Touched By Angels

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In the end, Meg decided that it would be better not to think about it and just get on with the job. If they didn’t operate, Leah and the baby would die. There simply wasn’t a choice so she had to accept the problems and deal with them.

‘Do you want me to fetch Lesley or Kate?’ she offered once she was sure she knew exactly what he wanted doing.

He shook his head. ‘No, there’s no need to disturb them just yet. I’ll get Moses to wake them if I think it’s necessary, but I’m sure you and I can cope, Meg. However, I will wake Rory. We’ll need him to give the anaesthetic.’

Meg nodded her agreement before she hurried away to collect what was needed, but she couldn’t deny that her heart had lifted when she’d heard Jack say that. Maybe he was beginning to trust her after all? Odd how much comfort she derived from that thought.

Afterwards, when Meg looked back on that night, she found it hard to believe that she hadn’t dreamt it. There had been a surreal quality to the whole event which made it hard to believe it had actually happened.

At Jack’s insistence, more candles and an old paraffin lamp had been brought into the hut to supplement the inadequate lighting, but conditions for performing the operation had still been far from ideal. It had been quite a struggle too to source basic supplies and equipment from the packing cases in the trucks.

They’d had to leave Leah on her bed for starters, as there had been no other suitable surface to use. Meg had covered the straw mattress with several sterile sheets, then had brought in a packing case to lay their implements on, draping that as well with a sterile cover. It had seemed very inadequate protection against infection but it had been the best she could do in the circumstances.

Jack had scrubbed up, then let her help him into a gown, holding out his hands so that she’d been able to snap the thin surgical gloves onto his hands.

‘We need to double-glove for this,’ he advised her softly. ‘It would be foolish to take any risks.’

Meg nodded as she went to fetch a second pair large enough to fit him. Aids was endemic in many African countries so she knew he was right to take extra precautions. She followed his lead and put on a second pair of gloves herself, before going to assist him.

Rory looked up and grinned when they joined him by the bed. ‘Typical, isn’t it? You think you’re going to have a nice peaceful start to things and suddenly find yourself thrown in at the deep end!’

Jack’s brows rose. ‘How many of these trips have you been on now? And when has anything ever gone the way we’d planned it? I think I’d worry more if it did!’

Both men laughed ruefully. It was obvious to Meg that they had a great deal of respect for each other and she found herself thinking how wonderful it must be to be an accepted part of the team. She shot a look at Jack and smiled to herself. Still, maybe things weren’t quite so black as they’d appeared a few hours earlier if he was prepared to let her help him?

‘Right, let’s make a start if you’re happy with everything, Rory? We can’t afford to waste any time.’

Jack glanced at the younger man who nodded. Leah had been given an epidural anaesthetic as the risks to both mother and child were far less than if she’d been given a general anaesthetic in her weakened state. She hadn’t made a murmur when Rory had injected local anaesthetic into the epidural space surrounding her spinal cord. It was obvious to Meg that Leah was completely worn out by the ferocity of her labour and she knew that the sooner it was over the better. As to whether they would be able to save both mother and child, that was something they would have to wait and see, but she murmured a fervent prayer that everything would go in their favour from here on.

‘Scalpel.’ Jack’s face was set with concentration as she slapped the razor-sharp knife into his gloved palm. He swiftly and deftly made a horizontal incision in Leah’s abdomen just above her pubic bone. Meg stood beside him, watching intently as he carefully slit through the lower part of the uterus. She could see the baby now and held her breath as Jack lifted it free and handed it to her, working swiftly as he tied and cut the cord.

‘Right, it’s up to you now, Meg,’ he told her tersely, turning his attention back to the young woman.

Meg didn’t say anything because there wasn’t any time to waste. It was a baby boy and she could see at once that he was in some distress. Carrying him swiftly away from the makeshift operating table, she sank onto a chair and laid him across her knees then used a thin piece of sterile tubing to suction the mucus out of his mouth. He hadn’t cried as yet and her heart was racing as she tipped him head down so that any fluid he might have swallowed would drain from his lungs.

