Dr. Campbell's Secret Son (11 page)

‘One of the more experienced doctors has had to return to Europe unexpectedly—a family emergency,’ Greg had told Jamie. ‘We were coping, just about, without you, but now being two doctors down is putting a strain on our already overstretched resources. I simply can’t expect anyone to do more. We’re all working twelve-hour shifts as it is.’

‘Do you need me to come back?’ Jamie had asked. ‘I still have a couple of weeks left to do here, but perhaps if I explain, they’ll let me go earlier.’ Even as Jamie had asked the question he had known it wasn’t that simple. If it hadn’t been for Sarah and Calum he would have already booked the first plane back. He would have hated to let the Glasgow hospital down, but it was far easier for them to find a replacement than the small, poorly funded hospital in Africa.

‘No, we can manage for another couple of weeks. Just. As long as we know you’ll be coming, we can soldier on.’

‘If you’re sure?’ Jamie said, not really convinced. ‘You will let me know if it all becomes too much?’

‘Straight away, I promise,’ was the reply.

‘How’s Sibongele?’ Jamie asked. ‘Is he behaving himself?’

Again there was a slight hesitation. ‘He’s OK, I guess. He misses you. He asks every day when you’re coming back.’

‘Any news of family yet?’

‘We’re still trying to track down his mother’s sister. One of the nurses thinks she knows which village she lives in and we have sent word to her that Sibongele is well enough to leave the hospital and go home. But so far we haven’t heard anything. We don’t even know if she got the message.’

‘If we haven’t heard by the time I get back, I’ll go to the village myself and try and find her. The boy needs to be with his family.’

‘The trouble is, Jamie, I don’t think he wants to go. You know he thinks of you as his family since his mother died. He’s been at the hospital for so long now, he doesn’t remember anything else. He loves helping in the wards. He’s bright and recites everything he’s learnt from you at the drop of the hat.’ Greg laughed. ‘I swear some of the patients trust his opinion more than they do ours.’

Jamie smiled, too. He could easily picture fourteen-year-old Sibongele working on the wards with his ready smile and keenness to help. But he was a little concerned at how attached the boy had become to him. Heaven knew why the boy thought he could be a father to him—he couldn’t even be sure he could be a father to his own child. But since the child had lost his mother to the TB that had kept Sibongele in the hospital for the past six months, he had developed an attachment to Jamie. And, Jamie had to admit, he was fond of the boy. In fact, although he was keen to see the boy reunited with his aunt, he knew he would miss him when he left.

After he replaced the receiver, Jamie prowled around his small flat. He felt restless and ill at ease. Once or twice he reached for the phone to call Sarah, but pulled back at the last minute. What, after all, could he say to her?

Jamie had always paid little heed to his surroundings, but today the one bed-roomed apartment seemed to closing in on him. As hospital accommodation went, it was clean and modern with an open-plan sitting room divided by a breakfast bar and a functional kitchenette. The rest of the flat comprised a boxy bedroom and a tiny bathroom with overhead shower.

A steady downpour of rain rattled the window-panes, dampening his spirits even further, and he experienced a sudden yearning for Africa.

As he thought of the country he had spent the last year and a half in, he realised how much he was missing the wide open spaces, and the mission hospital with the staff and patients. They would be struggling to cope without him. There were already too few doctors for too many patients. For a moment he let himself imagine what it would be like to return there with Sarah at his side. She would love the country, he was certain, and as for Calum, he would love it, too. There was an old reservoir that the staff used for dips. He could teach his son to swim. He pushed the thoughts away. It was unlikely to happen. Perhaps he should return sooner than he had planned? Hand in his notice and leave as soon as the hospital managed to find another locum to replace him? There was probably little requirement to further brush up his skills. Even the short time he had spent at the Royal was sufficient for him to be reassured that his clinical skills were fully up to date.

Why not, then? Why not just go? Remove himself from Sarah and Calum’s lives? Let them get on with their lives.

The ringing of the phone rang dragged him away from his brooding thoughts.

‘Hi. It’s Robert. Can you meet me in the pub across the road in ten minutes?’

‘Have you got the results?’ Jamie felt his heart begin to beat faster. ‘If you have, tell me now, over the phone.’

