The Italian Doctor

by Jennifer Taylor

  Alan would need an operation to remove the embolism if it couldn’t be dissolved with drugs so she decided that his fiancée should be told. She went to the office and phoned the hotel where Beverley Mason was staying. The poor woman was naturally distraught, even though Maggie did her best to reassure her. However, when Beverley announced that she was coming straight to the hospital, she didn’t try to dissuade her. She would have wanted to do the same thing if Luke had been taken ill.

  The thought had barely crossed her mind when there was a knock on the door and the man appeared in person. ‘Hi. Tracy said you were in here phoning Alan Cole’s fiancée. Sounds like you’ve had a fun night.’

  ‘You can say that again!’ It was so good to see him that she had to make a determined effort to act normally. She might be in love with him but that was her problem. It certainly wasn’t one that Luke would wish to share!

  She quickly led the way to the ward. Alice had come back from having her X-ray and she knew that Luke would want to see her. ‘They think Alan might have a pulmonary embolism.’

  ‘It’s always a risk after surgery, which is why a lot of surgeons put patients on prophylactic anticoagulants as a matter of course,’ he said quietly.

  Maggie paused outside the ward. Most of the patients were sleeping peacefully, unaware of the dramas that had been played out that night, and she lowered her voice so as not to disturb them. ‘Alan wasn’t on them, though. It isn’t done as a matter of course here because each case is treated on its own merits.’

  ‘Which is the best way, in my opinion. Oh, there are lots of articles expounding the benefits of anticoagulants being routinely given, but they are usually written by those who have a vested interest, like the drug manufacturers. There is very little research being done to assess the drawbacks.’

  ‘I see. So what are the drawbacks exactly?’ she asked curiously.

  ‘Excessive bleeding, haematoma formation, secondary infection,’ he reeled off. ‘Plus, in some instances, complete failure of a replacement joint. It’s very much a case of trying to weigh up the odds and deciding what to do for the best, I’m afraid. With the benefit of hindsight, Alan might have fared better on anticoagulants, but there again they could have caused other problems. It’s impossible to say for certain.’

  ‘Difficult, isn’t it? I’m glad that I only have to follow the orders and not actually make the decisions,’ she observed lightly, pushing open the door.

  ‘I’m sure you’d do a fine job of it, Maggie.’

  Luke gave her a quick smile then made his way to Alice Bradshaw’s bed. Maggie followed him, waiting quietly while he explained to the old lady that he had seen her X-rays and that she had indeed managed to dislocate the new hip joint and that it would need to be operated on immediately.

  Alice was naturally upset so Maggie stayed to comfort her when Luke left to get ready for Theatre. However, it was impossible to stop her foolish mind from playing back the compliment over and over again.

  She sighed as one of the theatre staff came to fetch Alice. Every word that Luke said to her of a personal nature was becoming increasingly important because that was all she would have after he’d returned to Boston—words and memories. They didn’t seem very much when she longed for so much more.

  Alice came back from Theatre just before three a.m. She was a little groggy from the anaesthetic and still in pain but Maggie suspected that it was neither of those that was upsetting her. Alice was heartbroken about the fact that she had fallen, and for the first time she broke down and cried.

  ‘How am I going to manage if I can’t even go to the toilet on my own? I won’t be able to look after myself, will I? I don’t want to be a burden on my children, so I’ll have to go into a home!’

  She broke into a storm of weeping and Maggie patted her veined hand. ‘I’m sure it won’t come to that, Alice. And even if it did, there are some very good rest homes in the area. I’ve had patients in here who’ve told me how much they enjoy living there.’

  ‘It’s not the same as having your own home with your own things around you, is it? Oh, I’m sure the staff in these places are nice enough but they’re still in charge. They’re the ones who tell you what you can and can’t do.’ Alice refused to be consoled. ‘I don’t want to end up being told when I have to get up or when I should eat my tea, really I don’t!’

