A Very Special Child

‘Nothing bad, I hope?’

Laura felt a frisson inch its way down her spine at the sound of a familiar voice. Slowly, she turned, her eyes widening as she saw the man who was lounging against the doorjamb. The last time they’d met he had been wearing a lot less than he was wearing now, but the impact he made on her senses was much the same.

She took a quick breath but once again the giddiness was closing in, the same confusion and inability to think straight she’d experienced after he’d saved her from that potentially disastrous fall. As though it were happening in slow motion, she watched him walk towards her. He stopped a few feet away, his grey eyes holding a warmly intimate light which made her feel as though they shared some particularly delicious secret.

‘We didn’t get chance for introductions before, did we?’ He held out his hand and smiled at her. ‘I’m Mark Dawson and you must be Laura Grady. I’m very pleased to meet you, Laura. Welcome to the team.’

‘So, that brings us to Katie Watson. How has she been today?’

Mark Dawson sat back in his chair and tossed the steel-framed spectacles he’d been wearing onto the desk. He’d spent the past half-hour running through the case histories of all the children in the ward, and Laura had to admit that she was impressed. Although he had their notes in front of him, he’d referred to them only briefly, obviously needing the most minimal reminder to bring each child’s details to mind.

She found herself thinking back to what Rachel had said earlier, about him being the most caring man she had met, and silently agreed. It didn’t take a genius to see that Mark Dawson was deeply committed to the welfare of his young patients.

She quickly focused her attention on what Rachel was saying, realising that she couldn’t afford to let her mind wander. One of the reasons Mark had asked her to sit in on the meeting that morning had been so that she could get an overall view of the patients in the ward, and she had to admit that it had been a great help. She wouldn’t like him to think that she wasn’t taking full advantage of the opportunity, or that she wasn’t as dedicated to the job as he so obviously was…

She frowned, wondering why it seemed so important that he think well of her.

‘How was she when you left her, Laura?’

Mark’s deep voice cut through her musings and she quickly retuned her mind to the question, not sorry to let that disquieting thought disappear. ‘Fine. She was telling me about her dog and that seemed to cheer her up and take her mind off the fact that she’d been so sick, poor little mite.’

Mark smiled, his grey eyes lighting up with an inner warmth which was very attractive. ‘Well, that’s more than any of us have achieved so far!’

He laughed when he saw her confusion. ‘Katie has been extremely withdrawn since she was admitted two days ago. We’ve all tried to get through to her but without much success. Obviously, you’ve managed to find something to spark her interest. Well done!’

Laura couldn’t help smiling back at the genuine pleasure she heard in his voice. ‘It was more luck than anything else, I imagine. I just happened to ask her if she had a dog and that was it.’ She frowned. ‘Is she worried about being in hospital? Is that why she’s been so withdrawn, do you think?’

‘That, plus the fact that her mother hasn’t been in to visit her as yet.’

Mark’s tone was grim as he got up. There was barely concealed impatience in the way he strode to the window then swung round. Laura felt a shiver dance down her spine as she saw the anger that darkened his eyes. Mark would never compromise where a patient’s welfare was concerned, she realised.

‘Katie’s mother, Lisa, has found herself a new boyfriend, it appears. He’s taking up most of her time so that she doesn’t seem to have any to spare for her daughter.’

‘How awful for the poor child!’ Laura exclaimed, understanding immediately what had sparked his anger. ‘I can’t understand how any mother could put her own needs before those of her child.’

‘No, I don’t imagine you can,’ Mark agreed softly. His eyes held hers for a moment before he turned to Rachel, and Laura forced herself to concentrate once more, although it wasn’t easy. There had been something in the way Mark had looked at her which had set every nerve in her body tingling, though she couldn’t understand why

‘Any luck contacting Katie’s father?’ he asked the sister.

‘No. The number we had on file for him has been disconnected and, with Lisa not having been in to visit, I haven’t had chance to see if she knows how to get in touch with him,’ Rachel explained.

She turned to Laura with a sigh. ‘This isn’t the first time Katie has been admitted with UTI. She’s been in once before, only her parents were still living together then. Since they split up things seem to have got progressively worse.’

‘Worse? In what way?’ Laura queried. However, it was Mark who answered. Coming back to the desk, he sat down again and ran his hands through his hair with weary impatience.

‘Meaning that Lisa has been very lax about making sure that Katie takes her medication. We put Katie on a daily low dose of trimethoprim after her first admission. She was diagnosed with vesico-ureteric reflux when she was a baby, so we decided prophylactic antibiotics were called for.’

‘I see. What grade of reflux was there?’ Laura asked in concern.

‘Two. Urine was flowing back into one of the ureters and the pelvis, but there was no dilation.’

‘I see.’ Laura frowned as she thought about what he’d said. It was rare for urine to flow back towards the kidneys but, unfortunately, some children were born with this problem. Instead of urine passing into the bladder and being stored there, it flowed back up the ureters. In Katie’s case this meant that urine had actually refluxed into the complex system whereby her blood had been filtered of impurities.

