Читать книгу Paddington Children's Hospital Complete Collection - Kate Hardy - Страница 17

CHAPTER EIGHT

DOMINIC AWOKE TO the sound of sirens in the street below.

In a decisive move, he had bought a three-bedroom apartment close to the hospital and, with the ambulance station nearby, he heard sirens often. Now, each time that he did, Dominic wondered if it might be Victoria’s ambulance on its way to something.

She wouldn’t even know that she had passed by his apartment, Dominic thought, as Victoria didn’t even know where he lived.

They were so removed from each other’s lives.

And yet they were not.

Because he thought about her all the time.

He liked her.

Or rather, he was attracted to her enormously and that didn’t aide sensible thinking.

Since their liaison at Paddington’s Dominic had found himself thinking about her an awful lot.

Prior to that even.

On finding out about Jamie and Lorna he had closed off from others and thrown himself into work.

Absolutely.

It had been his escape from hurt and anger, and the thought of starting again with anyone had been far from Dominic’s mind.

But then she had stomped her way into his thoughts with her heavy boots and crisp handovers. Her confident smile had felt like an intrusion, yet he had found himself looking out for her.

Noticing her.

Victoria was a very different woman from any that he was used to liking.

She had intrigued him when Dominic had not wanted to be intrigued, so much so that, even while talking to a parent, he had been aware that she had been stood registering a patient in Reception. He had seen her duck behind the shelves and, later that same day, he himself had done the same and found the place to which she escaped.

And in his time at Paddington’s he had escaped there a few times.

Once, when a young life had been lost, he had come from Theatre and told the parents that he had been unable to save their child.

In fact, Victoria and Glen had been the crew who had brought the patient in.

It had been the worst of nights.

His career meant that he was no stranger to death, but while all loss hurt, this one had been particularly painful.

Dominic had raced the little girl to Theatre but she had died on the operating table and telling the parents had been hell.

They had wanted her to be an organ donor and wanted her heart to go to another child.

It was their fervent wish, yet she was already dead.

Dominic had never been more grateful for the appearance of Rebecca in the interview room. She headed the transplant team and Dominic could only admire her empathy for the parents.

She had spoken with them at length and had gone through what could be done to give the gift of hope to another child.

Yes, she had empathy because, seeing Dominic, she had said that she would take it from here.

He had lain in the on-call room going over and over the surgery, wondering if there was anything more he could have done, while knowing that the child’s fate had been sealed at the moment of impact.

Unable to sleep he had got up and it had been to the turret that he retreated, where he had looked out to a dark London night.

There, away from the constant background hospital noise, he had thought about the doctors who had fought so hard to save his brother, and accepted he had done the same for that child.

There was solace in that quiet space.

And together he and Victoria had found solace again on a very different night—the night that little William had been born.

Every sensible part of him screeched for caution and told Dominic that he could well be being taken for a ride.

Yet the sensible parts did not take into account the magic of that night, the mutual succour, for despite Victoria’s denial, despite insisting her pensive mood was reserved only for the loss of the famed institution, Dominic was certain that she had been hurting for other reasons that night too.

He wanted to know Victoria some more.

Baby aside, caution aside, he wanted to know the woman behind the cool façade and it was time to do something about that.

* * *

‘You’ve got an admirer, Victoria!’

She returned from a call-out with Glen to the light teasing of other staff. A large bouquet of gorgeous flowers was waiting for her at the station. There were freesias, which were her favourite, as well as hyacinths and other blooms. They filled the air with a rich sweet scent and all the gorgeous shades of spring were on display.

Though her heart was beating rapidly she did not show it in her expression. In fact, Victoria rolled her eyes as she opened the card, for she was quite certain who they were from.

If Dominic thought that a stunning array of flowers was going to give him a second hearing, and that she would let him in on the ultrasound, then he could not be more wrong.

But then she read the card and found out that no, she was not at the forefront of his thoughts.

‘It’s from Lewis’s parents,’ Victoria said, and she smiled as she read it. ‘He was the neck injury from the fire at Westbourne Grove.’

‘How is he doing?’ her line manager asked.

‘Apparently he’s doing really well and they’ll soon be taking him home.’

Victoria only knew that from the card. Unlike Glen, who checked on almost everyone, Victoria chose not to follow up on her patients.

It wasn’t that she didn’t care; it was more that bad news was unsettling and she had made a conscious choice not to get overly involved.

Lewis’s parents had left a present for Glen too—a very nice bottle of wine that he decided would remain in his locker until they had finished nights next week, as on the Monday it would be his and Hayley’s wedding anniversary.

Glen chatted about his plans for that night as they drove to their next job. ‘Ten years,’ Glen said. ‘I can’t believe it.’

Nor could Victoria envision it! ‘So what are you getting her?’

