And he needed to show her that she could trust him, as well as have fun with him.
On Thursday lunchtime, James was delighted when Charlotte knocked on his office door. She felt comfortable enough to meet him on his territory, then?
‘James, I know you have a lecture this afternoon at the university rather than a stint in Theatre, but can I have a really quick word about one of my patients?’
‘Sure. Come and sit down.’
‘It’s Ellis Martyn.’
He flicked through his memory. ‘The boy with Ebstein’s—you’ve got his portable recorder readings back?’
‘Yep—and I’m not happy.’
He nodded. ‘Put me in the picture.’
‘He’s coming up for thirteen, just finished his first year in high school. He’s been complaining of his heart racing and hiccuping—he’s tired a lot of the time, he’s short of breath and he’s been having a hard time in PE lessons. His mum says he’s just started being a bit blue round the lips, and the GP referred him to me. The X-ray showed his heart’s enlarged, the echo showed his tricuspid valve is leaking, and the portable recorder showed episodes of tachycardia.’
‘So you’re thinking extra pathways?’
‘Yes. I can sort that out with ablation, but I’m going to need you to sort the valve.’
‘Are the echo and ECG images on the system?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
He logged in to the system and pulled them up. ‘Mmm, the right atrium is really enlarged, and I can see here the tricuspid valve needs repair. When are you seeing him next?’
‘Tomorrow morning.’
‘OK. Let me know what time, and I’ll come and talk to him and his parents.’
‘Just his mum, Judy,’ she said. ‘His dad works in London during the week.’
‘Ouch. That’s tough on her.’
To Charlotte’s relief, James was as good as his word and came in to see the Martyns the next morning.
‘Thanks for dropping off the recorder yesterday,’ Charlotte said to Judy. ‘It’s picked up several of the episodes where your heart was beating too fast, Ellis, and I’ve asked Mr Alexander to join us this morning—he’s our specialist cardiac surgeon.’
‘So Ellis needs surgery?’ Judy asked.
‘We both think so, yes.’ She introduced James swiftly to them—and noticed that he had his James Bond watch on again. But instead of looking excited, the way Danny had, Ellis looked wary.
‘Surgeons have this bad habit of needing flashy stuff,’ she said to Ellis with a smile, ‘but I happen to know that this one works very hard and is really good at his job. So ignore anything he says about being like James Bond.’
‘Busted,’ James said with a smile. ‘Ellis, there’s a valve in your heart called the tricuspid valve—it’s called that because it has three flaps, pretty much the same way a triceratops got its name—’
‘Because it has three horns,’ Ellis chipped in.
‘Spot on.’ James smiled at the boy. ‘In your case, two of the flaps are stuck to the wall of the heart, where they shouldn’t be, so the valve can’t do its job properly.’
‘Charlotte told me it leaked when it shouldn’t, so the deoxygenated blood goes into my body instead of into my lungs,’ Ellis continued.
James was pretty sure that Charlotte had explained it in simpler terms, but clearly the boy was comfortable with scientific terms and had probably looked up his condition on the Internet. ‘It’s good that you know all that—it saves me banging on and repeating it all for you. Though I also know it’s a lot to take in, so Charlotte and I are both more than happy to answer any questions you might have.’
‘Is there no alternative to surgery?’ Judy asked.
‘I know it’s worrying for you,’ James said gently, ‘and, yes, I’ll be frank with you, there are always risks with surgery under a general anaesthetic. But if you leave it he’s going to need surgery in the future and he might need a complete heart transplant, whereas now I can repair the tricuspid valve and it’s not such a huge operation to get over. It’s also better to do it when he’s younger than to leave it until he’s an adult—there are less likely to be any complications in surgery.’
‘So when do I have to have it done?’ Ellis asked.
‘I have a slot free Monday morning,’ James said.
‘Monday? That quickly?’ Judy looked shocked. ‘But I thought people had to wait months for an operation?’ She clapped her hand to her mouth in horror. ‘Does this mean it’s really serious?’
