The Consultant's Surprise Child

by Joanna Neil

  'You always did have hair that looked like spun gold,' he murmured, reaching out a hand as though to playfully tweak a wayward strand, 'and there were always those mischievous curls that refused to conform.'

  'Really?' Her green gaze was sceptical. 'I wasn't aware that you had ever noticed. I don't recall you ever paying me all that much attention in the past.'

  'You're wrong,' he murmured. 'Besides, you can't have forgotten that winter's night back home, can you? I seem to remember paying you a whole lot of attention back then.'

  His smoky-grey glance wandered over her and a wave of heat ran through her from head to toe. He was doing this to unnerve her, wasn't he?

  'That was just the once,' she said, driven to make things clear. 'Everything was running way out of hand, and neither of us was thinking straight. I was still in a state over what had happened, with Rhea being dragged away, and having to deal with her ex, and then you came along and found me when I was vulnerable. It all seemed to tip out of control after that.'

  His mouth lifted at the corners in a wry smile. 'So it was all just a momentary lapse...is that what you're trying to say?'

  'Maybe.' She looked at him, determined to keep her gaze steady. 'Yes, I think it is.'

  He laughed softly. 'A very memorable one, though, don't you think? It's all still very vivid in my mind.'

  She pulled in a quick breath and told herself that she wasn't going to rise to his teasing. He was in a good frame of mind, though, and she was almost tempted to open up to him. Perhaps she could say, 'There's something important that I need to tell you. Could we take five minutes and have a talk?'

  He cut in before she had time to get to grips with the issue. 'I suppose you'll be off home in a while,' he murmured. 'Do you have plans for the evening?'

  'I—Yes, actually, I do. I promised that I would meet up with someone. He'll be waiting for me.'

  He frowned, and the breath constricted in her lungs. What would his reaction be if she were to tell him that she was taking her son to play on the swings in the park? Ought she to tell him?

  Before she could come to a decision one way or the other, Taylor's attention was distracted. Her patient's young son must have discovered that there were other, more exciting avenues to be explored rather than simply waiting around with his mother. The child put his foot onto the treatment trolley that Sarah had brought in, and he pushed off with it, using it like a scooter, riding along the length of the room.

  'Ryan, come back here,' his mother said sharply, but by now he was out of earshot.

  Taylor acted swiftly. He went after him, grabbing hold of the trolley and holding on to the boy in order to stop him from tumbling. 'I know it seems like fun, but you can't do that in here,' he told the child in a low voice. 'You might bump into someone and hurt them. There are a lot of poorly people in here.'

  'Let go of me.' The boy aimed a sharp kick at Taylor's shin. 'Put me down.'

  'I will, just as soon as you're back with your mother.' Taylor railroaded him back to the treatment bay and sat him down on a bed. 'Is there anyone with you who can watch over him while you're with the nurse?' he asked the woman.

  She nodded. 'Yes, I'm sorry. My husband went off to get a drink from the machine. He should be along at any minute.'

  'That's OK. Don't worry about it.' He replaced the trolley and handed the boy a pad and pencil, which he took from off the central desk. 'See if you can draw a scooter,' he said, giving him a long look.

  The boy scowled at him, and Taylor walked back to Allison. 'Thank heaven I don't have any children,' he said through gritted teeth. 'I'm not sure that I'd have the patience to deal with them day after day.'

  Allison looked at him, trying to disguise her dismay. 'They can be a handful, I admit,' she said in mitigation, 'but there are compensations, surely? I mean, most people love their offspring to bits and just enjoy watching them as they go through all those growing stages.'

  He gave a short laugh. 'Well, maybe you're right. I guess I'm just too focussed on my work at the moment. It's very important to me. It's taken a lot of effort for me to get where I am today, and yet I still feel there's so much to achieve. Children just don't figure in my grand scheme of things.'

  He shrugged, moving his shoulders in a backward arc, as though easing the tension there. 'I'd better go and check on our bus driver,' he said.

