The Doctor's Baby Surprise - An Accent Amour Medical Romance

by Gill Sanderson

  Harshly she said, ‘Things aren’t different, so listen. You’ve got problems and I’m willing to do something to help. No, I want to help. Have you thought more about how you’re going to manage work and caring for Charlie? About the future?’

  He pushed his hand through his hair. ‘Nothing in a hurry. I’ve got a week to decide, to plan a future. First, as I said, is Jack and Carly. I’ll ask and listen. But one thing is certain. This is my problem. I’m grateful for your help—I know I need it—but I’m not expecting it or taking it for granted.’

  Silence for a moment. Annie looked at the bedside clock and said, ‘I’d better go to work. I’ve just got time to get to my place, shower, and change.’ She smiled. ‘Now get out of here while I pull on some clothes.’

  Perhaps she understood him a little better now, she thought after he’d left and she was getting dressed. She didn’t feel quite so angry at him for dumping her the way he had. She considered that and then decided that, yes, she did still feel angry. But perhaps a bit less so. She was certainly no Gail, anyway, and he should have been able to realise that.

  The following morning Annie walked down the clinic corridor and saw Eva talking to Mary and… Toby. What was he doing there? Where was Charlie?

  Toby called her over and he, Eva and Mary smiled at her. Annie found herself feeling a bit warm, a bit uncomfortable. Almost as if the fact that she’d stayed at Toby’s was blazoned on her forehead. Perhaps people could tell just by her expression. But if they could, they kept it quiet.

  She was told that although he had been given leave of absence, Toby had been asked to come in just for the morning session due to a staff shortage. So what had he done with Charlie?

  ‘I’ve been asked to cancel both yours and Toby’s appointments this morning,’ Eva said. ‘There’s a bit of a crisis over in the main building. Too many people off sick again so we’ve been asked if you can do a ward round together. Just this once. It’s paediatrics, not obs and gynae, but I doubt there’ll be much trouble. Mary here says she can cope with your visits and there’s nothing much else that can’t be put off.’

  ‘No problem,’ said Annie. Technically they both should be doing a lot of donkey work on the wards, having to run their own clinic was a step up. Every now and again it was as well to do the work they were supposed to do.

  They walked over to the main building together. ‘So where’s Charlie?’ she asked.

  ‘In a local crèche,’ he said. ‘I didn’t want gossip to spread before I tell the family, so managed to get some recommendations for crèches outside the hospital without giving the game away. When I explained the situation to the people there they were more then willing to help. I didn’t want to leave him, but I’m needed here and at least it’s just for the morning. He should be OK.’

  He then told her that he had made more phone calls, arranging a meeting that evening with Jack and Carly.

  ‘Good luck,’ she told him. ‘You’re going to need it.’

  He seemed just a little low. ‘I’m not the favourite brother,’ he explained. ‘Jack and Carly expected me at my mother’s last night, I phoned in with an obvious excuse. Arranging the meeting was a bit fraught, too. They wanted to know what it was about and I wouldn’t tell them.’

  ‘It’ll be all right later, when they see Charlie. Toby, you’re lucky to have a brother and sister.’

  They walked down a long corridor, turned into Kingfisher Ward. ‘I’ve got problems,’ he said. ‘But the kids here have even bigger problems. At least Charlie is healthy. Kind of puts things into perspective.’ And the old Toby smile was back.

  Kingfisher Ward. The ward for the less seriously ill children. Annie liked the room. There were bright pictures on the walls. There was a play corner, full of different toys. Fastened to a giant corkboard, in clear plastic folders, were the children’s own paintings. They got to take them home when they left. The staff prided themselves on the relaxed, family atmosphere of the cheerful ward.

  Six-year-old Martin Track was certain of two things: one, he wasn’t ill; two, he wasn’t going to be examined. There might have been a third thing: that he was going to cause as much havoc as possible. Annie didn’t know.

  In fact, Martin had had recurrent tonsillitis, caused by the Epstein-Barr virus, and had finally had his tonsils removed. It wasn’t a serious operation and Martin should have gone home after a one-night stay. But he had been bleeding a little and there were family problems. So Martin had to stay in hospital. He didn’t like it, he didn’t like people peering into his mouth, and his objections could upset the entire ward.

