A Night To Remember

Seb backed out of the car and turned to the patient’s husband. ‘We need to get your wife onto that trolley but it’s not going to be easy for her. She’s in a great deal of pain and it will hurt her even more when we try to move her.’

The young man blanched. ‘I’ve never heard Alison cry like that before. She’s quite tough, really, and never makes a fuss.’

‘Which just proves how uncomfortable she is at the moment,’ Libby said gently, stepping forward.

She laid her hand on the young man’s arm and Seb felt a little flicker of resentment run through him when he saw her smile warmly at him. It had been a long time since she’d smiled at him that way, he thought before he realised how churlishly he was behaving.

‘Make sure she knows you’re here for her,’ Libby continued, blissfully unaware of any undercurrents. ‘Talk to her while we move her and hold her hand…anything that might help to reassure her. She’s in pain and she’s scared and she needs you to be strong for her.’

‘I’ll try.’

The young man seemed far more resolute as he bent down and spoke to his wife. The fact that he was no longer so panic-stricken obviously had an effect on her, too, because she immediately started to calm down. Seb told the porter to go round to the other side of the car so they could begin the process of lifting her out, but he couldn’t help thinking how typical it was that Libby had managed to calm the situation down so effectively.

She’d always been good at finding the right words to reassure people. He had learned a lot from her when they had worked together, in fact. He’d had a tendency to rush because he’d wanted to get the job done, but she had taught him to be patient and spend an extra few minutes settling a patient down.

It had been the same in their private life: Libby had been the calm one, the one who had kept things ticking over, whereas he’d always been rushing around, trying to do ten jobs at once. He had always believed that they complemented each other in that respect, that her calmness was the perfect foil for his impatience. But was that really true? Or was it more a case of them being complete opposites who approached life from different directions and had very little in common?

His heart sank because it seemed the more likely explanation. He and Libby didn’t complement each other—they opposed one another. Was it any wonder in those circumstances that she had given up on their marriage?

CHAPTER THREE

Friday: 5 p.m.

‘THANK you, Dr Bridges. I’ll take over from here.’

Libby moved aside as Cathy Watts came hurrying over and took her place beside the trolley. It was obvious that the charge nurse expected her to leave Resus, but for some reason she felt loath to do so. She glanced at Seb, who was standing by the bed, and sighed. Surely she wasn’t jealous at the thought of the other woman being there to assist him while she’d been dismissed as surplus to requirements?

‘On my count, everyone,’ Seb said. ‘One…two…three.’ The young woman was swiftly transferred onto the bed and the team sprang into action. It was obviously a well-rehearsed routine because nobody needed to be told what to do. While Seb was delicately probing the patient’s abdomen, Cathy was attaching her to various monitor leads. Another nurse—Jayne, according to her name badge—had begun to remove the woman’s clothing, and the specialist registrar, Marilyn Maddocks, was taking a blood sample.

Libby had to admit that she was impressed by the ease with which they slotted into their allotted roles, although she wasn’t surprised. Seb had always demanded the very highest standards from his staff because it was what he demanded from himself.

‘Do you have any pain anywhere else, Alison?’

Seb’s voice was clear and deep as he asked the patient various questions, and Libby shivered. She had always loved the sound of his voice. It had been the first thing that had attracted her to him, in fact. She’d been in the students’ union at the time, attempting to buy herself a glass of wine and failing miserably. The place had been packed that night and making herself heard above the din had been a major task. But then Seb had appeared and asked her what she’d wanted and, lo and behold, a glass had materialised in front of her as though by magic.

He had picked it up and led her over to a table—typically, he’d been able to find an empty one even in that crush—and then he had proceeded to charm her. By the end of the night she’d been more than halfway in love with him and by the end of the month they had moved in together. They had lived together all through med school and even though she had found the course extremely hard going at times, she had got through it because Seb had been there to help and encourage her.

