Читать книгу Emergency at the Royal - Joanna Neil - Страница 8

CHAPTER TWO

AT LEAST her father was feeling better by the time Katie left her parents’ house. She was still worrying about him, though, as she made her way to her own cottage.

It was getting late by now, and there were chores she had to finish before her time was her own, but that wasn’t such a bad thing. If she kept busy it would help her to work through her frustrations. So far it had been a peculiar day, one way and another, and she was feeling edgy and distracted.

The house was small and cosy, just right for her, and it wouldn’t take her long to tidy up all the things she hadn’t had time to sort out that morning. As soon as she had done that, she would turn her thoughts to her evening meal. Her mother had offered to cook for her, but she had been too uptight to eat just then. Luke’s bitter recriminations had upset her.

The doorbell suddenly rang, startling her as she was folding away the last few items of clothing in the airing cupboard. Who could that be?

She went downstairs to investigate, and when she opened the door and saw Drew standing in the porch she let out a little gasp of astonishment.

She said awkwardly, ‘I hadn’t expected to see you again...at least, not quite so soon.’

He lifted a dark brow and his mouth made an odd quirk. ‘I hope that doesn’t mean you’re going to turn me away?’

She recovered herself and stood back from the door. ‘No, of course not. I don’t know what I was thinking.’ She couldn’t leave him standing on the doorstep, and so she waved a hand towards the end of the short hallway. ‘Come in. Do you want to come through to the kitchen? I was just about to make a pot of coffee.’

He followed her into the room and glanced around. She said defensively, ‘It’s only tiny, but it does for me. I haven’t been here long, just a few months, and there are still things I need to put right. I’ve done a bit of decorating and changed the floor tiles, but it isn’t quite as I want it yet.’ She was babbling, nervousness getting the better of her, and she clamped her mouth shut. Why was she defending her home to him?

‘I think it’s lovely,’ he murmured. ‘You chose well with the pale yellow for the walls, and everything looks bright and cheerful in here. I like the way you’ve found room for a breakfast bar in the corner.’ He sent her a quick, easy smile. ‘That is one of your touches, isn’t it? I recognise the style.’

She had done something similar in the old family house, renovating the kitchen in an attempt to make it light and cheery. ‘That’s right,’ she said. ‘I’m surprised that you remember.’

She turned away to set up the coffee-percolator. She felt awkward, talking to him as though the years that had gone by had dissolved into nothingness, and she still had no idea what he was doing there.

Perhaps he sensed her discomfort, because he said, ‘I brought your shopping bag. Someone handed it to me when I walked back towards my car this afternoon. You left it in the café apparently, and the woman who gave it to me had seen us talking together and guessed that we knew each other. She asked me if I would pass it on to you.’

‘Oh, heavens...’ She stared at the bag in dismay. ‘I’d forgotten all about it.’ She glanced up at him. ‘Thank you for taking the time to bring it to me.’

‘It was no trouble. With everything that went on, I’m not surprised that you forgot it. I’m just glad that you told me where you were living so that I was able to bring it to you.’ He set the bag down on a clear space on the worktop. ‘I couldn’t get it to you any earlier. My meeting went on for much longer than I expected.’

She glanced at the contents of the bag. ‘Thanks again,’ she said, relieved. ‘I’m so glad to have it back. I was just so worried about those poor people that I wasn’t thinking properly when I rushed out of the café.’ She paused, remembering what had happened. ‘I hope they’re all right.’

‘I rang the A and E department to check up, and the consensus was that they seem to be doing as well as can be expected. The man and the boy both had surgery and came through it all right, and the van driver has been transferred to the stroke unit. He’s lost the movement in an arm and leg, but they’re hoping he’ll regain that in time, after intensive therapy.’

‘That’s good to hear.’ She studied him briefly, her gaze running over his strong features, taking in the straight line of his jaw and his firmly moulded mouth. He was far too good-looking for her peace of mind, and she had to get a grip on herself before she spoke again. ‘It was thoughtful of you to follow it up. I didn’t expect to find out what had happened to them until I got in to work in the morning.’

