After the birth of the Craigs’ baby down in the birthing suite, Luke sauntered into the nursery in search of Ellie. She had her back to the door as she soothed an unsettled baby Carter in the crib.
When Luke spoke from behind her, she blinked and focussed her eyes. She realised she was soothing the baby by feel and had been staring unseeingly at the cot.
‘Tired?’ he said.
Ellie turned slowly to face him and their eyes locked. His were warm and caring and Ellie felt like he’d wrapped his arms around her. Which was a wake-up call. The guy was this sweet to everyone. They were still staring at each other when Anthea came in search of Luke. She looked from one to the other and her lips thinned before she laid her hand on Luke’s arm with a proprietorial gesture.
‘Come and have a coffee with me before you go home.’
Luke tilted his head towards Ellie and raised his eyebrows. ‘If you can’t leave the nursery unattended, would you like me to bring you a drink?’
Anthea frowned. ‘Ellie can go when I come back. The poor woman needs to get out of the nursery some time.’ Before Anthea steered Luke away she pointed Ellie down to the birthing unit. ‘They’re nearly ready to bring baby up for a weigh and a bath. Process it, will you, when they come?’ They moved out the door and Ellie could hear Anthea laughing gently with Luke.
Luke allowed himself to be drawn away from Ellie because it was the safest thing to do. He couldn’t believe the degree of relief he’d felt when he’d realised she wasn’t out for an ‘all-nighter’ with another man. And he had no right to feel that way. He was engaged to another woman, the woman walking beside him.
Back in the nursery, Ellie shrugged. Cleopatra was a weirdo and she couldn’t see what Luke liked about her. Maybe she was conventional, except for the Egyptology, and got on well with Luke’s mother. It was Ellie’s turn to smile.
Process the baby. ‘Sheesh.’ Ellie shook her head in disgust as she checked out the paperwork that Julie had left out for her to use after the new baby was born. It sounded like she had to put the baby in one end of a machine and spit it out the other.
She hadn’t been asked to assist in the birthing unit and hadn’t met the new mother yet. At least the weigh and measure of the baby would take up a little more of the night. This was very different to the hectic nursery nights in the city.
By morning Ellie was weary. That nauseous five a.m. roll of her stomach reminded Ellie how much she hated night duty.
She’d enjoyed meeting Judy and Ray Craig and baby Andrew. At eight pounds he seemed huge compared to the other two in the nursery and when Ellie helped Judy start him at the breast they all laughed at his ferocious expression.
‘He’s a vacuum-cleaner. You’ll have to be very careful with your attachment or he’ll damage your nipples.’ She grinned at Judy. ‘But he’s definitely a breast man.’ They all laughed and Ellie wrote out a separate piece of paper for Ray to take home with all Andrew’s measurements to skite about.
As soon as the shift ended and she’d driven home, Ellie crawled into bed. Mrs Judd was taking Josh with her when she went grocery shopping this morning. Josh loved supermarkets. Ellie would collect him from next door before lunch when she’d had a few hours’ sleep.
But it was hard to sleep. Luke was invading her mind and she had to keep telling herself that she’d let Josh down if she became involved Luke. But Ellie was genuinely disturbed about Luke aligning himself with Anthea. The woman was a humourless machine and Luke had the tendency to lean towards precision and predictability as well. Maybe they were suited but Ellie winced at the thought of their poor little boring children. She punched her pillow and tried not to think about Luke having children with another woman. What was the matter with her lately? She needed to relax enough to go off to sleep. It was really none of her business.
When Ellie woke, unrefreshed, it was eleven-thirty and her head felt as woolly as a Merino sheep. She stumbled into the shower and stood under the spray until she started to feel better. By the time she knocked on the Judds’ door she was awake even if she felt like curling back up on the bed again.
When Josh saw her he jumped up from the carpet where he was doing a jigsaw and wrapped himself around her legs. ‘Hello, my darling.’ Ellie mussed his hair and then bent down to hug him.
Lil smiled at them both and suggested a coffee. ‘So how was your first shift at the hospital?’
