Chapter Seven

“S he’s seems alright,” Mila said, leaning on Cordelia’s desk.

“That would be because she hasn’t said ‘you should’ about eight million times to you,” Cordelia replied.

“And… it’s bad enough that you’re thinking about running away?” asked Mila, nodding toward the suitcase that was behind Cordelia’s chair.

“No, that would belong to Her Royal Highness, apparently she’s staying somewhere around here, but not in a hotel.”

“Ah, that’s right, Sylv from the shop was talking about taking in a lodger for a few weeks, it’ll be there,” Mila said. “She’ll get good food at least, Sylv’s the best cook in town.”

Something clearly evidenced by the fact that Sylv was as round as could be. Cordelia rubbed at her face. It had been a morning already and she really didn’t like the locum. “Let’s just hope that the doc comes back soon, wherever he is.”

“Tried calling him?” Mila asked.

“About a zillion times, the grumpy old sod. I can’t believe he left us in the lurch like this.”

“Except he didn’t, did he?” Mila said reasonably. “He arranged for a locum.”

“She’s fresh out of med school and knows less than I do,” complained Cordelia. “Except when it comes to organizing files, finding keys, and quoting Shakespeare. ”

“All very important in a doctor,” Mila laughed.

The surgery door opened and Magda slipped out. “You can go in and get that prescription,” Cordelia told Mila. “You want to make your next appointment?” she asked Magda as she reached the desk.

“I… Cord.” Magda was pale as a sheet.

“What? What is it? Is it the baby?” said Cordelia, jumping up.

“No, yes, I don’t know.”

Cordelia dragged her to the receptionist’s chair, sat her down forcibly and squatted next to her. “Tell me what happened?”

Magda took a shaky breath. “She, er, she did the check, did the little ultrasound thingy, then asked if Doc Morris had said anything about the baby. And when I said no she said it was nothing to worry about but that she wanted me to go up to the hospital and have another scan there.”

Cordelia’s skin prickled. “She said it was nothing to worry about?”

“Mmm,” Magda nodded doubtfully.

“Then it’ll be nothing to worry about,” Cordelia said. “It’ll be absolutely fine, just a precaution. It’s because she’s a locum, she wants to cover her arse, make sure she doesn’t make any mistakes. And she’s so young, look at her, I mean, she’s barely out of school. She doesn’t know anywhere near as much as Doc Morris does.”

Magda was regaining some of her color. “Right. Yes, you’re probably right.”

“I’m definitely right. Trust me,” Cordelia said, mentally cursing Lydia for whatever she’d found or thought she’d found. “Listen, you get home and have a rest. I’ll ring through and make sure the hospital puts you at the top of the list and then I’ll pinch little Miss Know-It-All until she tells me what she found, alright?”

Magda smiled. “Thanks, Cord. It’s probably nothing.”

“It’s definitely nothing,” said Cordelia. “But I’ll water-board her if I have to.”

“Don’t do that, she’s quite lovely really. She’s got nice warm hands, and she was very comforting.”

“Mmm. We’ll see about that,” Cordelia said, standing up and giving Magda her hand so she could pull her out of the desk chair. “Go on, off you pop, if you hurry you can still catch the beginning of This Morning.”

She was going to crush Lydia Carlisle, Cordelia thought as she watched Magda waddle her way out of the surgery. Worrying a pregnant woman like that, what kind of bedside manner was that?

IT WAS SO close to lunchtime that Cordelia could feel her stomach starting to complain. She’d been ready to eat for at least the last half an hour and had even thought that they might finish up early. Lydia might not be her favorite person in the world, but even Cordelia had to admit that she was breezing through her appointments efficiently.

When the last patient had disappeared into Lydia’s office forty minutes ago, Cordelia had been certain that lunch was only a matter of minutes away. After all, NHS protocols dictated an average GP appointment length of less than ten minutes.

Which was just as well since the current patient, Nat Greene, had left her two year old son Toby sitting in the play corner.

Cordelia looked over and the child gave her a toothy grin and babbled something that she didn’t understand.

“Mummy won’t be long,” she said, wondering if he understood what she was saying.

He shook a toy and it rattled, making him grin, and then dropped it. His round face dropped at the same time. Within a second, his bottom lip was trembling and then he let out the loudest shrieking wail that Cordelia had ever heard.

Jesus.

She hurried over to the corner and handed the toy back to him, but he simply continued to cry until, delicately and reluctantly, she picked him up.

His cries decreased slightly and a bubble of snot appeared out of his nose.

“Hold on, there’s a tissue here somewhere,” she said, patting at her pockets and then heading back to her desk to find the tissue box empty.

