Isaac returned to his pizza, adding another mushroom to Edward’s brow to indicate a stray lock of hair, leaving Edward to contemplate the essential differences between himself and Charlotte and thank his lucky stars that Isaac hadn’t asked him to enumerate them.
The evening was warm, and while the pizzas baked in the oven Edward opened the French doors onto the patio, spreading a cloth on the table and unstacking the chairs. They ate together in the evening sunshine, and as the shadows lengthened Isaac was allowed to get down from the table. Edward fetched a ball for him to play football in the garden.
‘Mind the flowers, sweetie.’
Charlotte was down on her knees, her arms around her son, talking quietly to him the way she did when she had anything serious to say.
‘You can play there, on the lawn, but don’t kick the ball too hard.’
It didn’t matter. Isaac could have flattened every last one of the flowers in his garden and Edward wouldn’t have cared. But Charlotte was his mother, and she wanted to teach him respect for the things around him, so Edward said nothing.
‘How are you doing?’ As the daylight failed the light in her eyes seemed to fail as well. The effort of getting through today was beginning to tell on her.
She smiled at him. ‘I’m fine, thank you.’ Her gaze shot back towards Isaac as the ball veered close to the flowerbeds and he ran to pick it up. ‘You’ve been such a star, Edward.’
Warmth suffused the whole of his body. Edward made a difference every day. The complex surgery he performed had the power to change people’s lives, and it would be false modesty to claim that he didn’t do it well. He wouldn’t do it if he didn’t believe that he excelled at it. But that was different. Somehow making just the slightest difference in Charlotte’s life had the power to move him more than the considerable satisfaction he got from his job.
‘I might see if Isaac wants a hand with the football in a moment.’
Her laugh was sweet and clear. Closer to the laugh that had filtered into his consciousness more than once at work, jolting him suddenly out of whatever he was doing.
‘If he thinks he’s got someone to play football with he won’t give you a moment’s peace. I don’t want to keep you from anything else...’
The books would still be there tomorrow. So would the paper he was writing. This moment would be gone.
Edward stood, rolled up his shirtsleeves and prepared to take on the simple intricacies of the Beautiful Game.
* * *
She had put Isaac to bed and only returned downstairs for long enough to bid him goodnight. Edward knew why, and he hated it. She’d faced the day, but now she needed to fall apart—and she was determined to do that alone.
He spent a miserable hour trying to review the notes of a young surgeon he was mentoring, and then climbed the stairs. He could hear a quiet, muffled sound coming from Charlotte’s room. She was crying.
Should he tap on her door?
No. Late in the evening, her bedroom, offering solace... Things didn’t get much more hazardous than that. He’d have to comfort her, take her into his arms, perhaps. Feel the softness of her body against his own taut, screaming frame. It wasn’t a good idea. On the other hand just carrying on along the hallway and going to bed was impossible.
Edward sank to the floor at the top of the stairs. Waited. If he couldn’t console her, the least he could do was watch over her—even if she’d never know he’d been there.
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHARLOTTE GREETED HIM the next morning with hot coffee, toast and a smile. Her capacity to smile never ceased to impress Edward, as did her ability to bounce back from whatever life threw at her.
‘So it’s the Lighthouse this morning.’ She seemed to be looking forward to it.
‘Yes. Sure you’re up to it?’
She’d already had a hell of a week, and it was only Wednesday.
‘Of course.’ She settled into the front seat of his car. ‘Why? Do you have any concerns?’
‘No. I think it’s a great idea for you to come and talk to Mercy before she’s transferred over into the clinic’s care. I wish I’d thought of it myself.’
He had, actually. He just hadn’t been quite sure how to broach the subject. When Leo Hunter had suggested it, Edward’s concerns that he might be seen to be favouring Charlotte above any of the other nurses had been put to rest.
‘Lizzie didn’t tell me much about Mercy. Just that she was very frightened about being in the hospital, and it took the nurses there a long time to calm her.’
