The Italian Doctor's Wife

She took comfort from the fact that Rosa was a happy, sociable child and being with the other children in the crèche provided her with an important source of stimulation.

As the lift doors opened she straightened her uniform and checked that her long blonde hair was securely fastened.

‘Hi, Abby.’ Heather, the ward sister, greeted her with a warm smile and gestured towards the side room. ‘The Woods are biting their nails to the quick in there. Fortunately we’re well staffed today so you should be able to concentrate on them and give them all the support they need.’ She glanced around furtively and lowered her voice. ‘And maybe you’d better check they understand everything that’s happening. Mr Forster had a brief chat with them before he left but you know what he was like, poor thing. He never had any time for the parents and he was hopeless at explaining anything. They looked more confused when he came out than they did when he went in.’

Abby gave a wry smile. One of their consultants, Mr Forster, had just taken early retirement on the grounds of ill health, but it was widely rumoured that he had just been finding the job too stressful. It was certainly true that he’d always been hopeless at explaining. He used the same terminology that he used with his medical team so his patients never understood him. ‘Perhaps the new surgeon will set an example.’

‘Let’s hope so. Thomas should be first on the list tomorrow and our Italian whiz-kid should be up later to talk to them.’

Abby’s blue eyes gleamed with amusement. ‘Whiz-kid’ seemed a strange description for someone with such an awesome reputation who was doubtless crusty and grey-haired. She’d never met the man in question but she was sure that he’d long ago outgrown the ‘whiz-kid’ title.

Making her way to the side room, she tapped on the door and walked in.

Lorna Wood had Thomas on her lap and he was dozing quietly.

‘Hi, there.’ Abby’s voice was hushed so that she didn’t disturb the baby and Lorna looked up, her face pale.

‘Oh, Abby, I’m so pleased to see you.’

‘How are you doing?’

Not very well, by the look of her, but, then, that was hardly surprising in the circumstances. Abby couldn’t begin to imagine how she’d feel if it was Rosa who was about to have major heart surgery.

Lorna pulled a face. ‘I feel awful. Worried, panicky…’ She spoke in an undertone, careful not to wake the sleeping baby. ‘But mostly I feel guilty.’

‘Guilty?’ Abby’s eyebrows rose in surprise and she closed the door behind her. ‘Why guilty?’

The young mother shrugged helplessly. ‘Because Thomas seems fine most of the time and I’m asking myself if all this is necessary. Am I doing the right thing by letting him have the op?’ Lorna glanced at her, her eyes filling as she begged for answers. ‘I know they keep telling me that he’ll get worse, but why not wait until it happens? Why do the operation now?’

More evidence that Mr Forster’s explanations had been less than perfect, Abby thought, hoping that the new consultant would have a better way with words. With Mr Forster they’d virtually had to provide a translation.

‘I know that Thomas seems well, but waiting might damage the heart further,’ she said quietly, and Lorna bit her lip.

‘But how do we know that for sure?’

Abby took her hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘I think you need to talk it through with the surgeon who is going to do the operation,’ she suggested. ‘He’s coming to see Thomas later. I’ll make sure that he knows that you’re worried so that he finds time to answer your questions.’

Clearly, concisely and in language that could be understood by normal mortals!

Lorna shrank slightly in her seat. ‘I don’t want to bother him,’ she said quickly. ‘He’s an important man and I’m the least of his worries.’

‘You won’t be bothering him,’ Abby said firmly, used to dealing with that type of attitude. She’d lost count of the times patients had told her they refrained from asking questions because they didn’t want to bother the doctor. ‘If there are things you don’t understand then you must ask!’

Lorna pulled a face. ‘I find doctors really intimidating. Especially surgeons who can operate on a child’s heart.’ Her eyes were round with admiration. ‘I mean, can you imagine being clever enough to do something like that? I always feel as though my questions are stupid and I’m wasting their time. Mr Forster has explained everything to me once. It isn’t his fault if I’m too stupid to understand.’

‘You’re not stupid, Lorna,’ Abby said firmly, making a mental note to brief the new consultant fully. He needed to spend time with the Woods. And he needed to use simple language. ‘If it would make you feel better, I’ll make sure I’m there, too. And I’ll make sure that he doesn’t leave the room until you’ve asked him every question you have and fully understand what’s happening.’