‘Yes, I have the results. But I want to tell you face to face. Can you meet me or not?’

‘Do I have an option?’

‘Not really. See you in ten.’ Jamie heard the click as Robert terminated the call.

As Jamie made the short walk to the pub, his mind was in turmoil. What if the results were positive? How would that affect Calum? He couldn’t bear the distress it would cause Sarah when she learned that her child might have a disease that would severely limit her child’s future. Would she agree to have him tested? What if she chose to wait until he was old enough to make his own decision? Perhaps his son would choose not to know. Follow in his father’s footsteps? Well, he could hardly blame him. If the results were positive, Jamie knew that it was likely he could develop the illness at any time. How could he continue to be part of Calum’s life knowing that one day he might become dependent on his child? He shuddered. Anything but that. He would have no option but to remove himself as quickly as possible from their lives. They would forget about him. Make their own future. In time Sarah would find someone else, someone who would be a good father to Calum and a support to her. Despite himself he felt his mind reel away from the image of Sarah in someone else’s arms, in someone else’s bed. Still, there was no point in torturing himself. In a few minutes he would know his fate.

He swung the pub door open, bringing a blast of cold air into the heavy atmosphere of the bar. It was almost empty apart from one or two couples enjoying their drinks at the small tables set out near the fire. Robert, a solitary figure at the bar, was already in the process of ordering drinks.

‘That was quick. What can I get you?’ he asked as Jamie approached.

‘I could do with a large malt, but as I’m on call, a Coke will have to do.’ Jamie waited impatiently. It seemed to take an interminable time for the barman to pour their drinks. He had to stop himself from hauling Robert off the barstool and demanding a response. Eventually they were both seated far away from listening ears in a secluded corner.

‘Come on man. Spit it out,’ Jamie ground out between clenched teeth.

Ignoring his tone, Robert raised his glass and grinned. ‘Cheers.’ he said. ‘You can relax. The results were negative. You don’t carry the gene.’

Jamie felt as if all the breath had been knocked out of his body. He had hardly dared to hope.

‘You’re sure?’ he queried. ‘I have to be a hundred per cent certain.’

‘I knew you would feel like that, so I used my influence and got them to run the test twice. There’s no doubt, you definitely do not have the gene.’

‘Thank God for that.’ He leant back in the chair. The relief was overwhelming. Now he knew, he could hardly take it all in.

‘Hey, you owe me one,’ Robert said with a smile of pleasure. ‘I can’t tell you how many favours I had to call in to get this done. And so quickly.’

‘Anything you want. You just name it and it’s yours,’ Jamie responded fervently. ‘Thank you. You have no idea what this means.’ As the two men sat in silence Jamie’s first thought was for his child. If he didn’t have the gene, there was no chance that his son would have it either. Calum was never going to develop Huntington’s chorea. He would never know the agony of having his muscles gradually lose control, with the subsequent loss of independence. He would never—as Jamie’s father had done in the latter stages of the disease—struggle with the simplest tasks of eating and breathing. There was nothing stopping Calum from having the brightest future.

His thoughts turned to himself. Neither would he know or have to suffer the effects of the devastating illness. He, too, was free to live his life like any other man. Free to love, have children. For the first time since he had learned of his father’s illness as a third-year medical student, Jamie knew he had a future. And what would that future hold? Calum certainly. But could that future also include Sarah? Could she learn to trust him again? Fall in love with him once more? Or was it too late? Jamie knew that he had to find out. He needed to see her. Tell her everything. Make her understand why he had acted as he had.

Although he was desperate to talk to Sarah, good manners prevented him from jumping to his feet and leaving his friend to finish his drink alone.

‘Can I get you another one?’ he offered.

‘No, thanks. I can tell you are straining at the bit to get away. Now you know, what are you going to do? Are you going to tell Sarah?’

‘At least now I can explain why I behaved as I did. Hell, what must she think of me? First of all I rush away to Africa without a reasonable explanation and then when I return and find out I have a son, I appear to reject him, too. She must think I’m a real bastard.’

‘Mmm, I see what you mean. But Sarah is a reasonable woman. Hopefully she’ll understand. I suspect, though, that you’re going to have to do a fair bit of grovelling first. Anyway, let’s finish our drinks and get out of here. It’s about time you got on with the rest of your life.’

