A Very Special Child

by Jennifer Taylor

  ‘OH, HE’S gorgeous! Just like Sandy.’

  Katie’s delighted laughter rang around the ward and everyone smiled. Mark’s ‘surprise’ certainly had been a huge hit with Katie, Laura thought. But, then, it had lifted all the children’s spirits when Barney, a beautiful golden retriever, had been brought into the ward by his owner, Peggy Mountfield.

  Peggy, a kindly woman in her sixties, smiled as Barney was hugged and patted by the delighted child. ‘There’s nothing like a pet to cheer up a sick child, is there?’

  ‘There certainly isn’t,’ Laura agreed as Barney trotted to the next bed, which happened to be Daniel’s. She’d been surprised to discover that the boy was still in the ward, but Rachel had explained that as he was still complaining of pain in his ears it had been deemed wiser to keep him in. However, there was little sign that Daniel was in any kind of discomfort as he offered Barney one of his slippers and began a tug of war with the big dog.

  Laura squashed a few qualms about what Mrs Glover would say when she saw the state of her son’s slippers and turned curiously to Peggy. ‘Do you do this kind of thing very often, then?’

  ‘Bring Barney round the wards, you mean? Oh, yes. Several times a month, more if need be. Barney and I are members of PAT.’

  ‘PAT?’ Laura frowned. ‘What does that stand for?’

  ‘Pets As Therapy.’ Mark had come up behind them and she jumped as he added his voice to the conversation. Rachel moved aside to let him join them, smiling as she watched the excited children cluster around the dog.

  ‘A good name for it. Pets are wonderful therapy for a sick child,’ she observed.

  ‘It isn’t just children who benefit from the contact, though,’ Mark explained, turning to Peggy for confirmation. ‘You go into the adult wards as well, I believe.’

  ‘We certainly do. The animals have just as much impact on the adults as they have on the children. They’re a particular favourite with geriatric patients, so we also take them to some nursing homes in the area,’ Peggy added.

  ‘Animals? It isn’t just dogs, then?’ Laura queried.

  Mark shook his head. ‘Oh, no. Hamsters, rabbits, guinea pigs…if you can pet it then PAT visitors will bring it along! It’s a great scheme, I think.’

  ‘Well, I don’t think it’s right. Heaven knows what patients could catch off those animals.’ Cathy and Jane had come to join them, and it was Cathy who had spoken. Laura saw Jane raise her eyebrows, and smiled in sympathy. It was unfortunate that Cathy happened to glance her way at that moment.

  The staff nurse’s mouth thinned and Laura felt a shudder run down her spine. It wasn’t pleasant to know that the other woman disliked her to such an extent.

  Whether or not Mark had felt her reaction, he gave her a frowning look before turning his attention to the other woman. His tone was pleasant enough but there was no mistaking the authority it held.

  ‘I don’t think there’s any danger of that, Staff. Obviously, we wouldn’t allow any patient who might be susceptible to infection to come into contact with the animals, but there have been no recorded cases of anyone catching anything from them.’ He smiled at Peggy. ‘And from the look of Barney, he’s in perfect health. He really is a beautiful dog.’

  ‘Thank you, Doctor. I do my best to make sure that he’s clean and well groomed before bringing him on a visit.’ She gave Cathy a speaking look then went to retrieve the slipper from Barney’s mouth, as he’d won the game of tug of war.

  The group disbanded after that and everyone went about their business. Mark was waylaid by Mrs Collins with some query about Jessica’s diet, and he took her to the office to speak to her in private. It was almost time for the afternoon drinks to be given out so Laura headed for the kitchen, pausing en route as she spotted Bethany’s sad face. She made a detour to the girl’s bed and smiled at her.

  ‘Are you feeling all right, love? You look a bit down.’

  Bethany stared at the magazine she’d been pretending to read. She had kept herself aloof from all the excitement, ignoring Barney when the dog had stopped beside her bed. Laura knew that, apart from that brief episode the previous week, no one had had any success in getting through to the teenager. However, she refused to be deterred.

  ‘Bethany?’ she prompted, when the girl didn’t reply.