‘This whole thing feels like a nightmare. I just wish this was all a dream and I could wake up,’ Lorna muttered, and Abby leaned forward and gave her a quick hug.

‘The worst part is the waiting.’ She looked at the sleeping child and smiled. ‘I need to do his obs—you know, temperature, pulse that sort of thing—but I’ll wait for him to wake up. Later on I want to take you to the cardiac intensive care unit—we call it CICU—so that you know what to expect when Thomas comes back from Theatre.’

Lorna bit her lip. ‘Is it very scary?’

‘It can seem scary,’ Abby said, her tone gentle. She knew how important it was to be honest with parents and to prepare them for what lay ahead. ‘You know that when he first comes back from Theatre he’ll have a tube down his throat to help him breathe and a drain in his chest, as well as a drip. The monitors can seem very high-tech and daunting but the staff on CICU are wonderful and I know they’ll take good care of you and Thomas. We’ve a baby who has just had a similar operation to Thomas on the unit at the moment so I can show you what to expect and you can chat to the parents.’

‘And after CICU he’ll come back here to the ward?’

‘Once the doctors feel he’s well enough, they’ll transfer him back here.’

Lorna cuddled the sleeping child closer. ‘And will you still be the nurse looking after us? You’re always so calm. Nothing seems to make you flap—the minute you walk into the room I feel less panicky. I don’t think I could bear having anyone else.’

‘When I’m on duty I’ll be your nurse,’ Abby assured her. ‘We try and maintain continuity whenever we can.’

Lorna gave a weak smile. ‘Our nurse. You’re supposed to be Thomas’s nurse but you end up looking after the whole family.’

‘That’s because the whole family is part of Thomas’s recovery,’ Abby pointed out gently.

The whole ethos of the ward was to give care to the whole family, in recognition of the stress on the parents when a child was undergoing major surgery.

‘Give me a call when Thomas wakes up and I’ll check his obs,’ she said, picking up his chart and checking what had happened in the night. ‘In the meantime, I’ll track down this new consultant and make sure he makes time to see you.’

‘I hear that he’s Italian.’ Lorna looked at her anxiously. ‘Is he good, Abby?’

Abby thought of the eulogies that had been heaped on the man’s head in the past few weeks and smiled.

‘He’s better than good, Lorna. The doctors here say that he’s a legend in paediatric cardiac surgery. He’s pioneered several different techniques and his results are astonishing. That’s why he’s going to spend some time over here with us. Sharing his experience as well as filling in for Mr Forster until they make a permanent appointment. It happens quite often, believe me. In a way Thomas is lucky that he’s taken his case.’

Lorna nodded and gave a wan smile. ‘I just hope he’s as good as you say.’

They shared a look of understanding, each knowing that, even in the most capable hands, operating on a child’s heart always carried a risk. The challenge was balancing the risk of the operation with the risk of not correcting the defect in the heart.

It was midmorning when there was a sudden bustle on the ward and a group of doctors arrived, looking round expectantly.

‘Is Mr Santini here yet?’ Greg Wallis, the surgical registrar, glanced into the office and Abby shook her head.

‘If you mean the new consultant, no, not yet—he’s been meeting the team on CICU and he’s due here any minute.’ She frowned slightly and looked at Greg. Had she heard correctly? ‘What did you say his name was again?’

‘Santini. Domenico Santini. Why?’

Abby shook her head slightly. It couldn’t be…

‘I knew a Domenico Santini once,’ she said lightly. ‘I went to school with his sister. But it can’t be him. He’d be too young.’

‘Oh, this guy is young,’ Greg told her, a trace of bitterness in his voice. ‘I used to think my career was going well until I read his CV. His rise to stardom had been positively meteoric. The guy is a genius by all accounts. His nickname in the theatre is “Iceberg” because he’s the coolest surgeon anyone has ever seen.’

Abby felt her heart thud uncomfortably in her chest. Could it be him? Lucia’s brother?