‘Good. I saw the unit manager this morning, and she’s offered me a permanent Thursday and Friday night duty every week.’ Ellie met Lil’s eyes. ‘I said I’d get back to her tomorrow morning after I’d spoken to you. What do you think? Are you interested in a paid babysitting thing or would you rather I asked someone else?’
Ellie hated how the sleep deprivation of night duty made her feel but she needed the extra work. And at least on night duty she didn’t have to be away during daylight hours. Making ends meet was harder than she’d realised, with Josh’s preschool fees and the rent of the house, but if she had a routine, it would get easier. Surely.
‘If you’d like to do it, then we’re happy to mind Josh for you. But we’re not making money out of it.’
Ellie sighed. ‘But I’m getting money to do the work.’
‘But that’s a job. We love having Josh.’
Clem nodded and Ellie racked her brain for a barter solution. She remembered that Lil had mentioned he had a bad back. ‘Well, how about I mow your lawn when I do mine, once a week? I’m strong and I enjoy mowing.’
Lil looked at her husband. ‘The boy who usually does it has gone away. We’ll see.’ That was all she’d say.
* * *
That night, when Ellie went to work, she was still tired but the ward was busy from the first moment, and she hoped that would carry her through to the morning.
Anthea must have decided that if Ellie loved the nursery, then tonight Ellie would do the labour ward. With that scenario in mind, Ellie tried to look disappointed, but it really was her favourite place. To make it even better, the labouring woman was Summer Brown. Thirty-seven weeks wasn’t too early for twins and Summer was well into labour by the time Ellie came on duty.
‘Hi, Summer.’ Ellie had followed Sam as she went in to say goodnight, and the room seemed full of light and people. To Ellie’s mind, Summer looked even more stressed than she should. Ellie’s first priority would be to help lessen that waste of energy.
Adam Brown, Summer’s husband, held his wife’s hand as she breathed through a contraction and two elderly black-cardiganed women Ellie didn’t know were sitting on chairs, watching the drama on the bed like crows on a fence.
Summer was facing away from the women and her lips were tight with discomfort and fear. The foetal monitors were strapped to her abdomen with a heart rate being recorded for each twin.
Sam saw the look on Ellie’s face and grimaced. ‘Dr Farrell wanted frequent traces of the babies’ condition so poor old Summer has spent a fair bit of time on the bed.’ Ellie just nodded and Sam left to go home.
She looked across at the other women. ‘Hi. I’m Ellie. I thought Summer didn’t have any relatives from around here.’ The younger of the two would have been in her seventies and she smiled at Ellie. ‘We’re Summer’s next-door neighbours and we’ve come to see the babies born.’
Ellie felt the blood burn between her ears and with great restraint held her peace for the moment. ‘That must be exciting for you.’ She smiled noncommittally at them and extended her hand towards the door. ‘If you would just step outside while I examine Summer for a minute, that would be a great help. I’ll see you both shortly.’
The ladies frowned but stood up and went out the door. Ellie followed and shut the door behind them before switching off the main room light so that the lights were dimmer. She crossed over to the bed and perched on the edge beside Summer and started to undo the foetal monitor belts.
‘How’re you going, Summer? I just want to feel your tummy, if that’s all right, and also take your blood pressure—nothi
ng scarier than that.’ She looked across at Adam. ‘You both seem pretty tense. Did you really want those ladies in here?’
Adam gave a strangled laugh and Summer groaned. ‘It was my fault,’ she said. ‘Adam was at work when I started labour and I couldn’t get my phone to work. They brought me in here and now they won’t go home.’ There was a quiver of tears in her voice.
‘I tried to ask them to leave,’ Adam said, ‘but I didn’t like to offend them. Summer might need their help in an emergency one day.’
Ellie smiled. ‘Not a problem. I’m an eviction specialist from way back and they’ll still talk to you when you get home, I promise.’ Adam smiled with relief.
‘And as for this monitor…’ Ellie glared at the wad of paper that had run through it, ‘we have more than enough of this for the time being. We’ll do a couple of minutes every hour or so but I’d like to see you spend most of your time in the shower if you can.’
Summer sighed with relief. ‘That would be heaven. The hot water seems to help the pain the most.’
