The Consultant's Surprise Child

by Joanna Neil

  In fact, it had been special and somehow precious, and he had made her feel as though she had been the most important thing in the world to him, but it had occurred to her afterwards that perhaps he would have been like that with anyone. She had been young and confused back then. It wasn't as though he had gone out of his way to romance her before that, and she hadn't wanted to feel that she had been an afterthought, that she had just happened to drop into his lap like a ripe plum.

  His gaze raked her from head to toe. 'Was that supposed to make me feel any better? Let me tell you, it didn't. I'd say it had the opposite effect.' His eyes narrowed on her. 'Why didn't you get in touch with me as soon as you knew that you were pregnant? If you really didn't know where I was working, you could have gone to my parents and asked them for my address.'

  'What would have been the point? Would you have rushed back to me and given up the chance of being a consultant in order to stay home and change nappies?' She shook her head. 'I don't think so.' She grimaced. 'I didn't believe you would want to know, and even if you had made an effort to do the decent thing, I didn't want to build a relationship based on a one-time lapse. I saw enough of what can happen when things go wrong, by watching my parents live out their mistakes.'

  His voice was cold with fury. 'You didn't even give me the chance to decide what to do, one way or the other, did you? How was I supposed to do the right thing, or work out what it was that I felt about having a son, if you didn't tell me in the first place? Who knows whether we might have worked things out between us? For all you know, we could have brought him up together, so that he might be fulfilled as part of a wider family, but all that has gone by the wayside now. The boy is desperate for a father, and you've denied him that ever since he was born.'

  She swallowed hard. His words cut her like knives, the more so because she knew that what he was saying was the truth. Had she made the wrong choice, right from the start?

  'How could he ever have known the satisfaction of being part of a wider family?' she countered. 'You and my brother were barely on speaking terms. What would that have done for my child's confidence, knowing that the family was ripped apart?'

  His mouth tightened.' Your child? Let's get this right, shall we? He's our child...yours and mine...and it's high time you started to realise that.'

  'All right. He's our child...but that doesn't take away the fact that you hurt my brother, his uncle. How do you plan on reconciling that?'

  A muscle flicked in his jaw. 'I don't plan on doing anything. All that concerns me right now is that I have a four-year-old son who needs a father, and who is bound to feel that I've let him down by not being there for him throughout his growing years. That's all down to you. It's your fault, because you kept me in the dark, and I don't know how I'm ever going to come to terms with that.'

  CHAPTER TEN

  Allison dropped Connor off at nursery school next day. He was still bubbling over with enthusiasm about his day out at the farm and he was eager to tell his teacher and his friends all about it.

  'I'm going to show everybody the toy hen I bought from the farm shop,' he said, clutching Allison's hand as she led him to the door of the classroom. 'They'll like it when they see how it lays eggs.'

  'I'm sure they will.' She kissed him goodbye and watched as he went to join a group of friends on the carpet area in the classroom. He was so busy chatting to them that he almost forgot to wave to her...almost, but not quite. He turned and lifted a hand, and she waved back before leaving for work.

  She wasn't looking forward to meeting Taylor again. He had been there with them for breakfast at the apartment, but it had been a quiet affair and he had spoken mostly to Connor. His remarks to Allison had been short and to the point, mostly to do with her plans for dealing with the break-in at her house.

  'I'll go there after work and make a start on clearing up,' she told him. 'A glazier's coming to fix the window, and I should be able to make the place habitable again within a few hours. Rhea said she would take care of Connor for me while I do that. Poppy will be with her and the children can play together.'

  He didn't comment any further, and she guessed he would be relieved once she had moved out of his apartment. Why else would he be asking?

  Perhaps she might even be able to pack up her things and move back home later on this evening. That would probably please Taylor. It made her sad to know that the atmosphere was so spiky between them, but it was probably inevitable that things should turn out this way, and, as he said, she had only herself to blame. It was beyond her at the moment to know how she could put things right.

  Taylor was treating a child for a peanut allergy when she arrived at the hospital. The girl, who was about six years old, had gone into anaphylactic shock after eating a biscuit, and now she was struggling for breath. In the background a monitor was beeping a warning.

  It was heart-wrenching to see her lying there, looking so ill, fighting for her life. Taylor was giving her oxygen and had set up an intravenous line ready for treatment fluids to alleviate the symptoms of shock and hypertension.

  'I can't intubate her,' he said, looking grim. 'The tissues in her throat have swollen up too much and I might have to resort to doing a cricothyroidotomy. I'm waiting as long as I dare, to see if the medication works to reduce the swelling before I do that.'

  'Her blood pressure is very low,' Allison murmured. 'What medication has she had so far? Adrenaline, antihistamine?'

  'Yes, both of those.'

  'Shall I give her salbutamol to relieve the bronchospasm?'

  He nodded. 'Yes, that should help.'

  They worked together for the next few minutes, both of them desperate to save the life of this little girl, and for a while their antipathy towards one another was pushed to one side.

  'Her blood oxygen level is rising,' the nurse said a short time later.

