Best Friend to Perfect Bride (Contemporary Medical Romance) (5 page)

Bailey fetched what they needed and Mac set to work, easing the needle through the tough intercostal muscles between the boy’s ribs. He was unsurprised when he immediately drew off bloody fluid. ‘Definitely a haemothorax,’ he said, glancing at Bailey. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the radiographer was putting Emily’s X-rays up on the monitor. Even from where he was standing, Mac could see that the girl’s humerus was fractured although he didn’t say anything. He wanted Helen to find her feet and spotting the fracture herself would help her do that.

‘Let’s see if we can get any more out of there,’ he said, turning back to Ethan. He aspirated some more blood before he was satisfied that he had alleviated the problem. Ethan’s sats were back to what they should have been and he was breathing steadily so it was time to assess what other injuries he had sustained. Mac called over the radiographer and asked her to do a whole-body X-ray. While she was doing that he went to check on Helen.

‘So, how’s it going?’ he asked, leaving her to explain her findings.

‘It’s as you suspected—the humerus is fractured at the upper end.’ Helen pointed out the fracture and Mac nodded.

‘So it is. Well spotted. Her shoulder’s also dislocated so that needs sorting as well.’

‘What should I do?’ Helen asked uncertainly. ‘Should I try to reduce the dislocation and pop the humerus back into its socket or what? I’ve not dealt with a case where the humerus is fractured as well.’

‘It would be far too painful for Emily if we did it here. Plus there’s the problem of the fracture, which complicates matters,’ he explained. He always enjoyed helping the younger doctors and, unlike a lot of his peers, never considered it to be a waste of his time. The more everyone knew, the easier it was for the rest of the team, he reasoned.

‘Phone Theatre and book her in ASAP. They’ll take care of the lot and that way Emily won’t know a thing about it. You just need to get her parents’ permission for the operation to go ahead, so see if they’ve arrived yet and if not get the police to contact them. Tell them it’s urgent.’ He grinned at her. ‘We don’t want to waste any time so lay it on thick. It’s the one time you’re allowed to lie to the police!’

‘Will do!’ Helen was laughing as she hurried out of Resus to set the wheels turning.

Mac smiled as he went back to his patient. From what he had seen so far, Helen had the makings of a really good doctor. She would learn a lot from working here too. It made him suddenly glad that he had agreed to cover the paediatric A&E unit until their own registrar returned to work. Oh, he’d had his doubts when he had found out that Bella was working here. After everything that Tim had told him, it was only natural, although now he could see that he had been a little too hasty. OK, so maybe there had been a few teething problems but he and Bella seemed to be getting on remarkably well, all things considered.

The radiographer interrupted his thoughts just then to tell him the films were ready and he turned towards the monitor. There would be time enough to think about his relationship with Bella later.

Mac’s heart skipped a beat. When had it turned into a relationship? It definitely hadn’t been that before last night, had it? At the very most, he would have classed it as friendship—he and Bella were friends and that was it. However, deep down he knew it wasn’t that any longer. At least not
only
that. Friendship had been hiked up to another level, to the point of becoming a relationship. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but he was powerless to do anything about it.

He took a deep breath as he stared at the screen. He and Bella had a relationship. Pick the bones out of that!

* * *

Bella squared her shoulders as she watched the taxi drive away from the hospital. She would collect her keys from Mac and head straight home. The sooner she was back in her apartment, the sooner she would be able to rid herself of the ridiculous notion of asking him if she could spend another night on the boat. Maybe it had helped to stay there last night, but she had to stand on her own two feet. She couldn’t expect Mac to
mollycoddle
her.

She went straight to Reception, only to come to a halt when she saw all the children milling around in the waiting area. It didn’t take a genius to work out that something major must have happened so she made her way to the nursing station. Trish Baxter was adding more names to the whiteboard, squeezing them in around the edges. She grimaced when she saw Bella.

‘We’re fast running out of space. I’ll have to resort to taping up a bit of paper soon!’

‘What’s happened?’ Bella demanded, glancing at the list. From what she could see, there were fifteen children waiting to be seen, plus another six receiving treatment: three in cubicles, one in the treatment room, plus two more in Resus.

‘A lorry ran into the bus taking the kids to the high school,’ Trish explained. She put the cap back on the pen and placed it in the tray. ‘To say it’s been a tad chaotic in here this morning is an understatement.’