‘Come on, poppet,’ she muttered, willing the tiny scrap to take his first breath. ‘Come on, you can do it!’

She tapped the soles of his feet, mentally running through everything she knew about childbirth. Since she’d learned that she’d been accepted by the agency, she’d spent hours poring over her textbooks, brushing up on skills which had become a bit rusty through lack of use. However, all the reading in the world couldn’t compensate for hands-on experience and she prayed that she would be able to help the child. She would never forgive herself if he died!

Laying the baby across her knees again, she placed her mouth over his nose and mouth and gently breathed into his lungs, willing him to respond. There was no sound in the hut apart from the measured rhythm of her breathing as time after time she inflated the infant’s lungs. When Jack appeared beside her Meg didn’t look up because she couldn’t afford to let her concentration lapse. This child was relying on her and she had to help him!

‘You’ve done all you can, Meg.’

Jack’s tone was low but she heard the regret it held and tears welled into her eyes as she realised what he meant. The thought that the baby had died before he’d even had the chance to live was too much to bear.

She breathed into the tiny rosebud mouth once more, refusing to accept that there was nothing she could do for him…

The tiny body suddenly twitched, the baby’s arms and legs shooting out as he began to squirm. Meg’s face broke into a radiant smile as he let out a weak little wail when she raised her head. Within seconds he was crying in earnest, the sound of his irate screams ringing around the hut.

‘We did it!’ she declared, uncaring that tears were streaming down her face as she looked up at Jack. ‘He’s going to be all right!’

‘You did it, Meg, you mean. You and your determination!’ He uttered a joyful laugh while the baby continued to roar his disapproval of the new world he’d found himself in. ‘By heaven, but he’s got a fine pair of lungs from the sound of it!’

Meg stood up, aware that she was trembling as she quickly wrapped the baby in a towel. He needed bathing and checking over but all that could wait a few minutes longer. Right at that moment he needed his mother more than anything else.

Her heart contracted as she realised that she had no idea how Leah had fared. It took every scrap of courage she could dredge up to turn to Jack and ask him because she was so afraid what the answer might be. ‘Is…is Leah all right?’

He squeezed her shoulder and his grey eyes told her that he understood exactly how she felt. ‘She’s fine, or she will be once she sees that young man.’

Meg could barely contain her joy. She smiled at him and saw his eyes darken. Her breath seemed to catch tightly in her chest when she saw the glitter of something hot and wild appear in their depths before he abruptly turned away and went to speak to Rory, who was clearing up.

Meg hugged the screaming baby to her as she hurried to the bed and knelt down. It was neither the time nor the place to think about what she’d seen in Jack’s eyes just now, to wonder why he’d looked at her with such hunger. If Jack didn’t like her then why should he want her? It didn’t make sense.

‘My baby!’ Leah’s exhausted face lit up as soon as she saw her child. She held out her arms, smiling in delight when Meg gently laid the baby in them.

‘It’s a boy, Leah, a lovely little boy.’ Deliberately, Meg forced the unsettling thoughts to the back of her mind, although it wasn’t possible to erase them completely. Jack was attracted to her? Was it possible? Everything that had happened so far pointed to the fact that she must have made a mistake and yet she couldn’t quite convince herself of that.

‘A boy?’ Leah’s eyes were full of wonder as she unwrapped the towel and stared at her baby son. She looked up and there were tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to smile at Meg. ‘Thank you…thank you!’

It was hard to contain her own emotions in the face of the young mother’s joy. In the end, Meg gave up trying. Tears poured down her face, too, as she squeezed Leah’s hand. ‘I’m so pleased for you, Leah!’

She gave a shaky laugh as she got up and dried her face on the hem of her gown. ‘What a pair we are! Now, I’m sure that Moses must be dying to see his beautiful new son so I’ll go and fetch him.’

Leah smiled as she undid her robe and placed the baby to her breast, where he immediately began to suckle. ‘My husband will be very proud. Every man wants a son,’ she said simply.