She sighed. At one time she’d believed that he would always be there for her but it hadn’t worked out that way. Now she had accepted that divorce was the only answer. Once they made their separation legal, they would be free to get on with their lives, although she wasn’t foolish enough to think that it would be easy for either of them. Their relationship had been very special and there were bound to be regrets on both sides. However, painful though it might be, she knew they couldn’t carry on living the way they’d been doing for the past year. No, it would be better to end their marriage than endure any more heartache.

Seb frowned as he listened to what the patient was saying. ‘So where exactly was this other pain, then?’

‘In my shoulder…just here…’ Alison’s hand fluttered weakly as she touched the tip of her right shoulder, and he nodded.

‘I see,’ he said quietly, not wanting her to know how significant that snippet of information might turn out to be. He glanced over at Libby, wondering if she was adding up the clues as he was doing, and felt his heart jolt painfully when he saw the sadness on her face. She looked so unhappy that he longed to comfort her, but how could he when he had a patient who needed his help?

‘Have you experienced any vaginal bleeding?’ he continued, doing his best to appear calmly in control, although his insides felt as though they were on a merry-go-round. Even if he lived to be a hundred, he doubted if he would ever fully recover from the shock of seeing Libby standing in the waiting room.

‘I’m having a period at the moment,’ Alison muttered, obviously embarrassed at having to talk about something so personal.

‘So there’s no possibility that you might be pregnant?’ he persisted. ‘You haven’t missed a period recently?’

‘Well, I didn’t have one last month, but I’d just stopped taking the Pill and my GP warned me that my periods could be a bit erratic at first,’ Alison explained, blushing furiously.

‘Did you do a home pregnancy test?’ Seb asked, checking the monitor readings. Although Alison’s pulse, BP and heart rate were still within acceptable limits, there had been a slight deterioration in her condition so he decided not to waste any more time.

‘Tell Ben I’m going to need a transvaginal ultrasound done, will you?’ he told Cathy quietly, then turned back to the young woman as she answered his question.

‘No, I didn’t do a test. I didn’t think there was any need to do one because of what my GP had said.’ Alison was starting to look really scared now. ‘Do you think I’m having a miscarriage, Doctor?’

‘It’s possibly a little more complicated than that,’ Seb said gently. He nodded when Marilyn murmured that she would get onto the obstetric’s registrar. Obviously, she’d latched onto his train of thought so he could save his explanations for the patient. Moving to the head of the bed again, he did all he could to sound reassuring but he could tell how terrified the young woman was.

‘It’s possible that you’ve had an ectopic pregnancy, Alison. What that means is that instead of the embryo developing inside your womb, it started to develop somewhere else. The most common place is in one of the Fallopian tubes but we’ll have a better idea after you’ve had an ultrasound scan.’

‘But what’s going to happen if the baby’s growing in the wrong place? Will you be able to put it back where it’s supposed to be?’

‘No. I’m really sorry but that simply isn’t possible.’ Seb squeezed her hand when he saw tears ooze from her eyes. ‘It’s more than likely that the embryo is dead so it will be removed, along with any other damaged tissue.’

‘And that’s all that will happen?’ the girl said through her sobs.

‘A lot will depend on how much damage has been done. If the embryo has developed in one of your Fallopian tubes, the tube might have ruptured and the surgeon will have to decide if he can repair it.’ He squeezed her hand tighter. ‘If that isn’t possible then the tube will need to be removed as well.’

‘Oh!’

The girl broke into a storm of weeping. Seb sighed, wishing that he knew of a way to make this easier for her. He looked up when Libby suddenly appeared at his side.

‘Let me talk to her,’ she said simply.

Seb stepped aside, only half listening as Cathy came over to tell him that Ben was ready to do the scan. Libby was bending over the girl, stroking her hair and murmuring to her. Although Alison was still crying, whatever Libby was saying to her was obviously helping.

If only she would turn her talents to making their marriage better, he thought wistfully, then swung round because there was no point torturing himself with ‘if onlys’. What was done was done and he had to live with the consequences, even though he had no idea how he was going to do that. How did you manage to live without the person you loved most in the whole world?

