A Proposal to Remember Page 6

  ‘Mrs Hughes is thirty-seven weeks pregnant and has two more children at home, both under five,’ Zan told him, trying to keep her tone professional. ‘It’s pretty hard for her to get enough rest. Her blood pressure was borderline last time.’

  Carlo nodded and flicked his eyes over the notes. ‘Let’s get her in. Do Zan and I see her together or separately?’

  ‘Together. Zan is her midwife,’ Kim said immediately. ‘Has she explained how we work here?’

  Carlo shook his head and looked at Zan expectantly.

  ‘We try and give continuity of care whenever we can,’ Zan explained, ‘so, instead of working in one place, we all rotate. One day I might be in clinic and the next I might be on the labour ward. Basically we try and follow the patient, at least up until they have their baby. After that I’m afraid they get whoever is on the ward.’

  Carlo listened carefully. ‘So you see them in clinic and you deliver them?’

  ‘That’s the idea. We divide the midwives into teams, so the woman should at least be familiar with someone from the team. It means that they don’t go into labour and find themselves being delivered by someone they’ve never met before,’ Zan explained, and then gave a gasp and turned to Kim. ‘I forgot to tell you—I saw Kelly Turner last night.’

  Kim sighed. ‘I hardly dare ask. And?’

  ‘Well, she wasn’t great,’ Zan confessed, deciding not to mention that Carlo had been there, too. ‘She’s thirty-four weeks pregnant now, she looks tired and her uterus isn’t the size it should be. I tried to get her to come in for a scan but Mike wasn’t having it.’

  ‘If we’re not careful there’s going to be a tragedy there,’ Kim muttered. ‘I’ll have a word with the bosses and let them know what’s going on and I’ll speak to Social Services again. Any luck with the housing?’

  ‘Not yet.’ Zan’s eyes twinkled. ‘But I’m working on it.’

  Kim grinned. ‘They have my sympathies. What I want to know is how did you find time to see Kelly and meet a man?’ She glanced at Carlo and winked. ‘You’d better watch her concentration this morning. She met someone last night and now she’s in love.’

  Oh, thank you, Kim!

  Zan closed her eyes and stifled a groan. Why, oh, why had she been so stupid as to tell her friend?

  Carlo cleared his throat. ‘Well, that’s nice.’

  Even without looking at him Zan could sense his amusement, and she backed towards the door.

  ‘I’ll go and tell Mrs Hughes she can come in, if you’re ready.’

  ‘Oh, I’ll do that,’ Kim said immediately. ‘You and Carlo had better have a quick chat before you start seeing patients. By the way, what happened to your eye?’

  Carlo lifted a hand to his cheek. ‘Oh. I, er, had an accident.’

  ‘Right.’ Kim grinned and as soon as she’d left the room Carlo lifted his eyes to Zan’s, the laughter in them unmistakable.

  ‘A very interesting accident. So, who’s this man you’re in love with?’

  ‘I never said I was in love,’ she said hastily. ‘Kim has a vivid imagination, that’s all.’

  ‘So you’re not in love?’

  She knew he was teasing her and her face flamed. ‘I don’t fall in love with men I’ve only just met.’

  ‘Ouch. Is that a put-down?’

  She looked at him and smiled shyly. ‘I’m buying my tree tonight. If you’ll lend me those muscles again, I’ll cook you supper.’

  His smile faded and there was no missing the sudden tension in his frame. ‘Zan, about tonight…’

  She saw the hesitation and felt the colour rush to her cheeks.

  He’d had second thoughts.

  Oh, damn, damn, damn. How could she have been so stupid?

  A man as experienced as him certainly wouldn’t want to be bothered with a virgin.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m strong enough to carry the tree myself,’ she said quickly, looking away and missing the frown that touched his brows. ‘We’d better get going. This clinic sometimes runs until early afternoon if we dawdle. I’ll call Mrs Hughes.’ Without giving him a chance to speak, Zan left the room and sought sanctuary in the waiting area. She saw her patient immediately and managed to produce a smile.

  ‘We’re ready for you, Mrs Hughes.’

  * * *

  Carlo closed his eyes and cursed softly in Italian.

  Zan thought he didn’t want to see her again.

