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‘I didn’t have time to learn everybody’s name, just the most important ones,’ he replied as he zeroed in on her with his green eyes. He was watching her intently and she felt as though he was putting her under the microscope.
‘So what was that little party trick all about?’ Annie was vaguely aware of the ward phone ringing as she tried to concentrate under the force of Caspar’s gaze.
‘Which one?’
‘That stunt yesterday, knowing who we were?’
‘It wasn’t a stunt. I figured I was going to be at a disadvantage. You know each other already but I’m going to be working with you all and the quicker I get everyone straight in my head the faster I’ll settle in. I like to be prepared.’
‘Dr Simpson?’ Ellen, one of the more experienced midwives, interrupted them. She had answered the phone and she covered the mouthpiece with her hand as she spoke to Annie. ‘I have one of your patients on the phone, Kylie Jones. She says her waters have broken. Do you need me to pull up her file?’
Annie shook her head. ‘No, that’s all right.’ She knew Kylie. ‘Is her husband home?’
‘I’ll check,’ Ellen replied, but within a few seconds she was shaking her head. ‘He’s not due back until next week.’
Annie knew that Paul Jones worked in mining, which meant he worked away for two weeks before coming home for two. ‘Tell her we’ll send an ambulance for her. She needs to be in here. If she’s up to it she can contact Paul while she’s waiting so he can organise to get home as soon as possible.’
Annie turned to Caspar. She couldn’t believe she was about to ask this of him.
‘Kylie is thirty-three weeks pregnant with twins. I’m going to need your help.’
‘Of course.’ He grinned at her and the sparkle returned to his eyes. Annie felt that funny warmth rush through her, as though his smile was the match and her belly was full of dry tinder. ‘I thought you’d never ask,’ he said as he pulled his phone from his pocket.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Calling the camera crew.’
‘What? No!’ she protested.
‘What do you mean, “no”? This is what we’re here for.’
Annie disagreed. ‘Why do you want to film Kylie? What’s the point? You have no back story, no history with her.’ And I don’t want a camera crew in my delivery suite.
But Caspar wasn’t going to back down easily.
‘We can do all that afterwards,’ he said, unperturbed. ‘We can follow her story and follow the babies’ progress.’
Somehow she’d known he wouldn’t give in. ‘These babies are premature,’ she argued. ‘They have to survive first.’
As she debated the situation she realised that from the television perspective it probably didn’t matter if the babies survived or not. Either way it would be high drama. But to his credit Caspar didn’t point that depressing fact out to her. In fact, he seemed to try to make an effort to reassure her.
‘I am a paediatrician, this is what I do. You have to trust me, I am very good at my job and just like you I swore an oath to do no harm.’ His brooding expression was back, his green eyes darker now, his jaw set. ‘This is a perfect story for the show—a premature delivery of twins with the father not able to make it for the birth. It’s in my best interests to make sure it has a happy ending and then we’ll be able to film an emotional reunion scene as well.’
‘You’re forgetting something,’ Annie argued. ‘I’ll be in the delivery suite and I haven’t given my permission to be filmed.’
Caspar shrugged. ‘We’ll keep you out of the shot. It’s Kylie and the babies we want. We can use voiceovers, music, whatever we need to eliminate anything you say as well if you prefer. The wonders of modern technology.’
‘Are you telling me you’ll film without my permission?’
‘Are you always this argumentative?’ he asked as a broad grin broke across his face and his eyes sparkled again.
Was he smiling at her? Did he find her amusing? Did he think she didn’t mean business?
She didn’t know where to look as she tried to ignore the funny tumbling sensation in her stomach. All she knew was that he was responsible for the feeling and that frightened her. She didn’t want to be attracted to him. She couldn’t imagine dealing with that on top of working with him. The stress made her belligerent. ‘Only when I think people are wrong,’ she snapped.
‘But I’m not wrong. We can edit you out but you can’t stop us from filming. I have the hospital’s permission and all I need is Kylie’s. If you like, I promise to show you the edited version before it goes to air.’
