The Consultant's Adopted Son

by Jennifer Taylor

  There was no room for error in her job; people depended on her. There was no margin for error with regard to Owen Gallagher either; she had to get it right for Daniel’s sake. And letting herself get carried away by the idea that Owen was interested in her would be a mistake of epic proportions. The only thing Owen was interested in was his son. She had to remember that or suffer the consequences.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ‘SHE’LL need to be kept in under observation. Can you get onto the bed manager and see if he can find her a bed? She’s only thirteen so there might be one free in Paediatrics. I’ll have a word with her parents while you’re doing that.’

  Owen left Suzanne to make the arrangements and made his way out of resus. Of the three girls who’d been brought in, Alice Delaney was the one he was most concerned about. She was diabetic and that had exacerbated the problems caused by her binge drinking. Her glucose levels were shot to hell and it was going to take some time to stabilise her. The girl’s parents were in the relatives’ room so he went straight in and introduced himself.

  ‘I’m Owen Gallagher, head of trauma care.’ He sat down, seeing the worry that was etched on their faces. Alice is still unconscious but she’s stable,’ he explained, so as not to prolong their agony. ‘Because her body is struggling to process the alcohol she’s consumed, it’s affected her glucose levels. She will need to be monitored so she will be admitted to a ward. I believe she’s one of Dr Chang’s patients so I’ve alerted him and he will take charge of her treatment after she leaves this department.’

  ‘Oh, thank heavens!’ Alice’s mother put her hand over her mouth. She could barely speak because she was sobbing so hard. ‘I don’t know what got into her…really, I don’t…’

  ‘Is it the first time she’s done something like this?’ he asked, wondering if any parent could answer that question with any degree of certainty. Daniel had been through a similar episode after Laura had died—he’d gone out binge drinking. If he hadn’t seen the results for himself, he wouldn’t have believed his son would do something so stupid.

  Fortunately, he’d managed to make Daniel see how foolish it was, but his biggest fear was that the boy would lapse back into the same kind of behaviour if he was put under too much pressure. That was one of the main reasons why he’d been so loath to allow any contact to take place between Daniel and Rose.

  ‘No, it isn’t the first time, Dr Gallagher. She’s done it before—several times, in fact.’ Alice’s father shook his head when his wife tried to intervene. ‘There’s no point you trying to cover up for her, Mary. You know as well as I do that she’s been drinking. It’s just good luck that she never got herself into this state before.’

  ‘There’s a lot of under-age drinking going on,’ Owen said neutrally, not wanting to get embroiled in a family argument. ‘Kids of Alice’s age are often pressurised by their peers to join in, and it’s difficult to make them understand the damage they are doing to themselves. The problem is much worse in your daughter’s case, of course. If she’s drinking alcopops, for instance, the high sugar content in the drinks will immediately upset the balance between her insulin and glucose levels.’

  ‘She hates being diabetic,’ Mary said in a quavering voice. ‘She doesn’t want her friends thinking that she’s different to them. I think that’s part of the reason why she went along with them when they started buying alcohol.’

  ‘Peer pressure is very hard to withstand when you’re Alice’s age,’ he agreed. ‘My son is eighteen and I know that his friends have a far bigger influence on him than I do.’

  ‘So what do we do, Dr Gallagher?’ Mr Delaney sounded distraught. ‘Alice is making herself ill because she wants people to treat her the same as everyone else.’

  ‘Have you thought of asking her school for help? I don’t mean they should single Alice out, but if the teacher could explain what diabetes is during a biology lesson, for instance, maybe her friends would accept her condition. Once the pressure to fit in is taken off her, maybe Alice will realise how silly she is to risk her health this way.’

  ‘It’s an idea, isn’t it, Mary?’ Mr Delaney looked at his wife. ‘We’ll try anything if there’s a chance that it will help Alice.’ He stood up and offered Owen his hand. ‘Thank you, Dr Gallagher. At least you’ve given us something to think about and that has to be a good thing.’

