He dug his shoulder into the door and blocked her attempt to escape.
‘Just a minute. Who told you that?’
She winced at his persistence and raised her head. ‘The only man who would know.’ She pulled the doorhandle again and it rattled against him. ‘Now, let me out of here.’
Rohan was trying to fathom how she could have gained such a ridiculous idea and he didn’t budge. ‘The ex-fiancé? He said you weren’t a real woman?’
Abbey whipped around and faced him. Her eyes were incandescent with anger and he thought she’d never looked more beautiful. Beautiful—but he was glad there wasn’t a weapon in the small room or he’d be dead on the floor.
‘Do you mind?’ She glowered and slapped the door. ‘If you don’t open this door, I’ll scream and Michelle will open it for me.’
He stepped back but his words followed her as she left. ‘You’re a flesh-and-blood woman all right, and I can prove it to you.’
Rohan followed Abbey up the hall and Michelle popped her head out of the nursery. ‘What’s going on out here?’
‘Abbey couldn’t open the change-room door.’ He consoled himself with the half-truth and kept going.
Abbey was in the corner of her office, typing away like an enraged woodpecker at the computer, and he hesitated as he looked in. He didn’t want to leave her like this but she probably needed some space after the last few minutes. His brain was still reeling.
‘I’ll be in my rooms if you want me.’ He spoke to her back. She didn’t answer and he couldn’t help his parting comment. ‘I bet it was his fault and not yours.’
Abbey heard his footsteps walk away and her fingers slowed and then stilled. Where on earth was her brain when that man was around? She couldn’t believe she’d blurted those things out. Things she hadn’t told a soul about in ten years, and she’d handed them to him on a platter. Maybe she should take a week’s holiday until Scott came back because she doubted whether she’d be able to see Rohan Roberts without blushing for a long time.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have that leeway. Five minutes later Abbey heard the door open and the unmistakable sound of a woman in labour. She rose to her feet and met Michelle at the desk as the nurse responded to the same sense of urgency as Abbey.
Abbey’s first impression of the woman’s abdomen size made her accept that Rohan probably needed to be there.
‘Grab the wheelchair, please, Michelle.’ She took the bag the blonde woman was carrying and glanced up the hallway to see if anyone else was with her as Michelle pushed the wheelchair up behind her and helped the woman into the chair.
‘Have you booked in yet?’ Preprepared admission notes could be invaluable here.
‘No. My name is Kerriann Sears and my husband is overseas with his work.’ Big blue eyes looked at Abbey for reassurance. ‘My baby isn’t due yet.’
Michelle pushed the wheelchair into the birthing suite and Abbey tried to get as much information as she could before the next contraction. ‘I’m Abbey and this is Michelle. How many weeks pregnant are you, Kerriann?’ Abbey flipped the cover off the bed and plumped up the pillows.
Kerriann stepped out of the chair and carefully across to the bed before her face grimaced with the next contraction as she lay down. ‘Thirty-two weeks on Thursday,’ she panted. ‘This is my first baby. Is this labour?’
‘Looks like it to me.’ Abbey nodded sympathetically and held the young woman’s hand while she breathed through the contraction. ‘What time did this start?’ Abbey asked and glanced at the clock.
‘I’ve had pains in my back since last night but these pains in the front came about an hour ago and they’re really close now.’ Kerriann winced as another contraction started.
Abbey nodded at Michelle. ‘Get Rohan on his mobile. We might catch him before he leaves his car. I want him back here. Tell him Kerriann is thirty-one plus weeks and in established labour. I’ll put an intravenous line in if you do a delivery set-up just in case.’
Abbey pulled her IV trolley across to the bed. ‘Have your waters broken, Kerriann?’
‘No, but I do have some pressure down there.’ Abbey weighed up the risks of a vaginal examination with the disadvantages of waiting until Rohan came. ‘We’ll just hope your cervix hasn’t started to open yet and will spare us some time to give you drugs to help turn off the contractions. I’ll need to put a drip in your arm so we can give you medications as we need to.’
Kerriann nodded and Abbey applied the tourniquet and felt for a vein. ‘Doctor has only just left and will be back in a couple of minutes.’
