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The captain gave her a curious look. ‘The abandoned baby. It was his last patient.’ He shook his head. ‘Hypothermia. He’d been left in the cold for too long. Philippe was heartbroken. He spent two days in the hospital at the little boy’s bedside.’
Her heart twisted. She didn’t want to ask. ‘What happened?’
The captain shook his head. ‘He didn’t make it. We found him just too late.’ The man sighed. ‘That’s why this is so important. We can’t ever let that happen again. That’s why everyone here is so behind this project.’
Now she understood. Now she understood the occasional far-off look in his eyes. Some of the things he’d said—and why he’d been so interested in the safe haven scheme right from the start. It all just made sense.
Her stomach flipped. And her story. Her story must have affected him too. At the moment she’d told him she’d only been thinking about herself, not realising that Philippe understood in a completely different way—he’d lost a baby just like her. Her heart melted. This project linked them both. As she gazed across the room and watched his passion as he spoke to someone it seemed like fate that their paths had crossed. As if it had been written in the stars.
The captain touched her arm and smiled. ‘Dr Cotter, are you ready?’
She didn’t have time to think any more. Of course. She was here to talk to them about protocols. She could do that. The captain led her towards the staff room; the smell of coffee and cookies was already drifting towards her. Her stomach growled in appreciation. The captain laughed and shouted over to his staff. ‘Come on, guys. Our girl is hungry. Let’s not keep her from the food.’
She forced herself to smile as the men filed into the room. Philippe was not among them. It was almost as if he was deliberately trying to stay out of her way. The question was—did she really blame him after how she’d acted yesterday? And how could she make it up to him?
* * *
It was officially the worst day of his life. Last night he’d written the statement he was currently holding and spent all the hours in between looking over every word.
What he wanted to do was speak to Arissa. But he didn’t want to warn her in advance. At some point today there was a good chance she would walk out of his life for ever.
He was determined that wouldn’t happen. But he was equally determined that he had to let her follow her own heart. Her happiness meant more to him than anything.
Things at the fire and rescue centre moved quickly. The workmen literally just smashed a hole in the wall, inserted the premade safe haven cot, then let the technicians ensure it worked exactly the way it should.
As soon as a button was pressed on the outside wall, the cot slid open. A baby could be left inside the cot, along with other items, and the cot closed securely from the outside.
Sensors were everywhere. The cot had lights and heat. It was also accessible from inside the station, so if a baby was placed while the staff were inside, a silent alarm would alert those working. The whole system was designed to give the mother privacy. Nothing alerted until the baby had been left inside and the cot door closed again. From that point on, the fire station silent alarms sounded, along with any attached pagers in case staff were at a fire and rescue situation.
Arissa had made everything go smoothly. She’d reassured all the crew about dealing with a new baby. She’d gone over emergency procedures. Some of the crew had already delivered the odd baby, and knew about the essentials afterwards, but revision was good for everyone.
Links had been established with the local paediatric and social work department to ensure any baby could be quickly checked over then assigned to a temporary foster carer.
Arissa talked with confidence and an easy reassurance—every now and then shooting an anxious glance in his direction. The fire and rescue crew were already enthusiastic; there had only been a few worries, which had easily been ironed out. She told about her own experience of setting up the safe haven cots back in Temur Sapora. She also expressed a sadness that they hadn’t managed to find and help all the mothers, but acknowledged that they could only keep an open-door policy in order to protect the privacy and wishes of the mothers.