She might have known he would check up. He wasn’t one to leave loose ends. Even after the row that had erupted between her family and his, he had made his position clear. He had stood by his father, and he believed her father had been well compensated for his loss. She had never been able to come to terms with that, and it had coloured everything between them after that. Now that he had turned up again she was at war with herself, and her emotions were all over the place.

What was she to make of him? Her brother thought he was tough and ambitious, unyielding in his attitude, and yet Drew had shown her a caring side, a concern for the well-being of others. Wasn’t that why he had become a doctor?

She couldn’t make any sense of her feelings towards him. She was confused, drawn to him on the one hand but wary on the other, and all the time she was conscious of the way her brother and her parents felt about him and his family.

She glanced at him once more. He looked weary, a faint shadow of tiredness around his eyes, and she guessed it had been a long day for him. ‘Do you want to sit down?’ she asked. ‘I’ll just finish making the coffee. Have you eaten?’

He shook his head. ‘I didn’t get the chance.’ He pulled out a bar stool and angled himself on it by the breakfast corner. ‘I was hoping to grab some lunch before my meeting, but that all changed, as you know.’

‘I’ll heat some pasties,’ she offered, ‘and I’ve a bowl of salad to go with them. Not the most adventurous of meals, but it might fill a gap.’ He had taken the trouble to bring her shopping bag to her, and it was the least she could do to return the favour.

She watched him guardedly. She still couldn’t get used to the idea that he was here at all, and there was no point in wondering about what was to come of it. He would soon be moving on and out of her life once more.

As they ate, he said lightly, ‘I couldn’t help noticing that your shopping was mainly toys. A wooden train set and some baby things.’ He gave her a quizzical look. ‘Is there something I don’t know about? Are you married now? What have you done with the children? I don’t see them around, or maybe they’re in bed?’

She gave him a brief, taut smile. He didn’t seem at all concerned by the idea that she might be a mother, and for some reason that bothered her.

‘No, I haven’t married...yet. The train set is for my brother’s little boy, Reece, and the baby clothes are for the baby he and his wife are expecting. I thought I would get things in neutral colours since they don’t know whether they’re going to have a boy or a girl. They were in a sale, so I took the opportunity to buy now.’ She gave a small frown. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have—I’m way ahead of myself.’

‘Is there a problem with being prepared?’ His blue-grey eyes watched her curiously.

‘No...not really, but Becky hasn’t been feeling too well through this pregnancy. I hope I’m not jumping the gun.’

‘Is there any particular reason why she’s unwell?’

‘I’m not sure.’ She frowned again. ‘Things have been difficult for Becky and Luke this last few months and she might be suffering under the strain. Luke is trying to cope with running Dad’s business, and it’s been quite stressful for him lately. My dad’s been able to do less and less, and Luke’s finding it hard to manage on his own.’

‘Can’t he bring in more people to help out?’

‘I suppose he could, but that would mean training them up, and anyway I’m not sure that the business is doing well enough for them to take on more staff. Drew’s done his best these last few years to make a success of things, but working in management was never part of his plan when he left university.’

‘It’s difficult, I know, but sometimes things don’t go the way we want them to.’ He didn’t look particularly concerned. ‘I’m sorry to hear that your dad is still having problems with his health. Is there anything that can be done to improve things for him?’

‘Possibly. I’ve persuaded him that he needs to go and see the specialist again.’ She glanced at Drew’s plate, and saw that he had finished his food. ‘Can I get anything more for you? I think there’s some more crusty bread if you want it.’

‘No, thanks. That was good, but I must be on my way now.’ He pushed back his chair and stood up. ‘Thanks again for the food,’ he said. ‘It filled me up and made me feel much more human.’ He gave her a fleeting smile. ‘Perhaps we’ll meet up again some time.’

‘Maybe.’ She didn’t believe that was true, but it was easier to say it and to see him out. She went with him to the door and watched him climb into his sleek silver saloon car. Part of her wanted to beg him to stay, but her innate sense of self-preservation held her back. He drove away without looking behind him and she felt as though the lifeblood was draining out of her. She was empty inside.

A few days later, in A and E, she took advantage of a few minutes’ break to wind down. She had been on the go all morning, and when there was a slight lull, she stopped by the desk and chatted to Craig, a senior house officer who had been spending the last six months learning about emergency medicine.

