‘I should have thought of it,’ Jamie had accused himself ruefully. ‘I was just in such a hurry to get away.’ His brown eyes had cast an anxious glance at his companion. ‘I don’t do this sort of thing very often.’
‘I’m pleased to hear it,’ Janet had responded primly. ‘But I’m just as much to blame. Sharlene’s told me often enough to carry something in my pocket.’
‘Sharlene?’
‘My room-mate. She’s a lot more experienced than me in that department.’ Janet had giggled. ‘She probably hands out condoms along with coffee. Haven’t you met her? She’s working up in Theatre at the moment. Black hair—great figure.’
‘I’ve seen her around.’ Jamie had sounded offhand. He’d still looked worried. ‘Do you think there’s any chance you might be pregnant, Jan? What stage of your cycle are you?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Janet had admitted. ‘Early, I think. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.’
‘Don’t worry.’ Jamie had felt for her hand and had squeezed it tightly. ‘I’m not about to run out on you, whatever happens.’
And he didn’t. Two weeks later he dragged Janet out for drink as soon as she finished her late shift.
‘I’ve got a registrar position in London,’ he told her excitedly. ‘It’s a really fantastic opportunity. Will you come with me, Janna? Come and live with me in London?’
‘Of course I will.’ Janet had to shout above the noise of the crowded pub, making the most of the few minutes left until closing time.
Jamie shouted, too. ‘I love you, Janet Muir.’
‘I love you, too, Jamie McFadden.’
The noise from those close enough to overhear increased as they cheered. Jamie fought his way to the bar, his arm holding Janet firmly glued to his side, to persuade the barman to let them have another drink by way of celebration.
‘We’re closing,’ he was told.
‘We’ll be quick,’ Jamie promised.
They only managed half the drinks before they were told to leave. Despite the rain, they walked slowly, reluctant to reach a destination where they’d have to part.
‘Where shall we live in London?’ Janet asked.
‘I don’t care.’ Jamie grinned. ‘As long as I’m with you. You choose.’
‘Be serious,’ Janet scolded. ‘London’s expensive.’
Jamie did become serious. ‘I know. And we’ll have to find our own flat if we want to live together. It’ll mean we’ll both have to work if we’re going to be able to afford it.’ For a moment, Jamie’s expression was grim. ‘Let’s keep our fingers crossed that you’re not pregnant, Jan.’
Janet confided her fears to her room-mate, Sharlene.
‘Good for you,’ Sharlene congratulated her. ‘I would have done the same thing myself. Lucky you, getting someone that gorgeous to fall for the baby trap. And a doctor, too! It’ll be wedding bells, next.’
‘I didn’t plan it!’ Janet said angrily. ‘How could you even think such a thing, Sharlene?’
Sharlene merely shrugged and for the first time Janet wondered just how much they really had in common. As room-mates went, Sharlene had been great up till now—considerate, generous and light hearted. She’d taken Janet under her wing when she’d come to the Western, making life easier for the nervous new arrival. Faced with Janet’s stunned disapproval, Sharlene tried to make amends.
‘I know how hard it is to get some privacy around here. Why don’t you get Jamie to come tomorrow, after you’ve finished your shift? I’ll make myself scarce and I’m on night duty so I’ll be away until 7 a.m. Jamie can sneak out early by the fire escape.’
‘He wouldn’t want to do something like that,’ Janet protested.
‘Ask him,’ Sharlene advised. ‘You might be surprised what they’re prepared to do for what they want.’
So Janet had asked him and she had been surprised.
‘I’ll be waiting for you,’ Jamie said. ‘Leave the door unlocked.’ He quirked an eyebrow suggestively. ‘I should warn you—I can’t resist a woman in uniform.’
Janet couldn’t wait for her late duty to finish that evening. She’d noted the stomach cramps she had with pleasure. She even welcomed the inconvenient spotting which heralded the start of her period. It was a huge relief. Jamie didn’t need to feel pressured into offering marriage. There was no obstacle to her finding a job in London to help with the rent on a flat. Janet rushed through her final duties and was rewarded with getting away ten minutes early.