  He was in an impossible situation. He’d promised Matt that he wouldn’t see her again, at least for the time being, but that was going to hurt her badly and frankly he didn’t feel too great about it either. But if he carried on then eventually he was going to have to confess that he’d been withholding significant information about himself, and additionally he could be putting her at risk.

  Whichever route he took, he was going to hurt her.

  She walked into the room at that moment, the twinkle missing from her gorgeous green eyes.

  ‘This is Helen Hughes.’ She smiled at the lady with her and helped her up onto the examination couch. ‘You might as well see us both at the same time, Helen. It will save us asking the same questions.’

  Carlo introduced himself and tried to drag his mind back to the job in hand. He gave the patient a warm smile and walked over to the couch. ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘Pretty awful,’ Helen Hughes confessed immediately. ‘I’ve got terrible backache and indigestion which keeps me awake at night.’

  Carlo nodded. ‘Because you are carrying two babies, your uterus is that much larger than that of a mother who is pregnant with one child. I’m afraid that all the normal problems of pregnancy are often worse when you are expecting twins.’

  Helen pulled a face and rubbed her back. ‘Tell me about it. And it doesn’t help that I already have two children to look after.’ She exchanged a wry smile with Zan. ‘We thought we’d have one more baby and look what happened.’

  Carlo smiled. ‘Is there a history of twins in your family?’

  Helen nodded. ‘I’m a twin and my aunt and my sister both had twins. I suppose I’m lucky I only had one set!’

  Zan checked Helen’s blood pressure and tested her urine sample for evidence of protein.

  ‘That’s all fine, Helen.’ She showed the results to Carlo, who nodded.

  ‘I’d like to feel your stomach, if that’s all right.’ He helped Helen wriggle down on the examining couch and then assessed the size of the uterus and the way the babies were lying.

  Helen looked at him curiously. ‘Can you tell which is which?’

  ‘The first twin is lying head down in what we call a longitudinal position,’ Carlo said immediately, and Helen’s eyes widened.

  ‘That’s very impressive. The last doctor I had didn’t have a clue! He had to scan me.’

  ‘It can be hard when there are two babies,’ Carlo admitted. ‘Sometimes we need a scan to assess precisely how they are lying, but twins and triplets are a special interest of mine. Where I work in Italy, we also run an infertility clinic and, as you probably know, one of the consequences of infertility treatment is sometimes multiple births. We try to avoid it wherever we can, but I have more experience than most in delivering twins and triplets.’

  ‘Oh.’ Helen looked at him with a new respect. ‘The doctor I saw here last time had never even delivered twins before. I have to confess it didn’t fill me with confidence. Will you deliver me?’

  Carlo smiled. ‘That depends on when you have the babies. I will try to.’

  ‘Well, I certainly hope you do, and that leads me to my next question,’ Helen said promptly. ‘When do you think they’re coming? I’m going to need help with the other two and I daren’t invite my mother too far in advance or my husband will leave home, especially at Christmas. I’ve already wrapped the children’s presents and frozen enough food for an army.’

  ‘So it’s a wonder that your blood pressure isn’t higher,’ Carlo said dryly, finishing his examination and helping her to sit up. ‘Th
e answer to your question is that it is unusual for a twin pregnancy to last for the full forty weeks. Most women go into labour at about thirty-seven weeks, which is where you are now.’

  Helen stared at him. ‘So do you think it will be soon?’

  Carlo smiled. ‘In all probability, yes, but you might last until after Christmas.’

  ‘I hope I do.’ Helen looked worried. ‘There’s no way my husband could cope with two children under five, my mother and a raw turkey.’

  Zan laughed and helped her off the couch. ‘Perhaps he’ll surprise you.’

  ‘Perhaps.’ Helen looked doubtful. ‘So what happens now?’

  ‘Everything is fine at the moment,’ Carlo told her. ‘I want you to go home and do as little as possible, which I realise is asking a great deal when you have two small children. If nothing happens then we see you again next week, but I have a suspicion that you might not be around to cook that turkey.’

  ‘Well, I hope you’re wrong.’ Helen walked slowly to the door, one hand on her back to relieve the pressure.