‘Hayley says that she doesn’t want anything. She just wants...’ Glen hesitated and then changed whatever he had been about to say. ‘I’m getting her an eternity ring. Sapphire and diamonds.’

‘That sounds gorgeous,’ Victoria said. ‘So what does she really want?’ She looked over to Glen, who concentrated on the road ahead, but Victoria could guess exactly what Hayley wanted and Glen knew it.

‘Leave it, Victoria.’

Victoria would not.

‘How did you pull up after the school fire?’ she asked.

‘I’m fine. They got everyone out.’

Victoria knew that Glen was stressed. They had been crewmates for two years now. Though it had taken her a while to open up, even a little bit, Glen had been open right from the start.

He was friendly and laid-back and brilliant at his job, but recently things had changed.

They had been called out to a motor vehicle accident a couple of months ago and taken a very sick child to Paddington’s, where she had subsequently died.

Some jobs were harder than others and Glen had taken this one very personally indeed. The little girl had been the same age as his daughter and the accident had occurred on a road that his wife often took.

It was a couple of weeks after that that Victoria had noticed the change in him. Instead of his usual laid-back self, he was tense at times and kept calling home to check with Hayley that everything was okay.

Despite Glen’s insistence that he was fine, Victoria was sure that Hayley wanted Glen to speak to one of the counsellors made available to them, but Glen steadfastly refused to do so.

She would wait for her moment, Victoria decided, and, in the meantime, keep a bit of a closer eye on him.

‘Your flowers were nice,’ Glen said.

‘Beautiful,’ Victoria agreed.

Which they were, of course, but what was niggling her was that there had been a thud of disappointment that the flowers weren’t from Dominic and this unsettled her.

It was a busy morning and just as they were starting to think about lunch they were called out to a woman who had collapsed in a shop.

‘I haven’t got time to go to hospital,’ the woman protested as she lay there. Her daughter was with her and was upset, and as they were transferring her mother to the ambulance, they found out that it was her ninth birthday.

‘No school today?’ Glen asked the little girl.

‘She’s goes to Westbourne Grove,’ her mother said.

Victoria looked over and gave the young girl a smile. ‘You’re having a bit of a time of it, aren’t you?’

The girl nodded. ‘My friend Ryan is very sick.’

‘That must be so hard for you,’ Victoria said.

They took her and her mother to Riverside but once they had settled them in, and just as they were making up the stretcher, Victoria saw her father walking into the department.

He gave her a very cool look. ‘Victoria.’

She gave him a small nod back and let out a breath when he had passed.

‘Who’s that?’ Glen asked, but Victoria just gave a noncommittal shrug as if she wasn’t really sure who the man who had just passed was.

She wasn’t going to tell Glen that it was her father.

Glen chatted about his family all the time and, though it drove Victoria bonkers on occasion, she liked the glimpses of family life and was embarrassed by the state of her own.

They were just starting to think about lunch again when Dispatch asked if they could transfer a patient from Riverside’s children’s ward to the burns unit at Paddington’s.

The burns unit had been stretched to capacity by the fire but a bed had opened up and a very sweet little girl called Amber was, this morning, on her way to join the others at the Castle.

‘Hello, Amber,’ Victoria said when she met her.

She had a deep burn on her hand, arm and shoulder that was going to require grafting. Amber became teary when she saw the stretcher.

‘It’s no problem,’ Glen said. ‘We can take you to the ambulance in a wheelchair if you prefer.’

That seemed to cheer her up and so they fetched a wheelchair and the small problem was solved, but she became distressed again when she saw the ambulance. No doubt Amber was remembering the pain she had been in the last time, and remembered the fear of the lights and sirens.

‘I’m going to make you a chicken to keep you company,’ Glen said, and Victoria smiled as he pulled out a rubber glove and blew it up.

He was very good with the little children and knew how to amuse and distract them with antics, such as this one, and Victoria tended to leave that side of things to him.

Soon enough, Amber was holding her ‘chicken’ and seated in the ambulance, and the transfer went smoothly. As they made their way up to the burns ward she saw Dominic coming down the corridor and walking towards them.

He wasn’t in scrubs; he was in a suit and tie and, to Victoria’s mind, looked impossibly handsome.

Did she nod and say hi? Victoria wondered, but Dominic dealt with that—he nodded a greeting to them both and Victoria gave a brief smile back.

Glen was a bit cheeky. ‘Direct Admission,’ he said as they passed. ‘We’re taking her straight to the ward.’

‘That’s what I like to see,’ Dominic called back.

It was just a little dig, a small exchange, but hearing his voice and dry response made Victoria smile and feel a bit hot in the face.

The burns unit was busy but they made Amber very welcome.