Ten minutes extra with Jamie! Janet ran through the quiet hospital corridors and up the road to the nurses’ quarters. She took the steps to her floor two at a time and flung open the door of her room with joyous anticipation. Jamie would be there, waiting for her … and Sharlene would be away all night.
Jamie was there. But so was Sharlene. Sharlene wasn’t ready for work. She wasn’t wearing her uniform. She wasn’t wearing anything much at all, having not bothered with any underwear beneath her flesh-coloured, see-through slip. Worse than that, she was standing with her body pressed against Jamie’s, her fingers locked in the waves of his blond hair and her lips firmly covering his. Jamie had his hands up in the air, as though caught in the act of surrender. Or maybe he was trying to escape detection, having heard Janet’s rapidly approaching footsteps on the linoleum covered corridor.
Janet was stunned speechless. Jamie looked acutely embarrassed. Only Sharlene appeared able to handle the situation with any ease,
‘Time I got to work,’ she announced calmly. She hooked her uniform off the foot of her bed, slipping it over her head in a fluid movement. She stepped into her white shoes and collected her red cape from the back of the door. ‘He’s all yours,’ she said in a stage whisper to Janet. ‘For now.’
It was Jamie who broke the unbearably tense silence. ‘Does your room-mate always jump on unsuspecting men like that?’
‘Not that I’ve noticed,’ Janet replied coldly. ‘Not uninvited, anyway.’
‘I didn’t invite her.’ Jamie ran his fingers through his hair and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘I got here a bit early, that’s all. I can’t stay, Janet. Brian’s off sick and I’ve got to cover him for the night.’
Janet eyed him steadily. He looked very ill at ease for someone telling the truth. She didn’t want him to stay. Not now. Not until she knew what had really been going on. ‘Why did you come, then, Jamie?’
‘I didn’t want you waiting for me, and it wasn’t a message I could leave with whoever answers the phone in this place. And … I wondered whether you knew yet … about … you know?’
‘Yes.’ Janet was watching him closely. Was the tension because he was dreading the prospect of unplanned fatherhood? Or because he was dreading having to face an inquisition about his dalliance with Sharlene? He couldn’t resist a woman in uniform, he’d said. Had Sharlene been wearing hers when he’d arrived? Janet looked away. ‘I’m not pregnant, Jamie. My period started today.’
‘Thank God!’ Jamie’s face lit up with relief. ‘I was so worried. It’s only a week until I have to leave for London. I’ve heard of room in a flat that’s available close to the hospital but it would have been impossible with a baby. We’ll need to share the place with Paul. He’s a surgeon who used to work here.’ His pager sounded as he swept Janet into his arms. ‘Now there’s nothing stopping us.’ He kissed Janet swiftly before he left. ‘Sleep well, love.’
But Janet didn’t sleep at all. She was ready to head back to the wards when Sharlene returned in the morning.
‘What the hell was that all about last night, Sharlene?’ Janet demanded. ‘What are you trying to do?’
‘Nothing that hasn’t been done before,’ Sharlene told her impatiently. ‘Or will be again. Grow up, Janet. Did you really think someone like Jamie McFadden would be content with only one girlfriend? Pretending to be pregnant won’t work, you know. Not with him.’
‘I’m not,’ Janet said quietly. ‘I wasn’t pretending and I’m not pregnant. And
I don’t believe that you mean anything to Jamie.’
‘Ask him, then,’ Sharlene suggested airily. ‘Ask him how I know about that little birthmark just beside his left nipple.’
Janet gasped. She knew that birthmark very well. She’d felt its slightly different texture with her fingers … and her tongue.
‘He’ll deny it, of course,’ Sharlene sneered. ‘They all do. But can you really trust him?’
Jamie did deny it. He denied it vehemently. He was astonished and then angry that Janet could even suggest he had any kind of relationship going with anybody else.
‘You don’t trust me,’ he accused Janet.
‘I saw you kissing her.’
‘You saw her kissing me.’
‘She says it wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last. She knows things—about you—that she could only know if you and she—’
‘For God’s sake!’ Jamie was furious. ‘I don’t believe this! I had no idea you were so jealous and suspicious.’
‘And I had no idea that one woman wasn’t enough for you.’
