Her Boss and Protector

They both nodded. ‘We sometimes go to Libby’s for tea.’ Rebeccah’s expression became serious. ‘When will Mummy and Nanna be coming home?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Jade told her. ‘I talked to the doctor on the telephone a little while ago, and he said that he’s doing everything he can to make them feel better. I’m going to see them at the hospital today, and I’ll let you know how they are when I come home. I’ll give them a kiss from both of you, shall I?’

‘Yes,’ Rebeccah said, and Connor began blowing kisses across his palm. Jade watched the children for a moment then glanced at their breakfast bowls. Their cereal was already half-eaten, and that struck her as odd. Scanning the table, she saw that there was a white jug in the centre, filled to the brim with milk.

‘Where did that come from?’ she asked. ‘There wasn’t any milk left in the fridge.’ Her brows met in a furrowed line. Come to that, she didn’t even recognise the jug.

‘We got it from the man next door,’ Connor told her.

Jade stared at him. ‘I don’t understand. Are you saying that you went round and asked him for a jug of milk?’

‘Yes, we both did.’

She blinked, trying to take that in. Surely they hadn’t? ‘How could that be? I thought you were afraid of him. How did you pluck up the courage to do that?’

‘I wanted my breakfast,’ Connor said in a matter-of-fact tone, as though he was amazed that she still didn’t get the full picture. ‘I didn’t want toast. I always have wheaty flakes for my breakfast, so I took my bowl round and asked him to put some milk on them.’

Jade felt a wave of heat rise up inside her and flood her cheeks. Was it possible for her to be humiliated any more? Could the floor open and swallow her up?

‘I think he felt sorry for us,’ Rebeccah piped up, ‘because he went and fetched a jug and filled it up for us. He said, “Are you two getting enough to eat?” and Connor said, “Well, sometimes we don’t get no tea if Mummy’s too busy.” And the man said, “Oh dear,” and I said, “But we might have a take-away instead.”’

Jade closed her eyes and groaned inwardly, the wave turning to a tide of embarrassment that surged through her. What must her neighbour have thought when these two little waifs and strays had appeared on his doorstep, holding out their cereal bowls and pleading for sustenance? It didn’t bear thinking about. If he believed she was their mother he probably had her marked down as a serious candidate for neglect of her responsibilities, given their previous encounter.

There was no time to remedy the situation right now, though. ‘I think you should leave it to me to sort out the milk situation next time,’ she said. Jade braced herself. ‘Now, we need to get a move on. We have to leave here in a few minutes, so I want you to hurry up and finish your breakfast and then we must get in the car and set off for school.’

Thankfully, she didn’t run into her new neighbour as they left the house. She wasn’t ready to face him, and she certainly hadn’t the wherewithal for a confrontation with him just now. There were enough butterflies in her stomach already at the thought of starting work in A and E. It was one of the most demanding specialties and, being relatively inexperienced in emergency work, she would need all the help she could get.

As it was, things turned out quite differently to what she was expecting when she arrived at the hospital. Instead of a gentle easing in and a helping hand from one of the nurses to show her where everything was, she found herself being plunged straight into chaos.

‘I don’t have time to talk now,’ the triage nurse said, pushing a hand through her chestnut-coloured hair. ‘We’re run off our feet. There was an accident at one of the factories in town, and we’ve multiple casualties to deal with. Dr Franklin is co-ordinating everything, and you’ll just have to pitch in as best you can. There’s a man being brought in by ambulance—a suspected heart attack. He should be here in about ten minutes. Perhaps you can take the lead with that one.’

‘Yes, of course.’ Jade hoped that she was up to it. Glancing around, she asked, ‘Where is the consultant…Mr Ramsay? I haven’t seen him around anywhere.’

‘No—you won’t be seeing him.’ The nurse frowned. ‘He was taken ill—but you wouldn’t have heard about that, would you? He was away on holiday for a few days and went down with some sort of food poisoning. It’s affected his kidneys, and now he’s being treated in the renal unit. For a while it was touch and go as to whether he would pull through.’

Jade was shocked. ‘I’m so sorry. I had no idea. I hope he’ll be all right.’

‘So do I. We all think the world of him. As it is, he’s going to be laid up for some time, from the sound of things. That is bad enough, from his point of view, but it’s left us all in a state of upheaval here.’ The nurse managed an apologetic smile. ‘Look, I have to go. I’m supposed to be helping out with a multiple fracture. I’m Katie, by the way. If you need any help, just yell.’

Jade winced. Everyone was snowed under, and she doubted if anyone would be able to spare the time to spoonfeed a new senior house officer. She was being thrown in at the deep end, and she guessed it was a case of swim or go under.

Katie hurried away, and Jade decided that maybe the best way for her to prepare for the incoming patient would be to find out where everything was kept, so that she could lay her hands on whatever it was that she might need. She went and collared a nurse who was fetching supplies, and showered her with questions.

