Australian Affairs: Seduced. Carol Marinelli
steak while Marnie had prawns and a mango salad and enjoyed just sitting back and relaxing in front of the view, as she had promised herself she would of an evening. She wouldn’t trade places with anyone. Watching a family on the next table, the mother spooning puréed pumpkin into a hungry baby’s mouth as the father tried to amuse an overtired toddler, Marnie was very glad to be able to simply linger over her meal with her brother. She listened as Ronan told her about his work, and then got to, perhaps, the real reason he had asked to visit.
‘You know what Mum’s like,’ Ronan said. ‘I’m just warning you that she was upset you didn’t come and visit at the weekend, or the last.’
‘She surely knows how busy I am with work,’ Marnie said. ‘And moving! She could’ve come and helped with the move, like you did—she knows she doesn’t need a written invitation to come and see me.’
‘I think that she’s just upset that you’ve moved so far.’
‘It’s not as if I’ve gone back home to Ireland.’ Marnie sighed. ‘I’m an hour’s drive away.’
‘She thinks you’re punishing her for us emigrating…’ Ronan attempted to make light of it but it was a bit of a dark subject and Marnie had to push out a smile.
‘I’ll try and get over one evening, but…’ Marnie shook her head; maybe she was avoiding her parents a bit at the moment but she just didn’t want to discuss it with Ronan. Or rather she simply couldn’t discuss it with anyone in her family. That time of the year was coming up. The time of year that no one in her family ever spoke about because no one in her family knew what to say.
Declan would soon have been thirteen.
She looked over to the little family at the next table—the toddler was eating ice cream now, the baby falling asleep on its mother’s lap, and sometimes, just sometimes, she would like to trade places.
Marnie took a long sip of her iced water and couldn’t come up with a suitable line as to why she had been avoiding her mother, so she settled for the usual instead. ‘I’m just busy, Ronan.’
So too was Harry.
After an evening spent trying to find vaccination certificates, as well as asking his parents if they could have the twins for a couple of days, Harry was in no mood for a very groomed Marnie the next day. She was busily writing on the white board while telling Kelly, who was frantically fishing to find out more about the elusive new manager, that the prawns she had had last night at Peninsular Pub were the best she had tasted.
He doubted Marnie would have been eating alone.
Yes, his response was terse when Marnie had the gall to ask him how Adam was.
‘He’s at my parents’,’ Harry said. ‘Along with Charlotte.’
‘Is she sick as well?’
‘Neither is sick. Well, Adam’s got a bit of a temperature,’ Harry said. ‘But my babysitter has shingles and I can hardly send them to day care knowing that any minute now they could break out in spots.’
‘Weren’t they immunised?’ She was so annoyingly practical; she might just as well have been asking if the puppies’ shots were up to date.
‘You’d have to ask my late wife,’ Harry snapped. ‘I can’t find the records.’
Ooh, they bristled and they snapped their way through the day, though the animosity was put on hold when a worried-looking Kelly came over and had a word with Harry, just as Marnie was finishing checking and ordering the scheduled drugs.
‘I’ve got a seventeen-year-old girl in who’s pregnant and bleeding. Sheldon estimates her to be around twenty-four weeks. The thing is, her parents are with her and Emily keeps insisting that she doesn’t want them to know that she’s pregnant. They keep asking for updates and are getting really angry that I won’t let them in to be with her and that the doctor hasn’t been in to speak with them. I’m just not sure how to deal with patient confidentially and Sheldon’s concerned…’
‘I’ll come now,’ Harry said, but as he made to go so too did Marnie.
‘I’ll come with you,’ Marnie said, then spoke with Kelly. ‘I’m happy to deal with her and the family.’
‘Please.’ Kelly let out a sigh of a relief. ‘I don’t blame Emily a bit for not wanting to tell her parents. They’re not exactly the most approachable pair.’
Emily was very young, very scared but very determined that this baby was wanted. Sheldon had already started an IV and an ultrasound machine was being wheeled in as Harry and Marnie took over. ‘Reece was going to come over at the weekend and tell my parents with me,’ Emily tearfully explained as Harry gently examined her abdomen. ‘Do we have to tell them now?’
‘Well, we don’t have to tell them,’ Marnie answered, ‘though I think they might start to guess what the issue is when they see you strapped to a foetal monitor or they see the sign for Maternity when I take you up.’ Harry saw the small smile on Emily’s lips as Marnie softened things with wry humour. ‘Do you not think they have an idea?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Emily admitted. ‘Dad did say that I was putting on weight and I was about to say something but then Mum said it was because I was spending all my time sitting down, studying.’ Emily started to cry. ‘They’re going to be so angry.’
‘They’re going to be concerned,’ Harry said, squirting some jelly on Emily’s abdomen.
Marnie bit down on her lip because, as good a doctor as Harry was, until you’d been there you simply didn’t understand.
Harry hadn’t been there.
Marnie had.
She took Emily’s hands. ‘We can tell your parents for you.’
‘You don’t understand…’
‘I do,’ Marnie said. ‘Sometimes news like this is better coming from someone who’s not so involved. Once they know about the baby and have calmed down, they can come in and speak with you.’
‘They’ll never calm down.’
‘Let’s just see,’ Marnie said. ‘For now you just worry about staying calm. The last thing we want is you stressing yourself and raising your blood pressure and things.’
‘Why am I bleeding?’
‘It looks as if your placenta is lying rather low,’ Harry said, running the ultrasound probe over Emily’s stomach, and Marnie watched Emily’s face as she stared unblinking at the screen and saw her baby for the first time. ‘The heartbeat is a good rate and strong,’ Harry said, pointing to the screen.
‘Can you tell if it’s a boy or girl?’
‘The one time I tried I got it wrong.’ Harry smiled. ‘I’m going to get the obstetricians down and they’ll examine you but for now I’ll let your family know what’s going on, if that’s okay with you?’ Emily gave a wary nod and then Harry asked about Reece and got a bit of history before they left to tell her parents. Marnie gave Emily’s hand a little squeeze before she left.
George and Lucia really were a rather formidable pair—the air was thick with tension as Marnie and Harry came in and sat down.
‘It’s ridiculous the length of time that we’ve been kept waiting,’ George said by way of introduction.
‘Well, we’ve been with your daughter,’ Harry calmly responded. ‘I just wanted to have a chat before you went in.’
‘We’d like to see her,’ Lucia said, instead of asking what was wrong with her daughter.
‘I’d like to speak with you before you do.’
‘I really just want to see her,’ Lucia insisted. ‘If you could just let us know what cubicle she’s in.’
They