Their Baby Surprise (9 page)

He went into the kitchen and plugged in the kettle, closing his mind to the thought that he couldn’t imagine wanting any woman the way he had wanted Rachel. That was nonsense, complete and utter nonsense. It wasn’t as though he was in love with Rachel, was it?

CHAPTER NINE

A
WEEK
passed, the longest week of Rachel’s life. Although Matt was unfailingly polite whenever they spoke, he never made any reference to what had happened that night. Whilst she didn’t regret sleeping with him, she did regret the fact that it had caused him so much heartache. The memory of how distraught he had looked the following morning would haunt her for a long time to come.

In an effort to minimise the stress it had caused for both of them, she avoided being alone with him as much as possible. Fortunately, her knee had healed and apart from the odd twinge, it didn’t cause her any major problems. She applied herself to her job with a diligence that allowed little time for anything else. At least while she was working it stopped her thinking about Matt.

There was a team meeting scheduled for the Monday afternoon. They tried to hold a meeting most weeks, although sometimes pressure of work made it impossible. However, Matt was adamant that he wanted the meeting to go ahead that day so as soon as she had finished her lunch, Rachel made her way to the staffroom. Ross was already there, sitting beside Gemma Craven, one of their practice nurses. Pam Whiteside, the other nurse, arrived a few seconds later accompanied by two members of the reception staff, Carol Walters and Beverley Humphreys.

‘I’ve left Dianne manning the phone,’ Carol explained, hurrying over to her. ‘It’s been bedlam this morning and if someone doesn’t stay behind to answer it, we’ll be running backwards and forwards. I’ll fill her in later if that’s all right?’

‘Fine by me,’ Rachel agreed, glancing round when Fraser Kennedy, their locum, came to join them.

‘I can’t stay long as I’m on call this afternoon. I thought I’d take Hannah with me if you don’t need her,’ he added, referring to their new trainee GP, Hannah Jeffries. ‘She’s not been out to any house calls yet and it will be good experience for her.’

‘Good idea,’ someone said behind them, and Rachel felt her heart lurch when she recognised Matt’s deep voice.

She hurriedly took her seat, doing her best to calm down. The others would soon realise there was something wrong if she didn’t get a grip of herself. The thought of everyone in the surgery finding out what had happened steadied her and by the time Matt opened the meeting, she felt more in control.

‘I know everyone’s got a busy afternoon ahead so I won’t waste time,’ he said, glancing around. His gaze skimmed over Rachel before it moved on and she wasn’t sure if she felt vexed or pleased by his indifference. While she had been torturing herself with guilt, it appeared that Matt had put the episode behind him.

‘We’ve discovered that the locum who worked here before Fraser didn’t order various tests to be carried out,’ Matt informed them bluntly. ‘It means that a number of patients will need to be recalled.’

A shocked murmur ran around the room as the staff exchanged horrified looks. This kind of situation was unprecedented.

‘You’re not serious!’ Rachel exclaimed, voicing everyone’s dismay.

‘I’m afraid I am.’

This time his gaze landed squarely on her and remained there. Rachel felt heat course through her veins when she saw the glimmer of some emotion in his eyes. Maybe Matt wasn’t as indifferent to her as he was pretending? The thought caused such turmoil inside her that she had to force herself to concentrate as he continued.

‘Ross and Gemma went through the files over the weekend and pulled out any that will need to be followed up. I had a look at them this morning and from what I’ve seen, it’s imperative that we get people back in here as soon as we can.’

‘What kind of tests are we talking about?’ Rachel demanded, knowing that she couldn’t afford to let herself be sidetracked. It had been difficult enough to carry on knowing that Matt regretted what they had done, but it would be impossible if she allowed herself to think that he had changed his mind.

‘A whole range of things,’ Ross answered. ‘There’s one patient who was diagnosed with fibroadenosis but she wasn’t sent for a mammogram to rule out the possibility of it being breast cancer. Then there’s another who has angina but no blood tests were ordered. We have no idea if his angina is linked to anaemia or possibly an over-production of thyroid hormones.’

‘But that’s unforgivable!’ Fraser exploded. ‘Those tests are purely routine, so why on earth didn’t the fellow make sure they were done?’