‘I can imagine,’ Bella agreed, shrugging off her jacket. ‘Right, who’s next on the list? Freya Watson from the look of it,’ she continued, answering her own question.

‘I thought you were supposed to be off today,’ Trish pointed out as they went back to Reception.

‘I am. But I can’t just take off and leave you to it when something like this has happened.’ Bella picked up the girl’s notes and looked around the waiting room. ‘Freya Watson?’ She smiled reassuringly when a tall red-haired girl hesitantly stood up. ‘Come with me, Freya, and we’ll get you sorted out.’

Bella led the girl to a cubicle. According to her notes, Freya was sixteen years old and in her last year at the high school. She looked extremely nervous as she sat down on the bed and Bella smiled encouragingly at her. ‘This must have been a big shock for you. You’re bound to feel rather shaken up and even a little bit tearful, but that’s perfectly normal. I’m just going to check you over and make sure you’re all right and then, as soon as your parents get here, you can go home.’

Freya didn’t say anything as she stared down at the floor and Bella frowned. Although her notes stated that Freya appeared to have suffered only minor bruising, she couldn’t rid herself of the feeling that there was something else wrong with her. She didn’t say anything, however, as she set about examining her. If there was something wrong then it would soon become apparent. There was quite heavy bruising to the girl’s thighs and it was obviously painful because she winced.

‘How did this happen, do you know?’ Bella asked, gently examining the area.

‘A bag fell off the luggage rack and landed on me,’ Freya muttered.

‘I see. That must have hurt,’ Bella said sympathetically. ‘Can I just check your tummy? I need to see if it’s caused any bruising there as well.’

She went to unbutton the oversized cardigan that Freya was wearing but the girl pushed her hands away. There was real fear in her eyes when she looked at Bella.

‘I’m all right!’ she said sharply, attempting to stand up. The words were barely out of her mouth, however, when she doubled up in pain.

Bella caught her as she fell and eased her back down onto the bed. ‘Obviously you’re not all right, Freya, so I need to examine you. Come on, don’t be silly. I only want to check that you’re not badly injured.’

Tears started to stream down the girl’s face as Bella unfastened her cardigan. As soon as she had done so, she realised what was wrong. Freya was pregnant and, from the look of her, at full term too. She chose her words with care, knowing how important it was that she gained the girl’s trust.

‘Do you know when your baby is due, Freya?’

‘No. Not really. I just kept hoping it wasn’t actually happening.’ She looked up and Bella’s heart ached when she saw the fear in her eyes. ‘My mum and dad are going to kill me when they find out! They’re always banging on about me not getting myself into any trouble.’

‘I’m sure they will be fine once they get over the shock,’ Bella said soothingly, mentally crossing her fingers.

She quickly examined the girl, her heart sinking when she realised that the baby’s head was engaged. As she’d suspected, Freya was at full term and, when she let out a groan, Bella realised that there was no time to waste; the baby was about to be born. Hurrying to the phone, she rang Maternity and asked them to send over a midwife as soon as possible. In the meantime, she would have to manage as best she could, although it was a long time since she had delivered a baby. Poking her head out of the cubicle, she beckoned to Trish, who had just finished seeing her patient. She lowered her voice, not wanting anyone to overhear. Although there was little hope of keeping the baby’s arrival a secret for very long, at least Freya should be able to tell her parents before her classmates found out.

‘We’ve a bit of a situation in here. It turns out that Freya is pregnant and the baby is on its way. I’ve asked for a midwife to attend but I don’t know how long it will be before she gets here, so we’re going to have to manage as best we can. Can we move her into Resus to give her some privacy? Apparently her parents have no idea that she’s pregnant.’

‘Blooming heck!’ Trish exclaimed. ‘I know her parents and, believe me, they’re going to have a fit when they find out. They’re very strait-laced, from what I know of them. Pity help the poor kid is all I can say.’

‘Great!’ Bella sighed. ‘I’ll get onto Social Services as soon as I can, but my main concern right now is keeping a lid on this so that the rest of the school doesn’t find out. Has Mac finished in Resus, do you know?’

‘I’ll go and check. Won’t be a sec.’

Trish hurried away as Bella went back into the cubicle. Freya was moaning softly and clutching her stomach, obviously in the throes of labour. Bella checked her over once again, grimacing when she discovered that Freya’s cervix was fully dilated. From the look of her, it wouldn’t be long before the baby arrived.