  Allison watched him turn away. So that was about as far as she was going to get in trying to tell him her news, wasn't it? The knowledge that she was keeping it from him weighed heavily on her shoulders, but what was she to do? He didn't want a family...he had said so outright, and there was never going to be a good time to let him know that it was too late, that he was already a father, was there?

  CHAPTER THREE

  'Would you sign off this chart for me?' Greg asked, handing a folder over to Taylor. 'All the tests have proved negative up to now, and I want to send the patient home.'

  Taylor glanced at the paperwork and then wrote his name at the foot of the document, his penstrokes black and bold. He added a note, though, and said tautly, 'Make sure that you arrange a follow-up scan with Outpatients. It isn't urgent, but it's best to get one done within a couple of months, just to be on the safe side.'

  'I'll do that.' Greg hesitated, and Allison, who was looking through files at the desk nearby, could see that he was a bit worried about something. That was unusual. Greg was a pleasant, easygoing capable man in all respects, and Allison always got on well with him.

  He sent Taylor a quick look and added, 'Would it be all right with you if I were to swap shifts with Simon tomorrow? My wife has to go and look after her sick mother down in Sussex, and I feel that the least I can do is drive her down there tonight. I'll be back the day after tomorrow. I've cleared it with Simon, and he's happy to do that for me.'

  Taylor frowned. 'Simon's a very junior doctor, and we could do with having someone more experienced on at the weekend. Have you asked Allison if she would consider changing with you? She might be a better choice.'

  Greg looked uncomfortable. 'I don't really want to ask Allison. She has to be quite careful about sticking to her duty rota—domestic issues and so on.'

  Taylor's frown deepened, and he cast a swift glance in Allison's direction. She stiffened. She could tell that his senses were on the alert, and things could be awkward if he were to start asking questions and delving deeper.

  'Simon's very bright—he knows his stuff, and he has a good deal more knowledge than the average junior doctor.' Greg was at pains to make things right, and Taylor's gaze shifted back to him.

  Although Allison hadn't asked anyone to keep quiet about the fact that she had a son, they were all aware that Taylor was an unknown entity so far, and not all bosses appreciated having a single mother on the staff.

  It was a situation that could be fraught with problems where rotas and overtime and unaccustomed hours were concerned. Allison did her best to pull her weight, the same as everyone else, and she had made sure that arrangements were in place with Rhea in case she ever had to work late, but she was always conscious of Connor's need to have his mother with him whenever it was possible. He was very young, and he had to be her prime concern.

  'I suppose it will be all right,' Taylor conceded, though he didn't look too happy about it. 'At least I'll be on duty for some of the time tomorrow.' He handed back the chart and started to turn away. 'I'll be in the office if anyone wants me. I need to look through the notes we made when we did the interviews for the specialist nurses. We have to set someone on as soon as we can.'

  'OK. Thanks for that.' Greg watched him go, then glanced at Allison. 'Sorry about that. I didn't mean to cause you any bother.'

  'That's all right.' Her brows drew together. 'He doesn't seem to be his usual self today, does he? He's been looking a bit grim around the mouth all morning, as though he's out of sorts for some reason. Do you think he's concerned about setting up the new minor injuries walk-in centre?'

  'No, I think that's all going
fairly well. We'll certainly find that it helps with our work here in A and E once it gets off the ground. It should lessen our load. I think he's making some good changes around the place, and it's a pity that he's only going to be around for a fairly short time. We could do with someone of his calibre on a permanent basis.'

  Allison nodded. She had always been impressed by Taylor's qualities of leadership, and the way he always managed to get things done against the odds. He was a man that you could respect. She recognised that even though she had her own deep-seated reservations about getting too close to him. Somehow she felt that if that were to happen, she could end up getting hurt. 'He certainly seems to know what he's doing.'

