Читать книгу The Italian Doctor - Jennifer Taylor, Jennifer Taylor - Страница 7

THE morning passed in fits and starts. There was the usual rush to get patients ready for Theatre, followed by a lull while they waited for them to be returned to the ward. Maggie completed her paperwork then decided that as there were three new admissions scheduled for that afternoon she would take an early lunch.

It was a trek to the bowels of the hospital where the makeshift canteen had been set up, and once there the surroundings left a lot to be desired. Maggie stared glumly at the sage-green-painted walls and murky brown ceiling. ‘Not very cheering, is it? Roll on when they get the renovations finished.’

‘Amen to that!’ Rachel Hart, a sister on Children’s Medical, picked up a plate of limp-looking sandwiches and stared despondently at it. ‘If this is the best we have to look forward to for the next six months then heaven help us!’

She plonked the sandwiches on her tray as Maggie laughed. ‘It should be good for our figures if nothing else. We certainly won’t be rushing back for second helpings.’

She selected a plate of the uninspiring sandwiches for herself, added a cup of tea to her tray, then followed Rachel to a table in the corner once they’d paid for their meals. There were quite a lot of staff taking early lunches and the sound of their voices echoed in the cavernous room.

‘What a din!’ She winced as she drew out a chair from the table and its legs made a horrible screeching noise as they dragged across the concrete floor. ‘Oops, sorry.’

Rachel carefully eased out a chair and sat down. ‘You’d think they could have come up with something better than this, wouldn’t you? It’s an absolute disgrace. I am seriously thinking about having a word with our union rep about it.’

Maggie shrugged, although she couldn’t help thinking that it wasn’t like Rachel to complain. She was normally such a positive person and made the best of any situation. ‘I suppose it was all the management could think of in the circumstances. It can’t be easy, fitting everything around the refurbishment programme.’

‘I suppose not. Sorry, I didn’t mean to moan.’ Rachel grimaced. ‘I feel a bit down in the dumps at the moment so everything seems to be getting on top of me.’

‘Any particular reason for it?’ Maggie queried, taking a bite of her sandwich and discovering that, thankfully, it tasted better than it looked.

‘Oh, you know…this and that,’ Rachel replied noncommittally. She picked up her cup then abruptly put it back on the saucer. ‘Can I ask you something, Maggie? In confidence, I mean.’

‘Of course. Fire away.’ Maggie frowned, wondering what her friend wanted to ask her. She and Rachel had become friends during their training when they’d worked together on the children’s ward, and it bothered her to see the other woman looking so downcast.

‘Has Luke mentioned anything about Tom?’ Rachel coloured when Maggie looked at her in surprise. ‘I thought he might have said something in passing about how Tom is getting on.’

She tailed off uncertainly and Maggie stifled a sigh. Rachel had been dating Tom Hartley before he’d flown to Boston on the exchange scheme. Although she didn’t know what had gone on between him and Rachel, she’d always suspected that her friend had been very fond of the young surgical registrar. However, there was little she could tell Rachel for a number of reasons which she thought it best not to go into. To admit that she and Luke hadn’t held a single civilised conversation in the whole two weeks he’d been at Dalverston General wasn’t something she wanted to admit to anyone, least of all Rachel, who would be bound to ask questions.

‘I’m afraid not,’ she replied evasively. ‘Tom’s name hasn’t cropped up, but you could always ask Luke yourself, couldn’t you? Maybe he knows where Tom is staying while he’s in Boston so you could write to him.’

Rachel shook her head. ‘No, I don’t think so.’

She quickly changed the subject by telling Maggie about the pop concert she’d been to the previous weekend with her niece. Maggie didn’t try to pursue the subject but she couldn’t help feeling guilty that she hadn’t been able to help. It made her realise how bad the situation really was between her and Luke, and that worried her. She didn’t like the idea of being so much at odds with someone she worked with.

The thought lingered at the back of her mind after she and Rachel had parted company to return to their respective wards. One of the afternoon admissions had arrived early so Maggie went to get her settled in while Angela and Doreen went for lunch.

