A Forever Family: Their Miracle Child

‘Certainly,’ Jade replied, trying to blink away the tears before they ran down her cheeks and anyone noticed them.

But Mitchell did. He noticed everything about Jade, even though he didn’t want to. He decided to release the students, who had been with him for most of the morning and were due to end their time in NICU. They looked exhausted and no doubt had information overload, which he suggested might be abated by a coffee in the cafeteria.

As the students left, he called another nurse to take over. ‘I need to speak with Nurse Grant for a moment but in her absence I want both cardiorespiratory and oxygen saturation monitoring and I’m prescribing digoxin. Dosages are in the notes and I want close observation until Nurse Grant returns.’

Jade had turned to walk away. She didn’t want to be confronted about her reaction. She didn’t want or need his concern.

‘Nurse Grant, please come with me for a moment.’ He kept his professional tone in front of the others then gently took her arm and directed her to a small office nearby used by consultants and residents when they needed to speak with parents in private. He closed the door and turned to her.

‘Jade, what’s wrong?’ he asked, releasing her from his firm hold but not the intensity of his gaze.

‘Nothing,’ she lied, and blinked even harder as she tried to look anywhere but at Mitchell. ‘I’m fine.’

‘You’re anything but fine.’

‘I’ll be okay. I don’t want special treatment.’ She looked up, and his expression wasn’t what she had been expecting. It wasn’t judgmental. It was empathetic and real and etched into every part of his face. And it suddenly and unexpectedly allowed her to give in to her feelings. Tears that had built up for so long began streaming down her face.

She hadn’t cried since the funeral. Her feelings had been bottled up inside. She had been strong because she’d felt she’d had no other choice. There was no one for her to lean on while she was Amber’s only support.

‘You’re so far from okay.’ Without hesitation, he reached out, put his arm around her and pulled her into his arms, and she didn’t pull away.

‘Is it Amber?’ He murmured the question as he gently stroked her hair. ‘Are you worried about her?’

Jade knew as the moments passed that, as much as it felt good to have a man’s arms around her, she couldn’t stay there for ever. And particularly not in Mitchell’s arms. He wouldn’t be there for ever; neither would she. It was crazy to let him into her heart. She slowly moved from his embrace and a place that had made her feel safe, if only for a moment.

‘Amber’s fine, honestly, Mitchell …’ She hesitated for a minute to gather her thoughts and put any growing feelings for him away. ‘It was the new arrival in NICU. The baby was delivered by C-section after a motor vehicle accident … and it just brought everything back. I have to toughen up. I’m working on it.’

Mitchell didn’t want Jade to toughen up at all. She didn’t need additional walls. He wanted more than anything to break down the ones she had. She might not be his usual fun-loving, easygoing type but suddenly he wondered if just a casual good time was enough any more. Being around Jade for the past few days, even putting Amber to bed and all it entailed, had not been the chore he had imagined. He had enjoyed every minute of that special time with his niece and with Jade.

His type was fast becoming a cute Californian girl with a pixie cut and the dress sense of someone’s maiden aunt but the soul and depth of no one he had ever met before.

‘The best nurses are those with empathy and compassion,’ he told her as she turned to face him. ‘You have both. Don’t hide what is inside you.’

Jade didn’t want to meet his gaze. She wanted to pull herself together and face the job outside. ‘I need to get back to work. We’re short enough on staff, let alone with me sitting in here, snivelling. I’m being self-indulgent and silly.’

‘You’re not being either, so take a minute,’ he continued. ‘And when you’re ready, head back out. If you prefer, I will switch your patient roster.’

Jade took a deep breath and gently shook her head. ‘I want to stay with my patient. I really do.’

‘It’s your call, if you’re up to it.’

‘I am,’ she said, crossing to the door, feeling the need to put space between them. He was much too appealing on a whole other level now. It wouldn’t just be his smouldering looks that would make it difficult. Now that Jade knew he had a heart, and a level of compassion and empathy she hadn’t thought he possessed, it would make it that much more difficult to be around him. But that wasn’t his problem. It was hers.

Jade walked back into NCIU and straight to her patient. Mitchell followed behind her. He admired her dedication and compassion, and although he wished she had taken some time out, he respected her wishes and acted accordingly.

