The Heart Surgeon's Baby Surprise Read online

  eyes so it was hard to tell.

  She scrubbed and came back in but this time when

  she looked at him she knew he must be looking back

  at her for he nodded.

  Not that a nod meant much. It certainly didn’t mean

  he was willing to be their baby’s guardian.

  Their baby…

  If only…

  ‘OK, Grace, take my place. I’d like you to detach

  Scarlett’s heart and I’ll get the new one ready to put in.’

  Grace pulled on the magnifying loupe and headlight

  the assistant handed her and looked into Scarlett’s small

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  chest, seeing the tiny, misshapen heart she would have

  to remove. Someone—Phil or his assistant—had al-

  ready cut away most of the ligaments that held the heart

  muscle in place and already inserted the tubes to

  connect her to the bypass machine.

  She raised her head and looked at Theo.

  ‘On pump,’ she said, knowing this was one of the

  most pivotal moments of the operation. Had Theo got

  the pressure right? Would the machine successfully re-

  move Scarlett’s blood, re-oxygenate it, remove the

  carbon dioxide from it, and return it to her body in

  good time, and at a pressure her arteries could handle?

  ‘On pump,’ he repeated, telling her the machine was

  now doing the work. The heart lost colour almost im-

  mediately, and Aaron administered cardioplegia to stop

  it beating.

  Grace worked around it, making sure there were no

  tiny blood vessels still connected, checking the coro-

  nary arteries were free of the muscle they supplied with

  blood, ready to start cutting and clamping them the

  moment the heart stopped.

  Then the moment, one the whole team always

  seemed to feel—tense, as if the responsibility for

  stopping someone’s heart rested on all their heads.

  But Grace had no time for philosophy. She had to

  work, and work swiftly, for the shorter the time Scarlett

  was on pump the less chance there was of damage to

  some other part of her body.

  Careful to leave little buttons of vessels for Phil to

  use when attaching the new heart, Grace removed the

  damaged, malformed heart and handed it to one of the

  theatre sisters, knowing it would go not into a bin, as

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  159

  Kelly had suggested, but into another cool-box because

  someone, somewhere not too far away, would be study-

  ing genetic heart disease and every heart they had to

  inspect and dissect could provide new clues.

  ‘OK, Grace, you’ve had a big day, you’re now offi-

  cially off duty, so beat it,’ Phil told her, when he moved

  back into his position to attach the new heart.

  ‘You don’t need me?’ she asked, knowing she

  couldn’t go back to her soulless flat after such an emo-

  tional afternoon and evening.

  ‘Definitely not. Go get some rest. You’ve been a

  trouper!’

  Grace backed away reluctantly, glancing towards

  Theo whose entire attention was focussed on the

  machine.

  She had to talk to him. She knew that, but as she

  stripped off her theatre clothes she realised he’d be in

  Theatre for at least another three hours and then if

  Scarlett left Theatre still on ECMO, which was highly

  likely, he’d want to stay with her for a while.

  But as she showered, the aftermath of the tension of

  the flight draining the last of her energy from her body,

  she remembered she still had a key to his house. She’d

  go there and wait for him, because she had to talk to

  him, and if there was one thing her near-death experi-

  ence in the plane had taught her, or at least reaffirmed,

  it was to not put off until tomorrow what could be done

  today.

  OK, so he might not be home until tomorrow but at

  least she’d be there ready to talk.

  She dressed again in the tired, dirty clothes she’d

  been wearing all day—with most of her clothes still at

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  Theo’s she’d had no spares to leave at work—and made

  her way out of the hospital, knowing there’d be a cab

  outside—a cab to take her to Theo’s house.

  Theo watched her leave the theatre, his heart aching at

  the weariness he read in her movements, his joy in

  finding she was still alive tempered now by his concern

  for her.

  He cursed the fact he couldn’t leave with her—

  couldn’t even speak to her or touch her.

  Even think about her for more than a second, for his

  whole attention had to be on Scarlett and the machine.

  But later, as soon as he was free, he’d go to Grace, talk

  to her, tell her how he felt.

  Phil worked with neat precision, making tiny stitches

  around the circumference of minute veins and arteries,

  putting a new heart into the chest of the little battler

  they’d all grown to love.

  Love! As if anyone could cut love totally out of their

  life, for without it, what was life about?

  And Grace—perhaps Grace could grow to love him,

  given time…

  ‘OK,’ Phil said, glancing up at Theo. ‘Are we ready?’

