places, pulmonary contusions—that’s a bruise on the lung and you often get that with broken ribs—and what looks to me like a cut to her liver.’
‘So the surgeons can fix her ribs?’
‘They might decide to let them heal without fixing them,’ Dominic said. ‘But the contusions are going to make it a bit hard for Rhiannon to breathe, so she’ll be in Intensive Care afterwards until they heal—they can keep a close eye on her and make sure she’s comfortable.’
‘You mean she’s going to be ventilated?’ Gary’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, my God.’
‘It looks and sounds a lot scarier than it is. It’s going to be the best treatment for her,’ Dominic reassured him. ‘We’re taking her up to Theatre now, and if you’d like to you can come with us, as far as the doors. There’s a waiting area there, and one of the surgeons will come out and talk you through what’s happening. The staff at the ICU—the intensive care unit—are lovely, and they’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.’
They headed up to Theatre, Gary holding his wife’s hand all the way.
‘I’m so sorry, Rhi. I love you,’ he said, clearly trying to hold back tears.
‘They’ll take care of her,’ Louisa said gently, putting her arm round his shoulders as Rhiannon was wheeled through the doors to Theatre. ‘Is your daughter coming?’
‘She’s on her way.’ He bit his lip. ‘And I’m keeping you from your work.’
‘That’s OK.’ If necessary, she’d work through her lunch hour to make sure that the targets were hit. People came before admin, in her book, and always would; and if she had to explain herself to the bean-counters, so be it. Nursing was about people, not numbers. ‘I’ll wait until she gets here.’
When Gary and Rhiannon’s daughter arrived, Louisa explained what had happened and what would happen next, made sure they both had a hot drink, then headed back down to the emergency department. She was back in Minors as nurse practitioner for the rest of her shift, and her lunch break consisted of two minutes to bolt a sandwich so that she could catch up with the delay in treating her patients. When it was clear that she was still running late, she made a quick call to her mother to ask if she could pick up Ty from after-school club, and continued working steadily through her list. After she’d seen her last patient, she headed for Resus, hoping that Dominic would be there and that he knew how Rhiannon was.
‘Shouldn’t you have been off duty half an hour ago?’ he asked.
She shrugged. ‘It happens. I just wondered if you’d heard anything from the ICU about Rhiannon?’
‘Yes, I have.’ He smiled at her.
Without that reserve, he was truly stunning; her heart felt as if it had just done a somersault. Which was crazy, because she wasn’t looking to feel this way about anyone. She didn’t need a relationship to complicate her life.
‘Do you have time for a quick coffee while I fill you in?’ he asked. ‘I could do with a Danish pastry.’
That sounded dangerously close to a date. Even though Essie had said he was wrapped up in his work rather than relationships, she didn’t want Dominic to get the wrong idea. Especially as she was aware of how attractive she found him. ‘Sorry, I can’t. I need to pick up my son. Mum met him for me, but he hates it when I’m late.’
‘Can I give you a lift home and tell you on the way?’ he asked.
‘Thanks for the offer, but my car’s in the staff car park.’
‘Then how about I walk you to your car while I tell you about Rhiannon?’
She nodded. ‘That’d be good. Thanks. I’ll just get my bag from my locker.’ She hurried off to collect her things. ‘So what did they say?’ she asked when she returned and Dominic walked with her to the car park.
‘Rhiannon’s pulled through—the surgeons fixed the liver damage and stopped the bleeding. She’s got an epidural in for pain relief, and she’s going to be observed in ICU for a while to make sure she doesn’t develop pneumonia.’
‘Did they wire her ribs?’
‘They decided against surgical correction of her flail chest, because the ventilator will make sure her lungs are working properly and aren’t compromised by her ribs,’ he said. ‘As soon as the contusions are resolved, provided there aren’t any secondary complications, she can come off ventilation. I popped in to see how she was doing and have a chat with Gary. They’ve warned him that her breathing is going to get slightly worse before it gets better—on the same principle that a bruise always hurts more the day after—but now he knows she’s got a good chance, he’s relaxed a bit.’
‘His daughter’s nice,’ Louisa said. ‘She’ll support them both through it.’
He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. ‘You didn’t have a lunch break either, did you?’
‘Yes, I did,’ she protested.
He gave her a wry smile. ‘Long enough to scoff a chocolate bar, hmm?’
‘A chicken wrap, actually. I don’t like chocolate.’
He looked surprised. ‘You must be the first medic I’ve ever met who doesn’t think it’s a food group. And didn’t you bring in a tin of chocolate biscuits the other day?’
‘Yes—because most people like them.’
‘So you’re more of a savoury person?’ he asked.
‘I love cheese scones,’ she said. ‘And hot buttered toast with Marmite.’
‘That’s utterly revolting,’ he said, pulling a face. ‘So where did you work before here?’
‘The London Victoria. It’s where I did my training.’
‘It’s got a good reputation. What made you come to the George IV?’ he asked.
‘The nurse practitioner post was vacant—plus my parents wanted to retire to the coast. I know London’s only an hour and a half from Brighton, but Ty adores his grandparents and I wanted to be able to stay close to them.’
‘So your husband was able to move his job, too, or is he commuting to London?’
‘Ex.’ She took a deep breath. ‘And Ty’s father isn’t part of our lives. At all.’
He grimaced. ‘Sorry. That was nosey of me, and I didn’t mean to stomp on a sore spot.’
She shrugged. ‘It’s OK. I guess the only way you get to know a new colleague is to ask questions.’
‘True.’ Dominic looked wary. ‘And I owe you an apology from the other day. I’m not normally that rude.’
‘I didn’t think anything of it.’
‘Yes, you did—otherwise you wouldn’t have been so sharp with me in Resus this morning.’
She bit her lip. She had been
