Emergency In Maternity

A small frown marred her forehead and he realised that he had only a fraction of her attention. Another thing he wasn’t used to. ‘I’ll leave you to it, Sister Forrest. I can see you have your hands full.’

For the first time she smiled at him, and he couldn’t help but smile back. As he turned down the opposite corridor towards his car, he acknowledged wryly that all he had to do was leave her and she’d smile.

CHAPTER TWO

AFTER work, Cate tried to concentrate on the road home to her parents’ farm in the torrential rain, but it required more attention than she wanted to give. She knew she needed to be less fixated on scoring against Noah Masters and more focused on the rising river and her father’s cattle.

Compartmentalising had never been a problem with men before. Even during her engagement she’d been able to parcel Brett up in to one part of her life while she carried on with something else. So why did thoughts of Noah Masters not stay where she told them to? She grimaced. Maybe he was too big.

She couldn’t help the image of Noah popping so clearly into her memory. And she couldn’t help the awareness of her attraction to him—something she’d been fighting all day—from stealing her concentration.

Cate’s utility rattled over the cattle-grid and the sheets of rain made it hard to make out the figure sitting in the wheelchair on the verandah. She waved anyway as she drove past and parked in the garage. Shaking rain off as she came, Cate hurried up the verandah steps to drop a kiss on her father’s leathery cheek. ‘Hi, Dad.’ William Forrest was another big man and her heart ached to see him confined to the wheelchair. Oddly, he’d adapted to being paralysed better than his family had.

‘Hello, love. River’s rising,’ he said, and they both turned to look towards the bottom paddock river flat. The thickened brown snake of the river was spreading slowly across the lowest areas. ‘Your mother’s trip to town yesterday was in good time. We’ve enough supplies for a month.’

‘Hopefully the rain won’t last a month.’ Cate grinned wryly at her father and laid her hand on his shoulder. ‘I’ll change after my coffee and move the cattle up to the house paddock.’

His bushy white eyebrows drew together. ‘I thought the fence had snapped up in the house paddock?’

‘I fixed it yesterday before I went to work but the gate’s only just hanging on.’

He put his hand over hers and gripped it as if to say, Hear me out. ‘The farm is too much for you and your mother. I’ve asked your brother to come home.’

Cate tried not to feel that she’d failed him. Her father shouldn’t have had to do that. ‘Oh, Dad, there’s no point worrying Ben! We can manage. I’ll fix the gate this evening.’

William was still very much the head of the family and knew how to be firm. ‘It’s too much. You’re a fine daughter and as good as any man on the farm. But you have your own life. And I’ll need him for the flood, if it comes.’ There was no doubt her father believed they were in for a big flood.

Cate turned away and tried not to think about the changes that Ben’s return would make. Her brother had left home without a backward glance as soon as he’d turned eighteen. He had chosen to work in the Northern Territory on another man’s property, leaving her parents to manage with only her. Cate was really proud that she and her mother had managed. They still could—but it was her father’s choice. This day couldn’t get worse.

‘That’s good, Dad.’ The words nearly stuck in her throat. She’d worry about Ben coming home when, and if, he actually did. For the moment there were things to do before the next two days’ shifts at the hospital and she was looking forward to some activity for the restlessness that had been eating at her since she’d driven away from the hospital. She left her father watching the rain.

‘How were your shifts, darling?’ Cate’s mother set two coffees on the kitchen table and sat down to listen. Leanore was a tall woman, though not as statuesque as her daughter, and her hair was more silver than blonde.

Cate’s thoughts flew to the regional CEO, and strangely she was reluctant to discuss Noah Masters with her mother. She stared down at the cup cradled in her hands. ‘Busy.’

Not one to avoid discussing awkward subjects, Leanore went straight to the family issues. ‘Your father and I are looking forward to Ben’s return. It will be wonderful to see him. Are you upset your father asked him to come home?’

Cate couldn’t help the tinge of censure in her voice. ‘If he stays long enough.’

‘Now, Cate. It’s been a hard couple of years but Ben is a man now and he wants to come home. He’ll be better for the time away. He was too young to take over the huge job that you’ve done and too old to take orders from his big sister.’

She patted Cate’s hand.

‘Your father rose above his disabilities and is still the man of my dreams. We have our life and you have yours. We know you’ve carried the lion’s share of the workload for a long time now. You deserve a break. Sit back and let Ben and your father do the worrying without you. Live a little.’