  ‘You mustn’t worry about that now. Just concentrate on getting better. You’ve had a nasty shock and what you need more than anything is to rest.’ Maggie smiled at the old lady, wishing there was something more she could say to reassure her. It must be awful, being old and infirm, and scared that you’d have no say in what happened to you.

  She tucked Alice up, hoping that she would sleep, and made a note to tell the sister on the day shift how worried the old lady was. Alice’s children were regular visitors, so maybe it was time they were made aware of their mother’s fears. She had a feeling that Alice had avoided the subject because she hadn’t wanted to worry them.

  Maggie took her break straight after that. It was long overdue and she was glad to get away from the ward for a while. There was no hot food served at night but there were sandwiches so she wouldn’t starve. She had just wrestled open a Cellophane-wrapped packet of rather soggy tuna mayonnaise when Luke appeared with a cup of coffee in his hand.

  ‘Mind if I join you?’ he asked, stopping by her table.

  ‘Of course not,’ she muttered through a mouthful of bread.

  ‘Sorry! Don’t you just hate it when that happens? You take a bite of food and either the phone rings or someone wants to speak to you?’ He grinned as he settled himself on the hard metal chair. ‘It always makes me wish I’d learned sign language!’

  ‘Probably something all doctors and nurses should learn when they go into this profession,’ she replied, having successfully swallowed the piece of sandwich. ‘Apart from anything else, think how useful it would be to be able to confer without a patient knowing what you were saying about them.’

  ‘Especially if it was a difficult patient, one of those people who stretches your self-control to the limit!’

  She laughed at that. ‘Surely the sainted Dr Fabrizzi never feels like that about his patients? I’m shocked. I didn’t think your halo ever slipped.’

  ‘Hmm, why do I have the feeling that you’re mocking me, Staff Nurse Carr? Is that the way you normally speak to the members of the surgical team?’

  ‘No.’ Maggie giggled. ‘Can you imagine me saying something like that to Dr Jefferson? Or even to Morgan Gray for that matter?’

  ‘You mean you treat me differently? I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not,’ he observed, watching her over the rim of his cup.

  She looked away because she wasn’t sure what he might see in her eyes at that moment. Of course she treated him differently! However, it was the reason she did so that was best kept to herself.

  ‘Take it how you like,’ she said with a laugh that sounded a trifle forced. ‘If you feel it’s a compliment then who am I to argue?’

  Luke rolled his eyes. ‘I am not touching that with the proverbial bargepole! I could be getting myself into really hot water if I said the wrong thing.’

  He looked round when the door slammed as the only other people in the canteen departed. ‘It’s quiet in here tonight. Is it always like this?’

  ‘Not usually, but it’s a bit late for breaks. Most people will have taken theirs by now,’ she explained, relieved to change the subject. ‘I got held up because of everything that’s happened tonight.’

  ‘It’s been hectic, hasn’t it? By the way, I heard that Alan does have a pulmonary embolism. They’ve decided to operate and he’s in Theatre at the moment. Everything is going well so he should be back with you in an hour or so.’

  ‘Oh, good. I’m sure his fiancée will be relieved. They seem like a really devoted couple.’

  ‘They do. It’s amazing that they’ve managed to keep their relationship alive all this time
when they live so far apart,’ he said, toying with his cup. ‘Not many people could have achieved what they have.’

  ‘You can do anything if you really care enough.’

  ‘Think so?’ He shrugged. ‘I’m not sure that I agree with you.’

  ‘You’re thinking about your own experiences, aren’t you?’ Maggie took a deep breath. Maybe she shouldn’t ask but suddenly she wanted to know what had gone wrong in the past to have given him such a jaundiced view of love and marriage.

  ‘What happened, Luke? You told me that you’d had a bad experience and it had taught you that love and career don’t mix. But what exactly went wrong?’

  ‘It just didn’t work out.’ He shrugged. ‘Maybe it was foolish to hope that it would have done.’

