A wife for the baby doctor

by Josie Metcalfe

  ‘And in the meantime…’ she muttered under her breath with a groan at the end of far too many hours of worrying at the problem without coming to any reasonable conclusion.

  In the meantime, life went on in its relentless way, with as many as one out of every eight newborn babies needing some sort of attention in their unit.

  They were at full stretch at the moment, with every bed taken and every member of specialist staff rostered for every last second of their available hours.

  ‘Sometimes I feel as if I’m trying to stop water coming out of a colander,’ she complained to Marion as they bumped into each other in the lift going down to A and E. ‘This is the fourth time this morning that they’ve asked for someone to come down, and with Josh away at some high-level meeting…’

  ‘Oho! So it’s Josh now, is it?’ Marion teased, and Dani was grateful that they were the only ones in the lift, especially when she could feel the start of a blush sweeping up her throat and into her face.

  ‘Of course we call him Josh,’ she said, trying to achieve a lofty tone. ‘We work with the man for a dozen hours a day, after all, and he’s not the sort to stand on ceremony with his staff.’

  ‘Well!’ Marion exclaimed in disgust. ‘I was really hoping that there was a bit of gossip to liven things up. I’m sick to death of the stories flying about the place about Tomasz’s shenanigans. You wouldn’t believe how huge the tales have grown in the telling!’

  ‘Oh, yes, I would,’ Dani countered. ‘And it’s a relief to speak to one of the few people who know, categorically, that there was not a red-hot orgy going on involving all the residents of the building.’

  ‘Is that what they’re saying now?’ Marion asked with a burst of disbelieving laughter. ‘Well, I certainly missed out if it was true, because I never saw a thing except for the water pouring from your ceiling.’

  ‘You didn’t miss anything much, if the other bit of gossip is true,’ Dani consoled her with a grin of her own.

  ‘Tell me. Tell me, quick!’ Marion pleaded as the indicator told them they’d reached their destination.

  ‘Nothing much,’ Dani said dismissively as the doors started to slide open, just for the fun of teasing the woman, then relented to whisper, ‘Just that the girls were passing around the information that a certain gentleman isn’t quite as well endowed or as proficient in the use of certain equipment as he would have the world believe…’

  ‘Ouch!’ Marion said, and as she hurried to find the patient waiting for her, Dani could tell that her friend was kind-hearted enough to feel some sympathy for the younger man, if the ego-destroying tale was true, even as her eyes were glinting with the urge to laugh.

  ‘Hello, it’s me again!’ she said when she reached her destination. ‘Someone called up to unit for—’

  ‘Follow me,’ the staff nurse said without even letting her finish speaking. ‘Thank goodness you came so quickly. There’s a preemie on the way that couldn’t even wait to get upstairs, and the parents say it’s at least eight weeks early.’

  As a case history it was decidedly sketchy but, then, sometimes there just wasn’t time for filling in forms, and this seemed to be one of them.

  Dani paused a moment in the doorway to look at the situation, her own involvement obviously not necessary for a few more minutes. It wouldn’t be long, though. The baby’s head was already crowning.

  She caught her first sight of the woman at the centre of the scurrying staff and for some reason her antennae twitched. The husband was clearly distraught, dividing his attention between his labouring wife and begging the midwife to save their baby.

  The door behind her nudged one hip and Dani stepped aside to allow the warmed humidicrib to join the rest of the high-tech equipment in the room, but her eyes were somehow fixed on the dynamics of the couple. There was something about the way that the woman was clutching at the man’s arm, as though she was trying to keep his focus on herself…an air of desperation, perhaps? Or was it fear? Or even guilt?

  She shook her head to rid herself of such fanciful thoughts, forcing herself to concentrate, instead, on the head of the baby as it finally emerged into the world. It was a rather large head for a baby arriving a full two months early. Was that an indication that the baby was suffering from hydrocephalus? Would an operation be necessary to control the dangerous build-up of fluid within the skull?

  She pulled a disposable apron over her head and swiftly tied it then snapped on a pair of gloves so that she would be ready to work quickly, if necessary, stepping closer so that she could see exactly what was happening.