  ‘Now for a struggle,’ the nurse said as they approached Martin’s bed. Martin stared at them balefully.

  ‘Look Martin,’ Toby said, and extended an open hand. In the middle of his palm was a red sweet. ‘Would you like it?’

  Martin nodded.

  Toby closed his fingers, opened them at once. Martin stared at the palm, then reached out to turn Toby’s hand over. No red sweet.

  ‘We’ll have to think about this,’ grumbled Toby. He closed his hand again, shook it in the air. When he opened it there was a sweet—a yellow one.

  ‘I wanted a red one, I really did,’ said Toby. ‘Didn’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’ Martin was now intrigued.

  Toby sat on the edge of the bed. ‘Let’s see where it’s got to,’ he said. ‘It might have gone to all sorts of odd places. Just sit up and let Annie here take off your pyjama jacket.’ He nodded to the Annie who whipped off the jacket. ‘Now,’ Toby went on, ‘while she’s looking at you, we’ll look for the red sweetie.’

  Annie managed all the obs that were necessary. And the search for the red sweet went on. A brown one was found inside one of Martin’s ears. A green one even appeared from under his nose—to much laughter from the little boy. It was magic!

  Obs were quickly over. They left a puzzled but happy Martin rubbing his ears and then inspecting his hands. ‘That’s the quietest I’ve ever seen him,’ said the nurse. ‘You were great.’

  ‘Where did you learn to do that?’ Annie asked.

  He shrugged. ‘A couple of years ago we had a conjurer come to a ward I was working on, to entertain the kids at Christmas. I saw him do that trick and I asked him to show me how to do it. He was a good guy—it was a professional secret but he showed me. I practised it—and on a children’s ward it’s as useful as a stethoscope.’

  ‘Right,’ said Annie, impressed with his resourcefulness.

  ‘For kids, the world can be full of magic,’ he went on. ‘It’s real for them. I want Charlie to grow up in a world of magic.’

  ‘And then learn what life is really like?’ Annie couldn’t help being a little bitter.

  ‘Sometimes adults can find magic in their lives too.’ But he didn’t tell her how.

  Toby got on with all the children. He seemed to treat them as if they were adults—and they liked it. Annie couldn’t quite explain how he did it, but it worked. And as he entertained them, she managed to get the work done.

  ‘We’re a good team, Annie,’ he said. ‘We work well together.’

  It was true.

  Three-quarters of the way through the ward round, the nurse looked at the entrance and shivered. ‘Here comes trouble. Mrs Everett. Her little girl is quiet and placid, and a perfect patient. She must take after her father, because Mrs Everett’s never happy unless she’s finding fault.’

  Parents were encouraged to spend as much time on the ward as possible. It helped the children recover. Whenever Annie looked around the ward there would be a few parents, helping not only their own child but others too. Usually they were mothers, but there was a steadily increasing number of fathers too.

  Toby looked cautiously at the thin-lipped Mrs Everett. ‘D’you think she’d respond to the sweetie trick, Annie?’ he whispered. ‘Or will she need chocolate or something?’

  ‘I think you might have your work cut out here,’ Annie murmured. ‘It’ll take more than sweets to win her over.�
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  Toby grinned. ‘Whatever it takes, I’ll see if I’ve got it. You two carry on with the round. I’ll get a cup of tea for Mrs Everett.’

  Annie and the nurse watched him walk across the ward, saw his broad smile, heard him call, ‘Mrs Everett, I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m Dr Sinclair and it’s nice to meet you. Let me get you a drink.’

  ‘I don’t think I’ve ever said it before,’ said the nurse, ‘but in this case I’m really pleased to see a doctor drinking tea when he should be doing his rounds.’

  Annie saw the two sitting in the parents’ glass walled room, saw Toby fetch tea for a smiling Mrs Everett. She nodded. ‘Toby can be a real charmer. We all know that.’

  It was a good ward round and it was over quite quickly. They both had to go back to the clinic and as they did so Toby said, ‘It’s true, you know. We work well together. We’re a good team.’