As an impressionable young teenager she’d been thoroughly in awe of her friend’s older brother. She was well aware that he was considered the ultimate catch by all the other girls in the school but on the few occasions that she’d met him she’d found him monumentally intimidating.

Fortunately he’d never even known that she existed.

She gave a slight smile at her own expense.

And why should he have noticed her? She’d been an awkward, leggy, painfully shy teenager with a brace on her teeth, glasses and hair that never behaved itself. There had been absolutely nothing about her that had been memorable. Especially compared to her peers.

The exclusive Swiss school which had been her home from the age of sixteen had attracted the children of the rich and famous from all over the world. Appeasing their consciences by selecting what they’d seen as the best, her parents had somehow found the money to send her there without considering whether Abby would fit in socially.

For the first term she’d been utterly miserable and painfully conscious of the differences in circumstances between her and the other girls.

She’d tried to shrink into the background to avoid attention and if it hadn’t been for the flamboyant and boisterous Lucia Santini, her schooldays would have been a nightmare. As it was, the Italian girl had befriended her and made her life just about bearable.

Shocked that Abby’s parents never visited, Lucia frequently invited Abby to stay with her own family but Abby declined, too awkward and embarrassed to accept hospitality which she knew she could never repay.

She also refused Lucia’s invitations to join her on trips out with her older brother, knowing that such an outing would have been social torture. She never knew what to say to men anyway, let alone a man like Lucia’s dark and dangerous brother. She must have been the only girl in the school that didn’t try to attract his attention. Totally overwhelmed by his aggressive masculinity and cool self-confidence, Nico Santini made her thoroughly nervous. Carlo, the younger of the two brothers, seemed slightly more approachable, which was why she agreed to go to him for help so many years later.

She gave a sudden frown as an uncomfortable thought occurred to her.

Would the Santini family have discussed Rosa? Could Nico be aware of Rosa’s history?

Greg cast her an odd look. ‘Are you all right? You’ve gone really pale.’

‘I’m fine,’ she muttered, flashing him a wan smile and giving herself a sharp talking-to.

There was no way he could know. Everything that happened at the clinic was confidential, she assured herself. And even if Lucia had been so indiscreet as to mention it to her older brother, there was no reason why he should be in the slightest bit interested in her life.

It was highly unlikely that he’d even remember who she was.

Applying logic and reason but still feeling uneasy, she gave a start as the ward doors opened again and Dr Gibbs, the paediatric cardiologist, walked briskly down the corridor, accompanied by the rest of the team and a tall, powerfully built stranger.

Abby recognised him immediately and against her will her stomach flipped over as her eyes skimmed over the broad shoulders and long, muscular legs. Nico Santini had always been breathtakingly good-looking, but maturity had given his looks a lethal masculine quality which had a critical effect on her pulse rate.

Which just proved that, despite her protestations to the contrary, she was as shallow as the next woman, she thought with a resigned sigh.

But maybe it wasn’t entirely her fault.

The man was devastating.

There were five male doctors in the group but he drew the eye, not just because of his impressive physique but because of the air of cool command which he wore with the same effortless ease as his impeccably cut grey suit.

Nico Santini was more of a man than any other male she’d ever met and Abby felt her face flush slightly as she scanned his handsome features.

Iceberg.

The description suited him, she thought wryly, remembering just how cool and in control the man had been even in his twenties. Lucia had adored her older brother but she’d also been more than a little afraid of him.

Observing from a safe distance, Abby had always believed that he was very hard on Lucia who could certainly be a bit silly sometimes but had a very kind heart.

She hadn’t seen him for at least six years.

Would he recognise her? Should she say something?

She almost laughed aloud at the thought. He absolutely would not recognise her and there was no way she was going to say anything. The mere thought was laughable.

Hello, remember me? I was the shy little mouse at school with your sister who never said a word whenever you were around….

Jack Gibbs was introducing him to everyone and finally it was Abby’s turn and she lifted her chin and met that penetrating dark gaze head on, determined not to be intimidated.

Reminding herself that she was now a grown woman with a child, she forced herself to look composed, at least on the outside, and held out a hand.

It was a mistake.

Just touching those long, strong fingers was like connecting with a powerful electric force field and she felt her insides tumble unexpectedly.