  Greg smiled. 'Actually, I think the root cause of his trouble today is that he looked after his young nephews last night while his sister and her husband went out to celebrate their wedding anniversary. From what I heard, he stayed overnight at their house, while the parents enjoyed a night in a hotel. He must have had to get the children ready for school this morning, and I don't think it can have gone very well. He was looking a bit frazzled first thing, I thought.' He gave her a sideways glance. 'I expect you know all about that, having to deal with a four-year-old every day.'

  'Oh, I do.' She gave a heartfelt sigh. 'There's always something that isn't right.. .either I've put out the wrong T-shirt, or he'll decide to take against his school trousers for some reason. Believe me, Connor can be really sweet, an absolute angel, but on other days he's a proper little crosspatch.'

  She grimaced. 'This morning his problem was all about socks. They were too cold, he said, and he was so tetchy about it that I had to fit them, one at a time, over the end of the hairdryer and blow warm air into them before he was satisfied.' She shook her head. 'I couldn't believe that I was actually doing it, but it was either that or arrive at nursery school half an hour late.'

  Greg laughed. 'I'd love to be a fly on the wall in your house in the mornings.' Then he sobered a fraction, and said, 'I wonder how Taylor coped with two of them—though his sister's boys are a little older than Connor...six and seven years, I think he said.'

  'That sounds about right. When I last saw the family back in Buckinghamshire some five years ago, the boys were barely at the toddling stage.'

  Sarah came over to them just then, and they were immediately on the alert. 'We have incoming patients,' she said. 'A road traffic accident. I'll go and tell Taylor.'

  They were all kept busy for the next couple of hours, but when the rush died down and there was finally time to take a break, Allison decided to go over to the maternity ward to see how the patient from the bus depot was getting along. It had been a few days since she had been admitted, but Allison had kept tabs on her progress, and she wanted to see whether the baby had suffered any ill effects.

  'Hi, it's good to see you,' Tracey said, smiling as Allison put her head around the door of her room and peered inside. 'Come on in. I was just trying to freshen up ready for my husband's visit. The nurse has taken my baby to the nursery for a while to give him a check-up.'

  'I won't stay, then, if your husband is coming in. How are you feeling?'

  'Much better, thanks. My throat's still a bit uncomfortable from when the tube was in, but it helped to save my life, so I'm not complaining.' She looked at Allison directly. 'Thanks for everything that you did. I'm really grateful.'

  'You're welcome. I'm just pleased to see you looking so well.'

  Allison left her a few minutes later, and went over to the nursery. When she arrived, though, she stopped in her tracks because Taylor was already there, bending over one of the cots. Seeing him there startled her, but perhaps he, too, had been worried about the baby's welfare.

  She stood for a moment, watching him, not wanting to intrude, because there was something very special in what she was witnessing. In the end, though, she swallowed hard and then went over to him.

  'Has the little fellow recovered from his ordeal?' she asked, and Taylor glanced up at her, his eyes widening a fraction.

  'He's doing OK.'

  He began to straighten up, but she saw that the infant was holding on to his finger, curling his fist around him and clinging on, and Taylor appeared to be reluctant to break that contact straight away. It was a sight that made her catch her breath. It was a wonderful thing to see, this strong, powerful man and the bond he had made with this tiny baby. It brought a lump to her throat.

  She said softly, 'For a while I didn't think he was going to make it.'

  His mouth made a crooked line. 'Neither did I, but it looks as though he's doing just fine now. His responses are all normal, and that's good to know.'

  'Yes, it is.'

  Allison gazed at the baby with affection, and Taylor finally managed to gently free himself. He straightened up and she was suddenly aware of how close they were to one another. He was standing so close to her that with the slightest movement she would have brushed against his shirtsleeve or felt the taut line of his thigh against hers. A wave of dizzying heat washed through her veins.

  He sent her a contemplative glance, his grey eyes sweeping over her from head to toe, lingering for a moment on the shapeliness of her long legs, before moving upwards in quicksilver fashion to briefly dwell on the fullness of her mouth.

