Judy Campbell - From Single Mum to Lady

‘Excuse me.’ His voice was courteous but firm—meant to be heeded. ‘Can you tell me what happened?’

The woman stopped chewing her gum for a second and brushed a lock of greasy hair from her eyes. She had the unkempt look of someone who had lost interest in life and herself, reflected Jandy. There were a lot like her who came to Casualty.

‘He fell off his bicycle and hit his head on the steps,’ she said tersely. ‘I told him not to ride it in the back garden with the dogs around.’

‘I take it you’re Mrs Tate—his mother?’ asked Patrick, making a few notes.

‘I’m not his mother—I’m his stepmother.’

Her voice was almost aggressive and Jandy saw Patrick look up quickly, something unfathomable in his expression, then he said smoothly, ‘Has he been sick?’

‘Yes—all over the floor of course.’

‘I see. And did the dogs snap at him while he was riding his bike?’

Mrs Tate shrugged and said in a defensive tone, ‘No, they just jumped up at him, having a bit of a lark. It was Jimmy’s fault—he was teasing them. They wouldn’t hurt a fly if they hadn’t been provoked…he’s been told often enough.’ She shifted restlessly in her chair. ‘Will this take long? I’ve got a baby at home and I had to ask my neighbour to look after her while I brought this one in.’

Patrick’s eyes met Jandy’s for a brief second—they were flinty hard. They were all taught to be impartial but she didn’t blame him for showing a hint of the fury he must be feeling on the child’s behalf. How could anyone be so unsympathetic to an injured five-year-old? A muscle tightened slightly by Patrick’s mouth and his voice was clipped.

‘It will take as long as it takes to see to this wound and make sure Jimmy’s not injured his skull—he’ll be taken to X-Ray in a minute. Now, can you tell me what time he had this accident?’

‘About an hour ago,’ Mrs Tate replied sulkily.

‘Did you see it happen?’

Her eyes shifted momentarily and she muttered, ‘No—but I sent for the ambulance as soon as I saw it was serious,’ she added self-righteously.

‘Were you out when it happened?’

Again her eyes looked away from his. ‘Just at a neighbour’s—not far away.’

‘So you don’t know if the dogs attacked him?’

Jandy could almost feel Patrick Sinclair restraining himself—it wasn’t their role to be judgemental, but it could be difficult at times. He made some notes on the file and the woman scowled.

‘I told you—they wouldn’t do that. Can I go now? You can ring me when you’ve seen to him. Stop whinging, Jimmy—you’re a big boy now.’

Big tears had started to roll down Jimmy’s cheeks again and Jandy compressed her lips—it wasn’t fair that the little boy should be chastised.

‘Perhaps you could wait and see the result of the X-ray?’ she suggested. ‘It won’t take me long to dress his wound. I take it he’s had his tetanus jab?’

Mrs Tate sighed heavily. ‘He’s had all them jabs. I’ll have to go and ring my neighbour, then…I’ll be outside the entrance if you need me.’

She disappeared down towards the waiting room and Patrick turned to Jandy. ‘We’ll need to run blood tests, Hb, CRP and respiration checks before we take him down to X-Ray and ring up Paediatrics and get someone to look at the plates.’

Jimmy looked at them both, eyes round and anxious behind his glasses. Patrick smiled kindly at him.

‘Hang on there, Jimmy, and we’ll take you down to have a photograph taken of your head—it won’t hurt a bit. I tell you what, Nurse Marshall, I think this little boy’s been one of the bravest we’ve had here today—I think he deserves something special!’

His blue eyes looked at her questioningly—not having worked at this hospital before, he wouldn’t know what rewards they offered their little patients.

Jandy grinned. ‘Quite right, Doctor—I’ve got a special medal for someone like Jimmy!’

She opened a drawer and handed Patrick a plastic medal with ‘Very Brave Patient’ printed on it, which Patrick pinned on Jimmy’s jumper. The little boy stared down at it then looked up at the adults with a shy smile.

‘Is it mine?’ he asked. It was the first time he’d spoken.

‘It certainly is—you deserve it, sweetheart,’ said Jandy. ‘And now we’ll take you to have that photograph taken.’

‘I’m not happy with that head wound and the fact he’s been sick,’ said Patrick as he and Jandy walked back from the paediatric section, leaving Tilly Rodman to stay with Jimmy and read him a story. ‘Have you rung Paediatrics yet? He’ll be kept in anyway for observation, whatever the results are.’

Jandy nodded. ‘They’ve got a bed—and at least it gives him a night away from that ghastly woman. She’d obviously left him alone while she gossiped with her friend.’

Patrick’s expression darkened, and Jandy noticed the small scar at the side of his face seemed more pronounced and livid.

‘I can’t tell you how angry that woman makes me,’ he said in a controlled, terse tone that only emphasised his disgust. ‘I’ve no doubt that that little boy’s not having a very happy life. I’ll talk to the child liaison officer about my concerns regarding the stepmother—no child should be at the mercy of someone like that. I didn’t see a shred of affection or compassion for Jimmy.’

There was such suppressed venom in his voice that Jandy looked at him with surprise. She would have thought he’d have taken a more measured approach—still taking it just as seriously but not quite so personally. After all, in an A and E department it wasn’t unusual to come across a case like Jimmy’s.

‘It’s really got to you, hasn’t it?’ she said.

He looked down at her and shrugged. ‘I guess I went over the top a bit there—took it to heart. I should be more objective, I know.’ He bunched his hands in his pockets. ‘Sorry—it’s a bit of a hobby horse of mine.’

Jandy nodded, slightly bemused by this worldlywise doctor’s soft centre—somehow she felt there was a hidden agenda behind his words.

‘I feel that way too,’ she said. ‘I don’t know how anyone could be as callous as she was…but it happens, doesn’t it? We see all sorts of cases here and often it’s quite heart-rending. And, of course, if we have any doubts about Jimmy’s treatment, we should have it investigated.’

Patrick looked down at her upturned concerned face with her wide brown eyes illuminated by a beam of sunshine through the window, honey-blonde hair shining in its light—some had escaped from the band that held it back, and suddenly he pictured how it would spill out like a sheet of soft gold over her shoulders if the band was pulled away completely…

He smiled wryly to himself. How long ago had it been since he’d touched a woman or had any kind of intimacy with one? Oh, sure, he’d thought about it when he’d been the odd one out at a party when everyone else had a partner, or lying awake in the early hours and feeling sorry for himself. But that one memorable disaster three years ago had ensured that he’d kept well away from anything but mild flirtations since then.

Of course, he thought sadly, once he’d had everything—a wonderful woman, a perfect life, and then like a bolt from the blue it had come to an end, and he couldn’t imagine ever having it again. He clenched his fists together to control his emotions. Stop it, he told himself fiercely—don’t go there! He had his darling Livy to think of now.

Then he sighed as he refocused on the real world. ‘I’d better go and write up this case report,’ he said abruptly, shifting his gaze from her face. ‘See you soon.’

Jandy stared rather bemusedly after his tall retreating figure as he strode back to the desk. When Patrick had looked at her with those intense blue eyes of his, she had felt the oddest little tug on her heart, a flicker of attraction. How peculiar was that, when only a few minutes before she’d been annoyed by his criticism of the paediatric department—another bighead from London who probably thought he knew everything!