‘Yes, it did. That’s why you’ll be with her for all the procedures that we’re going to do at the clinic. So that she’s always got a familiar face to reassure her.’
She smiled. Mercy was going to love that smile.
‘I’ll do my best for her.’
Charlotte snapped into work mode as soon as they entered the doors of the hospital, following quietly behind him, listening carefully to everything that was said. Edward stopped at the nurses’ station and caught the attention of a trainee nurse who seemed to have nothing to do.
‘Will you get me Mercy’s notes, please?’
The nurse jumped to attention, handing him the file. ‘She had a good night last night. Woke up a few times, but she wasn’t crying the way she did before.’
‘Good. This is Charlotte King. She’s going to be looking after Mercy when she comes to the Hunter Clinic.’ He squinted at the nurse’s name badge, because he couldn’t for the life of him remember her name. ‘Charlotte, this is Kendra.’
Charlotte ignored Kendra’s dismissive look and stepped forward. ‘Hi, Kendra. It’s good to hear that Mercy’s been so well looked after here.’
Kendra sniffed, obviously feeling that her role as a very junior nurse at one of the best children’s hospitals in the country made her in some way superior to Charlotte. She had a lot to learn.
‘You’re a qualified nurse?’
‘Yes, I’m an RN. Working towards being a Nurse Practitioner,’ Charlotte replied quietly. She didn’t seem to mind Kendra’s attitude, however much it rankled with Edward.
‘Charlotte!’ A voice behind them made her turn. ‘How good to see you—how are you?’
The senior nurse who greeted Charlotte obviously knew her well. Kendra realised her mistake and disappeared out of range as quickly as she could, followed by a small smirk of satisfaction from Edward.
‘So how’s Isaac?’ Sandra Morton gave Edward a brief nod and then turned back to Charlotte.
‘Oh, growing up. He’s going to school now.’
‘Really? Yes, I suppose he must be. He was such a cute baby. And how’s Peter?’
A small pause.
Edward wasn’t sure whether he should intervene or not, and decided that Charlotte was perfectly capable of handling the situation herself. Much better than he could, probably. He started to leaf through Mercy’s notes.
‘Actually, I haven’t seen him for a while. He left.’
‘No! But he was such a nice guy—’ Sandra stopped herself. ‘Obviously not.’
‘It just didn’t work out. But everything’s good now.’
‘Great. I hear you’re working at the Hunter Clinic?’
‘That’s right. I’m here with Mr North to see one of your patients.’
‘Ah, Mercy. Well, I’m glad to see that you’ll be looking after her. The kid’s had a bad time, and she deserves the best.’
Charlotte grinned. ‘She’ll get it. Just as she has here.’
Sandra nodded. There was clearly a great deal of mutual esteem between the two women and it warmed Edward to see Charlotte being treated with the respect she deserved.
‘Well, I’d better get going. Call me some time—or I’ll call you. Maybe we can go out one evening?’
&nb
sp; ‘Yes. It’s good to see you, Sandra.’
Charlotte turned back to Edward, and he flipped a page in the notes in front of him.
‘You can stop pretending to read now...’ She leaned towards him, whispering.
‘What makes you say that?’
‘Your eyes aren’t moving.’
Fair enough. Edward hadn’t thought that anyone would notice that he was staring at the same word on the page in front of him, listening to what the women were saying.
‘I know what it says, anyway.’ He snapped the notes shut.
‘Can you fill me in on Mercy’s history? Before we go to see her?’
‘Yes, sure.’ Edward looked at the sign above the door of the conference room and saw that it was empty. ‘Let’s go in here.’
He sat down, and Charlotte took a seat opposite him. He’d seen her at the clinic, and he knew that she was great at her job, but she always made it seem so natural. This change in context let him see just how professional she was.
