Alison Roberts - The Doctor's Secret Family

‘I was devastated,’ Hannah admitted.

‘I told myself how ridiculous I was being. It had only been one night, after all, but it was so hard to put it into perspective.’

Jack nodded. ‘I felt the same. I couldn’t forget. I thought I’d got past it, but then I saw you again and it all came back as though it was yesterday. And then I learned you had a daughter, and I assumed you had found someone else and got married.’

‘Assumptions,’ Hannah murmured. ‘Dangerous things.’

‘I wasn’t completely wrong, though, was I? There was someone else.’

‘There was only Olivia’s father,’ Hannah said.

Jack held her gaze and Hannah was engulfed by his compassion. Had he forgiven her for not telling him about Olivia?

‘Do you want me to tell you who Olivia’s father is?’

‘No,’ he said very softly. ‘I don’t think you need to tell me that, do you?’

Alison Robertslives in Christchurch, New Zealand. She began her working career as a primary school teacher, but now juggles available working hours between writing and active duty as an ambulance officer. Throwing in a large dose of parenting, housework, gardening and pet-minding keeps life busy, and teenage daughter Becky is responsible for an increasing number of days spent on equestrian pursuits. Finding time for everything can be a challenge, but the rewards make the effort more than worthwhile.

Recent titles by the same author:

A COURAGEOUS DOCTOR

CONSULTANT IN CRISIS

(City Search and Rescue Book 1)

THE NURSE’S RESCUE

(City Search and Rescue Book 2)

DOCTOR AT RISK

(City Search and Rescue Book 3)

THE SURGEON’S CHILD

Alison Roberts

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

IT JUST wouldn’t go away.

The nasty prickle of premonition had been stalking senior paediatric registrar Hannah Campbell ever since she had first woken that morning, and she had been unable to shake it off despite a busy few hours on ward duty. At least now Hannah thought she had identified its origin.

‘I have a horrible feeling I’m not going to get it.’

‘Of course you will.’ Junior registrar William Price sounded surprised. ‘I wish I had a fraction of your skill in getting IV access in kids.’

Hannah glanced up from the tiny hand she was holding, bent over to stretch the skin between wrist and knuckles in the hope of revealing the exact whereabouts of a vein. ‘I’m not talking about IV access, Will. I’m talking about the job.’

‘Ah…’ William rearranged his hold on the infant lying on the treatment bed. ‘It’s OK, Jamie,’ he said soothingly. ‘It’ll all be over in a minute or two.’ He turned his gaze back to his senior colleague. ‘They’ve closed the applications for the consultancy position now, haven’t they?’

‘Yeah.’ Hannah was using an alcohol wipe in a circular motion to clean Jamie’s hand and hopefully stimulate a tiny vein into making an appearance. ‘They closed yesterday.’ Which had to be why this feeling of premonition had started first thing this morning. The countdown to the interviews was on.

‘Do you know how many applicants there were?’

‘Not exactly. But I do know that one of them is from a guy in Auckland who is already a consultant and has years more experience than me. He wants to get out of the rat race up there and move his family to Christchurch.’

‘You have the advantage of being known. How long have you worked here now?’

‘I was a junior registrar here nearly six years ago. I had a year off before I got the senior registrar position. That was three and a half years ago now.’

‘You had the year off because of Olivia?’

‘Mmm.’ Hannah had selected the finest gauge of cannula available. ‘Sorry about this, sweetie,’ she murmured as she pierced the skin on Jamie’s hand.

The eleven-month-old boy’s grizzles increased in volume and William had to hold his arm more firmly to prevent any movement. The child’s mother had elected not to watch the procedure so the two young doctors were alone in the treatment room of Christchurch Central Hospital’s paediatric ward.

‘I wouldn’t worry about it.’ William’s reassuring tone was intended to benefit the baby as much as Hannah. ‘Peter thinks you’re marvellous and as head of department he’ll have significant input into deciding who gets the job.’

‘I hope so.’ The worry wasn’t going to evaporate easily, however. Hannah wanted this position she had waited a long time to apply for. She wanted it badly.

She also wanted to find IV access in this severely dehydrated infant. IV fluid resuscitation was urgent and she wasn’t going to allow any niggling personal fears to interfere with her performance. She should also be using this opportunity to help consolidate William’s skills, not discuss her future employment options.

‘What percentage dehydration would you estimate Jamie to have?’ Hannah was advancing the fine needle in a new direction now. Anatomically, there had to be a vein somewhere close.

‘His skin’s a bit mottled and the capillary return isn’t great,’ William answered promptly. ‘His fontanelle and eyes are markedly sunken but his level of consciousness isn’t too depressed. I’d say about seven per cent.’

Hannah nodded. She drew the needle back towards the surface of the skin and a tiny spot of red appeared in the flashback chamber of the cannula mechanism.

‘Got you,’ she said in satisfaction. ‘Keep him really still for a second, Will.’ Dropping the angle of the needle and advancing it just fractionally, Hannah held her breath as she pushed the plastic cannula off the end of the needle. A smooth entry indicated effective placement and Hannah unsnapped the tourniquet fastening before swiftly removing the introducing needle and attaching a syringe to the end of the cannula.

‘What tests are you going to order on these bloods, Will?’

‘CBC and differential. Urea, creatinine, sodium and potassium levels.’

‘What’s the most likely cause for the gastroenteritis?’

‘Rotavirus.’

‘And how are we going to treat it?’

‘Initial fluid resuscitation with normal saline at 20 mil per kilogram. Then 10 mil per kilogram per hour until we get the serum electrolyte results. We’ll adjust the solution depending on sodium levels after that.’

‘Cool.’ Hannah attached the giving set leading to the bag of IV fluid already set up on the drip stand. She taped the line to Jamie’s arm and then protected the IV cannulation site with a thick layer of crêpe bandaging. When finally satisfied that the fluids were running well, Hannah relaxed and scooped the baby from the table into her arms.

‘There you go, darling,’ she murmured. ‘All done. Let’s get you back to Mummy for a cuddle.’

William grinned. ‘You must be one heck of a substitute. That’s the closest to being happy I’ve seen him look since he arrived. What is it with you and babies?’

Hannah kissed the top of the downy head. ‘I’m just the maternal type, I guess. There’s got to be some reward for the awful things we need to do to the poor wee mites sometimes.’

‘Mind you don’t take a dose of rotavirus home to Olivia.’

‘I’ve been taking things home since she was even younger than Jamie. I reckon we’ve both got fantastic immune systems by now. Livvy never gets sick.’