The Consultant's Adopted Son

by Jennifer Taylor

  He felt in his inside pocket and pulled out a thick brown envelope. ‘There is five thousand pounds in here, and it’s yours if you give me your word that you won’t make any attempt to reply to his letter.’

  He placed the envelope in the centre of the table. Rose stared at it in horror. He really thought that he could bribe her into complying with his demands?

  ‘I don’t want your money!’ She shoved the envelope back at him and stood up, feeling the hot sting of tears in her eyes. She blinked them away because she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

  ‘It might surprise you to learn that I can’t be bought off, so please don’t make the mistake of trying this again, Mr Gallagher. I would hate Daniel to know the lengths to which you will go to get what you want.’

  She brushed past him, forcing her way through the crowd that had gathered around the bar. One man tried to grab hold of her as she passed but Rose shrugged him off, ignoring the catcalls that followed her out of the door. She didn’t care what people called her. Foul names couldn’t hurt her; they certainly couldn’t cause the kind of heartache she was currently feeling.

  There was a bus coming along the road so she ran to the stop and flagged it down. She paid her fare and sat down. The bus stopped again to let a car out of the pub’s car park and her heart began to thump when she recognised the driver of the expensive vehicle as Owen Gallagher.

  He glanced around to check the road was clear and Rose’s heart beat even harder when she saw the expression on his face. She had never seen anyone who looked as tortured as he did at that moment. He looked like a man in extremis, and the thought that she was responsible for all that pain was very difficult to bear.

  She sat back in the seat as he drove away. She knew that she’d made herself an enemy that day and it was the last thing she’d wanted to do. She had no idea what would happen now, but one thing was certain: Owen Gallagher would do everything in his power to keep Daniel away from her.

  ‘Sorry about this. I was all set to give you the grand tour when all hell broke loose. There should be an empty locker in here, so once you’ve put your coat away can you come straight through? I’ll have to fill you in as and when I get the chance.’

  Rose sighed as the charge nurse hurried away. Although she was used to the frenetic pace of a busy accident and emergency department, it would have been nice if there’d been time for someone to show her around for a change.

  Opening the staffroom door, she went in and looked around. It was a typical hospital staffroom, from the pile of mugs stacked up on the draining board to the row of metal lockers lined up against the wall. She’d seen hundreds of similar staffrooms since she’d been working for the nursing agency, so she wasn’t sure why the sight depressed her so much that day. Maybe it was because she’d felt so downhearted ever since the night she’d met Owen Gallagher in the pub?

  Rose grimaced as she took off her coat and hung it up in one of the empty lockers. Over a week had passed since that night, yet the memory still weighed heavily on her. Granted, she’d been angry at the way Gallagher had tried to bribe her, but it had been that glimpse of his face as he’d driven away that had bothered her most, surprisingly enough. She didn’t enjoy hurting people even though he had treated her so shabbily. She’d thought about writing to him yet what could she have said? That she hadn’t wanted to upset him? Oh, please!

  Rose’s pretty mouth compressed as she made her way to the treatment area. The charge nurse was on the telephone and she held up her hand when Rose approached her. It was another couple of seconds before she hung up, and Rose could tell immediately that something major was about to happen.

  ‘RTA on its way,’ the charge nurse explained, bustling past her. ‘Multiple casualties, with an ETA of four minutes, so we need to get everything set up. You’ve worked in Resus before, I hope?’

  ‘Many times,’ Rose replied, following the other woman across the foyer. It was just gone seven a.m. and already the waiting room was filling up. Swingeing cuts to health-care budgets had resulted in many of the smaller emergency departments closing their doors. Casualties were brought to central points and St Anne’s was one of the biggest in this part of London. That it was reputed to be one of the best was the reason why she had been so keen to work there.

  ‘I’ve worked in just about every A and E in central London. I’ve also done the extra training required for trauma care,’ she explained as the charge nurse led the way into the resuscitation room, which was where the most critically injured patients were treated.

