Jack heard the shake of anger in Nina’s voice. ‘Don’t you dare insinuate that I am dismissing the medical staff’s concerns.’
Jack rolled his tongue in his cheek. He certainly wasn’t about to apologise, but inwardly he conceded that perhaps he had gone a bit too far. At the end of the day the social services department did one hell of a job. They dealt with the most vulnerable children and handled the most difficult cases and had to make decisions that few would relish, so he sat silent as Nina spoke on.
‘Every one of your concerns has been listened to and addressed. Every point you have made has been noted.’ Nina looked around the table. ‘I have to take each case on its own merits and in this case I see the mother making a huge effort. She is racked with guilt, witnessing all that Sienna is going through, and—’ Nina looked over at Eleanor ‘—while I accept that she had none of those feelings with the other two children, in this instance it is very different.
‘There is a father who is stepping up and a couple who are desperate to keep their child but, yes, there is also a baby who, thanks to her mother’s poor choices, has had an appalling start to life. Now, I could arrange temporary placement for Sienna, but I can assure you the foster-care system is not a fairy-tale alternative, especially when we believe that, with support, this family does have a chance.’
‘Well,’ came Jack’s terse response, ‘I’ve voiced my concerns.’
‘They’ve been noted.’
As soon as the meeting concluded Jack stood. ‘If you’ll excuse me.’
Once outside Eleanor spoke with him briefly. ‘Thanks so much for trying, Jack.’
‘Nina made several good points.’ Jack said to Eleanor, because although he always went in to bat for his staff he could play the devil’s advocate better than anyone, but probably, in this instance, he actually agreed with Nina. ‘I know that it’s hard to step back at times …’
‘It doesn’t seem that way for you.’ Eleanor sighed.
‘Yeah, well, you have to be tough to do this job or you’d go crazy,’ Jack said. ‘Eleanor, sometimes you just have to look at the facts. In this case the mother is doing everything right, albeit too little too late, but, as Nina said, if we take this child from the mother now then realistically they are not going to reunite and though we might think that that might be for the best, who knows where Sienna might end up?’
‘She might be placed with the perfect family. She might …’ Eleanor started, but her lips tightened and her words halted as Nina came out.
‘There’s no such thing as the perfect family,’ Jack said, and giving Nina a brief nod he stalked off.
‘Says the man who comes from one.’ Eleanor rolled her eyes as Jack walked off and then stood a little awkwardly when it was clear that Nina was hanging around to speak to her. ‘Did you see the Carter family Christmas photo shoot?’
Nina gave a pale smile. Yes, she’d seen it—all the Carters gathered around the hospital Christmas tree, their diamonds gleaming as much as their capped smiles. There had recently been a magazine spread too on Jack’s parents, but she didn’t want to think about Jack now so Nina got straight to the difficult point. ‘I’m sorry that you’re upset about the department’s decision.’
‘Thanks.’ Nina watched as Eleanor’s eyes filled up behind her glasses as she spoke. ‘I’ve listened to all that you’ve said and I’ve just spoken with Jack and he’s right—you made some very good points. It’s just that I saw what Hannah was like with her son. She was so distant and unfeeling and refused to take any responsibility …’
‘Addiction will do that every time,’ Nina said.
‘I know.’ Eleanor nodded.
‘And I can assure you that we will be watching Sienna very carefully. The real difference in this case is that there is a loving father on the scene. I really feel that if Hannah goes back to her ways of old and starts using again, then Andy will be the one raising Sienna …’
‘Far from perfect.’
‘Not so far from perfect.’ Nina smiled. ‘I think that he’d do a great job.’
As she said goodbye to Eleanor and headed off to find Hannah to let her know about the meeting, she paused for a moment by the water cooler and took a drink, Eleanor’s words still replaying in her mind.
Jack Carter thought she had made several good points.
Because she had made several good points, Nina told herself, screwing up the small plastic cup and tossing it into the waste bin.
She didn’t need his admiration, neither did she need his approval.
The only opinion Nina wanted from Jack was a professional one.
She just had to remember that fact.
WITH THE MEETING over Jack walked through the maternity unit, restless, angry but not sure why. He was looking forward to getting back to the shield of his office, but his pager stopped him and he halted to use the phone. However, as he waited to be connected by the switchboard he glanced at the handover sheet one of the nurses was working on.
Sienna Andrews. He saw the room she was in and the doctor she was under, that she had been the third pregnancy, and in the comments section was written ‘NASS’—which stood for neonatal abstinence scoring system, a method used to gauge a newborn’s withdrawal from the drugs they had been subjected to in what should have been the safety of the womb.
Jack concluded his call and walked through the maternity ward, pausing when he came to the room where Sienna was. He looked through the glass to the row of isolettes. Hannah wasn’t with her daughter, though a nurse was there, tending to the baby. Jack rarely went into these rooms, only when it was necessary.
Angel’s was a free hospital—there was more hope and heartbreak than one building could contain and as Head of Paediatrics Jack had more than enough to contend with, without getting unnecessarily involved with each and every case.
He had to stay detached, which he did easily.
Jack had learnt the art of detachment long before he had studied medicine—he’d been told by his parents to toughen up at a very young age, and told it over and over again, and so he had, simply refusing to hand over his emotions to anyone.
He had this sudden strange vision of Nina chairing a meeting about his own family and it brought a wry smile to his lips.
There was no such thing as a perfect family.
Certainly he never discussed his family life with any of his many lovers—he didn’t let anyone close and maintained the Carter image, because the image could be used for good. Jack looked around the unit, saw the cots and the equipment and, ever practical, thought of the cost.
‘Do you need anything, Jack?’ Cindy, one of the nurses, broke into his thoughts.
‘Nope.’ Jack shook his head. ‘I’m just
