The Heart Surgeon's Baby Surprise Read online

  whose child had stopped breathing only twenty-four hours

  earlier?

  And then there was the baby itself, doomed not to

  live. Rationally she knew that babies only died at birth

  or soon after because they had something radically

  wrong with them, but as the little plane flew through the

  dusk, the sinking sun far off in the west painting the sky

  orange and vermilion, she grieved for the baby as well.

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  147

  ‘Storm building,’ Ron said. He’d spoken little except

  to point out places she didn’t know. He waved his hand

  towards the east where dark clouds roiled and rumbled.

  ‘Will it worry us?’ Jackie asked, and though Grace

  was still mentally rehearsing she caught Ron’s part of

  the conversation.

  ‘Might do later. I know you can’t hurry things but I

  wouldn’t stop for coffee if I were you,’ he said, bringing

  the little plane into land on a brightly lit airfield.

  ‘I don’t drink coffee,’ Grace assured him, feeling

  more at ease now they were on the ground.

  Ron taxied towards some small buildings at one end

  of the runway and in the lights already lit around them

  she could see another ambulance waiting.

  ‘That’s your ride. He’ll bring you back here. I’ll be

  waiting.’

  Grace thanked him and scrambled out of the plane

  behind Jackie, waiting for Ryan to emerge last before

  the three of them ran across the tarmac to the waiting

  ambulance. Ron hadn’t sounded over-worried about

  the storm, but they’d better not dilly-dally just in case.

  A woman who introduced herself but whose name

  went straight out of Grace’s mind met them at the front

  door of the hospital and took them up to the operating

  theatre.

  ‘Have you done retrievals before?’ Grace asked

  Jackie.

  ‘Quite a few,’ the older woman replied.

  ‘Then I’d like you to check the paperwork and make

  sure it’s all in order. Things could be done differently

  here and we don’t want to waste these people’s won-

  derful gift because of a mix-up in the paperwork.’

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  THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE

  Jackie nodded her understanding. She carefully read

  through all the official approvals, checked the necessary

  signatures were in place, then handed them to Grace for

  her signature.

  The little baby was waiting for them in Theatre and

  Grace felt her own heart clamp tightly, as if someone

  had gripped it with a fist. She felt a surge of sympathy

  for the parents of the tiny child and blinked back

  emotion she never allowed herself to show at work.

  Quietly, all of them touched by this lost life, they

  prepared—no theatre jokes tonight, no chat at all.

  Working carefully, she opened the chest and let the

  woman who’d met them know the heart was good—

  they would take it and use it. The woman would let

  Jimmie’s know it was a go so they could start prepping

  Scarlett.

  Then, making sure to take as much of the veins and

  arteries as possible, tying them off as she went, Grace

  gently removed the heart, passing it in her gloved hands

  to Ryan whose job it was to keep it in good condition

  until they got back to Sydney.

  ‘You people get going, we’ll close up.’ A young

  surgeon who had been in Theatre with them made the

  offer.

  Grace smiled at him.

  ‘Thanks—but do it neatly, won’t you?’

  The young man nodded and as his eyes met hers she

  knew everyone in the room was as choked with emotion

  as she was. It didn’t seem to matter how often you ex-

  perienced death, the death of a baby always affected

  you. And this particular baby had given them a precious

  gift—the gift of life for Scarlett.

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  149

  They rode back to the airfield in silence, meeting

  Ron who hurried them into the plane.

  ‘Storm worsening between here and Sydney so

  buckle up tight, ladies and gent—we’re in for a rough

  ride. Any of you feel queasy, there’re sick bags under the

  seats.’

  But rough didn’t begin to describe it. As the little

  plane was tossed in the air like a leaf in a high wind,

  Grace clung to her seat and thought about her own

  unborn baby.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ‘I’M GOING to see if I can get around it,’ Ron said,

  turning the plane so they were now travelling inland

  instead of along the coast, ‘and maybe beneath it, so

  don’t panic if you feel us going down.’

  ‘Whatever seems good to you,’ Ryan assured him,

  then he started joking about whether any of their hearts

  would survive a crash and did they all have valid organ

  donor cards?

  Medical humour, Grace knew, and Jackie was going

  along with it, while Ron concentrated grimly on

  keeping his tiny craft aloft.

  Grace smiled but she wasn’t listening to the talk, far

  more concerned about her own thoughts of immortal-

  ity.

  It wouldn’t matter if she died tonight, because the

  baby would die with her, but later on—if anything ever

  happened to her—was it fair to leave a child without

  a parent?

  Had she selfishly not thought of that?

