How To Save a Marriage in a Million Read Free Page A

an opportunity to speak to her alone, not only to reassure her that the last thing he wanted to do was to upset her but also to offer her an olive branch and let her know he wasn’t about to intrude on the life she now had…unless she wanted him to.
    He leafed through the case notes while Lynne allocated patients and duties to her staff for the day.
    ‘Joanna will be coming with us, if that’s okay with you, Dr Howell?’ Lynne interrupted his trainof thought. He didn’t look up, but gathered the files and put them on the trolley.
    ‘Fine by me.’
    ‘She’s the only nurse who gets to know all the kids on the ward and their families.’ She chuckled. ‘And a few of their secrets they won’t share with anyone else.’
    Now, why didn’t that surprise him?
    Joanna was again looking embarrassed, as if she wasn’t comfortable with compliments—an unusual personality trait in an experienced, capable and obviously respected nurse. Richard dismissed the thought that his presence was the reason and focused his attention on what the charge sister was saying.
    ‘We’ll see Cassie, our most recent admission, shall we?’ Lynne said as she guided them into the small room next to the two single rooms set aside for the special care of patients with severely compromised immune systems or serious infections that might be a threat to the fragile health of other sick patients on the ward. They all dutifully rubbed sanitising gel onto their hands.
    ‘Cassie’s been isolated as a precaution until we get confirmation of the nature of her infection.With your okay, Dr Howell, we’ll move her into the general ward as soon as we can.’
    Joanna entered the room first and Richard noticed the girl’s face light up at the sight of her. Cassie’s mother, though she looked as if she’d had little sleep the previous night, also managed a smile.
    Joanna held up her hand in a high-five gesture.
    ‘Love the new look, Jo,’ the twelve-year-old said with a cheeky grin as their hands touched. Both mother and child were behaving as if Richard and Lynne weren’t in the room. Their attention was entirely on Joanna…and they weren’t the only ones. She had transformed on entering Cassie’s room: she was now confident, charismatic even and seemed to have an aura of optimism hovering around her.
    ‘Can’t have you getting all the attention on the ward. I did it purely out of jealousy,’ Joanna said.
    Cassie smiled and then finally acknowledged that Joanna wasn’t the only one who had entered the room.
    ‘Who’s that?’ she said with the typical forthrightness of the young. ‘Is he the new doctor?’
    ‘Where are your manners, Cass?’ her mothersaid as she stood to introduce herself. ‘I’m Kerry.’ She extended her hand.
    ‘Dr Richard Howell. I’ve taken over from Dr Price and will be looking after Cassie for the rest of her treatment.’ He turned to the girl and smiled. ‘Hi, Cassie. I gather you’re doing well with the chemo but you’ve had a setback. What’s happened to bring you back to hospital?’
    The girl looked at her mother then began to cough. It was a rasping, throaty cough and, combined with Cassie’s good spirits, he doubted she had a serious infection.
    ‘You tell him, Mum,’ she said, slightly breathless from the exertion of coughing.
    ‘Her brother had a cold last week. Cassie caught it, just a runny nose and a bit of a dry cough and I thought she was getting over it. She’s in the middle of the cycle so I thought her neutrophils would be coming up and she’d be okay. But then last night—’
    Cassie interrupted. ‘I got a fever and started coughing some gunk.’
    ‘And you know the rules about coming in—’
    ‘If I feel sick and my temperature goes over 38degrees. But it’s come down, hasn’t it, Jo? When can I go home?’
    Richard looked at the chart. Her temperature had steadily and rapidly decreased since she’d commenced antibiotics and the last reading was just above normal.
    Joanna