‘So how long did this go on for?’ she asked in concern. ‘And did Katie need surgery to sort out the problem?’

‘Fortunately not. By the time Katie was two she’d stopped refluxing so there was no need for surgical intervention. However, she’s had several bouts of UTI in the past eighteen months so her GP referred her to us for investigation. We decided that she would fare better on long-term antibiotics to prevent further infections.’

He shrugged but Laura could tell that he was as concerned as she was. ‘There was no problem when her father was around because he made sure that she took the medication as per instructions. However, since he disappeared off the scene all that has gone by the board.’

‘What a shame! Doesn’t Katie have any contact with him at all now?’ Laura asked in dismay.

‘Not from what I can gather from her GP. He was so worried when the mother eventually took Katie to the surgery that he contacted me direct and asked if we could admit Katie immediately. And I’m glad he did.’

Mark’s tone was hard. ‘The poor kid has lost a lot of weight in the couple of months since we saw her last. My main concern now is that renal scarring may have occurred because of the renewed bouts of infection. However, there’s no way of knowing until we see the results of the ultrasound scans and X-rays, which are booked for the end of this week.’

None of them said anything. Laura suspected that they were all mentally crossing their fingers that the scans wouldn’t show any irreversible damage to Katie’s kidneys. It was hard to believe that any mother could have been so careless as to put her child at risk the way Katie’s mother had done.

The beep of a pager suddenly broke the silence and Mark grimaced. ‘That’s for me.’

He picked up the phone to respond to the call while Laura, taking her cue from Rachel, got up to leave. It was obvious that the meeting was at an end and suddenly she couldn’t wait to get down to the real nitty-gritty of the job. She had always loved nursing and her natural enthusiasm had been whetted by Mark’s obvious commitment. Suddenly, she knew that her fears had been groundless and that she would cope, and couldn’t help smiling as the last of her uncertainty melted away.

‘Why the smile? Not that I’m objecting, of course. A smile like that could light up the dullest day.’

There was a teasing note in Mark’s voice as he replaced the receiver, but it didn’t conceal the fact that he’d meant what he’d said. Laura felt a ripple of heat spread from one small point in the very centre of her being and radiate outwards, filling her with a pleasure so intense that she was sure it must show. She rushed into speech, afraid that he might ask her what was wrong. Frankly, that was the last thing she wanted to have to explain when she wasn’t sure of the answer herself!

‘I was just thinking that maybe I would be able to cope with this job after all,’ she blurted out. She saw Mark frown and immediately wished she’d stopped to think before saying that. After all, she didn’t want him having doubts about her ability to do this job.

‘Of course you can cope! Why on earth would you doubt it?’ he demanded. He folded his arms across his chest and stared at her, and she shifted uncomfortably.

‘Oh, well, I was just worried that I might find it difficult to slot in here,’ she mumbled, then jumped as he gave an openly sceptical laugh.

‘If I didn’t know better then I would swear you were fishing for compliments, Laura Grady.’ He suddenly reached out and gave her a gentle shake. ‘You’re going to fit in here perfectly! I can guarantee that.’

‘Can you?’

Was that really her voice? Laura wondered shakily as she heard the husky tones which supposedly emerged from her lips. She swallowed then tried again, afraid that Mark would think her a complete ninny, acting this way. ‘I mean, thank you. I appreciate your confidence, Dr Dawson.’

‘Make that Mark, and there’s nothing to thank me for. I knew as soon as I read your CV that you were the right person for this job. I was away on a course when the interviews were held but I’d already made my views clear to the board. I’m only glad that you accepted the post, Laura. Dalverston General needs nurses of your calibre.’

He gave her a last warm smile before he left the office. Laura stood right where she was before she realised that Rachel would be wondering where she’d got to. She squared her shoulders as she headed for the door. Mark’s belief in her was something she intended to live up to…starting this very minute!

She left the office and glanced along the corridor just in time to see him stepping into the lift. Perhaps he sensed he was being watched because he looked round. Their eyes met in a look which sent a wave of heat washing through her before he disappeared from view, but the damage had been done already.

Laura went back to the ward, responding automatically as Rachel introduced her to the rest of the team, although a few seconds later she couldn’t recall the names of either of the two other nurses on duty that day. Was it any wonder? the voice of her conscience whispered as she hurried off to begin the first task Rachel had set her, getting one of the children ready to go to Theatre.

She bit her lip as she cross-checked Daniel Glover’s name tags against the theatre list, struggling to contain the feeling of guilt. Was she really such a shallow person that she could forget who and what she was just because an attractive man was kind to her? Was it really so easy to forget about Ian and the love they’d shared? She hoped not. But maybe she should remind herself of the facts before she made a fool of herself.

She was Laura Grady, a widow with a four-year-old son who suffered from Down’s syndrome. No matter how kind Mark Dawson might be to her, it wouldn’t change that and neither would she want it to.