By God, the man was irritating. ‘I have no idea whether I can trust you to keep your promises, though, do I?’ Annie had learned through bitter experience that some people lied, cheated, made promises they had no intention of keeping and let others down on a regular basis. And to trust someone she barely knew didn’t sit comfortably with her.
‘This discussion could well be moot anyway,’ Caspar said. ‘It all depends on Kylie now.’
He pressed a button on his phone and made the call while Annie stood by, fuming silently. If he thought he could win every time by being stubborn she had news for him, but she knew that his chances of getting his own way were better than hers. Kylie’s babies would need Caspar St Claire. Annie couldn’t do this without him.
She could hope that Kylie would choose not to invite the cameras into the delivery suite but if that didn’t happen Annie knew she’d have to relent. She hated feeling powerless. She had sworn an oath to herself to take charge of her life, not to let other people dictate things to her, but ever since Caspar had walked into the hospital she could feel control being wrested from her.
She’d thought she would be able to avoid him and his cameras but she realised now that it wasn’t going to be her decision and, what was even worse, she realised that there would be times when she’d need him and she’d have to acquiesce.
‘Now, why don’t we agree to put our differences aside and you can tell me about Kylie,’ Caspar said as he ended his phone call. ‘Regardless of whether or not we film this delivery, I will be taking care of the babies, so is there anything I need to know? Has she had any medical complications? Have there been any issues with the pregnancy?’
Before Annie could answer any of his questions they were interrupted by Ellen. ‘The ambulance is nearly here.’
‘I want to meet the paramedics,’ Annie told him as she resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to work with him. ‘If you come with me I’ll fill you in on the way, but her pregnancy has been pretty straightforward. She’s young, twenty-three, first pregnancy, fraternal twins. I’m not expecting any problems aside from the usual premmie issues.’
They arrived at the ambulance bay as the paramedics were opening the ambulance doors. Caspar was on the phone again and Annie could hear him instructing the crew to meet them in Emergency. She hoped Caspar was able to focus on more than one thing at a time. He needed to. Time would tell.
‘You know this patient?’ the paramedic checked as Annie introduced herself, and when she nodded, he continued. ‘Her waters have broken for at least one twin. Her blood pressure is elevated, one-sixty-five over ninety-five, and foetal heart rates are both around one-forty.’
‘Any contractions?’
‘A couple of mild ones. Several minutes apart.’
Annie spoke to one of the nurses who had followed them out to the ambulance. ‘Can you page Dr Williams and get her down here?’ she asked. Kylie’s blood pressure was much higher than she’d like and an epidural might help, but she’d let Tori decide.
The paramedics retrieved the stretcher with her patient and Annie bent over her, talking quietly. ‘Kylie, welcome. I wasn’t expecting you quite so soon. We’re going to take you into the emergency department and see what your babies are up to.’ Annie needed to determine how far along Kylie was. She didn’t need her wanting to push as they were on their way to Maternity.
She was aware of Caspar hovering at her right shoulder. She had to introduce him to Kylie as, like it or not, he was going to be part of this. But he wasn’t waiting for her. He stepped around her and spoke to Kylie.
‘Hello, Kylie, I’m—’
‘Caspar St Claire,’ Kylie gasped. ‘I’ve seen you on telly. What are you doing here?’
Of course, Annie thought, Caspar’s fame would have preceded him. Annie wasn’t quite sure how Kylie had found the energy to gush over Caspar. Surely if she was in labour she should have more pressing things to think about.
‘We’re filming the next series of RPE here at Blue Lake Hospital. Would you like to be a part of it?’ Caspar asked as Kylie was wheeled through the hospital doors.
‘You’ll deliver my babies? On telly?’
Annie felt her temper rising but Caspar shook his head and quickly put Kylie straight.
‘No, Dr Simpson will deliver your babies but I’ll be right here, ready to look after them as soon as they are born. We’ll get it all on camera and you’ll have a perfect recording of the whole experience to show your husband when he gets back to town.’
