was that his child had been unharmed.
Children, he reminded himself with a surge of mingled joy and terror.
He’d been amazed and delighted to see not one but two hearts beating strongly on the ultrasound screen, evidence that they were both still snugly ensconced in their rightful environment and supremely unaware of their narrow escape. One side of him was ecstatic to see the evidence that his precious children weren’t just a dream but a miraculous reality. It was the other side—the doctor side of him—that knew enough to be afraid; the doctor half of his brain that knew just how much more dangerous the existence of that second baby was, both to the pregnancy and to Sara herself.
Bearing a child was already one of the most dangerous things a woman could put herself through, and to carry twins …
He shook his head when he realised that he was already planning a session on the computer to access all the relevant statistics, irrespective of the fact that knowing the figures would worry him even more.
‘What’s the matter?’ Audrey demanded in a panicky voice as she entered the relatives’ room at exactly the wrong moment. ‘Why did you shake your head? Did the doctor say something to you while we were in with Zara? She’s not going to …? Oh, no! Please! She can’t die. Not my beautiful girl!’
Dan swore silently as her voice rose shrilly with every word, his head thumping unmercifully.
‘No one’s told me anything,’ he said firmly as he took her by the shoulders and leant down to force her to meet his gaze. ‘Audrey, the only time I’ve spoken to Zara’s consultant was when you were with me. The situation hasn’t changed. We’ve just got to wait and see how her body copes with whatever it is she’s taken. We’ve just got to be patient.’
‘How can I be patient?’ she demanded angrily, shrugging his hands off and whirling away. ‘I’m her mother! You have no idea how dreadful it is not being able to do anything. Just waiting …’
‘You could visit Sara,’ he suggested. ‘She must be wondering what’s happening down here, worrying about—’
‘If she were that worried she’d be here with us,’ Audrey interrupted sharply. ‘I can’t believe how selfish that girl is, to be lying in bed when she should be down here with her sister … with us …’
‘Sara’s in no fit state to go anywhere,’ Dan snapped, rapidly reaching the end of his tether. It was unbelievable that parents could be so concerned about one of their daughters and so dismissive of the other. They seemed to care so little for Sara and were so unappreciative of her and everything she’d achieved that it bordered on emotional abuse.
It certainly wasn’t something that he would ever do to his children. His heart missed a beat when he visualised the flickering evidence of those two tiny beings that would one day look up to him and call him Daddy. It was an awesome responsibility and he would make certain that they both knew that their father loved each of them as much as the other.
‘Mum? Dad?’ said a hesitant voice from the doorway, and Dan spun on his heel, his eyes widening with disbelief when he saw the shaky figure sitting in the wheelchair.
The bruises on her face looked livid and angry already, especially against the stark white of the dressing covering her stitches. He could only guess how many other injuries were hidden under the back-to-front gown she wore as a wrap, but nothing could hide the ungainly cast stabilising her broken leg.
‘Sara!’ He strode towards her when he saw her struggling one-handed to propel herself further into the room, her face so pale it seemed almost bloodless. He didn’t know whether to be angry with her for being crazy enough to make the journey when every inch of the distance between her room and ICU must have been agony for her, or proud that her determination was enough to bring her here in case her parents needed her support.
All he knew was that he was suddenly filled with an overwhelming need to protect this valiant woman from anything that might cause her any more pain.
DAN was still seething when he finally took half an hour to race home for a shower and a change of clothes.
‘Those parents of hers are unbelievable!’ he growled as he leaned wearily against his front door, almost too tired to make his way to the bathroom.
He was sure his mouth must have gaped when there hadn’t been any evidence of sympathy at the shocking extent of Sara’s injuries, not a single word of concern that she must have escaped death by the merest whisker, to say nothing of the possible loss of their grandchild … grand-children, he corrected himself and felt that crazy grin creep over his face again, banishing his bad mood at a stroke.
He reached for his wallet and extracted the precious image printed from Sara’s first scan and awe joined his feeling of delight. Not one but two tiny beings were still growing safely inside her womb, in spite of their close brush with death. He could still feel that first surge of emotion when he’d seen the image of their minuscule hearts, the beats so rapid that they’d almost seemed to flicker on the screen.
‘My babies,’ he whispered as he outlined their precious images with a visibly trembling fingertip and was shocked to feel the hot press of tears behind his eyes.
This … these … were the one good thing that had happened in such a very long time. These two tiny beings made everything worthwhile.
Even the knowledge that your wife is lying dangerously ill in ICU? asked a disapproving voice inside his head. That brought him up short for a moment and guilt struck him hard that he was feeling such delight while Zara’s health—her very life—hung in the balance.
His shoulders slumped still further when he realised that even though her situation was serious, with no guarantee for a happy outcome, he found it strangely hard to care any more than he would if Zara were just another patient brought into A and E in the course of his working day.
‘That certainly took the smile off your face,’ he muttered as he strode across the lounge towards the bathroom with the weight of a very long day pressing down on his shoulders again. At the last moment he veered towards the mantelpiece to prop the precious image in full view, torn between the desire to replace it in his wallet to keep it close to him and the equally strong need to keep it safe.
His first step inside the bedroom was like a punch to the gut. He and Zara were both reasonably tidy people so it was a real shock to be confronted with the shambles that remained from his efforts to keep her body functioning until the paramedics arrived.
The bedclothes straggling onto the floor were mute testimony to the way he’d hastily pulled her down onto the firmer surface, and there certainly hadn’t been time to straighten anything up before he’d leapt in his car to follow the ambulance to the hospital.
He stepped forward and reached out to gather up the bedding then let it fall again, unable to find the energy to care that the bed needed making or, more to the point, the inclination to sleep in it at all when he thought about what had so nearly happened there.
He needed sleep. In fact, if he was honest with himself, he was nearly out on his feet with exhaustion, both with the stresses of a long hard shift and then the double shocks of first Sara’s and then Zara’s admission to hospital.