‘I’m beginning to think that one woman is too many,’ Jamie snapped. ‘If you can’t trust me, then we’ve got nothing.’ He stared at Janet with a bitter expression. ‘Thank God you’re not pregnant. It could never have worked.’
With that, Jamie stormed out. He left for London at the end of the week without contacting her. Janet was devastated. She missed Jamie terribly and she could have done without the unwanted sympathy of her room-mate.
‘They’re all the same,’ Sharlene informed Janet. ‘But never mind. There are plenty more fish in the sea and maybe next time you’ll really get pregnant.’
The atmosphere between the two women deteriorated rapidly over the next few weeks. Janet requested a room change but Sharlene told her not to bother. She was leaving. Moving on. She moved out hurriedly, leaving half her possessions behind, at the time when Janet’s next period began. It was much lighter than usual. Light enough to make Janet begin to wonder about the other symptoms she’d dismissed as being part of a stressful situation. Like the tiredness and faint nausea when faced with meals. It was another two weeks before Janet did anything about it, only to discover that she was, in fact, twelve weeks pregnant.
It took another week to agonise her way to the decision to tell Jamie. Apparently it wasn’t that uncommon to have bleeding at the times you might have expected the first period or two after conception. It was more unusual for the bleeding to be heavy enough to seem normal, but the gynaecologist assured Janet that it didn’t necessarily mean she would have further problems with the pregnancy. He then went on to drop the extra bombshell the scan had revealed. She was expecting twins.
It had been seven weeks since Jamie had left without a word. Three weeks since Sharlene had also left. Any connection hadn’t occurred to Janet. When she persuaded the girl in Administration to give her Jamie’s forwarding address and telephone number in London, the last thing she expected to hear on making the call was the voice of her former room-mate.
‘Sharlene?’ Janet’s voice was an incredulous squeak. ‘What are you doing there?’
‘Living here—what do you think?’ Sharlene laughed. ‘I thought I’d just turn up and see what happened.’ Sharlene lowered her voice confidentially. ‘And you know what, Janet? I think the baby trap might work this time.’
‘You mean you’re … you’re …?’ Janet couldn’t bring herself to say the word.
Sharlene had no such difficulty. ‘Pregnant? You bet. Do you want an invitation to the wedding?’
‘Oh … No, thanks, Sharlene.’ Janet’s desperate gaze fell on the pile of mail waiting for the nurses’ home residents to collect from the front table. A letter addressed to herself lay on the top. Her older sister, Liz, had been a dreadful correspondent ever since her marriage had foundered and she had left two years ago on a working holiday in Australia and New Zealand. Janet’s paralysed brain finally began functioning again as she registered the postmark on the letter. ‘Actually,’ she told Sharlene a little faintly, ‘I’m thinking of going away. I might go and visit my sister in New Zealand.’
‘Good idea!’ Sharlene sounded very enthusiastic. ‘Anyway, I suppose you really rang to talk to Jamie, seeing as you didn’t know I was here. He’s in the bath but I’ll go and drag him out if you like.’
‘No, don’t bother.’ The thought of Sharlene in the same room as a naked James McFadden made Janet feel sick. ‘It was nothing important. ‘Bye, Sharlene.’
The letter from Sharlene arrived a few days later. She wanted the rest of her possessions sent on. It was important, she said, to get properly settled now that a baby was on the way. They would need to move after the wedding because the flat would be too crowded and she didn’t fancy hauling a pram up the stairs. Sharlene hoped Janet would enjoy the southern hemisphere.
The notion born of desperation took firmer root very quickly. Janet was four months pregnant when she left Scotland to join her sister. Liz was eight years older than Janet. She was also a nurse and had taken over the role of a parent when their mother had died ten years ago. She was only too happy to take her younger sister under her wing again, supporting her through her pregnancy and the early delivery of her two tiny sons. Liz continued to support Janet until the twins were nearly two, until Janet persuaded the immigration authorities to let her stay in the country permanently to raise her New Zealand-born children and grant her New Zealand citizenship. Until she landed a job as a practice nurse in a thriving general practice clinic. Then her older sister’s itchy feet got the better of her. Liz left to take a position as a nurse on a cruise liner, confident that Janet was now content and capable of coping with her new life.