  ‘Really?’ The other woman looked relieved. ‘Looks like we’ve struck gold for once. I can’t count the number of times we’ve ended up with agency staff who don’t know the first thing about A and E work. At least we’ll be spared our revered boss having an apoplectic fit today…’

  She broke off when a nurse popped her head round the door to warn them the first ambulance had arrived. Turning back to Rose, she said hurriedly, ‘Find out where everything is, can you? Once the patients start arriving, there won’t be time to direct you.’

  Rose took a deep breath as the other nurse hurried away. It wasn’t the first time she’d been dropped in at the deep end, neither would it be the last. Every time she worked at a new hospital she had to acquaint herself with the layout of the department. Just for a second she thought wistfully how wonderful it would be if she had a permanent post to go to each day, before she dismissed the idea. Agency work paid double the salary she could earn in a permanent job, and that had to be the major consideration at the moment.

  She did a quick tour of the room, taking note of where all the supplies were kept. It was obviously a new facility because the equipment was the most modern she’d seen. She cast an admiring glance at the state-of-the-art radiography equipment, which was linked to a sophisticated computer system—there’d be no waiting around for X-ray films to be developed here!

  ‘Male, aged seventeen, with extensive leg injuries.’

  The doors crashed open as the paramedics wheeled in the first patient and Rose ran to help. She listened attentively as they rattled out details about the young man’s BP and oxygen saturation levels, the amount of saline fluid he’d received as well as the drugs that had been administered. Even the smallest detail could turn out to be important, so she made sure that she didn’t miss anything as she positioned herself at the top right corner of the specially adapted trauma bed.

  ‘On my count…one, two…!’

  Rose grabbed a corner of the spinal board when one of the crew started to count and helped to lift the young man off the trolley. The charge nurse was standing at the foot of the bed and she glanced at her.

  ‘Get rid of his clothes, will you? The consultant’s on his way…Ah, speak of the devil. Here he is.’

  Rose looked round as the doors burst open again. She heard the other nurse say something to her but the words seemed to be coming from a distance. All she could see was the man striding towards her: tall and dark, with the kind of cleanly hewn good looks which would appeal to any woman…

  Blood rushed to her head and she swayed. What was Owen Gallagher doing here?

  CHAPTER TWO

  OWEN had never fully appreciated before what the saying about being pole-axed had meant, but he understood it now. It felt as though he’d been riveted to the spot as he stared at Rose Tremayne. What was she doing here? he wondered dazedly. However, before he could attempt to work out the answer, the doors crashed open as the next patient was rushed in.

  ‘Bed two. Suzanne, you take charge. I’ll be with you once I’ve checked this one out.’ Owen snapped back into action, feeling his heart thundering as he strode over to the bed. He didn’t look at Rose as he bent over the young man because he couldn’t afford to let himself get distracted. ‘What do we know so far?’

  ‘Motorcyclist with severe injuries to both legs. GCS of ten on admission.’

  It was Rose who answered, and he felt his skin prickle with awareness when he recog
nised the sweetly husky tones. His mouth thinned as she continued updating him on the patient’s status. There was no way on earth that he was prepared to think of her as an attractive woman. She was a threat to his son and that was all there was to it.

  ‘He needs intubating and I want another line put in, stat! And can someone get rid of those clothes? How the hell can I examine him properly when he’s trussed up in those?’

  He quickly set about intubating the patient, ignoring the fact that everyone had fallen silent. So maybe it wasn’t usual for him to order people around like that, but this wasn’t a usual day, was it? Having Rose Tremayne turn up in his department was something he had never allowed for. He wasn’t sure what she’d hoped to achieve by it, but there was no way he was letting her get anywhere near Daniel if that was what she’d been planning.

  The thought of her duplicity was very hard to swallow and he swore under his breath as he eased the endoctracheal tube down the young man’s throat. Rob Lomax, one of the two registrars who were on duty that day, looked at him in surprise.

  ‘Are you OK, Owen?’

  ‘Fine. I suggest you concentrate on what you’re supposed to be doing instead of worrying about me.’