Meg turned away, knowing that the picture of the young mother and her child would stay with her for a long time to come. Rory was still busily clearing up and he patted her on the shoulder as she passed him.

‘Well done, kiddo. A first-rate job, I’d say. Welcome to the team!’

Meg smiled back, appreciating the genuine warmth of the comment. ‘Thanks.’

She left him to finish what he was doing and hurried outside. She paused when she saw Jack talking to a smiling Moses. It was obvious that he’d already given the proud father the good news so she turned to go back inside then stopped when Jack called out to her. She went to join the two men, smiling when Moses grabbed her hand and began pumping it up and down.

‘Dr Jack explained that it was you who saved my son. Thank you, Dr Meg. Thank you!’

‘It was my pleasure,’ she replied sincerely. He gave her hand another enthusiastic shake then hurried into the hut, closely followed by several members of his family who had been waiting outside.

Meg grimaced when she found Jack watching her as she rubbed her throbbing fingers. ‘I’m glad it wasn’t twins! I think I may have a couple of crushed bones from the feel of it.’

He laughed deeply, his teeth gleaming whitely in the darkness. ‘He was certainly pleased and no wonder. You did a great job just now, Meg.’

He moved away from the hut and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to go with him. They crossed the clearing, bypassing the huts on the other side and only stopping when they reached the trees which surrounded the village. The night was very dark, the moon just a slim silver curl in the velvety sky, a myriad stars scattered like diamonds across it.

Meg drew in a deep breath, tasting the unfamiliar scents carried on the night air. She was tired from all the travelling and lack of sleep yet she felt so elated that she wanted to shout for joy. As first days went it could have been worse…a lot worse, in fact, bearing in mind what had happened earlier. Had Jack’s attitude towards her improved?

It was too tempting to resist finding out so that she didn’t stop to think about the wisdom of asking the question. ‘So, do you believe now that I can cope with this job?’

He turned to look at her, although his face was shadowed by the overhang of the branches. ‘I think that you handled what happened just now extremely well.’

‘But?’ Meg laughed but there was scant amusement in the sound. She might not be able to see him clearly but she didn’t need to because she’d heard the reservation in his voice. She turned to face him, unaware of how defensive she looked as she stood there in the watery moonlight.

‘There was a definite ‘‘but’’ tagged onto that sentence, Jack, wasn’t there?’

‘Yes, I expect there was.’

He shrugged, his broad shoulders rising and falling beneath his half-buttoned shirt. He looked tired, too, Meg noticed when he stepped out from the shadows. There were deep lines bracketing his mouth and a lack of animation about his expression which made him look older than the thirty-six years she knew him to be. However, tired or not, he obviously didn’t intend to opt for the easy route. Where work was concerned, Jack would never compromise!

‘It’s fair to say that you handled yourself well tonight, Meg. However, that doesn’t change anything. I still don’t believe that this is the job for you,’ he stated flatly.

‘Because I might not pull my weight? Or because I might not be able to cope with the conditions we’re going to be working under?’ She laughed harshly. ‘Come on, Jack! You’ve just admitted that I acquitted myself well tonight so you’ll have to do better than that!’

‘Yes, you did do well tonight and I’m happy to admit it. However, one night’s work isn’t proof that you’ll be able to keep up once the pressure is on.’ His tone was unyielding. ‘It’s far more difficult trying to deal with the daily grind involved in this type of work, as you’ll soon discover for yourself.’

‘I’m sure you’re right but I know that I shall cope no matter how hard it is. So it seems that we’re at a bit of an impasse, doesn’t it?’

Meg stared back at him, wishing there was a way to make him see that he was mistaken about her. It wasn’t going to be easy, though, if Jack had made up his mind.

‘It seems like it.’ He shrugged again but she saw the irritation in his eyes. Obviously he wasn’t used to people questioning his judgement, Meg thought. Well, tough! He wasn’t going to have things all his own way if she had anything to do with it!

‘Anyway, it’s late and it’s time you got some sleep. We’ll be leaving early in the morning as we still have some distance to travel before we reach our destination.’