‘Blood and lab forms are in boxes behind the reception desk,’ the girl said. ‘Medications are next to the A and E makeshift laboratory, and other supplies are in the room opposite the doctors’ lounge. If you need anything else, ask Dr Franklin, the registrar, or James in Reception.’ The nurse hurried away, leaving Jade floundering.

‘But surely, I need a key for the drugs cupboard?’ she called after her, but she was too late. The nurse had disappeared round a corner.

‘Is there a problem here?’

Jade froze at the sound of that voice. It couldn’t be, could it? A prickle of tension ran along her spine. There was no getting away from it…the deep, gravelled tones were somehow disturbingly familiar. Turning around slowly, she looked up at the owner of the voice and immediately felt as though the stuffing had been knocked out of her.

‘What are you doing here?’ The words were dredged up from inside her, shock draining the blood from her face as she took in the sight of Callum Beresford’s long, lean frame.

‘I could ask you the same question.’ His glance moved over her, taking in the white doctor’s jacket that she wore over smoothly fitting black trousers and cotton top. He looked as though he was almost as stunned as she was.

She lifted her chin. ‘I work here, as of today. I’m the new senior house officer—Dr Holbrook.’

He shook his head. ‘No, surely not? That can’t be…Fate wouldn’t be so unkind, would it? I was expecting someone sensible and efficient, someone who would be in control of the situation…a doctor that I could rely on to be on top form.’

Her shoulders stiffened. ‘What makes you think that I’m not all of those things?’

His mouth made a wry slant. ‘We’ve met before, remember? I imagine you have a fulltime job looking after those two wayward children. I would have thought that they would be more than enough to keep you occupied and at home.’ He laid a slight emphasis on that last word.

She lifted a brow. ‘Are you seriously suggesting that a woman’s place is in the home, by the kitchen sink, surrounded by young children?’ She frowned and shook her head. ‘If so, I have to tell you that isn’t always the case these days.’

He studied her broodingly. ‘Yes, I realise that. In some instances it seems that’s an unfortunate fact.’

She stared at him, about to make a pithy comment in reply, but then a siren sounded in the distance, and she said, ‘I have a patient coming in, and I need to get ready for him. Do you know where I can get a key to the drugs cupboard?’

‘I’ll sort one out for you, just as soon as we’ve checked your details. I’ve been busy transferring patients to Theatre or I would have dealt with this earlier.’ He made a brief grimace. ‘You had better come with me.’

‘My patient?’ she queried. ‘I was supposed to be looking after a heart-attack patient.’

‘I’ll get Dr Franklin to supervise that one.’

He turned away and she hurried after him. ‘It’s all very well you giving me orders,’ she said on a terse note. ‘I don’t even know who you are—or what your position is here.’

‘I’m the acting consultant while Mr Ramsay is away. I was brought in to take over from him.’

She winced. She might have known. He certainly looked the part. He was wearing another immaculate grey suit, which sat well on his tall, firmly muscled frame, and he appeared to be every inch the consultant, an authoritative, confident man, totally in command. Her spirits sank.

He stared at her. ‘If what you say is correct, I’m afraid it looks very much as though you and I are going to be working together for some time. Perhaps we had both better get used to the idea.’

He wasn’t taking any chances, though. It was only after he had verified that she really was supposed to be there that he reluctantly allowed her to go and start work. As she moved away from him and went in search of her patient, she felt his gaze searing into her back and she had the feeling that he was going to be watching her like a hawk.

She tried to put him out of her mind and hurried to meet the ambulance crew as they wheeled in a little boy on a trolley.

‘This is Dean Matthews,’ the paramedic said, bringing the trolley to a halt in a side bay. ‘He’s four years old, suspected poisoning from beta-blockers—propranolol. Apparently he took some pills out of his grandmother’s bag. We have the bottle, and it’s almost empty.’

Jade was worried. The child looked very ill, and she knew that a propranolol overdose could be fatal. ‘Do we know how many he took?’

The paramedic shook his head. ‘No, but there should have been a fair few in the bottle, and the family think he must have taken them well over an hour ago. His heart rate has fallen dramatically and he’s hypotensive. We’ve been monitoring his cardiac output on the way here.’

‘It doesn’t look good, does it?’ Jade said in an undertone. She signalled for a nurse to come and help. ‘I’m going to get him on activated charcoal right away.’ She worked quickly, hoping that the charcoal would help to remove any of the drug that hadn’t already been absorbed into his bloodstream. The boy was being given oxygen through a mask, and her main concern was that the drug had reduced the activity of his heart to an extent where it could damage his organ systems. Her priority was to restore perfusion to those systems.

‘Thanks,’ she told the young paramedic, who had hung around to await results. She could see that he was worried. ‘We’ll take over from here. Do you want me to let you know how he gets on?’

He nodded. ‘Please. I’ve another call coming in, but I would like to know what happens here.’