Chapter 10 - A&E

"Look!" Martin bellowed, "You can process the paper work later!"

The Truro Hospital A&E desk clerk looked up at this dirty man with some alarm. He looked like he'd been sleeping rough, along with the woman in the wedding gown. Then she thought this must be some sort of prank, or maybe one of those off beat telly shows. Then the man gave his name. Oh no. Not him! "Uhm, Mr. Ell…ing…ham," she stammered - for she'd heard of this particular GP, and how he could tear a strip off hospital staff, "First, I must get the patient's name."

"Er, well, her name is…" Martin was trying to add.

"Angela," prompted Billy, "Campell, and soon to be Cable, I'm thinkin'."

Angela brightened. "Yes, Billy."

"Yes, what?" Billy said to her.

"If yer asking me to marry then, yes. I said yes!" the girl shouted.

Billy's face cracked into a wide grin. "Yes, I am asking."

Angela motioned to him. "Ask me properly."

The clerk watched open-mouth as the dirty young man got down on one knee before the girl in the wheelchair.

Billy cleared his throat. "Angela Campbell, will be my wife for ever and ever and be the mother of our children, including this one?"

Angela stroked Billy's hair. "Oh my yes."

The clerk was frozen at the bizarre scene. Who were these people? "This is a telly show, must be," she muttered.

Her frozen wonderment was interrupted by the older woman in the muddy and bloody wedding dress, who tapped on the counter top. "No, this IS reality, as hard as it is to believe." The woman's voice shifted a notch into a tone of command, and for some reason she felt like she was in third form, and the teacher was giving her a command. "Now, Miss Angela Campbell has just given birth to her baby."

"Full-term, apparently," added the man in the muddy gray suit.

"She needs to be examined, if not admitted," the woman went on. "So, will you get a move on, or shall we find someone else in this hospital that seems to actually care about patient needs?" Louisa had unconsciously adopted a manner she'd heard Martin use far too many times.

The clerk gulped. She took a good look at the wedding-dress woman. She knew that voice. "Miss Glasson? Oh my God. It is, isn't it?"

Louisa brushed a tangled strand of hair from her face. "It is… Mrs. Ellingham, now. I'm sorry, I don't recognize you. Do I know you?"

The clerk gulped. "I'm… Theresa Johns. Was Theresa Porthcut, afor I got married."

Louisa's teacher memory kicked in. "Oh yes, Theresa! I taught you for two years. Then you moved away. How are you, and your parents?"

The clerk nodded. "Fine. Fine. Mum's getting on. Dad's a long-haul lorry driver now. I been married now for two years."

Martin butted in, saying, "If you two… ahem… can stop the reunion chatter… for thirty seconds?" He shot his cuffs, and straightened his tie.

"Sorry, Martin," Louisa told him.

Theresa, the desk clerk, scooped up a handset. "Frank?" she said brightly. "Hey! Can you get yourself out here? We have a new mum. And her baby. Needs a workup. Move it, please? Good. Ta!" She hung up the telephone. "An orderly will be here soon."

Martin slowly let air out of his nose.

"It's fine, Martin," Louisa said.

"And this is your husband?" Theresa asked Louisa.

Louisa took his arm possessively and then ducked her head shyly. "It is. Martin Ellingham."

Theresa's eyes went wide. "Miss Glasson, you… you married him?" There were stories, and she'd heard most of them - and none were at all complimentary. The man was a complete tosser with his manners, but he was some sort of miracle worker when it came to medicine. "You married Dr. Ellingham?"

Louisa stretched up and kissed Martin's cheek to add to what was no doubt any number of stories about her husband. "I did."

Martin almost recoiled, but restrained himself. He stood a little straighter.

"So why are you wearing wedding dress?" Theresa asked.

Louisa smiled. "Our wedding day was yesterday and…"

"We had a bit of a deviation at our…" Martin added, "at our accommodations."

Theresa looked from the former Miss Glasson and her new hubby, to where the young fella was snogging with the girl in the wheelchair. "And Angela was a pregnant bridesmaid?"

"No," snapped Martin. "Now where is that orderly?"

Further conversation was interrupted by the clattering arrival of two men with a gurney. "Wots all this then?" Frank sniffed.

The second man had a stethoscope slung around his neck. "Oh, Mr. Ellingham," he said slowly. "I, well, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

"Patient," Martin snapped and immediately went into full MD mode. "Teenage primagravida - full term. Natural delivery, no anesthesia of any sort. Alert and aware. Seems not to be in much pain. The infant has good Apgars. Cord is clamped with twine…"

Louisa smiled at Theresa, whose mouth had taken on that open-mouthed astonished look once more. "And my husband's a very good doctor," she told her.