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

by Susanne Hampton

  ‘Is there anything else we can do?’ Juliet asked, holding Bea’s free hand and quickly trying to recall her training in paediatric fractures during medical school. It had been so long since she had graduated from her general medical studies before specialising and she was stretching her memory.

  ‘It would be best to sponge-bathe Bea so that the cast doesn’t fill with water in the bath or shower. While the outside of the cast is waterproof, as you know, the inside isn’t, even with the special lining. It needs to be kept dry, so no lotions or oils either.’ He paused to recall the other instructions that once rolled off his tongue as an A&E resident. ‘And if the itching starts to bother Bea, you can use a cool hairdryer to blow air in around the edge of the cast and check now and then that she hasn’t hidden small toys or sweets inside the cast. Believe it or not, during my A&E rotation I had more than one child think of it as their secret hideyhole.’

  ‘No doubt,’ Juliet said with a smile that she hadn’t thought previously she would ever display in Charlie’s presence. Her defences were slowly melting as his bedside manner warmed the room. She began a mental inventory of Bea’s belongings, wondering if she’d brought anything that small with her on the trip. She felt certain as she looked at the tiny gap that Bea’s possessions would not fit inside.

  ‘I’m sure you’ll have it under control,’ Charlie said to her before he turned his attention once again to the medical students. ‘Along with asking the parents or caregivers to check the cast regularly for cracks, breaks, tears and soft spots, what else would you ask them to look out for and what would warrant medical attention?’

  ‘Pain that doesn’t get better with the prescribed pain relief,’ one of the students offered.

  ‘Yes, anything else?’

  ‘If the child complains of feeling numb or tingly in the vicinity of the fracture,’ another chimed in with a self-satisfied smile.

  ‘Good.’

  ‘Blisters inside the cast,’ the third student said confidently, then continued, ‘and fever, or any significant increase in temperature.’

  While being a tutor was nothing new to Charlie, doing so back in A&E was a change of pace and very different subject content but he didn’t want to exclude the students. ‘Well done. You seem to have a good understanding of the basics of paediatric fractures.’

  The A&E resident poked her head in at that moment and directed her conversation to the medical students. ‘If you’re finished here, there’s suspected tetanus in bay three and gallstones in bay seven. Take your pick.’

  Charlie grinned. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve heard a call for one of those conditions. It’s usually onset of labour or unexplained abdominal cramps over in Teddy’s.’

  The three looked at Charlie for approval to leave, which he gave in a nod, and they left, as did the attending nurse, leaving Charlie and Juliet alone with Bea.

  ‘Well, it looks as if we’re all finished, then,’ Juliet offered in a voice that did not give anything away about the effect Charlie was still having on her, being so near. His natural affinity with her daughter was thawing parts of her she wanted to remain frozen.

  ‘I think we are.’ His eyes once again locked on hers for just a minute but long enough to make her heart race just a little faster.

  She swallowed nervously, growing more irritated with herself by the minute. Behaving like a schoolgirl experiencing her first infatuation was not her usual demeanour, nor one she intended to entertain. Not for another second. Reinstating herself as the quads’ surgeon, not Bea’s mother who had a borderline crush on her daughter’s doctor and her own soon-to-be colleague, was a priority.

  Biting her lower lip, she tried to channel someone very different from herself. A detached, bumptious persona she had created over the years when people looked at her like a child and they needed reminding of her medical credentials. And it would work perfectly at that moment. ‘It’s best, then, that we reschedule the in-utero surgical consultation that you missed earlier. If you can provide me with overnight obs about both the mother and babies, we’ll be off to the hotel so Bea can rest and I can brief myself on their progression and return this afternoon.’

  Her voice had suddenly morphed from warm to officious. And as she stood her relaxed posture had become stiff. Her body language screamed confrontation. But Charlie didn’t appear to take the bait as he helped Bea down from the examination table. Although his tone returned once again to something more formal and detached.

  ‘I’ll email you the updates, Dr Turner.’