Kerriann bit her lip. ‘What if I’m ready to have my baby before the doctor comes and the drugs start to work?’
Abbey understood her fear. ‘I don’t think you are, but if baby is that close we can only catch him or her anyway. Sometimes they’re just determined to come. Ideally, we’d like to at least slow your labour for twenty-four hours so that baby could have some cortisone to help mature his or her little lungs before they have to start breathing.’
Abbey went on. ‘Thirty-one or thirty-two weeks is early but most early babies are fine for the first hour and that’s enough time for us to get the neonatal experts here. Most little ones that age do really well but there may be more than a few weeks of ups and downs in a bigger hospital than this before you can take your baby home.’
Rohan arrived and Abbey felt her face stiffen as he glanced around the room and then at Abbey. ‘Hello, everyone.’ His eyes twinkled at Abbey’s frozen look. ‘Did you miss me?’ Abbey stared expressionlessly back and Michelle grinned, oblivious to the undercurrents. Rohan didn’t wait for an answer.
He moved across to the bed to Kerriann and his voice softened. ‘Hi. I’m Dr Roberts. I hear your baby is impatient to meet you.’ Abbey pulled the sheet down to expose Kerriann’s abdomen for Rohan to do a palpation to establish the position of the baby.
‘Well, at least your baby is coming head first.’ He smiled at Kerriann. ‘A lot of babies come bottom first at this stage of pregnancy.’ He took the gloves from Abbey for the internal examination. ‘Let’s see where you’re up to.’
Nobody spoke until after Rohan had finished and removed his gloves. He sat on the edge of the bed and took Kerriann’s hand in his to provide what comfort he could.
‘You’re four centimetres or nearly half-dilated so you’ll have your baby some time soon.’ Abbey and Michelle exchanged a glance. ‘Which means we won’t be able to stop your labour, but we’ll try to slow it down and get you to a bigger hospital before baby is born.’
His voice lowered. ‘Scientists haven’t been able to make a humidicrib as good as your uterus and that’s the best way to transport tiny babies.’ He smiled and Kerriann tremulously smiled back.
‘There is a special retrieval team called the newborn emergency transfer service that comes up from Newcastle or Sydney if the air ambulance can’t get you down there before you deliver. We’ll just have to wait and see how much time we have as we get things organised.’
He stood up and nodded in approval at the IV line ready to start. ‘We’ll put up the Ventolin to try and slow the contractions and give the first dose of Celestone Chronodose intramuscularly to mature baby’s lungs and hope for at least twelve hours’ grace.’
He looked at Abbey. ‘I’ll get on to NETS if you can try the air ambulance.’
Kerriann’s eyes were filled with fear and the shine of tears, and Abbey could see she was overwhelmed by the situation she found herself in. What a horrible time for her husband to be away.
Abbey felt so sorry for her as she loaded the IV flask with the Ventolin and commenced the infusion. ‘This medication may make your heart race and you’ll feel a bit shaky, too.’
She drew up the Celestone. ‘Plus…’ she waved the syringe ‘…I need to give you an injection in your bottom now to help mature your baby’s lungs. Is that OK? This medication encourages your baby’s lungs to produce a substance called surfactant that stops his or her lungs from
sticking together and makes them function better when they have to work.’
‘OK but I hate needles.’ Kerriann cringed.
‘So do I,’ said Abbey cheerfully, and Kerriann smiled reluctantly as she rolled over.
When Kerriann was comfortable again, Abbey asked, ‘Are your parents somewhere close that they can come to be with you?’ Kerriann needed someone of her own to be with her and Abbey was happy to ring anyone.
‘My mother lives at Willstown but I haven’t seen her since she married her second husband last year. He’s a horrible man. I keep telling her to leave him.’
Abbey frowned at the undercurrents in her patient’s voice. ‘Would you like Michelle to ring her or even give you the phone so you can talk to her?’
Kerriann bit her lip. ‘We could try but he probably won’t let her come and she always does what he tells her.’