‘I noticed her slow feeding time so I want you to switch to gavage feeding so she’s not working hard for the food and can conserve energy. Later we’ll try her sucking again but provide higher caloric formula. And I’ll see if they’ve decided on a name yet. I don’t want to refer to her by her surname. She needs her own name.’

Mitchell’s last few words made her smile. He genuinely cared so much for these babies and it wasn’t just his clinical abilities that impressed Jade. He treated the babies as little people with feelings, extending even to having a proper name. She was falling for the man, and there was no way to stop her tumble.

Jade followed Mitchell’s instructions, inserted a gavage tube into the tiny stomach and began the slow feed. Aware of the management of babies with congestive heart failure, Jade placed her in a semi-erect position for feeding and burped her every half an ounce to minimise the chance of vomiting after the feed. Jade felt an extra-special bond with this baby, who had a small tuft of blonde hair on her crown. Jade planned on spending additional time with Baby Morey as she didn’t have a mother who could visit and she wanted to provide that additional care.

Mitchell returned briefly to give additional instructions regarding the baby’s management and feeding but noticed Jade was already implementing those procedures. He was impressed with her abilities and initiative so did not interrupt. He just wanted to share something with her.

‘Baby Morey’s name is Alina. It apparently means light,’ he told her.

Jade lifted her eyes to meet his smile. A rush of warmth flowed over her. Mitchell was so pleased the baby had a name. It seemed to mean something to him. Jade could tell his happiness at bestowing the name on the baby was genuine. He was genuine. He was a good man. And it scared her that she was starting to only see the good in him.

Quickly, she averted her eyes and returned her focus to Alina.

He might be a good man but she needed to remind herself that she wasn’t looking for a man, good or not. But it was a message that was becoming less audible every minute.

‘Another delivery,’ Alli announced as she wheeled in another tiny patient and transferred the baby to a radiant heat warmer near Jade. ‘This is Liam. Dad’s just scrubbing in, Mum’s still in Recovery. Caesarean delivery, gestational age twenty-nine weeks.’

A few minutes later a very worried-looking man in his late forties arrived. He was still wearing his blue disposable scrubs from Theatre.

‘Over here, Mr Phillips,’ Alli called. ‘Dr Forrester is on his way. Just take a seat beside your son.’

‘Oh, my God, he’s so small,’ the man said anxiously as he looked at the baby lying on a radiant heat warmer. He looked around at the other babies and then back at his own. Jade could see the concern on his face. He was a big man but his fear was almost palpable.

‘Mr Phillips,’ Mitchell said as he approached the newborn, ‘I’m Mitchell Forrester and I’ll be assessing your son.’

Nervously, the man asked, ‘Why isn’t he inside one of those?’ He was pointing to an incubator. ‘Don’t you have enough of them? Wouldn’t that keep him warmer? Shouldn’t he at least have a blanket on him?’

‘There are different levels of care available in Neonatal and it depends on your baby’s needs where he will be placed,’ Mitchell began to explain. ‘At the moment we need to access Liam, he will need complex care and the incubator limits access for the medical staff. Please don’t worry, your son is being kept warm and is in the best place for him at this time.’

‘Okay, if you’re sure.’

‘I am, Mr Phillips.’

The man looked around to see other parents sitting beside their babies so tentatively he sat and began unconsciously wringing his hands. ‘How long will he need to stay here in Intensive Care?’

‘I can’t give you an accurate idea yet. Premature babies need additional help while their bodies catch up on the growth and development they missed in the womb. He’ll need assistance to stay warm because he can’t control his own body temperature yet. And Liam is just over two pounds, so he’s still too immature to feed. He’ll need a tube that carries milk into his stomach,’ Mitchell told him as he warmed the stethoscope and gently placed it on Liam’s tiny chest.’

‘But my wife wants to breastfeed. She told me that.’

‘She can express milk until Liam’s strong enough to feed but we need to get his weight up and feeding is tiring so we need to make it easier for him,’ Jade added, aware that Mitchell was listening to Liam’s heart.

The man understood and remained silent until Mitchell removed the stethoscope and put it back around his neck.

‘How many staff do you have here to take care of the babies?’ he asked. ‘Will there be enough to look after Liam if more babies arrive?’