  She felt she had been successful. The atmosphere in the room had cooled and for that she was grateful. It was just the way she wanted it.

  ‘I appreciate that, Dr Warren.’

  ‘Great, I’ll leave you both in the A&E’s care and head up to visit with Georgina and Leo. They’re waiting for my update on their babies’ treatment plan, because since the diagnosis it appears the recipient twin is now struggling.’

  Juliet froze on the spot. ‘Georgina and Leo Abbiati? The quads’ parents?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But that’s why I’m here. Why would you not include me in that consultation? And why would you not update me immediately?’

  ‘Because you just excused yourself.’

  ‘No, I didn’t,’ Juliet argued with her nostrils beginning to flare. ‘I excused myself from our meeting. Not the meeting with the quads’ parents. I thought that was scheduled for this afternoon.’

  ‘It was, but yesterday I decided to bring it forward since the condition had deteriorated slightly. Which is what I just mentioned.’

  ‘What exactly do you mean by “deteriorated slightly”?’

  ‘There’s more amniotic fluid so the uterus is almost at capacity. It might be a good idea to do an amniotic reduction.’

  ‘I’ll need to assess her immediately,’ Juliet told him. ‘And I wouldn’t be considering the reduction if we are undertaking the laser surgery in a few days.’

  ‘Whether the laser surgery will go ahead is still to be decided by the Abbiatis.’

  ‘And without me, it would appear. Didn’t you think that it would be nice to consult with me about treatment plans? I thought we would meet at ten this morning, you would brief me on the current viability of all four babies, the affected babies’ condition and the mother’s status and I would take that into consideration and then, with a consolidated treatment plan, meet with the parents late today.’

  ‘I scheduled it for now as I thought you’d want to meet with the parents immediately.’

  Juliet drew a deep breath. She needn’t have worried she was warming to him because Charlie Warren had very quickly given her a cold shower when he’d returned to being a dictator with a medical degree. She wasn’t sure if he had taken her cue or it was his intention all along but either way any attraction she had felt instantly disappeared.

  Juliet had to think on her feet. She would not be made to appear less than professional by not attending the consultation. This was about the option of surgical intervention. Not Charlie Warren’s conservative treatment plan. Waiting for the birth was not in her expert opinion the best way forward. The best chance was surgery to remove the offending artery and save all four babies and she wanted the Abbiatis to have all the facts before they made their decision.

  ‘I want to meet with them as soon as possible.’

  ‘Then let’s go. I’m meeting with them in fifteen minutes.’

  ‘What about Bea?’

  Charlie looked down at Bea’s little face and his heart began to melt. If life had been different he would have been looking at the face of his own child every night. He or she would have been younger than Bea but he and his wife had planned on children. Four of them if possible. Leaving the hospital every night to return to his wife and those much-loved children, to read them bedtime stories and tuck them in to sleep
, was his dream but instead he returned to an empty house in the middle of renovations that he didn’t care about. His life was as empty as his house.

  And suddenly the daughter of the overbearing woman who shouldn’t have any effect on him was doing just that. He wasn’t able to define what made her special—perhaps it was because she was like a tiny angel with a broken wing. Although he did not feel her mother had fallen from heaven.

  ‘I said, what do you propose I do with my daughter?’ Her voice was firm but not much more than a whisper. She didn’t want Bea to feel she was in the way or not wanted.

  ‘Bring her along to my office and I’ll ask one of the nurses to keep an eye on her,’ he told Juliet as he patted Bea’s hand.

  ‘I don’t feel comfortable with that.’

  ‘Then go home...’

  ‘Go home?’

  ‘I meant go back to the hotel and we’ll arrange a second consultation tomorrow.’ Charlie walked over and opened the door. ‘We’re all finished in here,’ he told the nurse as he left A&E.

  ‘So you won’t postpone the consultation until this afternoon, then?’ she asked, exasperated with his attitude and following slowly on his heels with Bea in tow.