  Then the rest of the infant was delivered and for several seconds there was complete silence in the room, apart from the vigorous complaints from an obviously full-term baby.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ the father demanded, his eyes flicking frantically from Dani to the baby when she stepped up to the table to double-check the midwife’s findings. ‘Is there something wrong with the baby?’

  ‘Absolutely nothing, as far as we can tell,’ she reassured him, handing the baby into the new mother’s arms, wondering how on earth they could have been told that a baby this size was two months premature. The greenest ultrasound technician would have known that the dates were wrong. ‘This is a very healthy full-term baby, so there really isn’t any need to worry. We just need to get him and his mum transferred to the maternity ward and—’

  ‘That can’t be right,’ he interrupted with a frown, glancing from the midwife to Dani and back again. ‘You said the baby’s full term but it can’t be. I wasn’t even in the country nine months ago, so…’ His eyes widened and his expression darkened as he stared down at his wife.

  That was when Dani recognised the expression in the woman’s eyes and realised that it was blatant fear.

  ‘It’s not my baby, is it,’ he accused, and Dani noticed that the words hadn’t sounded in the least like a question.

  The new mother flinched and couldn’t meet his gaze.

  ‘Tell me!’ he demanded, and Dani wondered if she was the only one who could hear the heartbreak mixed in with his anger.

  The baby was almost forgotten between them, the precious bundle clutched in his mother’s arms while the tense drama played out over his newborn head.

  A creak at the other side of the room drew Dani’s attention to the doorway and the head that appeared around the edge. She had no idea of the man’s name; all she knew from her frequent trips backwards and forwards from the unit was that he was one of the doctors in A and E.

  Dark eyebrows lifted questioningly, silently asking whether his assistance was needed, and Dani gave a slight shake of her head, crossing her fingers that she was guessing right when he nodded and disappeared again.

  ‘Tell me!’ the distraught man repeated, snapping Dani’s attention back to the tense situation as he reached out as though to grab his wife and force her to meet his gaze, force her to admit the awful truth.

  Dani tensed, ready to step in to prevent any untoward happenings, but the baby clearly had other ideas.

  Even as the angry man hesitated, obviously desperate for an answer but still civilised enough not to resort to physical violence to extract one, a little clenched fist escaped from the soft cloth wrapped around him.

  Whether it was sheer accident or the result of fate, it collided with the powerful male hand hovering nearby and tiny starfish fingers instantly wrapped around the nearest finger and gripped tightly.

  Someone drew in a sharp breath at the picture they made—the smallest, most helpless being in the room clinging to the biggest and strongest adult—but otherwise there was complete silence for several endless seconds.

  ‘Martin, please,’ the new mother whispered. ‘Let me explain…when there aren’t so many people around.’

  ‘What’s to explain?’ he demanded, his eyes fixed on the trusting way that little hand was holding onto him, but it was obvious that most of the heat had gone out of his voice. All that was left was hurt and sorrow. ‘He’s someone
else’s baby, not mine.’

  His regret was palpable as he gently slid his finger out of that tenacious grasp and stepped back out of reach.

  ‘Martin…’ she choked, reaching out towards him in panic as though she’d suddenly realised that he was deliberately creating distance between them.

  ‘Who is it?’ he demanded thickly, the words suddenly tumbling out of him in spite of his audience. ‘Why did you marry me and let me think it was my baby you were carrying? Why didn’t you call our wedding off and marry him?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she wailed suddenly, and everyone in the room was riveted, wondering how many more revelations they were going to be privy to. ‘I don’t know who…I was attacked…r-raped…and I didn’t realise I was pregnant, not until after we were married, and I was just praying…hoping…that it was your baby and…and…’

  She gasped as the contraction that heralded the final stage of her labour caught her by surprise, and the baby almost slid out of her grasp.

  Dani reached out automatically to prevent the precious bundle from falling, but she was too slow. He was already firmly and safely grasped in big male hands.