  ‘Mum said that we might be able to get a dog.’ The words were so low that Laura had to strain to hear them, but at least it was a start. She sat on the chair beside the bed, keeping her tone carefully neutral.

  ‘Did she? I expect you can still have one when you leave here.’

  ‘How? I can’t imagine them letting you have a dog in a children’s home!’ Bethany’s voice suddenly broke on a sob. ‘Nothing is ever going to be right now, is it? And it’s all my fault!’

  ‘Your fault? What do you mean?’ Laura leant forward and clasped the girl’s cold hand in both of hers. She wouldn’t let go when Bethany tried to pull it away. ‘Come on, Bethany, you can’t leave it at that. You have to explain what you meant.’

  ‘Th-that it’s my fault Mum died, my fault that everyone was hurt in that crash, my fault that I…I’m crippled. It’s a punishment, you see, for what I did!’

  Bethany was sobbing in earnest now and Laura saw the concern on Rachel’s face as she glanced their way. However, when Rachel made as though she was going to join them, Laura shook her head. She simply couldn’t risk Bethany clamming up, as she might do if Rachel was there.

  Letting go of the girl’s hand, she got up and drew the curtains around the bed then sat down again. ‘Why don’t you tell me everything, right from the beginning?’ she urged gently.

  There was a long pause, during which she held her breath. Would Bethany tell her what was wrong at last? She could have cheered when the girl suddenly began speaking and the words came rushing out as though a dam had burst.

  ‘It was my fault that Mum crashed the bus that night. If she hadn’t been so angry with me, she might not have been driving so fast.’

  Laura didn’t bother to explain that, according to the police reports, the minibus had been doing no more than twenty miles an hour at the time of the accident. She would make sure that Bethany understood that later, but it was more important right now to hear the full story.

  ‘Why was she angry with you, love? Had you had an argument about something?’

  ‘Yes.’ Bethany could hardly speak through her tears. Laura frowned as the girl suddenly tossed back the sheet that was covering her and drew up the hem of her nightshirt. ‘We argued about this. That’s why it’s all my fault.…’

  She couldn’t continue as tears got the better of her. Laura took one look at what she had been shown and sighed. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and it had doubtless been causing Bethany a great deal of discomfort as well, but she was sure that Bethany’s mother would have got over her annoyance in time. After all, a lot of teenage girls believed that a pierced belly button was the ultimate fashion statement!

  ‘I take it that your mum didn’t know what you were planning on doing?’ she said softly, passing the girl a tissue from the box on the bedside cabinet.

  ‘No.’ Bethany sniffed and wiped her eyes. ‘She was furious when she found out. I’d only had it done the day before the accident when I went into town with my friend, Kelly. I didn’t tell Mum because I knew she would be annoyed, but as I was getting changed to go out for the theatre trip she came into my room and saw it.’

  The girl took a gulping breath. ‘Th-that’s why she wasn’t concentrating properly and driving too fast, because she was still angry with me. So it’s all my fault, you see…everything!’

  ‘Oh, love, that just isn’t true!’ Laura hugged the unhappy girl to her. ‘Yes, I imagine your mum was annoyed that you hadn’t told her, but it certainly wasn’t your fault the accident happened.’

  She held Bethany away from her and looked her straight in the eye. ‘If you want to blame anything then blame the weather. The police told us that the bus skidded on the snow
and not because your mum was driving too fast. She was only doing twenty miles an hour but she hit a particularly bad patch of ice and the bus went out of control. There wasn’t anything she could have done about it because it probably happened too fast.’

  ‘Are you sure? I keep thinking that if I hadn’t done this…’ She pointed to the inflamed area around her navel and grimaced.

  ‘You might not have been in so much discomfort, because I’m sure that must be sore. However, you couldn’t have altered what happened. It was an accident, Bethany, and no one was to blame.’

  Laura stood, deeming it wise to give the teenager time to mull over what she’d said. ‘Anyway, how about if I clean that up and make you a bit more comfortable? I expect it’s rather painful, isn’t it?’

  Bethany nodded, obviously too spent by her outpouring of guilt to say anything else. Laura gave her an encouraging smile then hurried off to find some surgical spirit. Rachel followed her from the ward, looking worried.

