Delivering Secrets

by Fiona McArthur

  Summer sighed. ‘I’d have to talk to my husband about it but it would be a godsend for the next couple of weeks at the very least.’

  Ellie nodded. ‘And even after the babies are born,’ she said with a grin.

  Summer heaved herself to her feet and stepped onto the scales. ‘My husband is having a month away from work. Neither of us has any parents and a bit of help might take some of the load off him. This pregnancy was an accident and when we found out we were having twins we didn’t know what to do. I’m sure we’ll manage but I will talk to him about Grannies.’

  Ellie picked up Summer’s handbag from the floor to save her having to bend down again. She offered Summer a smily card with her home phone number on it. ‘I’ll find out who the contact person is from my neighbour. You can ring me at home any time or here after next Monday.’

  Summer still looked a little unsure and Ellie gestured with her hands. ‘If anyone deserves some help, it’s you. If you’re interested, I can arrange it.’

  They both looked up as Luke came to the door. ‘You’re the lucky last, Summer. Are you ready to come through?’ Luke looked at Ellie, who nodded and handed him Summer’s antenatal card.

  ‘I’ll see you next week, Summer.’

  Summer set off for Luke’s room. ‘Thanks, Ellie.’

  Fifteen minutes later, Ellie scanned her tidy room and closed down the computer. Josh would be wondering where she was.

  Summer had gone and June had huffily headed home, unimpressed about working late. At least she’d said goodnight to Ellie this time. Ellie couldn’t figure out why anyone would be so miserable. Maybe June had haemorrhoids.

  Ellie suppressed a smile. She grabbed her bag and called out as she went to the door, ‘See you next week, Luke.’

  His voice floated back from his room. ‘Can you wait one minute, Ellie?’

  Damn. She wasn’t in the mood to fight her attraction to Luke. She glanced at her watch. She’d hoped to get Josh settled at the neighbours by seven-thirty and maybe even catch an hour or two’s sleep before she had to get ready for the night shift. She didn’t start until ten-thirty so another few minutes wouldn’t make that much difference except take even more time away from her and Josh.

  ‘Sorry.’ Luke appeared beside her. ‘Just backing up my computer. I wanted to say the Grannies idea was a stroke of genius.’ He was smiling at her like she’d just given him a winning lottery ticket and she couldn’t help but smile back. He really did care about his clients. She just hoped his fiancée appreciated him. She blinked. Now, where had that thought come from?

  She shied away from trying to figure it out. ‘I’m glad. But I’ve got to go, Luke.’

  ‘Big date, eh?’ He was joking.

  Ellie widened her eyes. ‘I expect to be up all night.’ The smile fell off Luke’s face and Ellie grinned as she lifted the latch on the door. ‘Bye.’

  His ‘Be Careful, Ellie’ followed her out the door. Luke watched her walk away and it was like she was leaving all over again. Which was ridiculous.

  She was a free agent—unlike him—but it was still a shock that she had a new man already and she’d been in town less than two weeks. What did he really know about her anyway? Luke turned back to his room. He’d catch up on some paperwork before he went home. Suddenly he wasn’t as hungry as he’d been ten minutes ago.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ELLIE stood on the maternity ward verandah and waited for someone to answer the night bell. The cool sea breeze brushed her cheeks and the stars were brighter than she’d ever seen them. She’d lived in so many different towns and cities, and seen a lot of stars, that was saying something.

  She wondered where her mother was. The last Ellie had heard, she was working as a masseuse at a health farm in northern NSW. Josh didn’t get to see his only grandparent much and Ellie suppressed a twinge of disappointment that her mother didn’t visit them more.

  Ellie stared at the Milky Way as it frosted thickly in a white sweep across the southern sky, and her thoughts turned to Steve. Since she’d been in Bell’s River, he’d been further from her thoughts than she felt comfortable with. She and Josh had picked out a star near the Southern Cross to be his father’s star, and Ellie searched for it now.

  Steve would have liked it in Bell’s River. Ellie breathed deeply and squared her shoulders. She and Josh could have fun together here if she could stop the intrusion of Luke Farrell into her thoughts.

  From her previous visit to ask about work, Ellie knew that the maternity ward at Bell’s River was small but efficient. They had about three hundred births a year, mostly under the care of Luke and another three general practitioners with obstetric qualifications. But as the only obstetrician, Luke was involved with most emergency cases and any pregnancies that were complicated by preexisting disease in the mother or high obstetric risk.