‘It shouldn’t be long before your baby is born,’ she told her gently. ‘I know it hurts, sweetheart, but once the midwife gets here she’ll sort out some pain relief for you. Do you understand what happens when a baby is born?’

Freya nodded. ‘We did it in biology, how the cervix has to dilate and soften so that the baby can make its way out of the birth canal.’

‘Good. At least you have some idea of what’s happening and that will help.’

Bella looked round when she heard the curtain open, feeling her heart leap when she saw Mac coming into the cubicle. Although it was barely an hour since they had parted, it was as though she was seeing him through fresh eyes. Her gaze ran over him, taking stock of the dark brown hair falling over his forehead, the midnight blue of his eyes, the strongly masculine set to his features. There was no doubt at all that Mac was an extremely attractive man and she couldn’t understand why she had never realised it before...

Her breath caught as she was suddenly forced to confront the truth. Deep down, she had always been aware of his appeal, only she had been too afraid to admit it.

CHAPTER FIVE

F
REYA
’
S
BABY
ARRIVED
just twenty minutes later. It was a little girl and she was absolutely perfect in every way, despite the fact that her mother had received no antenatal care. Mac gently placed the little mite in her mother’s arms, wondering what was going to happen now. Bella had explained the situation to him and although he understood what a shock it was going to be for Freya’s parents, surely they would support their daughter during this difficult time?

He sighed, realising that it could be wishful thinking. He only had to recall what had happened to his own mother to know that the happily-ever-after scenario wasn’t guaranteed. His maternal grandparents had refused to have anything to do with his mother after he had been born. As his father had been brought up in care and hadn’t had any contact with his family, it had meant that his parents had had to struggle along on their own. Although his dad had done his best, his lack of qualifications had meant that he’d had to take a series of low-paid jobs, so money had been tight. Coming from a comfortable middle-class background, his mother had found it very difficult to adapt to the change in lifestyle, so it wasn’t surprising that she had left.

‘The midwife should be here shortly.’ Bella came back from phoning the maternity unit. ‘Apparently they’re short-staffed and that’s why it’s taken them so long to send anyone over here. However, they’ve promised to get a midwife to us as soon as they can.’

‘Not much they can do now,’ Mac replied laconically, trying not to think about how much he had missed his mother after she had left. It was all water under the bridge and had no bearing on his life these days.

‘No, I suppose not. I’m only glad that you were here. It’s been ages since I delivered a baby and I’m rather rusty, I’m afraid.’

‘I’ve delivered my share over the past few years,’ he said wryly, returning his thoughts to the matter at hand. After all, he’d had his father, hadn’t he? So he’d been far luckier than a lot of kids. ‘You have to turn your hand to most things when you’re working overseas.’

‘Well, all the practice definitely stood you in good stead today.’ She smiled but there was a wariness about the look she gave him that made Mac wonder if something had upset her. However, before he could attempt to find out, Trish popped her head round the door.

‘Mr and Mrs Watson are here. How do you want to play this, Bella? Shall I show them straight in here or do you want a word with them first?’

‘I’d better have a word with them first,’ Bella replied with a sigh. She turned to Mac after Trish left. ‘I’ll send Jenny in to sit with Freya. You must have loads to do.’

‘I need to check how many kids are still waiting to be seen,’ Mac agreed, following her to the door. He looked back and frowned as he watched Freya cradling her baby. ‘It’s going to be a massive shock for her parents so let’s hope they can rise to the occasion. That girl is going to need a lot of support in the coming months.’

‘She is,’ Bella agreed soberly. ‘Having a baby at her age is a lot to cope with.’

‘It is. My parents were only a year or so older than Freya when they had me.’ He opened the door but he could sense Bella’s curiosity as she stepped out into the corridor and suddenly wished that he hadn’t said anything. Maybe it was the birth of the baby or thinking about his parents, but he was very aware that his emotions were rather too near the surface for comfort.

‘I didn’t know that your parents were so young when you were born,’ she said quietly as they made their way to Reception.

‘There’s no reason why you should have known,’ he countered. ‘It’s not something that came up in conversation, I imagine.’

‘No. Probably not.’ She hesitated. ‘It must have been difficult for them, though. Did your grandparents help?’