Leanore pushed a plate of home-made biscuits towards her daughter. ‘So tell me some good news from the hospital.’

Cate tried to brighten up. ‘My friends Michelle and Leif had a lovely baby boy early this morning. He was nearly a Caesarean but beat the doctor to the theatre.’ A soft smile crossed her face. ‘He’s gorgeous.’

She blinked and refocused on her mother. ‘And poor Mr Beamish broke his hip on his cattle-grid and I’m dreading the new regional CEO will step into his job until they get someone else.’ She glared at the tablecloth. ‘I hope it’s soon,’ slipped out.

‘Poor Mr Beamish. I went to school with his wife.’ Leanore tilted her head. ‘A new regional CEO? What’s he like?’

Cate stirred her coffee vigorously and the coffee spun dangerously around in her cup. ‘Taller than Dad, looks like he works out, but he’s a human logarithm and very much the city boy.’ She glared at her coffee. ‘He’s domineering and annoyingly sure of himself.’

Cate’s mother took the spoon from her daughter and set it in the saucer with a clink. ‘Interesting.’ She smiled to herself. ‘He seems to have made a big impression on you. But the last part is a harsh indictment. I imagine the man would have responsibilities that call for most of those qualities. Does he have a name?’

‘Noah Masters.’ Cate shrugged and took a few sips of her drink before she set it down. ‘I don’t want to talk about that man. Thanks for the coffee, Mum. I have to fix the gate in the top paddock and move the cattle.’

‘Do you want me to come?’ Leanore started to untie her apron, still with a small smile on her face.

‘No. Thanks.’ Cate thought she may as well do this last job before Ben came home. ‘I need to get out and I’ll call if I need help.’ She slipped the family mobile phone onto her belt. It was her father’s decree that anyone in the paddocks carry it in case they needed help. Three years ago he’d lain all day with a broken back when the branch of a tree had fallen and crushed his vertebrae. With the farm work falling to Cate and Leanore now that Ben had gone, he could keep in contact with them from the house. Cate would have carried anything to get out of the house and burn off some energy.

Wednesday 7 March

When Cate arrived at work that afternoon, she’d packed a case with enough clothes for a week. Her father had predicted she wouldn’t get home for a while.

‘Noah Masters had better watch out!’ Cate dropped the report of the regional hospitals’ meeting, which she’d taken home to study, down on the desk. It hit with a clap similar to the thunder outside.

She impaled her drover’s oilskin on the old-fashioned hatstand as if she were hanging Noah Masters out to dry on it.

‘And happy Wednesday to you, too, Cate.’ Diminutive Amber Wright stood up to flick the door shut behind her friend for some privacy. The nursing supervisor of the previous shift at Riverbank Hospital shook her head. ‘You’re like a whirlwind some days, Cate. You make me dizzy.’

Cate dried her hands on the damp scarf she pulled from around her neck and hung that up, too. ‘Maybe the weather makes me mad.’

‘Yeah, right.’ Amber had her head in her hands.

Cate tucked her handbag away. ‘That good, is it?’ said Cate as Amber lifted her head. Her friend nodded.

‘Ten staff called in flood-bound and we’re still five down without replacements, but it could have been worse. Most are flooded in while some are banking on staying home so they don’t get flooded out of their own homes.’ Amber sighed.

‘Plus, I have to be at preschool in twenty minutes and barely have time to fill you in on what’s happening on the wards.’

Cate looked up quickly. ‘That’s a bit early. Cindy’s not sick or anything, is she?’

‘No. I have a meeting with the teacher.’ Amber looked at her watch and Cate interpreted her frown. Amber really couldn’t afford to upset the teacher at the preschool Cindy attended most days while her single mother worked.

Cate picked up her pen. ‘Heaven forbid that you keep the teacher waiting. Come on. Fire away and we’ll get you out of here on time.’

Amber shuffled the papers and pushed her glasses back up her nose. ‘I’ve had orders to encourage the doctors to discharge as many as they can to lighten the load, but most of the people who could go don’t have the support at home, and home care is a bit iffy should the highway be cut off.’

Cate leaned forward but her voice was soft. ‘So whose orders were they?’ As if she didn’t have an inkling.

‘Noah Masters.’