  Theo had asked if a child shouldn’t have two parents

  and they’d talked around the subject a couple of times—

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  151

  hypothetically, of course. She’d scoffed at the idea and

  had later pointed out that although it wasn’t ideal, she’d

  grown up with one parent and done all right, but she’d

  had no choice in the matter. Of course a child needed

  two parents, especially if that was possible, if only for

  the security of knowing someone would always be there

  for them. Why hadn’t she thought of this earlier?

  Why hadn’t she considered something happening to

  her, and the child being left an orphan?

  Almost an orphan—it would still have a father!

  But what could she do?

  Explain her fears to Theo?

  Ask him if he’d mind very much…not marrying her,

  of course, that would be asking too much of him, but

  being a little more involved than perhaps he’d first

  imagined he would, so the child would have the security

  of knowing him?

  The plane dropped and Grace clung to the seat,

  noticing that Ryan’s jokes had dried up and all four of

  them were now quiet—each absorbed in their own

  private thoughts.

  Although hers were surely the most bizarre. She

  hadn’t even asked Theo if he’d be content to be the

  child’s guardian should something happen to her! How

  irresponsible was that?

  And if he said no?

  Could she marry someone else?

  As if! She’d reached thirty-five years of age before

  meeting a man who made her hormones zing so how

&nb
sp; likely was it she’d meet another one in the near future—

  and one who’d want to bring up someone else’s child?

  Impossible!

  152

  THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE

  ‘Are you OK?’ Ryan asked, and she turned around

  to find both him and Jackie looking anxiously at her.

  ‘Yes, why?’ she said, professional Grace back in

  control—or almost.

  ‘You were groaning,’ Jackie told her.

  ‘Thinking what a waste if we don’t get the heart to

  Sydney in time,’ she lied, but she pushed her own

  worries out of her head and concentrated on the plane,

  wondering if positive thinking did indeed have power…

  The team was in Theatre, Scarlett on the table, Phil

  waiting only for the message from the co-ordinator of

  the retrieval to say the plane had landed in Sydney

  before he opened Scarlett’s chest and began preparing

  to put her on bypass.

  Downstairs in the parents’ room the Robinsons

  would be sitting, probably holding each other, hope

  sneaking into their hearts for the first time since

  Scarlett’s birth.

  ‘I hate it when planes are late,’ Phil said, then he gave

  a sigh of relief as the theatre door opened and Becky

  poked her head in.

  ‘Are we set to go?’ Phil said, but Becky shook her

  head, then her voice, too, shook as she said, ‘There’s a

  storm. The plane’s gone off the radar.’

  ‘What do you mean, the plane’s gone off the radar?

  How can a plane go off the radar?’

  Theo hadn’t realised he’d bellowed the questions

  until everyone in the theatre turned to look at him, and

  he read in the horror in all their eyes just how a plane

  could go off the radar.

  ‘The organ donor centre co-ordinator just phoned to

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  153

  tell me that. There’s a storm between the border and

  here and the air traffic control people think the pilot

  might just be avoiding that,’ Becky said, but Theo could

  feel the icy dread that flooded through every member

  of the team in that room. People they knew—friends,

  even a lover—were on that plane.

  And Scarlett’s heart!

  ‘They’ll come through,’ Phil said, apparently realis-

  ing he had to take control before everyone’s morale

  sank any further. ‘Or land somewhere and wait out the

  blow.’

  He touched Scarlett’s cheek with a gloved finger.

  ‘Only problem is time—how long they can keep the

  heart viable—but they’ll do their best, little girl.’

  Then he stepped away from the table.

  ‘I think coffee and something to eat—half the team

  go now, the rest when that lot return. Silly to waste an

  opportunity to rest and eat when we might be up all

  night.’

  He sounded cheerful and his suggestion made sense

  but no one moved towards a door.

  Theo discovered that his main concern was that he

  didn’t even know if Grace got travel sick—and whether

  being thrown around in a small plane in a storm would

  make her ill. And what about the baby?

  She probably wouldn’t allow herself such weakness,

  he decided, smiling wryly to himself, but the realisa-

  tion of how little he knew of her bit deep.

  And to think they’d fallen out over something so

  stupid! Did it really matter if the baby had money

  coming to him or her?

  What mattered was that the baby was safe, because

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  THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE

  now the plane-crash scenario had presented itself in

  full gory detail in his mind’s eye, he realised he’d be

  devastated if anything were to happen to the baby’s

  mother.

  Devastated?

  Surely not—that was an extreme reaction and that

  meant emotional involvement.

  Which was when light dawned.

  Of course he was emotionally involved with Grace!