The patient’s name was Lauren Atkins, a nineteen-year-old ballet dancer. She’d sprained her ankle very badly during rehearsals the previous day. Subsequent investigations had shown that the ligaments were torn and would need to be surgically repaired. Lauren was accompanied by her mother and it took only a few minutes for Maggie to realise that she was going to need a lot of tact and patience to deal with the older woman.

‘If I’d had my way Lauren wouldn’t be here!’ Gloria Atkins glared at Maggie as though it was her fault her daughter had needed to be admitted to hospital. ‘Lauren should be treated privately, not by the NHS. It’s her whole future at stake here, everything we’ve worked so hard for. I don’t want just anyone operating on her ankle!’

‘Mum—please!’ Lauren implored, looking embarrassed. Maggie gave her a reassuring smile. It wasn’t the first time she’d encountered this sort of attitude neither would it be the last. A lot of people were under the illusion that paying for treatment ensured they would receive better care. They seemed to overlook the fact that it was often the same surgeons who operated on both private and NHS patients.

‘I assure you that Lauren will receive the very best treatment possible, Mrs Atkins. The surgeons here are some of the best in Britain.’

‘Hmm, I have my doubts about that. Not that I’m reassured, of course.’ Gloria refused to be mollified. ‘Everyone knows that the really innovative medicine comes from the States. If I’d had my way then Lauren would have been on the first flight over there this morning. However, her father took the decision to let her come here.’

Maggie felt her hackles rise. However, a glance at Lauren’s miserable face was enough to make her swallow her sharp retort. The poor girl must be worried enough, without having to listen to that sort of nonsense.

‘How long have you been dancing, Lauren?’ she asked instead, helping the girl onto the bed and ignoring her mother.

‘Oh, years. Since I was three or four.’ Lauren grimaced. ‘I must be mad, mustn’t I?’

Maggie smiled although she’d heard the faintly resentful note in the teenager’s voice. ‘You must be dedicated. I know how gruelling ballet dancing can be and how much work you must have put in to reach your present standard.’

‘She has a natural talent. Everyone says so.’ Gloria leaned over and fussed with her daughter’s hair. ‘She takes after me, you see. I was a ballet dancer, although I never had the advantages Lauren has had.’

Maggie didn’t say anything. She had seen the shadow that had crossed Lauren’s face and couldn’t help wondering if the girl believed that she’d been so lucky. Had Lauren been pushed by her mother into choosing ballet as her career? It seemed a distinct possibility.

It wasn’t her place to ask, however, so she carried on getting Lauren settled. She was just showing the teenager how to operate the radio when the sound of footsteps made her glance round, and she felt herself colour when she saw Luke. She hadn’t expected him to appear so soon and felt a little flummoxed by his early arrival.

‘I…um…this is Lauren Atkins, Dr Fabrizzi.’ She quickly gathered her wits and made the introductions. ‘You’ll be operating on her ankle tomorrow morning, I believe.’

Before Luke had a chance to reply, Mrs Atkins cut in. ‘You look very young to be performing such a skilled operation. I must say that I expected someone more experienced. I don’t know if I’m happy about you treating my daughter. Lauren’s whole future is at stake here!’

‘I understand your concerns, Mrs Atkins.’ He smiled politely at the woman. He didn’t appear at all perturbed by her comments, although Maggie knew that a lot of doctors would have taken a very dim view of being spoken to that way.

‘However, I assure you that I’ve performed this operation a number of times in the past and each time the outcome has been entirely successful.’

‘You’re American!’ Mrs Atkins visibly brightened.

‘That’s right. I’m from Boston. I was fortunate enough to be offered a placement on the exchange scheme so I shall be working in Dalverston for the next six months,’ he explained calmly.

‘And you’re a surgeon back in Boston?’ Gloria persisted.