Abbey nodded at Michelle. ‘We’ll just have to figure out a way to get her here. Michelle is pretty good at diplomacy.’ Michelle came across and sat where Rohan had been and Abbey squeezed Kerriann’s hand. ‘I have to nip out to the desk to make some phone calls to organise your transfer to Newcastle and Michelle will use this phone and try and wangle your mum here for you.’
Kerriann bit her lip and nodded. ‘I hope so.’
Abbey leaned closer to Michelle. ‘Be as devious as you have to, Michelle. Use my name if you want or anything else you think might help. She needs her mum.’
During the next hour Kerriann’s labour slowed a little with the drugs, which was lucky because it took that long to arrange for the air ambulance and liaison between the two hospitals. Rohan was able to be fairly confident that she’d be safely transferred to Newcastle before her baby was born.
Kerriann’s mother only just made it before the air ambulance crew landed and Michelle, who went with Kerriann and Rohan to the airport, said it was worth the effort and cajolery to see the two women draw strength from each other for even that short a time.
When Rohan and Michelle came back from the airport, Rohan looked at Abbey several times as if he wanted to say something, but he held his peace. Abbey heaved a sigh of relief when he was paged to the other side of the hospital.
Abbey surveyed the disarray of the equipment left over from the morning. At least she had something to take her mind off her discussion with Rohan as she and Michelle cleaned up, she thought, and then remembered Trevor. She’d put off speaking to Kayla about her visitor because Abbey herself had been in no fit state to talk to anyone after the discussion in the change room.
Reluctantly she set off down the hallway to see Kayla and she hoped the girl wouldn’t consider a life with her baby’s father.
When she entered the side ward, Kayla had her back against the wall with her baby in her arms. Somehow Trevor had sneaked in. He’d caged Kayla in, with a hand on either side of her head on the wall so that she couldn’t get away. Kayla was crying.
Abbey’s anger at such bullying blocked any rational thought for her own safety. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Abbey’s voice was like a whiplash and Trevor jumped and spun around.
His eyes stared at Abbey with unblinking ferocity and his head wobbled from side to side with menace.
‘Back off, lady,’ he snarled. ‘This is none of your business. I already have a score to settle with you.’
Abbey refused to be cowed, though she could feel the shudder of fear creeping around the edges of her control. Trevor looked to be under the influence of more than alcohol and to try and reason with him would be useless. She felt for the cardiac arrest alarm beside the doorframe and mentally shrugged at the confusion it was going to cause on the other side of the hospital when she pressed it.
Firmly, Abbey’s fingers depressed the button and the alarm light outside Kayla’s room door flashed on and off in time with the monotone buzz that echoed throughout the hospital in one second pulses.
She didn’t care if the whole hospital came with a cardiac arrest trolley as long as they could get Kayla away from this madman. Abbey hoped he didn’t know what the sound was.
‘Leave this ward at once, Trevor,’ she said, and took a step towards him to keep his attention on her.
He left Kayla and her baby to swagger menacingly across the room towards Abbey. Abbey flicked a glance at Kayla and inclined her head to encourage the girl to shift well out of his range.
Kayla nodded and slowly slid her bottom along the wall towards her bed, clutching her baby against her breast.
Trevor narrowed his eyes and curled his lip. ‘And what if I don’t?’
A chill of fear trickled down Abbey’s back and she hoped the cavalry would hurry, but she held his look unflinchingly. ‘Then you’ll be thrown out.’
‘You and whose army? What if I don’t let you out of this room?’ he taunted, just as the bottom door of Maternity was flung open and the thunder of almost a dozen pairs of feet ran down the corridor.
Abbey stepped back into the hallway in front of them and called, ‘In here.’
The look on Trevor’s face almost brought a smile to Abbey’s mouth as Rohan, in front of two other doctors, six nurses and two wardsmen, surged into the room.
Rohan headed straight for Abbey and she nodded that she was all right.
‘It’s more of a house arrest than a cardiac arrest but thanks for coming, everyone.’ She pointed at Trevor. ‘This man is a threat to my patient and he’s refused to leave.’
Rohan and the wardsmen backed Trevor into a corner until he cowered into a chair.