And with those words Annie knew Caspar would win the argument. Kylie was already looking at him as if he could give her the moon—knowing that her husband was going to miss the birth of their babies had to be bothering her. If Caspar could solve that problem by taping the birth, not only for national television but for Kylie’s husband, then there was no way Kylie would kick him out of the delivery suite.
‘I’ll feel better if you are here, Dr St Claire.’ Kylie turned her head to look at Annie. ‘Can you imagine, Dr Simpson? My family on national telly.’
And just like that Annie found herself overruled. She knew she had to be a gracious loser and she didn’t have time to argue anyway. Her patient was her first priority, her only priority, and she had more pressing concerns—Kylie’s blood pressure for one—than whether or not her patient wanted her fifteen minutes of fame.
Annie forced herself to smile as she said, ‘Okay, then, let’s get you inside.’
CHAPTER THREE
THE CAMERA CREW arrived as Kylie was being shifted across onto a hospital bed. Caspar spoke to them quickly as they began to pull equipment from an assortment of bags and trolleys. Annie was relieved to see that there were only two men, as Caspar had told her, but she had no time to pay them any attention as she started to pull the curtains around the cubicle to give Kylie some privacy as they got her changed into a hospital gown.
‘Can you give us a minute?’ she asked Caspar as she closed the curtains, barely waiting for his nod in reply before she shut him and his crew out. Albeit temporarily. They’d barely got Kylie sorted before Caspar was back in the cubicle. He didn’t ask for permission, he simply got on with the job of attaching the foetal heart monitors to Kylie’s abdomen.
Annie was about to tell him she could manage but she bit back her sharp retort when she realised that if Phil had been the paediatrician in the cubicle instead of Caspar, she would have been grateful for his assistance. It wasn’t Caspar’s fault she didn’t know how to handle him. She was going to have to find a way though. For her patient’s sake.
People were bustling around Kylie and Annie shifted her attention away from Caspar’s long fingers, as he stuck electrodes onto their patient, and over to the monitor, which was now displaying Kylie’s BP. It had dropped since the paramedic’s report. It was now one-fifty over ninety. Still high but not dangerously so. Had Kylie just been apprehensive?
Annie knew that was possible. Going into early labour when your husband was thousands of miles away would be nerve-racking for most people, and looking at her patient now she certainly appeared more relaxed than when she’d arrived. Kylie was lying calmly, staring at Caspar as he finished attaching the electrodes and hooked her up to another monitor.
Maybe Kylie’s improved blood pressure had less to do with apprehension and more to do with the visiting specialist, Annie thought, and she just managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes. It seemed Caspar St Claire had this effect on all women, herself included, she admitted grudgingly, but if he was aware of the scrutiny he didn’t show any sign of discomfort.
The monitor was displaying two distinct foetal heartbeats. Caspar turned to Annie and gave her a thumbs-up accompanied by a big smile. He was the epitome of someone who was completely in control. He was composed and relaxed and Annie knew his demean-our would help Kylie.
It was time for Annie to take a leaf out of his book and get to work. She straightened her back as she finished drying her hands. She could do cool, calm and collected just as well as he could.
‘All right, Kylie,’ she said, as she took up her position at the foot of the bed. ‘I’ll need to do an internal exam to see what’s happening. Are you okay with that?’
Annie wondered if she’d need to tell the camera crew what was appropriate for them to film but at the moment they were concentrating on Kylie’s face and no doubt were including shots of Caspar’s handsome face too, just for good measure. Probably just as well. She supposed they knew what the viewers wanted to see and she’d bet they’d be happier looking at Caspar St Claire than anything she might be able to offer them.
Annie was surprised to find that, despite not reporting much discomfort, Kylie was already several centimetres dilated. She could see Kylie’s abdominal muscles ripple as a contraction ran through her. She checked that the nurse had recorded the time as she asked, ‘Have you been having contractions for a while?’
‘No. They only started after I called the hospital,’ Kylie answered.
‘Any other aches and pains?’
‘My back’s been a bit sore today but I spent the past couple of days cleaning the house so I think I just overdid it.’
‘Well, it seems that twin one is determined to arrive today. He’s in a good position and I’d say you’re well into the first stage of labour.’
