Chapter 2 #3
‘Thank you. I hope it was right for Joe too.’ Laura breathed out slowly.
‘I was sure back then that it was, but when I gave birth to Jacob and saw just how thrilled my husband was to be a father, I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact I’d robbed Joe of that opportunity.
I felt so consumed by guilt that it was sucking the joy out of having Jacob, so I decided to try and track Joe down.
He’d always said he was going to become a psychiatrist, even back then, and he was determined to get the grades he needed to get into medical school.
It didn’t take all that much digging to find him and I discovered he was working in Australia as a psychiatrist, just like he’d planned.
He looked happy and successful, and I saw from his Instagram feed that he was in a long-term relationship.
So I decided that revealing what had happened all those years ago would probably just hurt him, especially given that I didn’t know if you’d welcome contact, and I decided it was better to let sleeping dogs lie. ’
Hope had nodded then and found herself wondering if Laura was right, that she knew enough now.
She had access to half her genetic history and the name of her father, along with a few other details about him.
Most importantly of all, she knew that Laura’s pregnancy had arisen as the result of a sweet holiday romance between two teenagers, not a sordid or unwanted liaison as she’d feared it might be.
It was enough. She’d told herself that for over six months, but it wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped it would be to forget about Joe.
Like Laura, she’d found herself researching him online and had discovered that not only had he returned to the UK, he’d got married and was head of the mental health unit at St Piran’s Hospital.
When her contract in Haverfordwest had been coming to an end and she’d started to search for her next opportunity, she’d known she wanted to try and find a permanent position that would allow her to experience both the intensity of hospital midwifery and the sense of making a difference to the experience of the women she cared for, which was unique to community midwifery.
Her breath had caught in her throat when she’d seen the job working between St Piran’s and the Port Agnes Midwifery Unit.
She’d known there’d be a lot of competition and had told herself if she got the job that it would be a sign from the universe that maybe she should approach her biological father and let him know she existed.
Except now that she was in Cornwall, living in the same area as him, and spending half her working week in the same hospital as not just Joe, but his wife and sister too, she still had no idea whether she should reveal the secret.
Discovering that Joe and his wife were struggling to conceive a child of their own had muddied the waters even further.
So, for now, all Hope could do was concentrate on her job and try to push the question of what to do about Joe to the back of her mind.
‘Have you got a minute for a quick chat?’ Anna, who headed up the midwifery unit, called out to Hope as she walked past the staffroom at the end of her shift and a frisson of nerves made her scalp prickle.
She couldn’t think of anything she’d done wrong, but midwifery was a hugely responsible job and the idea that she might have done terrified her.
She already loved her new job, but she was still on probation, which meant the pressure was on to make a good impression.
If she had made a mistake, she’d just have to face the music.
‘Of course.’ Walking into the staffroom, she attempted to steady her breathing.
Only Anna and Jess were there, so if she was going to get a telling off, at least it wouldn’t be witnessed by all of her colleagues.
Although having both of her managers waiting for her might be a really bad sign.
Jess worked mainly in the maternity department at the hospital and was Hope’s supervisor there, working shifts in the community about once or twice a week, whereas Anna worked exclusively at the unit.
The two women led on overseeing continuity of care for maternity services in the Three Ports area, so it wasn’t unusual for them to meet at either the unit or the hospital, but that didn’t stop Hope worrying that this particular meeting might be about her.
‘Do you want a cuppa?’ Anna gave her a broad smile and Hope’s shoulders relaxed. Surely Anna wouldn’t be so friendly if she was in trouble?
‘Thanks, but I’m good.’
‘You certainly are.’ Jess, who was smiling too, exchanged a look with Anna before continuing. ‘When you sent Daniella Kennedy into St Piran’s this morning, the scan showed her placenta was failing and she had an emergency C-section.’
‘Oh my God.’ Hope sat down heavily on one of the chairs. ‘Is she okay? What about the baby?’
‘The baby is a bit on the small side, but thanks to you they’re both going to be fine, another few hours and it might have been a very different story.
’ Anna’s tone was gentle despite the weight of what she was saying.
‘A lot of midwives might have dismissed the fact she hadn’t gained quite as much weight as expected, especially as it wasn’t massively below average.
But if it had been left much longer, the placenta could have failed altogether before Daniella even knew there was a problem. ’