The Magic of Christmas (14 page)

‘It's highly probably that she has a GI infection and the headache is probably a result of dehydration,' Penny said crisply, reaching for an IV tray. ‘A stomach bug. My flatmate has had the same thing all week.'

‘That's quite possible. Or the abdominal pain could be referred from the diaphragm.' Lara held the mask in place and rubbed her finger gently against the child's cheek. ‘You're a good girl. Dr
Blake is just going to listen to your chest and feel your tummy.'

‘Temperature?'

‘Thirty-eight point seven and she's wheezing. She could be suffering from a lower respiratory tract infection.'

Penny looked at her. ‘Pneumonia is extremely unlikely if there's wheeze present.'

‘Her ears and throat are clear.' Christian examined the child's chest. ‘Let's get a line in and take some bloods. They may not be conclusive but they might provide a useful baseline. We'll do the usual, plus CRP and ESR.'

The mother was white and upset. ‘She kept complaining of a headache. I thought that was because of the temperature.'

‘Mycoplasma?' Lara gave a tiny shrug and Christian looked at her as he removed the stethoscope from his ears.

‘It's possible.' He tapped the child's chest, listening for dullness to percussion or bronchial breathing. ‘There's no sign of consolidation,' he murmured, ‘but that doesn't necessarily exclude pneumonia.'

‘She has a rash, Christian,' Lara said quickly, noticing the red raised marks on the child's body.

‘A rash?' the mother whimpered. ‘Is it meningitis?'

Christian shook his head. ‘I don't think that's what we're looking at here. Lara, give me a 22-gauge needle.' He stroked his hand along the child's arm, looking for a vein. ‘Squeeze for me.'

Lara closed her fingers round the child's tiny wrist and Christian slid the needle into the vein with no apparent effort.

‘That's quite a party trick,' Lara said, handing him some adhesive tape then reaching for the blood bottles that she'd put ready. Their movements were smooth and synchronised. ‘Tell me what you want. FBC and cultures, obviously.'

He took the bottles from her and carefully withdrew the necessary blood. ‘Viral titres and mycoplasma antibodies. I think you might be right.'

Penny walked back into the room with the radiographer just as Lara was bandaging the child's hand to a splint so that the cannula wouldn't be accidentally dislodged.

Christian glanced at the monitor. ‘Her sats are
still below ninety-two per cent. She's exhausted and she's going to need IV antibiotics so I'm going to call paediatric ICU.'

‘PICU?' Penny looked startled and followed him out of the room, clearly to glean more information on why he was so concerned.

Lara made the child more comfortable and explained what was happening to the mother.

The anaesthetist and the paediatrician arrived together, examined the child and transferred her to PICU.

Penny stared as they left the room with the child. ‘Mycoplasma pneumonia? She had all the signs of gastroenteritis.'

‘We won't know for sure until the results come back but clinically, yes, I'd say that Lara made a good guess.' Christian put the pen back into his pocket, his expression inscrutable. ‘Fran rang through. Amy's father is in Reception. Can you go and talk to him, Lara? You're good with anxious relatives.'

It was obvious that he intended to speak to Penny and Lara quickly melted from the room, only too eager to follow his suggestion.

She took Mr Wills up to PICU and then returned to Paediatric Resus. There was no sign of Penny and Christian was at the desk, writing up some notes.

‘I hope you directed her to the chapter on resuscitation of the sick child,' Lara muttered as she slid into the seat next to him.

Christian sat back in his chair. ‘She didn't realise the child was so seriously ill.'

‘I pointed it out.'

‘Yes.' He gave a faint smile. ‘She told me. She's very new to the ED. She hasn't yet worked out the nurses usually know more than the doctors.'

‘I don't mind inexperience, but she didn't want to call you.' She stopped talking as Penny walked up to them.

‘I had no idea that the child was so sick,' she said humbly. ‘I just thought she was quiet because she had a stomach bug. What was it that made you suspect that the child was seriously ill? I mean, you just took one look at her and took her into Resus and asked for Christian.'