‘I am. I’m working here as a senior registrar. However, when I return home I shall be taking up a consultant’s post.’ He shrugged modestly as he continued outlining his qualifications. ‘I’ve done a lot of research into the causes and problems of sports-related injuries, including publishing a number of papers on the subject. It’s an area that I am extremely interested in.’

Maggie was amazed by what she’d heard. She’d had no idea that he was so highly qualified. It made her wonder why he’d decided to accept the post on the exchange scheme. Most of the doctors who did so weren’t nearly as high up the professional ladder as he was.

There was no time to dwell on it, though, not with Luke waiting to examine Lauren and take her case history. That was another strange thing he did, now that she thought about it. Most of the senior staff left it to the junior housemen to take patients’ medical histories but Luke preferred to speak to those he would be operating on himself. It made her realise that there was a lot she didn’t know about Luke Fabrizzi and that was worrying, even though she wasn’t sure why it should be.

It took a bit of persuasion to remove Mrs Atkins from her daughter’s bedside but Maggie was firm. She ushered the woman into the day-room then went back to the ward. Luke had drawn up a chair beside the bed and was chatting to Lauren. Maggie was pleased to see that the girl looked far more relaxed now, although that was probably due to Luke’s presence, of course!

Her mouth set into a prim line. Most women would find it hard not to respond to a man as good-looking as Luke was, whatever their age. However, she hoped that he wouldn’t lay on the charm with too heavy a hand. She had seen cases before where patients had developed crushes on their doctors and they were always tricky to deal with. The thought of having to cope with a love-sick teenager wasn’t one that appealed at all.

He looked round and his brows rose when he saw her set expression. ‘Nothing wrong, I hope, Staff?’

‘Not so far,’ she replied with a smile that could have drawn blood. She turned her attention to Lauren and smiled more warmly this time. ‘We need to take a few details, Lauren, if you will bear with us. I know it’s a bind, having to answer all these questions, but we’ll get them done as quickly as we can.’

‘There’s no rush!’ Lauren laughed self-consciously and Maggie sighed as she realised that her suspicions had been correct. Obviously, the girl wasn’t in a rush to get the formalities over with if it meant prolonging the time she spent with Luke.

‘The longer you can keep Mum away from me the better, although I know that sounds an awful thing to say.’ Lauren grimaced. ‘She means well but I wish that she would let me get on with my life, instead of interfering all the time!’

Luke laughed softly although his gaze had sharpened. ‘A lot of mothers tend to be over-protective, Lauren. It comes with the job.’

‘Oh, I know that! But it’s more than that. Mum seems to want me to do all the things she wanted to do. She doesn’t understand that I’m not her.’ A tear slid down her cheek. ‘I don’t know how to make her understand that I want to lead my own life, not the one she has mapped out for me!’

There was a wealth of anguish in the girl’s voice. Maggie glanced at Luke and could tell that he was as concerned as she was. It was obvious that the situation was causing Lauren a great deal of distress and that was the last thing they wanted.

‘It isn’t easy to make parents understand that you know what you want, Lauren,’ she explained sympathetically. ‘I know that only too well.’

‘Do you?’ The teenager looked expectantly at her and Maggie sighed as she realised that she had to explain what she’d meant. It made her feel a little uncomfortable to talk about her own situation with Luke there, but maybe it would be for the best, in a way. It was about time he realised that he’d made a mistake when they’d met in Milan.

‘I do. My family’s dearest wish is to see me married, you see. And they’ll go to almost any lengths to make it happen, too.’ Her tone was rueful. ‘I can’t count the number of times they’ve tried to set me up with some suitable man. It’s got to the point where I won’t tell my mother that I’m going to visit her because I’m terrified there will be another prospective candidate sitting on her sofa!’

Lauren groaned in sympathy. ‘Really? Oh, poor you! But what are they like, all these men? Or shouldn’t I ask?’

‘Definitely not! I wouldn’t want you having nightmares.’

She smiled as the younger girl laughed. However, she couldn’t help glancing at Luke and was surprised by the expression on his face. What was it that she could see there? Regret? Apology? Neither seemed quite right.