‘Abby is one of our best paediatric nurses,’ Jack was saying, his expression warm, ‘and we’re very lucky to have her. When everyone else is in a panic you can rely on Abby to be the voice of calm. She has an amazing way with the children and the parents. We doctors fight over her. If we have something difficult to say to a family then we make sure we have Abby with us.’

Startled by the praise and unsettled by Nico Santini’s unrelenting grip on her hand, Abby gave Jack a fleeting smile and took a step backwards, deliberately removing her hand from the pressure of those long fingers.

‘I’ll remember that.’ He spoke in a deep, masculine purr that held just a hint of an Italian accent. Not enough to cloud his enunciation but just enough to make his voice unbearably sexy. ‘Are you the nurse who is looking after the Wood family?’

Abby nodded, wishing that he didn’t have such a powerful effect on her. She hated the fact that she was as vulnerable to his particular brand of scorching masculinity as the rest of her sex. She would have given anything to have been indifferent to him.

Not wanting to dwell on the effect he had on her, Abby quickly turned to the subject of work.

‘His mother is very worried and has lots of questions, but she’s afraid to ask them. I think it would be helpful if you could find time to talk to her.’ The expression in her blue eyes was slightly challenging as they met his. From the little she knew of him it was highly unlikely that he would have the time or the skills to show much sensitivity to parents.

‘Why is she afraid to ask them?’

His brusque question took her by surprise. ‘She thinks you’re very busy and doesn’t want to disturb you.’

‘Does she now?’ He held her gaze for a long moment, his lush, dark lashes shielding his expression. ‘Then we must make sure that she has all the time she needs.’

Against her will, Abby’s eyes dropped to his firm mouth and she found herself remembering the rumour that had spread among the girls when she’d been at school.

That Nico Santini was a spectacular lover.

Shaken by her own thoughts, she looked away from him, her colour rising.

It was just the way that all women reacted to Nico Santini, she assured herself silently. He was much too powerful a personality to leave anyone feeling indifferent. At least she had more sense than to fall for him. She could admire him from a distance, but any more than that would have sent her running for cover.

Finally Nico’s eyes left her and he turned to the rest of the doctors. ‘I will see the baby and the parents straight away.’

Jack Gibbs, frowned slightly, clearly put out by that decision and by the fact that Nico had taken control. As paediatric cardiologist, all the children were referred to him initially and he very much considered it to be ‘his’ ward.

‘But the teaching round… We were assuming…’

‘If the mother has questions then I deal with those as a priority,’ Nico said immediately, his tone discouraging any argument from those around him. ‘In my experience it is counter-productive and cruel to leave the family worrying unnecessarily. It is important that they feel that we are all part of the same team. I’ll do the teaching round when I have answered her questions and, of course, everyone is welcome. Until then I will see the family with just the nurse who cares for them.’

He looked expectantly at Abby who was having trouble hiding her surprise. Agreeing to see the family so quickly suggested a sensitivity that she hadn’t thought him capable of.

‘They’re in the side ward,’ she said quietly, and he gave a brief nod.

‘Then let’s go and talk to them. Has she signed a consent form or do I need to go through that with her?’

‘Mr Forster did it before he left but I think she’d appreciate the chance to discuss the operation again,’ she said tactfully, as she tapped on the door and walked into the room.

Nico Santini walked straight over to the parents and introduced himself.

‘I will be your baby’s doctor for the operation. Once you are discharged you will see Dr Gibbs again. With your permission I would like to examine Thomas, and then we will talk. I am sure you have many questions for me.’

‘Well, yes, I suppose…’ Lorna gave a nervous smile and clasped her hands in her lap. ‘But I’m sure you’re too busy for questions—’

‘Not at all.’ Nico gave her a warm smile which softened the harsh planes of his handsome face. ‘At the moment I have nothing important to do,’ he lied smoothly, ‘and I am very happy to spend as long as you need in order to set your mind at rest. It’s important to me that you don’t worry. A worried mother means a worried baby and…’ he raised his hands expressively ‘…I don’t want either on my ward. Please, ask me anything you wish as many times as you need to. I understand that it can take a while to understand some of the things that we talk about. Hearts are complex things.’