  ‘No, definitely not. Postponing has the potential to make both parents extremely anxious, not to mention Leo’s taken time away from the family business to be here.’ Charlie pressed the elevator button for OBGYN on the second floor and turned back to face her.

  Juliet’s gaze swept the hospital corridor as she rubbed her forehead. In her mind, the Abbiatis needed to be provided with both treatment plan options to consider. Charlie would no doubt suggest a ‘wait and see’ treatment plan or next propose medication as an option. After sleeping on it, the second option of surgical intervention, she conceded, would be the scarier of the two to Georgina and Leo. The delivery gap between both might sway them to what was not in their best interests. Nor the interests of the babies.

  She felt trapped.

  ‘Fine, we’ll do it your way. I’ll attend,’ she said as the three of them stepped inside the empty elevator. ‘But I’ll need a few minutes to find the crèche and settle Bea in.’

  ‘Fine, you have ten minutes.’

  ‘Can’t you delay the consultation for half an hour?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘No?’ she repeated incredulously. ‘Not, perhaps...or I’ll see what I can do? Who made you the final decision maker? Oliver Darrington actually seconded me here, not you.’

  ‘But I’m Georgina’s OBGYN, so I make the final decision on this case. It’s how we run it at Teddy’s. Check with Oliver if you like, but he will without doubt defer to me.’

  ‘I don’t have time to chase down Mr Darrington.’

  ‘Good because I’m already running behind.’

  The doors of the lift opened into OBGYN. The waiting room was full and all eyes turned to them. Charlie considered compromise was in everyone’s best interest. ‘I’ll give you twenty minutes to settle Bea into the crèche, Dr Turner. Then I’ll begin the Abbiatis’ consultation in Room Two-Thirteen.’

  With that, Charlie disappeared down the corridor leaving Juliet and Bea standing opposite the nurses’ station. Juliet realised immediately that the middle ground he had offered had more to do with circumstance than generosity of spirit. The patients were all looking in their direction and had clearly been the impetus for the change in tone. She was well aware that he had the potential to be a medical ogre when out of earshot of others.

  ‘Dr Turner?’

  Juliet looked up to see a very pretty willowy blonde nurse smiling back at her. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Hi, I’m Annabelle Ainsley. I’m the head neonatal nurse,’ the blue-eyed woman told her. ‘We’ve been expecting you.’

  Juliet guessed the nurse to be in her mid-thirties as she stepped out from behind the station with her hand extended.

  ‘Juliet Turner,’ she responded as she met her handshake.

  ‘And who is this gorgeous young lady with the very pretty coloured cast?’

  ‘My daughter, Bea.’

  ‘Hello, Bea,’ Annabelle said.

  Bea gripped her mother’s hand a little tighter as she looked up at the very tall nurse. Her long blonde hair was tied in quite a severe style atop her head that made her appear even taller.

  ‘Pink’s my favourite colour in the world,’ Annabelle continued and bent down a little to come nearer to the little girl’s height. ‘I love it so much I even have pink towels and pink soap.’

  Bea loosened her grip a little. ‘Me too,’ she replied with her toothy grin and then smiled up at her mother before she continued. ‘I have a pink bed.’

  ‘Yes, you do, and a pink quilt. In fact your room is a pink palace,’ Juliet agreed.

  ‘Wow, that’s awfully special. I wish I had pink sheets and a pink quilt.’

  Juliet was happy that Annabelle and Bea were engaging but she was becoming increasingly concerned about the timeframe she had to get to the consultation and she knew she was hiding the fact well.

  ‘Is there something I can help you with?’ Annabelle asked.

  ‘Yes, actually there is. I need to find the crèche as soon as possible. Dr Warren and I’ll be meeting with the Abbiatis shortly and I need to settle Bea in, and I haven’t had a chance to look over the last two days’ obs for Georgina as I’ve been travelling—’

  ‘I can help with all of that,’ Annabelle cut in.

  ‘You can? That would be wonderful. Thank you so much.’

