pricked Ella’s eyelids. ‘That’s so kind.’
‘And invest in tissues,’ Sienna advised. ‘You wouldn’t believe the stupid things that are going to make you cry. Or how often.’
‘I believe you—especially now, because you were right about tins smelling, too,’ Ella admitted wryly.
‘It’ll be fine,’ Sienna reassured her. ‘See you later.’
‘Ella, could we have a wo—?’ Oliver began.
She lifted her hands as if shoving him away. ‘Sorry—I’ve been called down to Ultrasound.’
He couldn’t argue with that.
But the next time he saw her in a corridor, Ella couldn’t stop to have a quick word because she was in a rush on the way to help Jennie, their trainee midwife.
Was he being paranoid, or was she avoiding him?
And she’d been so quiet on the way back to Cheltenham last night.
He’d shared a part of his life with her that he’d always kept private; but, instead of bringing her closer to him, it seemed to have driven her further away.
The third time Oliver tried to talk to Ella, she was backing away as soon as he started speaking. ‘Sorry, Oliver. I can’t talk right now. I’ve been called to the Emergency Department.’
‘If that was to see the mum with the suspected placental abruption,’ he said grimly, ‘then you’re working with me.’
She bit her lip. ‘Oh. I thought I’d be working with Charlie.’
So yet again she’d been hoping to avoid him. ‘No. He’s in the middle of a complicated delivery.’ Hurt made him snap at her. ‘So you’ll just have to put up with it being me, won’t you?’
She gave him a speaking look, but said nothing.
Oliver sighed inwardly. He hated to think that their working relationship was as bad as their personal relationship right now. He knew he should apologise for being abrupt with her, but her coolness had really got to him.
‘Ella,’ he said when they got into the lift. ‘Are you going to be OK with this?’
‘An abruption? I’ve come across them before,’ she said coolly.
Oh, great. She’d misunderstood and was about to go prickly on him. ‘I don’t mean clinically. I know you know your stuff,’ he said. ‘I meant emotionally. You’re pregnant and this might not have a good outcome. If you’d rather someone else took this case, I’ll organise that for you.’
‘No, it’s fine.’ She took his hand and squeezed it briefly. ‘But thank you for thinking about that.’
Her touch flustered him so much that he didn’t say a word until they were in the Emergency Department with Mike Wetherby.
‘Courtney Saunders, age thirty-six, and she’s currently thirty-four weeks,’ Mike explained. ‘This is her second baby; her last pregnancy and birth were straightforward, and this pregnancy’s been straightforward so far but today she slipped on the ice while she was getting off the bus and had quite a bad fall. She tried to protect the baby by throwing herself sideways; she banged her hip and her head. I’ve sorted that side of it out for her, and obviously there’s still a bit of tachycardia but I think that’s probably stress.’
Though it could also be a precursor to other complications, Oliver knew. ‘How’s the baby doing?’
‘That’s why I called you,’ Mike said. ‘She says she hasn’t felt the baby move much since the fall, her back hurts, and she thinks she’s having Braxton Hicks.’
‘But you don’t think it’s Braxton Hicks?’ Oliver asked.
‘I have a bad feeling about this,’ Mike said. ‘She doesn’t have any signs of bleeding but, given the fall and the length of her pregnancy, I think it might be a concealed abruption. That’s why I called you guys rather than doing a manual exam myself.’
‘Good call,’ Oliver said. If it was an abruption, a manual exam would make things much worse. ‘Have you managed to contact her partner or a friend to be with her?’
‘We tried her partner, but he’s in a meeting, so we’ve left a message for him either to call us or to come straight in,’ Mike said. ‘I’ll introduce you to Courtney.’
Once Mike had introduced Oliver and Ella and headed off to treat his next patient, Oliver said, ‘Mrs Saunders—may I call you Courtney?’ At her nod, he continued, ‘I’d like to examine you, if I may.’
Courtney gave her consent, and Oliver examined her gently. ‘Tell me if there’s any pain or tenderness,’ he said.
‘I’m fine. I can put up with being a bit sore and the Braxton Hicks. But I’m scared about the baby,’ she said.
Ella took her hand to reassure her. ‘That’s why we’re here. Oliver’s the Assistant Head of Obstetrics, so he’s really good at his job.’
‘Assistant Head of Obstetrics?’ Courtney looked panicky. ‘Does that mean it’s really serious?’
‘It simply means,’ Oliver said gently, ‘that all my other obstetricians are in Theatre or in clinics right now and I happened to be the doctor who was free. It’s nothing sinister, I promise. But what I’m going to do first is reassure you by checking the baby, OK? Once I’ve listened to the heartbeat, Ella’s going to put some wires on you so we can monitor how the baby’s doing and keep an eye on—do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?’
Courtney shook her head. ‘We didn’t want to know. But Alex—he’s my oldest—he tells everyone he’s going to have a little sister.’
‘Baby Saunders, then,’ Oliver said with a smile. ‘And we’ll also measure how your contractions are doing.’ He took the Pinard stethoscope and listened to the baby’s heartbeat, then smiled at Courtney. ‘That’s a nice strong heartbeat, so that’s good news.’ It was a little slow for his liking, but he wasn’t going to worry Courtney about that just now. Not until he’d checked the ultrasound. ‘Before Ella puts the wires on, I’d also like to give you an ultrasound scan—it’s just like the ones you’ve had before, when you came in at twenty weeks.’
And the scan showed him the one thing he’d hoped it wouldn’t. He glanced across at Ella who mouthed, ‘Abruption?’ At his tiny nod, she mouthed, ‘Line in and cross-match?’
He was glad she was so quick to pick things up—and he was even more glad that she was professional enough not to let the difficulties between them affect their patient.
He turned the screen so that Courtney could see it. ‘When you fell, Courtney, it caused part of the placenta to start to come away from the wall of your womb—this dark area here shows bleeding behind the womb, which is why you’re not seeing any spotting,’ he said. ‘It’s what we call a placental abruption.’
Courtney