  Owen ignored the looks the team exchanged at yet another example of his strange mood that day. He would make his peace with them later, after he’d calmed down—if he calmed down, he amended as Rose Tremayne moved around the bed and into his line of sight. What the hell was she doing here?

  The only person who could answer that question was Rose herself, and there was no way he could ask her it at the present moment. He finished intubating while she cut away the young man’s leather jacket and then carried on with his examination, logging up a couple of broken ribs as well as a dislocated shoulder.

  ‘X-rays,’ he rapped out, moving to the bottom of the bed so he could examine the man’s legs, which were a mess. The right tibia was sticking through the flesh and the left foot was twisted at such an odd angle that the ligaments had to be ruptured. It was going to take the orthopaedic team several hours to put this jigsaw back together, he thought grimly as he turned to Beth Humphreys, the senior radiologist.

  ‘Both legs need doing as well as the usual—lateral cervical spine and anteroposterior views of the chest and pelvis. And can you send a copy through to the orthopaedic department so they know what they’ll be dealing with?’

  He moved away after Beth had assured him that she would get straight onto it and went to see how Suzanne was faring. Although the registrar was extremely capable, she tended to doubt her own ability and needed a bit of gentle encouragement at times.

  ‘So what have we got here?’ he asked, standing beside Suzanne because it meant that he had his back to Rose Tremayne. The less he saw of her the better, he thought darkly, then deliberately erased the thought from his mind. If she’d hoped to upset him by turning up here then she was going to be disappointed.

  ‘Jane Robinson, aged fifty-five, presented with severe chest pain. She was a rear-seat passenger in the second vehicle that crashed.’ Suzanne frowned as she looped her stethoscope around her neck. ‘GCS fifteen on admission. Blood gases normal for both oxygenation and acid-base status, and both lungs are clear. There’s no history of cardiac problems, but there’s extensive bruising down the centre of her chest.’

  ‘Right.’ Owen turned to the woman. ‘I’m Owen Gallagher, the consultant in charge of the trauma unit. Were you wearing a seat belt when the accident happened?’

  ‘Yes. My daughter insisted I should wear it…Where is she? Has she been brought in yet? I want to see her…!’

  ‘I’ll get one of the nurses to check,’ he said soothingly. He looked around but everyone appeared to be busy at that moment apart from Rose. He steeled himself and beckoned her over. ‘Can you find out if this lady’s daughter has been admitted yet?’

  ‘Of course.’ She turned to the woman and smiled, and Owen felt his breath catch. Rose Tremayne had the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen, so warm and caring that it felt as though it could melt away any problems one might have had. It obviously had a comforting effect on Mrs Robinson because she immediately calmed down.

  ‘Can you tell me your daughter’s name?’ Rose asked quietly, but he’d prepared himself and the sound of her voice caused only the most minimal reaction this time.

  ‘Shelley…Michelle, I mean. Michelle Robinson.’

  ‘I’ll see what I can find out for you.’

  Rose gave the woman’s hand a gentle squeeze then hurried away. Owen breathed a sigh of relief as she left the resuscitation room. Now that she’d gone he should be able to function on all cylinders again.

  It was alarming to realise the effect she had on him. He tried not to think about it as he turned to the patient. ‘I need to examine you, so try not to worry. I’m sure there will be news of your daughter very shortly.’

  Mrs Robinson didn’t demur as he set about the familiar routine. He frowned when he saw the full extent of the bruising down the centre of her chest. ‘How did this happen? I can see the marks from your seat belt, but I can’t understand where you got these bruises from.’

  ‘It was my own fault,’ Jane Robinson admitted guiltily. ‘Shelley told me to put it in the boot but I didn’t want it getting damaged.’

  ‘Were you holding something on your knee?’ he guessed, gently exploring the area. The bruising extended from just below her collar-bones right down to her waist—following the line of her sternum, in fact. It was possible that she’d broken a rib or two but he wasn’t convinced it was that which was causing her so much pain.