Ellie quickly palpated Summer’s huge tummy and described the positions the babies were lying in. Both were coming head first and she couldn’t see any problems with the birth.
Summer touched Ellie’s arm. ‘Dr Farrell said I might have to have an epidural, but I really would prefer not to. I didn’t have it with my other two.’
Ellie squeezed Summer’s leg. ‘You don’t have to do anything you don’t want.’ Ellie could see more friendly discussions with Luke coming up. ‘Let’s move you into the shower so that you’re more comfortable.’
By the time Summer was sitting on the blue ball in the shower, even Adam was looking more relaxed.
Satisfied, Ellie placed some towels close by and slipped out of the bathroom.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE phone rang. ‘Maternity, Ellie speaking. Can I help you?’
‘Ellie?’ Luke sounded surprised. ‘You there again?’
Ellie frowned at the leap of excitement in her throat. She’d known Summer was Luke’s patient so, of course, he was going to ring. She tried for nonchalance. ‘Yep. Did you ring about Summer?’ Ellie was partially distracted by how she’d get rid of these old ladies before Summer needed her again. ‘She’s doing really well.’
‘How does the CTG seem?’ Ellie couldn’t help looking across the room at the foetal monitor machine standing alone with the paper dribbling out of it.
‘It looks good. Fine. Of course, Summer’s in the bathroom, having a shower at the moment, so it’s not recording anything.’
Luke’s voice lowered dangerously. ‘And are you planning on connecting her in the near future?’
Ellie grinned into the phone but realised it was lucky he couldn’t see it. ‘I thought I’d do a five-minute trace every hour, seeing as there’s been enough done to paper a wall already and it’s better for her labour if she’s off the bed.’
‘All right, Ellie. But I’ll be looking at the trace as a record of the babies’ condition so you’d better have some for me to see when I come in.’ She thought he was going to hang up and almost missed his last comment. ‘Make sure you give me enough time to be there for the birth or I will not be impressed.’
‘Certainly, Doctor,’ said Ellie, and put the phone down gently. Luke needed to appreciate how normal labour could be because in Ellie’s opinion he seemed to expect things to go wrong too much. But that was the problem with doctors. Still, they were handy people to have around when you needed them.
The elderly ladies were drinking tea in the relatives’ waiting room and Ellie had to smile.
‘Can we go back in now?’ the spokesperson, Rita, said.
‘Actually, that’s what I came to talk to you about.’ Ellie sat down next to them on the long lounge. ‘Summer tells me she would have been in big trouble if you hadn’t been home.’
Both ladies preened. ‘We only did our Christian duty.’
Ellie nodded enthusiastically. ‘I’m sure you did. And I think it’s amazing that you both are willing to sit here, maybe until the morning, just to make sure Summer is fine.’
Their faces lengthened at Ellie’s assumption it would take that long. Ellie went on, ‘And most of that time she’ll spend in the shower so, of course, I’ll have to ask you to wait out here.’ She smiled at them both. ‘Neither of you look as tired as I thought you would for nearly midnight, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.’ She glanced around the little room. ‘Would you like me to get you both a blanket and some pillows?’
Rita looked across at Gladys. ‘My neck is a little sore already from sitting on this lounge. It’s a bit of a shame we did promise Summer we’d stay.’
Gladys nodded and Ellie just smiled gently. ‘I could mention that you both decided she would be more comfortable in the shower than chatting to you. Do you think she’ll believe that?’ The ladies looked at each other and nodded, and Ellie stood up.
‘When the babies come home, I’m sure Summer will appreciate how close you’ve all become.’
That really worried them. Ellie tried not to smile as the ladies gathered their things decisively. ‘We’re not that close to them, you know,’ said Gladys uncertainly, ‘and I’m not good with babies.’
‘Not good with babies,’ Rita muttered in agreement, and stood up.
Ellie nodded. ‘Sometimes it’s hard not to have people expect things from you if you get too close.’ The ladies nodded sagely. ‘Well, I’ll send Summer your best wishes and I’m sure she’s very appreciative of your support.’
