The Doctor's Surprise Bride

‘This is going to be great.’ Eliza leant across and rested her arm briefly around Mary’s shoulder in a spontaneous gesture of comfort. ‘I know I’ll love it here, Mary, and you’re not to worry. I’ll take good care of your hospital until you come back.’

A bell rang overhead and they both glanced up.

‘What’s the bell for?’ Eliza asked, and then frowned as Mary stopped and rested one hand low on her stomach.

‘That’s the casualty bell. At least I’ll get to run you through an outpatient card.’

Eliza inclined her head towards Mary’s stomach. ‘I’ll do this. If you’re going into labour I’ll write a card for you, too.’

‘The tightness will go.’ Mary smiled ruefully but didn’t deny she had some discomfort as she gingerly led the way round the corner towards the main admissions desk, where a young mother leant on the desk with her frightened daughter by her side.

‘Asthma,’ the clerk said. ‘I’ll do the admission without her.’ She gladly handed over her charges, along with a dog-eared card.

Eliza glanced at the name. Mia Summers. A good choice by the admissions clerk, Eliza thought as she helped the woman up the hallway until she met Mary with the wheelchair. They wheeled Mia into the assessment room where Eliza sat her on the edge of the bed. Mary hovered at the door, ready to help if Eliza needed her.

At least the woman had been able to stand and hadn’t fallen unconscious in the car. It hadn’t been that long since Eliza had been present at a young man’s tragic death from asthma, and that had been in a big city emergency department with more doctors than they’d needed, but it hadn’t been enough. Asthma was a killer if people didn’t take the early warning signs seriously enough, and Eliza was on a crusade for education of patients at the moment because of that.

‘Hello, Mia. I’m Eliza. Have you got your Ventolin on you?’

Mia opened her mouth to answer but was far too breathless to talk.

‘Mummy’s puffer is here but she can’t seem to breathe it.’ The little girl prised the small cylinder from her mother’s clenched fist.

Eliza glanced at the label of the puffer and nodded as she slipped the pulse oximeter on the woman’s finger and noted the low oxygen saturation of the woman’s blood. She suspected Mia wasn’t far from unconsciousness.

‘What’s your name?’ Eliza asked the little girl as she reached up into the cupboard to pull down a Ventolin mask.

‘Kristy. I’m eight.’

‘I’m Eliza. I think you’ll make a great doctor or nurse one day, Kristy, the way you’ve looked after Mummy. Where’s Daddy?’

‘Daddy’s in the far paddock and Mummy said we had to go now. I left a note.’

‘That was clever and Mummy was right.’

While she was talking, Eliza’s hands were busy. ‘This mask gives Mummy oxygen and makes the stronger asthma drug into a fine mist and that helps Mummy to breathe.’

Eliza broke open the plastic ampoule, squirted the pre-mixed drug into the chamber of the nebulising mask and fitted the now misting mask over Mia’s face.

She continued talking to the little girl but really she was talking to the frightened young woman beside her. ‘Inside Mummy’s lungs, all her little breathing tubes are blocking up with thick slime. This medicine helps the slime get thinner so Mummy can cough it out of the way and breathe better again, and the oxygen makes mummy feel better.’

The little girl nodded and Eliza rested her hand on the woman’s shoulder. ‘Just close your eyes, Mia, and let the medication do the job.’ Eliza fitted the blood-pressure cuff around the woman’s arm and began to pump it up. ‘Do you have an asthma plan sheet and a spacer?’

Mia shook her head tiredly and Eliza nodded. ‘We’ll talk about it later because I think it would help a lot in your case.’

Eliza glanced at Mary. ‘She needs IV access, cortisone and probably IV salbutamol. Would you like to ring Dr Dancer to come around? I’ll pop a cannula in to save time.’

Mary nodded and reached for the phone on the wall while Eliza swiftly prepared her equipment. ‘I’m going to put a little needle in Mummy’s arm. It looks like it would hurt but it’s really not much more than a mosquito bite. Mummy needs some other medicine that works really quickly if we put it in through the needle. Do you want to look away when I do it?’

Kristy shook her head. ‘I’ll hold Mummy’s other hand.’

‘You have a wonderful daughter, Mia.’

