White Christmas For The Single Mom (Christmas Miracles In Maternity #3)

by Susanne Hampton

  ‘Anything else I need to know?’

  ‘Just one thing...the attending OBGYN, Dr Charlie Warren, is averse to fetoscopic laser surgery. Believes the risks are too great so no doubt he’ll be challenging you.’

  Juliet took a deep breath. ‘Looks like I’ll be catching a plane tomorrow morning to meet Dr Warren’s challenge and convince him otherwise.’

  ‘I hope he knows what he’s up against.’

  ‘He soon will.’ With her head tilted just slightly, and the remnants of bewilderment still lingering, she looked at her replacement. ‘Okay, Dad, looks like Kelly and her baby are in your hands now.’

  ‘Don’t worry, honey. I’ll do you proud.’

  CHAPTER TWO

  ‘DR TURNER, WE’RE about five minutes away from the Royal Cheltenham hospital.’

  The voice of the immaculately suited driver made Juliet lift her tired eyes to meet his in the rear-view mirror. They were warm and smiling back at her but with a curiosity that she had been so very accustomed to over the years. She was well aware that she didn’t look her thirty-three years and many apparently found it difficult to believe she was a doctor let alone a surgeon. Her curly brown hair and spattering of freckles along with her petite frame, she realised, didn’t help her quest to be taken seriously. She had no time for make-up except for a natural lip gloss to prevent her lips from cracking, and that too added to her young appearance. It also helped her go under the radar and not gain the attention of the opposite sex and, although it wasn’t her primary motivation, it was a welcome side effect.

  But despite the general consensus, she was both a surgeon and a mother and she took both roles incredibly seriously. Her work, she loved with a passion, and her daughter, she loved more than anyone and anything in the world. And more than she had ever dreamed possible.

  ‘Thank you,’ she responded as she gently turned to stir the little girl fast asleep and leaning against her. Running her fingers down the child’s ruddy cheeks, she softly kissed the top of her head. ‘Wake up, Bea, my precious little sleepyhead.’

  The little girl silently protested at being disturbed and nestled in tighter to the warmth of her mother’s woollen overcoat. Her eyelashes flickered but her eyes were far too heavy to open.

  ‘Well, I hope this part of your marathon travel’s been pleasant,’ the driver commented.

  ‘Very pleasant, thank you.’

  ‘So how many hours have you two been travelling to be here this morning?’

  ‘I think it’s about thirty five hours, but it feels like for ever,’ she replied with a little sigh, thinking back over the logistical nightmare they had survived. ‘We left Perth early yesterday, Australian time, had a layover in Singapore before we headed on to Heathrow, and then the sixty-mile trip to the Cotswolds with you,’ Juliet added as she continued to try and wake her still-drowsy little girl as gently as possible. She wasn’t sure just how coherent she was but didn’t want to appear rude. She had a lot on her mind, including the impending in-utero surgery on the quadruplets within the week. The reason she had been seconded halfway around the world at a minute’s notice.

  Keeping all four babies viable was everyone’s focus. And something everyone agreed could not be done with Juliet on the other side of the world. Well, almost everyone agreed. She knew she would have her work cut out convincing the quads’ OBGYN, Dr Charlie Warren. She presumed he would be leaning towards bed rest, high-protein diet and medication for the quads’ mother. It was conservative and Juliet was surprised that he was not encouraging the laser surgery. She’d had no time to research the man but assumed he might be perhaps closer to the driver’s age and had managed previous TTTS cases in that manner. But once he heard her argument for the surgery, surely the traditional English physician would see that her method had clear benefit? Particularly once she stated her case and the supporting statistics. How could he not? With both hospitals agreeing that Juliet was best placed to undertake the procedure, all she needed was the parents’ approval. She was not about to allow Teddy’s overtly conservative OBGYN to question the validity of her surgical intervention. It was an argument she was more than prepared to have. And to win.

