feel the incredulity behind the stares when Drew remembered to introduce her to his new friends. She could still hear the heavy silence that had resounded last night when she’d walked shy and uncertain down the stairs, draped from head to foot in a thousand-dollar dress, and the tiny beat of disappointment that had resonated. Drew’s eyes had told her that, despite the best designer, despite two months of mortgage money being spent on shoes, make-up and hair, she still hadn’t quite looked the part of a certain actor’s wife.
The look in Drew’s eyes had told her that she looked every bit the fat night nurse she was…
‘Stop feeling sorry for yourself.’ Harriet said it out loud, forcing herself out of her self-imposed misery. After all, hadn’t Drew been nice tonight? Hadn’t he made her a coffee when she’d put down the telephone and told him that she’d be working an extra shift? He’d even filled her a hot-water bottle when a griping stomach pain had hit around seven p.m. and she hadn’t been sure that she had been up to going in. He had tenderly rubbed her back and told her that she’d feel better soon.
He loved her.
She had to hold onto that—had to believe that the man she’d married, the man she’d believed in all these years, was still there under all the hype. That the dreams they’d built amounted to something.
‘Thanks for this!’ Judith Kerr, the senior nurse handing over the late shift, gave Harriet an attempt at a smile as she walked over. Having trained and worked in the military for a quarter of a century, Judith clearly couldn’t quite come to grips with the rather more relaxed attitudes in civilian nursing and seemed to have a permanent air of disbelief about her. ‘We’re just so short tonight, not on numbers…’ She gestured to the gathered crowd and didn’t even bother to lower her voice. ‘More on experience.’
‘Thanks a lot,’ Charlotte moaned, but Judith was unfazed.
‘I’m here to run a department, not massage your tender egos. You might have read the textbooks, Charlotte, come top in all your assessments and exams, but until you’ve walked many miles in Emergency you need someone experienced to oversee the department. Now, Harriet might only have been here for a few months but she’s been doing the job for years and, like it or not, that’s what this place needs on a Saturday night! Especially when we’ve got a new doctor on.’
‘How is he?’ Harriet asked, far more interested in Judith’s professional assessment than the dreamy whispers she had heard in the locker room.
‘He seemed OK.’ Judith sucked in her breath, which effectively meant ‘but’.
‘He was working his way through the patients beautifully at first, I was hoping to have the place a bit more ordered for you, but he went into cubicle four about an hour ago and has barely moved since.’
‘What’s the problem?’
‘Nothing!’ Judith said, clearly exasperated. ‘There’s a young head injury that needed to be discharged but instead of getting on, he’s chatting away—even the patient’s mother is getting impatient and wanting to leave.’ Seeing Harriet frown, Judith explained further. ‘The young girl studies classical ballet. Apparently she’s really talented and, given that Dr Delgato has a “special interest” in sports medicine, he’s decided to give her the five-star treatment.’
‘Judith!’ Even though it was a mere word, a single syllable, Harriet knew without turning her head this must surely be the new consultant. ‘I would like to take some blood on this patient.’ His thick accent was as deep and delicious as promised, but as Harriet swung around she was mentally knocked sideways at the sheer impact of Ciro close up. For once, the girl talk in the locker room had been woefully inadequate. Sexy didn’t come close to describing him. Straight raven hair flopped over a divinely sculptured face, cheekbones razoring his haughty profile, but his delicious mocha-coloured eyes started to darken as Judith’s tongue sharpened.
‘That patient is a simple head injury who should have been discharged an hour ago,’ Judith barked. ‘You’re not working at the sports institute now, young man. If she wants specialist treatment just because she’s a ballerina, then a city emergency room isn’t the place to get it.’
You had to know her to love her.
Had to know that behind that rather rigid exterior beat a heart of solid gold.
And even if Harriet had only known Judith a few short months, she’d met many Judiths in her time. Women whose barks were far, far worse than their bites. Old-school nurses who thought anyone under the age of fifty were just babies who needed to be told.
But whatever mould Judith came from must have broken when it hit the Mediterranean because clearly no one had spoken to Ciro like that before. His brown eyes were almost bulging now, his expression utterly incensed, and Harriet almost felt herself bracing for an impact, half expected a tirade of Spanish expletives to fill the emergency corridor. But even if his voice was controlled when it came, even if his stance remained utterly composed, the force of his angry glare, the slight twist of his lips as the staccato words came out had even the formidable Judith withering a touch under his direct stare.
‘All my patients get special treatment, Sister. So do not even attempt to insinuate—’
‘I was merely pointing out—’ Judith attempted, but Ciro curtly shook his head.
‘Are you on duty in the morning?’ he demanded, waiting until Judith finally nodded.
‘Then you should be very grateful to me. Very grateful that you are not the sister in charge when a fifteen-year-old girl who was discharged from your department the previous night comes in either in a state of collapse or cardiac arrest! I will take care of this by myself.’ Stalking off, he left Judith, probably for the first time in her nursing career, standing open-mouthed and blushing.
Handover was rapid. Judith was unusually subdued and the rest of the day staff were no doubt keen to escape for the last few hours of Saturday night. When it was over Harriet took a few moments to allocate the staff beneath her, first asking if anyone had any preferences.
‘Resus,’ Charlotte immediately asked, and Harriet gave a small grin at her enthusiasm.
‘You can work in there, with Susan,’ Harriet agreed, keen to give the grad nurse the experience she needed, but ever mindful of staff-patient ratios. ‘But when it’s quiet, you’ll need to give a hand out in A bay.’
‘Louise.’ Harriet gave an apologetic grimace, knowing that most emergency nurses wanted to be in where the action was, not watching from a glass booth in the waiting room. ‘Do you mind covering Triage for the first part of the night? I’ll make sure that I rotate staff.’
‘Fine,’ Louise agreed with a not too thinly disguised sigh, which Harriet chose to ignore. As the senior nurse on duty she needed to be on the floor and needed to delegate the staff appropriately, and Triage was important. As the first port of call for patients it needed a perceptive, experienced nurse to assess the patients and categorise them. As much as most nurses hated being in there, it was one of the most important roles in a well-run emergency department and a leaf or two out of Judith’s book wouldn’t go amiss.
Judith!
After a quick check to make sure everything was in order, Harriet headed for the changing room and, sure enough, there Judith was, slowly emptying her locker, filling her wicker basket with her Thermos and sandwich container, her proud face not even looking over as Harriet slipped in quietly.
‘Judith?’
‘I’m fine.’
‘I know you are,’ Harriet started, not quite sure how to broach this difficult, proud woman but knowing she was hurting. Knowing that, unlike the rest of the mob who had scampered off after handover to the pub or their families, Judith would be going home to an empty house and that the only part of the shift she would remember was the final part. ‘Look, in a couple of weeks you two will probably be friends,’ Harriet ventured, and Judith gave a tired nod.
‘Probably. Oh, Harriet,