  ‘Why was it foolish? Surely if you loved each other then it was only natural to expect it to work,’ she said softly, feeling pain stab through her heart at the thought of him loving another woman as he would never love her.

  ‘Think so? I’m not convinced it’s that easy to find lasting happiness. And I’m sure Eve wouldn’t agree with you either.’

  ‘Eve,’ she repeated, trying to picture the woman who’d had such a devastating impact on Luke’s life. ‘It’s a…a lovely name,’ she murmured self-consciously when he glanced at her.

  ‘It is. Oh, it isn’t her real name, you understand. It’s the name she chose.’ He must have seen her surprise because he smiled thinly. ‘Eve is an actress, you see, and a very good one, too. She certainly had me convinced.’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’ Maggie asked, shocked by the sudden bitterness in his voice.

  ‘That Eve convinced me that she was in love with me. Oh, I can’t lay all the blame on her because she couldn’t have managed it if I hadn’t been so gullible.’ He laughed but there was no trace of amusement in his voice. ‘I was completely taken in, thought she was crazy about me when what she was really crazy about was the lifestyle I could give her.

  ‘Acting is a very precarious profession, as you probably know. Most actors spend more time out of work than in it. I expect Eve got tired of waiting tables and decided that her life would be a whole lot easier if she found someone to keep her. I was the lucky guy.’

  ‘You’re saying that she only wanted you for your money?’ Maggie couldn’t hide her astonishment and he gave her a mirthless smile.

  ‘That’s it in a nutshell. Oh, we had great sex, granted, but that was just a bonus. Eve was more attracted to my wallet than she was to me.’

  ‘So what happened? How did you find out the truth?’ she asked, knowing that she had to hear the whole story. Her heart ached at the pain it must have caused him but she knew that he wouldn’t want her sympathy.

  ‘I didn’t for a while. I was so wrapped up in my work that I thought everything was fine. We’d moved into this new condo and Eve spent a fortune having it decorated how she wanted. She spent most of her days shopping and seemed happy enough while she had that to keep her busy.

  ‘However, once everywhere was done to her liking, she became increasingly restless. She started to complain about the amount of time I spent at the hospital—not that she missed me, you understand, but because it meant we couldn’t attend the dozens of social events that we were always being invited to.’

  Luke stared at the ceiling with an expression on his face that told Maggie this was something he’d thought about many times. It hurt so much to know how he must have suffered yet she felt powerless to say anything that would help him.

  ‘Maybe if I’d paid a bit more attention to what was going on I would have realised sooner that I was being strung along, but I was too wrapped up in my job. The first I knew of it was when I came home early one day and found Eve in bed with some guy. Turned out that he was in the movie business and they’d been having an affair behind my back for months. Eve packed her bags that same evening and moved in with him. I believe he gave her a part in some film he was making, so it was a wise move on her part.’

  ‘No! That’s awful, Luke. I’m so sorry. I wish I hadn’t asked you now.’

  ‘There’s no reason to let it upset you. I got over it a long time ago. In a way, it’s been a good thing it happened.’

  ‘You can’t mean that. How could it have been good to have had someone use you like that?’ she demanded incredulously.

  ‘Because it made me see where my priorities lay. It made me understand that mixing work and relationships is a bad idea because one of them always suffers. Maybe some people can balance the two but it seems I can’t.’

  It was said so flatly that Maggie felt herself go numb with despair. It had made her realise how hard it would be to make him change his mind about marriage. He had suffered so much that it was no wonder he was afraid to risk falling in love again.

  He pushed back his chair and stood up, as though tired of the subject. ‘Anyway, it’s history now. My main concern at this precise moment is to go home and snatch a few hours’ sleep, otherwise I shall be fit for nothing tomorrow…or rather today!’

  ‘And I’d better get back to the ward. Hopefully, nothing else will have happened while I’ve been away,’ she said quietly. That she was weeping inside from what he’d told her was something she would have to deal with by herself, but it wasn’t going to be easy to come to terms with what she’d learned.