‘Hello there.’ Matthew, the burns specialist, smiled to Amber as she was wheeled in. ‘I’m Matt.’

As Glen and Victoria wheeled Amber into her side room, Matthew had a brief chat with the girl’s mother but she soon joined them.

‘It’s good to be at the Castle,’ she admitted, clearly relieved and reassured to be at the famed hospital. ‘Amber, you’ve got a couple of friends here already.’

‘It’s just like being back at school.’ Victoria smiled.

Soon the little girl was settled and they could head off. It was incredibly warm on the burns unit as the temperature was kept high for the patients, but it made for hot work. Victoria would be very glad to get out of there, but first she had a small chat with Matt, who had spoken at the Save Paddington’s meeting.

‘Still being kept busy?’ Victoria asked.

He nodded. ‘I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon. I meant what I said about it being good that the fire happened so close to us. It made all the difference to some of these children. Did you bring in Simon?’

‘Simon?’ Victoria frowned and then shook her head.

‘The little boy from the foster home?’ Glen asked, because he knew about all the patients, and Matt nodded.

‘No, that was another crew. How’s he doing?’ Glen asked while Victoria was overheating.

‘I need a drink,’ she said, and left them to it. Glen would stand chatting for ages and it really was terribly warm in there.

The drinks machine wasn’t working but as they passed the canteen Glen nudged her.

‘We’ll get lunch,’ he said.

And she couldn’t really protest. There was no stretcher to take back to the vehicle and even if Dominic was in there Victoria knew that she couldn’t avoid him all the time.

She just rather hoped that he wasn’t there today.

‘What do you want?’ Glen asked, because they had their routine and usually Victoria would go and get a table while he went and got the food.

Except Dominic was there.

She had known the moment she stepped in, and though she deliberately didn’t look over, she was aware that he was seated in the far corner chatting with a woman.

She really didn’t want Dominic seeing her alone and coming over for another ‘discussion,’ or request to come to the scan.

‘Victoria?’ Glen checked, because she hadn’t answered his question.

‘I’m not sure what I want,’ Victoria said. ‘I’ll come with you.’

She chose a salad sandwich and bought a mug of hot chocolate and a bottle of water, as Glen chose tomato soup and a couple of rolls. Together they found a table, thankfully one far away from Dominic.

She drank half her water and then opened up her salad sandwich and took an unenthusiastic bite as Glen slurped his tomato soup.

‘Can I ask you something, Victoria?’

‘What?’ she snapped, awaiting the inevitable questions as to when she was going to tell work, or whether she had told the father.

Glen had asked both regularly since he’d found out.

‘Do you put butter on your peanut butter sandwiches?’

Victoria smiled. She liked their often mundane conversations and it helped take her mind off Dominic. ‘Of course I do.’

‘Well, Hayley doesn’t. And apparently Adam has asked that when it’s my turn to make the sandwiches, for me not to put any butter on.’

‘Adam’s nine?’ Victoria checked, and Glen nodded and took another slurp of his soup. ‘Well, then, I’d suggest he makes it himself if he’s going to be so choosy.’

‘You haven’t tried getting four children to school on time, have you?’ Glen sighed. ‘If they all made their own sandwiches, aside from the mess that they’d leave behind, they’d never get there.’

And she conceded, because no, she’d never had to get four little people to school before.

But hopefully in a few years she’d have one little person to get there.

The pregnancy was starting to take shape in Victoria’s mind and she was beginning to get excited at the prospect of being a mother.

She liked the glimpses of family life that Glen gave her.

It helped her to picture things a bit.

Glen made sandwiches for everyone if he was on an early shift. It gave Hayley a break and it worked well.

Except he’d left his behind today.

Victoria could no more imagine her father making lunch for her than a flight to the moon.

It just hadn’t happened.

And they hadn’t taken meals together, unless they were out at some function.

‘Have you told the guy he’s going to be a father yet?’ Glen asked, and Victoria sighed. She was just about to tell him to mind his own business when someone answered the question for her.

‘Yes, Glen, she has.’

And she stared at her half-eaten sandwich rather than at Dominic, who very calmly took a seat at their table.

‘Well, this is awkward,’ Victoria said.

‘Why is it awkward?’ Dominic asked. ‘All three of us already know you’re pregnant.’ He looked to Glen. ‘Did you know that the father was me?’

‘I had an idea that it might be,’ Glen admitted, and Victoria threw him an angry look as she realised that he had deliberately steered her into the canteen. Glen picked up his rolls and then stood. ‘I’ll see you back at the vehicle, Victoria.’

As he walked off Victoria looked over to Dominic. ‘I’ll be having words with Glen.’

‘I wouldn’t bother. I was coming by the station tonight to leave a message for you to contact me,’ Dominic said.

‘Why?’

‘Because we need to speak.’