Lara thought about it. ‘I don't know.' Instinct? Experience? ‘When you've seen a few sick children, you know when to worry.'

Penny pulled a face. ‘I need to gain that instinct fast.'

‘Work alongside Lara,' Christian suggested, rising to his feet in a fluid movement. ‘She has the best instincts of any nurse I've worked with. It's a shame she's going to Australia.'

Lara watched as he strode from the room.
He was just complimenting her nursing skills,
she told herself. Nothing else.

And it wasn't a shame she was going to Australia.

It was the thing that was going to save her.

L
ARA
lit the candles on the kitchen table and then blew them out again.

Too romantic.

Christian had made it all too clear that he wasn't interested in anything other than friendship. Since the kiss, he'd become even more detached and distant. At work he was cool and professional and he treated her exactly the same way as he treated the other nurses. At home, he spoke to her as if she was a valued friend.

He gave her no encouragement, barely glanced in her direction when they were together, and it was clear to her that he wasn't struggling with the situation in the same way that she was struggling.

Lara removed the plates from the cooker and stood for a moment, her mind drifting.

The kiss had obviously cured him of whatever attraction he'd felt.

Unfortunately it had had the opposite effect on her.

Lost in thought, Lara gave a start as she heard the sound of his key in the door and the plate slipped from her fingers.

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid,' she muttered to herself as she stooped to pick up the broken pieces.

‘Don't cut yourself.' Christian's deep voice came from the doorway and he walked towards her, a frown on his face. ‘Was the plate wet?'

‘No.' She kept her head down, afraid that her feelings would show in her expression. ‘I just wasn't holding it properly. Sorry. It was expensive. I'll replace it.'

‘Why would you want to replace it? It's only a plate.' He shrugged his broad shoulders out of his thick coat. ‘It's freezing out there. We're going to have more snow. Are the girls asleep?'

‘Yes.' She stood up, wrapped the broken pieces of plate and dropped them in the bin. ‘They stayed awake as long as possible, waiting for you, but you were later than we all planned.'

‘A group of teenagers drove into a lamppost half an hour before I was planning to leave. They weren't wearing seat belts.' Christian gave a rueful smile and poured himself a large whiskey. ‘Can I offer you a drink?'

So formal.
It was as if they were total strangers who'd never experienced an incredible, explosive kiss. ‘No, thank you.' She finished laying the table. ‘I'll just serve dinner and then I'll go to bed. I'm tired.'

Suddenly she wished she'd eaten with the children. It would have stopped her having to spend an uncomfortable evening with Christian.

‘Don't just disappear.' He sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and stretched his legs out in front of him. ‘You had a busy day.'

‘Yes. That woman with the fractured femur took a long time to sort out.' She placed a dish of chicken in front of him. ‘I hope you like spicy food. It has quite a lot of chilli in it.'

‘I love spicy food. Are you all right?' He frowned across at her as he served himself. ‘Usually by this point in the evening you've cracked at least ten jokes. Are you ill?'

‘No, not ill.'

In love.

The realisation struck her with the force of a tornado and she gave a soft gasp of shock. No.
No
. She couldn't be in love. Not now. Not with Christian.

Wrong man. Wrong time of her life.

Oh, help…

‘Lara?' His eyes were fixed on her face, his expression curiously intent. ‘What's the matter?'

‘I've had a long day,' she mumbled, passing him a bowl of fluffy rice. ‘Help yourself. It's getting cold.'

‘You're not eating?'

‘Yes. No. Just a small amount.' She was too shocked to eat.

Love?

How had that happened? How could love just spring out of nowhere?

‘What's wrong?' His voice was unexpectedly gentle. ‘Are you missing your family?'

She gritted her teeth and wished he'd say something cutting and insensitive.
Anything that might help her cope with the fact that she was in love
with a man who wasn't interested.
‘Yes, I miss them. No matter where we are or what we're doing, we've always managed to get together at Christmas. This is the first year that we've been spread out.'

‘Tell me about your family Christmas. Did you have your own routines and traditions?'

Christmas. Routines and traditions.

It was as if the kiss had never happened.
As if they'd never shared an amazing moment of intimacy.