‘I’m just about sick of his directives. I found out he’s a doctor of medicine, and has only been involved in the corporate side for two years. Apparently he’s shooting up the administrative totem pole at a great rate of knots.’ She screwed up her nose. ‘How could a doctor leave medicine and become a number-cruncher?’

‘Excuse me?’ Amber pulled a face. ‘You only work half your time as a midwife and the other half in administration.’

Cate sniffed. ‘Totally different. I need the quick shifts. An afternoon shift followed by a morning shift lets me work on the farm. If there weren’t enough midwives I’d go back to full-time midwifery like a shot.’

Cate watched as Amber punched the last of the entries for staff changes into the computer. ‘The office part of this job is a pain but as for shift co-ordination…’ Cate shrugged ‘…I believe I can make a difference if I ensure that everything runs smoothly.’

‘It’s true. The place runs like a watch when you’re on shift.’ Amber shot her an urchin grin. ‘But you also like being boss. Hell, I was on your tennis team and we had to win or else. One day you’re going to meet a man that won’t let you boss him around. Maybe it’s Noah Masters.’

Cate’s laugh sounded more like a snort. ‘Somehow I don’t see that as prophetic.’ She folded her arms and glared at her friend. ‘And as for tennis, what’s wrong with being champions three years running?’

Amber laughed out loud. ‘I rest my case,’ she said. Cate acknowledged the hit with a wry smile.

Amber went on. ‘Our regional CEO is officially filling in for Mr Beamish.’ She looked at Cate. ‘He said to call him Noah, which made me laugh a bit as we’ve probably got a flood on, but he doesn’t seem too bad.’

‘The man’s a walking calculator!’ Cate stood up and paced the room.

Amber looked up with interest. ‘Then he’s a well-packaged calculator.’ She shrugged. ‘I’d almost welcome his slippers under my bed if I wasn’t off men.’ She raised a quizzical eyebrow at Cate. ‘Struck a few sparks yesterday, did you?’

That was the last thing Cate wanted Amber to think. ‘No.’ The word came out louder than she’d intended and Cate fought not to blush. ‘It’s not a matter of liking or disliking. The guy is a threat to Riverbank—and if he had his way our hospital would be downgraded to cottage hospital status.’

Amber blew a raspberry. ‘You don’t know that.’

Cate didn’t meet Amber’s eyes. ‘Well, I don’t want to find out the hard way. Can we leave Noah Masters, please?’ Cate sat down. ‘What else is happening here today?’

Cate couldn’t mind Amber’s teasing. She couldn’t remember a time when Amber hadn’t been in her life. They’d shared rag dolls and horse blankets since kindergarten. Experience told Cate that something else was bothering her friend.

Amber smiled but Cate still felt she was stalling, which wasn’t like her. ‘Let’s get you home. Is something wrong, Amber?’

All amusement left Amber’s face and she sighed. ‘I’ll start with the bad news.’ She put her hand out to cover Cate’s. ‘Iris Dwyer is our critical patient and her friends are with her in the palliative care room, but her son hasn’t arrived yet.’

Iris…Cate fought back the sudden dread and managed a professional nod to Amber. But her mind whirled. Iris, not Iris! There was only one reason a patient would be admitted to the hospital’s soothing palliative care suite with its very comfortable bed, and Cate didn’t want to think about it.

Iris was the sort of woman every girl would have loved having as a mother-in-law. She was certainly everything Cate wanted to be—independent, with a home and farm and a loving son to care for. Mr Dwyer had died some two decades earlier and, far from withering, Iris just seemed even more determined and in control.

And now that would change. Cate acknowledged the sympathetic look from Amber. Iris and Brett had been a big part of her life before the break up of their engagement.

‘Brett’s mother has terminal cancer?’ Cate shook her head in disbelief. ‘Why didn’t I know she was sick? Why wouldn’t she tell me? Maybe I could have done something…’

Amber understood. ‘Don’t feel bad she didn’t tell you. Iris has always been a self-sufficient woman. She must have preferred it that way. I don’t think she told anyone before she came in here.’ Amber shot a look at Cate to watch for her reaction to the next news. ‘Brett will be here soon.’

Cate sniffed. ‘Why isn’t he here now? He’d better get here in time…’ Cate was still reeling from the more devastating news.

Amber sighed. ‘You take too much on yourself, Cate. Nobody knew about Iris’s illness. She went to Theatre this morning for an abdominal mass and it was an open-and-shut case. Nothing they could do. She’s been running the farm up until her admission and it looks like she’s organising the way she dies just as efficiently.’