The boy squawked in her arms and she deposited him on the desk chair so that she could search the drawers for some tissues.

“This is not my job,” she mumbled as she looked. “This is really not my damned job.”

Finally, she found a box, tore it open and held a tissue up just in time for Toby to turn his head and wipe snot up her forearm.

“Fantastic, lovely.”

Toby wailed louder.

“Look, look,” she said, picking up her house keys from her bag and jingling them in front of him. He stopped crying immediately and grabbed at them.

Cordelia heaved a sigh of relief at the silence and checked the clock again as she wiped her arm clean. Going on forty five minutes. What was she doing in there?

Toby munched on her keys placidly and Cordelia’s stomach rumbled again and then she started to worry. Nat Greene was all of twenty three or four. Surely there couldn’t be anything that wrong with her?

She knelt up so she could see the computer and clicked on Nat’s appointment, but there was no further information there. Maybe it was something awful?

“Are you really letting that child eat metal?” Lydia said as she pushed open the surgery door.

Guiltily, Cordelia snatched her keys from Toby who immediately began to wail again.

“It’s alright, bubba,” Nat said, hurrying over and picking Toby up. The child quietened and nestled into his mother’s neck. “He’s just hungry,” said Nat, patting his back. “I’m sorry he was with you so long, I didn’t think it would take that long.”

“Is everything alright?” Cordelia asked.

“Oh yes,” said Nat, smiling a little now. “Much better now actually, thank you. ”

Nothing serious then, Cordelia thought as Nat carried her son out of the clinic. She turned to Lydia. “I’m not a babysitter, it’s not in my job description to pick up snotty children, you know. I do actually have responsibilities of my own.”

“Responsibilities that over-ride putting patient welfare first?” Lydia asked tartly.

“How was that in the patient’s welfare?”

Lydia sighed and shook her head. “What happens in the surgery is confidential, as you well know.”

“But whatever it was required me looking after Nat’s kid, huh?” Cordelia was hungry and irritated.

“Fine. It’s not your job. I understand that. I had no idea he was here, to be honest with you.”

Cordelia felt slightly less angry at this. She supposed that Lydia might not have known about Toby. But then she remembered Magda. “And what about you scaring patients half to death?” she demanded.

Lydia’s eyes opened a little wider, deep dark brown and puzzled looking. “I haven’t scared anyone.”

“Then why was Magda out here looking like the paint on that wall?” asked Cordelia. “You terrified her.”

“Magda…” Lydia said. “Oh, the pregnant woman?”

“Very much so, and you’re going to tell me right now what’s going on so that I can allay the fears that you’ve instilled.”

“As I told you before,” Lydia said patiently. “What happens in the surgery is confidential other than to patients and close family.”

“I am close, tell me,” Cordelia said, angry and worried now because despite what she’d told Magda she wasn’t so sure that Lydia didn’t know what she was talking about.

“Absolutely not, since…” Lydia trailed off. “Oh, oh dear, I didn’t know, I’m afraid I didn’t really understand.”

“Understand what?” Cordelia asked, wrong-footed by Lydia’s sudden change of tone.

“I really should have thought before I spoke, I’m so sorry, my apologies. It shouldn’t make a difference at all, but I am gay myself so I really should know better.”

“You’re gay?” said Cordelia. For a second she saw Lydia in a different light, restructuring her opinion of her to take in this new information. Except… except it didn’t really matter, did it? “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Lydia said. “But I’m afraid that the rules do still stand, if you’d like to come to your partner’s appointments with her then you’re very welcome as long as Magda agrees, and if she’s there then I’m free to talk to the both of you about any concerns you might have.”

It took a minute. Cordelia’s brain finally caught up and put the pieces together. “Wait, you think…” She started to laugh.

“What?” asked Lydia.

“Nothing, nothing,” said Cordelia. “I’m just thinking about what Oliver will say when he hears this.”

“Who’s Oliver?”

“Magda’s husband.”

“Wait,” said Lydia. “So you’re not…?”

Cordelia shook her head.

“And the baby’s not…?”

Cordelia shook her head again. “Magda is my best friend though. And she’s worried. Very worried.”

Lydia took a heartbeat. “I’ll give her a call over lunch and try and calm her a little more. I should have done better during her appointment.” She hesitated for a moment. “I can’t tell you anything, of course, but I urge you not to worry. Not until there’s something to worry about.”

Cordelia gritted her teeth. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That there haven’t been any tests done and there’s no information available at the moment, therefore worrying is inefficient and pointless,” Lydia said, walking back off to her office.

Not helpful, Cordelia thought. And she wondered if Lydia was always this cool and practical. But then, given what was about to happen, cool and practical were, it was to turn out, just the necessary qualifications.