Gift of a Family

Kat closed her eyes, irritated with herself. What was the matter with her? She wasn’t one to dream about pirates! In fact, she had her feet well and truly on the ground. If a man was good-looking, she just didn’t notice, and the reason she didn’t notice was because she wasn’t interested. She wasn’t on the market.

She was happy with Archie and men like Josh Sullivan held no appeal for her.

But judging from the way the receptionist’s eyes lit up when she saw the young consultant, she was in a minority of one. Clearly he was everyone else’s idea of a heartthrob.

‘Hi, Josh.’ A girl wearing a badge saying Paula, Senior Receptionist, A and E beamed in his direction. ‘Glad you’re finally here. There’s lots going on. That’s why I’m hiding away here in the back office, rather than manning Reception. I’m thinking of locking the doors and putting up a “closed” sign.’

‘Well, we’ve got an extra pair of hands to help us clear the decks,’ Josh said easily, smiling at Kat. ‘Say hello to Dr O’Brien. She’s just joined us. This is Paula. She runs the place and keeps us all in order. Anything you need to know, start with her. This is her control room. Out there…’ He jerked his head and gave a shudder. ‘That’s the battlefront, staffed by her generals.’

Kat felt some of the tension melt away under Paula’s friendly smile. ‘Hello, Paula.’

‘She’s come all the way from grimy London,’ Josh said, dumping the files on Paula’s desk. ‘But I’m sure she’ll soon recover. Here you are. Don’t say I never give you anything.’

‘You finally finished with them? You’re a star.’ Paula took the files and stacked them neatly. ‘Did Mac take a look?’

‘The only thing my brother looks at these days is his pregnant wife,’ Josh drawled, turning to Kat. ‘Mac is a senior consultant here and Louisa, his wife, worked here as a nurse until a few weeks ago.’

‘She’s on maternity leave?’

‘Pottering round the house, waiting for it all to happen. Never seen a woman so big in my life. She’s giving birth to a hippo, no doubt about it.’ Josh sprawled in a vacant chair and turned his attention back to Paula. ‘So how’s Geoff?’

Paula’s smile faded and she gave a little shrug. ‘Not great at the moment, to be honest. He’s very down, but I suppose that’s natural. I do my best to be upbeat, but it’s pretty hard in the circumstances.’

Josh’s eyes narrowed. ‘Has he been back to the neurologist?’

‘He’s got an appointment tomorrow morning.’

‘Do you need time off?’

Paula shook her head and looked away, shuffling some papers. ‘It’s fine. His mum is taking him.’

‘Why aren’t you taking him?’

Paula hesitated and her hands stilled. ‘We’re too busy, Josh.’ Her voice cracked slightly and she cleared her throat. ‘You know what this place is like in the summer—it’s the crazy season. Five million tourists all deciding to do stupid things at the same time.’

Josh grinned and stretched long legs out in front of him. ‘Slack day, then.’

Paula laughed in response to his humour but her eyes were strained. ‘Absolutely.’

‘You’re to take the morning off,’ Josh said quietly, his blue eyes suddenly serious and his voice firm. ‘I’ll poach from one of the other departments to cover you and I’ll clear it with Mac.’ He stood up and put an arm round her shoulder, giving her a quick hug. ‘Take the time you need but come and find me afterwards and we can talk about it. It must be the pits for you both.’

Kat saw Paula struggle with tears. ‘You can’t give me the morning off.’

‘Just did.’

‘But—’

Josh stifled a yawn. ‘You’re boring me now, Paula.’

Paula wiped her eyes discreetly and blew her nose. ‘Thanks, Josh.’

‘No thanks needed. And I hope it isn’t as bad as you’re anticipating. Right, well, that’s enough staff bonding for one morning.’ Lightening the atmosphere, Josh winked at Paula and walked towards the door, gesturing for Kat to follow him. ‘See you girls later.’

They walked back into the main area which was the hub of the department, Josh moving to one side as a staff nurse scurried past, clutching a pile of brown X-ray folders.

Kat was still thinking about what she’d witnessed. ‘Her husband is ill?’

‘He has MS.’

Multiple sclerosis. Kat made a sympathetic noise. ‘Is he bad?’

‘He has the relapsing and remitting variety so he has patches where he’s good, but he’s relapsed twice this year so he’s being assessed for beta interferon.’

Kat nodded. ‘It’s not an area I know much about.’

Josh gave a rueful smile. ‘Frankly, neither did I until Paula’s husband was diagnosed a year ago. Then I rapidly became best friends with our local neurologist and picked his brains. He’s a good chap. He’s helped them a lot.’

Kat hid her surprise. He’d done that for a colleague?

‘Anyway…’ He smiled in her direction. ‘Quick tour and then we’ll try and make a dent in the mass of patients in the waiting room. Like most A and E departments, we run a triage system here so the triage nurse assesses everyone when they arrive and decides on the urgency of their case. But I’m a bit of a control freak so I still cast an eye over the stretcher cases when I arrive. Let’s start by showing you Resus…’

He shouldered open the swing doors that led to the resuscitation room but before he could speak a nurse hurried up to him.

‘Ambulance Control just called. They’re bringing in a girl found collapsed on the beach. There was a party last night—plenty of drink—and her friends left her to sleep it off. She’s semi-conscious and won’t wake up properly.’

Josh dragged on gloves and threw an apologetic look in Kat’s direction. ‘So much for showing you around.’ He turned back to the nurse. ‘Get the team together.’

As he finished speaking the doors to Resus crashed open and the ambulance crew hurried in with the girl on a stretcher, followed by a flurry of A and E staff. Swiftly the paramedics transferred her to the trolley.

‘This is Holly Bannister, seventeen years of age, on holiday for a few days with her friends. She’s been in and out of consciousness, very agitated, GCS of six,’ the paramedic handed over, detailing their observations since they’d been called to the girl.

‘Any relatives?’

‘Just a group of friends in Reception,’ the paramedic told them, and Josh gave a grim smile as he checked the girl’s airway.

‘I have a suspicion that she needs to advertise for new friends. OK, folks, I want an ECG a blood pressure and a temperature. Make that a rectal temperature. Kat…’ he lifted his eyes from his assessment of the patient ‘…I want you to talk to those friends. Find out what happened. I want to know everything there is to know about last night’s beach party, but most of all I want to know what she took.’

‘What she took?’ Kat looked at the teenager, who was now writhing and thrashing on the trolley. ‘You think she’s taken drugs?’

‘Almost certainly. My money’s on MDMA—ecstasy. She’s agitated, hypertonic, sweating, dilated pupils…’ He looked at the nurse who was checking the girl’s observations. ‘Temperature?’

‘Thirty-nine point five.’

Josh nodded. ‘Let’s get a line in and then calculate her weight and give her 1 milligram dantrolene per kilogram IV.’

Kat slipped out of Resus and went to find the friends. There were two of them, one dark and one blonde, and they were huddled in Reception, looking the worse for wear. Kat looked at Paula. ‘Where can I talk to a couple of teenagers?’

‘Take them into the relatives’ room,’ Paula said immediately, handing her a key. ‘Back through the door and first on your left. Let me know if you need tea.’