  To Allison, it felt as though time had stood still, and for a while, as their glances met, the air crackled with electricity.

  Then he pulled in a quick breath and stepped backwards, putting some distance between them. He seemed to give himself a mental shake before taking on the mantle of consultant once more. 'I should get back to A and E,' he said.

  'Me, too.' She was almost relieved that the fleeting moment of tension that had passed between them had dissolved into nothingness. Her shoulders relaxed a fraction, but her heart was still thumping discordantly.

  She followed him out of the door, and tried to turn her mind to everyday things. She asked him, 'Is there any news of the driver? I've been worried about him. I know you had everything under control, but cyanide poisoning sounds dreadful on top of everything else that happened to him, and I don't think I've come across it before.'

  'We treat it with an antidote kit, made up of amyl and sodium nitrite, along with sodium thiosulphate. The chemicals combine with the cyanide to form a non-toxic substance which is then eliminated via the kidneys.' He paused, glancing at her. 'He's getting along all right, mainly because we managed to treat him on site and then get him to hospital in good time. The burns will take some time to heal, but at least the rest of his symptoms are under control.'

  'I'm glad about that. As to treating him on site, it goes to show that the response unit is very worthwhile. It seems to work well, having doctors giving specialist medical treatment at an early stage.'

  He sent her a quick look. 'It does...though it can play havoc with the staffing situation back here from time to time.' He frowned. 'Which reminds me—Greg seemed to imply that you might have to keep to a fairly rigid schedule as far as the duty rotas are concerned. Is there anything I need to know about? I sort of imagined that you were footloose and fancy-free these days, but perhaps I was wrong in assuming that? Maybe you don't live alone? Or has your father come back from the South Coast to be near you? I suppose that could cause problems for you.'

  'No, he's still down there.' She passed the tip of her tongue over her dry lips. 'I do have to keep to a reasonable routine, though, and my weekends off are always precious.'

  His gaze narrowed on her, and she guessed he was probably wondering whether she lived with someone.

  She was wondering how she could let him know about Connor without causing a major upset in the workplace, but his pager went off just then, forestalling her. He paused to check the message, and stopped by the nurses' station to call for details, just as Allison's bleeper sounded.

  'We've had a callout,' he said, throwing her a quick glance before writing down the address. 'It looks as though there's been an accident at an industrial estate in South West London. We need t
o head over there right away.'

  Allison glanced at the address on the slip of paper and drew in a shocked gasp. 'That's where my brother has his workshop,' she said, a note of panic coming into her voice. 'Do you have any more details? Do you think it could be Nick's unit where the accident happened?'

  Taylor shook his head. 'I wouldn't have thought so.' His grey eyes searched her face, assessing her with a measure of compassion, and she realised that she must have visibly paled. 'We're going to a tile warehouse—they store ceramics, glass and metal products. That doesn't sound like the sort of thing your brother's involved with, unless he's changed his type of business?'

  She made an effort to pull herself together. 'No. He still makes furniture, but he moved into the bespoke market about a year ago. It's more exclusive than the work he did before, and it seems to be more in keeping with what he's always wanted to do. He designs home offices and all kinds of storage solutions. Ben's happier doing that, too.'

  She hesitated. 'It took them a while to find these new premises, and the rent is a bit more than they wanted to pay, but at least they have room to expand. They had a slow start, getting the business off the ground, but I think it's beginning to take off at last.'

  As they talked, they were on their way to the ambulance bay, stopping only to grab their packs, and let people know where they were going.

  'I hope things turn out well for Nick, and for Ben,' Taylor said as he drove out of the City.

  'Do you?' she asked. 'I wasn't so sure that you had their interests at heart. They were established in their old premises until you intervened and they had to move on. Until then, I had thought you were Nick's friend.'

  'I was.' He didn't respond to the element of reproach that threaded her tone, and that rattled her, because she wanted him to explain why everything had gone wrong. She had never understood how the two of them, who had been so close, could have let their friendship fall by the wayside.