‘Nope. Dad was brought up in care and he’d lost touch with his family. As for my mother, well, her parents took the view that she’d made her decision and it was up to her to live with the consequences. They wanted her to have a termination, apparently, but she wouldn’t hear of it,’ he added when Bella looked at him questioningly. ‘They refused to have anything more to do with her after that.’

‘Really? Oh, how awful for her!’ She touched his arm and he could see the sympathy in her eyes. ‘And awful for you, too.’

‘I survived.’ Mac dredged up a smile, afraid that he would do something really stupid. Maybe it did hurt to know that his grandparents had turned their backs on him but he was far too old to start crying about it at this stage! He swung round, determined that he wasn’t going to make a fool of himself. Maybe Bella
had
touched a chord but there was no way that he intended to let her know that. ‘Right, I’ll go and check how we’re doing. Catch you later.’

‘I expect so.’

There was a faintly wistful note in her voice but Mac refused to speculate on the reason for it. He went to the desk and checked how many children were still waiting to be seen. There were just half a dozen left so he took the next one to the cubicles and got him sorted out. While his mind was busily engaged it couldn’t start wandering, could it? he reasoned.

He sighed, uncomfortably aware that he had never experienced this problem before. He wasn’t someone who wore his heart on his sleeve and yet the minute Bella had expressed her sympathy, he had turned to mush. What was happening to him? First there had been all those crazy thoughts he’d had last night—the ones that had involved him, Bella, and a bed—and now this. He had to get a grip. Maybe Bella
did
make him feel things he had never felt before but he had to remember that, to all intents and purposes, she still belonged to Tim. No way was he going to be responsible for Tim suffering a relapse! No, Bella was off limits. She always had been and she always would be too.

* * *

It was almost lunchtime before Bella felt that she could leave. The last of the children had been seen and sent home and the department was more or less back to normal. Granted, there was a lot of paperwork that still needed doing, but she felt that she could justifiably leave that to Mac. After all, it was supposed to be her day off and there was no reason to feel guilty about going home. It was only when she was halfway across the car park that she remembered that she had forgotten to ask Mac for her keys.

She sighed as she turned round and headed back. She could have done without having to speak to him again, if she was honest. What he had told her earlier in the day about his family had affected her far more than she would have expected. She couldn’t help thinking how hard it must have been for him to grow up knowing that he had been rejected by his grandparents.

Bella gave herself a mental shake as she reached the main doors leading into the hospital. She had to stop thinking about Mac all the time. Maybe she did feel incredibly aware of him, but she couldn’t afford to let it take over her life the way it was doing. The sooner she got it into her head that he was just a colleague, the simpler it would be.

She was just about to enter the hospital when Mac himself appeared. He smiled ruefully as he held up her car keys.

‘You need these, don’t you? Sorry! I should have handed them back before.’

‘Don’t worry about it.’

Bella dredged up a smile as she took the keys off him but it was hard to behave naturally. Why had she never noticed before what a gorgeous shade of blue his eyes were, like the sky on a summer evening? And how come she had never realised just how tall he was, not to mention how lean and fit his body looked? Her thoughts skittered this way and that so that it was a moment before she realised that he had asked her a question.

‘Sorry,’ she said hurriedly. ‘What did you say?’

‘I was just wondering how it went with Freya’s parents.’

Bella felt a shiver ripple through her at the sound of his deep voice. She had to make a conscious effort not to show the effect it was having on her. If she hadn’t noticed his eyes or his physique before then she certainly hadn’t noticed how seductive his voice sounded!

‘Not too good, I’m afraid. They wouldn’t believe me at first, insisted that it couldn’t be their daughter and that there must have been a mix-up with the names. Then when I took them in to see Freya, they lost it completely and started shouting at her.’ She sighed, deliberately reining in her wayward thoughts. ‘It was so bad, in fact, that I had to ask them to leave in the end.’

‘Sounds grim. How did Freya take it?’

‘Pretty much as you’d expect. It took me ages to calm her down but it’s a lot to deal with at her age.’

‘It is. What’s going to happen when she leaves hospital? Are her parents going to take her home and support her?’

‘I doubt it, from what I heard.’ Bella shrugged. ‘I’ve spoken to Social Services and they’ve promised to visit her. They said that they will arrange accommodation for her and the baby when she’s discharged. In the unlikely event that Mr and Mrs Watson change their minds, they will cancel the arrangements.’

‘I’m not sure which is worse,’ Mac said grimly. ‘Being dumped in some grotty flat or going home and being faced with constant recriminations. That won’t do her or the child any good, will it?’