  Get real here, use the word, he was in love. And not only

  in love, but he loved her—loved the little smile she

  gave when she was uncertain, loved the way her eyes

  went hazy when they made love, loved a little mole she

  had just above her left buttock…

  He shook his head. Surely he couldn’t be thinking

  of Grace’s left buttock when her life was hanging in the

  balance—while she was in a tiny plane being flung

  around in the air, at the mercy of a storm.

  The door opened and Becky, crying openly now,

  poked her head in.

  ‘There’s no news,’ she said in a voice of such doom

  Theo wanted to shake her.

  ‘Oh, come on now, everyone,’ he said. ‘Stop expect-

  ing the worst. The blokes that fly these planes are pro-

  fessionals—they know their job. The pilot will get them

  through so try some positive thinking here.’

  Once again he must have spoken too loudly for the

  team members were all staring at him, as if the

  machine, not he, had spoken.

  But Phil caught on.

  ‘You’re right. We’re all here thinking gloom and

  doom. The pilot will get through—he’s good—and

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  155

  little Scarlett’s heart will arrive in time for us to use it.

  Now, I’m not suggesting people take a break, I’m

  ordering it. Go, the lot of you. Theo and I will stay here

  and we’ll take a break when you get back.’

  This time they did troop out, dropping off gloves and

  masks but going gowned into the little room where

  they could make tea or coffee and find a sandwich in

  the refrigerator or some biscuits in a tin.

  ‘They don’t look as if they’re thinking positive

  thoughts, do they?’ Phil remarked when he and Theo

  had the theatre to themselves.

  ‘Not really,’ Theo said, automatically responding to

  Phil’s attempt at conversation while his mind was far

  away, praying that Grace would come through this—

  that he’d have the chance to talk to her, to explain…

  ‘You’ve grown close, you and Grace.’

  He stared at Phil. OK, so he’d told Grace people

  would guess they were having an affair but he’d also

  told her no one would mention it. Now here was Phil

  bringing up the subject.

  ‘Yes,’ Theo said, not wanting to say more, definitely

  not wanting to admit they’d fallen out nearly a fortnight

  ago and he was missing her like hell.

  ‘So you’re especially worried,’ Phil persisted, and

  Theo shook his head.

  ‘Oh, come on, Theo,’ Phil said. ‘For heaven’s sake,

  man, you can talk to me about it. It was before you came

  here, but when Maggie and I first got together I nearly

  lost her through my own foolishness, and everyone in

  the unit knows something’s happened between you and

  Grace in the last week or so. You can’t both go around

  156

  THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE

  with silly smiles on your faces for ages then suddenly


  both look glum all the time without people putting two

  and two together.’

  Theo knew he should protest the silly smiles part—

  Grace would never wear a silly smile—but he knew that

  wasn’t the issue.

  ‘Does she know you love her?’

  Now Theo sighed. Phil was obviously going to

  pursue this subject. ‘I didn’t know myself till Becky

  said the plane was missing,’ Theo admitted. ‘It’s the last

  thing I wanted or expected to happen but when I

  thought of her in danger, I knew.’

  He considered the situation for a moment, then

  added, ‘And I don’t think she’d want to know anyway.

  It wasn’t that kind of affair.’

  ‘No?’

  Phil spoke quietly, but before Theo could explain the

  situation—no emotional involvement on either side—

  Becky returned, this time with good news.

  ‘They’ve found the plane. It went off course to

  escape the worst of the storm and should be in Sydney

  in another forty minutes.’

  ‘Right!’ Phil said. ‘That gives everyone time to fin-

  ish their break but go and tell them, Becky, I want them

  here ready to begin in thirty minutes. We’ll go in the

  moment we hear they’re on the ground. And send in a

  nurse from somewhere to keep an eye on Scarlett.

  Theo and I will take a break as well. It’s going to be a

  long night.’

  But although they did take a break the only thing Phil

  said regarding the personal conversation they’d had

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  157

  earlier was, ‘I think you should tell her and let her decide

  what kind of an affair it was. And don’t leave it until it’s

  too late!’

  She’d have to talk to him as soon as possible. That was

  the only decision Grace had arrived at by the time the

  little plane touched down in Sydney. Guilt that she’d

  been so irresponsible as to not think about the pos-

  sibility of her own death nipped at her thoughts, but

  she’d have to set that aside—time enough for guilt once

  she’d spoken to Theo.

  Scarlett was all ready to be put on pump when Grace

  walked into Theatre, a mask held across her mouth and

  nose, the cool-box in her hand.

  ‘Give it to someone and scrub in, can you, Grace?

  I’ll need you for the switch.’

  One of the circulating nurses took the cool-box and

  Grace departed, but not before she’d looked across at

  Theo. She thought he was looking back at her, but in

  this theatre they all wore protective goggles over their