and damnation. Jonah always seemed to sense when something was wrong with her, but she didn’t want to tell him about Brian. Not yet, at any rate. Not when she was so perilously close to tears.
‘Of course I’m sure,’ she insisted. ‘You’ve seen my office, Jonah. I’m drowning under forms and requisition sheets in there.’
For a moment she didn’t think he believed her, then, to her relief, he nodded.
‘Snap. I always used to wonder why Gabriel was first into the unit and last to leave. Now I know.’
‘But you’re enjoying being temporary master of all you survey,’ she said, and he grinned.
‘I think everyone has a little bit of the dictator in them.’
‘You, a dictator?’ She laughed. ‘Jonah, you’re as soft as butter.’
‘Says the girl who’s a complete pushover,’ he countered, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that she kept her smile in place.
‘Do you want me to set up Tommy’s tests again?’ she said, deliberately changing the subject.
‘I’d feel happier if we did,’ he admitted. ‘I know you think I’m panicking needlessly…’
‘But your gut instinct says something’s wrong,’ she finished for him. ‘OK, I’ll reschedule the tests, but I’ll bet you a fiver he’s simply a slow developer.’
‘You’re on,’ he said as he led the way into the special care section of the unit.
‘I see Donna’s mother is here again,’ Nell murmured, noticing Mrs Harrison sitting beside her daughter’s incubator.
‘Mrs Harrison is always here.’ Jonah sighed. ‘I’ve tried telling her there’s no cause for concern, that her daughter is only in Special because she developed jaundice after she was born. Could you have a word with her? I’ve done my best, but it’s like talking to a brick wall.’
It was.
‘But I have to stay with Donna,’ Sheila Harrison protested when Nell voiced Jonah’s concern. ‘If I leave her she might…she might…’
‘Sheila, jaundice isn’t a life-threatening condition,’ Nell declared. ‘It’s simply caused by bilirubin, a byproduct of the natural breakdown of blood cells, not being recycled back into the body by the liver as it should be. We’re giving Donna extra fluids and light therapy, and her body is now eliminating the excess bilirubin so we should be able to transfer her to Transitional quite soon.’
‘Yes, but—’
‘You have a boy of six and a girl of four, don’t you?’ Nell interrupted, and Sheila nodded.
‘My mother’s looking after them. She’s been great.’
‘I’m sure she has, but she’s not your children’s mum, is she? Sheila, tell me something,’ Nell continued when the woman said nothing. ‘How much time have you spent with your son and daughter since Donna was born?’
Sheila looked at her as though she was insane. ‘Sister, my baby’s lying here ill, and you’re asking me how how much time I’ve…I’ve…’
‘Been out enjoying yourself?’ Nell finished for her. ‘Sheila, you mustn’t neglect your other children because Donna has to stay in the unit for a little while. If you do, they’re going to resent her before you’ve even take her home.’
‘But—’
‘You need to spend time with them, and you need to take care of yourself,’ Nell continued. ‘Even if all you do is go for a walk, or read a book for an hour, it will relax you, make you less stressed, and the less stressed you are the better you’ll be able to cope.’
‘I guess so,’ Sheila said uncertainly, then tears filled her eyes. ‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Sister. I thought I’d just take Donna home after she was born, like I did with my other kids, but life—it has a horrible habit of slapping you in the face sometimes, doesn’t it?’
Tell me about it, Nell thought as she gave Mrs Harrison’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze before walking towards the unit door. That morning, when she’d got up she’d thought she had it all. A fiancé, her new promotion to ward manager of the neonatal intensive care unit of the Belfield Infirmary, and now…
Now nobody’s eyes would light up any more when they saw her. Nobody would make her feel loved, and special, the way Brian had.
‘Nell?’
Jonah looked apologetic and her heart sank.
‘Tell me the worst,’ she said.
‘Admin want a word about your patient through-put figures, the rep from the pharmaceutical company has just arrived, and Maternity are querying your transfer documentation for Adam Thornton.’
‘What’s there to query?’ she protested. ‘Adam was born in Maternity on Saturday. He developed breathing problems on Sunday and they transferred him down to us.’
‘Apparently you didn’t complete the form in triplicate. Sorry, Nell,’ Jonah added as she groaned. ‘It looks like it’s going to be one of those days.’
He didn’t know the half of it, she thought, but, then, neither did she. It turned out to be a nightmare Monday. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. One of the ward nurses dropped Tommy Moffat’s new blood samples just after they’d been taken, Bea screwed up the time the ophthalmologist was supposed to arrive to check Donna Harrison’s eyes, the pharmaceutical rep overstayed his welcome by a good hour, and as for Admin…
‘I tell you, Fiona,’ Nell said as she shut the drawer of her filing cabinet with a bang. ‘If Admin had phoned me one more time today I would have—’
‘Marched down to the second floor and rammed the phone down their throats?’ the departmental secretary suggested, and Nell shook her head grimly.
‘I was thinking of somewhere considerably more painful.’ She glanced at the clock on her office wall. ‘Lord, is it half past eight already? I’m off home for a bath, and a mindless evening spent curled up on the sofa in front of the TV.’
‘But you can’t,’ Fiona protested. ‘We’re all supposed to be going down to the function suite after we finish our shifts. For Wendy’s leaving bash, remember?’
Nell hadn’t remembered, and now she’d been reminded she didn’t want to go. Wendy might be a lovely girl, and terrific at hurrying up their test results when they sent them down to Urology, but she was leaving because she was pregnant. Which meant tonight’s event would be dominated by jokes about bumps and stomach-churning Oh-my-God-but-I-thought-I-was-being-torn-in-two stories, and she didn’t want to listen to either.
‘Fiona, I’m sorry, but—’
‘Jonah, tell Nell there’s no way she can duck out of Wendy’s farewell buffet,’ Fiona interrupted, as the specialist registrar appeared at Nell’s office door. ‘We’re all expected, aren’t we?’