Abby’s jaw dropped and she struggled to hide her surprise as she listened to him talk. She’d always thought that Nico Santini was one hundred per cent alpha male. She hadn’t imagined that there was a caring side to him.

But clearly there was.

She watched in fascination as he picked up Thomas with easy confidence, his hands swift and gentle as he examined the child. And all the time he spoke softly in Italian and the baby gazed up at him, his attention caught.

Even the baby can’t look away from the man, Abby thought wryly, standing quietly in the background as Nico finally returned the baby to the cot and sat down next to Lorna.

‘Please, feel free to ask me anything you wish.’

He inclined his dark head towards the young mother, listening closely as she blurted out all her worries. He was totally relaxed and attentive, nothing in his body language suggesting that there was a crowd of doctors waiting impatiently for him to finish so that he could do a teaching round.

‘Tell me why you feel guilty.’

‘He seems so well. I feel like a bad mother, deciding to make him have an operation that might—might…’ Tears bloomed in Lorna Woods’s eyes and Nico reached out and closed long fingers around her hand.

‘It is clear to me that you haven’t understood the explanations that you’ve been given so far and this is understandable. When a mother is told that her child is seriously ill, it is normal that she hears nothing more.’ He shrugged a broad shoulder in a totally Latin gesture. ‘I will explain, and you will ask me any questions you have. And then you will feel more reassured.’

Abby hid a smile. That was more like the Nico Santini she remembered. Accustomed to giving out orders.

You will be reassured or else…

Still, Lorna seemed to be hanging onto every word he said. And his hand.

‘I just feel perhaps we should wait. I know he looks a bit blue but he doesn’t seem that ill at the moment and I feel awful making him have this operation.’

Nico nodded, sympathy and understanding in his dark eyes. ‘But you are not the one making the decision, Lorna. The doctors here have made the decision that Thomas needs this operation and you are being a good mother by agreeing to it.’ He kept hold of her hand, his voice deep and level as he spoke. ‘Thomas has something called Fallot’s tetralogy, which basically means that there are a number of things wrong with his heart. Experience has shown us that if we delay the repair it puts a strain on one of the chambers of the heart. It can become enlarged and this may cause problems in later life. Also, repairing the fault early in life restores the oxygen saturation—the amount of oxygen in his blood. This is important for normal development.’

Lorna looked at her husband who shrugged his shoulders helplessly. ‘So you really think it should be done now?’

‘Definitely.’ Nico didn’t hesitate. ‘I have reviewed all his tests and I am convinced that it is totally the right thing to do.’

Lorna nibbled her lip and looked at him shyly. ‘Do you have children yourself?’

There was a long pause and Nico Santini glanced towards Abby, his dark lashes shielding his expression.

Confused by his sudden attention, she shifted slightly and felt herself colour.

Why was he looking at her?

He seemed to look at her for a long time and then finally he turned his attention back to Lorna. ‘If you are asking if I would recommend this operation for my own child in the same situation, the answer is yes. I can assure you that if Thomas were my child, I would have no hesitation in letting the operation go ahead. Do you understand the actual mechanics of the operation? What I will be doing?’

Lorna blushed slightly and exchanged awkward glances with her husband. ‘Sort of.’

Which meant no, Abby thought quickly, preparing to intervene. But Nico was ahead of her.

‘Maybe I will explain it again,’ he said smoothly, releasing Lorna’s hand and reaching into his pocket for a pad and a pen. ‘A drawing usually helps. Imagine the heart as four chambers…’

His pen moved quickly over the pad as he drew a diagram to illustrate his explanation.

‘One of the problems with Thomas’s heart is what we call a VSD—a ventricular septal defect. In other words, there is a hole between the two chambers here….’ He tapped his pen on the page to demonstrate what he meant more clearly. ‘I will put a patch on that. Here the artery is narrowed and I need to sort that out, probably by opening up the valve that leads into it.’

Nico continued his explanation and finally Lorna’s husband gave a weak smile. ‘You make it sound like DIY.’

Nico gave a brief nod. ‘In a way it is. I am a technician. Only I don’t always know exactly what will need to be done until I have a look at the heart.’ He gave another shrug. ‘You just have to trust me.’