Libby sighed sadly as she watched Alison being whisked away. Once an ectopic pregnancy was confirmed, the girl would be taken to the obs and gynae unit and prepared for surgery. She felt very sorry for her. It must be a terrible shock for a woman to discover that she was pregnant and that there was no hope of her baby surviving.

‘Thanks for that. I really appreciated it.’

She summoned a smile when Seb came over to her. ‘It was the least I could do.’

‘I’m still grateful, though. You’ve always had the gift of soothing people when they’re at their lowest ebb.’ He shrugged when she looked at him in surprise. ‘Not many folk have that talent, Libby, but you do.’

‘I…um…well, thank you.’ She stumbled over the words and had to make an effort to collect herself, but it was odd that Seb should have said that after what she’d been thinking about him. ‘We had a case similar to this during our first rotation on Casualty, if you remember,’ she said quickly, not wanting to go back down that route again.

‘Oh, I remember all right.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘A woman came in complaining of pains in her abdomen so we ran through everything we could think of—appendicitis, food poisoning, cystitis…’

‘Abdominal colic.’ She laughed. ‘We hadn’t a clue, had we?’

‘No, we hadn’t. We’d still be struggling if the senior reg hadn’t come along and demanded to know if she had a pain in her shoulder.’ Seb grinned. ‘We thought he’d completely lost the plot by asking a question like that, until he informed us that shoulder-tip pain is often a symptom of an ectopic pregnancy.’

‘We’d never even heard of it until then,’ Libby agreed. ‘He had to explain that it was caused by internal bleeding irritating the diaphragm when the patient breathes in and out.’

‘It was one lesson we never forgot, though, especially as we got a real rollicking from him afterwards. What did he call us?’

‘A pair of half-baked, incompetent morons who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a member of the public,’ she supplied helpfully, and he laughed.

‘That’s exactly what he said! How on earth did you remember after all this time?’

‘Because that day stuck in my mind for a number of reasons.’

As soon as the words left her mouth Libby wished she hadn’t said them, but it was too late by then. She could tell that Seb had remembered what else had happened that day, too. After their roasting, they had gone back to their flat and one thing had led to another. They’d ended up making love and afterwards, as they had lain in one another’s arms, Seb had asked her to marry him…

‘Right. I’d better go and brief the team so that everyone knows what to expect,’ he said brusquely, swinging round.

‘You mean about this major incident? What’s happened exactly?’ She shrugged when he paused, not wanting him to know how painful it was to recall happier times. There was no point looking back but it wasn’t easy to block out the memories when they were together. ‘I never got a chance to ask you before because we were interrupted. It must be pretty serious, though, if you’ve closed the whole unit.’

‘It is. There’s a tanker adrift and it’s on course to collide with one of the off-shore drilling rigs. We’ll be treating the bulk of the casualties so it’s going to get rather hectic around here.’

‘Good heavens! It really is a major incident.’

‘It’s certainly the biggest thing we’ve had to deal with since the unit opened.’ He glanced at his watch and sighed. ‘I’m sorry but I really need to get everything sorted out.’

‘Of course you do. Sorry. I didn’t mean to hold you up.’

‘You haven’t.’ There was a moment when she thought he was going to say something else but in the end he merely shrugged. ‘Why don’t you come with me? That way I can introduce you to the rest of the team before it gets too busy.’

‘Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to get in the way.’

‘You won’t,’ he said firmly, opening the door.

Libby wasn’t convinced but it would have wasted too much time if she’d argued the point with him. She sighed as she followed him out of Resus. It certainly hadn’t been the best time to turn up here. Seb had enough to contend with at the moment without her adding to the pressure. She just had to hold onto the thought that she was doing the right thing. For both of them.

CHAPTER FOUR

Friday: 6 p.m.

‘SORRY to keep you waiting, but we had a bit of an emergency.’

Seb could feel his stomach churning as he led the way into the office. He beckoned Libby forward and dredged up a smile. ‘For those of you who haven’t met her yet, this is my wife, Libby. I’m afraid we’ll have to leave the rest of the introductions until later, though.’