  ‘I just hope it will help.’

  Owen shook hands, then went to see how Suzanne had fared in her quest for a bed. She’d managed to find one in Paediatrics so he asked her to phone for a porter then tell Alice’s parents where she was being moved to. By the time everything was organised the other two girls had been moved out of Resus. One was being kept in the observation ward until the effects of the alcohol had worn off, but the other girl was well enough to be sent home with her parents. After that, it was time to attend to the rest of patients who were waiting to be seen.

  He left Resus, but before he’d gone more than a couple of steps Angie waylaid him. ‘RTA on its way. ETA three minutes. Do you want to take it or shall I ask Suzanne to deal with it?’

  ‘Suzanne’s just gone to tell Alice Delaney’s parents where she’s being moved to. Where’s Rob got to?’

  ‘He’s in cubicle three with a toddler who’s eaten some of his mum’s iron tablets.’ Angie wiped Alice Delaney’s name off the whiteboard and wrote ‘RTA’ in the space allotted for Resus. The patient’s details—name, date of birth and time of arrival—would be added later.

  ‘In that case, I’ll take it.’

  Owen headed back to Resus. Rose was still there, clearing up, and he nodded to her, doing his best to behave naturally around her. ‘RTA on its way. Should be here any minute now.’

  ‘I’ll just get this tidied away so we have a clear run,’ she said quietly.

  She worked quickly and efficiently as she set everything to rights, her actions obviously honed by long practice, and he couldn’t help being intrigued. She was a highly experienced nurse and he found himself wondering why she was doing agency work. Somehow the thought must have translated itself into speech, because the next thing he knew he was asking her.

  ‘How come you’re working as an agency nurse when departments like this one are crying out for skilled staff? Have you never wanted to further your career?’

  ‘Yes. In fact, I was a senior charge nurse at Hope Hospital until a few years ago.’

  ‘So why did you give it up?’ he asked curiously. He saw a flicker of something cross her face but it disappeared before he could decide if it had been regret that he’d seen.

  ‘I needed more flexible working hours. When you’re in charge of a team of nurses you can’t just take time off at the drop of a hat, so I resigned and started working for an agency.’

  ‘Flexible working hours?’

  He frowned as he considered what she’d said. Most NHS staff got used to shift work very early in their careers, and if they didn’t they usually left the job. The fact that Rose had stuck it out long enough to reach a senior position pointed towards only one thing: her home circumstances had changed.

  His heart suddenly sank. He couldn’t believe that he had never considered the fact that she might have a family. He’d been so worried about the effect she might have on Daniel if she met him that he had never thought about her having other children. He couldn’t begin to imagine how Daniel would feel if he found out that he had half-siblings.

  ‘I had family responsibilities and needed to be able to choose the hours I worked.’

  Family responsibilities. That had to mean children, he thought in despair. A son or a daughter—possibly both. It would break Daniel’s heart if he discovered that while he’d been given up for adoption his half-siblings had enjoyed all their mother’s love and attention.

  ‘So this time you decided to put your children first?’ His tone was scathing but he couldn’t help it. Maybe it was wrong to berate her when he knew nothing about the circumstances surrounding her decision to have Daniel adopted
, but he couldn’t bear to think of his son’s pain.

  ‘Children?’

  ‘You just said that you’d resigned because you had family responsibilities,’ he reminded her sharply. ‘Obviously you must have children—’

  ‘I don’t.’ She cut him off before he could finish speaking. ‘I was referring to my father. He was taken ill and I needed to care for him.’

  She didn’t say anything else as she went to fetch some more dressings from the cupboard. Owen watched her cross the room and the very stiffness of her posture made him suddenly ache deep inside. Why did he know that she’d been hurt by what he’d said? Why did he care?

  He had no idea. But it left him feeling very mixed up to discover that he hated causing her any pain.