She looked away, not wanting to fall into the trap of letting her mind start wandering again. ‘Anyway, Lauren, I do know how hard it is to make a stand, but it’s something you have to do. You can’t live your life for other people, you have to live it the way you want to.’

‘I know that. It’s just that I’m such a coward. I hate arguments and the thought of telling Mum that I don’t want to dance any more terrifies me because she’ll be so upset.’ Lauren sighed. ‘That’s why I was glad that I hurt my ankle. I was hoping that it might mean I wouldn’t be able to dance again.’

‘It would be a rather drastic solution to your problems, Lauren.’ Luke’s dry tone brought a touch of colour to the teenager’s face. ‘Wishing that you were permanently incapacitated isn’t the answer, believe me. As Maggie said, you have to stick to your guns.’

It was the first time that he’d called her by name since they’d been working together. Maggie knew that it meant nothing yet she couldn’t control the ripple that ran down her spine. She busied herself with the admission forms, not wanting to dwell on it. So Luke had called her Maggie—big deal! Yet it felt as though their relationship had shifted slightly and that bothered her a lot.

He went through the admission procedure in his usual thorough fashion and she had to admit that she was impressed by his attention to detail as he asked Lauren to explain what she’d been doing at the time of the accident. He noted everything down on the form then put the cap on his pen.

‘That’s been a big help. I like to know exactly what I’ll be dealing with. It’s vital that the ligaments are repaired in a way that won’t cause you any problems in the future even if you do decide not to pursue a career in ballet.’

His voice was firm as he continued. ‘However, the operation is only the first step, Lauren. You will be seeing a physiotherapist afterwards and will be given a series of exercises that you’ll need to do to get your ankle back to full strength. Please, don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. Being left with a permanently weak ankle would be too great a price to pay just to avoid telling your mother the truth.’

‘I promise I won’t be that stupid, Dr Fabrizzi,’ the girl muttered, looking so uncomfortable that Maggie knew she’d been contemplating doing just that.

What a good job that Luke had been astute enough to guess that, she thought as he stood up. But, then, he did appear to have a rare ability to relate to people and understand them. That thought certainly didn’t seem to gel with the image she’d formed of him. If Luke really was the arrogant, egocentric man she’d imagined him to be then surely he could never have been so perceptive about other people?

It was another unsettling thought and she was only too happy to brush it aside when he turned to her. ‘Seeing that Lauren has promised to be a model patient, I suggest we help her out now. How do you feel about persuading her mother that she’s not needed here?’

The suggestion made her smile. ‘Well, I’m willing to give it a shot, but it won’t be easy.’

He grinned. ‘No, it won’t, but I’m sure we can sort something out if we work together.’ He adopted a deliberately professional tone but his blue eyes were dancing with mischief. ‘In my opinion, this patient needs complete rest, Staff Nurse Carr. Would you advise Mrs Atkins that I feel it would be beneficial if Lauren didn’t have visitors for the remainder of the afternoon?’

‘Certainly, Doctor. I shall go and inform Mrs Atkins of your decision straight away.’

Maggie just managed to smother a giggle when he winked at her. He was obviously having difficulty keeping his face straight as well. Lauren was chuckling softly, a hand pressed to her mouth to contain her mirth. She looked a world removed from the unhappy teenager who’d been admitted a short time earlier, so Maggie had no qualms whatsoever about what they were doing. Lauren would benefit greatly from a breathing space away from her overbearing mother, in her view.

‘Thank you, Staff. You know where to find me if there’s a problem,’ Luke said with commendable aplomb as they moved away from the bed.

‘Oh, never fear! I’ll have you paged if there’s any backlash from this,’ Maggie retorted, following him down the ward. He paused to open the door for her and she felt her pulse skitter when she saw the laughter on his face. He looked so different when he laughed like that, she thought. It was like being given a glimpse of the real man beneath the handsome exterior, a warm, caring person whom she could learn to like a lot.