‘We don’t know much about Mercy’s background. She’s thirteen years old, an orphan, and was clearly fending for herself for a while before being picked up by one of the charities working in the area. They’ve found a new adoptive family for her, back in Africa, and by all accounts she’s very happy with them. She’s been going to school and doing well.’
‘Sounds good so far. Have they accompanied her to the UK?’
‘No, she’s staying with a foster family. I’ve spoken with the mother and she seems to be doing an excellent job. The problem is that Mercy doesn’t want to talk about what happened to her before she was taken in by the charity.’
‘So you’ve not been able to take a detailed medical history?’
‘Yes and no. We know what’s the matter with her, but I’d like to know what caused some of her problems as well. For instance, she has a perforated eardrum.’
‘Hmm... Not usually a result of trauma. Although it sounds like a good probability in this case.’
Charlotte pressed her lips together in thought, and Edward ignored the little thrill of pleasure that seemed to accompany all his dealings with her.
‘Your first objective is just to let her get to know you, though. See if you can reassure her so that she feels she’s got a friend at the Hunter Clinic. Any information you can get is a bonus.’
‘Okay. What else do I need to know?’
‘She’s here for surgery on a healed Buruli Ulcer.’
‘That’s a bacterial infection, isn’t it?’
Edward nodded, pleased that Charlotte wasn’t slow in asking for more information when she needed it. ‘Yes, that’s right. A Buruli Ulcer is relatively easy to treat when it’s caught early, but if it’s not—as was the case here—patients can develop large ulcers which result in disabilities and restricted joint movement as the scars heal. In Mercy’s case there was a contracture which had multiple joint involvements—hand, wrist and elbow.’
He scrunched his own arm up to demonstrate the way that Mercy’s arm and hand had been folded tightly in on themselves and Charlotte winced.
‘Poor kid. It must have hurt like nothing I can imagine.’
‘She’s been through a lot. But the operation to straighten the limb, grafting in new material where necessary, was a success.’
‘You did it?’
‘Yes.’
That warmth again, as if her smile were caressing him. Pride because she cared that it had been Edward who had carried out the precise skin and muscle grafts which would restore some of the movement in Mercy’s arm and hand.
‘How much mobility will she recover?’
He shook his head. ‘Difficult to say at this stage. But the prognosis is good, and if she keeps her physiotherapy up she should do well. That’s another thing I want you to look at. She needs to be committed to this, and to understand how important it is for her to continue the things that she’s being taught when she goes home.’
‘Right. Okay, then. So I’m working on her heart, not her medical condition.’
‘Primarily. Although she’s going to need nurse-led care at the Hunter Clinic and you’ll be providing that.’
If anyone could do it, Charlotte could.
* * *
When Edward ushered Charlotte into Mercy’s room she wasn’t quite sure what to expect. She found that Edward hadn’t been quite honest with her.
The girl’s face lit up when Edward smiled at her. ‘Hello, Mercy. How are you today?’
‘I am well, Dr Edward.’
‘I’m pleased to hear that. I’ve brought someone to see you.’
Mercy’s dark eyes never left Edward’s face. If he reckoned that his quiet kindness hadn’t got through to her, then he was fooling himself. Charlotte began to wonder what she was doing here. Edward had clearly underestimated his own capacity to reassure the girl.
There was tenderness in his eyes as he spoke again. ‘Nurse Charlotte is going to look after you when you come to see me at the clinic. She’s come to meet you.’
Mercy gave Charlotte a small nod.
‘I’ll...um...leave you, then.’ Edward seemed suddenly at a loss as to what to do next.
‘No. Please stay. Just for a few minutes.’
Charlotte didn’t share Edward’s conviction that she could gain Mercy’s confidence instantly, through some magical process that he knew nothing about.
She pulled up a chair and sat down next to Mercy’s bed. ‘It’s nice to meet you, Mercy. I hope that I can be your friend.’
Mercy nodded again, clearly deciding to adopt a wait-and-see policy. Charlotte was going to have to prove herself, but that was okay.