  Rose did her best to behave as though nothing had happened, but Owen’s comments had touched a raw nerve. She would have dearly loved a family of her own to love and cherish, but how could she have had another child after giving Daniel away? Maybe she hadn’t had a choice at the time, and maybe she had done it with her son’s best interests at heart, but the guilt and pain of losing Daniel had never gone away. She didn’t deserve to have any more children when she hadn’t been able to look after her son! Pain flashed through her at the thought, but she’d become adept at battening it down. When the patient arrived she went through the drill with her usual efficiency. BP, pulse and sats levels were recorded, saline infusion replaced. Drugs were fetched and dosages checked; each and every instruction carried out to the letter. By the time the patient was stable enough to be sent to a ward she was confident that she had fulfilled her role. She was a good nurse and nobody had ever faulted her work. However, it was poor consolation to know that her professional life was a success when her personal life left such a lot to be desired.

  ‘Thank you, everyone.’ Owen glanced around the group of people who had just spent the last forty minutes saving a man’s life. ‘You all did a great job.’

  Rose stiffened as she waited for his gaze to arrive at her, but at the very last second he turned away. She knew it had been done deliberately and it hurt to see the actual proof of how he felt about her. She wasn’t worth even a passing glance, it seemed.

  ‘You are worth your weight in gold!’ Angie came bustling over to her, unwittingly picking up on the thought. ‘I take back everything I’ve ever said about agency nurses. Some of them actually do know what they’re doing!’

  ‘Thanks.’ Rose drummed up a laugh but it was painful to know that Owen thought so badly of her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him leave Resus, and suddenly knew that she needed to have this out with him. No matter what he believed, she deserved to be given a chance to prove herself.

  ‘In that case, would you mind if I just popped out for five minutes?’ she asked, turning to Angie.

  ‘Of course I don’t mind.’ Angie shooed her towards the door. ‘I owe you for your lunch-hour, so you’re entitled to take a break.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Rose didn’t bother explaining that she wasn’t taking a break—it was too complicated. She hurried to the door, but even so she couldn’t see any sign of Owen in the corridor. She went to the reception desk and asked Polly if she knew where he’d gone.

  ‘He could be in his office.’ The receptionist pointed to the gallery. ‘First door on the left when you get to the top of the stairs, but be warned—he’s not in the best of moods.’

  ‘Tell me about it,’ Rose said dryly, turning to hurry up the stairs. She made her way along the gallery and paused outside the office to summon up her courage then knocked on the door.

  ‘Come in.’

  Rose went in, wondering if she was mad even to consider talking to him. However, deep down she knew that they needed to resolve this issue so that any ill-feeling between them wouldn’t affect Daniel. Owen was judging her by some misplaced rules of his own making and it wasn’t fair!

  ‘Can I have a word with you?’ she said politely, when he glanced up.

  ‘What about?’

  His tone was blunt and she felt herself bridle. ‘About your attitude towards me for starters. I have no idea why you dislike me—’

  ‘I have no feelings whatsoever about you, Ms Tremayne.’

  He leant back in his chair and studied her from under lowered lids. He’d taken off his jacket and he looked big and commanding as he sat there in his shirtsleeves, staring her down. However, if he hoped to intimidate her it wasn’t going to work.

  ‘Really?’ She laughed scathingly. ‘That’s not how it appears to me.’

  ‘Then maybe you should learn to toughen up. Now, if that’s all—’

  ‘It isn’t.’ She walked to the desk. ‘No matter what you claim, you have a problem with me. I don’t know why and I don’t want to know either. The only thing I’m concerned about is the effect it might have on Daniel if he sees you reacting so negatively towards me.’

  ‘I have already agreed that you can meet him, haven’t I?’ He stared back at her, his grey eyes the colour of steel and just as warm. ‘What more do you expect? That I’m going to give you a glowing endorsement?’

  ‘No, I don’t expect that to happen. All I want is for you to allow Daniel to make up his own mind about me.’ She shrugged, not wanting him to know how difficult it was for her to admit her fears. ‘He might take an instant dislike to me—I really don’t know. But he deserves the chance to decide on his own how he feels, without you trying to influence him.’