‘I’m always at your service, Maggie, although I would prefer not to have to deal with an irate mother if it could be avoided.’ There was an unashamedly coaxing note in his voice as he placed his hand on her arm. ‘So try your best to persuade Mrs Atkins that she isn’t needed here—for my sake?’

She took a deep breath. The touch of his hand was setting up a chain of reactions that ranged from a flutter beneath her skin to a tingle that was working its way right down to her toes. The temptation to see what other reactions it might cause was enormous but something warned her that would come under the heading of ‘Big Mistake’ and she tried to avoid making too many of those!

She moved away so that his hand fell from her arm, striving for a suitably light note to hide her confusion at the way she was behaving. ‘I’ll do my best, although I can’t make any promises, you understand.’

Luke’s smile appeared a trifle strained. ‘Your best is good enough for me.’

There was a moment when she thought that he was going to say something else but then his pager beeped. He frowned as he unclipped it from his belt and checked the display. ‘Theatre. I wonder what’s wrong. I’d better go and see. Page me if you have any problems, Staff.’

He was back to normal again, his tone coolly professional once more. Maggie sighed as he hurried towards the lifts, feeling the tension oozing out of her. It was good to be back on a firm footing again. She far preferred the status quo to any surprises when dealing with Luke.

She went to find Mrs Atkins, expecting to have a battle on her hands. However, the older woman accepted what she told her without question.

‘What did you say to her?’ Lauren asked in astonishment as her mother happily waved on her way out of the ward. ‘It just isn’t like Mum not to make a fuss!’

Maggie shrugged, although she had to admit to being surprised by Gloria Atkins’s easy acquiescence. ‘I just told her that Dr Fabrizzi had suggested you should rest. She seemed quite happy to accept it.’

‘Figures.’ Lauren gave a relieved sigh. ‘He sort of exudes confidence, doesn’t he? It’s no wonder that Mum’s decided he knows what he’s talking about. I just wish I could bottle some of his confidence and take it home with me when I leave here. Maybe I’d be able to stand up for myself then.’

Maggie didn’t say anything. Frankly, there wasn’t much she could think of to say. She left Lauren fiddling with the radio and went back to work. Doreen and Angela came back from lunch soon afterwards and then the other new admissions arrived. The afternoon flew past because they were so busy but several times she found her thoughts returning to what Lauren had said about Luke. It disturbed her because it made her question her own view of him once again.

Had she been wrong about him all along? Had she misread his confidence for arrogance? She couldn’t decide and that was the real problem, of course. She would need a lot more to go on before she was prepared to alter her opinion of him.

There was a party being held that night to which Maggie had been invited. One of the nurses from the surgical ward, who worked a different shift, had got engaged, and she and her fiancé had invited everyone round to their house to celebrate. Everyone was meeting up at the pub beforehand so it was a bit of rush to get ready once she arrived home.

She took a shower and washed her hair. She tried to avoid using a hair-dryer whenever possible because her hair was naturally curly and tended to frizz up. However, with time marching on, she had no choice but to use the dryer that night, which resulted in a frothy mass of curls which defied all her attempts to pin them up.

Sighing, she decided that she didn’t have the time to do anything else. She simply brushed her hair then left it loose. It didn’t look too bad, she decided critically after she’d slipped into a raspberry pink blouse and pair of silky grey trousers. The tousled look was a bit girlish perhaps but it could have been worse.

She slid her bare feet into a pair of high-heeled sandals then grabbed her bag and headed for the door. It was mid-August and the night was warm enough for her not to need a coat. However, she began to rue her choice of footwear before she’d gone very far. She wasn’t used to wearing such high heels and her feet were hurting by the time she arrived at the pub, a huge blister already forming on her heel where the strap had been rubbing. Still, the sandals looked a lot more glamorous than her usual sensible flatties so she would just have to grin and bear it.

‘Maggie! Over here. We’ve saved you a seat.’ Angela stood up and waved when she saw Maggie coming in. The pub was used a lot by staff from the hospital and it was packed that night. It had just gone eight and the middle shift had just finished work; quite a few of them had stopped off for a drink on their way home.