  Taylor nodded and let out a slow breath. 'That's good. I think maybe we're beginning to get her back at last.' He glanced at Allison. 'Would you go and have a word with the parents? They're in the waiting room, and they must be very anxious for news.'

  'I will.'

  She left him to take care of the child, and spent a few minutes reassuring the girl's mother and father, as he had asked. It was always difficult, talking to parents who were overwrought with anxiety. In this case, she had good news to share, but it reminded her of the time when she had spoken to the mother of the boy who had taken drugs.

  That first meeting had been difficult, because her child's life was in the balance, but eventually there had been another heartfelt discussion, when she had been able to tell her that her son was recovering. Those were the occasions that made her job worthwhile.

  When she went back to the main body of A and E a while later, Taylor was already working with another patient, and she decided that the best thing she could do was to keep her head down and follow through on her own patient list. Taylor was not in a communicative mood. He had said his piece last night, and there was nothing she could do to change things.

  Her brother called in at the hospital later on that afternoon, and came to find Allison at the desk.

  'I've just had the report from the auditors, and they say everything is in order,' Nick told her. 'It's a relief, I can tell you.'

  'I can imagine. I'm so glad for you.' She smiled at him. 'I don't suppose they ever managed to find out what went wrong before, did they? Did they look into the books from the previous business?'

  He nodded. 'I asked them to do that. It bothered me that things went downhill so fast, and that we lost our customer base. They seem to think it was a question of identity theft, carried out by someone we employed in the office on a casual basis. We had checked out his credentials, but it looks as though he was short of money and decided that the client base was easy pickings. Once he realised that he could get away with it, he became greedy.'

  Taylor chose that moment to come over to the desk. He placed a file in the tray and reached for another chart. 'I couldn'
t help hearing what you said just now,' he murmured. 'Does that mean that they've caught the man?'

  Nick inclined his head a fraction. 'A couple of years too late but, yes, the police have finally picked him up. Apparently they raided his flat and found a stash of credit card numbers and addresses and all the private details that he had been using.'

  'I'm glad. That must be good news for you.'

  'Yes, it is. It will go to court, and they stand a good chance of getting a conviction. The bank will freeze his assets, and it means we can finally write to all our ex-customers and explain the situation. They may be able to make out a case to be heard and possibly they could claim compensation if they've been defrauded in some way. In any case, according to the police and the auditors, we're in the clear.'

  Taylor gave a curt nod. 'I can see why you're relieved. It must be a weight off your shoulders.' He held the chart aloft. 'I must go. I have to check up on a patient.'

  Allison watched him leave. He hadn't even acknowledged her. 'I wonder if you and he will ever be on good terms, as you were before,' she said in a quiet tone to her brother. 'I just don't know what went wrong.'

  'I think I do.' Nick made a face. 'I'd have said something to him about it, but this isn't the place to do it. It turns out that his name was on the list of victims that the police gave to us. I think he must have been stung for a good deal of money, and it's fairly obvious that he thought that was down to us. I suppose he managed to sort it out, but what I don't understand is why he never said anything to us about it.'

  Allison was shocked by the news. 'He must have known about the identity theft for years, but he kept quiet about it for all this time. He probably believed that it was either you or Ben, or both, who tried to defraud him.' Her mind was racing. 'Perhaps that's why he wouldn't renew your lease. He wouldn't have wanted either himself or his premises to be associated with anything that reeked of dodgy dealings.'

  'I think you could be right.' Nick looked around and saw that the paramedics were bringing in more patients. 'Look, I can see that you're busy here. Do you want me to pick up Connor from school? I know that Rhea offered, but I think she could do with a bit of time to get over what happened, so I said I would take the children to the park—if that's all right with you?'

  'Yes, that would be great, thanks.' Allison glanced at him.

  'Are you sure that it's all right? Have you finished early for the day?'

  He nodded. 'I've left Ben in charge. He's all right about it, because he knows that I want to help Rhea out over the next day or so. You could collect Connor from her house later on, when you've done what you have to do at the house, if you like, or I can bring him over to you.'

  'Thanks...whatever you think is best. I'm not sure how long it will take.'

  'That's OK. Take as long as you need. I'll be there to keep an eye on things and you can always ring me if there's a problem.'

  He left just a few minutes after that, and Allison wrote up her notes on her last patient. Her shift was due to end in half an hour or so, but as she was preparing to hand over to the registrar, a call came in about a major traffic accident.

  Taylor was getting ready to go out with the fast-response car, and she said quickly, 'Do you want me to come with you?'

  'No, I'll take Greg.'

  He didn't say any more, and it was like a slap in the face. She felt as if he was pushing her away, as though he didn't want anything to do with her, and that hurt. It hurt a lot.

  There wasn't anything she could do about it, though, and she cleared up all the loose ends at work and made her way to her house.

  The police had finished checking it over, and now all that was left for her was to sweep up all the smashed bits and pieces of her belongings and bag them up, ready to be taken to the tip. The glazier came to fix the window, and having someone there with her while she worked was a comfort. The last time she had been there she had recoiled in shock.