  ‘We’re a good team of doctors,’ said Annie.

  As she walked down to her room she thought about what she had just said. They were a good team of doctors. They could anticipate each other, guess what the other was thinking. It was a pity that they had so much difficulty with their personal lives.

  Back to the clinic for the inevitable paperwork. Toby had an hour before he went to pick up Charlie. Time to catch up a little. So they sat together in the staff lounge, working their way through mounds of files and requisitions and patient reports. Toby’s presence made the seemingly endless task seem quite pleasant.

  ‘Dr Arnold,’ he said gloomily after half an hour, ‘I feel in need of surgical division of a compression ligament.’

  ‘You feel in need of what?’

  ‘I shall also need a letter from my doctor certifying that I am unfit for work and will remain that way for the foreseeable future. You can be my doctor.’

  ‘Toby, what are you talking about?’

  He flapped his hand up and down in front of her. ‘I have carpal tunnel syndrome. Pain and tingling in the fingers. Caused by an excess of handwriting. Writing up notes, to be exact. I just can’t stand the pain, Doctor.’

  ‘There’s a new, certain, instant cure,’ Annie said laconically. ‘A hot infusion of caffeine, sucrose, and lactose. And while you’re on your feet; I’ll have a coffee too.’

  He shook his head as he got to his feet. ‘I ask for sympathy and I’m turned into a domestic drudge. Life just isn’t fair.’

  This was the Toby that Annie liked, the one she felt she knew, could get on with. There might be another Toby somewhere—but that one was dangerous.

  Eva popped her head round the door. ‘Message from your mother,’ she said to Annie. ‘Can you phone her—some time latish this afternoon? Not now, she’s just going out.’

  ‘Thanks, Eva. I’ll remember to do that.’

  ‘You know quite a bit about my family,’ Toby said casually, as he flipped through his papers. ‘I know nothing about yours. Tell me a bit.’

  Annie shrugged. ‘Not a lot to tell. My dad’s a retired bank manager, my mother’s a part-time school helper, and they live in a semi in Lancaster. We’re a very small, but happy, family. I’m an only child.’

  ‘Do you see a lot of them?’

  ‘Not as much as I ought to. Of course, work has been a bit pressing recently. In fact, probably my mother’s phoning me to ask why I haven’t been home for tea.’

  She worked for another five minutes and then looked at the pile of papers in front of her with considerable satisfaction. ‘That’s done. Paperwork over for at least three days. Now I can pretend I am a doctor.’

  ‘I haven’t finished,’ Toby complained. ‘It’s your fault, I’ve had to spend much of my time fetching you coffee. Will you do some of mine?’

  ‘No,’ said Annie. But after a moment she said, ‘Well, pass a few easy ones over. If you want to go now and see how Charlie’s getting on, that’s all right with me. I’ll finish your paperwork.’

  ‘It’d be nice to go now,’ he said. ‘Thanks.’ Then he said hesitantly, ‘Are you… will you be calling later?’

  ‘I’ll bring something over for your tea,’ she said. ‘See you then.’

  He came over, kissed her on the forehead. She’d like more than that, she thought. But she said nothing.

  Time to leave the clinic. Annie had food in her own flat she could pick up, no need to go shopping. But there was something else she needed to do before she arrived at Toby’s flat. She had a decision to make. She hurried down the corridor, stopped long enough to pick up her mac. It had started to rain.

  Outside it was dark, there was a bitter wind blowing the rain across the hospital grounds. There was nobody around, just what she wanted. She walked along a path, the rain pattering on her coat. In the distance she could see the blurred lights of the hospital. Good. She needed solitude.

  Eventually she found a tree and sheltered against its trunk. No one could see her. She needed for a while to be absolutely alone, to make a decision she had been considering all day. It might be a foolish decision.

  These recent days had been the most tumultuous of her life: she had discovered her true feelings for Toby; she had discovered he was a father; she had been given some explanation for why he had treated her so badly. Her whole life felt as if it had been turned upside down. And now she was contemplating an even bigger change, one that would hopefully get her life back on track once and for all. For a moment she thought of her mother, who she intended to speak to later that night. One of her ambitions had always been to have a married life as contented as her parents’. She suspected that she was about to embark on a plan that was just the opposite of their clearly laid out path.