‘How’s things?’ he asked. ‘I didn’t see you at the party last weekend. I was hoping you might be able to pop in for an hour or so.’

‘Something came up,’ she said. ‘I heard that you had a good time. Something about dancing the conga through the park?’

He laughed. ‘We all had a bit too much to drink.’ He leaned a little closer and slid an arm around her waist. ‘It would have been so much better if you had been there.’

She smiled at him. ‘You’re an inveterate flirt,’ she said.

‘You can’t blame a man for trying. One of these days you might agree to come out with me.’

‘In your dreams.’ Craig would have been a catch for any young woman, with his dark good looks and happy-go-lucky attitude, but Katie was steering clear of any kind of commitment. He was far too casual in his relationships for her to take him seriously and, anyway, she was looking for something more in a man, something that remained elusive. There had only been one love of her life, and that had turned to ashes. She wasn’t about to let herself get burned again.

An ambulance siren sounded in the distance, and she readied herself to receive her next patient. Craig went off humming to himself, full of beans, and she heard him call the name of a man who was in the waiting room. She had no idea how he could be so lively at this time of the day. Katie glanced at his patient. He looked as though he was hurting, but she couldn’t see any particular injury.

Her own patient was suffering from a particularly nasty fracture, and she called on Hannah to assist her. Hannah was an A and E nurse, with many years of experience of working in Emergency, and Katie liked working with her.

‘Have you seen the new consultant?’ Hannah asked.

Katie lifted a brow. ‘No—I didn’t know he was about. I’ve been so busy today I’ve been chasing my own shadow. What’s he like?’ She made sure that her patient had a painkilling injection and called for a surgical consultation.

‘He’s incredible.’ Hannah lifted her eyes heavenwards. ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get any work done around here—he’s so good-looking you wouldn’t believe it. I almost fainted at his feet when I saw him. He must have thought I was mad.’

Katie laughed. ‘I expect he was too busy finding his way around the place to notice.’

‘He noticed you.’

‘Did he?’ Katie was surprised. ‘When? How come I didn’t see him?’

‘You were talking to Craig and having a laugh. Neither of you was taking much notice of anything going on around you.’

‘Oh, well...I expect he’ll catch up with me later.’ Katie turned her attention to her patient.

She was writing up her notes at the desk a little later when she saw Craig’s patient walking towards the exit. He didn’t look at all well, and he was squinting a little as though the light hurt him.

He appeared to stagger, and Katie was immediately concerned. She hurried over to him and helped him recover his balance. ‘You don’t look too good,’ she said. ‘Do you need to sit down for a while?’

‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ he muttered, and clutched his stomach. ‘The pain in my head is driving me mad.’

Katie alerted Hannah, who hurried up with a bowl and a cloth. ‘Have you seen the doctor?’ Katie asked.

The man tried to nod and winced as though the effort was too much for him. ‘He gave me a prescription.’

Katie glanced at the paper he held, and saw that it was a prescription for migraine medication. ‘I think perhaps you had better lie down for a while,’ she said. ‘You don’t look well enough to go anywhere just yet. I’ll see if I can get hold of Dr Marshall and let him know what’s happening.’ She was surprised that Craig had sent him on his way in this condition, but perhaps the man’s symptoms had worsened since then. She glanced at Hannah. ‘Would you stay with Mr Framley? Cubicle two is empty. Perhaps he should go in there and lie down.’

Hannah nodded, and Katie turned to hurry away and immediately found herself in collision with someone.

‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ she began, struggling to right herself, her fingers meshing with a shirtfront and registering the hard wall of a man’s chest. His heartbeat was strong and steady. She took a faltering step backwards and started to lift her gaze. ‘I wasn’t looking where I was going.’

‘I guessed as much.’ The deep voice had a familiar ring to it, and when she stared into the face of the man she gave a startled little jump.

‘Drew? What are you doing here?’

‘I work here. As of today, I’m your new consultant.’ He looked at her assessingly. ‘You seem to be in a bit of a hurry. Is that because of Dr Marshall’s patient?’