‘It won’t. But there’s not much we can do except pray for a miracle,’ Bella said sadly.

‘Pray that Freya’s parents will have a change of heart, you mean?’ He shook his head. ‘In my experience, it rarely happens so I wouldn’t hold out too many hopes on that score.’

‘Your grandparents never changed their minds?’ Bella said quietly, hearing the echo of pain in his voice.

‘No. Oh, Mum tried to persuade them to see sense, but they were adamant that they wanted nothing to do with her or me. I never met them, in fact.’

‘How sad. Not just for you and your mother, but for them too. They could have had the pleasure of watching you grow up if they hadn’t taken such a rigid stance.’

‘Obviously, they didn’t see it that way. The shame of their unmarried daughter having a baby outweighed everything else.’

‘I can’t understand why people feel like that,’ Bella admitted. ‘Oh, I know my parents were more interested in their careers than in me, but I’d like to think they would have supported me if I’d found myself in that position.’

‘There wasn’t much chance of that happening, though, was there?’ Mac observed drily.

Bella’s brows rose. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Nothing. Forget it. Right, I’d better get back. Thanks again for the loan of your car.’

He started to go back inside but Bella knew that she couldn’t let him leave without explaining that cryptic comment. She caught hold of his arm, feeling a flutter of awareness run through her as she felt the warmth of his skin seep through her fingertips. It was all she could do not to release him immediately, but she needed to know what he had meant.

‘I want to know what you meant,’ she said firmly, determined that she was going to put a lid on all these crazy feelings. All she was doing was touching his arm, for heaven’s sake, not making mad, passionate love with him! The thought wasn’t the best she could have come up with, but she stood her ground. For some reason it seemed vitally important that she found out what he was talking about. ‘Well?’

‘Tim told me that you’d refused to have a baby.’ His eyes met hers and she felt chilled to the core when she saw the condemnation they held. ‘It was obvious how upset he was and I don’t blame him. Having a child could have been exactly what he needed to keep him on track.’

‘Is that what Tim told you? Or is that your expert opinion?’ Bella laughed harshly, more hurt than she could say. Once again Mac was blaming her for what had happened and it was even more hurtful after last night. She’d thought that he was starting to accept that she wasn’t solely at fault for the demise of her marriage but she’d been wrong. All of a sudden the need to set him straight overcame everything else.

‘Don’t bother answering that—it really doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is why I refused to have a baby. I don’t suppose Tim explained that, did he?’ She didn’t give him a chance to answer. ‘I refused because there was no way that I was bringing a child into the world who wasn’t really wanted. Oh, maybe Tim claimed that he wanted a baby but he only wanted one
after
I told him I was leaving him. He’d always refused to start a family before that, told me that he had no intention of having children when they would only tie him down. However, once I asked him for a divorce, he changed his mind.’

She stared back at him, wondering if he would believe her. Maybe he would and maybe he wouldn’t, but she intended to tell him the truth. What he made of it was up to him. ‘I refused point-blank and I don’t give a damn if you think I was wrong to do so. There was no way that I was prepared to have a baby just to try and save our marriage. That was well and truly over, believe me!’

She swung round, ignoring Mac’s demands for her to stop. Walking over to her car, she got in and drove out of the car park without a backward glance. She wasn’t sure how she felt, if she was honest, whether she was more angry than hurt by his continued refusal to believe that she wasn’t solely to blame. However, what she did know was that she wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that he was on her side ever again. Maybe it had appeared that way last night but it wasn’t true. Mac’s loyalties didn’t lie with her but with Tim. It just proved how little he really cared about her, despite his claims to the contrary.

* * *

Mac felt absolutely
dreadful for the rest of the day. He couldn’t rid himself of the memory of how hurt Bella had looked as she had driven away. By the time his shift ended, he knew that he couldn’t leave things the way they were. He had to see her and clear the air. If he could.

He collected his motorbike and headed into the town centre. He had got Bella’s address from the staff files and knew that she lived in one of the new apartments that had been built on the site of the old brewery. He’d heard that the cost of renting an apartment there was extremely steep, not that it would worry Bella, of course. She was in the fortunate position of having a private income and it was yet another reminder of why he needed to quash any fanciful thoughts he might be harbouring. Although he earned a decent salary, he wasn’t in Bella’s league!