He closed the door, ignoring the looks that were being exchanged. Although everyone knew he was married, he guessed that most people had assumed that he and Libby were separated. It must be almost as big a shock for them as it had been for him to have her turn up like this, but there was nothing he could do about it. He could hardly explain why she’d come when he didn’t officially know the reason himself.

‘Right, I’ve spoken to the coastguard and the news isn’t good,’ he said briskly, trying not to dwell on how he was going to feel when Libby asked him for a divorce. ‘The tugs have been unable to get a line to the tanker because of the heavy seas. It’s still on course for a collision so they’ve decided to evacuate as many people as possible from the rig.’

‘By helicopter?’ Marilyn put in.

‘To begin with. However, if the wind speed increases then the helicopters won’t be able to continue flying so they’ve put out a call to all shipping in the area. If the local fishing boats can offload some of the crew, that will cut down the number of flights the air-sea rescue guys will have to make.’ He shrugged. ‘We don’t want to add to the chaos by having a ’copter ditch in the sea.’

‘How many crew are there on the tanker?’ Ben Robertson, their senior radiologist, enquired.

‘That’s something the coastguard is still trying to establish, along with the exact nature of the cargo the tanker is carrying. Let’s just say that the owners of the vessel are a tad reluctant to answer any questions.’

‘So we don’t know how many potential casualties we could end up with,’ Cathy said in dismay.

‘That’s the top and bottom of it, I’m afraid.’ Seb glanced around the room, his eyes lingering only a fraction longer on Libby than they did on anyone else but even so, he could have recited from memory every detail of what she was wearing if he’d been asked to do so.

He’d always loved her in blue, he thought wistfully. It was a colour that suited her perfectly, highlighting her honey-gold hair and fair skin. She’d worn a pale blue suit when they had married in the simple register office ceremony they had decided on. Neither of them had wanted a big wedding with lots of fuss. They’d just wanted each other and the day had been perfect. They had made their vows in front of a handful of family and friends, and they had both cried. It had been the best day of his life and it was almost too painful to have to remember it now.

He cleared his throat, afraid that his feelings would be all too apparent. ‘We don’t know if we’ll be dealing with six or sixty casualties so we need to be prepared for every eventuality. Ambulance Control has been instructed to send only the most severely injured patients to us during the course of the next twenty-four hours so that should help, but if the numbers are high, we are going to be pushed to our absolute limit. Just do your best. That’s all any of us can do.’

There was a murmur of agreement before everyone started to leave. Seb didn’t go with them. They knew the drill and he didn’t need to check up on what they were doing. Every single member of the team would do his or her job without him having to badger them. It was what made them work so well together: they trusted each other and had the kind of confidence that came from knowing they were trusted, too.

His gaze went to Libby again and his heart ached with a searing pain. Libby had also trusted him at one time. She’d trusted him to be there for her and he had let her down. Maybe it had been his dream to work in a job like this, but could he put his hand on his heart and swear that it had been worth doing it when it had added to the demise of his marriage?

He wished he could, wished with every fibre of his being that he could say that his job had made up for what he’d lost, but he couldn’t. He may have fulfilled his ambitions but he had lost Libby, and nothing could ever make up for that.

‘I really think I should leave.’

Libby edged towards the door. It was obvious that Seb didn’t have the time to talk to her right now so it would be better if she got out of his way. Maybe she could find a hotel in the town and stay there until the crisis was over? Now that she’d come all this way, she would prefer to get everything settled, but it wasn’t fair to expect him to deal with the issue of their divorce when he had so much else going on.

‘Nonsense! Of course you can’t leave. You’ve only just got here.’

Seb’s tone was brisk and her heart sank when she heard it. She didn’t want to cause a scene but she knew it would be better if she left. Deciding to get divorced was a big step for any couple and they needed time to talk about what it entailed. She was just about to tell him that she would book into a hotel when the phone rang and she stopped as he picked up the receiver.

‘Seb Bridges.’