James, seeing the anguish in the woman’s face said, ‘All it means is that I have a slot free on Monday morning. I was lecturing, but my session has been moved, and because I knew I was going to see you with Charlotte this morning I’ve already checked out the bed and Theatre situation. We’re in luck, so that’s why it’s free.’
‘Ellis’s condition is serious and it’s rare,’ Charlotte added, ‘but it’s also fixable and he’ll go on to live a perfectly normal life.’
‘Monday,’ Ellis said.
‘You don’t have to decide right now,’James said. ‘Take your time. But it’s good timing for you because it means you’ll have most of the summer holidays to recover from the operation and get fit for school again ready for the new term, though you might miss the first week or so. The good news is that it will make a huge difference to you—you won’t feel tired all the time and you won’t get breathless in PE.’
‘I hate PE,’ Ellis said.
‘It’ll be a lot easier for you when you’re heart’s working properly,’ James reassured him. ‘You might find it’s not so bad then.’
‘Will the operation stop my heart racing?’ Ellis asked.
‘No, because that’s not caused by the valve,’ Charlotte said. ‘It’s all because of some extra electrical pathways in your heart—they give an extra impulse to make your heart beat when it shouldn’t. Don’t worry, it’s really common and we can sort it out during surgery—or if you decide you don’t want to have surgery yet, I can sort that out for you in our cath lab as a day patient. You’ll be able to go home the same day I’ve done it.’
‘So how does the cath lab work?’ Judy asked.
‘What I’ll do is put a special probe to Ellis’s heart to where the extra pathways are, and then send a radio signal down to stop the pathways sending the signals.’ She smiled at Ellis. ‘It’s very similar to the way microwave heat works, so you can gross out all your mates by telling them I’m going to microwave your heart.’
Ellis brightened at that, and then looked worried. ‘Will it hurt?’
‘No, because I’ll give you a special local anaesthetic called sedation. It won’t hurt, but you might be a little bit uncomfortable afterwards. The sedation means you won’t remember much of what I do, but your mum can stay with you if she likes.’
‘Microwave and sliced,’ Ellis said thoughtfully.
James smiled. ‘Or I can just do the slicing and sort out the pathways for you at the same time.’
‘You’re not going to microwave me?’
‘Nope. They used to do it by surgery, but there’s an even better way now—something called cryoablation.’ He deliberately used the technical term, knowing that the boy would like it—if necessary, he’d explain it in layman’s terms, but his guess was that Ellis would work it out.
‘Cryo…’ Ellis thought for a moment. ‘What, freezing?’
‘Exactly.’
‘So I’ll be freezed and sliced.’ Ellis looked at his mother. ‘I think I’ve just decided to become a vegetarian.’
Judy ruffled his hair. ‘Whatever you want, love. It’s up to you.’
‘If I don’t have surgery, I’m still going to be ill.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Will I have to come back to hospital a lot afterwards?’
‘You’ll be able to live a completely normal life,’ James said.
‘Though you will come back for regular check-ups,’ Charlotte added, ‘and you’ll be able to ring me any time you’re w
orried.’
‘Can we have some time to think about it?’ Judy asked.
‘As much time as you need,’ James said. ‘I can give you a leaflet about the procedure if that’ll help you, and you can come back and ask me questions when you’ve had a chance to read it.’
‘Thank you,’ Judy said.
‘May I?’ He gestured to the computer next to Charlotte.
‘Sure.’
He logged her out, tapped in his password, scrolled quickly through some files and then printed off a leaflet and gave it to the Martyns. ‘That should tell you everything to expect, but I know you’ll have questions and I’m more than happy to answer them, when you’re ready.’
‘Go and have a walk or something to eat,’ Charlotte said. ‘The café here is good. Come back and see us…’ She looked at James for an idea of timing.
‘I’ll be at the hospital for the next hour,’James said, ‘but then I’ll be lecturing until the middle of the afternoon. But if not now, we can talk on Monday. The operation doesn’t have to be Monday morning—we can schedule it later, if that’s better for you.’
‘Thank you,’ Ellis said.
‘I appreciate this,’Charlotte said when the Martyns had left.
‘No problem. That’s what teamwork’s all about,’James said softly.
‘Teamwork.’