‘Goodnight,’ they chorused as they set off towards the exit. Ellie sighed with relief and slipped back into the birthing unit.
Summer spent the next hour in the shower and, judging by her slightly wild-eyed look, was getting close to the transitional stage of labour and almost ready to push. Ellie wanted one more quick trace of the babies’ heart rates so they all did a mad dash back to the bed before moving became too hard.
Both babies’ heart rates were skipping along merrily and still accelerating when the walls of their mother’s uterus tightened around them.
Suddenly Summer exhaled a couple of quick breaths and started to push.
Ellie pressed the nurse’s call button for Anthea and quickly dialled Luke’s number. He answered straight away. Ellie was brief. ‘Summer is in second stage.’
‘I’m on my way.’ He put the phone down and Ellie turned back to the bed. Anthea came through the door soon after and everything was in readiness for the new arrivals.
By the fourth push a tiny crescent of baby’s head had appeared and Ellie, overgowned and gloved, resigned herself to being in trouble if Luke didn’t make it for the first baby’s birth.
The door to the unit opened and Luke strode in. Ellie had it all well in hand. There she stood, doing what she loved doing, attuned to the woman and obviously capable. He remembered his first twin delivery and that added sense of excitement and awe he’d felt as he’d been the one who’d helped two babies into the world.
‘Brilliant progress, Summer. Nice and gentle now,’ he said, and he saw Ellie’s surprise as he came to stand beside her in a supportive role instead of as the acchoucheur. ‘You’re doing fine, Ellie. I’ll just watch.’ He winced as he saw Anthea’s eyebrows nearly disappear into her fringe.
Even Ellie sent a brief look at the other sister’s scowling face before she returned her attention to Summer. Slowly, with only an occasional quiet spoken word, the birth was completed. Twin one became Emily and then with another gush of fluid fifteen minutes later, twin two became Aimee.
A rippling sigh echoed round the room as the placenta was expelled. It was one large piece the size of a dinner plate with two umbilical cords, which meant the girls were identical.
Summer sighed into the bed in relief and her daughters lay curled one on each breast as Luke tucked the blankets around them all. ‘They’re so warm on my skin,’ she said, and met her husband’s eyes. His were bright with tears and even Anthea looked touched by the moment
.
‘Good job, Ellie.’ Luke’s words were softly spoken and Ellie felt the warmth in her cheeks. Typical Luke. Not many doctors would have given up the glory of a twin birth to the midwife. Ellie couldn’t help but wonder why he had or if Anthea would have taken the opportunity. ‘Thanks for the chance,’ Ellie said. There had been a moment there when the closeness they’d had ten years ago had seemed to glow around them.
‘Would you like a stethescope?’ Anthea attracted Luke’s attention and the spell was broken.
Luke listened to both babies’ hearts as they lay with their mother, and professed them healthy.
‘We’ll have a better look once they’ve had some time with their parents.’ He nodded to Anthea and Ellie to draw them out of the room and allow the Browns some privacy.
‘You may as well bring the dirty instruments out with you, Ellie.’ Anthea’s suggestion was all help and smiles and Ellie just did what she was told. By the time she’d wheeled the steel trolley out of the door, Anthea was up the hallway with her arm tucked into Luke’s. Ellie’s nausea must be early this morning because the sight made her feel slightly sick.
It was only two a.m. Ellie yawned and pushed the trolley into the sluice room. She’d kill for a coffee but wasn’t enamoured by the idea of becoming the unwelcome part of a threesome.
* * *
Anthea squeezed Luke’s arm as they walked up the corridor. ‘I think it’s time you and I had another serious discussion,’ she said, and squeezed again. ‘But not at this hour of the morning. I’ll make dinner on Monday night. Please, come.’
Luke nodded. He’d been having serious reservations about his engagement, and Anthea deserved to know that. He would have preferred to have waited until he was clearer in his mind about his chances with Ellie, but marriage to Anthea would never work with the ghost of Ellie now a flesh and blood woman. It was not a conversation he relished at this moment, but he owed it to Anthea. ‘OK. I’ll be there. What time?’
Delivering Secrets Page 6