  But that wasn’t the issue that had weighed most heavily on her mind on the long flights over to the UK. It was her parenting. How responsible was it to drag her daughter with her? she had wondered incessantly. And with less than twenty-four hours’ notice. The poor little girl barely knew what was happening. The only thing that she could really comprehend was a plane trip to see snow.

  Up until that point Juliet and Bea’s lives had been so settled and planned. Some might say overly so, and among those were Juliet’s parents. They had openly encouraged her to take Bea with her and together enjoy the opportunity to travel. In her home town, Juliet’s mother looked after Bea three days a week and the other two days Bea was in childcare only five minutes from Juliet’s workplace at the Perth Women’s and Children’s Medical Centre. When the proposition of travelling to the UK had been forced upon her, Juliet’s parents had quickly had to push her out of her comfort zone and into embracing the opportunity. Her mother had immediately brought the suitcases down from the attic and personally delivered them to Juliet’s home and offered to help her pack. Juliet didn’t doubt it would be better for the quads for her to be there but it was not just her any more. She had her daughter to consider in every decision she made.

  ‘I just hope I’m doing the right thing in dragging Bea to the other side of the world for such a short time,’ Juliet had muttered in the car on the way to the airport at five-thirty in the morning. Her father had been driving, her mother next to Bea in the back seat.

  ‘That’s just it, honey, it might not be a short time,’ her father reminded her as he pulled up at traffic lights and turned to his daughter. ‘You don’t know when the quads will arrive and it’s best you stay until they do. There could be post-operative or postnatal complications, so it’s better to remain there up to the birth.’

  ‘I know you’re right, but this whole trip is so rushed, I’ve had no time to prepare mentally. I know it’s too late, but I can’t hide the fact I’m having second thoughts about everything.’

  ‘It’s an amazing opportunity to consult at Teddy’s and no one can come close to your level of expertise,’ he said with pride colouring his voice as the lights changed and he took off down the highway. ‘It’s part of a teaching hospital, and along with assisting those four babies, not to mention their mother, you can add value to the students’, interns’ and residents’ learning experience. You’re the best in your field, Juliet. And I should know since I’ve operated alongside you more than once. It’s time you took your skills out to the world, not just in research papers and journals and lecture tours, but in person in an operating theatre.’

  ‘Dad, you’re completely biased.’

  ‘Nonsense, your father’s right. We’re both proud of you and you need to take that knowledge and expertise where it’s needed most. Those babies and their parents need you,’ her mother argued from the back seat. Her voice was soft but her tone was firm. Gently she kissed the top of her granddaughter’s head. ‘While we’d love to have Bea stay with us if it was for your three-day trip to Auckland, this is not three days. Poor little thing, she would fret terribly without you for any longer than a few days and visiting the UK will be such a wonderful experience for her too. It will be her first white Christmas.’

  ‘And mine,’ Juliet said, but her tone lacked her mother’s enthusiasm as she drummed her fingers nervously on the leather upholstered seat. There was an uneasiness stirring in the pit of her stomach.

  ‘Exactly, so stop questioning your decision. It’s made now, you’re both going,’ her father piped up as he took the turnoff to Perth International airport in the dawn light. ‘You’ve been hiding away, Juliet. You’re not the only professional woman who’s going it alone as a single
mother. It’s not the eighteen hundreds, and you don’t need a man to help you realise your dreams. You have your career and Bea.’

  She was hardly going it alone, in her opinion, with all of the help her parents provided, she thought as she looked out of her window and up into the still-darkened sky. But her father was right, she mused. She didn’t need a man to experience or enjoy life. She and Bea would be just fine on their own. The plane would be up in that same sky in less than two hours, the sun would be up and they would be heading off to the other side of the world. To see four babies...and snow.

  Juliet tried to muster a smile for everyone’s sake. Her parents were always forthcoming with their very modern wisdom and they were generally right about everything. The quads needed surgical intervention and Bea needed to be with her mother. And Juliet could hardly stand being away from her daughter for a day, let alone the possibility of three or four weeks. So if Juliet went, then so would Bea.

