Page 21 of Welcome to the Cornish Country Hospital

‘Remind me never to ask you to help me plan a children’s party.’ Esther rolled her eyes before Aidan spun around to face her.

‘Ooh, have you got something to tell us?’ Just asking twisted something in Danni’s gut, but one day, even if it wasn’t now, she knew Esther would be saying yes to that question.

‘No, because I’m planning on being able to drink on my honeymoon. What’s the point of staying in a hotel with a swim-up bar if you’re stuck on orange juice?’

‘You’ve booked the honeymoon, then?’ It was a weird situation. Danni desperately wanted to hear the details, but at the same time she didn’t want to picture Esther and Lucas walking hand in hand along golden sand. It was like asking to be tortured. As it was, Gary made sure that Esther’s response was going to have to wait.

‘Stand by your beds – we’ve got two emergencies on the way in. A suspected appendicitis and a second patient, who has fallen from a ladder and has what they think is a badly broken shoulder.’

‘We’d better call the surgical teams to let them know. They might need to cancel elective surgery to keep a theatre free if it is appendicitis. And the orthopaedic surgeon will want to assess whether the second patient’s proximal humerus needs repairing.’ Danni turned towards Aidan, who pretended to swoon.

‘If you try out that sort of chat on your profile matches, they’ll be eating out of your hand.’ Aidan laughed again, before disappearing to make the calls. Danni didn’t even want to think as far ahead as having to make conversation with anyone who might match her online. She’d been surrounded by medical professionals in her personal and professional life for so long, it was almost impossible to imagine a ‘normal’ conversation. She’d worry about that when she had to. For now, there was work to be done, and she’d take a ruptured appendix over a date with a stranger any day.

* * *

Danni had her suspicions almost as soon as she saw the patient being wheeled into A&E. The woman’s face was contorted with agony one moment and then seconds later the horrendous pain she was in seemed to pass.

‘Did you ask her if she could be pregnant?’ Danni lowered her voice as she followed the paramedics out of the cubicle after they’d completed the handover. The patient, Roxy, was accompanied by her partner, who was watching her like a hawk. If Roxy was pregnant, but hadn’t told her partner, there might be a good reason for it.

‘She insists not.’ The paramedic shook her head. ‘Her partner’s had a vasectomy.’

‘Okay, thanks.’ Despite her colleague’s response, Danni couldn’t shake the niggling doubt that this wasn’t going to turn out to be the sort of emergency the A&E department could deal with. Appendicitis pain could come and go in the early stages, but by the time it got as severe as it seemed to be for Roxy, it was usually constant and located in the lower right-hand side of the abdomen. Something wasn’t right.

‘Essie. Have you got a sec?’ Danni called out to Esther as she saw her emerge from another cubicle, hurrying towards her as she did.

‘Of course, what’s up?’

‘I’ve got the patient with the expected appendicitis in my bay, but I think there might be something else going on.’ Danni kept her voice at the same reduced level she’d used to question the paramedics. ‘There’s a chance she could be in labour, but I don’t think she’ll give me an honest answer in front of her partner, because she told the paramedics he’s had a vasectomy.’

‘Oh God. Does she look pregnant?’

‘No, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she isn’t. She might not be full term or, even worse, it could be an ectopic pregnancy. I need to find out if there’s any chance it could be that as soon as I can.’ Danni shivered, despite how warm it was in the department. When she’d been on rotation during her training, a woman had come into A&E with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. It had been touch and go whether she’d survive. In the end, she’d lost her second fallopian tube, after losing the first to a previous ectopic pregnancy just a year before. For the patient, it had seemed to be a fate only slightly preferable to death. She’d still been screaming at them not to let her lose her chance of having a baby when she’d been taken up for surgery, and Danni would never forget the look on her face. If Roxy was going through something similar, the sooner Danni took action the better.

‘What do you need me to do?’

‘If you can just take her partner off for a few minutes. Tell him there’s some paperwork the two of you need to complete or something, so she can be admitted. Anything, just so I’ve got the chance to talk to her alone.’

Danni had to hand it to Esther. The way she’d spoken to Roxy’s partner, Duncan, about him needing to go with her to register as next of kin, almost had Danni convinced. Within a minute of her following Danni down to Roxy’s cubicle, Esther and Duncan had disappeared to complete the fictional paperwork.

‘I know the paramedics have already asked you this, but I need to check again. Is there any chance you could be pregnant, Roxy?’

Before the other woman even spoke, Danni could tell from her expression that she’d been right. And when Roxy’s face crumpled as she started to cry, all Danni could do was put an arm around her shoulders.

‘It’s all right. We can sort all of this out. The most important thing to do is to get you the right sort of care.’ Danni kept her tone even. ‘Have you got any idea how far along you might be?’

‘I kept telling myself it couldn’t be true. Even when I felt the baby moving, I convinced myself it must be IBS or something.’ Danni had to concentrate hard to make out what Roxy was saying because she was crying so much. ‘Duncan had his vasectomy eight years ago, after his ex went on and on about him doing it. But within six months she’d left him for her boss. Duncan’s lovely, but he’s paranoid about me cheating too, and he’s never going to believe this baby is his.’

‘It’s okay, Roxy, these things have a way of working themselves out. But none of that matters for now; we just need to keep you and the baby safe.’

‘But it is his baby, it really is!’ Roxy was verging on hysterical now and, if Duncan was anywhere nearby, he was going to find out the news in the worst possible way. ‘If I can’t even convince you, how am I supposed to convince him?’

‘I believe you.’ Whether Duncan would believe it – without having to go through the sort of DNA tests that would damage any relationship – she didn’t know. But she was certain Roxy was telling the truth. Pausing as another pain racked the other woman’s body, Danni held on to her hand, hoping she was at least offering some comfort until the contraction subsided. ‘I know this is really hard, but you’re either going to have to tell Duncan what’s going on, or ask him to leave, because I need to let the team from the maternity unit know what’s happening.’

‘I can’t. He’ll walk out and I can’t do this. Not on my own.’ Roxy’s eyes were bloodshot from all the crying and she was already exhausted. ‘I didn’t think I’d ever get to have a baby of my own. Dunc’s got Milly, his ten-year-old, but his ex didn’t want any more kids. He said he always wanted another one, but we decided against a reversal because he was worried about things between us going the same way, and not getting to be with his child every day. He’s missed out on so much with Milly and he didn’t want to risk it again.’

‘He’s going to be shocked at first, but I’m sure he’ll realise you’re telling the truth and there are ways to prove it if it comes to that.’ Danni resisted the urge to add that if Duncan knew Roxy well enough, he’d know she was telling the truth, because she knew from personal experience that it might not be the case. After all, no one knew Danni better than Esther did and she’d been lying to her friend by omission from the moment Lucas had walked into their lives.

‘Can you be here when I tell him?’ Roxy’s eyes were pleading with Danni, but she didn’t even hesitate before she nodded. It might be an awkward conversation, but if there was any chance of Duncan reacting violently, then proving that he was the father of her unborn baby might be the least of Roxy’s worries.

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