Others, presumably taking a break in the warm afternoon sunshine, were sitting or standing to one side by a well tended shrub garden, breathing in the fresh air.
Suddenly, the doors opened up once more, and a man lumbered towards her, head down, a disgruntled expression on his face. Perhaps the collision that followed was inevitable. Either way, he slammed into Ruby with some force, so that she swung to one side and momentarily lost her balance. She kept a firm grip on the baby chair as it carved a wild arc through the air, and all the while her one thought was to protect the infant. Becky began to cry, frightened by the sudden jolt, and for a second or two, Ruby was afraid that she might have been hurt.
At the same time she was aware of pain slicing through her wrist, and as she fought to regain her balance, she realised that the man had rushed away, leaving her only with the impression of a scowling, grim countenance.
‘Are you all right?’ A man’s voice cut into her thoughts, the deep, warm tones edged with a drizzle of honey that smoothed over her shattered nerves. ‘Is the baby okay?’ He reached out and lightly grasped her arm, steadying her, at the same time laying a hand on the baby seat to ensure that it was safe.
‘I think so.’ Disorientated, she set the carrier down on the ground, checking swiftly that all was well with Becky. ‘Everything’s fine, baby,’ she murmured, reassuring the infant and distracting her with a brightly coloured teething ring that jangled and provided endless possibilities for exploration. ‘She seems to be none the worse for it.’ Then, once she was satisfied that the baby was safe, she looked up into the eyes of the man who had come to her aid.
They were beautiful eyes, a curious mixture of blue and grey, reminding her strangely of sea mist and sun-dappled water, and at the same time invoking a disturbing reaction within her, a strange restlessness that she hadn’t encountered in a long, long time.
She pulled herself together and straightened up, leaving the carrier where it was for the time being so that Becky would have an opportunity to examine her new toy and forget all about the incident. That left her free to rub gently at her wrist where it had been wrenched.
‘I have a feeling I might have seen that man somewhere before,’ she told him, frowning a little. ‘I can’t quite place him, and I only caught a glimpse, but there was something about him that was familiar.’
‘Really? He didn’t look too happy, did he? Maybe things hadn’t gone quite the way he expected in there.’ He looked towards the building, then glanced back at her, noting the way she was surreptitiously soothing her jarred wrist. ‘Do you think someone should take a look at that?’
‘No, it’ll be fine, thanks.’ She gave a short laugh. ‘Anyway, I’m in the right place if I change my mind, aren’t I? A&E is just around the corner.’
‘That’s true.’ A serious expression settled on his face as he appeared to ponder the wisdom of leaving things be, and she took a moment or two to study him more thoroughly.
He was way too smartly dressed to be a casual visitor to the hospital, or even a patient, she guessed. He wasn’t wearing a doctor’s name badge, so it was possible he was someone from a pharmaceutical company here to meet up with their chief pharmacist and his team. Ruby knew the hospital chiefs were worried about the drugs bill, and meetings were planned to discuss the issue.
He was wearing a suit, the immaculate, dark grey jacket sitting easily on broad shoulders, while the trousers fitted him to perfection, outlining a washboard-flat stomach and long, strong legs. Altogether, he made an immediate, disturbing impact on her.
‘Do you need any help to get to where you need to be? Perhaps I could carry the child for you?’ He was watching her closely, his gaze skimming over her, taking in her casual summer clothes, a button-through cotton top and gently flowing skirt, before coming to rest once more on her face.
She blinked, trying to pull her thoughts back on track. She shook her head. ‘No, thanks all the same. I’ll manage.’ She smiled. ‘Besides, I expect you have places you need to be…unless you’d finished your business here?’ Why else would he have been standing outside the hospital? He looked like a man who would be continually on the move, energetic, a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps it was the suit that gave her that impression. It somehow denoted a businesslike demeanour, a man at the height of his profession.
‘You’re right. I was just taking a break for a while, enjoying the sunshine and the cooling breeze. Hospitals can seem like soulless places at times, can’t they, even here in beautiful Buckinghamshire?’
‘That’s true.’ She nodded. ‘I wasn’t much looking forward to coming here today, but unfortunately I have a meeting to go to.’
He frowned. ‘Is that so? Nothing badly wrong, I hope—with you or the baby?’
She made a wry face. ‘Nothing at all. I’m fighting fit, and so is Becky, which is just as well, since I have to go and do battle, so to speak. It won’t do to let the chiefs have everything their own way.’
A puzzled look crossed his features, and it seemed as though he expected her to say more, but she didn’t try to explain any further. ‘I must go,’ she said. ‘I’m late already. Thanks very much for coming to help me. I do appreciate it.’
She had delayed long enough, and the meeting must be well under way by now. If she hurried, there was still time to make her presence felt. She picked up the baby carrier and, with a nod in his direction, she walked swiftly into the building.
James and Olivia, two senior house officers from her team, met her at the door to the room where the meeting was taking place.
‘Thank heaven you made it at last,’ Olivia said. ‘We were beginning to think you would never get here.’ She turned to greet Becky with a smile, picking up the baby’s rattle and gently waving it in front of the child, so that the infant tried to grab it and pull it to her mouth. Olivia laughed softly. ‘Okay, okay, you can have it. I was just teasing.’ She turned back to Ruby. ‘Everyone’s taking a break for coffee just now. We had to stop for a while…emotions were threatening to boil over.’
‘So I gathered.’ Ruby’s expression was sombre. ‘Is the new man making his presence felt?’
‘Oh, yes.’ James nodded. Lean and fit-looking, with dark brown hair that was cut in a short, neat style, he was an energetic, efficient colleague. ‘He’s definitely on the side of the board. Cuts, cuts and more cuts. That seems to be his mantra. That’s why I called you. I couldn’t believe you weren’t going to be here to argue our corner.’ He led the way towards the back of the room. ‘Some of the senior managers look as though they’ve been up half the night working out what they can chop next. The trust is in so much debt that they say drastic measures are called for.’
‘I wanted to be here right from the beginning,’ Ruby said. ‘You know I did…only I agreed to look after Becky while my sister went to see the doctor at the local surgery. There would have been plenty of time for me to come to the meeting afterwards, except that Sophie didn’t come home to take over from me. I waited and waited, and then I got to wondering whether there was any point in my coming along and saying anything at all at the meeting. After all, the new man is the one who’ll be making all the decisions from now on.’
‘And that was where the management made their big mistake.’ Olivia frowned. ‘You should have been the one to take charge, we all know that. You’ve been the mainstay of the A&E department for years, keeping things running smoothly while the boss readied himself for retirement. This job should have been the reward for all your hard work.’
Ruby made a wry smile. ‘Well, in the end it hasn’t happened, and there’s no use crying over spilt milk. Management have chosen the man they feel best to put all their changes into place.’ She gave a soft chuckle. ‘Perhaps they thought things would become a bit too