Chapter 4 #2
The door to the surgery opened and an old, bowed lady marched in. Zoe couldn’t help but smirk at Shabana’s look of dismay.
‘There are some patients I’ll miss when I go on leave,’ she said under her breath. ‘And then there’s Mrs Icke.’
‘Careful,’ Zoe murmured back with a grin. ‘Deaf as a post but can hear a pin drop from three streets away when it suits her.’
‘When’s the other nurse coming back?’ Mrs Icke demanded as she approached the reception desk.
‘Ottilie?’ Lavender asked. ‘Not yet, but Shabana looks after you just as well, doesn’t she?’
‘No, not that one, the one we had before… Gwen.’
‘Gwen hasn’t been here for years now,’ Lavender said. ‘You can’t have forgotten that!’
‘I didn’t forget. I just hoped it wasn’t true that she’d left. These youngsters aren’t a patch on her. Gwen’s proper trained.’
‘That’s not what you used to say when she was here,’ Lavender said in a low voice.
‘What?’
‘I said she’s retired now!’ Lavender shouted back.
Zoe grinned at Shabana. ‘I’ll leave you to it. Good luck!’
In her office, Zoe took off her coat and readied the space for her first appointment of the day. As she slid her phone into the desk drawer, she noticed the text that had arrived as she’d been talking to Lavender and opened it.
I’m sorry for hassling you this morning when you were in a rush. Hope you got to work on time. x
Zoe paused as she reread the message. It was innocuous enough, but there was something in it.
Or perhaps there was something in what was left out, but there was a general tone that told her Alex wasn’t feeling quite himself.
She typed out a brief reply, wanting to say more but simply not having the time, and trusted it would be enough.
Honestly, don’t worry about it. We’ll talk when I get home. Hopefully the meeting won’t go on too long and I won’t be so late. x
What she needed now was a calm day that ran like clockwork and would let her leave the surgery before the night had got away from them.
Even as she thought this, her office door opened and Lavender looked around it.
‘Sorry, I forgot to mention… this meeting later. Technically, it’s about the medical staff’s competence training or something or other, but I’m going to sit in because I want Emilia to agree to a Christmas do.
For us all… like we could go out somewhere.
We have to get booked up – there’s only six weeks to go so we’re already running out of time. ’
‘Do we need to bring that up at the meeting?’ Zoe asked. ‘Can’t we arrange that between ourselves at lunch or something? I don’t think Emilia would want to come; she’s not the biggest fan of Christmas…’
‘Even so, why can’t the surgery pay out of the kitty? We don’t get Christmas bonuses, and I think we ought to get something. After all, we’ve worked hard this year. Fliss used to do it every year.’
‘Couldn’t you have a word with Simon? He’d be a better bet.’
‘I did, but he said he wouldn’t approve anything without Emilia, and I thought, if we all say we want a work’s do at the meeting, she can hardly say no, can she?’
Zoe wasn’t so convinced. She’d known Emilia for a long time, and she had no trouble believing that she would say no if she meant it, regardless of any pressure the staff might try to put her under.
‘So when I say we all want to go,’ Lavender continued, ‘you’ll back me up, right? Shabana says she will.’
‘I don’t know…’
‘Oh, come on. You’re not scared of her, surely? If anything, you’d be the one person who could persuade her if you really wanted to!’
‘It’s because I know her so well that I’m not convinced she’d agree, no matter how many of us said we wanted it.’
‘Fliss did it. Fliss used to pay for it out of her own pocket.’
‘Then there’s your first hurdle because I doubt Emilia cares enough to do that.’
‘We have a surgery kitty for sundries, and there’s loads in it. We can use that.’
‘Isn’t that for other things, like when we get snacks for meetings and stuff? If we use it to go out, where will the money come from for the other things?’
‘Don’t you want to go out for a Christmas do?’
‘Of course I’d love to, but can’t we just organise it and pay ourselves?’
Lavender pouted. ‘Whatever.’
As she let the door close, Zoe heaved a sigh. ‘OK, Lav… I’ll back you up,’ she called. But whether Lavender heard her or not, she didn’t know because their sometimes truculent receptionist didn’t come back in to confirm either way.
‘Hello, Rachel. How’s it going? You’re thirty-four weeks now? I think last time we spoke you hadn’t quite decided on your birth plan, but have you had any more thoughts since then?’
Aside from her run-in with Lavender, which she’d later rectified with a trip to reception to smooth things over, the calm day Zoe had hoped for had treated her well so far, and she was in good spirits as her last appointment of the morning followed her into the consultation room and took a seat.
‘I think so,’ she said flatly.