‘Are you telling me I’m too late?’
Annie turned as Tori came into the room. ‘I actually wanted your opinion on giving Kylie an epidural to bring her blood pressure down, not for pain relief as such.’
Tori’s eyes flicked to the monitor, which showed one-forty over eighty-five. ‘Her BP looks okay.’
Annie nodded in agreement. ‘It’s lowered considerably since she arrived. Kylie is thirty-three weeks, in established labour with twins and coping well with discomfort.’
‘I’ll hang around for a bit if it’s a multiple birth, just in case,’ Tori said. ‘I assume you’ve got a theatre on standby?’
Annie nodded. She had a theatre reserved but she hoped she wouldn’t need it. She also hoped to avoid delivering the twins in the emergency department. She spoke to Caspar. ‘Where would you like me to deliver the twins—here or in a delivery suite in Maternity?’
‘I think the environment in Maternity is far more conducive to a relaxed birth,’ Caspar replied. ‘And it’s closer to the paediatric unit and the nursery. That gets my vote.’
‘It is much nicer in Maternity,’ Annie said to Kylie. ‘More space, windows, music. So if you’re okay with it I’ll just give you an injection that will help the babies’ lungs and then we’ll get this show on the road.’ She drew up a syringe of corticosteroids and injected it into Kylie before instructing the medical team, ‘All right, people, let’s get ready to move.’
It took less than ten minutes to get Kylie to Maternity but her labour had progressed rapidly and by the time they reached the delivery suite she was ready to push.
Annie managed to position herself so that Liam and his camera were behind her. That served a dual purpose—she could pretend he wasn’t there and the camera could only get pictures of the back of her head. But as she coached Kylie through the birth of the first baby she realised that Liam wasn’t interested in her anyway. Just as he’d done in Emergency, he concentrated on Kylie and Caspar.
Even though Annie had talked about the first twin in a masculine form, something she had a habit of doing unless she knew the sex, the first baby was a girl. She was small, with the familiar premmie appearance of too much skin and not enough padding, but perfectly proportioned with the right number of fingers and toes.
Caspar was standing by Annie’s shoulder as she delivered the baby. She couldn’t see him but she knew he was there. She could feel him. She turned slightly to give him the baby. He was ready and waiting, his hands reaching for the tiny newborn.
As he lifted the baby from Annie’s palms, the backs of his hands slid against her skin and Annie had the strangest sensation of heat exploding inside her. She’d noticed his smile had the ability to make her feel as though she was melting but his touch made her feel like she was combusting. How was that possible? Thank goodness she was already sitting down. She knew her legs wouldn’t have been able to support her. It felt as though her bones had turned to jelly, as though her limbs were liquid.
And then, as suddenly as she’d been aware of the heat, it was replaced by cold, empty air as he took the baby from her hands.
Annie followed his movements with her eyes. The tiny baby appeared even more diminutive cradled in his large hands. She swallowed and rubbed her hands together, encouraging the warmth back into them, but she couldn’t reproduce that intense heat and now she wondered if she’d just imagined it.
To have her body react on such a level, seemingly uncontrolled by her brain, was a strange concept. She wasn’t completely inexperienced, she was a twenty-nine-year-old divorcee, but she’d never felt this sort of visceral, impulsive attraction before. Were other people constantly aware of these feelings? Maybe she was the odd one out.
Surely this sensation must be an extraordinary one because how anyone could get anything done if they were trying to focus while dealing with these feelings was a mystery to her. She needed to get a grip. She couldn’t let herself be distracted by Caspar St Claire.
She returned her attention to her patient, annoyed with herself for losing focus. She waited to hear the baby’s first cry before she clamped and cut the umbilical cord and began to check the progress of twin number two.
Caspar finished his one-minute Apgar check, pronounced a birth weight of two thousand five hundred grams and handed the baby to a tearful but happy Kylie. Ellen, the midwife, loosened Kylie’s gown so she could expose her shoulder and have some skin-to-skin contact with her baby. With the new mum comfortably occupied with her newborn daughter, Caspar’s focus returned to Annie. She could sense his attention.
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