  Initially she wasn’t sure how she would manage but when the information had arrived via email the night before, providing the details of the onsite hospital crèche, it had given Juliet no valid reason not to say yes to everything. Besides which, the tickets had been arranged. There was no turning back. And so it was that, with less than a day’s notice, Juliet and Bea had left their sunburnt homeland behind and were on their way to Teddy’s.

  ‘It’s a beautiful part of the world,’ the driver announced, bringing Juliet back to the present. ‘I’ve lived here for almost thirty years. Raised my children and now my grandchildren. You’ll be sure to love it too.’

  Juliet smiled at the way the man praised his home town. ‘I won’t be here quite that long, but long enough to enjoy the stunning scenery.’ She looked out from the car window across fields blanketed in snow and dotted with trees and bushes in variant shades of green, all dusted by a fresh layer of white drift along the fences. It was so picturesque and a very long way from the long hot summer days of home. Since she could not turn back she had decided that she needed to accept her decision and be excited to share her first white Christmas with Bea. While she knew it had the potential to be a stressful time for her, with the impending surgery she would be performing, she was glad the two of them were together. They were like two musketeers off on an adventure.

  Juliet had long accepted there would never be a third musketeer in their lives and that suited her fine. She didn’t need a man in her life. Apart from her father, the rest just brought grief. Even in a new country, a man she had not laid eyes upon, Dr Charlie Warren’s objection to her surgical option was another piece of proof that men caused unnecessary anguish.

  And she didn’t need any more of that.

  ‘So you’re only here for a short visit, then?’

  ‘I’m consulting at Teddy’s for a few weeks. I agreed because it was a short term. I couldn’t keep my daughter away from her grandparents for too long. They’d miss her terribly.’

  ‘I can see why. She’s a proper little sweetie,’ the man added, clearly wanting to keep the conversation flowing.

  Juliet guessed him to be in his mid-fifties. He looked a little like her father, quite distinguished, greying around his temples with a moustache and fine-rimmed gold glasses. Her father was a chatty man too, even in the operating theatre. Perhaps it was his age that made it easy for her to talk to this man. There was no hidden agenda. Just pleasant conversation.

  ‘Thank you. She’s my little angel and she’s a real sweetie.’

  ‘She’s got your curls and pretty eyes. I don’t think her father got much of a look-in there. My granddaughter’s just the same, spitting image of her mother.’

  Juliet felt her stomach sink a little, the way it always did at the mention of Bea’s father. The man who had caused more anguish than she had ever thought possible. A man who didn’t want a look-in. He was the one time she had let down her guard and the reason she would never do it again. After the one romantic night they had shared, he had walked away and never looked back. Married the fiancée he had forgotten to mention to Juliet while he was seducing her. And as quickly as he had swept into her life, he was gone. Well before she had discovered she was having his baby. Two months after the night they spent together, Juliet had caught sight of his wedding photo complete with huge bridal party in the society pages of the local newspaper.

  She had instantly felt overwhelmingly sad for his new wife.

  Heaved twice with morning sickness.

  And sworn off men.

  For ever.

  Juliet paid the driver and asked him to take her bags to the boutique hotel where she was staying for a few nights. The hospital had contracted the car service and, after their conversation, she felt she could trust him to take her belongings, including Beatrice’s pink fairy princess suitcase, and leave them with the hotel concierge. Being over fifty meant he fell in the trustworthy category. Men under forty had no hope in hell of being trusted with anything belonging to Juliet.

  Not her suitcases...her medical decisions...or her heart.

  * * *

  With Juliet holding Bea’s gloved hand tightly, the two of them stepped inside the warmth of the main entrance of the hospital to hear the heart-warming sound of piped Christmas carols. Juliet slipped off her coat and laid it over her arm and then unbuttoned Bea’s as she watched her daughter’s eyes widen at the sight of their surroundings. Teddy’s, as the hospital was affectionately known, was certainly dressed in its Christmas best. Neither Juliet nor Bea had seen such a huge tree and certainly not one as magnificently decorated as the one that filled the glass atrium. It was overflowing with brightly coloured baubles, and tiny lights twinkled from behind the gold tinsel generously covering the branches. Their eyes both scanned around the foyer to see a Santa sleigh and carved wooden reindeers welcoming patrons to the hospital tea room and all the staff appeared as happy as both Juliet and Bea felt at that moment.