  They left the canteen and went to the lift. Maggie was just about to get in when all of a sudden the lights went out, plunging the basement into darkness.

  ‘What the devil is going on?’ Luke exclaimed. Maggie heard him rustling around and a moment later he switched on the tiny torch he always carried. It gave off barely enough light to see by but it was better than the pitch darkness.

  ‘I wonder if it’s just the lights down here that aren’t working or the whole hospital,’ she said anxiously.

  ‘I don’t know but surely there should be an emergency system to act as back-up in case of a power failure?’ He glanced at her for confirmation, his face looking almost saturnine in the torchlight.

  ‘There is, but I don’t know if it works down here,’ she explained. ‘Nobody ever used this part of the building before the building work started.’

  ‘Then let’s hope that the emergency generators have kicked in elsewhere,’ he said sombrely. ‘Otherwise I’ve no idea how they’re managing in Theatre.’

  It was a sobering thought and Maggie couldn’t help worrying about poor Alan Cole as they made their way up the stairs to the ground floor. All the lights were off there as well, although the security staff had stationed themselves beside the front doors and at the bottom of the main staircase with torches. At least there was some light to see by, she thought as she followed Luke up the stairs.

  He paused when they reached the floor where the operating theatres were sited. There was a dim glow issuing along the corridor and she heard the relief in his voice. ‘It looks as though they have power in the theatres, anyway. I’m going to see if they need any help. I’ll catch up with you later, Maggie.’

  ‘Fine. Oh, if you hear how Alan Cole is doing, will you let me know? Beverley must be worrying herself to death about what’s happened.’

  ‘Will do.’ He sketched her a wave then hurried away. Maggie made her way as quickly as possible back to her ward. Fortunately, the security staff had distributed torches throughout the building so, after having a reassuring word with an anxious Beverley, she was able to go through the ward, checking that everyone was all right.

  A lot of the patients were still asleep, oblivious to what had happened, but there were a few who had woken up. As so often happened, those who were awake needed to go to the loo, so she organised Tracy and Angela to take them in relays if they were mobile and passed out bedpans and bottles to the rest. It all took some time but eventually everyone was settled. Maggie breathed a sigh of relief as she made a last check that nobody needed anything.

  ‘What’s happening, dear?’ Alice Bradshaw asked groggily when she paused by her bed.

 
‘The power has gone off and the emergency generators aren’t working for some reason,’ she explained quietly. ‘I’m sure they’ll get everything sorted out soon, so there’s no need to worry.’

  ‘Oh, I’m not worried, dear. It happened all the time during the war,’ Alice declared, then promptly went back to sleep.

  Maggie smiled as she moved away from the old lady’s bed. Sometimes it helped to put a problem into perspective, didn’t it?

  She sighed. Even if she tried to put her feelings for Luke into perspective it wouldn’t change how she felt. If only there was a way to make him understand that she would never hurt him as he’d been hurt before then maybe they could have a future together.

  She carried on down the ward, allowing herself the luxury of imagining a life spent with Luke. Maybe it was foolish but sometimes dreams did come true…

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE power was restored almost an hour later. It appeared that the workmen had partly severed a main cable during the day, causing the system to short when it had become overloaded. Nobody seemed to know why the emergency generators had failed to operate but, according to the message that was passed to every department, it would be investigated post-haste. The good news was that the theatres and the IC unit were on a separate circuit so had been unaffected.

  On the wards the blackout had set them so far behind that it was a rush to get everything done before the day shift arrived. Alan Cole was brought back from Theatre shortly before Maggie was due to go off duty so she got him settled in the side room. He would need monitoring for the next day or so. However, she was confident that the anticoagulants he’d been prescribed would eliminate the risk of any further problems occurring.

  ‘That has to be the longest night of my life!’ Beverley Mason heaved a heartfelt sigh as she watched Maggie setting up the monitoring equipment. Alan was still a little groggy from the anaesthetic and drifting in and out of sleep, but Maggie knew that he would soon shake off the effects of the drugs.