‘Probably because he couldn’t be bothered completing the paperwork.’ Matt’s tone was harsh. ‘I’m sure those of us who worked with him remember how he was always bragging that he could get through his lists faster than anyone else could do. Little wonder when he was doing only half the job.’

Dianne poked her head round the door just then to tell Ross there was a phone call for him in Reception and he excused himself. Fraser announced that he and Hannah would have to leave too and followed him out. Matt explained to the others that he would let everyone know how he intended to handle the recalls and the meeting broke up, but Rachel didn’t leave with the others. She could tell how worried Matt was about this development and couldn’t bear to leave him to deal with the problem by himself.

‘How many people will we need to recall, do you know?’ she asked.

‘At the moment it stands at just over three dozen, although I’ll go through the case notes again in case anyone’s been missed out.’

‘Do you really need to do that?’ she protested. ‘If Ross and Gemma have checked the files then I can’t see that they’ll have overlooked anyone.’

‘Probably not, but at the end of the day I’m responsible for the patients who are registered with this practice so it’s down to me to make sure that everyone who needs to be recalled is seen.’

Rachel sighed. ‘I’ve said this before, Matt, but you can’t be responsible for every single thing that happens here. It’s too much for anyone, including you.’

‘That may be so, but it doesn’t alter the fact that ultimately I’m to blame if things go wrong.’ He shrugged. ‘Anyway, I prefer to do the job myself. That way I’m not disappointed if other people don’t come up to my expectations.’

‘I used to think like that, too, was always afraid of being let down. But sometimes you have to take a risk and trust people.’ Rachel could hear the plea in her voice. They may have been discussing the running of the surgery but she was aware that their comments could apply to more than their work. If Matt would take a risk in his private life, she thought sadly, his life could be very different.

The realisation that she would probably never be a part of his life even if he did so was too hard to bear. Rachel excused herself and left, feeling a sense of loss welling up inside her. That night they had spent together had made her long for more, more nights and days too. The truth was that she wanted Matt in her life week in and week out, year after year, and the thought brought a rush of tears to her eyes because it was unlikely to happen. Matt may have enjoyed making love to her but he didn’t want her to play a permanent role in his future. He couldn’t do when he so obviously regretted what had gone on.

Rachel went back to her room, forcing down the tide of emotions that threatened to engulf her. She wouldn’t cry, not now, not here. Here in the surgery she had a role to fulfil and she would do it to the best of her ability. She wasn’t a woman with a bruised and battered heart but a doctor who had patients who relied on her.

It was something to cling to, what gave her life purpose even though it was no longer enough to fill it the way it had done in the past. Now that she knew how good it felt to love someone, she longed for more, but if it wasn’t to be, she had to accept that. She certainly couldn’t make Matt love her in return and wouldn’t try. For love to mean anything it had to be true to itself—it couldn’t be forced or coerced.

Matt understood that because he had loved his late wife. Maybe one day he would reach a point where he could move on, but it wouldn’t be her, Rachel Mackenzie, he gave his heart to. It would be some other woman who reaped that reward.

Matt could feel that black cloud hovering over him again all afternoon long. It was partly the fact that it felt as though everything was falling apart around him, but mainly because Rachel had been so distant towards him recently. Even that afternoon, when he would have expected her to help him thrash out this problem, she had made an excuse and left. She was determined to put their night of passion behind her and he wished he could do the same. Oh, he had tried all right, but he knew to his cost how spectacularly unsuccessful he had been. He merely had to be near her and his body was instantly on the alert, as it had been that day!

Matt cursed under his breath as he checked that all the lights were off and locked up. He got into his car and headed for home, taking his time as the roads were extremely busy. With less than a week to go before Christmas, the shops were staying open late and that explained all the extra traffic. He reached the centre of town at last and joined the queue at the intersection to wait for the lights to change, inching his way forward until there was just one car in front of him.

The lights changed again and the car ahead of him moved forward. It was halfway across the junction when a van came hurtling out of one of the side roads, ignoring the fact that the traffic lights were against it. It rammed into the car and sent it spinning across the road where it came to rest wedged up against a lamppost. The van didn’t stop but sped on, clipping the sides of several other vehicles that were waiting to enter the multi-storey car park as it hurtled off down the road.

