‘Actually, it was Laura I wanted a word with.’ Mark returned her smile but Laura was aware of a certain reserve about the way he spoke to the other woman. ‘I know how busy you are so I won’t drag you away from what you’re doing. Laura can fill you in later as it’s nothing urgent.’
It was obvious that Cathy was less than pleased by that but there was little she could say. However, Laura suspected that she would make her feelings only too clear later! She followed Mark to the office and stood just inside the door, waiting to hear what he had to say. He went straight to the desk, picked up a slip of paper and handed it to her.
‘Gill Marsh has confirmed your suspicions about Katie Watson’s mother. The police have been to the house and a neighbour told them that Lisa Watson is away on holiday.’
‘Really? Do they know where she is?’ Laura asked in horror, looking down at the note which simply repeated what Mark had told her.
‘The neighbour thought it was the Canaries, but wasn’t sure. The police are making enquiries.’
‘It’s incredible, isn’t it? You wouldn’t believe that she would go off like that.’
‘You wouldn’t. But I don’t think Lisa cares about anything apart from herself.’ He sighed as he sat on the edge of the desk. ‘Remember you mentioning Katie’s dog? Evidently, Lisa turned it out of the house before she went away. It’s been wandering the estate ever since, and people have been feeding it scraps. A woman reported it to the police when she saw them at the Watsons’ house. Fortunately, they managed to catch it and have taken it to the RSPCA kennels.’
‘Oh, how could she do such a thing? Katie simply adores that dog. Her face lights up as soon as you mention it.’ Laura shook her head in dismay. ‘So what happens now? Any luck contacting her father?’
‘The police have been in touch with the firm where he used to work but he left there a few weeks ago. They’re seeing if they can trace him, but it won’t be easy if he’s moved out of the area.’ Mark sighed. ‘I thought you should know in case Katie starts asking questions. We need to decide what to tell her.’
‘The truth,’ Laura said firmly. ‘We tell her that her mother is on holiday and we’re trying to find her father. I think she already has a good idea what’s going on so it would be wrong to lie to her…although perhaps we shouldn’t mention anything about the dog, apart from the fact that he’s safe. He is, isn’t he? The RSPCA will keep him?’
‘For a while. But we can work something out, I’m sure.’ Mark stood up. ‘Right, that’s what we’ll do, then. I wanted to see what you thought as you’re the one who seems to have had the most success with Katie. Thanks, Laura.’
It was obvious the meeting was at an end but she hesitated. Suddenly the desire to clear the air between them was too strong to resist.
‘Look, Mark, about what happened the other night—’ she began, but he cut her off.
‘I can’t see any point in rehashing past events. Forget it, Laura. I have.’
‘Have you?’ The question came out before she could stop it, and she saw him stiffen. He didn’t say anything, however, leaving it up to her to continue.
She took a deep breath, struggling to find the courage to make him understand how she felt. ‘If you’ve forgotten about it then why have you been acting so…well, so distantly around me?’
‘I shouldn’t have thought you’d have noticed let alone cared,’ he said in an offhand tone that stung.
‘Of course I noticed! And I care,’ she replied vehemently. ‘I want us to be friends, Mark.’
‘And what if I wanted more than that? What then, Laura? Are you ready to move on yet, to put your loss behind you and start living again?’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so, not from what—’
He stopped abruptly as he looked past her. ‘Do you want me, Cathy?’
‘I just thought that you could take a look at Bethany Jones while you’re here. She’s been experiencing quite a lot of pain this morning.’ Cathy turned to Laura and her tone sharpened. ‘I hope you remembered to note it down on her chart when you did her obs?’
‘Of course.’ Laura replied, struggling not to let her annoyance show. Cathy had made it sound as though she was too inept to know one of the basic rules of nursing!
‘That makes a change!’ Cathy shot Mark a laughing look but Laura wasn’t deaf to the malice in her voice. ‘Laura tends to overlook little details like that. Still, I suppose it’s hard to slot back into the routine after such a prolonged absence from work.’