‘I’ve brought you some pictures of my family.’ She had photographs in her bag—of herself with Isaac when he was a baby, together with some more recent ones, and some precious images of her parents. ‘Would you like to see them?’
‘Yes.’
That was a start. Charlotte began with the picture of Isaac. ‘This is my son. His name is Isaac, and he was born on a Saturday.’
Mercy studied the picture carefully. ‘Then in my country he would be called Kwame.’
Edward’s curiosity got the better of him and he leaned forward. ‘For Saturday?’
‘Yes.’
‘I was born on a Friday.’
Mercy smiled. ‘Nurse Efie.’
Charlotte grinned. ‘That’s a lovely name. Thank you for telling me. What’s yours?’
‘Abena. My English name is Mercy.’
‘You have a lovely smile, Mercy Abena.’
* * *
Charlotte had been alone with Mercy for almost an hour when Edward’s phone beeped. He checked the text which had just arrived and made for Mercy’s room. Charlotte was waiting for him outside the door.
‘Thanks for coming so quickly.’ She looked nervous, moving her weight slightly from one foot to the other.
‘You said “asap”.’
Charlotte wasn’t one of those people who peppered all of her communications with either ‘asap’ or ‘urgent’. When she said it, she meant it.
‘I’ve noticed something...about Mercy.’ She seemed almost reticent to tell him.
‘Right. What have you seen?’
‘It may be nothing...’
‘What have you seen, Charlotte?’
She took a breath and seemed to loosen up slightly. ‘We were talking together, getting on fine, and then all of a sudden she seemed to zone out. It only lasted for a little over ten seconds.’
He nodded, turning the various possibilities over in his mind. ‘The nurses have said that she seems very withdrawn sometimes. Do you think it could just be her mental state?’
‘Maybe.’ She clasped her hands together—a small, nervous gesture. ‘It do
esn’t feel like that to me.’
‘Okay. What does it feel like?’ This wasn’t his normal method of diagnosis, but he was willing to give Charlotte the space to prove him wrong.
‘I think she may be having Absence Seizures.’
‘Epilepsy?’
Charlotte nodded. ‘Her eyes rolled back, very briefly, and her eyelids fluttered a little. I leant forward and put my hand on her arm and she didn’t react. Afterwards she didn’t seem to have any recollection of what had happened.’
‘That was quick thinking. Well done.’ Most people would have attributed a short period of absence to being the daydream of a teenager, far from home and trying to block out what was happening around her.
‘I could be wrong. I looked on her notes and no one else has reported anything like this.’
Edward shrugged. ‘Which just means you’re a bit more observant than the rest of us.’
It wasn’t only that. Charlotte had a habit of looking at people when she talked to them, giving them her full attention. Until he’d met her he hadn’t realised just how few people really did that.
She flushed pink with pleasure. ‘So you’ll take a look at her? Ask her about it?’
‘Nope.’ He turned towards Mercy’s door, twisting the handle. ‘You’re going to do that. I’ll watch and learn.’
She was cheerful and relaxed with Mercy, as if nothing had happened, sitting down by her bed and motioning Edward to do the same. Charlotte worked her way round to the subject of the seizure quickly, but deftly, as if it was just another routine set of questions which had to be asked.
‘When we were talking together just now you seemed to lose me for a moment. Dr Edward and I would like to ask you about that, if it’s all right with you?’
‘There is...nothing.’ The sudden look of hostility in Mercy’s eyes spoke far louder than her words.
‘I’m sure there isn’t. But can we ask, all the same?’
Charlotte leaned towards Mercy, a look of gentle encouragement on her face, and Mercy shrugged.
‘Okay, then. Well, you seemed not to hear or see me for a little while. Has that happened to you before?’
Mercy’s gaze flipped sullenly from Charlotte to Edward, then back again.
200 Harley Street: The Enigmatic Surgeon Page 8
