Midwives On-Call. Alison Roberts

about to say was put on hold as he looked over Isla’s shoulder. ‘Good morning, Alessi, thanks for coming down—you’re looking very smart.’

      Especially smart, Isla thought! Alessi’s good looks and easy smile she did not need this morning, especially as he was looking particularly divine. He was dressed in an extremely impressive suit, his tie was immaculately knotted and he was, for once, freshly shaven. He might as well be on his way to a wedding rather than dropping into the unit to check a newborn that Sean was worried about.

      ‘Good morning, all,’ Alessi said.

      ‘Morning, Alessi,’ one of Isla’s midwives called.

      ‘Looking good,’ someone else commented, and Isla bristled as she heard a wolf whistle come from the treatment room.

      They were like bees to honey around him and Alessi took it all in his stride and just smiled, though it did not fall in Isla’s direction. They didn’t get on. Of course they were professional when they worked together. Their paths often crossed but they both tried to make sure that there was as little contact as possible. His flirting with her staff annoyed the hell out of Isla, however, and she was very tempted to have a word with him about it. She had recently found out that he was dating one of her students, Amber.

      That made it sound worse than it was, Isla knew—Amber was a mature-age student and older than she herself was, but even so, Isla wasn’t impressed.

      What she couldn’t dispute, though, was that Alessi was one of the hardest-working doctors she had ever known. As hard as he dated, he worked. He was there in the mornings when she arrived and often long after she went home.

      ‘What do you have for me?’ Alessi asked Sean, but before he could answer Isla made to go.

      ‘I’ll leave you both to it,’ Isla said.

      ‘Could you hold on a second, Isla? I still want to speak with you,’ Sean said, thwarting her attempt to make a swift getaway. He turned to Alessi. ‘I’ve got a baby I delivered in the early hours. He seemed to be fine when delivered but there’s no audible cry now. All observations are normal and he seems well other than he isn’t making much noise when he cries.’

      ‘I’ll take a look.’ Alessi nodded.

      ‘So why are you all dressed up?’ Sean asked, given that Alessi usually dressed in scrubs and looked as if he had just rolled out of bed.

      ‘I’m having lunch today with the bigwigs …’ Alessi rolled his eyes and then they did meet Isla’s and he gave her a tight smile. ‘I’m actually having lunch with Isla’s father.’

      She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but Isla knew that he was having a little dig at her.

      ‘Enjoy,’ Isla said.

      ‘I shan’t,’ Alessi tartly replied. ‘Sometimes you have to just suffer through these things.’

      The lunch that Alessi was speaking about was due to the fact that he was soon to be receiving an award in recognition of his contributions to the neonatal unit over the past year. There was a huge fundraising ball being held in a couple of weeks’ time and Charles Delamere was attempting to push Alessi towards the charitable side of things—hence the lunch today, where it would be strongly suggested that Alessi, with his good looks and easy smile, might be a more visible presence. While Alessi knew how essential fundraising was and felt proud to have his achievements acknowledged, a part of him resented having to walk the talk. He’d far rather be getting on with the job than appearing on breakfast television to speak about the neonatal unit, as Charles had recently suggested.

      Alessi chatted for a moment more with Sean but, during that brief exchange with Isla, he had noted the puffiness around her eyes and had guessed, rightly, that she had been crying. He was wrong about the reason, though. Alessi assumed Isla’s tears were because of the weekend reports about her boyfriend’s philandering. Even if she was upset there was still plenty of the ice-cold Isla, Alessi thought as she stood there. Her stance was bored and dismissive and she didn’t even deign to give him a glance as he headed off to examine the infant.

      Isla was anything but bored, though. Seemingly together, she was shaking inside as Alessi walked off because she knew that Sean was going to ask her about Isabel.

      ‘How was this morning?’ Sean asked.

      ‘Fine.’

      ‘Isabel got off okay?’

      ‘She just texted to say that she’s boarding.’ Isla nodded and then did her best to change the subject. ‘What did you want to speak with me about?’

      ‘Just that,’ Sean answered. ‘Isla, my working here didn’t have any part in her decision—’

      ‘Sean, Isabel was offered a year’s secondment in England. Who wouldn’t give their right arm for that?’

      ‘It just—’

      ‘I’m too busy to stand here, chatting,’ Isla said, and walked off.

      Yes, she could be aloof at times but it was surely better to be thought of as that than to stand discussing Isabel’s leaving with Sean.

      Isla went to the store cupboard and got some samples of condoms. She put them in a bag and then headed in to speak with Christine, who was there with Blake, her boyfriend, who was also eighteen. Little Joel, their older baby, was also there.

      Isla was usually incredibly comfortable approaching such subjects with her patients. She discussed contraception many times a day both on the ward and in the postnatal clinic but when she walked behind the curtains, where Christine was nursing her baby, she also saw Alessi’s shoes gleaming beneath the other side of the curtains. That he was examining the baby in the next bed to Christine made Isla feel just a little bit self-conscious.

      ‘Hi, there, Christine.’ Isla smiled. ‘Hi, Blake. I hear that you’re all going home this morning?’

      ‘I can’t wait to get him home,’ Christine said, and gazed down at Robbie. He was latched onto Christine’s breast, beautifully and happily feeding away.

      ‘You’re doing so well,’ Isla commented. ‘You’re still feeding Joel, aren’t you?’

      ‘Just at night,’ Christine replied, ‘though he’s jealous and wants me all the time now, too.’

      Isla glanced over at Joel, who was staring at his new brother with a very put-out look on his face. Christine really was an amazing mum, but Isla could well understand Sean’s concern and why he was asking her to reiterate what he had said. Christine was incredibly pale and breastfeeding a newborn and a ten-month-old would certainly take its toll. ‘I wanted to have a word with you about contraception—’

      ‘Oh, we’ve already been spoken to about that,’ Christine interrupted. ‘The midwife said something this morning and Dr Sean has been in, so you really don’t need to explain things again.’

      ‘I do.’

      ‘I’ll leave you to it, then.’ Blake went to stand but Isla shook her head.

      ‘Oh, no.’ Isla smiled as Blake reluctantly sat down. ‘I want to speak with both of you. As you know, the IUD insertion didn’t work. That happens sometimes, but now it’s better that the doctor waits for your six-week checkup to put another in.’

      ‘Dr Sean has explained that,’ Christine sighed.

      ‘You do know that you can’t rely on breastfeeding as a form of contraception,’ Isla gently reminded them, and Christine started to laugh as she looked down at Robbie.

      ‘I know that now—given that I’m holding the proof.’

      ‘And you understand that you can’t take the Pill because of your history of blood clots,’ Isla continued as Christine vaguely smiled and nodded. She really wasn’t taking any of this in. ‘You need to use condoms every time, or not have intercourse …’

      ‘There’s