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‘I hardly think this is the place to discuss it.’
‘I want a consultant’s position. I have no issues with discussing it in front of anyone.’ Iosef shrugged. He clearly had no issues with confrontation or negotiation either. ‘I have made my feelings very clear since the day I arrived here.’
‘You’ve certainly done that!’ Jackie responded, but her voice trailed off as the woman’s anxious husband appeared.
‘Any news on when she can get to the ward, Doctor? I’m sorry to keep asking, it’s just the kids are getting restless and that young guy in the next cubicle keeps swearing and waking her...’
‘We’re going to move your wife to the obs ward here—right now. It’s empty and will be a lot more comfortable and peaceful.’ Annie didn’t dare look at Jackie’s expression as he snapped his fingers at Beth to get a move on and get things under way. The obs ward was Jackie’s baby, and for Iosef to open it up and at the same time effectively close it off to others, without even discussing it with her, was just so not the way things were done.
Not that it stopped him.
‘No further patients are to be admitted to Obs until Mrs Lucas is moved up to the ward—and when she is moved just do a bed swap. She is not to be transferred over to a bed twice. Ring me if the ward kicks up about it, and you are to buzz me if she needs anything—anything at all.’
‘Thanks, Doctor.’ Mr Lucas gave a tearful nod of appreciation. ‘It means a lot.’
‘No problem.’
And clearly Jackie knew better than to argue with someone who was like a coiled spring. Back from her honeymoon and looking ten years younger, the efficient, kind, capable consultant was back. Without the endless stress of a wedding to prepare for the self-centeredness was gone, and when she disappeared and came back with two mugs of coffee, she addressed not the immediate problem, but what was really going on.
‘How’s your father doing, Iosef?’ Funny that Jackie was allowed to ask questions thatshecouldn’t. That after a frantic morning in a lull between patients she could voice the words Annie was dying to,andeven though he was in a foul mood, even though he was snapping at everyone, despite his refusal to discuss it with her, Jackie actually managed to get an answer.
‘Not so good.’ Iosef rubbed his forehead and gave up on the notes he was trying to write at the nurses’ station, accepting not just the mug of coffee from his boss but the chance to talk, too. ‘Really, I think he should be moved to the hospice now, but my mother refuses to accept that it’s near the end. She still insists that with the right treatment he’s going to get better. That if he can just hold on, a cure might be around the corner. I just don’t see how she can’t accept it.’
Strange, Annie thought, as she continued to fill the now overflowing syringe drawer, that the only way she could find out more was to listen in on his conversation with somebody else.
‘Denial’s a powerful drug.’ Jackie gave a sympathetic smile. ‘Is there anything that we can do for you, Iosef, at this end?’
‘I don’t think there’s anything more to be done at the moment.’
‘If you want some time off, you only have to ask.’
‘Thank you.’
‘And you know if you want him admitted to the private wing here, you just say the word.’
‘I think the private hospital is better. Not the care...’ He shook his head in needless apology, in case Jackie had misunderstood. ‘The press is going crazy at the moment and there, well, they’re more used to dealing with them. I’m sure you don’t want a load of journalists camping out in the ambulance bay.’
‘I’d set the guard dogs on them.’ Jackie smiled as Iosef turned his back, closing the discussion, but Jackie didn’t leave it there. ‘Give it some thought, Iosef—it might be nice for you to have him close. Let me know if you change your mind.’
‘I will.’
‘And look after yourself in the midst of all this,’ Jackie added, reaching for the phone as it shrilled. ‘Tell that Candy to spoilyoufor once—not the other way around.’
Annie waited for him to tell Jackie they weren’t together anymore, to say something—anything—to slow the heart that was hammering in her chest. But he didn’t.
Iosef didn’t say a single word to refute.
And as Jackie picked up the phone and started talking, for a tiny second their eyes locked. A million questions were burning in hers but each and every one was left completely unanswered as he tore his eyes away, picked up his pen to resume writing his notes. Jackie’s earlier words echoed, haunting Annie now.
Denial’s a powerful drug.
‘We’ve got a newborn coming in.’ Jackie put down the phone and gestured for Annie to come over, and any relationship woes were pushed firmly aside when she revealed the contents of the call. ‘Apparently the baby’s been found abandoned in a shopping-mall toilet.’
‘I’ll go and warm the cot, get things ready.’ Annie headed for Resus, with Jackie and Iosef walking briskly alongside her.
‘When you have done that, ring Security and Social Services—actually, I might just ring the nursing co-ordinator now...’
‘Why?’ Iosef’s question had Annie frowning as she flicked on the cot and started preparing for the infant’s arrival. ‘Why do you need to ring the co-ordinator? We don’t know the baby’s condition. It might not even need an NICU bed.’