A cold lump settled in Cate’s stomach and the back of her throat scratched as she fought to control the surge of emotion that welled. Brett had better make it. While her ex-fiancé was quite capable of behaving less than responsibly, she’d always enjoyed the company of his forthright and capable mother.

Cate sometimes wondered if her fondness for Iris had been half of her attraction when Brett had come back on the scene.

Amber touched her arm. ‘How do you feel about seeing Brett again?’

Cate gave a tiny shrug—that was unimportant by comparison. ‘Like a fool for ever agreeing to marry him. But apart from that, I feel sorry that he’s going to lose his mother.’ Cate blinked away the sting in her eyes.

‘There’s a hard time ahead for him,’ Amber said with a catch in her voice, and Cate remembered that her friend had always had a soft spot for Brett. She could have him.

‘Poor Iris.’ Cate blinked the sting out of her eyes and met Amber’s sympathetic gaze. ‘You need to pick Cindy up from preschool. I’ll find the rest out when I go up and see her later on the ward.’

Amber nodded and glanced at her clipboard. ‘Iris is our most critical. The other patients in Medical are slowly improving, which means they’re pretty much the same as they were when you went off yesterday. They have two spare beds.

‘Theatres are running to time, and Theatre Sister asked, as you were doing a quick shift, if you could take Theatre call tonight as it’s her husband’s birthday.’

Cate shrugged at the chance of having her eight-hour break between shifts broken by an unexpected theatre case, as it had the last time she’d done the quick shift. ‘No problem. Have you marked it down yet?’

‘No. But I didn’t look for anyone else. Marshmallow centre—that’s you—but at least a lot of people owe you favours!’ Amber grinned and wrote down Cate’s name for the call.

‘Surgical?’ Cate took the theatre list Amber handed across and scanned the list of operations that had been that morning.

‘No spare beds so any emergency admissions or accidents will cause a reshuffle of beds or early discharge.

‘Children’s Ward has three in with gastroenteritis so don’t play with them if you want to spend time helping in Maternity,’ she teased.

‘And how is Maternity?’ Cate settled in the chair.

Amber flicked her reading glasses back up her nose. ‘Just how you like it. They have babies coming out of their ears and two more in early labour.’

Cate nodded. ‘I love it when it’s like that.’

Amber rolled her eyes. ‘Intensive Care has three in, all day-two myocardial infarcts, who are progressing well. And last, but not least, Emergency is surprisingly quiet for the moment, but we all know how that can change in the blink of an eye.’ Amber put her reading glasses in her case and handed over the clipboard and the large bunch of keys. ‘Have fun with Noah Masters. I’ll look forward to the next instalment of Cate versus Goliath.’

Amber stretched up and hugged Cate. ‘I’m sorry about Iris.’

Cate returned the pressure. ‘She’s a wonderful woman and deserves more—but thanks.’ She pushed Amber towards the door.

Cate shivered in sympathy as she watched her friend cross the car park from the office window. The rain was pelting down and Amber’s umbrella turned inside out from the wind as she struggled to get the keys into her car lock.

Cate envied Amber her beautiful daughter but not Amber’s marriage to the domineering man she’d divorced.

Cate dreamed of a home and family more than anything, and she’d thought she’d found the answer with Brett. But her great love affair hadn’t worked out either. Cate didn’t waste any sympathy on herself—she should have known better. Brett had ruled by emotional blackmail and she’d been lucky they hadn’t married. She thought of Brett’s mother and sighed. Poor Iris.

She painfully rolled her shoulder. She’d pulled a muscle yesterday trying to straighten the top paddock gate. Served her right for being too stubborn to call her mother for help.

And now it looked like Noah Masters had moved into Mr Beamish’s office indefinitely. Life was suddenly too much.

She didn’t feel like being cooped up in the office. She needed to be busy and if they were short-staffed, there would be plenty of work to do.

By late afternoon, Cate had secured relief for extra-busy wards from the less frantic ones, helped with the birth of a baby in Maternity, arranged casual staff who lived in town to replace those flooded in for the next shift, and updated the computer with the latest staffing statistics. She’d briefly spoken to every patient and a host of their relatives, and everything was under control. This was what she loved—having her finger on the pulse of the hospital.