It was so blatantly untrue that Laura only just managed to bite her tongue. It wouldn’t have been ethical to argue with her superior in front of Mark, although she would have it out with Cathy later. However, she had a sudden misgiving as she saw Mark frown and wondered if it might have been better to challenge the staff nurse there and then.
‘Any change in a patient’s condition, no matter how insignificant it may seem, should be noted,’ he stated flatly.
‘I know that,’ Laura replied as evenly as she could, but before she could add anything, let alone explain that the accusation was totally unfounded, the younger woman butted in.
‘Now that you’re free, Laura, will you take Katie for her bath? I told her not to be so impatient and that you’d be there as soon as you could.’
Cathy sighed as she turned to Mark. ‘It’s difficult keeping on top of the work at present, with us being one down. You need to be on your toes all the time and a lot of staff find it hard to keep up in a busy department like this.’
Once again there was the innuendo that she wasn’t coping as well as she should. Laura’s pretty mouth compressed as she followed Mark and Cathy back to the ward. Did Cathy always act this way? Or had the staff nurse singled her out for these snide remarks for some particular reason?
The questions nagged at her while she was giving Katie her bath. The little girl was due to go for her scan the following day and was obviously nervous. Laura put aside her own worries while she tried to convince the child that there was nothing to be scared of.
‘It really won’t hurt, poppet. All that happens is that a lot of sound waves pass through your body and make pictures on a screen, a bit like when you watch television. You won’t be able to feel anything.’
She gave Katie an encouraging smile. ‘Anyway, I thought you’d had a scan before so you must remember that it didn’t hurt?’
‘Yes, but Daddy was there. And he said a special magic word to make sure that it wouldn’t hurt, and held my hand.’ Katie’s huge blue eyes filled with tears. ‘I wish Daddy was going to be there tomorrow. I miss him!’
‘I know you do, love.’ Laura wrapped the child in a thick towel and hugged her. It broke her heart to imagine how confused poor Katie must be that both her parents were absent. Setting the little girl away from her, she lifted Katie’s chin so that she could look straight into her eyes.
‘Would you like me to stay with you while you have your scan? I could hold your hand if you want me to.’
‘Please.’ Tears shimmered on Katie’s lashes. ‘Promise, Laura?’
‘Of course I do!’ She gave the child another hug then set about drying her hair. Once it was done, she fastened the wispy brown curls back with a bright yellow scrunchie then smiled at the little girl.
‘That’s better. Now that you’re all pretty again, how about helping me do some jobs? I need someone to arrange some flowers for me.’
‘Yes!’ Katie brightened up immediately. She took hold of Laura’s hand and skipped along beside her as they returned to the ward. Mark was just coming out and he paused to hold the door open for them, smiling as he saw the child’s happy face.
‘Two sunny smiles for the price of one,’ he teased. ‘It makes it worth coming to work to see my two best girls looking so happy.’
Laura’s heart tumbled around in her chest. She was at a loss to know what to say, but Katie had none of her reservations.
‘Is Laura your best girl as well as me, Dr Mark?’ she asked seriously.
> ‘She certainly is. I would say that Laura is my favourite nurse.’ His tone was teasing but Laura heard the undercurrent it held and her heart bumped a bit more. It was an effort to retain an outward show of calm.
‘She’s mine, too!’ Katie suddenly turned and hugged Laura tightly around her waist. ‘I love her!’
Laura tried to stop herself but she couldn’t help it as her eyes flew to Mark. He gave her a slow smile and the expression in his grey eyes almost made her melt. ‘I don’t blame you, sweetheart. I’d say it would be only too easy to love Laura.’
He gave them both a last smile then went on his way. Did he have any idea of the turmoil he’d left behind him? Laura wondered giddily as she took Katie into the kitchen and sat her at the table with the bouquet of flowers that needed arranging.
Her hands shook as she filled a vase with water. Probably! Mark must know very well how confused she would feel, how disturbed, yet he’d said what he’d felt anyway. It scared her because she wasn’t sure that she could ever give him what he seemed to want. The thought of letting Mark down, of hurting him, was almost more than she could bear.
