Jennifer Taylor – A Very Special Child (страница 1)
Mark paused before opening the door, his gray eyes concerned all of a sudden.
“You will be all right here by yourself? I hate to leave you like this in a strange place.…”
“But you don’t have any choice.” Laura smiled, appreciating his consideration when he must have more pressing things on his mind than her or Robbie. “We’ll be fine, Mark. Why shouldn’t we be? We have everything we need after all.”
“Have you?” There was a strange note in his voice all of a sudden, an intensity to the look he gave her that made a tremor run down her spine. Laura stared back at him, her greeny-blue eyes the color of a stormy sea.
He gave her a gentle smile before he suddenly bent and brushed her cheek with a kiss.
“Don’t wait up,” he said softly, and then he was gone.
One of the joys of writing medical romances is the opportunity it gives me to touch upon so many fascinating subjects. A Very Special Child tells the story of Laura Grady, the widowed mother of a four-year-old Down’s Syndrome child.
Several years ago I helped organize a production of ballet and modern dance performed by a group of teenagers who all had Down’s Syndrome. The group’s enthusiasm and sheer joy in performing touched everyone’s heart. Afterward, one of the dancers’ mothers told me how she felt privileged to have such a very special child. That phrase stuck in my mind and this book is the result of it.
I am sure that you will take Laura and little Robbie to your hearts as you watch Laura falling in love with pediatric resident Mark Dawson. I know you will feel as I did—that she found the perfect man to share her life with and help care for her very special child.
My very best wishes to you all.
Jennifer Taylor
A Very Special Child
Jennifer Taylor
CONTENTS
‘AM I GLAD to see you! Here…catch!’
Nurse Laura Grady deftly caught the plastic apron her colleague, Rachel Hart, tossed towards her. She shot it a quizzical glance, but before she had chance to ask what it was for Rachel had headed out of the office door.
Laura’s greeny-blue eyes shimmered with amusement as she fastened the apron over her brand-new uniform dress. Nothing had changed, it seemed. There was still too much work and not enough staff to do it, from the look of things!
She quickly followed Rachel into the ward, realising that it was a relief to know that some things were the same as they had always been. It was her first day back at work after an absence of almost five years and she couldn’t deny that she’d spent a sleepless night, worrying about how she would cope.
Would it take her long to slip back into the old routine? Could she cope with the demands of working in a new department? She had been a midwife in the maternity unit before she had left, so the children’s ward was a new departure for her, although she’d worked in paediatrics before. Granted, she had taken a refresher course to brush up her skills, but what if she wasn’t up to the job?
‘It’s OK, poppet. Don’t cry. We’ll soon have you cleaned up.’
Rachel’s soothing tones cut through Laura’s introspection and she gave herself a mental shake. This was neither the time nor the place to start having doubts!
She joined the ward sister at the side of the bed, her heart aching as she saw the expression on the child’s wan little face. The little girl couldn’t have been more than six years old and she was looking very sorry for herself.
Rachel turned to Laura and grimaced. ‘This is Katie Watson. Admitted with recurrent urinary tract infection. We’re going to check for any renal anomalies or scarring. And, as you can see, she’s been very, very sick.’
‘Too right!’ Laura grinned commiseratingly at the little girl. ‘Hello, Katie. My name is Laura and I have to say that I think I’d be sick if I had that cover on my bed. It’s horrible!’
She cast a disparaging look at the bedcover, which was printed with a gaudily coloured jungle scene. Katie gave her a wobbly smile. ‘I have a nicer one at home,’ the child whispered shyly. ‘It’s got puppies on it.’
‘Oh, wow, I bet that’s really great. I love puppies, don’t you?’ As she was speaking, Laura began to strip the soiled cover off the bed, swiftly rolling it up to put it into a plastic laundry bag. She nodded as Rachel murmured that she’d be back in a moment as the office phone began to ring. Laura turned her attention back to Katie.