  ‘Is everything all right? Bethany looked really upset.…’

  Laura patted her arm. ‘Everything is fine, or it will be with a bit of luck.’ She quickly explained what the girl had told her, sighing as she heard Rachel’s shocked gasp.

  ‘Oh, the poor thing! Fancy thinking that she was responsible? No wonder she hasn’t wanted to talk about what happened.’

  ‘It must have been awful for her.’ Laura paused but there was no easy way to put it. ‘She’s also worried that she might have to go into a children’s home. I suppose, knowing that her mother’s dead and that her father has never bothered to keep in touch with her.…’

  ‘She can’t believe that I would ever let that happen!’ Rachel was aghast. ‘Bethany will come to live with me and there’s no question about it. I must go and tell her that straight away.’ She turned to leave then stopped and hugged Laura. ‘Thanks, Laura. I owe you one for this!’

  ‘Don’t mention it!’ Laura laughed, only too pleased that there seemed to be a solution in sight.

  ‘So what was that all about? Have you been working your magic once again, Nurse Grady?’

  She felt her blood race as Mark appeared beside her. It was hard to behave calmly when he said things like that and in that tone of voice! She tried her best, willing her foolish heart to behave sensibly—something it had no intention of doing!

  ‘I don’t know about magic but there seems to have been a bit of a breakthrough with Bethany Jones.’ She quickly explained once more and heard Mark sigh.

  ‘No wonder the poor kid has been so withdrawn. She must have been going through agonies, blaming herself for her mother’s death,’ he observed quietly.

  ‘I know. Thank heavens we got to the bottom of it at last. Maybe now we can start to make some progress with her.’

  ‘Thank heavens you got to the bottom of it, you mean.’ Mark’s smile was warm. ‘You’re a very special woman, Laura Grady. You have the rare gift of making people respond to you.’

  ‘Oh…Thank you.’ She blushed with pleasure, unable to hide her delight at the compliment. Mark had said that she was very special and that was how she felt when he was around…

  ‘Barbara just told me what you said, Dr Dawson. I still don’t think it’s right. Are you sure that Jessica will need to be on this diet for the rest of her life?’

  Les Collins’s belligerent tones were a rude intrusion. Laura saw Mark take a deep breath before he turned and clapped the other man on the shoulder. She knew he felt the same way she did about the interruption, but, he was patience itself as he led the man towards the office.

  ‘I think I’d better go through it all again with you, Mr Collins.…’

  His voice faded as the door closed and Laura smiled mistily. Not for the world would Mark let Les Collins know how he felt, but wasn’t that typical of him? If he thought that she was special, she felt exactly the same about him!

  ‘Are you going to stand there all day? If you need something to do, I can always find you a job.’

  She sighed as Cathy’s voice carried to where she stood. She didn’t need to look round to know that the other woman was addressing her! Better to shelve any more thoughts of Mark until later, otherwise the staff nurse would be down on her like a ton of bricks!

  She quickly explained what she was doing then went to collect the surgical spirit from the drugs cupboard. Rachel was just leaving Bethany’s bedside and her eyes were damp with tears.

  ‘OK?’ Laura whispered, relieved when Rachel nodded. She set to work as Rachel hurried away to speak to Peggy Mountfield and thank her for coming. The children were loathe to let Barney leave, and those who were able to do so accompanied him and his owner to the door and waved them off.

  Laura concentrated on what she was doing, carefully easing the metal stud out of the inflamed flesh surrounding Bethany’s navel and murmuring commiseratingly as the girl winced.

  ‘I know it hurts, love, but it needs to come out so that it can heal. I think it must have become infected.’

  Bethany gritted her teeth. ‘I wish I’d never had it done in the first place! It’s just that everyone has their belly buttons pierced.’

  ‘And you didn’t want to be the odd one out?’ Laura teased, earning herself a shy smile. ‘Understandable. And there wouldn’t have been a problem if you’d told us because then we could have kept a check on it.’

  She dropped the stud into a dish then quickly cleaned up the wound. ‘Still, it will soon heal. And you can always have it done again when you leave here. Just be careful next time, though.’