  ‘What’s happening?’ he demanded as his wife screwed up her face against the intensity of the pain, his continuing concern for her obvious in spite of the recent revelations. ‘Has something gone wrong? Why is she in pain?’

  ‘It’s all right, Martin,’ the midwife soothed as she checked progress. ‘It’s just the afterbirth coming away. Can you give me one last push, darling?’ she added to the distraught young woman, and with those prosaic words, the atmosphere in the room almost returned to normal.

  Not that any of them would be forgetting those tense few minutes in a hurry, Dani realised as she took the stairs back up to her own domain. It was almost a disappointment that she’d never hear the end of the story.

  Except she felt she already knew how this particular tale was going to end, especially having seen the protective way that little boy had been cradled in a certain man’s arms as he was led away to take part in the baby’s first bath.

  ‘No baby?’ demanded a voice as soon as she stepped inside the unit. ‘Didn’t it make it? Too prem even for us?’

  She turned to see Josh at the door of his office and her heart gave a convulsive leap in her chest when she saw the dark tawny hair curling at the V of his scrub top.

  ‘Dani?’ he prompted, and she hurriedly dragged her eyes away, then found that meeting his concerned golden gaze wasn’t any easier on her pulse rate.

  ‘Not prem enough,’ she corrected. ‘Mistaken dates, or something, because he’s big and beautiful and healthy and doesn’t need our help at all.’

  ‘Good,’ he said with a satisfied smile. ‘That’s the way we like them.’ And he turned to go back into his office. ‘Oh, before I forget.’ He turned back, and as quick as she’d been to drag her eyes up from their appreciation of his sexy rear view, she knew the sudden heat in her cheeks was a giveaway—the narrow-eyed glitter lancing in her direction told her so. ‘We’ve had a call from Barchester. They need to transfer one across to us. They’ve run out of beds.’

  ‘Again!’ she exclaimed, trying to remember how many times it had been since she’d joined the department that they’d been contacted to accept a sick baby transferred halfway across the country. It was such a dangerous thing to do when they were so fragile.

  ‘It’s not as if we’ve got any spare capacity,’ she pointed out. ‘If that baby down in A and E hadn’t been healthy…’

  ‘I know. I’d have been frantically trying to decide which of the babies was strong enough to be moved out of the unit and into a specialled bed on Paediatrics,’ he said on a heavy sigh, raking his hand through his hair and clenching it in a gesture of frustration. ‘It’s the same story over and over again. We’re desperately short of qualified staff because the hospital won’t pay them enough, so we can’t cope with any more patients on the unit. And at the same time, the administrators are wasting precious money giving the conference rooms and top-echelon offices fancy makeovers.’

  ‘Well, we wouldn’t want them to be uncomfortable while they sit in their comfy chairs counting all the beans and shuffling them from one pile to another,’ Dani chided with heavy sarcasm.

  A wry smile lifted one corner of his mouth. ‘I know. I know. I’m preaching to the choir,’ he admitted. ‘But if you knew how fatuous so many of the meetings I have to go to are, and how much precious time they waste while they stuff platefuls of chocolate biscuits down their greedy throats…’

  ‘Chocolate biscuits!’ Dani exclaimed. ‘You’ve been going to meetings and been supplied with chocolate biscuits and you haven’t brought any back for me!’

  ‘Get onto Barchester for an update on that transfer,’ he ordered sternly, and she threw him a cheeky salute as she left the room. She was smiling broadly as she waited for the call to be answered, her spirits bubbling at the memory of his expression. He’d never been able to hide the gleam of laughter in his eyes when it came to her passion for chocolate.

  ‘This is Ricky Tomlins…the transfer you’ve been expecting from Barchester,’ said a tall blonde with a folder tucked under her arm.

  ‘That’s right,’ Dani said with a smile, and held her hand out for the patient’s notes, keen for the handover to take place as smoothly as possible. The sooner the little boy was settled into the controlled surroundings of the unit the better. By all accounts, he’d already got enough of a struggle on his hands without being dragged all over the country.

  ‘Oh. Isn’t Mr Weatherby ready?’ the woman said, tightening her grip on the folder. ‘Shouldn’t you be letting him know we’re here?’

