The Surgeon She's Been Waiting For

The boy glanced at her and then nodded without saying anything.

‘Are you sick?’

He shook his head.

‘That’s good. But I saw that you banged your leg on the bed. Do you want me to take a look at it?’

Again there was a perfunctory shake of the head, an action that sent his dark hair into a quiver. Losing interest in her, he tugged at the tubing and started to play around with the mask.

‘You really shouldn’t be playing with that,’ she told him. ‘If you pull on it like that it might get damaged, and then it won’t be of any use if we need it when someone needs help to breathe.’

‘Oh.’ He put the mask down on the pillow and looked around him in a disgruntled fashion. ‘I don’t want to stay here,’ he said, giving her an accusatory glance. ‘I want my mum.’

‘OK.’ Megan studied him, wondering what had brought about the downward slant to his lip. ‘I’ll see if we can do something about that.’ She held out her hand to him. ‘Do you want to come with me and we’ll see if we can sort this out?’

His glare was truculent. ‘I don’t know you. You’re a stranger.’

‘Ah…’ For a second or two his simple logic knocked her for six. ‘Well, yes, you’re quite right about that,’ she murmured, recovering. ‘And it’s very sensible of you to stay put, under the circumstances.’ Her mouth twisted as she thought things through. ‘Who is supposed to be looking after you?’ she asked, trying another tack. ‘You really shouldn’t be here on your own, you know.’

A boy of few words, he pointed to the central area beyond, and then shrugged his shoulders upwards, clamping his bent legs with his arms and burying his chin on his knees. Watching him, Megan didn’t think she was going to get much more out of him.

She looked to where he had pointed and saw that Sarah was talking to someone who had his back to her. She stared for a moment at that tall, grey-suited figure, and all at once she stiffened. There was something instantly recognisable about those broad masculine shoulders and the long sweep of taut legs.

What was Theo Benyon doing here? And did he make a habit of leaving children to their own devices?

‘Stay here,’ Megan said to the child. ‘What’s your name, by the way? What should I call you?’

‘Harry.’ His blue eyes held a belligerent spark, but she sensed that underneath all the muted aggression there was a troubled, vulnerable little boy.

‘I’ll be back in a little while, Harry.’

Sarah was clearly captivated by the artist’s easygoing manner. There was a flush of warmth in her once pale cheeks, and her green eyes were lit with a kind of awed expectation.

Megan clamped her lips together. Theo was a disruptive influence. Why was he taking up space in their A and E unit if he wasn’t sick?

‘Well, hello, there,’ she said on a brisk note as she approached him. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you again quite so soon. Is there something we can do for you, Mr Benyon?’

‘Theo, please.’ A faint smile hovered on his lips, but it disappeared almost as soon as he met her gaze. ‘Uh-oh,’ he said, narrowing his eyes. ‘Am I in trouble again? I seem to recognise that expression on your face. It’s the look that says, You had better watch your step, because I’m not best pleased.’

‘I can’t imagine why you should think that way,’ she murmured. Turning to Sarah, she said softly, ‘Why don’t you go and take a break for a while, Sarah? Things seem to be calm around here for the moment.’

Sarah smiled. ‘You know that’s the cue for all hell to break loose, don’t you?’

Megan’s mouth curved briefly. ‘I do, but we’ll manage somehow if it does.’

‘Good. I could do with a coffee. I’ll just check on my patients, though, before I go.’ Sarah glanced at Theo. ‘It was interesting talking to you. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of any help.’

She walked away, leaving Megan to direct her attention towards Theo. ‘I hardly like to bring the subject up,’ Megan said in an even tone, ‘but young Harry over there says he belongs with you and he doesn’t look to be a very happy bunny right now. I’m afraid he might get into mischief if he’s left to his own devices for much longer.’

Theo frowned, as though he had no idea what she was talking about. ‘I’ve just rescued the oxygen equipment from his inquisitive fingers,’ she explained, ‘and…’ her glance went to the treatment room, a line indenting her brow ‘…it looks as though he’s moved on from there. It would be my guess that the trolley bed is about to go walkabout any moment now.’

Theo’s blue eyes narrowed. ‘He was supposed to be looking at picture books.’

Her mouth flattened. ‘Was he? I can’t imagine why he’s not looking at them when there’s a whole ward full of gadgets to explore.’ Her tone held a hint of sarcasm. ‘Clever boy. It can’t have taken him above two seconds to figure out the wheel-release mechanism.’ Her brows met in a fine, dark line. ‘I just hope he’s worked out how the brake operates.’

‘I don’t know about clever,’ Theo said under his breath. ‘What Harry has in abundance is determination. Excuse me.’ He was already striding purposefully towards the treatment room.