  ‘Ith very beautiful, Mummy.’

  ‘It is indeed.’

  Taking hold again of her tiny daughter’s hand, Juliet approached the information desk and introduced herself and mentioned her appointment with the OBGYN with whom she would be working.

  ‘I’m sorry, Dr Turner, but Dr Warren hasn’t arrived yet. He was due an hour ago but, to be honest, I haven’t heard anything so I can’t be sure what time we’ll see him.’

  Juliet’s expression didn’t mask her surprise. She had flown almost eight thousand miles and had arrived on time and Dr Charlie Warren, whom she assumed to be a resident of the Cotswolds and who therefore had a significantly shorter journey, was the one late for their meeting. She was not impressed and hoped he had a darned good explanation since she and Bea were each in need of a bath and some sleep and had gone without both to meet with him.

  ‘Is Oliver Darrington available, then?’

  ‘Mr Darrington’s on surgical roster today so, I’m sorry, he won’t be available until after four-thirty.’

  Juliet was trying to think on her feet. And both her feet and her brain were tired. ‘Then while we’re waiting for Dr Warren perhaps I can take my daughter to the crèche.’

  ‘Of course, that’s on this floor but the other side of the building overlooking the visitor gardens,’ the young woman told her. ‘If you follow the corridor on your left to the end then turn right, you’ll see it.’ Then smiling, she added, ‘And hear it. It’s quite the noisy place with all the little ones.’

  Juliet hesitated; she didn’t want to walk away with Bea and have Dr Warren arrive. She checked her mobile phone for messages. Perhaps Dr Warren had been delayed and sent the hospital a message that hadn’t reached Reception but had been relayed to her in a text. It seemed logical and it would give her an indication of how much time she had to settle Bea into the crèche, but after quickly finding her phone she discovered there was no such message.

  ‘I suppose I shouldn’t be surprise
d,’ she muttered under her breath. ‘Another unreliable man.’

  ‘Pardon, Mummy?’

  Juliet looked down at the angelic face staring back at her. ‘Nothing, sweetie, Mummy was just mumbling. Everything’s just perfect.’

  ‘Okay,’ Bea replied as her eyes darted from one festive decoration to the next before she began pulling her mother back in the direction of the main doors.

  Juliet knew everything in their lives was not perfect but she would make it as perfect as she could for her daughter. She would devote her life to ensuring that Bea never felt as if she was missing out on anything. Particularly not about the lack of a father in her life. Juliet often felt sad that, while she enjoyed a wonderful relationship with her own father, Bea would never experience that bond. Although, she conceded gratefully, while the special father-daughter relationship would never be a part of her daughter’s life, an unbreakable grandfather-granddaughter relationship had already formed. Juliet’s father and Bea were like two peas in a pod and seeing that closeness brought Juliet joy.

  She was drawn back to the current situation, caused again by a man. Bea’s grip was tight and she was clearly on a mission as she tried to pull Juliet along. Juliet tugged back. ‘It’s so cold outside, darling. Let’s stay in here where it’s nice and warm.’

  ‘But, Mummy, it lookth like the top of my cake.’

  ‘What looks like the top of your cake, sweetie?’

  ‘Out there,’ the excited little girl replied as she pointed to the snow-covered ground. The branches of the trees and even the cars that had been parked for a few hours had been blanketed.

  Juliet had to agree that it did look like Bea’s fourth birthday cake. Her grandmother had baked a triple-layer strawberry sponge cake with a generous covering of brilliant white icing and decorated with four different fairy tale princesses for her beloved granddaughter. But this was not a cake, it was their reality for the next few weeks, and, despite her reservations and her annoyance with Charlie Warren, it was very pretty. Postcard pretty. And it was the first time either of them had seen snow up close and she couldn’t blame her daughter for wanting to go outside and enjoy it.