The day whizzed past once again. Laura had worked in paediatrics before she’d decided to go into midwifery. She’d chosen children’s nursing as her branch programme after her initial foundation course and had always loved the daily contact with the children. However, she realised that working in Dalverston General was better even than her previous experiences.
The holistic attitude that prevailed in caring for the children made the job even more satisfying. Although priority was given to caring for their physical needs, emphasis was placed on their overall well-being. It was good to know that it was considered as important to talk to a child as it was to replace a soiled dressing! If the children had problems that could affect their recovery, it was imperative that something be done. However, it was proving extremely difficult to help Bethany Jones when the teenager still refused to talk to anyone.
Laura was escorting Tim Matthews back to bed after a visit to the bathroom when she spotted Rachel leaving the ward. It was obvious that Rachel was upset, despite the fact that she did her best to hide it.
‘Are you OK?’ Laura asked solicitously, stopping the wheelchair. With one arm injured as well as his leg, it would be some time before Tim was able to use crutches to get around, something that caused him a great deal of embarrassment. At thirteen he hated the fact that he had to be accompanied to and from the bathroom!
Laura had tried to afford him as much privacy as possible, but the fear that he might slip and undo everyone’s hard work had forced her to stay close at hand, much to the boy’s dismay. Now it was obvious that he couldn’t wait to get back to the ward and forget his ordeal.
‘Yes, of course,’ Rachel replied automatically, then sighed. ‘Not really.’ She glanced at the impatient boy in the wheelchair. ‘But you don’t want to hear my woes when you’re so busy.’
Laura checked her watch. ‘I’m due to go for my break in five minutes. Why don’t you meet me in the canteen and we can have a chat?’
‘Well…’ Rachel hesitated briefly, then smiled. ‘I’d like that, Laura. I could do with someone to talk to, to tell the truth.’
‘Then I’ll see you up there just as soon as I can,’ Laura assured her. She pushed Tim back into the ward and helped him into a chair beside his bed. Daniel came hurrying over and the two boys soon had their heads together, no doubt plotting some new bit of mischief. The only consolation, Laura decided as she went for her break, was that it would take Tim’s mind off the indignity of having someone with him when he went to the loo!
Rachel was seated at a table near the window, nursing a cooling cup of coffee, when Laura arrived at the canteen. She put her own cup on the table and sat opposite her.
‘So how’s things?’ she asked gently, stirring sugar into her tea.
‘Oh, you know…’ Rachel shrugged.
‘Yes, I do.’ Laura replied quietly. ‘Losing someone you love is so hard. Nothing anyone can say makes the pain go away, but it does get easier, Rachel, believe me.’
‘I just keep thinking what a waste it was! Suzy was only thirty-six…far too young to die!’ Tears welled from Rachel’s eyes and she quickly brushed them away with the back of her hand.
Laura didn’t say anything, knowing that it was best to let her talk. Bottling up the grief Rachel felt at the death of her sister would only make the healing process that much more difficult. Yet wasn’t that what she had been doing since Ian had died? Hadn’t she bottled up her emotions for Robbie’s sake?
‘I know all about it. We do courses on bereavement but it still hits you hard.’
Laura dragged her thoughts back to the present situation as she realised that Rachel was speaking, but she had to admit to feeling shaken by what she had discovered about herself. ‘Of course it does. It’s one thing to learn how to help others but quite another to apply that knowledge to yourself.’
She deliberately tried to be encouraging, knowing that it wouldn’t help to let Rachel get too dejected. ‘What you’ve learned should help when dealing with Bethany, though.’
‘If only!’ Rachel ran a weary hand through her hair. ‘She won’t even speak to me. I keep trying to get her to talk about what’s happened, but she just turns away whenever I bring up the subject of her mother. And as for her leg…Well! How would any fourteen-year-old feel about that? It must seem like the end of the world to poor Bethany, losing part of her leg at her age!’
Rachel’s voice had risen and Laura saw a few heads turn their way. Tom Hartley was sitting at a table close to where they were and he got up abruptly. His face was pale and set as he left the canteen.
