just sat in silence. Juliet suspected it was a combination of jet lag and the pain beginning to resurface.
‘Mummy will be here,’ she told her softly as she stroked her hair.
Juliet waited for another snide remark, in fact she hoped for one, but Charlie made none. She didn’t like not having a reason to dislike the man.
‘It may get itchy, Bea, and if it does you can tap on the outside and that might help, but don’t put anything inside like a pencil because it might scratch your skin and we don’t want germs in there.’
Juliet watched as Bea tilted her head slightly with a curious expression on her beautiful face. She knew her daughter was still a little confused by everything that had happened so quickly. It was a lot for a four-year-old to take in such a short amount of time.
‘Is there anything else we can do?’ Juliet asked, holding Bea’s free hand and quickly trying to recall her training in paediatric fractures during medical school. It had been so long since she had graduated from her general medical studies before specialising and she was stretching her memory.
‘It would be best to sponge-bathe Bea so that the cast doesn’t fill with water in the bath or shower. While the outside of the cast is waterproof, as you know, the inside isn’t, even with the special lining. It needs to be kept dry, so no lotions or oils either.’ He paused to recall the other instructions that once rolled off his tongue as an A&E resident. ‘And if the itching starts to bother Bea, you can use a cool hairdryer to blow air in around the edge of the cast and check now and then that she hasn’t hidden small toys or sweets inside the cast. Believe it or not, during my A&E rotation I had more than one child think of it as their secret hideyhole.’
‘No doubt,’ Juliet said with a smile that she hadn’t thought previously she would ever display in Charlie’s presence. Her defences were slowly melting as his bedside manner warmed the room. She began a mental inventory of Bea’s belongings, wondering if she’d brought anything that small with her on the trip. She felt certain as she looked at the tiny gap that Bea’s possessions would not fit inside.
‘I’m sure you’ll have it under control,’ Charlie said to her before he turned his attention once again to the medical students. ‘Along with asking the parents or caregivers to check the cast regularly for cracks, breaks, tears and soft spots, what else would you ask them to look out for and what would warrant medical attention?’
‘Pain that doesn’t get better with the prescribed pain relief,’ one of the students offered.
‘Yes, anything else?’
‘If the child complains of feeling numb or tingly in the vicinity of the fracture,’ another chimed in with a self-satisfied smile.
‘Good.’
‘Blisters inside the cast,’ the third student said confidently, then continued, ‘and fever, or any significant increase in temperature.’
While being a tutor was nothing new to Charlie, doing so back in A&E was a change of pace and very different subject content but he didn’t want to exclude the students. ‘Well done. You seem to have a good understanding of the basics of paediatric fractures.’
The A&E resident poked her head in at that moment and directed her conversation to the medical students. ‘If you’re finished here, there’s suspected tetanus in bay three and gallstones in bay seven. Take your pick.’
Charlie grinned. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve heard a call for one of those conditions. It’s usually onset of labour or unexplained abdominal cramps over in Teddy’s.’
The three looked at Charlie for approval to leave, which he gave in a nod, and they left, as did the attending nurse, leaving Charlie and Juliet alone with Bea.
‘Well, it looks as if we’re all finished, then,’ Juliet offered in a voice that did not give anything away about the effect Charlie was still having on her, being so near. His natural affinity with her daughter was thawing parts of her she wanted to remain frozen.
‘I think we are.’ His eyes once again locked on hers for just a minute but long enough to make her heart race just a little faster.
She swallowed nervously, growing more irritated with herself by the minute. Behaving like a schoolgirl experiencing her first infatuation was not her usual demeanour, nor one she intended to entertain. Not for another second. Reinstating herself as the quads’ surgeon, not Bea’s mother who had a borderline crush on her daughter’s doctor and her own soon-to-be colleague, was a priority.
Biting her lower lip, she tried to channel someone very different from herself. A detached, bumptious persona she had created over the years when people looked at her like a child and they needed reminding of her medical credentials. And it would work perfectly at that moment. ‘It’s best, then, that we reschedule the in-utero surgical consultation that you missed earlier. If you can provide me with overnight obs about both the mother and babies, we’ll be off to the hotel so Bea can rest and I can brief myself on their progression and return this afternoon.’
Her voice had suddenly morphed from warm to officious. And as she stood her relaxed posture had become stiff. Her body language screamed confrontation. But Charlie didn’t appear to take the bait as he helped Bea down from the examination table. Although his tone returned once again to something more formal and detached.
‘I’ll email you the updates, Dr Turner.’
She felt she had been successful. The atmosphere in the room had cooled and for that she was grateful. It was just the way she wanted it.
‘I appreciate that, Dr Warren.’
‘Great, I’ll leave you both in the A&E’s care and head up to visit with Georgina and Leo. They’re waiting for my update on their babies’ treatment plan, because since the diagnosis it appears the recipient twin is now struggling.’
Juliet froze on the spot. ‘Georgina and Leo Abbiati? The quads’ parents?’
‘Yes.’
‘But that’s why I’m here. Why would you not include me in that consultation? And why would you not update me immediately?’
‘Because you just excused yourself.’
‘No, I didn’t,’ Juliet argued with her nostrils beginning to flare. ‘I excused myself from our meeting. Not the meeting with the quads’ parents. I thought that was scheduled for this afternoon.’
‘It was, but yesterday I decided to bring it forward since the condition had deteriorated slightly. Which is what I just mentioned.’
‘What exactly do you mean by “deteriorated slightly”?’
‘There’s more amniotic fluid so the uterus is almost at capacity. It might be a good idea to do an amniotic reduction.’
‘I’ll need to assess her immediately,’ Juliet told him. ‘And I wouldn’t be considering the reduction if we are undertaking the laser surgery in a few days.’
‘Whether the laser surgery will go ahead is still to be decided by the Abbiatis.’
‘And without me, it would appear. Didn’t you think that it would be nice to consult with me about treatment plans?
