Snowbound: Miracle Marriage (Lakeside Mountain Rescue 8)

‘Your evening didn’t go so well, did it? When you texted me to say you were at home, I gathered something was up. Was he creepy?’

‘He didn’t show up.’ Neither had he emailed. Stella frowned, finding it a little strange that he hadn’t given her some reason for the fact that he hadn’t shown up. Mind you, she hadn’t given him her mobile number, had she? Apart from ringing through to the pub, he’d had no way of contacting her once she’d left the stable for the evening. But there had been no email waiting when she’d arrived home. ‘Obviously he changed his mind.’

‘So you just sat there for a bit and then left?’

Daniel’s dark, handsome features swam in her brain. ‘That’s right. Early night.’ And she felt horribly confused about the whole thing. Too confused even to talk to Ellie.

‘You look tired for someone that had an early night.’ Ellie leaned forward and gave her a hug. ‘Why don’t you come over to my house one evening this week? I can get the kids to sleep early and we can open a bottle and watch something romantic.’

‘Romance isn’t working for me at the moment, but thanks.’ Stella hugged her back. ‘You need to make the most of your evenings with Ben. You see little enough of him.’

‘That’s true, but there’s something wonderfully soothing about talking to a girlfriend and ranting about the things that men just don’t understand.’ Ellie glanced at her watch. ‘The ambulance will be here in a moment—I’d better go and find Daniel. I don’t suppose I could persuade you to work in Paediatric Resus, could I?’

‘What’s happened to Andrea?’

‘She had to transfer a patient to Theatre and she isn’t back yet. And on top of that she irritates Daniel because she’s slow.’

Knowing that to refuse would raise more questions than she wanted to answer, Stella gave a nod. ‘All right. Tell me about this baby.’

‘Five months old. Born at thirty-six weeks by Caesarean section—one of Patrick’s, I think.’ Ellie frowned. ‘Anyway, the mum called the emergency services tonight after the baby turned blue and stopped breathing.’ They hurried towards the paediatric area of the emergency department and met Daniel heading in the same direction.

It was the first time Stella had seen him since the previous evening—since the kiss—and she felt the colour flare in her cheeks. Despite her best intentions, all she could think about was the way his mouth had felt against hers.

His eyes raked her face, held hers for a disturbing moment and then his jaw tightened and he pushed open the doors to Resus with slightly more force than was necessary. ‘What have we got?’

A mess, Stella thought helplessly, thinking of their own situation.

‘Five-month-old baby…’ Ellie repeated the information she’d given Stella, just as the paramedics arrived with the baby.

A pale-faced woman with no make-up and untidy hair was with them, holding a squirming toddler by the hand. ‘Please don’t make me go and sit in the waiting room. I can’t bear to leave Poppy.’

‘You’re her mother?’ Daniel walked across to the trolley and the woman nodded.

‘We’ve been up all night for three nights and I can’t even think straight any more.’ Her eyes filled. ‘She stopped breathing.’ She broke off as the toddler started to whine and Stella took one look at his exhausted, stressed mother and scooped him up.

‘Come and see what’s in my magic box,’ she whispered into his ear, and the toddler stopped grizzling and looked interested. Stella pulled out the toy box that was hidden away for occasions such as this, and settled the toddler on the floor. ‘This is full of exciting things. See if you can find my special blue car. I’m just going to see to your sister. I’ll be back in a minute.’

While Daniel was questioning the mother, Stella attached the baby to a cardiac monitor and a pulse oximeter.

‘Sats are 92 in air,’ she murmured, and Daniel glanced at the monitor.

‘Let’s give her humidified oxygen and ask the paediatric registrar to come down. Whatever the outcome of my examination, she’s going to need to be admitted.’ Removing a stethoscope from his pocket, he turned back to the mother. ‘You say that you’ve been up all night for three nights. Was that when she first became ill?’

‘I thought she just had a cold. She just had a runny nose and a bit of a temperature. It’s that time of year, isn’t it? And then suddenly she started coughing—this horrible dry cough. And she stopped feeding.’

‘A baby with a respiratory infection can’t always take the same amount of food as usual.’ Daniel slid the jumper over the baby’s head and undid the vest. ‘So what happened to make you call the ambulance?’

‘I put her down for a nap and when I looked at her she was blue and she stopped breathing for a bit. Honestly, I didn’t imagine it.’

‘Her respirations are 70,’ Stella said, and Daniel gave a nod as he shifted the vest and looked at the baby’s chest.

‘I’m sure you didn’t imagine it.’ He glanced at the mother with a smile, everything about him calm and reassuring. ‘It isn’t uncommon for young babies with bronchiolitis to have pauses in their breathing and I suspect that’s what’s going on here. I’m going to take a good look at her and then we’ll decide how best to treat her.’

‘I honestly thought she was going to die.’

‘There’s nothing more frightening than being on your own at home with a sick baby. It’s hard to think straight, especially when you’ve been up all night.’ Daniel watched the baby’s chest rise and fall. ‘You did the right thing to bring her in. We have an excellent paediatric department here and we won’t be sending Poppy home until we’re happy with her.’

In response to his sympathetic comments, the mother put her hand to her face and started to cry. ‘Sorry—you must think I’m a total nutcase, it’s just that I’m so tired and I’ve been so worried.’