  Zan followed her out to the waiting room and Helen turned to her with a wicked smile.

  ‘Where did you find him? He’s totally gorgeous.’ She buttoned up her coat and wound a scarf around her neck. ‘I tell you this much, if he delivers my babies then I’ll definitely know it’s Christmas. I didn’t think doctors could be that sexy.’

  Zan managed a smile and walked with her towards the door. ‘You shouldn’t be thinking about sex at your stage, Helen.’

  ‘Well, thinking is just about my only option,’ Helen said gloomily, opening the door and shivering as the freezing air hit them both. ‘And once these are born that’ll be the end of it for ever.’

  Zan laughed and gave her arm a squeeze. ‘Have a good Christmas if I don’t see you before.’

  She walked back into the waiting room and gave herself a sharp talking-to. She’d known Carlo for less than twenty-four hours so she couldn’t really feel anything for him. Not really. It was just because he was so different from the doctors she usually worked with.

  Exotic, exciting—Italian.

  It wasn’t anything special about him.

  Then she remembered the sexy look in his eyes, his gentle touch and the way he teased her, and she knew that her feelings had nothing to do with his nationality and everything to do with the man himself.

  Carlo Bennett was special.

  But he didn’t want her.

  She’d had her chance to spend the night with him and she’d blown it.

  * * *

  The clinic was hideously busy, and it was past two o’clock when Kim asked Zan to go to the labour ward.

  ‘Vicky Morris has just come in and they reckon it’s going to be the fastest delivery on record.’

  Vicky was one of Zan’s mothers and her face brightened. ‘Oh, that’s wonderful. She was desperate to be home before Christmas.’

  Carlo frowned slightly. ‘You haven’t eaten lunch.’

  ‘This is the NHS, Carlo,’ Kim said dryly. ‘What’s lunch?’

  ‘I’m not hungry anyway,’ Zan said quickly, handing the last set of notes to Kim and making for the door. She was glad to get away from Carlo. ‘I’ll see you later.’

  Up on the labour ward it was organised chaos, as usual.

  ‘We’ve got two women labouring on the antenatal ward at the moment because we’re full up here,’ Diane told her as she gave Zan a quick hand-over. ‘It looks as though your Vicky might deliver quickly, and frankly I hope she does because we need the space.’

  ‘Always nice to work in such a relaxed environment,’ Zan quipped, making her way along to Room 6.

  She pushed open the door. ‘Vicky, this is great—just what you wanted.’

  ‘It doesn’t feel great at the moment,’ Vicky panted, her face white with pain. ‘One minute I was Christmas shopping in town, minding my own business, and the next my waters break and suddenly I’m standing in a puddle in agony. I thought labour was supposed to be slow, but the midwife who admitted me told me that I’m already seven centimetres dilated.’

  ‘And how are you coping?’ Zan washed her hands and checked the CTG machine which provided a read-out of the baby’s heartbeat and the mother’s contractions.

  ‘Well, all things considered, I’d rather be having lunch with the girls,’ Vicky confessed, groaning as another pain hit her.

  ‘Use the gas and air,’ Zan instructed, encouraging Vicky to lift the mouthpiece. ‘That’s it. Well done.’

  She put a hand on Vicky’s abdomen and felt the strength of the contraction.

  When it finally passed Vicky sagged back against the cushions, limp with exhaustion.

  ‘OK, that’s it. I’ve had enough. When can I go home?’

  ‘Soon.’ Zan gave her hand a squeeze. ‘You need to start breathing in the gas and air at the beginning of the contraction. If you wait until it’s really taken hold then there’s no chance of it working.’

  Vicky sighed. ‘Nag, nag.’

  ‘That’s me.’ Zan checked the foetal heart-rate and gave a nod. ‘It’s all looking good. Is the gas and air enough for you?’

  ‘Well, I’d actually like a general anaesthetic,’ Vicky said dryly, ‘but I don’t suppose that’s on offer, is it?’

  ‘Not today. Where’s Andrew?’

  Zan had met Vicky’s husband at the last group of antenatal classes she’d run and knew that he was keen to be at the birth.

  ‘He’s on his way in. Oh, here we go again…’ Vicky screwed up her face and started to breathe in the gas and air, her eyes tightly shut.