Rachel must have noticed his abrupt departure because her face contorted with sudden pain. ‘Tom heard me say that, didn’t he? Oh, I didn’t mean to upset him! He’s taken it so hard, you see. Blames himself, although there’s no need. Everyone agrees that if he hadn’t amputated Bethany’s leg at the crash site she would have died.’
There was real regret on Rachel’s face as she stared at the door. Laura found herself wondering if Rachel and Tom were involved in some way. She hadn’t heard any rumours but she hadn’t been back at work all that long. No wonder Tom blamed himself for not being able to do more to help Rachel’s niece, though, if that were the case.
‘It was a dreadful thing to have happened to poor Bethany,’ she said quietly. ‘But we have to focus on making her see that it isn’t the end of the world, even though it may feel like it. We shall all just have to keep trying that bit harder to get through to her.’
Rachel smiled sadly. ‘Well, I’m only thankful that you’re responsible for her day-to-day care, Laura. Mark told me that he’d decided you were the best suited to handle this situation, and I agree with him.’
‘Thank you. It’s nice that somebody has confidence in me,’ she replied, unaware of the wry note which had crept into her voice.
‘Of course we do!’ Rachel frowned. ‘Is something wrong?’
Laura shrugged, not sure if she should mention it. ‘Cathy seems to have a bit of a downer on me, that’s all.’
‘And she’s making your life difficult?’ Rachel grimaced as she saw Laura’s surprise. ‘I’m afraid Staff Nurse Williams isn’t the easiest of people to get along with. We’ve had a few runins since I took charge of the ward. Cathy applied for the post of Sister, you see, but didn’t get it, mainly because of her attitude.’
‘I see. It must have made things awkward for you. But I can’t understand what she has against me.’ Laura sighed. ‘Maybe she just doesn’t like me.’
‘Or maybe she’s jealous of you and Mark?’ Rachel suggested quietly.
Laura coloured. ‘There is no me and Mark!’
‘No? Then I must have got it wrong.’ Rachel laughed as she got up. ‘Although I have to say that I don’t think so. Mark Dawson’s conversation is peppered with your name, Laura. Whatever is going on, he certainly seems to be very aware of yo
u! Anyway, thanks for sparing me the time for this chat. It has helped and I appreciate it.’
She gave Laura a warm smile before she quickly left the canteen. Laura got up as well, not wanting to be late back and earn herself another reprimand. She quickened her pace, deciding to question Rachel further about her name cropping up in Mark’s conversation. However, when she reached the corridor she could see Rachel talking to Tom Hartley and decided not to interrupt them.
She squared her shoulders as she went back to the ward. What was there to discuss anyway? No matter how Mark felt it didn’t change things. She still loved Ian and didn’t need another man in her life…except as a friend, of course. So long as she and Mark could be friends then she would be content.
‘It really isn’t as difficult as you imagine, Mrs Collins. The hospital dietician will be round to see you in the next few days to explain what Jessica can and cannot eat, but basically she’ll have to avoid anything which contains gluten.’
Mark smiled at the anxious parents, giving the appearance that he had all the time in the world to spare. Laura knew just how busy he was, with their consultant being away, but nothing would make Mark rush.
‘I just don’t know where she’s got it from, that’s all I can say.’ Les Collins turned and glared at his wife. ‘There’s never been anything like this in my family, Barbara!’
‘You’re right that coeliac disease can be hereditary, Mr Collins.’ Mark put in smoothly, neatly avoiding another sparring match between the couple. Les and Barbara Collins had seemed on edge ever since seven-year-old Jessica had been admitted, and several times there had been a sharp exchange of words between them.
‘However, from what you and your wife have told us, there doesn’t seem to be any history of it in either family in this instance. Our main concern now must be to ensure that Jessica receives the right treatment. Basically, that means making adjustments to her diet to eliminate any food that contains gluten.’
‘I still don’t really understand it,’ Barbara Collins admitted. ‘This gluten has given Jessica this disease—is that what you’re saying, Doctor?’
A Very Special Child Page 9