  She thought a moment longer. Then she hurried back before she changed her mind.

  Charlie had been fine at the crèche and Toby was delighted. His son was now asleep and he and Annie were sitting at the living room table, having finished the frozen casserole that Annie had brought. Toby was looking just a little more relaxed. And Annie was feeling anxious. What she was about to suggest would affect her entire life. She wasn’t sure whether it was a good decision or not.

  ‘Toby? You know my rotation is up in two months? Well, I was intending to stay here, if they’d have me. But now I’ve changed my mind. It might be good to have experience of a totally different hospital. In fact, Calvin has said that he’ll see if he can find me a place in America for a while.’

  Toby looked up, obviously upset. ‘But why? The training you get here is second to none.’ He thought a moment and asked, ‘Is it because of me? Because if I thought I’d driven you out, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. And I’m feeling bad enough already.’

  ‘It’s partly about you,’ she said honestly, ‘but there are other reasons. Now, listen to what else I’ve got to say. You’re going to have to see to Charlie. You said you might even stop your course for a while. I think that would be a foolish thing to do. The hospital crèche will take Charlie during a lot of the day. But apart from that, what Jack and Carly can do for you is limited. So I’m making you an offer.’

  She stopped, conscious that this was her last chance to change her mind. Then she took a deep breath and said, ‘I’m making you an offer. For two months I’ll share looking after Charlie with you. I’ll keep my own flat going but I’ll move in here with you. Charlie can go to the hospital crèche during the day. We can ask John Bennett not to schedule the two of us on night duty at the same time. Some nights I’ll have Charlie, some nights you’ll have him. And there’ll be the mornings, of course. It shouldn’t be too hard for the two of us. But only for two months. After that he’s your responsibility.’

  He looked at her disbelievingly. ‘You’d do that for me? Why?’

  ‘My reasons are my own. Perhaps I just like babies.’

  She could see he was thinking, almost at a loss for words. Recently he seemed to have been getting more shocks than he’d ever had in his life. She saw glimpses of a different Toby, one who could feel and show his feelings. And she liked this
different Toby.

  He muttered, ‘That’s generosity beyond belief. And I know I don’t deserve it.’ Then he shook his head, as if to rid it of distracting thoughts. His voice was firmer. ‘Will you be able to let go of Charlie after two months? You know you’ll grow fond of him.’

  ‘Let’s be quite clear about this. After two months I’m going. You’ll be on your own or I suppose you’ll find a nanny or something. I’m a doctor. I’ve been fond of children before and they’ve left me. It’ll be hard but I’ve done harder things. I’ve had to.’

  He stood, came over to her and taking her two hands in his, stared into her eyes. She stared back, making herself feel strong. ‘We’ll be spending a lot of time together, Annie. Will you be able to leave me after two months?’

  Her gaze didn’t waver. ‘Yes. I’ve done it before, remember? I’ve had to. And one thing, Toby, from you I want the most solemn promise that you understand that after two months it’s all over.’

  He squeezed her hands. ‘I don’t deserve you or your offer,’ he said. ‘Of course I accept. I’ve got to do everything I can for Charlie. I’d like to think that if it was just for me, I’d have the courage to refuse. But I doubt it.’

  They looked at each other in silence. Then she pulled free her hands and said, ‘My offer might not be needed. Perhaps Jack and Carly will have another suggestion. Incidentally, it’s time you were on your way to see them.’

  Toby nodded. ‘I’m avoiding the issue,’ he said after a minute. ‘I know that I should go and get changed, and take Charlie to see my brother and sister. But the more I think about facing the family, the more inviting staying here with you becomes. D’you think I’m a coward, Annie?’

  ‘Definite white-feather material.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘If you don’t leave this building in the twenty minutes, I’ll kick you out.’

  ‘Come with me?’

  ‘No. You’ve got to take it on the chin alone.’ She grinned. ‘Just one thing. Get Miranda on your side.’

  ‘I’m going,’ he said. ‘Give you a report when I get back.’

  Annie watched him leave. Had she done the most stupid thing in her life?