  ‘I’m willing to accept that so long as you agree to play by the same rules.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘That you don’t try to exert undue influence over him either.’ He stood up abruptly so that she took an instinctive step back before she made herself stand perfectly still.

  ‘I can’t imagine how I could exert any influence over him,’ she said as calmly as she could, although it was unnerving to have him looming over her. He was very tall and powerfully built, too, and she was suddenly aware of both those things in a way she shouldn’t have been. Heat flashed through her veins and she held herself rigid so she wouldn’t give herself away. Owen might be a very attractive man, but this wasn’t the right time to be thinking about it.

  ‘No? Then let me lay it on the line for you. He’s recently lost his mother and he’s still trying to come to terms with her death. That makes him extremely vulnerable to outside influences.’

  ‘You’re worried in case I try to replace your wife in Daniel’s affections?’ She shook her head. ‘That isn’t going to happen.’

  ‘I’m worried in case you upset him at a time when he needs to remain focused.’

  He didn’t answer her question, yet Rose knew that it was the source of his animosity towards her. He was afraid that Daniel would transfer his affections to her, and that she would let Daniel down.

  ‘I would never hurt him,’ she said urgently. ‘I just want to help him any way I can.’

  ‘A noble sentiment, indeed—if it’s true.’

  ‘Of course it’s true! Why would I say it if I didn’t mean it?’

  ‘I have no idea.’ He came around the desk and stood in front of her. ‘I have no idea what your motives are, Rose, but I do know that I won’t allow you to use Daniel for your own ends.’

  ‘I don’t have any motives! I just want to get to know him.’

  ‘Then you and I won’t have a problem. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.’

  He strode past her and opened the door. Rose wasn’t sure what to do. She knew the problem hadn’t been resolved, but what else could she say to convince him that she was genuinely concerned about Daniel?

  She left the office and made her way downstairs. Angie was coming along the corridor and she stopped to wait for her. ‘Been up to the canteen for something to eat?’

  ‘I…um…I was really hungry,’ Rose hedged, not wanting to tell an outright lie. Despite what Owen seemed to think, she wasn’t devious by nature. Her only concern was Daniel’s welfare, although convinc
ing Owen that it was all she cared about was an uphill struggle.

  ‘What did you have? Not that there’s ever much left at this time of the day,’ Angie said cheerfully, oblivious to the tumult of thoughts that were rushing around inside her head.

  ‘Oh, nothing exciting,’ she replied ambiguously, then swung round when the doors burst open and a young woman rushed in. She was carrying a little girl in her arms and it was immediately apparent that the child was having difficulty breathing.

  ‘You take the child and I’ll call Owen,’ Angie instructed, thankfully forgetting about their conversation in the heat of the moment.

  Rose ran over to the woman and lifted the child out of her arms. ‘What happened?’ she asked as she led her into the nearest empty cubicle.

  ‘I don’t know! She was colouring when all of a sudden she started choking…’

  ‘Was she eating anything at the time—sweets or fruit, anything at all?’ Rose demanded, carrying the limp little body over to the couch. The child was unconscious, her lips blue-tinged because of the lack of oxygen that was reaching her lungs.

  ‘No, no! She was just kneeling on the floor, doing some colouring. I’d bought her some new felt-tipped pens this morning…’ The woman broke off, tears welling in her eyes as she looked at the little girl.

  Rose laid the child on the couch and opened her mouth so she could check for an obstruction. ‘Did the pens have caps on them?’

  ‘Caps? Why, yes, of course they did.’ The woman gasped. ‘I saw Lucy pulling one of the caps off with her teeth, but I told her not to do it again!’

  ‘But she might have forgotten.’ Rose placed the heel of her hand slightly above the child’s navel but made sure it was well below her ribcage. Placing her other hand over the top, she pressed down with a quick upward thrust.