‘Excuse me for a moment, Elspeth …’
Security were bracing themselves, Alex was hovering, nurses were looking over, and any second now the button would be pressed for the police to be called as the father was becoming more and more agitated. Only Nina stood resolute and calm. He could see her speaking to the gentleman and, as Jack approached, he saw that whatever she had said had worked, for without further demur he handed the child over to a nurse.
Jack was about to head back to Elspeth and even Alex had turned to go when the explosion hit. ‘Who the hell do you think you are, bitch?’ The man was right in Nina’s face, cursing her and, despite the presence of Security, backing Nina into a cubicle. But even then her voice was, to Jack’s ears, annoyingly calm, telling the security officers to step back.
‘I can handle this, thank you.’
Er, actually, no, she couldn’t, Jack was quite sure. There was well over six feet of angry male yelling at her, telling her that he had trusted her, that she should know him better, that he would never harm his child.
‘Take a seat, Mike.’ She just stood in the middle of the cubicle as he ranted. ‘No one is accusing you of anything, but Tommy looks unwell and needs to be examined. He has a cut that appears infected. No one has said anything about you harming your son.’
‘You’re nothing but a—’
‘Enough.’ Jack stepped in between them. ‘I’m Jack Carter, Head of Paediatrics. Can I ask what is going on?’
‘I’ve got this, thanks, Jack.’ He heard her bristling with anger and held back the slight incredulous shake of his head, because her anger was aimed at him! Still, he happily ignored Nina and looked at the man.
‘Sir?’ Jack stood patiently, his eyes warning the other man to calm down, and slowly he seemed to a little, but his words were still angry when he answered.
‘Tommy had an appointment today with the child psychologist and everything seemed fine but then they decide that the cut on his hand needs to be seen. I just want to take him home, he’s tired, and then she arrives with security guards in tow and I’m hauled down here just because a four-year-old has a cut hand.’
‘It looks infected,’ Nina stated. ‘It needs to be checked, it’s that simple, Mike.’
‘How did he get the cut?’ Jack asked.
‘I don’t know.’ Mike’s temper reared again. ‘He’s four years old, they fall over all the time.’
‘Sure they do.’ Jack nodded. ‘I’ll go and take a look at him myself right now. The thing I want you to do is to calm down before you go in to see him. You’ve scared your son—he doesn’t need to see his father angry and upset.’ He gave a brief nod to Nina, who stepped outside with him.
‘It’s a very complicated history—’ she started.
‘I’m sure that it is,’ Jack interrupted, ‘but right now my concern is the child’s medical status.’
‘The father can be explosive at times, but he’s never been that way with his child …’
Jack didn’t want to hear her findings at this stage. His only thought was for the safety of the child—well, there was one other thing he would address later. ‘I’m going to speak to you afterwards about your own safety. I don’t want staff taking risks.’
‘I know the family. I knew what I was doing—’
‘I’m not arguing about this right now,’ Jack broke in. ‘I’ll speak to you later.’
‘If I can just explain about Tommy …’
‘Please, don’t. Right now I want to go and see that child and find out first hand what we’re dealing with.’
So quickly Jack dismissed her.
Other times he blamed her.
But right now she couldn’t think about Dr Perfect Never Make A Mistake Carter. Instead she turned to another man, one who had made an awful lot of mistakes that morning, and she watched as Mike sat down, put his head in his hands and started to sob.
‘I didn’t mean to scare him.’ He was beside himself. ‘Tommy will be petrified without me …’
‘I know that,’ Nina said. ‘What’s going on, Mike?’
‘Nothing.’
‘When did Tommy get the cut?’
‘I don’t know, a few days ago … I need to be with him.’
‘Not yet. I want you to sit here for a while. Someone will bring you a drink and when things are more settled I’ll come and speak to you.’
‘I should be with him.’
‘You can’t be with him because you just lost your temper, Mike!’ Despite what Jack might think, Nina was no pushover. ‘You can’t be with your son because you refused to bring him down for an examination, because you avoided Security and then bullied me into a cubicle. You blew this, Mike, so, no, right now you can’t be with him. I’ll go in. Tommy knows me, I’ll stay with him for now …’
Nina left the cubicle and asked a nurse where Tommy was and was pointed in the direction. She knocked on the examination-room door and was let in.
‘Good timing.’ She could hear the weary bitterness in his voice. ‘I was just about to call you with an urgent referral.’ She looked down at Tommy, who was being helped into a gown that was covered with cartoon characters.
Nina looked at his pale, bruised body and immediately she could see why she was about to be called. Then she looked over at Jack and she saw it again.
The look he had given her when she had walked into Baby Tanner’s cubicle.
The look he would give her if Sienna returned unwell to the department.
It was a look she knew all to well, and one Jack Carter gave her all too often.
I told you so.
‘EXCUSE ME A minute, Tommy.’ Jack stepped outside and Nina assumed that she was meant to follow, but of course she had it wrong. Instead, Jack spoke with an elderly, very elegant woman, who looked less than impressed when he headed back towards Tommy’s cubicle, offering Nina a brief explanation. ‘Lewis is stuck with a multi-trauma, I’m just waiting for the registrar to come and take over. I just want to make sure that there’s nothing medically urgent that is wrong.’
‘Can I just have a brief word before you go in, Jack?’ He gave a slight hiss of frustration as he turned around. ‘Tommy is a very guarded child. Initially he had nothing to do with his father and responded only to me, but over the past months …’
She didn’t finish; instead she watched as Jack’s grey eyes shuttered as they so often did when she spoke. ‘You don’t want to hear what I have to say?’
‘At this stage, no. I want to find out from the child what has happened and given that you have had dealings with the family and that Tommy seems to trust you, I’d like you to assist. Do you think you can?’
‘Of course, but—’
‘I like facts Nina,’ he interrupted. ‘I like to explore things for myself and I do not want to walk in there with my thought process crowded by yours.’
‘Sure.’
He was arrogant, dismissive, even rude, but there was no mistaking that he was brilliant with Tommy. He didn’t rush in, he just chatted