Her fingers tapped jerkily at the keypad, and she realised straight away she’d made mistakes so that she had to delete what she’d just typed.
‘Um, was there something else?’ she queried. Having him so close jangled her nerves.
He inclined his head. ‘I think you and I have some unfinished business,’ he said quietly. ‘I know you feel a lot of resentment towards me and my family, and I’m concerned that might be a problem for us at work.’
‘I … I’m sure we can both act in a professional manner towards one another,’ she said. ‘Perhaps I was wrong in extending your father’s actions to you, but I can’t simply forget what happened, as you suggested. My parents’ marriage fell apart because of it. My mother blamed my father for losing his job and making us all homeless.’
‘Your mother felt that way, and yet you still put the blame on my father for letting him go?’ His gaze was quizzical, those dark eyes studying her and taking in the slightest hint of vulnerability.
Her chin lifted in defiance. ‘I think there were reasons why my father acted the way he did. He’s a good man, and he always took a lot of pride in doing his job well. When things started to go wrong, your father should have talked to him a bit more and tried to get to the bottom of what was going on with him.’
James was sceptical. ‘It doesn’t seem as if your mother had much faith in her husband, so why should my father have been any different?’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘My mother suffered from depression. She was always a difficult person to live with. She was so wrapped up in her woes that she left me and my brother to fend for ourselves. We took care of one another, and did pretty much as we pleased, but through all that my father was the cement that kept us all together. That is, until he …’
‘Until he lost the plot.’ He stood up. ‘I’m sorry, Ellie. I know how much you must love him, but you’re making excuses for his behaviour and taking your resentment out on my family. You need to get things straightened out in your head.’
‘Do I?’ Her gaze was frosty. ‘I believe my father was ill. That’s why he appeared to change and became lax in his work where before he had been a perfectionist. But nobody seemed to care enough about him to find out what was going on.’
She stood up as her pager bleeped. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me. I have a patient coming in.’
She was annoyed with herself as she walked away. How could she have lost her temper that way? Surely she could have handled things better? And now, instead of smoothing the way towards a better working relationship, she’d probably set them off on a course of downright antagonism.
She had to force that to the back of her mind, though, and concentrate on answering her pager. She couldn’t let her personal life interfere with her work.
Her patient was a pregnant woman who was bleeding heavily. ‘She was out shopping when she collapsed,’ the nurse told her. ‘She’s very shaken up. She’s thirty-three weeks. Her heart rate is very fast and her blood pressure’s dropping way too low.’
‘Thanks, Olivia. Let’s get a couple of intravenous lines in before she goes into shock—and we need to set up foetal monitoring.’
‘I’ll do that right away.’ The nurse hurried to fetch the equipment while Ellie did an ultrasound scan to find out what was causing the problem. ‘I know this is upsetting for you, Phoebe,’ she said gently, ‘but try not to worry.’
Phoebe nodded faintly. Small pearls of perspiration had broken out on her brow, dampening her dark hair, and Ellie gave her a reassuring smile. ‘We’ll take good care of you and your baby.’
A short time later, she turned to the nurse once more. ‘I’m going to call Dr Reynolds for a consultation,’ she said in a low voice. ‘The placenta’s covering the birth canal. It’s come away slightly, and that’s what’s causing the bleeding. We need to admit her and make sure that she rests—that way the bleeding might stop on its own.’
She began to take blood for testing and quickly labelled up the samples for the lab. She was handing them to a porter a few minutes later when Lewis came to join her.
He smiled. ‘Hi, Ellie. It’s good to see you. You have a patient for me?’
‘Yes.’ She returned his smile. ‘I’m glad you’re here, Lewis. It’s reassuring to know you’re around to look after our pregnant ladies.’ She handed him the patient’s file. ‘Phoebe has placenta praevia. I’ve arranged for her to be admitted.’
He glanced at the woman’s notes. ‘Okay, I’ll go and have a look at her.’
He came back to Ellie a few minutes later as she stood by the central desk glancing through reports.
‘We might have to do a Caesarean,’ he said, ‘but I’d prefer to leave it until it’s absolutely necessary to give the baby the very best chance. In the meantime, we’ll put her on steroids to help the foetus’s lungs to mature.’
‘I’ll organise it,’ she said. Remembering her neighbour, she said quietly, ‘Have you admitted a new patient this morning—Lily Harcourt? She’s my neighbour. She would have come in by ambulance, suffering from pre-eclampsia? I wondered how she was doing. With any luck I’ll be able to look in on her some time today, but I’m a bit concerned about her. She didn’t look too good this morning.’
‘She’s your friend?’ Lewis’s dark eyes clouded. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Yes, she came to my ward. We have her on oxygen, and we’re monitoring her heart and blood pressure. Unfortunately, she had a seizure when she first arrived, but we’re giving her medication to control her blood pressure and also to try to prevent any more convulsions. It’s too early for her to deliver this baby at the moment, so we need to get her condition stabilised.’
Ellie frowned, disturbed by his account. ‘It doesn’t sound good, does it?’
He laid an arm lightly about her shoulders. ‘You shouldn’t worry, Ellie. We’re doing everything we can for her.’
‘I know, I’m sure you are. Thanks, Lewis. Will you keep me updated?’
‘Of course.’ He gave her a quick hug and then headed back to the maternity ward. Ellie watched him go and then glanced across the room and saw James standing by the doorway, his eyes narrowed as he watched her.
How long had he been standing there? He must have seen Lewis put his arm around her, and for some reason he didn’t look at all pleased. Was he bothered in some way about her friendship with his cousin?
She turned away. Why should she be concerned about what he was thinking? He may not have the same temperament as his father, but he obviously had the Birchenalls’ way of taking control and keeping a check on everyone. He’d only been in the job five minutes and he was making sure he knew everything there was to know about the staff. She’d seen him looking at others in that calm, assessing way that seemed natural to him.
She looked in on Lily before she finished her shift, and reassured her that she would take care of her little boy. Her friend still looked slightly flushed and seemed a bit restless, but that was probably because she was worried about her son.
‘We’ll come and see you as soon as the doctor says it’s okay,’ Ellie promised. ‘In fact, I could get him to talk to you on the phone if that will make you feel better?’
‘Oh, it would. Thanks, Ellie.’
‘You’re welcome.’
Ellie drove home, soothed by the beautiful Cheshire countryside, with its wooded hillsides and rolling plains. It helped put her in a relaxed frame of mind, so that for a little while she could forget that James Birchenall was a thorn in her side.
She stopped to pick up Jayden from his friend’s house, and from then on any illusion of peace was shattered.
‘Can we make play