Libby waited in silence while he listened to what the caller was saying. Even though she couldn’t hear what was being said, she could tell it wasn’t good news. He looked extremely troubled when he hung up.

‘That was the coastguard again. Apparently, the tanker is carrying some sort of organic compound used to make pesticides. It’s highly toxic and also believed to be carcinogenic even in fairly low doses.’

‘Is it water soluble?’ she exclaimed in dismay.

‘They’re not sure. However, in the absence of any information to the contrary, we shall have to assume that it isn’t. Which means if any of the containers rupture, the chemicals could be washed ashore.’

‘It’s a real nightmare scenario,’ she agreed worriedly. ‘It’s coming up to the weekend and I expect a lot of people still use the beaches around here even at this time of the year.’

‘And every single one them will be at risk if they come into contact with any of those chemicals,’ Seb concluded, grimly.

Libby shivered. It didn’t bear thinking about so she focussed on practicalities instead. ‘Are you going to tell your staff?’

‘Of course. They need to be fully informed about all the facts. One of our nurses has just found out that she’s pregnant and I certainly don’t want her coming into contact with a substance like that,’ he said, heading for the door.

‘Of course not.’ She quickly stepped aside, shrugging when he paused beside her. ‘I just wish there was something I could do to help.’

‘If you mean that, I can easily find you a job. We’re going to be really stretched when things start moving around here. Another pair of experienced hands would come in very useful.’

‘Are you sure? You don’t think it would be…well…awkward having me here?’ she said doubtfully. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help, because she did. She just didn’t want to make his life any more difficult if he was involved with Cathy or some other member of the team. Her heart hiccuped painfully at the thought, but the truth had to be faced.

‘Awkward?’ He frowned. ‘You’re a first-rate doctor, Libby, and you know your way around an A and E unit better than most. Maybe you haven’t worked in emergency care for a couple of years but you won’t have lost any of your skills. You’d be doing me a favour if you agreed to help.’

‘Thanks.’ Libby smiled, deeply touched by the compliment. She’d often wondered if it had been a bone of contention between them that she’d decided to opt out of emergency care and go into general practice. However, there’d been nothing in his tone to indicate that…unless he no longer cared what she did, of course.

‘I’ll be happy to help any way I can,’ she said, determined not to let the idea gather momentum. They were heading towards a divorce so what difference did it make if he cared or not?

‘Great.’ He opened the door. ‘I’ll give you a quick tour so you can get your bearings. There’s nothing worse than the sticky stuff hitting the fan while you’re still trying to muddle your way around.’

‘Like our first day at the Royal, you mean?’ she said, and he laughed.

‘Exactly like our first day at the Royal!’ He grinned down at her, his hazel eyes warm with the memory. ‘Remember when we were told to take that old lady for an X-ray? It took us half an hour to find the radiology unit!’

‘And when we got there we discovered there were no radiographers on duty because they’d gone for lunch and we had to take her all the way back to Casualty.’ She shook her head. ‘You’d have thought someone would have warned us the department closed at lunchtime, wouldn’t you?’

‘Ah, but that would have meant them actually helping us. We were trainees, don’t forget. The lowest of the low. I can’t remember anyone actually talking to us—they just snapped orders.’ He smiled at her. ‘It’s a good job we had each other for support or we’d have gone completely mad!’

‘Probably.’

Libby felt a sudden tightness in her chest and turned away, but the damage had been done. Remembering how close they’d been was just too painful when it only served to highlight how far apart they’d grown in recent years. As she followed Seb through the unit, she found it hard to concentrate on what he was saying. What did it matter if the state-of-the-art radiology department came complete with its very own CT scanner? And why should she care if bloods were cross-matched in the unit’s own lab? None of those things had any bearing on what really mattered, which was the state of their marriage.

When she had made her vows eight years ago she had meant them. She had promised to love Seb until she died and in her heart she had promised to love him long after that, too. Yet here she was, just biding her time until she could tell him that she wanted to renounce those vows, sever the bonds that joined them together. How could anything matter more than that?

‘And last but definitely not least we have our very own theatre.’