Unsurprisingly, there was chaos after that. People were leaping out of their cars to see what damage had been done, bringing the traffic to a standstill. Matt ignored what was going on around him as he leapt out of his car and ran across the road to where the first car had ended up. There were two girls in it and he could tell at once that both were injured. A middle-aged man suddenly pushed past him and wrenched open the passenger side door, obviously intending to lift the nearest girl out, and Matt hurriedly intervened.

‘Don’t move her!’ he ordered, elbowing the man aside. Crouching down, he checked the girl’s pulse and was relieved when he found it to be rather rapid but reassuringly strong. She had a nasty cut on the side of her head just above her left ear which he guessed had happened when the side window had shattered. She was obviously shocked and disorientated, but apart from that she didn’t appear to be too badly injured. However, one thing he had learned over the years was never to take anything at face value. He turned to the other man.

‘I’m a doctor and although I don’t think she’s too badly injured, I don’t want her moved until I’m sure it’s safe to do so. Can you stand here while I check the driver and stop anyone else from moving her?’

The man looked doubtful. He was obviously loath to follow Matt’s instructions until a woman in the crowd suddenly piped up. ‘You do what Dr Thompson tells you, Alf. He’s the expert so don’t you go moving her until he says so.’

Matt silently blessed her as he hurried round the car to check on the driver, a girl in her teens who looked scarcely old enough to hold a licence. The driver’s door was crumpled in and it was impossible to open it, but with the help of a bystander, he managed to force open the hatchback and climbed into the car that way. There wasn’t much room to manoeuvre as the driver’s seat had broken in two and the top half was resting on the rear seat.

Matt inched himself forward as far as he could go and placed his fingers on the carotid artery in the girl’s neck. His heart sank because he couldn’t detect a pulse at first. He tried again and finally felt the tiniest flutter beneath his fingertips. She was alive but only just from the look of it.

‘Matt?’

He looked round when he heard a familiar voice calling him and felt his heart lift when he saw Rachel peering through the open hatchback. ‘Good timing! I could do with some help,’ he said, trying not to let her know how pleased he was to see her. Rachel had made no bones about the fact that she wasn’t looking for commitment and that night they had spent together had proved it beyond any doubt. She couldn’t have dismissed what had happened so easily if it had meant anything to her.

He forced the thought to the back of his mind because it was neither the time nor the place to dwell on it. Leaning forward, he tried to assess the girl’s injuries, but it was impossible to see very much. It appeared that her legs had been trapped when the car’s bonnet had been crushed and he simply couldn’t tell how serious her injuries were.

‘Damn!’ he cursed, carefully easing his way back out of the vehicle. It was an old car and it hadn’t stood much of a chance when the van had hit it. There were chunks of metal protruding into the interior and they proved a major hazard when getting in and out. He finally made it unscathed and turned to Rachel, trying not to notice how pretty she looked in the glow from the streetlamps.

‘She’s alive but that’s about all I can tell you. I can’t assess how badly injured she is because I can’t get to her. However, her pulse is very faint. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say she’s bleeding internally.’

‘Maybe I can get a better look,’ Rachel suggested. ‘I’m smaller than you and I should be able to wriggle further into the car.’

‘It’s worth a try,’ he agreed. ‘But be careful. There’s chunks of metal sticking out all over the place—you don’t want to cut yourself.’

‘I certainly don’t.’ Rachel shrugged off her coat and handed it to him. ‘It will be easier without this and we can use it to cover her up with once I’ve examined her. It’s freezing tonight and she needs to be kept warm.’

She climbed into the car and Matt found himself holding his breath as he watched her lean through the gap between the front seats. Part of the front axle had broken through the floor and there were a lot of sharp pieces of metal about.

‘Careful!’ he warned. ‘Mind where you put your hands.’

Rachel nodded, preferring to save her breath for the difficult task of inching herself far enough forward to reach the lower half of the girl’s body. Matt caught a tantalising glimpse of her shapely bottom before he averted his eyes. He made his way round to the passenger side to check on the other casualty. She seemed a little less shocked, he noted in relief, although he put out a restraining hand when she tried to unbuckle her seat belt.