She swallowed hard, trying to brace herself against the shock of seeing him here. ‘I just thought I would alert him to the fact that the man wasn’t very steady on his feet. There’s no problem. We can deal with it. I imagine you must have plenty to be getting on with.’

Her mind was racing. She was worried that something wasn’t quite right with the patient, but she didn’t want to get Craig into any trouble. She was also finding it hard to take in what Drew had said. He was working here? How could that be?

She pulled in a deep breath and stared at him. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to be working here?’

‘Has it come as such a shock to you?’ he said. His mouth was taut, and he must have seen how much it bothered her that he was here. ‘I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure how things were going to work out,’ he said, ‘but as it happens they wanted me to start straight away. Mr Johnson, the consultant who was here before me, has had to take some compassionate leave. Family problems, they said, but they don’t think he’ll be coming back.’

Katie had heard that her former consultant was in a bit of a quandary. His son had been involved in an accident, and he had made up his mind to go and stay with him for a while. He had talked of finding work as a consultant near where his son lived. She said quietly, ‘I heard that his son had multiple fractures, but as far as I know he’s going to recover.’

‘That’s what I heard, too.’ He glanced around. ‘As for Dr Marshall’s patient, I was just coming to take a look at him. I’m not satisfied that he’s well enough to be discharged.’

Katie was distracted. From the set of his jaw she guessed that he was unhappy with Craig’s diagnosis. She said flatly, ‘Given the symptoms he presented with, I’m sure Dr Marshall thought he was doing the right thing. Headache and sickness are common symptoms of migraine.’

‘Maybe.’ Drew wasn’t giving anything away. His mouth was set in a straight line and his eyes were dark as though he meant business. ‘I’m going to take a look at him now. If you’re not too busy, perhaps you would ask Dr Marshall to come and join me?’

Katie went and found Craig. She didn’t like the fact that Drew had taken it on himself to intervene, but he was in charge now, and he was ultimately responsible for the actions of his colleagues.

‘What’s wrong?’ Craig asked. He was in a cheerful mood, his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the desk in the middle of the room.

She explained the situation. ‘I think your patient, Mick Framley, is unwell—at least, not well enough to go home just yet.’

‘He was going to call for a taxi. I told him he needed to lie down in a darkened room.’

‘I don’t think he can make it home on his own.’ She frowned. ‘The new consultant, Drew Bradley, wants a word.’

‘Does he?’ Craig grimaced. ‘I don’t think he likes me very much. I’ve already had one run in with him today.’

‘You have?’ Her eyes widened. ‘What was that about?’ They were already walking back towards cubicle two.

‘He seemed to be annoyed that I was talking to you. Apparently he thought my attitude was too casual and he wanted to know if I hadn’t any work to be getting on with. He said I’d left a patient unsupervised.’

Katie frowned. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble.’

‘It wasn’t your fault. I think he was looking for someone to chew out.’

Was Craig right about that? Her own brother had said Drew could be ruthless, and she had tried to dismiss it, but now she was filled with doubt. It seemed unfair that Craig should fall foul of Drew this first day.

They had almost reached the cubicle by now, and Katie said, ‘I’m a little worried about Mr Framley. He was complaining of neck stiffness, and he was hypertensive, too. Perhaps you should do a CT scan.’

‘He didn’t have any neck stiffness when I examined him,’ Craig said defensively. ‘There were no signs that led me to think of anything other than migraine.’

‘It can be difficult to make an accurate diagnosis,’ Katie said, ‘but when you see the new consultant, be careful.’

‘I will.’ He pulled open the curtain of the cubicle and went in. Katie heard the murmur of voices, and guessed that he was talking to Drew. She hoped that he could put things right. She was beginning to suspect that Mr Framley was showing signs of a condition that was far more serious than Craig had guessed. In Craig’s place, she would be doing a CT scan and blood tests, as well as an ECG and chest X-ray. From the looks of things, Mr Framley could be suffering from a subarachnoid haemorrhage.

A moment later, a worried-looking Craig came out from the cubicle. He looked white-faced, and Katie said anxiously, ‘Can I help?’

He nodded. ‘He’s taken a sudden turn for the worse, and we need to intubate. I’m going to call for a neurosurgeon.’