Janet had been content. She had been coping extremely well. Right up until two days ago when Jamie McFadden had reappeared. How could he even remotely expect her to trust him? And how dared he act as though he’d been the injured party? No wonder Janet didn’t trust men any more. Not on a personal level.
Not on any level as far as James McFadden was concerned.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘GOOD morning, Janet.’
‘Good morning, Jamie.’ Janet gave him only a brief glance before returning her gaze to the new batch of test results in front of her. Maybe he would take the hint from her deliberate coolness that she didn’t want his company right now. In fact, she could do without it altogether. But Jamie seemed oblivious. So much for the old telepathy. He stood beside her—close beside her—and began reading the result forms over her shoulder.
‘Who’s Gareth Kelly?’ he asked with interest.
‘One of Josh’s patients.’ Janet moved her arm so that it wasn’t in contact with the leather jacket Jamie had yet to discard for the morning. ‘He had a raised cholesterol level and his blood pressure’s been a bit high recently so Josh sent him in for these glucose tolerance tests. He’s at risk for diabetes.’
‘So I see.’ Jamie leaned closer, reading the figures. ‘What was his cholesterol level like?’
Janet picked up the sheaf of results still awaiting filing from last week and flipped through them. ‘Total cholesterol was 6.5. HDL was 0.8. Ratio of 8 to 1.’
‘Hmm. The HDL needs to come up a bit. What’s his weight like?’
‘Too high.’
‘Does he smoke?’
‘No.’
‘Any family history of heart disease?’
‘His father died at sixty-five with a heart attack.’
‘What average is his blood pressure running at?’
‘One-eighty over one-oh-five.’
Jamie was staring at Janet. ‘How do you know all that? You’re not even looking at his file.’
Janet shrugged. ‘I’ve seen him a few times. Maybe I have a good memory.’ She gave Jamie a pointed look. Her memory was excellent and wasn’t confined to patient details.
Jamie’s gaze was admiring. ‘I’m impressed.’
‘Do you want me to make an appointment for you to see Mr
Kelly? I’ll have to ring him this morning to let him know the results of this test.’
‘Is he on any medication at present?’
‘No. He’s not keen on starting a drug regime. He thinks he might be able to cure himself with a good diet and some exercise.’
Jamie looked thoughtful. ‘His blood pressure needs treating. I wouldn’t want to start him with a diuretic in case the medication tipped him into having full diabetes. I think I’d put him on a beta blocker and possibly add in an ACE inhibitor. He might need some lipid-lowering agents as well if a change in diet isn’t effective on the cholesterol level.’
Janet nodded. ‘So you’d like to talk to him?’
‘Yes. Make an appointment, please, Janet.’ Jamie smiled at her. ‘I’ve got a Mrs Harvey to see first this morning. What clues would your fantastic memory provide about her?’
‘She’s in her eighties, is on a beta blocker for hypertension and takes aspirin because she had a heart attack about nine years ago. She has trouble with her feet—probably gout.’
Jamie was back at the door of the treatment room ten minutes later. He winked at Janet. ‘Could you take a blood test to measure Mrs Harvey’s serum uric acid levels, please?’
‘Certainly.’ Janet tried to keep her tone coolly professional but it was hard not to feel satisfied that her guess had been correct. ‘Come in, Mrs Harvey. This won’t take long.’
Janet saw two more patients, before taking a break for a cup of tea at 10.30 a.m. Oliver was in the staffroom. So was Jamie.
‘At least it’s not too busy just now,’ Oliver was saying as Janet entered. ‘I’m sorry to land the extra patients on you, Jamie. Maybe Sophie will be well enough to come in this afternoon. She’s planning a quick visit to the hospital to check on Mr Collins and our pregnant gypsy, Pagan Ellis.’
‘I’ll cope.’ Janet saw the gratitude in Oliver’s expression as Jamie smiled at him.
‘You’re a champion, mate.’ Oliver grinned. ‘Maybe you’d like to consider staying on. At the rate we’re going, Sophie’s going to need some rather extended maternity leave.’
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