‘Yes, there are more than enough staff to cover the patients and any unexpected arrivals such as Liam. You will see many different staff providing care to your son over the coming weeks. Neonatal Intensive Care has a number of special nurses like Alli who you just met, and we are very fortunate to have Jade, who is over from the States, bringing her knowledge and expertise from a large teaching hospital is Los Angeles.’

Mitchell spoke with pride about Jade and it wasn’t lost on her.

‘Then there’s Laura, the senior nurse in charge of the unit,’ he continued. ‘And the neonatologist, who, in Liam’s case, is me. I’ll be leading your baby’s care. On top of that there are other specialist doctors, such as surgeons if the need arises, and physiotherapists to help with your baby’s development, radiographers and dieticians, and then there are social workers to help you with family issues and support that might be needed after you take your baby home in a few months’ time. There is quite literally a small intensive care army to provide everything that your family will need over the coming weeks and months.’

Jade was still listening as Mitchell handled the barrage of questions with ease. He related so well and wasn’t short with his answers. He took his time to quell the man’s heightened anxiety and let him catch his breath. And the way he had spoken about her made her feel valued and important and it resonated in her heart.

‘It’s important that you visit as much as possible and no matter how many staff are attending to Liam, remember first and foremost he needs you and your wife. Having a parent here as much as possible makes such a difference to the child.’

Jade saw the man relax his shoulders into the chair. He had arrived feeling out of his depth and overwhelmed, but Mitchell had given him a sense of purpose and validated his questions.

‘I’m just going to continue my examination and you are most welcome to stay, or if you would like to check on your wife and let her know Liam is safe with us, you could come back down together. I’ll be here all afternoon and can answer any other questions you have. And there will be new questions every day so don’t hesitate to ask anything you’re concerned about. This neonatal unit has an open-door policy so parents can visit twenty-four hours a day.’

‘I think I might go and see my wife then and let her know everything’s under control,’ he said, climbing to his feet. ‘But if anything changes and you want me back here, call my wife’s ward and I’ll be straight back down.’

‘We’ll be sure to let you know, but Liam is stable at the moment. So you come back down when you’re both ready.’

Jade watched the man shuffle out of the unit in somewhat of a daze. There was so much to take in and he was clearly also concerned about his wife. They had a long road ahead of them until their son was in the nursery and preparing to go home.

‘Have you had dinner yet?’ Mitchell asked Jade as she was leaving NICU for her tea break.

‘Heading there now. I have an hour, so I intend to put my feet up and grab a wrap or a salad in the cafeteria.’

‘I’ve got a better idea,’ Mitchell said as the elevator doors opened and they both stepped inside. ‘A little Italian restaurant across the road. They serve the best pasta and they do it quickly. They know we don’t have much time. It’s delicious and just like being in Italy.’

Jade was surprised by the invitation but it happened so quickly she didn’t have time to refuse. Or think it through. Perhaps that was a good thing, she surmised as they stood at the traffic lights a minute later, waiting to cross the main road as darkness was falling.

‘I should have asked if you like Italian food,’ he said after a minute or two. ‘I guess I just assumed everyone does.’

‘You guessed right with me, I love Italian.’

The meal came out quickly and they were halfway to finishing their risottos when Mitchell decided to tell her about the pool and what he’d seen. He had been thinking it over since it had happened and had decided that he wanted and needed to be honest with Jade. He had no intention of embarrassing her but he felt she had the right to know.

He just wasn’t entirely sure how to raise it.

‘You seem quiet suddenly,’ Jade commented as she pushed the risotto around with her fork. She was borderline full but searching for more of the tasty grilled chicken pieces. The herbs were amazing and Mitchell was right, the food was great.

‘There was something I wanted to tell you,’ Mitchell began, and then hesitated. He wasn’t sure how Jade would react but he hoped she might see the humorous side of it. He had definitely not taken advantage of the situation by looking back at her after the initial shock sighting.

‘Go on,’ she urged as she gave up on trying to fit in any more food and just sipped on her iced water.

Mitchell took a nervous sip of his own water. ‘The other morning, I came to the house to assemble the sound system. Arthur had no clue how to put it together so he asked me to do it.’