Lara sat back, her plate untouched. ‘Well, traditionally Christmas Eve was spent squashing presents so hard that I almost broke them. Then I'd spend the whole night prising my brother's eyes open just to see if he was really asleep or just pretending. Then I'd get up at some unearthly hour when it was still dark and wake the whole household. Mum and Dad never minded. They'd make themselves a really strong pot of coffee and snuggle up together with us while we opened our stockings. Then we ate these amazing cinnamon biscuits shaped like stars that Mum only ever made at Christmas.'

‘And how old were you then?' His voice was amused. ‘Same age as Aggie?'

She pushed aside the sadness that threatened to swamp her.
Suddenly she felt strangely vulnerable and she wished that her family wasn't so far away.
‘Oh, I was at least twenty-four,' she joked lightly. ‘I was describing last Christmas. So how about you? Tell me about your Christmas.'

‘Much more formal than yours.' He helped himself to more chicken. ‘On Christmas Eve my parents would hold a dinner for friends and colleagues of my father.'

‘Colleagues?'

‘He was a lawyer. He spent a great deal of time networking.'

Lara pulled a face. ‘Christmas is for families.'

‘Ah, that's where you're wrong.' He gave a mocking smile. ‘In my family, Christmas is just another business opportunity. Get people while they're under the influence of champagne. But we did have a traditional lunch on Christmas Day.'

‘Hold on.' Lara lifted a hand. ‘When did you open your stocking?'

He shrugged. ‘Whenever I liked. When I woke up.'

‘Your parents didn't get angry if you woke them early?'

‘I never woke them at all.' He finished the last of the chicken. ‘I opened the stocking on my own.'

She was silent for a moment. ‘That sounds lonely, Christian.'

‘It was my life. I was an only child. Why aren't you eating?'

Lara glanced down at her plate and realised that it was still full. ‘I—I suppose I'm just not hungry.'

She was too shocked by the discovery that she was in love.

How could this have happened?

Her problem was
how
to love someone, not how
not
to love them.

She had absolutely no experience of this scenario. How was she supposed to handle it?

Would it just fade?

Would she eventually get on with her life and forget about him?

Or would she be in pain for ever?

* * *

‘This one! This one!'Aggie danced up and down next to a huge Christmas tree and Christian raised his eyebrows.

‘Aggie, that tree is enormous.'

‘I know. I've never seen a tree like it. This tree is my
dream
.' Her eyes shone with excitement as she craned her neck to try and see the top. ‘It's
perfect
.'

‘I agree.' Lara stamped her feet to keep warm, her breath clouding the freezing air.
Love faded in time,
she told herself firmly, ignoring the dull ache in the centre of her chest. Australia would be the perfect distraction. ‘How about you, Chloe? What do you think?'

‘I—It's nice.' Chloe glanced anxiously towards her father. ‘Do you think it's too big, Dad? We could pick a smaller one if you'd rather.'

Lara wondered why Chloe was always so anxious to please her father.
Say you like this one,
she urged silently as she glanced towards Christian.
She wants it but she's worried about you.

He looked at Chloe and then looked at the tree. ‘I think it's a great tree,' he said gruffly, and Lara smiled with relief.

He was a brilliant father. Whatever he thought, he had good instincts.

‘That's decided, then.' She huddled into her scarf. ‘Let's get on with it before we all freeze. We'll take the tree home, decorate it and I'll warm some mince pies in the oven. I can't believe how cold it is.'

‘Do you think it might snow?'Aggie danced on the spot and Christian smiled.

‘It doesn't often snow in London.'

Lara glanced up at the sky. It was grey and ominous. ‘It could snow. It's cold enough.' And soon she'd be in Australia with her brother.

But the thought didn't bring the same rush of excitement that it had before she'd fallen in love.

‘If it snows, we can make a snowman. Can we do the Rudolph Jive when we get home? And can you make us some of your amazing hot chocolate?' Aggie slipped her hand into Lara's and smiled up at her. ‘With piles of chocolate and marshmallows. Ple-e-e-ease?'