Katie went to assist, and the team went into action. Drew called for all the tests that she had guessed would be needed, and a short time later Mick went up to Theatre. Katie hoped that the surgeon would be able to save him. A bleed into the brain could kill a man unless it was caught in time.

Drew didn’t comment on what had gone on between him and Craig, but he was tight-lipped whenever he was around him, and Craig was nervous for the rest of the day. Katie met up with him during a break in the afternoon, and he still looked anxious.

She put her hand on his arm. ‘You should try not to worry too much,’ she told him. ‘You’ve only been in emergency medicine for six months. You can’t get everything right all the time.’

His mouth made a bitter line. ‘Try telling that to the new consultant. Mr Bradley doesn’t seem to appreciate that he’s here to support me. He thinks I missed the diagnosis because I didn’t do the proper checks.’

‘I’m sure you did what you thought was right at the time. I expect he’ll get to know you better and see that he’s being too hard on you.’

‘Maybe. I just hope Mick Framley pulls through.’ He moved his shoulders as though he was making an effort to shrug off his despondent mood and glanced at her thoughtfully. ‘When I saw you talking to the new man earlier, I had the feeling that you two knew each other. Is that right? Is he from around here?’

‘Yes, I do know him.’ She pressed her lips together, uncertain how much she should say. ‘He used to live locally, but he moved away some years ago. He was always determined to become a consultant in A and E.’

‘How was it that you got to know him?’

‘We lived in the same neighbourhood at one time. He was always around and about, and sometimes we would find ourselves at the same functions.’

‘Do you like him?’

Katie hesitated. It was a direct question, but she could hardly tell Craig all the ins and outs of the situation, all her doubts and insecurities, and in the end she settled for an edited version of the truth.

‘We used to get along all right. I’ve known him since I was a teenager, and he went to the same school as my brother, but I haven’t heard from him these last few years, and I think things are different now. He’s a consultant and he probably has a position to live up to. You and I are just junior doctors, and we’re worlds apart from him, so we can’t do anything other than make the best of things.’

It seemed so long ago that Drew had been her friend, her soul mate, someone who would step in and intervene between her and her brother whenever they had a falling-out. As a teenager Luke had been irrepressible in teasing and tormenting her, and even when he’d got older, a student at university, he had enjoyed provoking her. Drew had been someone she had been able to look up to and confide in, and now it seemed that all that had changed.

She went back to her patients and later on she attended to a man who had injured his hand at the factory where he worked. ‘I’ll put in a few stitches to hold the edges of the wound together,’ she told him. ‘Then I’ll put a dressing over it and you’ll need to come back to have the stitches removed in a few days. You should have an antibiotic, too, in case there’s an infection.’

As she began to suture the wound, she saw Hannah pass by. ‘Is there any news of Mr Framley?’ she asked. ‘He must be back from surgery by now.’

Hannah nodded. ‘He’s still in Recovery, but by all accounts things went reasonably well. The surgeon managed to deal with the aneurysm and patch him up.’

Drew came to watch as Katie put in the last suture. ‘It’ll be a while before the man is on his feet again,’ he said, catching the end of the conversation. ‘He was lucky that he hadn’t left the hospital, and I guess that was down to you. By stopping him, you saved his life.’

‘It was just fortunate that I happened to see him stagger.’ She looked up at him, her green eyes troubled. ‘It wasn’t an easy diagnosis to make,’ she said, wanting to defend Craig. ‘Initially, he showed all the signs of having a migraine.’

Drew’s gaze was flint sharp. ‘We have to look be yond that. I hope your friend has taken the lesson on board.’

He had placed a slight emphasis on the word ‘friend’, and Katie glanced at him in dismay. His tone was cool, his jaw was set in a hard line, and she reflected that it was going to be difficult for Craig to make up for his lapse.

‘I’m sure he’ll take note, and learn from all the situations he comes across. I don’t believe you can ask for any more.’

‘Can’t I?’ His gaze shimmered over her. ‘Then you don’t know me very well, do you?’

He moved away from her, and Katie felt a small shiver go through her. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps she didn’t know him at all.