Jade had no idea where the conversation was heading and why Mitchell thought there was a need to tell her about his handyman work. ‘Was this when you served me breakfast in bed with Amber?’

‘Yes.’

‘So did you get it done before I woke up?’

He drew a deep breath and continued. ‘No, it was later in the morning.’

‘But I was home all morning after Maureen and Arthur took Amber out, and I didn’t see you,’ she returned with a puzzled look.

‘No, you didn’t see me, but I saw you sun-baking by the pool.’

Embarrassment hit and Jade put her hand to her mouth and closed her eyes for a moment. ‘I thought there was no one home or I would never have gone out in the sun like that.’

‘I just wanted to say that I looked away as soon as I realised what you were doing. Your secret’s safe with me but I wanted us to have a level of honesty. I didn’t want to keep it from you.’

‘What I was doing? What are you talking about? I was sun-baking … that’s all. You hardly had to avert your eyes, I’m sure you’ve seen it a million times before.’

Mitchell stared at Jade with a puzzled look. She was so casual about sunbathing naked and it took him by surprise.

‘Hardly a million,’ he remarked.

‘There were so many bikinis on the beach the other day.’

‘Yes, there were, but you chose not to wear one and … and that’s okay …’

‘What on earth are you talking about?’ she cut in abruptly. Her eyes were wide and completed her horrified expression. ‘I was wearing a bikini.’

‘Not by the time I got there,’ he told her. ‘I walked to the shed to get some tools and when I closed the door I saw you lying there on the sun lounge with nothing on. I dropped the tools, picked them up and left.’

Jade sat up in her chair and wiped the corners of her mouth with the white napkin. ‘I don’t know whose house you were in, but it couldn’t have been the same one as me because I had on a string bikini. I have to admit it isn’t something I would parade around Amber but it’s all I had and I wanted to enjoy the sun. Clearly, you don’t know me very well to think for a moment I sunbathe in the nude.’ Jade dropped her voice to barely a whisper. ‘It’s not what I’d do.’

Jade thought back to her wildest days and even then she would have drawn the line at that.

‘Jade, we’ve only known each other for three days, so I can’t say I really know much about you at all. What I do know is that you’re a brilliant nurse, amazing with both the parents and the neonates, and you’ve done an amazing job of bringing up Amber. She’s a sweetheart and she adores and depends on you. I’m not about to judge you for skinny-dipping. In fact, quite the opposite,’ he said with a twinkle in his eye.

‘In your parents’ pool … that would be so wrong.’

‘My family owes you so much for how you have raised Amber and been there for her every step of the way. Honestly, Jade, after what you’ve done for our family you can pretty much do anything you want and get away with it.’

‘You can stop right there. It’s been hard at times but she is a joy and so precious and I couldn’t imagine a day without her,’ Jade told him. ‘But no matter how grateful your family might be, I wouldn’t overstep the mark and skinny-dip in their pool … ever. Stripping down to a bikini is a stretch for me, let alone running around the pool naked.’

Mitchell smiled but wasn’t sure why she wouldn’t wear a bikini around Amber. It was Australia and the twenty-first century so there was no reason that she couldn’t, and from what he had seen there was absolutely no reason for her not to wear one. Maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe she had been wearing a swimsuit and his eyes had misled him.

‘What colour is your bikini?’

‘It’s kind of skin-coloured Lycra. You could call it nude. Maybe you should check your distance vision.’

‘Damn, maybe I should,’ Mitchell said, laughing. ‘If only I’d known that you were wearing a swimsuit, I would’ve stopped and focused. But, Jade, I must say from my brief glance you looked stunning.’

Jade felt her cheeks redden with the compliment. She knew Mitchell really had looked away quickly. He was a gentleman. If he had stopped to look at her he would have quickly seen she’d been wearing a bikini so decency really had made him look the other way in a hurry.

Although now she felt quite self-conscious that he had seen her in the skimpy swimsuit and she felt the need to explain why she had been wearing something so at odds with her normal dress code.

‘I haven’t worn it in years. I don’t think it’s the right image any more, particularly around a little girl. I think Amber would prefer to see me in something a bit more respectable.’