  The door opened and she turned back to reality. ‘Hi. I’m Ellie Diamond, and I’m filling in tonight.’

  A tall, freckle-faced woman smiled and stood back to invite her in. ‘I’m Sam. Welcome. The supervisor left a uniform in the change room for you.’ Ellie liked Sam from the first moment she saw her.

  The two evening maternity staff were friendly and seemed glad to know there was another experienced midwife in town to call on for emergencies. The other night midwife that Ellie would share the shift with hadn’t arrived yet.

  ‘I’ll take you for a quick tour before Anthea comes.’ Sam didn’t notice that Ellie froze for a moment at that news, and continued down the corridor. ‘Then at least you’ll have a vague idea where things live if the night gets hectic.’

  Ellie nodded. ‘I’d like that,’ she said, and followed Sam down the carpeted hall. This looked like a great place to work except that Luke’s fiancée had to be the person she would be working with. But there wasn’t any reason that should be a problem, Ellie decided firmly.

  The unit was small but modern and the two birthing rooms seemed more like motel suites than a hospital labour ward. All the emergency equipment was tucked away behind flip-down cupboard doors.

  ‘Very nice.’ Ellie’s eyes sparkled as she noticed the birth ball for use in the shower for backache relief and the low stool the women could use instead of the bed to give birth.

  ‘I could have a baby here,’ Ellie commented, and Sam smiled.

  ‘I’ve had three and it’s the best. But, then, I had good labours.’

  Ellie was interested in Sam’s thoughts from the mother’s point of view. ‘So who was your doctor?’

  Sam laughed. ‘Most of the midwives go to Luke Farrell. Not because he’s the only obstetrician—all the GPs are great with their women at birth—but because he’s such a sweetie.’

  Ellie could imagine Luke would be a calming face to see in labour when you thought it would never end. They walked back towards the desk. ‘I’ve just started work at his rooms this week.’

  Sam nodded. ‘I thought it would be you.’ She grinned. ‘Not many new midwives in town.’ Ellie grinned back.

  ‘He’d be a delight to work for. He could have any of us except we’re all full time here.’ The doorbell rang and Sam looked ahead as Julie came from the nursery to open the door. ‘We’d better go for report. Anthea Roberts likes to start and finish on time, and as she does the rosters I don’t like to get on the wrong side of her,’ Sam warned with a smile. ‘Not that she isn’t fair—because she is.’ Sam stopped again and her voice lowered. ‘By the way, she and Luke are an item.’

  Don’t I know it, Ellie thought. She couldn’t deny her morbid interest in seeing the woman Luke had chosen. Ellie looked ahead to the sister’s station. Anthea Roberts sat straight in her chair like a statue of Cleopatra. Black blow-dried hair and eyeliner at ten-thirty at night seemed a little labour-intensive to Ellie, but she certainly looked a million dollars. Even Ellie could see the stark contrast between herself and Anthea. Each to their own, she thought as she sat down beside the senior sister, but she couldn’t help pulling her uniform hem down over her k
nees to hide the fact that she wore no stockings.

  Sam introduced them. ‘Have you met Ellie Diamond, Anthea? She’s our new casual, and as she works for Luke I wondered if you’d caught up with each other yet.’

  Ellie said, ‘Hi. Nice to meet you, Anthea.’

  Anthea smiled without showing her teeth. ‘Hello. Ellie, is it?’ She raised one eyebrow delicately. ‘Not your proper name, I’m sure.’

  ‘It’s the one I use. But don’t worry, I won’t call you Anthie.’

  Sam had a sudden fit of coughing and Anthea frowned as if she didn’t understand the answer. Ellie mentally kicked herself and looked helplessly at Sam. Her new friend responded heroically and turned the patient board towards them.

  ‘OK. Better start. We had three discharges today so we only have two inpatients, two nursery babies and one woman in labour.’ She grinned at them. ‘But that will keep the two of you busy enough.’

