Daniel stole another look at Colleen. He was more determined than ever to have her as Harry’s nurse. He hoped to hell she lived up to her reputation.
CHAPTER THREE
SO THIS was how the other half lived? Colleen thought, looking around the interior of the plane. If she were honest, a tiny little bit of her was impressed. Only a minuscule bit, mind. The other part of her felt slightly ridiculous having the attentions of a stewardess all to themselves on the tiny, if luxurious, twin-propped plane. And ridiculously under-dressed in her boy jeans and T-shirt, carrying nothing but an imitation designer handbag over her shoulder.
Almost as soon as they’d taken off, Daniel had taken out some papers and a laptop. Once she’d had a good look around and got over the excitement of being on a private plane—and she couldn’t pretend for the life of her that she wasn’t—even if it might make her look like a country bumpkin in Daniel’s eyes—she’d fallen asleep.
She’d only woken when Daniel had bent over her and whispered that they were landing and she needed to fasten her seat belt. For a moment when she’d opened her eyes, she couldn’t remember where she was. She’d been having a lovely dream. A dream where she was behind someone on a horse and they were galloping off somewhere. As she stared groggily into Daniel’s eyes, she realised with a guilty start that the person on the horse hadn’t been Ciaran. It had been someone with green eyes—the man looking down at her, in fact.
She had hidden her embarrassment by escaping to the small onboard toilet and splashing her face with cold water.
When they were escorted through Heathrow airport and towards a sleek, black, stretch limousine. Colleen noticed people nudging each other, puzzlement etched on their faces as they tried to place them. Daniel with his snazzy suit and air of confidence had to be someone famous and as for Colleen, she must be some pop or film star—someone of importance—surely under-dressing to fool the media?
The thought made her smile. She might as well enjoy her moment in the limelight—it was probably the only one she would have until her wedding day.
They sat in silence as they were driven to the hospital. Daniel had his laptop out again and was deeply immersed in whatever he was reading. She’d never met anyone quite so focused on the task in hand before. One minute his attention was completely concentrated on making her do what he wanted, the next minute he was totally engrossed in whatever was on that laptop of his. She simply couldn’t make him out. But it was his son that concerned her. How badly had his brain been injured? What was his prognosis? She wouldn’t take this job unless she was sure she could help him.
Whizzing along the motorway seeing London city silhouetted in the distance, Colleen felt a thrill of excitement. She’d always planned to come back to London, but somehow the opportunity had never arisen. Ciaran wasn’t the adventurous type. He always said that he didn’t see the point in travelling to foreign places when you had everything you needed on your own doorstep.
Although she’d never admit it to Trish, sometimes Colleen longed for a bit more excitement. Was she just being foolish for secretly wanting Ciaran to whisk her away to Paris for a weekend? As he’d said, it’d be a waste of money when they needed every penny to get their house finished before the wedding. But a girl could dream, couldn’t she?
The car swung sharply to the right, pulling up outside the familiar buildings of Guy’s, the hospital where Colleen had trained. She knew from what he’d told her that Harry had been in ITU before being transferred to the high-dependency unit and then to the paediatric ward.
In the ward, posters covered the walls in an attempt to make the unit as cheerful as possible. Every room was a single and a large bright day room filled with toys lead off to the left.
Daniel paused at the very last room and held a finger to his lips. ‘We have to go in quietly. Harry gets startled by any loud noise and it unsettles him.’
‘Why don’t you go in to see Harry, first, while I chat to the nurses?’ Colleen suggested. ‘Then I’ll come in and say hello.’
Daniel nodded briefly and Colleen went to find the nurse in charge of the ward. When she explained who she was and why she was there, she was directed to an office. A woman with short dark hair looked up from her paperwork and held out a hand. ‘I’m Sister Lipton.’
Sister Lipton waited until Colleen was sitting down before she continued. ‘So you’re the person who’s to be Harry’s private nurse?’ she said. ‘Mr Frobisher has told us of his plans.’
Colleen didn’t bother to correct her. She had yet to decide whether she was going to take Harry on.
‘I have to tell you that I think taking Harry home at this point is a mistake,’ Sister Lipton continued.
‘Can I ask why?’
The nurse frowned. ‘Apart from the fact that there are excellent rehab facilities in London, there is the small matter of the fact that Mr Frobisher doesn’t seem to know how to interact with his son.’
‘Oh?’
‘Harry was in ITU for a week with a GCS score of three. During that time Mr Frobisher, perfectly understandably, refused to leave his son’s bedside. But instead of talking to Harry, as we suggested, Mr Frobisher mostly spent his time working on his laptop. Furthermore, I gather he caused the nurses some problems with his demands.’ She sighed. ‘He insisted on bringing in specialists of his own to assess his son. In fact, he had all sorts of demands. Some of them reasonable. Some less so.’
Colleen hid a smile. She had no doubt that Daniel hadn’t been the easiest relative to have around. But what Sister Lipton said about Daniel not interacting with Harry was more of a worry. Nursing staff could only do so much; the rest was up to the patient and their loved ones.
‘Mr Frobisher tried the same sort of thing when we moved Harry here once the lad was stable,’ Sister Lipton continued. ‘I’m afraid he and I clashed more than once. In many ways I won’t be sorry to see the back of him.’
‘But you don’t think he should have Harry at home? I can assure you that I’ve worked with patients like Harry for many years and Mr Frobisher is fully committed to ensuring that Harry receives as good quality care at home as he does here.’
‘That may be,’ Sister Lipton said. ‘But it’s Harry’s attitude to his father that worries me. When Harry first regained consciousness he was very agitated. As you know, we see that a great deal with patients like Harry, but it didn’t take long for us to notice that it was his father’s presence that seemed to distress the boy. We asked Mr Frobisher not to spend so much time on the ward. He wasn’t happy, as you can imagine, but even he could see he wasn’t helping matters. And as we expected, Harry was—and is—much calmer when his father isn’t around.’
Colleen decided to let that pass for the moment. She would make up her own mind. As it stood, Daniel was all the family Harry had left. No one should be keeping the pair apart. Besides, she was getting irritated with Sister Lipton’s assumption that she knew best. It had been the same when Cahil had been in hospital. No one had wanted Mammy to take him home, but nothing could stop her mother