Zoe paused, the next sentence dying on her lips as she took a closer look. She had the feeling that her calm day was about to be upended.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve been feeling… weird for the last couple of days. My other half said to phone you, but I thought, as I was coming to see you anyway…’ She shrugged. ‘I’m sure it’s nothing, and I don’t want to make a fuss.’
‘Nobody would ever think it was a fuss.’ Zoe frowned. ‘When you say weird…’ she continued, spreading a paper sheet out on the examining table, ‘what do you mean, exactly?’
‘Knackered. I know I’m really pregnant, but I can barely keep my eyes open for most of the day. And I have this weird heaviness… down below. I can’t describe it, but it’s like… not pain exactly but uncomfortable. Could it be Braxton Hicks?’
‘It could be,’ Zoe said. ‘Anything else? Have you seen any blood or any concerning discharge?’
‘I’m not sure. I felt as if there was something, but it was so faint…’
Zoe took her blood pressure and then listened to the baby’s heartbeat. After double-checking everything, she let out a long breath.
‘I’m not super happy, to be honest. It’s tempting to say wait and watch, but I’d rather err on the side of caution. Is there any way you can get to the maternity unit?’
‘When?’ Rachel sat up on the examination couch.
‘As soon as you can. Today would make me happiest. I’ll phone ahead and tell the team there to expect you.
I’d rather you have a full examination at the hospital where they have the equipment, and I’d rather they kept an eye on you.
I won’t beat around the bush, Rachel; I’m concerned about preterm labour.
’ Rachel’s eyes widened, but Zoe gave her a reassuring smile.
‘If that’s the case, you’ll be in the right place at the hospital. They’ll do what needs to be done.’
‘Like what? Should I phone Mason to leave work? Will he have to book some time off? Should he ask for his paternity leave? What should I tell him?’
‘If he can go with you to the maternity unit, then brilliant. As for the rest, I’m sorry, but I couldn’t say. It might be that I’m wrong, and I hope that’s the case. I’d just rather you be there with a better-equipped team.’
‘You don’t think you’re wrong, do you?’
Zoe shook her head. ‘Like I said, I’ll phone ahead, and they’ll be expecting you. Will you be able to go now?’
Rachel got out her phone. ‘I’ll phone Mason. Work is pretty good with him, so it should be OK for him to take me.’ She paused, looking up from her screen. ‘Will it be all right? I’m not going to lose the baby, am I?’
‘I’m sure it will all work out,’ Zoe said.
There was nothing else she could say. She’d seen this scenario play out all ways during the course of her career.
Mostly, it went the way she thought it would, and in this instance, she felt there would be a good outcome, but there was always the outside chance that there wouldn’t.
She wasn’t about to tell Rachel that, though.
Half an hour later, she’d sent Rachel off with her partner, called the maternity team with details of her worries and finally closed her office door to make her way to the kitchen for lunch.
‘You took your time,’ Lavender said. ‘I put you some soup out, but you might want to warm it in the microwave.’
‘Thanks.’ Zoe picked up the bowl. ‘I’ll do that.’
‘Running behind with an appointment?’ Shabana asked.
Zoe nodded. ‘Prem labour, I think. In fact, I know. She’s gone to the mat unit, so they’ll take care of her.’
‘I noticed her go off sharpish with Mason,’ Lavender said. ‘Wondered why she looked so stressed… I should have known.’
The microwave pinged, and Zoe took out her soup.
‘That’s never long enough,’ Lavender said.
‘Probably,’ Zoe replied, going to the table with the bowl anyway. ‘But I haven’t got much time, so I’m just going to have to eat it lukewarm.’
‘I could put off your first appointment of the afternoon if you need a minute.’
‘It’ll only make the rest of the clinic run behind. We’ve got that meeting after clinic, and I don’t want to get home any later than I will already if I can help it.’
‘I don’t suppose the master of the house would like that.’
Zoe paused, her spoon resting in her bowl. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Didn’t sound like nothing. Why would you say something like that?’
Lavender got up and took her own bowl to the sink. ‘Zoe, it was just a joke.’
Zoe picked up her spoon. Perhaps she was oversensitive these days.
It was hard to tell; she only knew that things had been far from plain sailing for her over the previous months, and though she wanted to be settled and happy again, that simply wasn’t happening.
‘I’m sorry. It’s been a long morning. Tell me more about the panto.
Do you know who’s planning to audition?’
‘Fliss and Charles,’ Lavender said.
‘Yes, you mentioned those two. Geoff?’
‘I can’t imagine he would miss out.’
‘Although it would hardly be an audition,’ Shabana put in. ‘As he’s married to the director, he can probably just cast himself, can’t he?’
‘He will too,’ Lavender agreed. ‘Your Billie would make a good Cinderella, you know.’