‘About what?’

‘Well, Glen knows...’ Dominic started.

‘Glen guessed that I was pregnant,’ Victoria interrupted, assuming he was annoyed that others knew.

‘Victoria, I’m glad that he knows. It’s good that you’ve got him looking out for you. Mind you, he should have stopped you when there was that fire.’

‘Don’t interfere with my work,’ Victoria said. ‘He’s my partner, not my line manager. I make my own choices.’

‘Fair enough,’ Dominic said. He was trying and failing to treat her as he would a colleague. And trying to rationalise that he had every right to be concerned if she was carrying his child.

Only, it wasn’t the baby he had been thinking about on that day of the fire, because he hadn’t known she was pregnant then.

He had been loading a child into the ambulance and had turned at the sound of the explosion.

He had seen her rush forward towards the firefighter.

Glen had rushed forward too.

And he had seen the firefighters going into the burning building over and over, but it had been Victoria who he had wanted to go and haul back.

Dominic knew already that she wasn’t anything like the women he was usually attracted to.

And his response to her was like nothing he had known.

He had just watched her arrive in the canteen a little pink and flustered, though he had soon worked out why when he had watched her gulp down half a bottle of water—they had just come from the burns unit and boots and overalls would not have been the most comfortable things to be wearing.

And he had seen her and Glen, casually chatting as they selected their meals.

He was actually very glad that Glen knew.

‘I wasn’t going to broadcast the fact you were the father,’ Victoria added, ‘until the paperwork came in.’

‘Who else knows? What about family?’ he asked, worried that she had been dealing with this on her own.

‘I told my father.’

‘And what did he say?’

‘Not very much.’

‘Is he cross?’

‘Cross?’ Victoria checked.

‘Well, because you’re single?’

‘I don’t think he gives me enough thought to be cross. He was irritated. I asked if he could pull a few strings so that I could have the baby here at Paddington’s and he did.’ She closed her eyes for a moment. ‘Actually, I just ran into him at Riverside.’ And she told him what she could not tell even to Glen.

‘We hardly even said hello to each other. We had words the other day.’

‘About the baby?’

‘Sort of.’ She gave an uncomfortable shrug.

‘I’ve spoken with your father on occasion,’ Dominic told her, and he watched as her eyelids briefly fluttered as he said without words that he got what an awful man he was. When she said nothing he moved the conversation on.

‘And your mother?’

‘She’s not on the scene. I’ve already told you that.’ Victoria took a long drink of her water but then chose to continue. ‘That was what my father and I had words about.’

His patience was pleasant; he waited as her eyes scanned his and she wrestled with how much to say. ‘He suggested that I think very carefully whether to go ahead with the pregnancy, and that he knew firsthand how difficult it was being a single parent.’ Her lips were pale and they clamped for a moment and his eyes still waited. ‘He didn’t really parent though,’ Victoria said.

‘Did you say that?’

‘No.’

‘So what did you say?’

Victoria flicked her eyes away and she gave a tight shrug. ‘Nothing.’

And at one-fifteen, in a busy hospital canteen, Dominic knew for certain that he was about to become a father. He knew that because Victoria had just lied.

Something far more had gone on when she’d had words with her father.

And if he could tell when she lied, then the rest was the truth.

‘I think,’ Victoria said, ‘that I’d better get used to the idea that the only person with any enthusiasm for this baby is me.’

And she looked over to him with an angry gaze while her heart waited for him to refute, to say, No, no, I’m thrilled, Victoria, but he just looked back at her with an expression that she could not read.

And then she amended that request from her heart for Dominic to placate her because she wouldn’t believe him anyway.

How could he be thrilled to find out that his one-night stand was expecting a baby?

Yet that was what he did—he thrilled.

There was such a pleasure to be had simply sitting here with him. There was such patience in his posture and a measured maturity to him.

Oh, what did he do to her? Victoria wondered, because she had forgotten to look away and still met his eyes.

There was an attraction between them that was so intense it was as if the rest of the people in the canteen had simply faded away.

‘Would you like to go out for dinner tonight?’ Dominic asked.

‘Dinner?’ She frowned. She had just stated that no one was very enthusiastic about the baby and he was asking her to bloody dinner. ‘What sort of a response is that?’

‘A very sensible one,’ Dominic said.

He would not lie; he would not feign delight just to appease. ‘A date,’ Dominic said.

‘No!’

‘Just dinner,’ he added, as if she hadn’t turned him down. ‘No talk of babies or DNA tests. We can see if we get on, see if we fancy each other.’

And she laughed.

It was such a moot point.

‘That’s the only thing we’ve got going for us,’ Victoria said.

He liked her assertion.

‘I think that’s quite a lot to be going on with,’ Dominic said. ‘For a first date at least.’