  When the glazier left, she switched on the radio so that she would have the illusion that she was not alone. It was important to her that she make things as normal as possible for Connor's return, and with that in mind she cleaned and vacuumed and set out a new set of crockery in the kitchen so that it didn't look so bare. In her lunch-break, she had managed to find another teddy-bear mug, not quite the same as the one that had been broken but one that she hoped he would like.

  A local news bulletin was being read out on the radio, and some of what was being said caught her attention. 'Traffic accident on the motorway earlier today... Another collision as a lorry careered into the path of rescue workers... Several people injured.'

  Allison froze. How could it be possible? They were talking about the accident that Taylor was attending. Was he in danger? What was happening out there? Was Greg all right?

  She tried to calm herself down. Surely they would know something at the hospital, if their own colleagues were involved? At least she could ring up and find out, couldn't she?

  A minute or two later she spoke to the specialist nurse in A and E. 'We're not sure,' Sarah told her. 'I've been trying to find out what's going on, but all I've been told is that a lorry careered into a response vehicle on the hard shoulder. They say it was a car that was hit, and that's why we're all worried. Apparently the lorry driver was distracted by something or other and swerved to the side of the road.'

  'Thanks, Sarah. I think I'll go down there and see for myself what happened. I'll let you know if it's anything at all to do with Taylor or Greg.'

  She rang Nick to let him know what was happening, and then she made her way to the site of the accident by car, taking a route to hopefully avoid the worst of the traffic. The motorway was about a mile and a half away from where she lived, and the place where the accident had happened was a notorious black spot. Peak-time traffic had slowed to a crawl because of the emergency vehicles at the scene and when she arrived there she was horrified by the wreckage that met her eyes.

  Several cars were crumpled, and a couple of lorries were skewed to one side. The response car was mangled almost beyond recognition.

  'Can I do anything to help?' she asked the officer in charge. 'I'm a doctor. I heard about the second collision on the radio.'

  'Yes, thanks. We've had several more people injured, mostly fractures, and someone with a chest injury. He was still trapped inside his car until a few minutes ago. I'll take you over there.'

  She followed him, hardly daring to ask what was uppermost in her mind. 'Are any of the rescue workers hurt?' she said, struggling to keep her voice on an even note. 'I heard that there were some injured people among them.'

  'Yes, we have a couple of men with broken legs, and one with a fractured pelvis. They were working on the other side of the response car when the lorry shunted it sideways.'

  'Who are they, do you know?'

  By now they had reached the response car. 'One's a paramedic, and the other is a fireman who was bringing over some equipment. I'm not sure about the other man. He may have been a doctor.'

  By now Allison's heart was working overtime, pounding heavily against her rib cage. It would be bad enough if Greg was hurt, but she couldn't bear the thought of anything bad happening to Taylor.

  They walked around the side of what was left of the response car and Allison scanned the features of the injured people. She recognised the paramedic, being treated for a fractured leg, but the fireman was unknown to her.

  Greg was taking care of the fireman. 'I'm so glad that you're all right,' she said. 'When I heard the news bulletin I was afraid you might have been hurt.'

  'I'm fine. It's good to see you, Allison.'

  She nodded. 'Where's Taylor?'

  He grimaced. 'Over there.' He pointed to an area in front of the response car. 'It's nasty. It's an unstable pelvic fracture with massive bleeding. I think they need all the help they can get.'

  The officer in charge agreed, and led her to where the injured man was lying on the ground. 'I'll leave you to it, Doctor.'

  '
Thanks.' Allison felt the blood drain from her face as she approached. The man was being attended by a paramedic and a doctor, both of whom were kneeling at his side, bent over him, and she was desperately afraid for the outcome. She had to keep a tight hold on herself to stop from breaking down.

  She tried to see who it was who was injured. 'Taylor,' she said in a cracked voice.

  The doctor turned to look at her. 'Allison,' Taylor said, his face showing surprise. 'What are you doing here?'

  'Oh...it's you... Thank heaven you're all right.' She gulped in a quick, shaky breath and her mind started to reel. 'I heard news of the collision on the radio and I thought you might be hurt. I was so afraid. I had to come and see for myself what was happening.' She realised that she was babbling, but he didn't seem to be put out by that.

  He sent her an odd glance. 'I'm not hurt. I'm OK.' He motioned with his hand, indicating to her to come around the other side of the patient. 'We need some help to get the pelvic sling in place. Could you lend a hand?'

  'Yes, of course—that's what I'm here for.' She hoped that she sounded more professional this time.

  'Good. See if you can keep this pressure pad in place to stem the bleeding, while we slide the sling around the pelvic area.'

  She knelt down beside the man and laid a hand on the pad. The pelvic sling was shaped like a wide belt, and could be fastened in place to prevent movement that would cause any more damage to the pelvic area.

  'We'll push bean bags in place around him on the stretcher to maintain his position and keep him even more stable.'

  Allison's hand was shaking a little as she helped with the manoeuvres that followed, but she managed to bring herself under control. The patient needed her to be on top form. Taylor was watching her, and he hadn't missed the tremor, she knew, because his glance stayed on her for a moment longer than was strictly necessary and his gaze was thoughtful.