‘We’re a good team.’ He paused. ‘And I think we’d make a good team outside work.’
‘We agreed that we’ll be friends.’
‘Absolutely.’ He looked her straight in the eye. ‘But I didn’t say anything about excluding any other kind of relationship. And, actually, I’d rather date someone I happen to like and trust and respect.’
‘Like and trust and respect,’ she echoed, looking dazed.
He leaned forward so he could whisper in her ear. ‘As well as fancying the pants off.’ He pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot behind her ear, then left her office before she could gather her wits enough to make a smart retort.
And he was faintly disappointed that when he got back after his lecture there was a brief and very professional email from her in his inbox, telling her that the Martyns had decided in favour of the operation.
She was clearly avoiding him.
Running scared.
Maybe he should take it just a little slower. Maybe. But he certainly wasn’t going to give up.
On Saturday afternoon, Charlotte was sitting drinking coffee at Nick’s house, chatting, when James’s name came up.
‘Is he bothering you?’ Nick asked. ‘If he is, I’ll have another word with him.’
‘Another?’ She was horrified that Nick had had a word with him already. Especially as James hadn’t mentioned it to her.
‘Or I’ll get Jack to do it, if you’d rather,’ Nick offered.
‘No, it’s fine. Nick, I know you mean well, and it’s lovely that you’re being so protective, but…’ She sighed. ‘I’m not going to be rude and tell you not to interfere. Thank you for thinking of me, but I can handle this myself—really, I can.’
Nick gave her an appraising look. ‘So you like him?’
She really wasn’t prepared to talk about her feelings for James yet. She still needed to sort them out in her head. ‘I’m happy as I am. I love my work and don’t want that to change. And even if I was interested in James, which I’m not.’ Ha, who was she trying to kid? She couldn’t stop thinking about him. ‘I’m not sure I could handle all the celebrity stuff that goes with him.’ She’d hated the idea of her photograph being in the press and people gossiping about her; she’d been seriously relieved when the picture from the pub hadn’t turned up anywhere.
‘Why don’t you have a word with Melinda?’ Nick suggested.
Charlotte remembered all the headlines, the previous year, when Melinda had been outed as the future ruler of Contarini; the press had absolutely hounded her. It was all much quieter now and Melinda was plain Mrs Lovak, the local vet, but she was sure that Melinda didn’t want to be reminded of all that stuff again. ‘It’s not fair to intrude like that.’
‘Trust me, Dragan used to be even more wary of people than you are, before Melinda came along—and if you want an excuse to talk to her, you can always go and tell her how Pandora’s doing. You know she loves hearing how her rescue cases are getting on. And their dog’s expecting puppies, so she might try and talk you into giving one a good home.’
‘Puppies…I’ll bear that in mind.’ Charlotte looked at her uncle. There were deep shadows beneath his eyes. ‘Nick, it’s my turn to interfere now. You look as if you haven’t slept properly for a couple of weeks.’
He flapped a dismissive hand. ‘It’s the surgery. Dragan’s cut his hours, Adam and Maggie are leaving at the end of next month, and even though we’ve got Polly on board now, it’s still not enough to cover all the work.’
Charlotte raised an eyebrow. ‘Nick, that’s not the sort of thing you worry about. You just sort things. Annabel always said you were really good at organising things. It’s more than that, isn’t it?’
Nick’s face tightened. ‘I don’t want to discuss it. Look, I need to be somewhere. Go and see Melinda about the pups.’
Charlotte, knowing that once her uncle had clammed up it was impossible to get him to talk, gave in. She kissed him lightly on the cheek. ‘Well, thanks for the coffee. Try and get some sleep, and stop overdoing it.’
Nick made no comment.
‘And, Nick?’ When he looked up, Charlotte added softly, ‘You were there for me when I needed you. So I hope you know that it’s the same for you. If you do decide you want to talk, I’ll listen without judging, and I won’t go and blab to anyone else.’
For a moment, she thought she saw tears in her uncle’s eyes, but it must have been a trick of the light. Nick never cried. ‘Thanks,’ he said gruffly.
He wasn’t going to tell her any more, she knew, so she headed off to see Melinda and Dragan.
