LITMIR.BIZ

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yet?’

      Melissa shook her head. ‘I haven’t had a report yet from Jen—I’m just going to see her. It was bedlam at the midwifery station when I arrived.’

      Andrea gave her a big smile. ‘So you haven’t seen the new consultant yet? I believe he’s in with that patient. She arrived less than an hour ago, already in labour with a breech presentation. We had to transfer her over to the medical side.’

      She crossed the room away from the patient she was dealing with and whispered under her breath, ‘He’s spent the last month covering all the outlying areas, but he’s here permanently now. Hunk, total hunk.’

      ‘What?’

      ‘You’ll see. Let me know how the patient does, will you?’

      Melissa gave her a quick nod and ducked back out of the door. The three midwives she would be working with were waiting at the midwives’ station and she assigned them each to an area of the ward before going to take over from Jen.

      ‘Hi, Jen,’ she said breezily as she entered the room, crossing behind the curtains to join Jen and the patient. ‘I’m here to take over from you—can you give me a report?’

      Jen looked up from the notes she had just finished writing and put her pen down. ‘Hi, Missy, that’s great. Thanks.’

      The woman lying on the bed was pale and sweating. Her dark hair lay limp in a cloud around her white face. She was breathing shallowly, small rapid gasps, leaning forward at first and then sagging back against the pillows whenever another contraction took hold. As an experienced midwife Melissa could tell from the shape of the woman’s abdomen that the baby was in the wrong position.

      Jen continued quickly, ‘This is Katherine Kelly. She’s twenty-two and this is her first pregnancy. She missed her last two antenatal appointments and presented in labour just under an hour ago. Her contractions were only four minutes apart when she arrived and it was noticed on admission that baby was in the frank breech position. Her blood pressure had also spiked so she was transferred through to the medical side.’ She handed the observation chart she was holding over to Melissa, who cast her eyes over it rapidly.

      ‘She’s 40 weeks’ gestation. We’ve just done an ultrasound to confirm the position and size of the baby. Everything looks normal. Her contractions are now two minutes apart. We are too late to turn the baby, and Dr Mackay had been considering Caesarean section, but thankfully our new consultant…’ she gestured into the corner of the room ‘…has plenty of experience of this type of delivery and is happy to take the lead.’

      Melissa nodded, assimilating all the information she’d just been given. If Katherine had attended her last two antenatal appointments it was likely that the breech presentation would have been picked up beforehand and dealt with. Now it meant that the baby was going to come out bottom first instead of head first. Some congenital malformations could result in a breech presentation but the ultrasound must have ruled that out. This meant that all that was really left to do now was to assist the new consultant in the delivery of this baby.

      She sat on the bed next to Katherine and took her hand. ‘Hi,’ she said, ‘I’m Melissa and very soon I’m going to help you have this baby.’ She turned to face Jen again. ‘Is the paediatrician on his way?’

      Jen nodded. ‘He said he’d be here in the next five minutes.’

      Melissa fastened the blood-pressure cuff around Katherine’s arm and set the machine to record every five minutes. She turned to face the new consultant in the corner of the room and stretched out her hand towards him. ‘Pleased to meet you. I’m Melissa Bell, one of the midwifery sisters.’

      He looked up from the notes he had been checking over and her heart froze. Time stopped. Cooper. Cooper was the new consultant obstetrician?

      Cooper—the man who’d said he did a bit of ‘this and that’. Cooper, the man who lived in the show flat overlooking the marina. Cooper, the man who had taken her through to the glistening white bedroom with the mahogany four-poster bed and…

      Cooper ran one of his hands through his floppy brown hair and reached his other hand out to meet hers. ‘Pleased to meet you, Melissa. I’m Cooper Roberts.’ Not a flicker of recognition. His actions were as smooth as silk, the consummate professional.

      He stood up from his chair and pushed the bed table he had been leaning on away from him. Melissa hadn’t moved. She stood rooted to the spot. The last time she’d seen this man they’d both been naked and he’d been trailing his tongue around every part of her body, awakening sensations she’d never felt before. Her brain was spinning so fast that she thought she might fall over. She wrenched her hand free of his, conscious of the electricity that had just shot up her arm, and grasped the bottom of the bed. Cooper moved effortlessly past her and sat down on the side of the bed to talk to Katherine.

      ‘Is there anyone with you?’

      Katherine shook her pale head. ‘No, it’s just me. My mum lives miles away. I phoned her early this morning but I don’t think she’ll be here in time.’

      ‘Is there anyone else I can phone for you?’

      Melissa was still in shock. She knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. A breech delivery could be traumatic and it would be better if Katherine had someone to support her. He spoke soft, reassuring words to Katherine, whilst resting his hand on her abdomen and explaining how the delivery would proceed.

      ‘If my baby is the wrong position, shouldn’t I have a Caesarean section?’

      Cooper glanced at her chart. ‘From your history you’ve been in labour for more than twenty-four hours. Your waters have broken and we’ve already examined you and established that you’re fully dilated.’ He held her hand reassuringly. ‘If we’d known about the baby’s position in advance we may well have considered a Caesarean section. But you’re pretty far along now and the baby is ready to come out. There’s no reason to think there will be any problems.’ He gave her hand a little squeeze as another contraction clearly gripped her. ‘Do you feel the sensation to push yet?’

      Katherine’s face crumpled and she nodded. She was clearly growing tired. ‘I just want this to be over.’ She started to sob.

      The blood-pressure cuff round her arm automatically started to inflate again and Cooper’s eyes followed the reading carefully. The door opened and the paediatrician appeared, pushing a special cot to allow assessment of the newborn. He gave Cooper a quick nod. ‘Nice to see you again, Dr Roberts.’ Then shot a smile over towards her. ‘And you, Melissa.’

      Melissa started. What was she doing? She had to get hold of herself. Cooper had managed to keep his composure without any problems. But it was claustrophobic being in a room with a man she’d seen naked. Naked.

      There was that word again. She couldn’t get it out of her head. But if she closed her eyes for a second she could see his broad torso and muscular arms, all with a little smattering of dark hair that curled downwards towards…

      ‘Sister Bell… Missy?’

      She spun abruptly, caught by the informal use of her name. That was what she’d told him to call her that night. His dark chocolate eyes were watching her carefully. He was cool and composed. His gaze never faltered. The ultimate professional. He expected her to be the same.

      ‘Are you ready to assist me?’

      Melissa gave a quick nod, tearing her eyes away from his. She moved swiftly over the bed to help assist Katherine into the most appropriate position for delivery at the end of the bed. The semi-recumbent position would allow space at the end of the bed for the baby to hang. Cooper washed his hands and pulled on some gloves before positioning himself at the end of the bed, while Melissa remained at Katherine’s side, monitoring the recordings from the foetal monitor and blood-pressure gauge. Cooper swiftly examined Katherine again.

      ‘Okay, Katherine. The baby’s bottom is right at the cervix. On your next contraction you can start to push. We’ll let

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