew that, and because he washer brother she loved him—it was just that they had never got on.
    They were chalk and cheese. Iosef, like his twin Aleksi, was as dark as she was blonde. They were both driven, both relentless in their different pursuits, whereas all her life Annika had drifted.
    They had teased her, of course, as brothers always did. She’d been the apple of her parents’ eyes, had just had to shed a tear or pout and whatever she wanted was hers. She had adored her parents, and simply