‘So, do you have a dog at home, then?’
‘Yes. But he isn’t a puppy. He’s three. I miss him.’ Katie’s lower lip wobbled ominously and Laura hurriedly set about distracting her.
‘Three? So he’s still only a baby really. I bet he does all sorts of silly things, doesn’t he, like chewing your slippers?’
Katie shook her head, her huge blue eyes full of scorn. ‘Sandy doesn’t do that! He’s a good dog. He sleeps in my room when I’m at home, on my bed.’ The little girl looked momentarily unsure. ‘You won’t tell Mummy that, will you? She might make him sleep downstairs if she finds out.’
Laura shook her head so that her reddish-brown curls danced around her pretty heart-shaped face. Her hair was baby fine and the bane of her life, defying all her attempts to keep it neatly styled. She kept it cut short in an effort to tame it, but the soft curls seemed to have a life of their own most of the time.
‘No, I won’t tell her, sweetheart. It will be our little secret. Now let’s get you cleaned up then I can remake your bed and you’ll feel a lot better.’
Stowing the last of the soiled linen into the plastic sack, she carried it to the linen chute then filled a basin with warm water. She took it back and drew the curtains around the bed to give them some privacy as she set about stripping off Katie’s night-dress. The child looked painfully thin once she was undressed, her arms like sticks and her ribs protruding. Laura sighed softly as she ran the damp washcloth over her emaciated little body.
Anorexia was a frequent symptom of urinary tract infection in children of this age, and a worrying one. She made up her mind to read through Katie’s notes the minute she had chance to bring herself up to date with the case. She smiled as she dropped the damp cloth into the basin and reached for a towel. Already she was finding herself getting involved, which was a good sign. Maybe it wouldn’t be that difficult to pick up the threads of this new job after all.
Once the little girl was dry, she found a fresh nightie in the bedside locker and popped it over her head. ‘Right, that’s better, isn’t it? Now I’ll go and find some clean bedding. And I’ll make sure it’s prettier than the last lot…promise!’
Leaving Katie giggling happily, she hurried off to find the linen cupboard. Rachel was nowhere in sight and the other two nurses on duty were busy with the morning’s drugs round. Laura hesitated, wondering if she should ask them to direct her, but it seemed silly to make a fuss. It couldn’t be that difficult to find where the supplies were kept, for heaven’s sake!
After a few false starts she finally located the linen cupboard and hurried inside to hunt through the shelves for something suitable. In common with a lot of hospitals, Dalverston General steered clear of the usual starched white linen for use in its children’s ward so that the shelves were stacked with brightly patterned covers and sheets bearing all manner of designs. However, it was on the very top shelf that Laura finally spotted exactly what she wanted—a bed set printed with playful grey kittens and fluffy yellow ducklings, which would be sure to appeal to Katie.
Hefting over the stool, she climbed up to get it, but she was just that bit too short to reach the shelf. She heaved a sigh of annoyance. It wasn’t the first time she’d had occasion to rue her diminutive five feet two inches of height, nor would it be the last, but she refused to be beaten!
Standing on tiptoe, she made a grab for the linen then gasped in dismay as she felt the stool skidding from under her. She closed her eyes as she felt herself tumbling backwards, waiting for the inevitable to happen, then found them winging open again as a pair of strong arms fastened around her before she could hit the floor.
‘Mmm, so my horoscope was right after all.’
‘I…um. Pardon?’ Laura took a quick breath as she struggled to make sense of what was happening. One minute she’d been heading straight for disaster and the next she found herself staring into the most beautiful pair of grey eyes she had ever seen. It was little wonder that she was having difficulty following what was going on!
‘Uh-huh, in the paper this morning. I always read my horoscope, you see, not that I always believe what it says.’ The grey eyes crinkled at the corners as the man chuckled softly. ‘I tend to be a selective believer, you understand. But it does make me wonder if maybe I should take it more seriously when something like this happens.’