  ‘Well, not on my knee, exactly. It was too heavy for that. I had it propped in the footwell in front of me.’ She sighed. ‘It was a table, you see, with a marble top, and I didn’t want it getting chipped.’

  ‘And when the car crashed you slammed into it?’ Owen said, rapidly putting two and two together.

  ‘Yes. There wasn’t much room with the table in front of me, so even though I was wearing my seat belt, it still rammed right into my chest…’

  She broke off and gulped. Owen frowned when he saw her start struggling for breath. ‘Can you tell me how severe the pain is at this moment?’

  ‘It’s really bad, Doctor, and I can’t seem to breathe properly…’ She suddenly stopped talking and her eyes rolled up into her head. The cardiac monitor started beeping to warn them that there was no output from her heart.

  ‘She’s in VF.’ Owen turned to his registrar. ‘I think it’s a cardiac tamponade—the heart is being compressed because blood is collecting in the pericardium. I’ll need to draw it off to relieve the pressure.’

  ‘You think it’s a fractured rib that’s caused it?’ Suzanne queried, hurrying round the bed.

  ‘More likely to be the sternum. That would explain the severe pain she’s been in. If the sternum has fractured, it could have pierced the pericardium, which is why there’s blood collecting around her heart. She’ll need to go straight to Theatre once we’ve finished. Shock her and give her a shot of adrenaline, but don’t apply external cardiac compression—it will only make matters worse.’

  He left it to Suzanne to resuscitate the woman, knowing that the registrar was perfectly capable of following his instructions. His main concern was to deal with the cause of the patient’s arrest. It took him just a few moments to insert a hollow needle into the woman’s chest and he nodded as he watched the blood gush back into the syringe.

  ‘Just as I thought—cardiac tamponade. The sternum will need wiring up and the pericardium will need repairing, so the cardio team will have to crack open her chest.’

  He drew off another syringe full of blood before Suzanne told him the patient’s heart was beating and they had established sinus rhythm. ‘Good. Get onto the cardio reg and tell him what’s happened,’ he instructed, peeling off his gloves. ‘Make sure he understands how urgent it is. This is one occasion when queue-jumping is absolutely essential.’

  Suzanne made the call, the
n came back to him. ‘I wouldn’t have known what to do if you hadn’t been here. It never occurred to me that it could be a tamponade. I always associate that with a penetrating chest injury. I never considered the possibility that the sternum had fractured and pierced the pericardium even though I could see all that bruising.’

  ‘Don’t be so hard on yourself, Suzanne. There’s a dozen different reasons why she could have arrested. You know that as well as I do.’

  ‘Maybe. But you still managed to come up with the correct diagnosis.’

  Suzanne looked downhearted as she went to meet the paramedics who’d arrived with another casualty. Owen made a note to have a word with her later and went to check on the young man with the leg injuries. Beth had the X-rays on the computer screen and he sighed when he saw the extent of the damage that had been done to the man’s ankle.

  ‘That’s going to take some sorting out. It will be a while before he’ll be able to walk on it. It causes a major problem when ligaments are torn like that.’

  ‘What about his leg?’ Rob queried, coming over to have a look. ‘It’s a real mess.’

  ‘That’s going to take time, too, and it will need external fixation from the look of it. The bone’s in bits just here,’ he explained, pointing to the screen. ‘It will take several weeks to lay down new bone and the biggest problem will be to ensure that the tibia doesn’t shorten in the meantime. That’s why external fixation is the best option.’

  He looked round when he sensed that someone was standing behind him and stiffened when he saw Rose. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Mrs Robinson’s daughter is on her way in. ETA three minutes,’ she told him quietly, then moved away.

  Owen watched her walk over to the bed and it was all he could do not to go after her and demand to know what she was doing there. He’d barely slept since the night he’d met her in the pub. He knew that he’d handled the situation badly by offering her money, but it had been his last resort after everything else had failed. Now he had no idea what she was up to, but he couldn’t accept that it was coincidence that had brought her to his department that day. She was planning something and, whatever it was it would have an impact on Daniel.