‘My name is Seb Bridges and I’m the consultant in charge of the trauma unit. Can you tell me when this all started?’
‘I’m not sure…An hour ago…maybe more…’ She broke off and groaned. ‘It hurts!’
Seb glanced round, intending to tell her husband to go back inside and ask one of the porters to fetch out a trolley. He did a double-take when he discovered that Libby had followed him outside and was standing behind him.
‘Do you need a trolley?’ she asked, anticipating his request.
‘Please.’ He swiftly battened down his emotions. It really wasn’t the right moment to think about all the other times when she had seemingly read his mind. ‘Get one of the porters to bring it out here. I’ll need him to help me move her. There’s no way she can walk in this state.’
‘Of course.’
She hurried away as he crouched down beside the car again. He gently eased the woman’s hands away from her abdomen, but she cried out in pain when he tried to examine her and he paused.
‘I know it hurts but I need to find out what’s going on in there. Just yell if the pain gets too much for you. I have very strong nerves so don’t worry about scaring me.’
She seemed reassured by his tone and allowed him to continue, moaning softly as he carried out a rudimentary examination. The abdominal wall was rock hard to his touch, the underlying muscles obviously in spasm. The pain seemed to be worse in the lower abdomen; the patient certainly complained loudest when he probed that area. However, before he could ask her any questions which might have helped with his diagnosis, Libby arrived with a porter and the trolley he’d requested.
Seb backed out of the car and turned to the patient’s husband. ‘We need to get your wife onto that trolley but it’s not going to be easy for her. She’s in a great deal of pain and it will hurt her even more when we try to move her.’
The young man blanched. ‘I’ve never heard Alison cry like that before. She’s quite tough, really, and never makes a fuss.’
‘Which just proves how uncomfortable she is at the moment,’ Libby said gently, stepping forward.
She laid her hand on the young man’s arm and Seb felt a little flicker of resentment run through him when he saw her smile warmly at him. It had been a long time since she’d smiled at him that way, he thought before he realised how churlishly he was behaving.
‘Make sure she knows you’re here for her,’ Libby continued, blissfully unaware of any undercurrents. ‘Talk to her while we move her and hold her hand…anything that might help to reassure her. She’s in pain and she’s scared and she needs you to be strong for her.’
‘I’ll try.’
The young man seemed far more resolute as he bent down and spoke to his wife. The fact that he was no longer so panic-stricken obviously had an effect on her, too, because she immediately started to calm down. Seb told the porter to go round to the other side of the car so they could begin the process of lifting her out, but he couldn’t help thinking how typical it was that Libby had managed to calm the situation down so effectively.
She’d always been good at finding the right words to reassure people. He had learned a lot from her when they had worked together, in fact. He’d had a tendency to rush because he’d wanted to get the job done, but she had taught him to be patient and spend an extra few minutes settling a patient down.
It had been the same in their private life: Libby had been the calm one, the one who had kept things ticking over, whereas he’d always been rushing around, trying to do ten jobs at once. He had always believed that they complemented each other in that respect, that her calmness was the perfect foil for his impatience. But was that really true? Or was it more a case of them being complete opposites who approached life from different directions and had very little in common?
His heart sank because it seemed the more likely explanation. He and Libby didn’t complement each other—they opposed one another. Was it any wonder in those circumstances that she had given up on their marriage?
Friday: 5 p.m.
‘THANK you, Dr Bridges. I’ll take over from here.’
Libby moved aside as Cathy Watts came hurrying over and took her place beside the trolley. It was obvious that the charge nurse expected her to leave Resus, but for some reason she felt loath to do so. She glanced at Seb, who was standing by the bed, and sighed. Surely she wasn’t jealous at the thought of the other woman being there to assist him while she’d been dismissed as surplus to requirements?
‘On my count, everyone,’ Seb said. ‘One…two…three.’ The young woman was swiftly transferred onto the bed and the team sprang into action. It was obviously a well-rehearsed routine because nobody needed to be told what to do. While Seb was delicately probing the patient’s abdomen, Cathy was attaching her to various monitor leads. Another nurse—Jayne, according to her name badge—had begun to remove the woman’s clothing, and the specialist registrar, Marilyn Maddocks, was taking a blood sample.
Libby had to admit that she was impressed by the ease with which they slotted into their allotted roles, although she wasn’t surprised. Seb had always demanded the very highest standards from his staff because it was what he demanded from himself.
‘Do you have any pain anywhere else, Alison?’
Seb’s voice was clear and deep as he asked the patient various questions, and Libby shivered. She had always loved the sound of his voice. It had been the first thing that had attracted her to him, in fact. She’d been in the students’ union at the time, attempting to buy herself a glass of wine and failing miserably. The place had been packed that night and making herself heard above the din had been a major task. But then Seb had appeared and asked her what she’d wanted and, lo and behold, a glass had materialised in front of her as though by magic.
He had picked it up and led her over to a table—typically, he’d been able to find an empty one even in that crush—and then he had proceeded to charm her. By the end of the night she’d been more than halfway in love with him and by the end of the month they had moved in together. They had lived together all through med school and even though she had found the course extremely hard going at times, she had got through it because Seb had been there to help and encourage her.
She sighed. At one time she’d believed that he would always be there for her but it hadn’t worked out that way. Now she had accepted that divorce was the only answer. Once they made their separation legal, they would be free to get on with their lives, although she wasn’t foolish enough to think that it would be easy for either of them. Their relationship had been very special and there were bound to be regrets on both sides. However, painful though it might be, she knew they couldn’t carry on living the way they’d been doing for the past year. No, it would be better to end their marriage than endure any more heartache.
Seb frowned as he listened to what the patient was saying. ‘So where exactly was this other pain, then?’
‘In my shoulder…just here…’ Alison’s hand fluttered weakly as she touched the tip of her right shoulder, and he nodded.
‘I see,’ he said quietly, not wanting her to know how significant that snippet of information might turn out to be. He glanced over at Libby, wondering if she was adding up the clues as he was doing, and felt his heart jolt painfully when he saw the sadness on her face. She looked so unhappy that he longed to comfort her, but how could he when he had a patient who needed his help?
‘Have you experienced any vaginal bleeding?’ he continued, doing his best to appear calmly in control, although his insides felt as though they were on a merry-go-round. Even