‘Thanks! What a scrum. Anyone would think we were all alcoholics if they saw how many hospital staff used this place,’ she declared pithily, squeezing into a gap on the wooden settle.

‘Not that any of us fall into that category, of course,’ Donna Parsons put in, rolling her eyes expressively. ‘We aren’t here for the drink but purely for the pleasure of each other’s company!’

‘Speak for yourself. I make no bones about the fact that I need a drink after the day I’ve had!’ Robin White, the newest houseman on the surgical team, picked up his pint glass and took a long swallow. ‘At one point I found myself wondering why I had willingly gone in for medicine as a career. I mean, I could have been a solicitor or an accountant or…or anything rather than a doctor!’

Everyone laughed, but Maggie could tell that Robin hadn’t been joking. Something had obviously upset him that day and she couldn’t help wondering what had caused the normally easygoing young doctor to feel like that.

‘So what happened?’ she asked under cover of the conversation.

‘What didn’t happen would be an easier question to answer!’ Robin set his glass on a coaster. His pleasant face looked unusually grim. ‘We had an emergency in Theatre. Jefferson was operating on this chap who had been thrown off his motorbike and suffered multiple fractures. He was a mess, I can tell you, and it was obvious that old Jeffers was out of his depth.’

Maggie sighed. Norman Jefferson had worked at Dalverston General for more years than anyone could care to count. It was rumoured that he’d refused to retire when he’d been offered the chance a few months earlier. There was no doubt that he must have been a skilled surgeon in his younger days, but those days were long past. Frankly, it was fast reaching the point where he was becoming a liability. Maggie knew that the surgical team had a tacit agreement to make sure that Jefferson was never left to deal with any difficult surgery by himself, but obviously the system had fallen down that day.

‘So what went on?’ she asked softly, glancing round to make sure that nobody was listening. Although everyone in the hospital was aware of the situation, she guessed that Robin would feel uncomfortable about the others hearing him criticise the older man.

‘Just about everything that could go wrong did so. Everyone was on pins as soon as they discovered that Jefferson would be operating. Normally, someone would have headed him off at the pass, so to speak.’

He gave her a grim smile. ‘It was just unfortunate that another casualty had been brought into A and E a few minutes earlier, needing urgent surgery. It meant that everyone was tied up when the motorcyclist was sent up to Theatre so there was nobody there to step in when Jefferson announced that he would deal with the case.’

‘Tricky situation,’ she murmured sympathetically.

‘You can say that again! Anyway, we were all keyed up, as you can imagine. It seemed to be going quite well at first and then somehow or other Jefferson nicked the femoral artery…’ Robin shrugged, not needing to explain the problems that had caused.

‘What on earth happened after that?’ Maggie exclaimed in horror, trying not to visualise the scene of chaos that must have ensued. She felt quite sick when she thought about the injured motorcyclist possibly bleeding to death on the operating table. ‘He didn’t—well, you know?’

‘Die? No, but it was a close call, I can tell you. Jefferson just seemed to go to pieces, he didn’t appear to have any idea what to do. I just grabbed the phone and rang for help—’ Robin broke off. A smile brightened his face as he looked towards the door. ‘Aha, here he is now, the hero of the hour!’

Maggie looked round and felt her stomach sink when she saw that Luke had come into the pub. She’d had no idea that he’d been invited to the party that night, although she should have guessed, she thought as she watched him making his way towards them. The staff at Dalverston General had taken to him in a big way, as was evident from the number of people who greeted him en route. It wasn’t just the staff from the surgical wards either—everyone seemed to know him and be pleased to see him.

Her brow furrowed. Everyone liked Luke. Everyone admired him. Robin considered him to be a hero, even. So how come she didn’t feel the same way about him as everyone else did? Why was her view so opposed to the general consensus? Exactly who was right? Her or them?

She took a deep breath, feeling her heart hammering against her ribs because the next, logical step scared her. She had a duty to find out who the real Luke Fabrizzi was.