  ‘I can’t see me going back there again.’ Bethany’s voice was flat. ‘The place where I had it done is up a steep flight of stairs.’ She poked disconsolately at her leg. ‘I won’t be able to go up stairs with this.’

  ‘You’ll be surprised. Once you get the hang of the artificial limb you’ll be able to get around almost as well as before. No, really,’ she added as she saw Bethany’s scepticism.

  ‘Sure. I can just see me hopping all the way up those stairs, I don’t think. I hate that doctor who cut my leg off. Doctors are supposed to make you better, not worse!’

  The girl’s voice had risen and Laura smiled sympathetically, although she made sure that Bethany understood the true facts. ‘That doctor saved your life, love. You would have bled to death if they hadn’t got you out of the wreckage. Your leg was too badly injured to save it and that’s why he amputated it.

  ‘Anyway, that should do the trick for now. I’ll make a note on your chart for the night staff to check how that wound is healing, but it should be better in a day or so.’

  She quickly amended Bethany’s notes to include the new treatment then took the surgical spirit back to the drugs cupboard and went to find Rachel. It was almost time for her break but she wanted to check that there were no more jobs which needed doing before she went to the canteen. Jane joined her by the lift, having been sent for her break as well.

  ‘Of all the times for Tom to come into the ward! Did you see his face? I felt so sorry for him!’

  Laura shook her head, not sure what the other nurse was talking about. ‘Sorry, but what do you mean?’

  ‘When you were talking to Bethany just now?’ Jane sighed as she realised Laura had no idea what she was talking about. ‘Tom Hartley came to see how Bethany was doing. He’d just set foot in the ward when all of sudden she shouted out how much she hated the doctor who’d amputated her leg. Tom obviously heard, although he didn’t say anything, just turned right around again and left. You feel so sorry for him, don’t you? Especially as he and Rachel have been going out for the past few months. It can’t be easy for him.’

  ‘It can’t,’ Laura agreed sadly, trying to imagine how the poor man must feel. Although Tom knew he couldn’t have done anything else in the circumstances, it couldn’t be easy for him. It must have put a great strain on his relationship with Rachel as well.

  She sighed as the lift arrived to whisk them up to the canteen and a few minutes of peace and quiet. Rela
tionships were difficult at the best of time without any outside influences. Look how hard it was for her and Mark.…

  She blushed furiously. There was no her and Mark! She would be wise to get that into her head straight away!

  The rest of the day flew past so that it seemed to take no time at all before it was time to leave. Laura collected her coat and travelled down in the lift with Jane, wondering if Mark would be waiting for her.

  Her heart lifted at the thought of seeing him, but when they arrived in the foyer there was no sign of him. She bit back a sigh, telling herself that it was presumptuous to expect him to be waiting for her.

  She said goodbye to Jane then made her way to the bus stop. Luckily enough, a bus came along almost immediately. She paid her fare and took a seat by the window, shifting over as far as she could as a stout lady, carrying several large shopping bags, sat next to her. It was uncomfortable, sitting there with cans of beans digging into her ribs, and she thought longingly of the comfort of Mark’s car.

  Funny how quickly one got used to the little luxuries, she thought wryly. But it would be dangerous to get too used to them. Once her house was ready there would be no reason for Mark to drive her home each night. The thought was oddly depressing.

  The sound of a car horn suddenly woke her from her reverie. She glanced out of the window and gasped as she recognised Mark’s car drawing alongside the bus. He waved and mouthed something but, for a second her addled brain couldn’t work out what he wanted her to do.

  ‘Wants you to get off at the next stop, love.’ The elderly woman had been watching what was happening with interest. She elbowed Laura in the ribs as the bus slowed. ‘Well, get along with you, then. Don’t keep ’im waiting. If I ’ad an ’andsome young man like that offering to run me ’ome…or anything else…I’d be off ’ere like a shot!’

  Laura blushed as the woman gave a cackling laugh which instantly gained the rest of the passengers’ attention. She struggled out of the seat as her companion regaled everyone with what was happening. There was a good deal of head-turning while people peered out of the window as Mark drew up behind the bus.