She had lived in staff accommodation in her last job so she’d not had to worry about furniture and crockery or the hundred and one other things needed to set up a home. It hadn’t been a priority when she had moved in with Jo either, but at some point soon she would have to make provision to buy all those things, even though she had no idea where she would get the money from. After all, there wasn’t just herself to think about now.
She sighed as she felt a familiar wave of panic wash over her. She had promised herself that she would try to remain positive but it wasn’t easy when she knew the difficulties she was going to face. All she could do was keep reminding herself that she wasn’t the first woman to have found herself in this situation, even if the circumstances were rather unusual in her case. Other people had managed and so would she!
That decided, she went into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. It was only when she opened the fridge that she realised she didn’t have any milk or tea bags—or anything else for that matter. In the rush to get packed that morning to leave her sister’s home, she had given no thought to the subject of groceries, but she would have to do something about it soon.
She fetched her bag then went to the back door, hunting through the bunch of keys Ben Cole had given her to find the one that fitted the lock. She tried several in turn but none of them worked. It left her with no choice but to use the exit through the surgery, even though she had wanted to avoid doing that until she was officially on duty.
Anna started down the stairs then paused when she heard a commotion break out below. She could hear a woman screaming but she couldn’t make out what she was saying. She hurried down the rest of the stairs and followed the noise to the waiting room, taking in the scene that met her at a glance.
‘Give him to me,’ she ordered, rushing forward and taking the child from the terrified mother’s arms. It was a little boy, about two years old, and he was deeply unconscious, his eyes rolled back into his head and his lips tinged blue. Putting her ear to the child’s chest, Anna assured herself that he was still breathing then turned to Eileen.
‘Which way is the treatment room?’
‘This way. I’ll show you.’
Eileen flew out from behind the desk and led the way, opening the door to the treatment room for her. The child’s mother was sobbing hysterically now so that Anna had to raise her voice to be heard.
‘Tell Dr Cole that we need him in here straight away, please.’
Anna didn’t waste any time as the receptionist hurried away. She laid the little boy on the couch and quickly unzipped his coat. ‘When did this happen?’ she asked the sobbing mother.
‘Just a few moments ago. Sam was up most of the night with earache, which is why I brought him to the surgery this morning.’ The young woman wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘He felt really hot when I dressed him and he wouldn’t eat his breakfast, which just isn’t like him. He seemed all right when we got here but then he went all…all stiff and started twitching.’
‘I see.’ Anna slipped off the child’s coat and quickly removed his jumper and trousers as well. Hurrying to the sink, she filled a bowl with tepid water then looked round when Ben Cole appeared.
‘What have we got?’ he asked, hurrying to the couch.
‘He appears to have had a convulsion. His temperature is elevated so I was about to sponge him down,’ she reported crisply, carrying the bowl back to the couch. ‘His mother says that he was complaining of earache through the night.’
‘Fine. You get on with that while I check him over.’ He didn’t say anything more as he quickly set about examining the little boy, but Anna had seen the approval in his brown eyes and she felt her heart lift.
It was nice to know that Ben appreciated her efforts, she thought as she started sponging the child’s hot skin. Maybe it was silly to set any store by his opinion but she knew that it meant a lot to her.
‘Classic signs of a febrile convulsion,’ he said, sotto voce, glancing at her. ‘See how flushed his face and neck are, and the rigidity of the limbs and slight arching of the spine.’
‘I thought it was that,’ she said, equally softly. She ran the damp cloth over the little boy’s chest once again. ‘I think this is helping, though.’
‘It is. The best thing you can do in a case like this is to cool the child down.’ He grimaced. ‘Sorry. I don’t need to tell you that, obviously!’
Anna laughed at his rueful expression. ‘Don’t worry. You can’t afford to be thin-skinned when you’re a nurse. Most doctors seem to believe that they are the fount of all knowledge.’
‘Ouch! I’ll have to watch my step in future, Nurse Clemence. I wouldn’t want to trip over my ego in front of you and end up flat on my face.’
His eyes were teasing, making it clear that he knew that she’d been joking. Anna smiled back before she realised how dangerous it was to let the conversation continue in that vein. She had to remember that this job was simply a stopgap and not get involved with the people she worked with. It would make it that less painful when the time came for her to leave.
She carried on sponging the little boy and was rewarded when he started to come round a few minutes later. Ben turned to the child’s mother and smiled reassuringly at her.
‘He’s back with us again. I know it’s been a shock for you but try not to let him see that you’re upset. We want to keep him as calm as possible to give him time to recover.’
‘He will be all right, won’t he?’ the girl asked shakily, digging a crumpled tissue out of her pocket and scrubbing her eyes with it.
Anna took the bowl of water to the sink and emptied it away then plucked a handful of clean tissues from the box on the counter and gave them to her. She hadn’t realised how young the mother was until that moment because she’d been too busy dealing with the child to pay much attention to her. Now she couldn’t help sighing when she realised that the girl was little more than a child herself.
‘He should be fine. He’s had what we call a febrile convulsion, which isn’t nearly as scary as it sounds.’ Ben drew the girl forward then gently picked up the little boy and placed him in her arms. ‘All it means is that the bit of his brain that usually lowers the temperature when it gets too high didn’t work properly. I believe you said that he had earache last night?’
He carried on when she nodded. ‘He probably has an ear infection and that’s what caused his temperature to rise. I’ll check him over once he’s recovered properly but I don’t want you to worry too much. A lot of small children have febrile convulsions but they usually grow out of them.’
‘Does that mean it could happen again?’ the girl asked worriedly, hugging the whimpering child to her.
‘It’s possible, but you can do a lot to prevent it happening again by taking some simple precautions like giving him paracetamol at the first signs of fever and sponging him down,’ he explained calmly.
‘I wish I’d known that,’ she said miserably. ‘If I’d realised I could give him paracetamol I would have done so.’
‘You must make sure that it’s one formulated for young children,’ he warned her. ‘And that you don’t exceed the dosage. However, there are a number of very good products you can buy over the counter.’
‘Do they cost a lot?’ The girl shrugged but Anna could see the flush that had risen to her cheeks. ‘I’m on my own, you see, and some of these things cost a lot of money…’
She tailed off, not that she needed to say anything else. Anna turned away because she was afraid of what might be written on her face at that moment. She ran water into the sink and washed the bowl, barely listening as Ben explained that he would include a child-safe analgesic on the prescription so that Sam’s mother wouldn’t