‘We do all kinds of arrests,’ Rohan said, and though his voice was light the steel in his eyes had cowed braver men than Trevor. He went to the nearest phone, spoke into it briefly, and came back to Abbey. ‘The police will be here in a few minutes.’ He looked again at Trevor and then sat on a spare chair. ‘We’ll wait.’
After the police had taken Trevor, Rohan had to return to the other side of the hospital, but he promised to return as soon as he could.
Abbey sat on the bed with Kayla. ‘You will have to do something more official to keep him away, Kayla.’
Kayla’s face was white with distress and Abbey hugged her.
‘I know,’ Kayla said. ‘The policeman has begun an apprehended violence order for me and it’s time Trevor left us alone for good.’ She looked at Abbey. ‘I’m sorry it happened here, Abbey.’
Abbey shrugged. ‘This is a much better place for it to happen than when you’re somewhere on your own or even at home. Sometimes things work out for the best.’
‘Would it be too much trouble if I went home with you this afternoon instead of tomorrow? I feel really well, it’s not as if I had a long labour to get over or anything.’ Kayla’s voice was diffident and Abbey couldn’t blame her for wanting to leave the hospital.
‘That’s fine. Rohan hasn’t checked Sophia yet but he can do that when you’re at home. I finish at three so you have plenty of time to get organised. I’ll ring Aunt Sophie and let them know.’
Later, after fielding a dictatorial phone call from Rohan about ensuring her safety and retelling the story at afternoon handover, Abbey was glad to take Kayla and Sophia and head for home.
She had to admit that the rest of the morning had put her own embarrassment back in perspective. Mortification because of what she’d told Rohan was nothing compared to what Kerriann and Kayla had to worry about.
Abbey decided to put her previous conversation with Rohan out of her mind. Hopefully, he would forget it, too.
CHAPTER SEVEN
WHEN Rohan knocked on Abbey’s door just after seven that night, he remembered she hadn’t been sleeping well. Hopefully, she hadn’t taken herself off to bed early.
Since his mother had died, he hadn’t put himself out to help someone just for the sake of helping, but he would never forget Abbey if he abandoned her in this state. Well, that was the story he’d told himself as he’d prepared to come over.
It really was beyond his comprehension that Abbey believed she woul
d always disappoint a man sexually, and her fears still had him shaking his head. For someone so confident in every other area, Abbey vulnerable about her femininity was something no one would have guessed.
Rohan knew he wasn’t the man for her, he wasn’t worthy of her, but if he could make her see how wonderful she was and how much she had to offer the man who did deserve her love, then he’d have achieved one worthwhile thing while he’d been here. And he enjoyed the time he spent with Abbey.
When the door opened, Abbey looked more weary than he’d ever seen her. She grimaced and for a minute there he wondered if she’d slam the door in his face.
She sighed. ‘Hello, Rohan.’
It wasn’t the most enthusiastic greeting he’d ever had but he’d take it.
‘Hi, Abbey.’ He held up a bottle of champagne and a punnet of strawberries. ‘Peace offering. I’m sorry I bullied you today in the change room.’ She didn’t say anything and he tried again. ‘Apart from which, it was a pretty huge day and I’d like to share a drink with you.’
She sighed again but stepped back to allow him to enter. He looked around the large hallway with doors leading off it and a staircase that curved up to the next floor’s landing. He hadn’t taken much notice when he’d come the day that Kayla’s baby had been born and the house was larger than he’d thought. To his surprise, apart from the drone of horse-racing commentary in the distance, there was no one about.
‘Come through into my study. You can join Clive and me in front of the fire,’ Abbey said.
Rohan felt like slapping himself on the forehead. Of course she’d have some male friends. He mentally shrugged away his unreasonable disappointment and entered the room to find it empty as well—except for a large German shepherd that rose on his haunches and bared his not-inconsiderable teeth as Rohan came into the room.
‘Sit, Clive,’ Abbey said as she lifted a pile of nursing magazines off the only other chair in front of the fire. ‘Sit, Dr Roberts,’ she said with a mocking smile, and Rohan and Clive both sat. ‘I’ll get two glasses and a dish for the strawberries.’
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