Jamie felt too restless to go back to the residence. He needed to see Calum and Sarah and he needed to see them straight away. But first he’d pop into the department and make sure there were no patients requiring his expertise. It would mean he was less likely to be interrupted when he saw Sarah.

Jamie used the back entrance of the A and E department, walking past a thankfully empty resus suite. Glancing into the waiting room, he noted a scattering of people sitting patiently while they waited to be seen. Deciding to check the triage area before he left, he noted with surprise a familiar figure sitting at the nurses’ station, chatting with Elspeth.

‘Dr Campbell, hi—thought you were at home. I was just about to phone you. You have a visitor,’ Elspeth explained, tilting her head in the direction of Mrs MacLeod.

‘Mrs MacLeod! Is everything all right?’ Jamie asked, frowning, wondering if her broken leg was causing her problems.

The elderly lady beamed up at him. ‘Och, I’m just grand! Here, this is for you—baked it myself,’ she added, holding out a biscuit tin which held a fresh-baked sponge cake. ‘I wanted to show you how well I’m doing—and to thank you for everything you did.’

Aware that they were gathering an audience of nursing and medical staff, Jamie shifted uneasily. ‘That was really kind of you, Mrs MacLeod. Thank you. But I was just doing my job, you know.’

‘Rubbish, young man. What you did for me was way and beyond the call of duty and everyone knows it!’ Getting stiffly to her feet, she leaned on her walking stick. ‘Well, don’t want to take up any more of your valuable time, Doctor. I need to be getting back to let in the home help, although to be honest she’s a bit hopeless. It should be me taking care of her!’

Jamie smiled and shook his head in amazement at the spirit and courage of the elderly lady as she walked straight backed down the corridor. Noting the amused expressions of his colleagues gathered round the desk, he turned to Elspeth.

‘As you all have nothing better to do than hover about here, I’m off. If you need me you can either page me or call my mobile.’

‘Aren’t you going to share your cake with us, Doctor?’ Elspeth called after his departing back.

Jamie decided to walk the couple of miles to see Sarah. The fresh air and exercise would help clear his head. If the hospital called and he was needed urgently, he would flag a taxi and would be back at the hospital in no time.

* * *

Sarah was just finishing giving Calum his bath before getting him ready for bed when the doorbell rang. She wrapped the baby up in a soft white towel and carried him to the door. She expected to see either her mother or one of her friends. What she hadn’t expected was Jamie, grinning broadly, holding what seemed to be a cake tin in his hand.

‘Hello, you,’ he said softly. ‘Can I come in?’

He took in the sight of Sarah with their son in her arms. She was barefoot and wearing a pair of faded jeans with a broad leather belt low on her hips. Her white T-shirt rode up slightly, revealing her toned, lightly tanned abdomen. She had her hair tied up in a high ponytail and a blob of foam clung to her fringe. Jamie had never seen her look so desirable. He resisted the urge to pull her into his arms and cover her with kisses.

‘As you can see, we are a little tied up at the moment. It’s not really a convenient time,’ she responded.

Jamie paid no attention to her frosty tone, instead stepping into the flat and taking Calum from her.

‘I’ll help you put him to bed, if you like.’

Sarah resisted the temptation to pluck Calum back. She refused to treat her child like a ping-pong ball. But who exactly did Jamie think he was? One minute he wanted nothing to do with her or her child, except perhaps a quick romp in the sack with her, and the next minute he was turning up at her door as if he lived there. The man had a nerve.

‘What are you doing here, Jamie? If it’s Calum you’ve come to see, we really need to discuss access.’

‘You and I need to talk,’ Jamie said firmly. ‘But let’s get this little one off to bed and then we can talk undisturbed. Just tell me what to do.’ He had the grace to look a little self-conscious as he said that. Clearly Jamie had no idea what putting a baby to bed actually entailed.

Sarah suppressed a smile. It was an unusual situation, seeing Jamie in a position where he obviously felt clueless. This was completely different to how he normally appeared. Whether at work or in the mountains, Jamie always looked like a man who knew exactly what he was doing.