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Jon. It had to happen sooner or later, and in truth Jamie was surprised that he hadn’t bumped into his twin brother before now. But Jon’s career only took him on flying visits to London, and hardly ever to Hastings. And in the three years since they’d argued, their family had tactfully contrived to keep them apart.
And the first person who’d brought him news of Jon, beyond what he tried to stop himself from reading in the paper, was Anna. Jamie’s first thought had been to lock her in his office until she promised never to set eyes on Jon again. To protect her...
He reminded him
self that Anna could look after herself. She’d proved that to him time and time again, meeting him headlong and refusing to back down when she knew she was right about something. She wasn’t going to fall for the good looks and the rock star charm.
Jamie shook his head, trying not to think about it. Women did fall for Jon. Jamie’s own fiancée had fallen for him, and Jon had done what probably came perfectly naturally to him as a rock star, and what any brother would have found unthinkable. Jon could have had any woman he wanted, but he’d taken the one that Jamie had wanted.
Three years. He could still feel the anger and the shock. The clawing pain that two people who he’d loved could have betrayed him like that.
Did that outweigh the thirty-odd years that had gone before? Growing up together, doing everything together? Looking out for each other? His parents and sister had made it very clear that they wouldn’t force a reconciliation and that if Jamie didn’t want to take the first step they didn’t blame him. They probably didn’t know that Jon was in the clinic either.
It was probably better to let sleeping dogs lie. But the childhood refrain, whenever Jon had been hurt or upset, wouldn’t stop echoing through his thoughts.
What did you do now, little brother?
* * *
It was relatively normal to go for weeks without seeing Jamie Campbell-Clarke. But as luck would have it—and Anna wasn’t sure whether the luck was good or bad—he was waiting for her the following morning when she walked into the A&E department of the hospital.
She’d been worrying all night about whether she’d done the right thing. But Jamie hadn’t come to the clinic to see his brother so she should do as she’d been asked and let it go. That was easier said than done.
‘Hi. Thanks for coming.’ He looked very tired.
She’d seen Jamie tired before—his schedule was impressively busy—but today his face reminded her of Jon’s haggard features. It didn’t look as though he’d had much sleep either.
‘My pleasure.’ They had work to do, and she should concentrate on that.
‘I didn’t know you had an interest in syndactyly.’ He too seemed anxious to keep this professional.
‘I studied under Sir Max Barnes in Manchester for a while.’
‘Ah. That explains it.’
It really didn’t need any explanation. The clinic made the services of its doctors available to nearby hospitals on a regular basis, as part of an ongoing partnership programme. Jamie would have consulted the list and found Anna’s name on it. That was all there was to it. Jon had had nothing to do with his call to the clinic to ask if she might give a second opinion on one of his patients. All the same, there was a formal unease about Jamie’s manner that wasn’t like him.
The best thing to do was to ignore it. She followed him to a cubicle where a nurse was sitting with a baby.
‘This little fella was brought in early this morning. He was abandoned and the police are looking for the mother.’ Jamie’s face was impassive, but his eyes reflected the same compassion that showed in the nurse’s face. In an environment where every case had a story behind it, some were still easier to deal with than others.
‘I’ve examined him, and he’s generally surprisingly healthy. But I wanted a second opinion on his hands. You’ve seen the X-rays I sent over?’
Anna nodded. ‘Yes, and it looks to be a case of simple syndactyly. The second, third and fourth fingers on both hands are fused by soft tissue, but the bones are separate. Let me take a look at him.’
The nurse lifted the baby boy from the cradle, and Anna examined his hands carefully. His fingernails were also fused, but it looked as if separating the fingers would be a relatively straightforward matter.
‘This is going to take more than one operation, isn’t it?’ Jamie was watching her intently, but there was none of their usual joking rivalry in his manner.
‘Yes, it’s not possible to operate on more than one side of the finger at a time, or there’s a risk of damaging the blood supply. When the time comes to operate he’s going to need probably four procedures.’
‘We’ll be sending him up to the ward soon—is there anything I need to ask them to look out for?’
‘I don’t see any signs of a more complex syndrome but they should be aware of the possibility. I’ll add my recommendations to his notes.’
‘Great. Thanks. Can I leave you to it for a moment? I’ll be right back...’ As usual, Jamie had more than one patient to attend to.
‘Yes, that’s fine. I’ll watch him.’