By five o’clock she’d made several visits to Mrs Dwyer in her darkened room, and she decided to pop in for a moment before tea. When Cate entered the room the old lady lay so still and quiet that for a moment Cate thought Brett had left it too late. Then she noticed the gentle rise and fall of the sheet covering the frail body and she bit her lip. Iris had only been deeply asleep. The old lady stirred and opened her eyes.

Brett’s mother looked frail and it was as if the light had been turned out in her usually sparkling blue eyes. Cate could see that time was short and she felt useless as she stared down at the woman she’d grown to love. ‘Can I get you anything, Iris?’

Iris smiled. ‘No, darling.’ The skin on the older woman’s hand was callused from hard work and yellow-tinged with jaundice. But her grip was still strong. ‘I’m quite comfortable. Even the dawn chorus of coughing and urinals is different to the birds at home but quite amusing.’

Cate couldn’t help smiling, which was what Iris wanted. ‘Would you like some music to drown out the ward clatter? I could bring my CD player in.’

Iris shook her head. ‘You do too much as it is and I don’t need to add to your load. There’ll be plenty of time for music in heaven.’ Cate winced and Iris frowned. ‘Stop it. I’ve had a good life and at the moment I’m enjoying the sound of humanity. It’s like a radio show and guess-the-secret-sound as I try to recognise a noise. Don’t worry about me.’

Iris closed her eyes but she was still smiling and Cate wondered if she’d fallen asleep again. Cate could see from whom Brett had inherited his eyebrows and nose. A shame he hadn’t inherited his mother’s determined chin. Almost as if she’d caught Cate’s thoughts, Iris opened her eyes.

‘I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you and Brett, for his sake.’ Her eyes twinkled briefly. ‘As much as I love him, I know he probably would have driven you mad. I’ve come to think he needs someone to lean on him to bring out his best. But I would have known he was OK with you.’ The frail hand tightened in Cate’s. ‘Look after yourself, Cate. You need to find a strong man to depend on. Sharing the load brings its own strength so if the chance comes, don’t fight it too much.’

Cate dropped a kiss on the wrinkled cheek. ‘How like you to try and tie up my loose ends as well. Think about yourself for a change. I’d better get on with my work. You rest and mind you tell Sister if the pain gets worse.’ Iris shut her eyes and she was asleep before Cate turned away.

Cate tried to regain her composure. Sometimes life was very unfair. She couldn’t believe Brett hadn’t arrived yet. She’d kill him if he didn’t get here in time. She pushed herself off the wall she’d leant her head on and hurried out of the room with her emotions a jumble, and pushed her sore shoulder straight into a solid wall of muscle. Two strong hands steadied her until she regained her physical balance and her traitorous body relaxed for a moment against the man. Her emotional equilibrium was harder to recapture.

‘Sister Forrest. We meet again.’ Noah’s hands loosened as she stepped away a pace but he could still feel the aftershock of her surprisingly luscious body against him.

Noah redirected his gaze from the vulnerable line of Cate’s neck to her face as she straightened herself to look at him.

‘I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking.’ The slight catch in her voice sounded strange, coming from the tough cookie of yesterday. In fact, she looked like she was in some pain.

‘Did I hurt you?’ Noah tilted his head and then reached out to touch her shoulder. She winced and his brows drew together.

She brushed his hand away. ‘It’s an old bruise and I’ve just given it a reminder. I’m fine. Was there something I can do for you?’

She didn’t look as together today, but she certainly wasn’t any friendlier. It had been amazing how many little things he’d remembered about her. Like the way her blue eyes narrowed and then seemed to glow like flashing blue sirens when she was annoyed with him. And how the expressions on her face seemed to shift and change like the sea.

Enough. Noah compressed his lips. He’d spent too much time thinking about her last night and he wasn’t going to get bogged down today. But she was a challenge. He refocused on her question.

‘I’ve come up to see how the medical resident went with discharging non-critical patients. I assumed there would have been more clients able to go than we’ve managed to discharge.’

He watched her close her eyes for a minute to marshal her thoughts. When she opened them he was staring quite openly at her and she glared at him. He’d bet she couldn’t help herself. She’d be a dreadful poker player, he thought as he watched more emotions flash across her face when she spoke. ‘Those that are still here would be at risk if they were discharged. Until the rain stops we can’t guarantee that the community nurses will be able to take them on or that relatives will be able to get to them if they’re needed.’