  It was the most climactic moment of a very tense

  operation and Theo could feel it in the air, everyone

  alert—praying…

  ‘Off pump,’ Phil said, and while his assistant and the

  surgical sisters peered into the chest cavity, seeking

  any signs of bleeding that would tell them a vein or

  artery connection had a leak, Phil and Theo watched the

  heart—watched the flaccid muscle slowly gaining form

  and colour as blood filtered back into it.

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  161

  Would it beat?

  Would they have to shock it?

  Drugs were already running into Scarlett’s blood,

  drugs to help the new heart beat, drugs to stop her

  immune system rejecting it. They’d done all they

  could…

  The first movement was barely discernible then

  someone gave a cheer, and the little heart began to beat

  with a regular rhythm, so miraculous they all stood in

  awed silence and watched the movement.

  ‘Check again for any haemorrhage,’ Phil said, but

  although they’d made myriad small joins, there were no

  leaks. Now he had to stitch the pericardium back in

  place, then join the muscles and tendons they’d had to

  cut, ease back the lung and finally wire the sternum

  back together.

  ‘Or will you leave it open?’ someone asked, and

  Theo looked at Phil, wondering what he’d answer.

  Babies’ chests were sometimes left open after an

  operation when there was a chance something would

  fail and the surgeon might need to get back in there very

  quickly, but this time Phil shook his head.

  ‘No,’ he said, ‘we’ll close her up. This new heart’s

  going to work, I can feel it in my bones.’

>   Another small cheer went up and the registrar began

  the task of closing, Phil stripping off his loupe and

  handing it to a circulating nurse before crossing the

  theatre to the bins and beginning to take off his theatre

  garb.

  But before he left the theatre he looked back at Theo.

  ‘I meant what I said,’ he said, and Theo had to think

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  back—wondering exactly which bit of their conversa-

  tion Phil now meant.

  The bit about telling Grace?

  Or about not leaving it too late?

  He had to assume that was it, and as he watched over

  the baby girl through the remainder of her operation and

  went with her to Post-Op, wanting to be sure the ECMO

  machine was doing the least possible work, he consid-

  ered it, deciding, when he finally walked out of the

  hospital in the pre-dawn light, that if he was going to

  tell her how he felt, he had to do it now!

  He left his car in the hospital car park and walked

  down the road to Grace’s flat, knowing the fresh air

  would make him feel more alive, although thinking

  about telling Grace he loved her had most of his nerves

  synapsing very efficiently.

  The door into the foyer was locked, but as Theo

  walked around behind the big bush in the front yard,

  thinking he might find a stone and use the time-honoured

  method of throwing it against Grace’s window, miracle

  of miracles, who should appear but Jean-Luc, opening

  the door and leaving it ajar, obviously just going out for

  a short time, a jog in the park from the look of the clothes

  he wore.

  Theo didn’t actually hide from the Frenchman, but

  he didn’t make his presence known either, still feeling

  embarrassed about his last meeting at the house with

  Jean-Luc. And as Jean-Luc strode across the road, and

  stopped to stretch against the park fence, Theo slipped

  into the foyer and up the stairs to Grace’s flat where he

  knocked quietly on the door, and then more loudly,

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  163

  finally realising she was either so fast asleep he’d never

  wake her with knocking, or she wasn’t home.

  But the only reason she’d not be home was because

  she was at the hospital—probably waiting with the

  Robinsons until Scarlett was out of Theatre. He should

  have thought of that, and checked there first, but right

  now he was too darned tired to go back up the road, too

  tired to even think, so he slid down onto the floor, rested

  his head against the doorjamb, and fell asleep.

  Having convinced herself Theo wouldn’t mind if she

  just rested on his bed while she waited for him, Grace

  lay down and was soon fast asleep.

  She slept well and deeply, the various tensions of the

  day draining out of her, the smell of Theo on the pillows

  and the sheets so comforting that as she turned over and

  hazily came part-awake, she wondered if she could stay

  snuggled in Theo’s bed for ever.

  But waking, well into the morning, and finding him

  still not home sent her into a panic. What had she been

  thinking, coming here like this?

  They had not been together for weeks—wasn’t it

  feasible he already had another woman in his life?

  And what if he came home with her? How much

  trouble would he be in if his current girlfriend found

  Grace in his bed?

  But the thought of Theo with another woman made

  her weepy, so she decided she wouldn’t think about that

  again. She’d have a shower, put on clean clothes—at

  last—pack up the things she’d left here, and go quietly

  back home. Yes, she had to talk to Theo, but she’d been

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  emotionally overwrought when she’d decided she had

  to do it right there and then.

  Coming to his house like this!

  How could she?

  He saw a cab turning out of his street but cabs were

  always around in this area. It wasn’t until he opened his

  front door and smelt Grace’s perfume that he wondered

  about the cab because she had definitely been there. Not

  only been there, but she’d packed up all her things.

