Marriage and Babies Bundle by Kate Walker & Lee Wilkinson & Margaret Mayo & Maggie Cox

Author:Kate Walker & Lee Wilkinson & Margaret Mayo & Maggie Cox
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

The flight to Los Angeles was a mercifully short one and they were soon descending through the evening smog. But the taxi drive to Mardale, fraught with anxiety as it was, seemed to take an age.

When they arrived at the large modern hospital, apart from the accident and emergency wing, it was relatively quiet and seemed on the point of settling down for the night.

An urgent enquiry at the main reception desk sent them hurrying up to the intensive care coronary unit, where they were stopped by a locked door with a keypad, a voice grille, and a closed-circuit television camera.

A disembodied male voice said, ‘This is a limited entry unit, so please state your business.’

‘I’m Miss Boyd.’ Perdita kept her voice steady with an effort. ‘I’ve come to see my father, John Boyd. Earlier today he suffered a heart attack and I understand he’s dangerously ill.’

There was a long pause, then the voice said, ‘We don’t appear to have a patient of that name listed. If you’ll wait a moment I’ll try and get hold of the doctor in charge.’

After an agonizing wait, the door opened and a short balding man with cold blue eyes and an irascible manner appeared.

Closing the door behind him, he said brusquely, ‘Miss Boyd, I’m Dr Sondheim. You appear to have misunderstood or been misinformed—’ his expression made it abundantly clear which he believed ‘—about the severity of your father’s condition. Though he had what might loosely be described as a heart attack, it was an extremely mild one, and I can assure you that he’s in no immediate danger.’

Perdita released the breath she’d been holding in a sob of relief as Martin asked, ‘You’re quite sure about that?’

The doctor gave him an exceedingly frosty look and said, ‘Quite sure.’

‘Please can we see him?’ Perdita begged.

‘This is the intensive care unit and your father is in the normal coronary unit.’

‘Can we see him there?’

‘My dear young lady, we can’t possibly allow people to come and go at all hours disturbing our patients,’ he said severely.

Then, as though to quash any possible argument, ‘And the absolute rule is, no visitors at night unless the patient is very seriously ill, which happily your father is not.’

Taking pity on her, he added in a slightly softer tone, ‘I strongly suggest that you go home and stop worrying. For the next twenty-four hours all your father needs is rest and quiet. When the twenty-four hours are up, we can resume the tests, and a couple of days after that you’ll have him home, safe and sound.

‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have patients to attend to who are seriously ill.’

Before she could even thank him, he had keyed in a number and disappeared back inside, shutting the door firmly behind him and leaving them standing in the dimly lit, deserted corridor.

After all the previous worry, the sheer relief of finding her father was in no immediate danger had made Perdita start to tremble inwardly and turned her legs to water.

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