Page 19 of Prognosis Temporary

‘No.’ Callie shook her head. ‘Always with another nurse.’

Sebastian nodded. Good. Working in the prison system and in several war-torn hotspots had made him especially attuned to safety issues. ‘How big is your area?’

‘Jambalyn staff cover mainly just the inner-city areas. The health district we’re in takes in all of northern Brisbane but there are several centres dotted around to break up the workload. Jambalyn is just one.’

She pulled up at a traffic light and riffled through a pile of charts wedged in the centre console. Grabbing the one she was obviously looking for, she handed it to Sebastian. ‘The next client is twenty-four-year-old Ginny Carpenter.’

Sebastian rested the chart on his thigh noticing her gaze follow the movement, feeling the heat of it shift and fix firmly on his forearm as he opened the chart. ‘What’s her story?’

A car tooted behind them indicating the light had changed and she dragged her eyes off him, slamming the car into gear a little more firmly than required as they moved off.

‘Ginny has suffered from agoraphobia and severe depression since she was in her teens.’ Callie’s voice was all business but he could just detect a slight raspy tremor. ‘She’s been well controlled on medication and cognitive-behaviour therapy the last few years. She has a part-time job and got married almost a year ago now.’

He nodded. ‘So this is a routine house call?’

‘Yep. Just a hi-how’s-it-going kind of thing.’

‘Okay.’

Sebastian flicked through the chart until Callie pulled up at Ginny’s house five minutes later and practically leapt out of the car. Not that he blamed her. Being this close to her in an enclosed space was unnerving. It was hard not to be constantly distracted by their overwhelming physical attraction.

Yeah...that wasn’t going to go away just because she wanted it to.

But that issue went on the backburner as soon as Ginny opened the door, her face tear-streaked.

‘Ginny?’ Callie stepped into the house, popping an arm around her client’s shoulders. ‘What’s the matter?’

‘I’m...I’m...’ Ginny led them into the house, her shoulders heaving, fresh tears streaming down her face. She led them into her bedroom and picked something up off the bed. ‘I’m pregnant,’ she wailed, holding up a home test kit with a little pink plus sign in the test window.

‘Oh, hey, hey,’ Callie crooned as Ginny dissolved into more tears. She sat her down on the bed and took a seat next to her. She had to admit to a certain amount of relief. For an awful moment she’d thought Ginny might have been having a relapse of her symptoms.

‘It’s going to be okay, really, it is.’ She put her arm around her client’s shoulders again and rocked her slightly, letting her cry it out.

After a couple of minutes Ginny’s weeping settled to a few spasmodic, hiccoughy breaths and Callie made the introductions. Sebastian smiled and said, ‘Why don’t I make us all a cup of tea?’

Doing this for a bunch of years had taught Sebastian that only one thing beat a good cry and that was the restorative powers of a cup of tea. Sometimes those things were better than all the drugs and all the counsel in the world.

‘A cup of tea would be fabulous,’ Callie agreed, and Ginny nodded.

Sebastian found his way to the kitchen aware they were following. ‘Here. Let me,’ Ginny said from behind as he proceeded to open up a bunch of cupboards, looking for mugs.

Ginny took over, fussing around and there was silence as they all sat and took their first sips of tea. Sebastian was fine with letting the silence go figuring that Callie, the one who knew Ginny the most, was best placed to lead the conversation.

‘So, you...don’t want a baby?’ Callie asked tentatively after another sip or two of tea.

Ginny immediately recoiled from the question, her hand sliding to her belly. ‘Of course I want a baby, but...’

Sebastian nodded encouragingly. But?’ he prompted.

Ginny’s upper lip wobbled. ‘I’m not fit to be a mother.’

‘Oh, no, Ginny. No, no, no,’ Callie put her mug of tea down. ‘That’s not true.’

‘It is true,’ Ginny insisted. ‘I’ve already been taking drugs that have probably harmed it. I’ve been on the internet all afternoon. The meds for my condition have been known to cause birth defects and low birth weights, even prematurity.’

Ginny started to cry again, her hand tightening on her abdomen. ‘And I can’t go off them, Callie, I just can’t. I can’t go back to the way I was. It’ll kill me. I won’t be any kind of mother if I can’t even take my little girl for a walk in the park or down to the shops for an ice cream. And what kind of mother does that make me?’ she demanded.

‘The best kind, I’d say,’ Sebastian interrupted.

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