The Nurse by J. Corrigan (list of ebook readers txt) 📕

The receptionist nodded to Daniel and smiled at me. It was common knowledge by then that I was Daniel’s girlfriend, and that, I had to admit, did sit uneasily with me. It wasn’t the first time I’d thought it might have been better to go to the NHS hospital, but I already knew so many people at the maternity unit. I liked Cam, my midwife, although my internal jury was still out on Mark Stephens. He was okay, but not my favourite person.

Daniel whisked me off to Mark’s room, where he was ready and waiting.

‘Take a seat, Rose.’ He glanced at Daniel. ‘You too.’ He looked at me, his lips in the shape of a smile but his features telling me another story. ‘One day in the future, after your baby’s born, I’m absolutely confident you’ll go back to your training and become the doctor you deserve to be.’

I cast a glance at Daniel, lifted my shoulders in question. How did Mark Stephens know I was stressing over my course? I’d said nothing to him during our appointments.

‘Mark, could you give us five?’ Daniel said.

Mark coughed. ‘I’ve a fifteen-hour labour to check on, so no problem.’ He left the room quickly.

‘Why are you discussing me with Mark when I’m not there?’ I asked.

‘He was a little concerned about your state of mind… I think your mum mentioned something to him.’

‘Jesus…’

Daniel shuffled in his chair. ‘C’mon.’

‘I don’t want people knowing things about me and me not knowing they know. Especially not my doctor.’

He pulled his chair closer to mine, placed his hand on my belly. ‘Mark’s a good man.’ He paused. ‘He has a daughter your age. She’s blind and both mentally and physically disabled. A consequence of measles when she was three.’

‘That’s terrible.’ I peered at him. ‘But I’m still pissed off you discussed me with him.’

‘Your mother discussed you.’

‘Whatever.’

The door opened and Mark returned.

‘You going to pop on the bed, Rose?’ he said, his voice a little too loud.

I hauled myself up while Mark pulled the ultrasound machine nearer. He waited as I pushed the thin pillow beneath my head, then said, ‘Off we go, then.’

Daniel was standing next to me, his hand resting on my right shoulder. ‘Do you want to know the baby’s sex?’ he asked.

I’d thought about this, coming to the conclusion that I did want to know. I nodded.

Mark grinned. ‘Let’s get this show on the road then!’

Daniel moved away so as he could see the screen. Mark pressed buttons and concentrated, and I lay back, waiting.

‘Do you want to have a look?’ he asked.

I lifted my head as Daniel pulled the machine closer. Mark had taken away the ultrasound’s head from my belly. The image of my baby on the screen, captured.

‘I can see,’ I said in wonder. ‘A girl.’ Anxiety darted through me, of the responsibility and commitment, but then love. Immediate love.

Mark later told me my baby girl was due to come into the world on 11th January 1992. I was a scientist by nature but knew two things immediately: she would be both a Capricorn and a monkey. My photographic memory relayed the characteristic traits of our unborn daughter: intelligent, eloquent, adaptable, flexible. Brilliant, smart, agile. Disciplined. I liked this description, and wondered whimsically if one day she would want to be a doctor too.

Mark went on to tell me that her organs, bones and brain were all completely normal, and although I hadn’t fretted overly about the health of my growing child, I was hugely relieved that she was forming normally. I couldn’t help thinking about what Daniel had told me about Mark’s daughter.

In the end, I left the hospital elated, and at peace. I was content. All I’d ever wanted was to qualify and be a doctor, a paediatrician, because I loved kids and medicine, but I was young and had come to accept that I could be a mother, in love, and eventually have the career of my dreams too. Why not? The world awaited. I’d only just begun.

After the scan, Daniel took me into the city centre and we mooched around the shops looking for baby clothes and furry toys. Despite my secret guilty pleasure of knowing too much about the zodiac and Chinese horoscopes, I wasn’t superstitious, and it was fun browsing for and buying baby stuff. We spent hours in John Lewis looking at cribs, and Daniel surprised me when, after carefully examining the craftsmanship of the mass-produced products, he declared he’d make one himself at home. I did like that he was a practical sort of bloke.

After lunch at Pizza Express, we went home, and because I could, I went upstairs for a power nap before starting on the dinner. Tom and Casey were coming over later and I was making risotto, a new recipe and a new me. I didn’t cook.

I’d fallen asleep almost immediately, and it was the doorbell chiming that woke me. I waited for Daniel to answer, but the chime went on and on, and then I remembered he’d told me he was going to the garden shed to start on the crib. I smiled to myself. I really couldn’t imagine him making a crib, although I liked the thought of him attempting it.

I got off the bed and made my way downstairs, and still slightly blurry-eyed opened the door. A man stood in front of me. I didn’t recognise him, and as his huge grin and startlingly scarlet complexion filled the space between us, my immediate reaction was to close the door slightly and take a step back. The man lifted his arm, placing his hand on the door. It was then that I registered the tattooed snakes slithering down his fingers, and it was then that I recognised him. The man from that long ago day in Mussels; the day I met Daniel for the first time. I’d spilt dregs of wine on his shirt.

‘Nice to see you again.’ He licked his lips, peered at my stomach. ‘Dan