‘Dr Martínez…he was so angry with me. I didn’t mean…’ Lizzy hiccupped her way through a garbled explanation.
Jennifer squeezed her hand. ‘It’s just a simple misunderstanding. We’ll sort it out.’ Though her expression hardened. So much for her thinking she’d been unfair to Ramón Martínez. He’d just bawled out her best student in front of her patient’s parents. Whatever Lizzy had done, a public telling-off was completely unprofessional. And it was Jennifer’s job, as the senior sister on the paediatric ward, to make him understand that bullies would not be tolerated. Under any circumstances.
‘I…’ Lizzy was still shaking, still incoherent.
‘It’s OK. I’ll handle it,’ Jennifer said quietly. ‘Wash your face and take ten minutes out in the restroom. Have a cup of tea then if you’re ready to come back on the ward, that’s fine.’ She gave Lizzy a hug. ‘If you need some time off, just let me know and I’ll get a bank nurse in.’
‘Thanks, JJ.’ Lizzy gave her a watery smile. ‘I feel so stupid…’
‘You’re not stupid. You’re doing really well. You’re a final-year student, you still have things to learn, and you’re already worried sick about your aunt.’
‘I won’t let the team down.’
‘I know you won’t. And that’s what teams are for—to support each other.’ Jennifer gave her a wink. ‘Go get that cup of tea.’ She gathered her files together again and headed for the side room they’d allocated to Stephen Knights.
Standing next to the parents was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen. Meg’s description had hardly done him justice. Ramón Martínez was seven or eight inches taller than her own five feet six, Jennifer guessed. His white coat was a perfect foil to his olive skin and blue-black hair; he had broad shoulders, narrow hips and very long legs. He used his hands a lot when he spoke, she noticed. His eyes were dark and expressive.
But his mouth was the real killer. Generous and full, promising warmth and passion. Meg had been absolutely right about that smile—a smile to die for. For one intensely scary second, Jennifer even found herself wondering what it would be like to be kissed by that mouth. And then she stopped herself. No. She didn’t do kisses. She didn’t do dates. She didn’t do anything of the kind any more. Besides, this man had just reduced one of her staff to tears. He might be gorgeous to look at, but he was also arrogant and in dire need of a lesson in good manners.
‘Hello, Mandy. Hello, Paul,’ she said, walking into the room. ‘Hello, gorgeous.’ She ruffled the sleeping baby’s hair, then turned to Ramón Martínez. ‘Good afternoon, Dr Martínez. I’m Sister Jacobs. I’m sorry I wasn’t on duty when you joined us.’
Cool, controlled and terribly English, Ramón thought. And he hadn’t been prepared for her in the slightest. She was a completely ordinary woman—average height, average shape, light brown hair cut in an unassuming short style, grey-blue eyes. No make-up, dressed in a dark blue sister’s uniform and flat black shoes. She was nothing out of the everyday. So why had his heart rate just speeded up a notch?
Ridiculous, he told himself. He was here at the Bradley Memorial Hospital for a four-month secondment. A relationship of any kind would be short term and pointless. And even if he was prepared to think about it, it couldn’t be with someone he worked with. There would be too many difficulties. And then there was Sofía…No, it was all too complicated.
He’d expected the ward’s senior sister to be older than Meg—Meg herself had given him that impression—and this woman didn’t look much older than her mid-twenties. Clearly she had to be older, or she wouldn’t have the experience to do the job.
Automatically, his glance slid to her left hand. There was a slim band of gold on her ring finger. So she was spoken for. He was aware of the stab of regret for an instant before he banished it. ‘Good afternoon, Sister.’ He shook her proffered hand and lightning coursed through him. Hell. This was a complication he really, really didn’t need—especially as it was clearly one-sided. She didn’t look as if his touch had remotely affected her. He only hoped that this cool, calm nurse couldn’t read minds. If she could, he had a feeling she’d slap his face. Hard.
‘How did the operation go?’ she asked politely.
‘It was a success. I was telling Mr and Mrs Knights about the care their son needs over the next few days.’
He didn’t quite understand the look she gave him. Only that she was extremely angry with him—though this was the first time they’d met, so he couldn’t have done anything to upset her…could he?
‘I’ve stitched the palate back together in layers. There is one layer in the floor of the nose, then the muscles in the middle of the palate, and then the skin on the roof of the mouth,’ he said. ‘There are stitches in the roof of his mouth, but you can’t see them from the outside.’
‘You might see some red fluid coming from his nose and mouth,’ Jennifer added, ‘but that’s very common after an operation like this and nothing to worry about. If you see anything that looks like pus or any real redness around the stitches, that’s a different matter, but we’ll be checking him every couple of hours to make sure there isn’t any sign of infection.’
She might be formal and cool with him, but she had a nice manner with the patient’s family, Ramón thought. Reassuring.
‘You mustn’t let the baby put his hands or anything hard in his mouth,’ he added. ‘If he keeps trying to scratch his mouth, we will need to use arm restraints to stop him.’
‘They look uncomfortable but they really won’t hurt him,’ Jennifer said. ‘But if he scratches his mouth, he might tear the stitches or cause an infection. If we have to use the restraints, he’ll probably be a bit grumpy, but just give him lots of cuddles and talk to him to take his mind off them.’
‘He shouldn’t be in much pain,’ Ramón said, ‘but if we think he is I can prescribe mild pain relief.’
‘What about eating?’ Mandy asked.
‘He needs small and frequent feeds,’ Ramón said. ‘He must have enough liquid or he will become dehydrated and develop a temperature.’
‘We recommend using a teat with a large cross-cut opening, so you get a steady flow of milk,’ Jennifer said. ‘Hold him on your lap so he’s semi-sitting and feed him slowly—then give him some water to help clean the inside of his mouth.’
‘He’s teething at the moment,’ Paul said. ‘He’s always chewing his fists.’
‘Sorry, but you can’t let him. He can’t use a teething ring for a while either,’ Jennifer told him. ‘Though you can rub his gums or use some teething gel.’
‘When can we take him home?’ Mandy asked.
‘In about a week,’ Ramón said. ‘We will check him over thoroughly before we discharge him. And he will need to see a speech therapist to check if he has velopharyngeal incompetence.’
‘It’s called VPI for short and it’s quite common in children with repaired cleft palates,’ Jennifer said. ‘All it means is that his soft palate is a bit short or doesn’t move enough, so too much air will escape through his nose when he speaks and he’ll sound nasal. The speech therapist can do quite a lot to help the condition.’
She was good with parents, and very knowledgeable. No wonder she’d made senior sister at a young age, Ramón thought. But he wished he had some idea why her eyes were looking daggers at him.
‘Can we stay with him?’