too well the nightmare of things going wrong—and even if he had been planning one, it wouldn’t be here—where the ghosts of what had gone so wrong in his own early life were never very far away.
But that was what this house needed.
A family. Laughter echoing through the rooms and love to be celebrated in meals taken at this old, scrubbed pine table.
Hopefully, what was left of the three months he had signed up for at Auckland General would be long enough to see that happen. As if prompted by the thought, he turned his head to where the grandfather clock in the hallway was ticking again. A slow, steady sound that had always been the heartbeat of this old house.
‘How ’bout I leave you to have a look around at the rest of the place, Mike? If you pull the front door closed, it’ll lock itself. I’m due to start my shift in Emergency in less than an hour and you never know what the traffic’s going to be like on the motorway. I’d better get my skates on.’
* * *
If she hadn’t been so frightened, Ellie would have been mortified, arriving at any emergency department like this, let alone the one she worked in herself!
She was on a narrow ambulance stretcher. On her knees, with her head on her hands and her bottom up in the air.
Knowing she was bleeding had been enough to scare her. The speed with which the paramedics checked her out, got an IV line in and fluids running and then headed for the nearest hospital using lights and sirens told her they were just as worried about the situation as she was. And, moments before they had arrived at the hospital, her waters had broken and, in the wake of the rush of fluid, she knew things had just become a whole lot worse.
‘Something feels weird,’ she told them. ‘I think I might have a cord prolapse.’
A quick glance by the lead paramedic confirmed her fears.
‘As soon as we get you out, we’ll get you head down, on your knees and use gravity to take pressure off the cord. We’ll support you and move slowly, okay?’
‘Okay.’ She felt the clunk as the wheels of the stretcher came down and locked. With help, she turned to get on her knees, putting her elbows on the mattress and lowering her head between her hands.
The warning not to start pushing even if she felt the urge had been unnecessary. Ellie knew how dangerous this was. If the baby’s head put too much pressure on the cord, it would cut off the oxygen supply and lead to a stillbirth. She couldn’t let that happen. Ava and Marco would sort things out. They had really wanted this baby. They’d all gone to that first ultrasound appointment together and there had been tears of joy all round. Surely nobody would really plan to bring a new life into the world just to fix a failing relationship?
The contractions were at increasingly shorter intervals but she hadn’t felt any urge to push.
Yet.
The hospital would have had advance warning of her arrival and the problem with blood loss but there hadn’t been time to warn them about this new complication. Would there be a specialist obstetrician waiting for her in one of the resuscitation rooms already?
In this undignified position, Ellie couldn’t see anybody’s faces. Just their legs, as she was wheeled carefully past the triage desk, with the paramedics on either side of the stretcher, both with one arm over her body to support her balance.
She could recognise voices, however.
‘Cord prolapse,’ one of the paramedics said. ‘Waters broke about two minutes ago.’
‘It’s okay, Ellie. We’ve got this...’ That was Sue—one of her best friends here. ‘Resus One, guys.’ The hand that had given her back a quick, reassuring rub disappeared and Sue’s voice faded as she turned away. ‘Has anyone got an update on that obstetrics consult? Luke? Can you take this in the meantime?’
Ellie watched sets of wheels flash past. That was an ECG monitor and those were a tangle of IV stands. A drug trolley was being pushed in the opposite direction. She could hear the sounds of a busy emergency department all around her. If she’d been on her feet, in her scrubs, with her stethoscope around her neck, this would all be perfectly normal.
She’d never been on this side of the fence before.
Or realised just how horribly vulnerable it made you feel.
‘We’re going to get you onto the bed,’ someone told her. ‘We’ll lift you. Don’t try and help.’
‘We’ll put her in an exaggerated Sims’ position to start with.’ Ellie didn’t recognise this male voice. ‘Left lateral with at least two pillows to support the pelvis. Lower the head of the bed, too. And get some oxygen on the mother.’
The mother? Ellie squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She wasn’t supposed to be about to become the mother. This was a nightmare. Maybe she’d wake up in a minute to find Ava and Marco standing there. Smiling. Excited to be about to meet their new baby...
This was a slightly more dignified position, at least, but she still had a restricted visual field. She could see the length of the body in dark green scrubs beside her, but it wasn’t until he crouched that she could see the face that belonged to that new voice. Tanned skin. Kind of wild brown hair with blond streaks. Hazel eyes. He looked like he’d just come out of some surf, on a hot summer’s day, with a board casually slung under one arm.
‘Hi, Ellie. I’m Luke Gilmore, one of the doctors here. I’m just going to have a look and see what’s going on, okay?’
As another contraction gathered force, Ellie could only nod.
Luke Gilmore? He had to be new here. A locum? She’d stopped work three weeks ago to rest and prepare for the birth so she hadn’t met him. She hadn’t even heard his name.
Or had she? It did seem vaguely familiar...
With the contraction reaching its peak, the thought was obliterated by pain. She pushed her fist into her mouth but couldn’t stifle a cry.
For a long moment, nothing existed except the pain but then she became aware of the voices around her.
‘What was the time interval for that last contraction?’
‘Two minutes.’
‘Estimated blood loss?’
‘Five hundred mils on scene.’ The paramedics were still there. ‘We put in a wide bore IV and she’s had a litre of saline so far.’
‘She’s still bleeding. Let’s get another litre going.’
That was this Dr Gilmore’s voice. Did he know what he was doing? He certainly sounded confident enough. Ellie could feel that her lower body was bare now. Maybe it was a good thing that she didn’t know this person but there were plenty of people she did know seeing a lot more of her than they ever had before. Not that she cared. Nothing mattered right now other than to get through this safely. There was a baby’s life at stake. Maybe even her own, if she was still losing so much blood.
She could feel a hand inside her.
‘Ah...’ The sound was hard to interpret. Satisfaction...or