Mitchell did not break eye contact as he looked at his dinner companion and the woman who was slowly claiming more than his attention. She was getting closer each day to claiming his heart. ‘I would have to disagree with you on that one, Jade. I’m sure Amber would think her aunty looked gorgeous in a bikini. I know I did.’

CHAPTER SIX

THE CALL CAME through from the Royal Flying Doctor Service just as Jade was scrubbing in the next afternoon. It was her last shift for the week, then she would have four days off with Amber to visit the zoo and have a birthday picnic.

‘I can leave immediately,’ Mitchell said as he saw the paediatric consultant scrubbing in. He knew NICU would be well covered. ‘Do you have the gestational age?’

‘Around thirty-four weeks.’

‘Thirty-four weeks, so not critical, but there are two babies to consider. If you have your flight nurse ready I’ll bring a neonatal nurse with midwifery experience.’ Mitchell knew exactly whom he would take on the trip. He had spied her scrubbing in for her shift.

‘We can transport the three of you.’

‘Good, as I said, thirty-four weeks is not critical but twins can mean smaller babies so if there are complications I would prefer to have additional hands on board. Please let the pilot know I will arrange ambulance transportation to the airport straight away. ETA fifteen minutes.’

Mitchell hung up the phone and, looking around the NICU, quickly found Jade. With long, purposeful strides he crossed to her just as she was about to take Costa’s obs.

‘I need you to come with me. It’s urgent.’ He signalled Alli to come and take over Costa’s care from Jade.

Jade didn’t doubt for a second by the tone of Mitchell’s voice and the look on his face that it was something serious. His brow was knitted and his jaw rigid as he spoke.

‘I need you to walk as we talk,’ he said, leading her from NICU. ‘I want you to travel with me to the Outback, to near a small town in the central Flinders Ranges. It’s called Blinman and it’s about an hour’s flight from here. We have premature labour with twins and the town has no medical facilities. The woman was on a camping retreat with her husband and friends when her waters broke.’

‘Why me?’

‘Because you have both neonatal and midwifery skills and you have just scrubbed in, so you are fresh,’ he replied matter-of-factly. ‘Alli and Laura have some midwifery behind them but they are about an hour from finishing long shifts. They’re tired and you’re better placed to help.’

They had reached the doors of the hospital and the ambulance bay at a ridiculously fast pace.

‘But what about Amber?’

‘She won’t even know you’ve gone with me. It will be just over an hour’s flight time and by the sound of it the babies are close to being born so we will be back by dinner at the latest and I’ll let you knock off and go home the moment we get back. You’re not due to finish until late so you’ll be home earlier than usual.’

‘Isn’t there a flight nurse and doctor on board already?’

‘No, just a flight nurse. She will meet us at the airport. This is still deemed a high-risk delivery and there is enough room in the emergency retrieval aircraft for a three-person medical team, the mother and two portable cribs According to the RFDS, the mother is not fully dilated but well on the way so I’m thinking maybe four hours all up. Your shift has only just begun so we should return in plenty of time for you to get home to kiss Amber goodnight. I’ll text home and let them know we’re both in the air and we’ll be back in a few hours.’

‘Why would an expectant mother head to the bush? What was out in the middle of nowhere?’ Jade asked as she and Mitchell climbed into the ambulance.

‘Sounds like eastern suburbs hippies, doing yoga and meditation for a week,’ he returned with a roll of his eyes. ‘Eastern suburbs means nothing to you, I know, but basically they are well educated, financially secure people who head to the bush to centre themselves once or twice a year. I have nothing against it but travelling over rough terrain probably wasn’t the best idea. It may or may not have brought about the early labour but it’s happened and she’s in trouble. Last antenatal check, twin two was still breech.’

‘She’s definitely going to need our help, then,’ Jade replied.

They arrived at the plane fifteen minutes later. The pilot warned them of bad weather rolling in from a tropical storm in the northeast, bringing a high chance of turbulence. He had exchanged intermittent radio contact with the patient’s partner, Jeremy, on the ground as his mobile service coverage wasn’t great and the storm-clouds were interfering. He would be making his way to the nearest makeshift airstrip. The flight nurse had ascertained that the woman was coping with the pain, she was as comfortable as could be expected in a tent and had another female companion with her. Then radio contact had been lost.