‘Charlotte!’ Melinda greeted her warmly. ‘Lovely to see you, cara. We’re in the back garden. Come through. How’s Pandora?’
‘She’s doing fine.’ Charlotte showed Melinda the latest pictures on her mobile phone.
‘Pwetty tat,’ Alessandro announced, climbing onto Charlotte’s lap and peering at the screen before wriggling down again and joining the flatcoat retriever in the paddling pool.
‘I’m really not sure Bramble should be in the pool,’ Dragan said, looking concerned.
Melinda rolled her eyes. ‘Stop fussing, zlato. Honestly, Charlotte, he’s nearly as bad as he was when I was expecting Alessandro. Dragan, Bramble will be fine. A flattie’s idea of heaven is a paddling pool and a tennis ball, and someone who doesn’t mind getting wet too.’
Little Alessandro, who was the image of his father, except he had Melinda’s golden hair and curls.
‘I know that, and I wouldn’t mind, but—’
‘She’s expecting her first litter next month,’ Melinda said.
‘Nick told me—and also that you were looking for good homes.’
‘Ah, so you’re offering one. Bene.’ Melinda laughed. ‘You can guarantee Dragan’s going to want to be there through every step and he’ll be terrible when she has the pups.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with the fact that I love my dog and I worry about her,’ Dragan protested. ‘It’s a big thing, having babies.’
‘I’m going to have to switch my phone off when she starts labour, or you’ll be calling me every ten minutes, just as you did when I was close to having Alessandro.’
‘Every ten minutes,’ Dragan said thoughtfully. ‘Between patients. Mmm, sounds about right.’
‘Dragan Lovak, you’re impossible.’ Melinda smiled. ‘But I love you.’
He kissed her lightly. ‘Volim te. I love you, too.’
Charlotte saw the tenderness in his face. He was clearly so much in love with his wife. And the way he looked at her…It was how she’d once wanted someone to look at her.
Funny how James’s fac
e was so clear in her mind’s eye.
Dragan’s phone beeped; he answered the call, then moved away slightly before ending it and coming back over to them. ‘I’m needed. Sorry, carissima,’ he said to Melinda.
‘Hey, I knew you were on call today. It’s not a problem.’
He kissed her and Alessandro goodbye, and shook Charlotte’s hand. ‘See you at the surgery on Wednesday, if you’re not here when I get back.’
‘Sure.’
When Dragan had gone, Melinda made them all a cold drink. ‘All right, now you can tell me what’s really wrong.’
‘Nothing’s wrong,’ Charlotte said.
Melinda raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s lovely to see how Pandora’s doing, but that isn’t why you came, is it?’
Charlotte sighed. ‘It’s a bit awkward.’
‘Tell me anyway.’
Charlotte bit her lip. ‘I apologise in advance…but you’re the only one I know who’s had to deal with the press.’
‘You’re having problems with the press?’
‘Um…sort of. Someone I know who gets followed by the press. We were having dinner together, just as friends, and we were photographed. It didn’t bother him.’
‘But it bothered you?’
Charlotte nodded.
‘You do get used to it,’ Melinda said. ‘And dealing with press isn’t so bad. You just keep saying “No comment”, and scope places out in advance so you know the back way out.’
Just how James had dealt with it—sneaking her out to the taxi driver. ‘And it’s that easy?’
‘Well…not easy, perhaps,’ Melinda admitted. ‘When the story broke about us, Dragan found the paparazzi thing hard. But if he’s worth it you’ll find a way round it.’
‘That’s the point. I didn’t intend to date anyone.’
‘But he’s different?’ Melinda guessed.
‘I can’t get him out of my head,’ Charlotte confessed. ‘Even when I try private visualisation techniques, he’s suddenly there with me—it’s meant to be just me on this deserted beach, and suddenly he’s there, holding my hand.’
‘Maybe you need to give him a chance, cara.’ Melinda gave her a hug. ‘I know you don’t talk about things—just like my Dragan—but sometimes it can help.’
Caroline Anderson, Anne Fraser, Kate Hardy, Margaret McDonagh Page 39