Mia nodded as she started to cough. Already her oxygen saturation had improved. Eliza glanced at Kristy to see if she was upset by her mother coughing.

‘So the slime in Mummy’s lungs is getting thinner, isn’t it Eliza?’

‘Yep.’ Eliza slid the cannula into Mia’s arm and taped it securely. Then she began to assemble the flask and line and draw up the drugs in preparation. ‘Next time Mummy’s fingers go this blue or she can’t talk, she’d better come in the ambulance because they can give her this medicine in the mask and put the needle in on the way to the doctor. Do you know how to ring an ambulance, Kristy?’

Kristy nodded. ‘I ring 000, or 911 in America or 999 in England.’

‘Wow. Even I didn’t know that.’ Eliza felt like hugging the little girl. ‘Tell them Mummy can’t breathe and then answer all the questions.’

When Jack arrived he could see that Eliza had everything under control. Mia could manage a few words, and after he approved the intravenous drugs Eliza had ready, Mia was stable enough to go by ambulance to Armidale, where she’d have to stay overnight, at the very least, for intensive observation.

‘Rhonda’s coming in as escort in the ambulance with you, Mia.’ Jack squeezed the young woman’s shoulder. ‘If all goes well, I’ll see if they’ll transfer you back to us here at Bellbrook tomorrow or the day after.’

Mia’s husband arrived. Jack reaffirmed Mia would be better in Armidale, at least overnight, and after goodbyes Mr Summers took their daughter home.

Jack watched Eliza clear the benches and restock the room in record time. He shook his head. Good was an understatement. He wasn’t sure he was used to someone telling him what he needed to give a patient, but he’d have to get over it. Eliza had certainly been instrumental in saving Mia’s condition from becoming perilous, and that was the important thing.

He cleared his throat and wondered why the words stuck a little. ‘You did well, Eliza. Mia hasn’t had an attack that severe before.’

Eliza stopped what she was doing and met his eyes. He watched her smile spread to her eyes at his compliment and he could feel himself responding. She was like a sunrise. Boom—explosion of light as she smiled. She blew him away again just like she had when he’d first met her.

‘Thank you,’ she said quietly. ‘So this is what a sleepy country town is like.’

The moment extended and his smile broadened. She was gorgeous in an understated way and his diaphragm imploded again. Unconsciously he took a step forward towards her, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to want to be closer to her.

Then she changed and the corners of her mouth drooped. The expression in her beautiful eyes grew distant and she broke eye contact as she looked away. The angry fairy wasn’t quite back but there were glimpses.

Eliza spoke to the package she lifted into the cupboard. ‘Mia said she doesn’t have an asthma plan or a spacer. Are the plans not something you do here?’

‘Not really.’ Jack didn’t concentrate too much on what she was saying because he was wondering why she’d created such reserve and backed away from being friendly. He re-focussed on her question. ‘If someone becomes a moderate asthmatic, I usually send them to a specialist in Armidale or even the respiratory clinic in Newcastle, and the specialists do all that.’

She twisted her neck and looked at him from under her brows. ‘I’ll have some forms sent from the Asthma Foundation. They’ll send us an info pack and a pad of plans that you could look at. I’ve helped generate plans before and believe they give the patient back control of their asthma. Spacers make it easier for the patient to take their Ventolin, especially during an attack.’

Her tone was icy and he couldn’t help the drop in warmth in his own voice. It was almost as if she’d engineered the whole estrangement of their brief rapport. Something else was going on here, something ill-defined, and he didn’t like it, but he had to get back to his surgery. If she didn’t want him here, he could take a hint!

‘Thank you, Matron May. I’ve actually seen such plans and I know what a spacer is,’ Jack said dryly. ‘I’ll certainly consider your suggestion.’ He glanced at the door where Mary was an interested bystander. ‘I thought you were going home, Mary?’

Mary raised placatory hands and bit back a smile. ‘I just need to finish the round I’ve started with Eliza. I’ll be gone soon.’

‘Well, I am gone,’ Jack muttered. ‘Matrons,’ he said mockingly, and inclined his head at Eliza. Then he took himself back to his surgery.

Eliza watched him go. What on earth had got into her? Lecturing Jack! It wasn’t part of her job and she didn’t need to alienate her boss for the next eight weeks.

And why was she thinking of him as Jack and not Dr Dancer?