  Sam caught Anthea’s glance at the clock and spoke more quickly. ‘In room one we have Sally Carter, today’s Caesarean section after an antepartum haemorrhage. She came back from Theatre at twelve-thirty and has an IV line and catheter, and her wound is intact with minimal ooze. She’s had pain relief as charted, last given at ten tonight, and hasn’t breastfed her baby yet because he was too sick, but she’s dying to try.’ Sam looked at Ellie and Ellie nodded. Her first job after report.

  ‘As for Baby Carter, he was happily floating around in his mummy’s tummy at thirty-seven weeks’ gestation when his holiday was interrupted by the placental separation.

  ‘You probably already know this from Dr Farrell, Ellie, but I’ll fill you in, Anthea. His silly father dropped a motorbike on his leg and was making toast with the exhaust pipe until Mum lifted it off him. Luckily, young Mr Carter was born within half an hour of the incident so lives to tell the tale.

  ‘His Apgars at birth were two at one minute, three at five minutes and six at ten minutes. He’s one lucky little boy and has just been weaned out of the head box oxygen. He’s almost recovered enough to have a feed, although his drip will remain in situ until Dr Farrell reassesses him in the morning, so he’s not ravenously hungry.’

  Ellie was hugely enjoying Sam’s version of events until she glanced across at Anthea’s lemon-lipped expression. Then she sighed. It was going to be a long night. What a shame she wasn’t on with Sam.

  Sam continued, oblivious to Anthea’s lack of humour. ‘In room two we have the delightful Mrs Tiang Evans, who had a Caesarean section four days ago for cephalopelvic disproportion. Tiang’s managing baby beautifully, her breasts are filling and she manages to attach baby without assistance for his feeds. Her wound is clean and dry and her husband thinks she’s the cleverest woman in the world.

  ‘Baby is quite jaundiced and his serum bilirubin was three hundred and twenty. Needless to say, he’s in the crib under phototherapy lights but is still feeding well. He’s been wet and dirty this shift and had his first bath by Dad today.

  ‘Tiang wants to go home tomorrow if baby’s SBR is down enough, but we’re trying to persuade her to stay for another couple of days so that she doesn’t do too much too soon.’

  Anthea nudged Ellie. ‘You’ll have the nursery.’

  Obviously Anthea needed to state her seniority, Ellie thought, but she refused to let the woman annoy her. Ellie smiled. ‘I love the nursery.’

  Sam looked at the two of them as if sensing undercurrents then went on. ‘In birthing unit two, we have Judy Craig. She’s at term, third pregnancy, two previous spontaneous vaginal deliveries here in the last three years. Her waters broke at home at five this afternoon and she came in contracting strongly about an hour ago. She’s six centimetres dilated and using the nitrous oxide well for pain relief. Dr Farrell is on call and aware of her admission.’

  Sam sat back. ‘And that’s it.’ She handed the keys over to Anthea, caught Ellie’s eye and they both stood up.

  ‘If you want to come into the nursery and relieve Julie, you can take over and we’ll head home.’

  ‘Sounds good.’ Ellie glanced at Cleopatra. ‘Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you, Anthea.’ Anthea inclined her head and Ellie followed Sam into the special care nursery.

  Sam suppressed a grin. ‘She’s not a barrel of laughs, but good on the administrative side and efficient in the labour ward. Anthea likes to decide where she’ll work and you won’t see much of her while you’re stuck in here.’ Ellie wasn’t too depressed about that.

  Sam left Ellie with Julie while she went with Anthea to say goodbye to the labouring woman.

  Julie was tall and slim with wavy brown hair. ‘Hi, again, Ellie. So you got the nursery.’ She gestured around the small nursery with its two humidicribs and one open resuscitaire.

  ‘As you can see, we’re a small unit and only keep the stable babies here. If they get too sick we send them off to the base hospital, and if they can’t handle them they go to Sydney or Newcastle.’ She moved over to the crib with the purple fluorescent lights and patted the roof.

  ‘Our sunbather is in here.’ The baby squirmed inside the cot, and Julie slipped her hand in the porthole to adjust the light protective eye covers on his little face. Ellie loved the way a pair of sunglasses had been painted on the blindfold.

  ‘Baby Evans might come out of the crib tomorrow. He’s feeding really well and usually that means his bilirubin is falling. We just take him out to Tiang’s room for feeds and Mum brings him back when she’s finished.’