  Zan encouraged her gently, watching the monitor to check that the baby’s heart-rate wasn’t affected by the contraction.

  ‘I really, really want to push,’ Vicky gasped, dropping the mouthpiece and grabbing the sides of the bed.

  Zan frowned. Could she possibly have dilated that quickly?

  ‘I just need to examine you again,’ she said, washing her hands and dragging on a pair of sterile gloves. ‘I don’t want you pushing unless you’re fully dilated.’

  Two minutes later she looked at Vicky with a stunned expression on her face. ‘Push away. You’re obviously trying to do this in record time.’

  She pressed the buzzer to summon some help and at that moment Andrew hurried into the room, looking out of breath and worried. Diane followed close behind him.

  Vicky gave a sob of relief. ‘I thought you weren’t going to make it.’

  ‘I didn’t know you were planning to do it so quickly,’ Andrew said, the strain evident in his face as he dropped his parcels by the door and went straight to his wife. ‘You told me first labours always took hours.’

  ‘Well, you know I like to be different.’ Vicky gave another groan as another contraction hit her.

  Zan encouraged her quietly and after several pushes the baby’s head was delivered.

  ‘The head’s out now, Vicky,’ Zan told her as she waited for the shoulders to rotate. ‘Your baby will be born any minute.’

  But the shoulders didn’t rotate.

  Feeling cold fingers of panic down her spine, Zan looked at Diane. ‘I can’t deliver the shoulders.’ Zan kept her voice calm but both she and Diane understood the seriousness of the situation. Impacted shoulders were an obstetric emergency.

  Vicky was breathing rapidly, dread showing in her eyes. ‘What’s the matter with the shoulders? Why can’t you deliver them?’

  ‘I’ll fast-bleep the obstetrician,’ Diane said immediately, and Zan turned her attention back to Vicky and her unborn baby.

  ‘It will be all right,’ she said quickly, praying that it was true. ‘Sometimes the shoulders don’t move into the right position and we have to give the baby some help.’

  Diane reappeared only seconds later, accompanied by Carlo.

  In the meantime Zan had made another attempt to deliver the shoulders and failed.

  Zan looked at Carlo, her heart thumping in her chest. She knew just how serious the situat
ion was. ‘The anterior shoulder has failed to rotate. I’ve tried doing it manually, and I’ve checked that the hand isn’t alongside the head.’

  ‘So we’ll try and deliver the posterior shoulder first.’ He was amazingly calm, talking quietly to Vicky as he washed his hands and tugged on sterile gloves. ‘Vicky, I need to change your position. The baby is stuck and we need to give him more room to be born.’

  With Zan’s help he adjusted Vicky’s position and then he slipped his fingers behind the posterior shoulder and rotated it into the hollow of the sacrum.

  Still talking quietly to Vicky, he did something magical with his fingers and the baby slithered out into his waiting hands. He lifted it straight onto Vicky’s tummy.

  Zan gave a gulp of relief and exchanged amazed looks with Diane, who grinned.

  ‘Now I know it’s Christmas. The time for miracles. Done that before, have you, Mr Bennett?’

  ‘Not too often, fortunately.’ Carlo smiled, his eyes on Vicky and the baby just as the paediatrician rushed in.

  ‘Problems?’

  Diane let out a long breath, not bothering to hide how thankful she was. ‘Not any more—but now you’re here you might as well check the baby.’

  * * *

  Carlo grabbed his coat and sprinted down the stairs to the front of the hospital.

  Had he missed her?

  He slammed through the main door and into the freezing air and then looked left and right, cursing the call from the ward that had slowed him down.

  ‘Looking for someone?’

  Her voice came from behind him and he turned, sighing with relief as he saw her standing there, dark hair pushed up inside her woolly hat again, her green eyes wary.

  ‘I’ve been looking for you.’

  For most of his adult life.

  ‘Why’s that?’ Zan tried to sound casual but he could see the hurt in her eyes and he didn’t blame her. He was only too aware that he was giving her mixed messages.

  ‘I thought you were going to buy your tree.’ He smiled down at her, remembering what she’d said the night before about getting a tree that would fill her flat. ‘The big tree.’