Eclampsia,’ he added succinctly.
‘Oh, I see.’ Lucy nodded, understanding why he had needed to rush back into work. Eclampsia was a highly dangerous condition for both a mother and her child. It could lead to convulsions and even coma and death if not treated in time. Normally, the condition was picked up as pre-eclampsia during routine antenatal screening. The combination of high blood pressure, protein in the urine and oedema—an accumulation of fluid in the tissues—were all indications of it. She was surprised that alarm bells hadn’t started ringing earlier, in fact.
‘Was there no sign beforehand that the mother was at risk?’ she asked curiously.
‘None at all. Mind you, the fact that she missed her last couple of antenatal appointments didn’t help.’ Max sighed. ‘When I asked her why she hadn’t been to the clinic, she said that she hadn’t had the time. Apparently, she had a hair appointment on the first occasion and needed to get her nails done the next time.’
‘Unbelievable!’ Lucy exclaimed.
‘Yep. I think that just about sums it up. Fortunately, her husband phoned us when she started complaining that she had a headache and that her vision was blurred. He was told to bring her straight in so she was here when she had a convulsion. We administered anti-convulsant drugs and I delivered the baby by Caesarean section. He’s in the special care baby unit, but I’m pretty sure he’ll be fine. Mum will need monitoring for the next few weeks but she should be all right too.’ He shrugged. ‘It was worth a sleepless night, all things considered.’
He sketched her a wave and left, his long legs striding along the corridor. Lucy watched him for a moment then closed the door and went to set up the drip. Funnily enough she had enjoyed talking to him. Max Curtis had a relaxed and friendly manner that had put her at her ease, made her feel more positive about the changes she had made to her life recently. Hopefully, moving to Dalverston had been the right thing to do.
She sighed as the doubts suddenly surfaced again. It had been hard to leave her last job when she had been so happy there, harder still to leave all her friends and family behind, but she’d had no choice. Although her parents had tried to persuade her not to go, Lucy knew how difficult it would have been for them if she’d stayed. After all, it wasn’t their fault that her cousin and her ex-fiancé had had an affair.
Lucy took a deep breath and quelled the moment of panic. She had made her decision and even if it didn’t work out as well as she hoped it would, at least it would give her a breathing space, time to put things into perspective. She simply had to remember how much worse it would have been if she’d found out about Richard and Amy after the wedding had taken place.
Max made his way to the staffroom then realised that he didn’t even have the energy to make himself a cup of coffee. Veering away from the door, he headed for the lift. The cafeteria should be open soon and the thought of a double espresso with his name on it was too tempting to resist.
The staff were just opening up when he arrived, so he gave them his order and sat down, feeling weariness washing over him. The long night had taken its toll, especially as it had been the second night in a row that he’d been called in. With Anna on maternity leave, he had been picking up more than his share of extra hours recently. It wasn’t a new occurrence, by any means. Working long and unsocial hours was par for the course in medicine. At one point, he’d been only too glad to work any time he was needed, too. It had been far less stressful dealing with his patients’ problems than what had been happening in his marriage.
Max frowned. It was rare that he thought about the past and it surprised him that he should do so now. He had been divorced for three years and he had closed the door on that episode in his life. OK, so he was willing to admit that it had had a knock-on effect, in that he avoided commitment these days, but to his mind that was common sense. Once bitten, twice shy seemed a sensible maxim to live by and he wasn’t going to put himself through all that heartache again.
His thoughts moved away from the less than appealing subject of his failed marriage and on to the far more interesting topic of their new midwife. Lucy Harris appeared both highly competent and extremely capable, and he was pleased that their views were in accord. Some of the older midwives were a little entrenched in their ways and it would be good to have a soul-mate on the unit.
The fact that she was also extremely pretty with those huge blue eyes and those shiny auburn curls tumbling around her cheeks was another point in her favour. Although Max shied away from commitment, he had a normal healthy interest in the opposite sex and Lucy Harris was a very attractive member of it. All of sudden his tiredness lifted and he grinned. Working with the lovely Lucy could turn out to be a real tonic.
Chapter Two
SOPHIE JONES’S baby finally made his appearance in the middle of the afternoon. Amanda, the senior midwife, helped Lucy deliver him. Lucy guessed that Amanda was keen to put her through her paces, but tried not to let it worry her. By the time Sophie and baby Alfie were transferred to a ward, she was confident that Amanda wouldn’t have any more concerns about her, and it was reassuring to know that at least one very important aspect of her life hadn’t changed.
Lucy fetched her coat at the end of her shift and left. It had started raining at lunchtime and the gutters were brimming over with water as she made her way to the bus stop. She huddled against the wall when a car sped past, sending a wave of water across the pavement, but by the time she reached the bus stop, her shoes and trousers were soaked through. She joined the queue, hoping that she wouldn’t have to wait too long. However, half an hour later she was still there when a car drew up and Max Curtis poked his head out of the window.
‘Do you want a lift?’ He glanced at her sodden trousers and grimaced. ‘You’re going to catch your death if you stand there much longer. Hop in.’
Lucy hesitated, not sure that accepting a lift would be the right thing to do. It didn’t seem fair to expect him to drive her home after the long day he’d had. However, the thought of getting out of the rain was too tempting to resist. She slid into the passenger seat and slammed the door.
‘Thanks. It’s really good of you,’ she said gratefully. ‘I don’t know what happened to the bus. I’ve been waiting ages and there’s been no sign of it.’
‘Probably two will turn up together,’ he said lightly, putting the car into gear. ‘So how was your first day then? Not too scary, I hope.’
‘No, it was fine,’ Lucy assured him. ‘Everyone was really helpful, which makes a huge difference when you’re starting a new job.’
‘It’s a good team,’ he assured her, slowing as they came to a set of traffic lights on red. ‘Most of them have worked on the unit for a while, so that helps, of course.’
‘It must do,’ Lucy agreed, turning to look at him. Although he wasn’t classically handsome, he was certainly attractive, she decided. The combination of those highly masculine features—a strong jaw, straight nose and perfectly sculpted lips—was very appealing. Rumpled dark brown hair falling across his forehead lent him a rakish air that many women would find pleasing too. She found it strangely engaging which surprised her, given what had happened recently.
‘I’m looking forward to being part of a settled team,’ she said, hurriedly squashing that thought. She certainly wasn’t in the market for another relationship. The fact that her ex-fiancé had betrayed her had destroyed her faith in men. Love, marriage and, most important of all, a family had always been her dream but not any more. She wouldn’t give any man that much power over her again. ‘The turnover of staff at my last place was a nightmare.
