Page 22 of Heartbreak for the Irish Midwife

‘Good.’

‘But,’ Maisie continued, and Alex felt a rush of pride at her knowledge, professionalism and calm demeanour, ‘she’s at risk of blocked ducts or even mastitis until the engorgement eases.’

‘Hand expression might help,’ Sister said briskly. ‘Does she know how to do it?’

Good idea! ‘I don’t know,’ Maisie said, her brow furrowed.

‘Well, once you’ve finished writing up, I suggest you go and teach her, if necessary. You do know how to teach hand expression?’

‘Yes, Sister.’

‘Now, Doctor Lowe, was there anything else?’ Sister was all efficiency, and there was an edge to her tone that Alex hadn’t experienced before.

‘I’m going to check on Baby Watson again,’ he said. ‘We can’t be too careful.’

Sister said nothing, merely giving a regal incline of the head. With one final glance towards Maisie – who had returned to her note-writing – he left the office.

* * *

Maisie hurried through writing her notes, her mind jumping all over the place. Dan and Peggy! Who’d have thought it? Yet now the possibility had been pointed out to her, she knew there could be something in it. Looking back, Peggy always seemed a bit different when Dan was around, and had seemed to actively avoid his eye at times. Funny how you could never notice something, yet have memories you could call upon when needed. Like her insight earlier about Gerald not being a good lad.

Peggy was well on the way to becoming Maisie’s best friend here, and the more lunches the two of them had spent together, the more they’d got to know each other. Like Maisie, Peggy was from West Belfast, knew some of the same people, and worked out they had even gone to the same school – though Peggy had been a year ahead of Maisie. They’d also both worked in the mills – and heartily agreed that being a midwife was a hundred times better.

Having a best friend again was a heartwarming experience for Maisie. She’d had various friends at school and in the mills, but while in London Gerald had come to dominate her time. Now, here, she had the chance to build a true friendship with Peggy.

Alex left the ward soon afterwards, and Maisie couldn’t help feeling a pang of something that felt suspiciously like disappointment at losing his company. Their conversation there now, before Sister had come in, had been surprisingly intimate. The closed door, the sharing of impressions and theories about Peggy and Dan . . . there had been something nice about it. And yet, on the surface it had been just a simple conversation. He was befriending Dan as she was befriending Peggy, and if the two of them had history between them, or were secretly an item, then that was of more interest to Alex and Maisie than to anyone else in the hospital. Perfectly reasonable, and she shouldn’t read anything more into it.

Closing the file, she prepared to teach Mrs Watson to hand express some milk. Everything else could wait.

* * *

Was he reading too much into things?

As he made his way around the various wards, checking on the patients that he had been assigned, Alex’s mind kept drifting back to Maisie. God, he was becoming obsessed with her! But, in speaking of Dan and Peggy, she had truly engaged with him in a way that hadn’t happened before – and he was still buzzing from the exhilaration of it. They had connected, and he wanted to experience that again. While he would never wish to encourage anything as small-minded as gossip, he and Maisie were both genuinely intrigued by the notion that something might have happened between Dan and Peggy in Dublin.

He headed back to delivery suite, where Dan was alone in the doctors’ room, waiting to be called for surgery. Now that he had voiced his suspicions aloud to Maisie, he was curious about Dan and Peggy, and felt he had enough of a bond with Dan to maybe ask him straight out – far better than talking about him behind his back. After some small talk and clinic talk while they both did paperwork, he ventured,

‘I wanted to ask you something.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Peggy Cassidy. You were going to tell me something, but we were interrupted.’

‘Aye.’ There was a slight flush on Dan’s face now. Interesting. He paused, before obviously deciding he wanted to share something with his new friend. ‘She’s actually my girl, though very few people at work know.’

‘Ah, so I was right!’ There was a nice satisfaction to it. ‘I wondered what was going on. You two seem a bit tense round each other. I actually thought that either you were together or you’d fell out.’

‘We had, to be fair.’ Dan gave a rueful smile. ‘We split up just before we left Dublin, but we’re back together now.’

‘Fair play to yiz. She’s a lovely girl.’

‘She’s the best.’ Joy was now clearly radiating through Dan, as he thought of his Peggy. Lucky get.

‘So why don’t yous want anybody here to know?’

‘It’s not that,’ Dan replied slowly. ‘Just the way it all happened, I suppose.’ He straightened. ‘It’s not a secret, like.’

‘Fair enough.’