A moment later he was back again, with a scowling Harry in tow. ‘I want to see my mum,’ the boy said.

‘You will.’ Theo lightly tousled the boy’s hair. ‘Just let me apologise to the doctor for leaving you to fend for yourself. She thinks I don’t know how to look after young children, and you’ve more or less proved her point.’ He turned his gaze on Megan once more, treating her to the full blaze of eyes that were the colour of a summer sky.

‘I was entirely in the wrong,’ he said, bowing his head in a way that might have signified contrition, if she hadn’t caught the faint glimmer of a smile in that devilish glance. ‘I thought I could rely on him to stay out of trouble for a minute or two while I left a message for Mr Edwards, but obviously my faith was misplaced.’

‘I dare say these things happen,’ she returned evenly, ‘though I don’t know of any child who can resist exploring. But I guess things turned out all right in the end. It would probably be better if you were to keep him by your side from now on.’

‘I’ll do that.’ His mouth pulled wrily. ‘I’ll take him away and we’ll leave you in peace.’

Megan nodded. She might have said more, but he was already starting to turn away from her, and the nurse who had been assisting with the cardiac patient came hurrying forward, saying in an anxious tone, ‘Mrs Claremont is going downhill fast. I think she’s going into cardiogenic shock—all the signs you said to look out for are there, and her circulation appears to be shutting down. Will you come?’

‘Of course. Phone through to the catheter suite and tell them I need to operate, will you, and ask the senior house officer on duty to assist me? I’ll need two nurses to come along as well.’ She started to swivel around in order to hurry back to the observation ward, but added, ‘I don’t suppose there has been any news from Mr Carlson?’

‘He phoned to say it’ll be several hours before he can get away. He said to put her on thrombolytics.’

Megan winced. ‘We’ve done that, but it isn’t working. I’ve no choice but to do an emergency angiography and try to open up the blood vessel with a balloon implant. I just hope we can buy her some time.’

She glanced back towards Theo, something in her drawn to seek him out. He, too, had stopped in his tracks, she discovered, and he was watching her, an odd expression on his face, one that she could not read, no matter how she tried. Then Harry tugged on his arm and he gathered himself together and reluctantly began to turn in the direction of the exit.

Megan continued on her way. Perhaps it was just as well that he had gone. Somehow he was managing to cloud her vision and cause a blip in her usually clear thinking. ‘You had better let Mr Edwards know what we’re doing,’ she said to the nurse. ‘He wanted to be kept informed.’

‘OK. I’ll page him. He was working with a patient in Resus a while ago.’

Megan hurried to check on her patient. The woman’s renal system was failing despite the intravenous diuretics and medications she had received.

‘Let’s get her up to the catheter suite,’ she said, when the nurse returned. ‘I’m guessing that she has a critically narrowed artery, and I need to restore her circulation as soon as possible.’

The hour that followed was nerve-racking. Megan introduced a catheter into an artery in her patient’s groin and guided it into the descending aorta, the heart’s main blood vessel, monitoring her progress all the time with the aid of the computer. ‘OK, I see the blockage and I have the balloon in place. We need to set up the pump so that it will inflate and deflate the balloon at the right intervals.’

They worked as a team, and then watched the pump in action to ensure that it was working properly. When the patient’s heart was in the resting phase, the balloon inflated, increasing the supply of oxygen-rich blood to the coronary arteries. When the heart was ready to work, the balloon deflated, decreasing the workload on the heart.

‘Well done, everybody,’ Megan said, moving away from the bedside some time later. ‘We’ve done all we can for now, and we’ve managed to restore her circulation for the time being. The balloon can stay in place until Mr Carlson is ready to operate.’

Her boss, Mr Edwards, met up with her as she was leaving the catheter suite. ‘How did it go?’ he asked.

‘She’s stable for the time being.’ Megan’s expression was troubled. ‘I just hope Mr Carlson will be able to do a coronary bypass before too long. She’s in desperate need of the surgery. She’s still relatively young, and she has a family waiting for her.’

‘It’s always a worrying time for all concerned.’ Mr Edwards walked with her to the lift. He was a tall man, distinguished-looking, with steel-grey hair that was cut close to frame his head. ‘By the way, the nurse on Reception told me Theo Benyon was in here looking for me. She said she saw you talking to him, but then he left… Was there a problem? Do you happen to know where he went?’

Did her boss know the man? Megan shook her head. ‘I’ve no idea. I was just relieved that he gathered up the child that was with him and kept him from getting into any more mischief. I was worried that the equipment would be damaged if he didn’t rein him in.’