  ‘Not at all,’ Annabelle replied with a smile. ‘I’ve just finished my shift and I have no plans so what if I take Bea to the crèche? It’s on the ground floor, and I’ll wait with her while you meet with Georgina and Leo. Bea and I can chat about all things pink.’

  ‘That’s so kind of you,’ Juliet said as she turned back to the lift. ‘We’ll have to hurry though as I have less than fifteen minutes to get to the crèche and back here for the consultation.’

  Annabelle took a few long steps and pressed the down button. ‘If I may make a suggestion...what if you wait here and I take Bea to the crèche so you can read over Georgina’s notes? I’ve just refreshed everything after the ward rounds, so you can sit at the nurses’ station and read up for a few minutes. I’ll ask one of the nurses to take you to Room Two-Thirteen when you’re ready. It would be less rushed and you’ll be up to speed on the babies and mother’s condition in plenty of time for the appointment.’

  Juliet was so grateful the world had given her a twenty-first-century Florence Nightingale but she also felt torn letting Bea go with a nurse she had known for less than five minutes. A brief internal battle prevailed, fuelled a little by Charlie’s initial judging of her parenting, but common sense and her need to attend the consultation won out. ‘I think Bea should be okay to go with you. She attends childcare two days a week.

  ‘Is it all right with you, Bea, if the nurse takes you to the crèche? It’s like Pennybrook back home when you go and play with the other children when Grandma and Grandpa don’t have you. It’s not far from here and I’ll be there in about an hour once I’ve seen the very special patient we came all this way to help.’

  ‘Are you going to help the lady with four babies in her tummy?’

  ‘Yes, I am.’

  ‘Okay, Mummy. I think you should go. Grandpa told me that you need to help the lady have the babies.’

  Juliet smiled. Sometimes Bea was so wise and practical for a four-year-old. Spending quality time with her grandparents had brought an older perspective to her life and for that Juliet was grateful. She kissed the top of her daughter’s head and watched her and Annabelle step closer to the opening doors of the elevator. Bea’s fear, that was palpable in A&E, had all but disappeared. Annabelle did look a little similar to one of the pretty child-carers back at Pennybrook and that, J
uliet surmised, went a long way to making Bea feel comfortable.

  ‘And you can meet the other children at the crèche. They’re all very nice,’ Annabelle added as she reached for Bea’s little hand and stepped inside the now fully open doors. ‘And you can tell me about everything you have back in Australia that’s pink. Do you have a pink kangaroo too?’

  ‘No, that would be silly,’ Bea said, giggling. ‘But I have a pink bear and a pink....’ The doors closed on Bea’s chatter and Juliet felt herself smiling as she waved goodbye. Annabelle was a lovely addition to an otherwise dreadful day and she was so grateful for her assistance.

  As Juliet took a moment to gather her thoughts she knew, with Bea under control, she could concentrate on the task at hand. Making sure that Charlie Warren was put in his place. She had not travelled halfway around the world, not to mention spent years qualifying in her field, to be contradicted by him without having an opportunity to deliver all of the facts. In-utero surgery was the quads’ best hope and she would be damned if she would stand by and have Charlie convince the Abbiatis otherwise.

  * * *

  Juliet returned to the computer at the nurses’ station and caught up with the Abbiatti quads’ and their mother’s observations before heading off in the direction of Georgina’s room. She stood at the T-junction reading the room signs to ensure she had the right wing.

  ‘So let’s get you around to meet the parents of the infamous four,’ Charlie said, startling Juliet and making her spin around. It was a voice that she would now recognise anywhere. ‘I didn’t want you to get lost on the way to the consult. I want the Abbiatis to hear your plan and make up their own minds. Despite what you may think, I do play fair.’

  ‘Um...thank you,’ she said with a little frown causing a furrow on her forehead. He wasn’t playing fair in her books. He was on a mission and the way he looked, the way he spoke, his seemingly impeccable manners, none of it was playing fair.