The Bridesmaid's Baby by Barbara Hannay

tonight.
    She heard her dogs scratching at the back door, but theywould have to wait a bit longer for her attention. She took the sack through to the surgery, put the roses and lilies in one of the huge metal sinks and set the bag down gently on the metal examining table.
    First things first, she kicked off her shoes. That was so-o-o-o much better. Yawning widely, she unknotted the string around the neck of the bag.
    A snake’s head shot out.
    Lucy screamed.
    Panic flooded her!
    A snake was the last thing she’d expected. The worst thing. She loved animals. She loved all animals. But she still couldn’t help being terrified of snakes.
    Her heart leapt in a rush of instinctive primeval terror. She couldn’t deal with this.
    Not now. Not alone in the middle of the night.
    Paralysed by fear, she thought of Will driving off in his truck and seriously considered chasing after him, yelling for help. She whimpered his name and was ready to scream again when footsteps thundered up the path and Will appeared at the surgery doorway.
    ‘Lucy, what’s the matter?’
    ‘A s-snake! With a shaking hand she pointed to the sack.
    ‘Let me deal with it.’ He spoke calmly and, just like that, he crossed the floor to the wriggling hessian bag.
    Lucy watched, one hand clamped over her mouth to hold back another scream, as Will carefully pulled the top of the sack apart, then, with commendable cool, gripped the snake firmly, just behind its head.
    ‘It’s a carpet python,’ he told her smoothly as he lifted it out and took hold of the tail, while the snake thrashed wildly. ‘And it’s wounded.’
    A carpet python.
    Right. Lucy drew a deep breath. Her racing heartbeats subsided. Carpet pythons weren’t poisonous. Actually, now that she was calming down, she could see the distinctive brown and cream markings on the snake’s back.
    ‘I’m afraid I panicked,’ she said. ‘Someone left the bag on my porch and I was expecting a small motherless furry creature.’
    ‘Instead you have an angry snake with a nasty gash on its back.’ The expression in Will’s grey eyes was both tender and amused.
    No longer trembling, Lucy came closer and saw the wound halfway down the snake’s length. ‘I’m afraid snakes are the one species of the animal kingdom I find hard to love. But this fellow’s actually quite beautiful, isn’t he?’
    ‘As snakes go—he’s extremely handsome,’ Will said dryly. ‘What do you want to do with him? Would you try to treat a wound like this?’
    ‘I can at least clean it up. Maybe give it a few stitches.’
    ‘Can you leave it till tomorrow? Shall I put it in a cage for you?’
    She bit back a sigh and shook her head. ‘The biggest threat for him is infection, so I really should see to the wound straight away.’ Shooting Will an apologetic glance, she said, ‘It won’t take long, but I’m afraid I couldn’t possibly manage without an assistant.’
    He chuckled. ‘No problem. I’m all yours.’
    The sparkle in his eyes sent heat flaming in her cheeks. Tightly, she said, ‘Thank you. If you’ll keep holding him right there, I’ll get organised. First, I’m going to have to feed oxygen and anaesthetic down his trachea.’
    ‘You’re going to knock him out just to clean up a wound?’
    ‘It’s the only way to keep a snake still. They’re actually very sensitive to pain.’
    As Lucy set up the gas cylinders, her mind raced ahead, planning each step of the procedure. She would place a wooden board between the python and the metal table to keep him that little bit warmer. And she needed something to hold the wounded section steady while she worked on it. Masking tape would do the least damage to the python’s sensitive skin.
    Quickly she assembled everything she needed—scissors, scalpels, tweezers, swabs, needles—and then she donned sterile gloves. ‘OK, let’s get this gas into him.’
    Will held the snake’s head steady while she fed the tube down its mouth, and she was amazed that