  She was gone!

  He’d left it too late.

  Or had he?

  If she was in the cab he’d seen she’d be home in a

  few minutes, but in the meantime she’d have her mobile

  on.

  He tried it, only to find it was turned off.

  He made a cup of coffee for himself then phoned the

  flat, but no joy there.

  His neck ached from the awkward position in which

  he’d fallen asleep and his exhaustion was so great he

  knew he had to sleep. He tipped the coffee down the

  sink, rinsed the cup, then made his way up to his bed-

  room where Grace’s perfume was even stronger.

  It pulled him towards the bed, and, wrapping his

  arms around a pillow that still, miraculously, smelt of

  her, he went to sleep.

  CHAPTER NINE

  GRACE directed the cab to her home address first so she

  could drop off her small suitcase, then, as anxious as a

  relative, she headed back to the hospital to see how

  Scarlett was doing.

  ‘She’s so well I don’t think she’ll be with us much

  longer,’ Jasmine told Grace, taking her to the crib where

  the little girl lay, flanked by her parents. ‘She’ll be

  graduating to the ward within days, won’t she, Mrs

  Robinson?’

  Mrs Robinson’s smile was enough to ease a lot of the

  pain in Grace’s heart, and as she looked at the little girl

  for whom she’d been through so much, she knew every

  second of the tortuous flight had been worthwhile.

  Worthwhile too, in other ways, she knew that. So

  she’d overreacted, rushing off to Theo’s the way she had

  last night, but she had to talk to him. If he didn’t want

  to be the baby’s guardian—didn’t want more than the

  rights she’d originally proposed—then she’d have to

  live with that.

  And with heartache as well, because hearts—can

  you hear me, Kelly?—definitely did ache.

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  She left the hospital, this time not walking back

  towards her flat but down the other road, to the brasse-

  rie—a place that had somehow become ‘their’ place.

  Although only lovers—as in people in love—had

  special places…

  Sitting over chai and fruit toast in the pretty court-

  yard, deserted now the ‘breakfast before work’ clien-

  tele had departed, Grace thought back to when she and

  Theo had first sat here and she’d put her proposition to

  him. She should have realised then how very kind he

  was, not mocking her, as many men would have done,

  or suggesting they leap straight into bed.

  No, he’d treated her halting explanations seriously,

  had even seemed to understand how she’d come
to the

  stage where she was asking a virtual stranger to help

  her conceive a baby.

  But, then, he’d been through such terrible trauma

  himself—of course he’d be empathic. And he’d been

  gentle too—kind…

  ‘I’ve been searching the city for you!’ The kind and

  gentle man sounded extremely angry. ‘Worrying about

  you. And I’ve got a crick in my neck from sleeping

  outside your front door.’

  Grace stared at him, wondering if he was a mirage

  her thoughts had conjured up.

  No, her thoughts had been conjuring up a very dif-

  ferent Theo, not this shadow-eyed, drawn-faced streak

  of angry masculinity standing over her.

  ‘You slept outside my door? Why would you do

  that?’

  His shoulders relaxed and he slumped into a chair.

  ‘Oh, Grace, if there’s one thing a person can expect

  MEREDITH WEBBER

  167

  from you it’s to expect the unexpected. Not why am I

  angry but why did I sleep outside your door? Because

  I wanted to talk to you, of course.’

  ‘Oh!’ she whispered, and held her hand against her

  lips, not wanting anything more to come out before

  she’d thought about it. Not that the hand over her lips

  routine worked. Oh, no, here she was, blurting out the

  first thing that came into her head.

  ‘I went to your place. I wanted to talk to you as well.

  I had a key. I hope you didn’t mind that I used it and

  went in, then I fell asleep…’

  ‘You were in my house and you fell asleep?’ He

  stood up again as if he needed more space to contain

  his anger, although she wasn’t entirely sure the emo-

  tion simmering in his tense body was all anger. ‘I’m

  running all over town looking for you and you’re

  sleeping in my bed?’

  ‘I didn’t mean to sleep but I was tired.’

  Fortunately at that stage a waitress appeared to ask

  Theo if he wanted anything. Grace took advantage of

  the interruption to take a deep breath, settle the nerves

  that were doing little dances of excitement because

  Theo had wanted to talk to her, and decide to take

  charge of the situation before it became even more

  farcical.

  ‘Sit down, Theo,’ she ordered when the waitress had

  taken his order and disappeared towards the kitchen.

  ‘I’m sorry if you were inconvenienced, and about the

  crick in your neck but I do want to talk to you and

  here’s a good place to do it.’

  He sat, but obviously wasn’t mollified.