  ‘Mr Weatherby has been informed,’ Dani said. ‘I’m Dr Dixon and I’ll be documenting this little chap’s arrival. If you’d like to follow me, we can deal with the paperwork while Nadia supervises his transfer into the unit.’

  The woman was clearly unwilling to accept those arrangements and Dani didn’t know whether to stifle a groan at the fact that she’d obviously been looking forward to seeing Josh rather than his female underling, or to admit that she was jealous of yet another tall, slender, beautiful woman in his life.

  Well, he obviously wasn’t that eager to see her or he’d have been here to meet her, the sensible voice inside her head pointed out, and she found a measure of pity for the woman’s obvious disappointment. And if she knew that you are sharing his flat, the wicked voice added, and she felt a smug grin inch its way upward.

  Not that sharing his flat had done her any good, so far, she admitted wryly as she checked the documentation of little Ricky’s progress since his precipitate arrival in the world. In fact, the only progress she’d made had been to develop some very unattractive shadows under her eyes as she tried to ignore the fact that his bed was just the other side of the bathroom from hers. Added to that was her wake-up call every morning as she lay there and listened to the splash of water while he took his shower, trying not to picture his naked body just inches away from her.

  ‘Tell Mr Weatherby that Jillian Treacher sends her best wishes,’ the elegant woman said as the team gathered up their portable equipment and prepared to make the return journey to Barchester. There was a note of pleading in her voice and for just a moment Dani almost felt sorry enough for her to pass the message on.

  ‘Of course,’ she said, meeting the perfectly made-up eyes, but with a flash of that instant communication that the female half of the world understood when a desirable man was involved, they both knew that she wouldn’t.

  ‘How’s he doing?’ she asked Nadia as soon as she’d scrubbed and donned gloves and apron.

  ‘His pulse and respiration are a little higher than they should be,’ the specialist nurse pointed out with a glance at the bank of monitors.

  ‘It could just be caused by the stress of being moved about,’ Dani suggested as she compared the readings with those in the file. ‘Keep an eye on him and give me a shout if you’re still not happy. I�
�m just going to let Josh know he’s settled in, in case he wants to come and give the little chap a once-over.’

  Dani was pleased that Josh had the confidence in her to leave her to handle the new arrival, but she would still be glad of his input, especially with the levels of some of the drugs little Ricky was receiving.

  ‘Have you got a minute?’ she asked when his voice bade her enter his office and he looked up from the never-ending mountain of paperwork.

  ‘That depends,’ he countered with a wary glance past her shoulder towards the hallway. ‘Has she gone?’

  Dani chuckled at his expression and her jealousy vanished as if it had never existed. ‘If you mean the lovely Jillian Treacher, yes, she’s gone…but she left a message to pass on her best wishes to you,’ she added, suddenly inexplicably confident that the woman’s relationship with Josh was no threat.

  Not that she had anything to boast about in the relationship stakes. For all the notice Josh had paid to her since she’d moved into his flat, she might as well have been a piece of the furniture. If she’d been expecting him to suddenly realise that he was in love with her and declare that he wanted her around for ever, she would have been very disappointed.

  ‘Was that all you wanted—to pass on the message?’ he asked with a hint of impatience.

  ‘No. It was about the new transfer.’ She stepped forward to place the file on his desk. ‘He’s called Ricky Tomlins and he was ten weeks prem. You can see from the size of the file that he’s had a rocky start, but…I’m a bit concerned about some of the dosages he’s on, and the fact that his pulse and respiration are raised in spite of them. Would you like to—?’

  ‘Tell me what you think is wrong and what you want to do about it,’ he interrupted, leaning back in his chair without opening the file, those dark golden eyes fixed on her as though he wanted to be able to read her mind.

  For a moment Dani was nonplussed when he didn’t immediately reach for the file, wondering what he was doing. It was only when he did that annoying trick of raising one eyebrow at her that she realised he was giving her the chance to show how much she’d learned so far; that he wanted her to have the courage of her own convictions and the confidence to stand by her deliberations.