  Julie stepped across to the other crib. ‘Mr Carter, whom Dad is considering calling Harley, has been a good boy. Initially his respirations were over eighty but he’s settled down to fifty breaths a minute. He’s just been graded into room air and his pulse-oximeter is reading ninety-eight per cent so he can go out for his feed soon. The IV has been turned down to four mils an hour because we want him to start thinking about food now.’

  She turned back to Ellie. ‘The supervisor said you did your neonatal training at North Shore.’ Ellie nodded. ‘We send our tiniest down to them. I’d like to do my certificate there, too.’

  ‘It’s a good unit,’ Ellie agreed.

  Julie glanced at the clock and grimaced. ‘And that’s the happy nursery family. I’m on in the morning so I’ll see you in less than eight hours. If Anthea needs you in birthing, page the supervisor on 001 and she’ll send someone to sit in the nursery while you’re busy.’

  ‘Sounds good. Thanks, Julie.’

  Julie waved. ‘No worries. Most of the time Anthea won’t ask for help. She’ll call the doctor for the delivery and manage on her own. She doesn’t like people…’ Julie paused and laughed. ‘I should finish that sentence.’ She made a show of wiping the smile off her face. ‘Anthea doesn’t like people looking over her shoulder while she’s working, either in the nursery or the labour ward. So she’ll ask if she wants you. Have a good night.’

  When Julie was gone it was very quiet in the nursery except for the beeping of the heart monitors on both babies. Ellie felt remarkably at home.

  The year she’d spent at North Shore Neonatal Intensive Care Unit had shown Ellie what had seemed like every conceivable disease, abnormality and extreme prematurity a baby could suffer. NSH was the receiving hospital from all over the state. Neonatal care wasn’t an area Ellie wanted to concentrate on but the experience gained was a great security blanket when things didn’t go according to plan in a birth.

  The two main realisations Ellie had come away with had been the incredible resilience of babies and their parents, and how much emotional impact a tiny scrap of humanity could have on those around them, including the staff.

  Ellie heard the outside door shut as the evening staff went home. Anthea came to the door of the nursery and stared at Ellie without a word.

  Ellie raised an eyebrow in enquiry. ‘Looking for me?’

  Anthea took a step into the room with her eyes not leaving Ellie’s face. ‘I hear you’ve done your neonatal and the advanced obstetrics course. Aren’t w
e a little “small fry” for your expertise?’

  Ellie smiled easily. ‘I love it all.’ The sound of a patient call button interrupted and Anthea frowned then turned away with a snap. Ellie tilted her head at the spot where the senior nurse had been. The chance of Anthea becoming a bosom buddy appeared highly unlikely. Which suited Ellie fine.

  It would actually have been harder to become friends with Luke’s fiancée. As far as Ellie could see, the woman wasn’t the warmest person she’d met. But that wasn’t Ellie’s problem. She was the one who’d told Luke she wasn’t interested in a relationship. She meant it. Josh was her first priority and she had no right to care who Luke was engaged to. So why did she? Ellie dragged over a bag of nappies to fold. Busy was good.

  Ellie saw little of Anthea for the next two hours as Anthea’s patient progressed to imminent delivery.

  The outside doorbell rang and Ellie left the nursery to let in the caller. It was Luke.

  Ellie stared at him through the glass door. Luke looked like he’d been sitting at home, waiting for the phone. It was one a.m. for heaven’s sake. Either that or he slept fully dressed standing up in his wardrobe to arrive looking so well groomed.

  His eyes widened and then a slow smile lightened his face when he saw who it was. Ellie pushed open the door and Luke angled himself past her into the ward.

  ‘So this is your all-night hot date,’ he said.

  Ellie grinned but didn’t say anything as she went back to the nursery because she was afraid she’d gush something stupid. Surely she would get used to seeing him at all hours of the day and night. This fizzing excitement when he was in her vicinity was over the top. It was probably just a leftover of that special feeling people said you had for your first real boyfriend.

  If he hadn’t been engaged, maybe she could have had that one passionate night with him that he’d refused to give her ten years ago?

  Just to demystify that feeling of incompleteness she’d carried since then, of course.

  It was becoming obvious she should have picked another seaside town to settle with her son if she wanted peace of mind. But she’d thought Luke was safely married. And now that she had seen Luke again, would another town really give her that? She busied herself washing baby bonnets to redirect her thoughts.