you should need is in here. Today we have an open clinic in Outpatients. I’ve alerted the midwife who’s working in the obstetrics section that you’ll be joining her shortly. She’ll be delighted to see you. Women doctors are always popular with our obstetric patients and at the moment one of our ladies is on maternity leave. Don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of medical staff at the moment so there’s plenty of back-up. It’s later in the tourist season that we begin to find ourselves short-staffed. April is a good month to start—apart from Easter.”
“What went wrong at Easter?”
For a moment she saw him relax his tight facial muscles and a hint of a smile appeared on his decidedly sexy lips. She felt a pang of interest once more. Something she shouldn’t be feeling as she listened to Dr Karavolis explaining the workings of the hospital.
“What didn’t go wrong?” He stretched out his long legs in front of him as he visibly relaxed.
She couldn’t help noticing the expensive cut of his lightweight suit. The silk-lined jacket was hung over the back of his desk chair and the trousers he was wearing were just tight enough to make him look sexy even though the suit was of a formal design.
She waited for him to elaborate. “Easter celebrations on Ceres last more than a week. Fireworks are set off at every opportunity, and as you know they can cause havoc. Our casualty department was dealing with injuries on a round-the-clock basis.”
He stood up, possibly to signify that it was time to start work. She clutched her file as she moved towards the door.
“I’ll come along to see you during the course of the morning,” he said as he reached ahead of her to open the door.
She smiled up at him as he held the door open. “Thank you…er…Thank you.”
Her hesitation was because she’d no idea what she should call him when they were on duty so she moved swiftly away, back towards Reception.
She could feel a quickening of her pulse rate. Was he going to have this effect on her when they were actually working together? If so, she’d have to get a grip on her emotions.
Yannis remained with the door open, watching Cathy walking away. He’d managed to maintain a professional attitude, which he intended to maintain while on duty. But he had no idea how he was going to handle off-duty situations. He could, of course, make sure that he didn’t meet up with her again in an off-duty situation. But having experienced the warmth of an evening spent with Cathy and Rose, he didn’t think that was an option. He would just have to be careful when he was with them and not allow the situation to get out of hand.
He closed the door and returned to his computer, staring at the list of surgical operations he had to schedule. It was a long time since he’d felt emotionally confused like this and it was playing havoc with his concentration.
Yannis’s decision to be careful came almost at the same time as Cathy got a similar idea firmly fixed in her mind. She was now following the sign above the corridor directing her to Outpatients. Having found the obstetrics section, she was immediately introduced to the midwife in charge.
Sister Maria welcomed her warmly as she went into the treatment room and explained the case history of the patient she was looking after. Cathy smiled down at the patient as she listened.
“Ariadne is a model patient,” Maria said in Greek.
The patient smiled. “Only if you say so, Sister.”
Cathy looked down at Ariadne. “I hope you don’t mind me coming in halfway through the examination. I’m Cathy Meredith, very new here, but I spent a lot of time in Obstetrics when I was working in an English hospital.”
“Your Greek is very good, Doctor.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time over here and I have Greek cousins who made fun of me so much when I was a child that I had no option but to pick up as much Greek as I could.”
Maria and Ariadne laughed and there was a good, friendly feel between all of them. Cathy always liked to break the ice when she was working. Tense patients were more difficult to take care of.
A young nurse came hurrying into the room, requesting the immediate attention of Sister Maria in the next cubicle. Maria excused herself.
“These are Ariadne’s notes, Cathy, and she understands everything that’s going on. She used to be a nurse before she started her family.”
“Would you like to tell me about your family, Ariadne?” Cathy asked, glancing briefly at the notes.
“These twins will be numbers four and five in the family,” Ariadne said, unable to hide the pride she was feeling as she patted her sizeable bump. “We intended to have four children but we were both delighted when I found out we were expecting twins. The more the merrier, my husband says. He wheeled me into hospital and then he went to do some shopping for me. He’ll be back soon. I’m not allowed to drive any more and I have to use a wheelchair outside home.”
Cathy glanced briefly at the case notes again. “Ariadne, tell me about the day you discovered you had symphysis pubis. It says in the notes that it was a sudden realisation. What actually happened?”
“I’d had a busy day, got the children to bed, cooked supper and then sat at the table with my husband, who’d just got back from a business meeting. He told me to sit still and let him wait on me during the meal. I suppose I was probably sitting for about half an hour. Then, as I stood up and tried to take a step I felt my pelvic bones split open. It was excrutiating. Thank goodness, Demetrius was with me! He got me straight into hospital and they gave me strong painkillers.”
“It’s a condition that’s not uncommon in women carrying more than one baby, Ariadne,” Cathy said in a sympathetic tone. “Especially among those who’ve had a number of births in a short period of time like you have with your first three children. So, I see you were referred to our orthopaedic specialist, who made the diagnosis.”
“It was such a relief to find out what was happening. I felt as if somebody had put a sword inside me. I will recover, won’t I, Cathy?”
“Yes, you will. Your ligaments, which stretch naturally during pregnancy and childbirth, have become too loose to hold the pelvis together. But you were given steroid injections, which tighten everything up, weren’t you? And I expect you were told to rest.”
“I didn’t move! I don’t go out any more except for my hospital appointment once a week. My mother lives nearby and my husband tries to work from home as much as possible.”
“Well, you seem to be doing all the right things. I see your twins are due in July.”
“It can’t come quick enough for any of us! I’ve been told I’ll be delivered by Caesarean section.”
“Yes. A natural birth would put too much strain on the pelvis. But the policy here at Ceres hospital is for operations of this nature to be transferred to the larger hospital on Rhodes. Minor operations are scheduled in for our hospital but most major ones are taken care of in Rhodes.”
“I’ve already discussed this with Dr Karavolis and requested that I have the Caesarean here, Cathy. I know it’s serious but he’s going to make an exception in my case. Because I’m a trained nurse and I know the risks, I also know the qualifications Dr Karavolis has in surgery and I’m sure I’ll be safe in his hands. This hospital is equipped with everything required, including an excellent surgical team. The specialist I’ve been seeing over on Rhodes has also agreed to this because he knows just how desperately I want my twins to be born on my beloved island.”
Cathy smiled as she secretly admired her patient’s positive attitude to her condition. “In that case, I’ll try to be with you at the birth.”
“Thank you. I’d like that very much.”
Sister Maria arrived back, saying she was going to take Ariadne for her scan.
Maria handed Cathy another set of case notes referring