The next morning Savannah planned to apologise to Theo as soon as he came in. But she didn’t have time.
Dr Smythe, a thin, nervous man, slow to work with and easily flustered, had patients banked back to the doorway. He’d spent nearly an hour trying to put a drip in a young man who had accidentally chainsawed a zipper in his leg, and in the end Savannah had tactfully offered to do it herself.
By the time Theo arrived, Savannah was ready to throw her arms around him. He raised his eyebrows at the pile of waiting patient cards, and looked at her sardonically.
‘Smythe snowed under, is he?’
‘Yes,’ Savannah said with great restraint.
‘Well, let’s get moving, then.’
Savannah heaved a sigh of relief and followed him from cubicle to cubicle. She watched, impressed, as he soothed frayed nerves and anxious relatives made worse by the long wait. He remained even-tempered and very thorough. He was very good at his job. Why wouldn’t he take it on permanently?
By the time lunchtime came she was ready for a break. But she didn’t get one.
‘Savannah. In here, please.’ The urgent summons from Julia in cubicle three had all thoughts of food banished immediately.
The very young woman behind the curtain was large all over and shapeless in a thick jumper. Tears rolled down her cheek and there was real fear in her eyes.
‘Let me go to the toilet. I’ve got to go.’
Savannah took one look at the ungainly woman struggling to sit up and remembered another large young woman from her previous hospital whom she’d never forget.
‘Can you hang on for one more minute while Sister fills me in?’ Savannah looked at Julia.
‘This is Carly, she’s fifteen. I can’t get much of a history but wondered if she had an acute appendicitis, except the pain comes and goes.’
‘I’ll bet. Carly, let me have a very quick feel of your tummy, and then we’ll talk about your pain.’ Savannah lifted the baggy jumper and shirt underneath and ran her hands over the girl’s round but not bulging stomach. She felt a definite kick from the baby within. The top of the uterus was palpable as being consistent with a full-term baby. She caught Julia’s eye and nodded at the incredulous look on her face.
‘Get her a trolley and over to Maternity Ward, and ring to say we’re coming. She’s ready to...’ Savannah stopped and sought another way to say it. ‘Be transferred. Ask Theo to come in, please.’
Julia scooted out the door. Carly was between contractions at the moment and Savannah needed some information. She might have two minutes before the next one.
‘Carly, have you been to see a doctor in the last year?’
‘No.’
‘Where’s your mum?’
‘She’s in the waiting room with Dad.’
‘Are you bleeding down below?’ Savannah was aware of Theo’s feet stopping outside the curtain. The curtain parted slightly and his eyes met hers. She held her finger up for a second and he stood back. Savannah looked back at the girl.
A pink flush rose in her cheeks and the girl looked away. ‘I think I might have my period, but I only ever had one so I’m not sure.’ Baby blue eyes looked up at Savannah with relief. ‘So that’s why I have pains. It’s a period.’
‘I don’t think it’s a period. Carly, I’m sorry to ask you this, but are you a virgin?’
This time the cheeks stayed pink. There was a silence and Savannah willed the girl to answer before the next contraction.
Carly swallowed. ‘I’m nearly a virgin. I only did it the once and that was a long time ago.’
‘About nine months?’ Savannah smiled softly down at the naïve young woman beside her.
Carly’s lip quivered and she turned tear-filled eyes up at Savannah. ‘I’m having a baby?’ She sniffed. ‘I really hoped I wasn’t.’
Savannah reached for her hand. ‘Very soon.’
Her eyes widened. ‘I don’t know how. Don’t you have to go to classes or something to learn how to breathe?’
Savannah couldn’t help the smile this time. ‘No. Your body will let you know what to do. Don’t be scared and just do what your body tells you.’
‘Mum and Dad will kill me.’ Her eyes widened and she groaned. ‘My body’s telling me I want to go to the toilet.’ She squeezed her eyes shut, crushed Savannah’s hand and grunted.
Theo stepped from behind the curtain and into the cubicle. ‘I gather we’re having an unplanned baby.’
‘I was hoping we’d get her to Maternity first but she must have been in second stage when she came in.’
‘How could you tell if you haven’t examined her?’
Savannah gave him an old-fashioned look. ‘Let’s say my experience tells me.’
Savannah leaned her face close to the girl’s and stroked her cheek. ‘Carly, the doctor’s here. It’s OK, sweetheart. Do you want your mum?’
At the girl’s tentative nod, Savannah straightened. ‘What’s her name?’
‘Ruth.’
‘I’ll be back in a tick.’
Theo looked up. ‘You’re not leaving me here?’
‘Yeah, wish I could be a fly on the wall.’ She saw him frown and she smiled. ‘I’ll be quick.’
She closed the curtain and glanced up the corridor. The orderly was coming to push the bed to Maternity. With a bit of luck they might make it there yet. She picked up a prepackaged emergency delivery set and tucked the paper-covered bundle under her arm—description side down—just in case.
Savannah turned the other way into the waiting room. There were only two people left in there—a large-boned woman who could be none other than Carly’s mum, and the other a thin, bald man turning his hat in his hands. Both stood up when Savannah entered.
Worried blue eyes searched Savannah’s face. ‘How’s my Carly?’
‘She’ll be fine but she needs her mum. Can you follow me, please?’
Ruth touched her husband on the arm and gestured for him to take her handbag. ‘What about her dad?’
‘Perhaps it’s better if he stayed here for the moment. He can come in if you want him, too, shortly. The cubicles are very small.’
They strode quickly back towards the cubicles. Ruth caught Savannah’s arm. ‘What’s wrong with her?’
Savannah tried to imagine how she would feel as a mother in this
