Brenna Cartwright Returns

Two weeks later Raina commenced her shift and scanned records to see who’d been admitted in her absence and their medical history. She gasped as she saw the name Brenna Cartwright and wondered what had bought this girl back for treatment. Had they missed something before that was vital for her health? They had very sophisticated methods of assessing health problems now and determining what could be done to enhance quality of life at the minimum or give them back their health as the ideal. She noted the new bed number assigned and headed there to look. The girl looked very sick, and she quietly asked the nurse at her side what they’d come up with in their diagnosis. It appeared the doctors were puzzled with this case. The whole range of tests had been completed and there was no apparent cause for this child being so sick so they’d admitted her again for close observation and were constantly testing to see if they could solve the puzzle. Raina knew that the physical and mental were very much connected in each person. She felt guilty. What if just one phone call from her could have made the difference in the girls wish to be alive and well. It was fanciful but occasionally it was proved that if a person had no interest in living the body reacted negatively. She spoke to the girl in the Austrian dialect and the girl opened her eyes in surprise much to the attending nurse’s amazement. The nurse spoke.

“We haven’t been able to get any reaction out of this child and her father is beside himself. Apparently, he lost his wife, and the girl has been grieving but the doctors feel that could not account for her present condition. The father has gone to get some sleep at the urging of her doctor as she only responds to him to a certain extent. We are all puzzled about this case. Her tests come up fine. Obviously, she isn’t well. She seems to respond to you, but you spoke to her in another language. Why did you do that?”

Raina stroked the girls head and spoke to her soothingly in the Austrian dialect. The girl teared up and answered in the same language. She was hurt because Raina had not phoned her when her father had told her he’d written to the kind nurse and given their home number. She missed her mother, and she missed speaking to her mother in the Austrian dialect mother and daughter used at home. They used English when her father was at home. Raina spoke to the girl again telling her she had to check on the other children in the ward, but she’d be back to check on her later.

“You didn’t phone me the girl wailed.”

Raina looked at the assigned nurse looking after Brenna and the nurse looked at her inquiringly, so she switched to English.

“She’s happy because I know how to speak to her in her mother’s language.”

Then she turned back to the girl alarmed because Brenna was becoming agitated. Perhaps a lie would save the situation and have the girl calm down again.

“Brenna, I don’t have your phone number so how could I phone you?”

Brenna relaxed and smiled.

“My dad will give it to you.”

The conversation between her supervisor and this girl in a foreign language was getting the child’s assigned nurse more interested and Raina decided to move on before more questions were raised. The nursing staff were like a big family, but they enjoyed gossip particularly if it involved one of them and they could tease them about it. It was all in good fun, but Raina wanted none of that now. It was embarrassing enough having a patient so interested in her and she regretted speaking that language with the girl a couple of weeks ago now.

She headed to the next section to check with assigned nurses there and was aware the nurse she’d just left was watching her. She turned to see the nurse attempting to quiz the girl in English, but Brenna was uncooperative. She only spoke English with her father.

Raina was returning to the nursing station when she saw a man approaching Brenna’s bed. Brenna was still not well but considerably happier than when her father had left earlier to attend to work at home and get some sleep. Raina sitting at her desk watched the section where Brenna had her bed assigned and saw out of the corner of her eye the nurse pointing toward the nursing station as she and the man spoke together. Raina froze as she saw the man approaching the station and put on her professional supervisor look and busied herself at the computer.

“Excuse me Mam.”

Raina looked up inquiringly.

“What can I do for you sir?”

“I’ve just come to thank you for getting my little Brennie out of the deep depression making her sick a couple of weeks ago’ Brennie said you were prepared to phone her occasionally and talk to her in her mother’s dialect. I’m so sorry you don’t seem to have got my letter of appreciation and the phone number Mam. Can I give you the phone number? Incidentally my name is Donald Cartwright and I’m a history professor. I’ve taken a year off to help my daughter through this difficult time as her mother died and Brennie misses her too much for her health’s sake it seems. I don’t know what to do to help her except give her my time and I can afford to do that for a year. My parents who own large estates around the Cambridge area and retired are willing to help but apparently that’s not enough as she doesn’t know them well. My in-laws sent my young sister-in-law to help but she like her parents is a disciplinarian and it was a disaster, so I sent her home and took leave myself. Anything you could do to help her recover would be greatly appreciated though I know your work would be quite time consuming and it’s asking a lot.”

Raina was used to sizing people up instantly and a good judge of intentions. He seemed quite innocent, but she was married to her job and dealing with a lot of personal issues herself so did not welcome this intrusion into her complicated life.

Involuntarily Raina reached out and handed him a sheet out of her notebook she always carried in her purse and a pen but said nothing. He smiled and thanked her again after writing his name and the contact telephone number and turned to return to his daughter’s side.

Mentally Raina in this brief encounter had stored an image of Donald Cartwright in her mind and noted his athletic form and confidence. She didn’t have an image of an academic at the professor level being that fit imagining they spent time with their heads in a cloud of knowledge standing before students in a lecture theatre and sitting at a desk buried in books. That image was shattered looking at this man. She concluded this man was not hitting on her at all but just wanting to have his child back to the happy person she was when his wife Aniya was alive.

Brenna Cartwright made rapid progress from that time on further puzzling the doctors who were looking for the cause of her sickness. They’d done test after test to recheck their conclusions and eventually concluded it must be a mental condition. They requested Donald bring Brenna back in a weeks’ time to check on her progress.

Raina went home that evening frustrated at this turn of events. She did not welcome this intrusion into her private life. It was Donald Cartwright’s problem not hers. But the nurse empathetic nature and woman’s sympathies for any child in need had her with the phone in her hand two nights later fighting sympathy and anger at this involvement. Many times, she put that phone down and later picked it up as if there was some uncontrollable urge telling her to help this child. Finally, she took the piece of paper and punched in the telephone number. She heard the phone open on the other side and spoke.

“This is Raina Novak the nurse from the hospital Brenna has been admitted to recently. I’m phoning to see how our patient is doing and whether Brenna needs any further intervention from us.”

Donald Cartright let out a sigh of relief.

“I was hoping you’d do this for Brenna. I’m putting her on the phone for you to talk with and you can question her yourself. Thank you!”

Raina heard him calling to his daughter urging her to take the phone as the kind nurse had to look after other children and couldn’t talk long. There was an excited cry of joy, and she heard the child scamper to the phone.

There was an explosion of talk in the Austrian dialect Raina was familiar with and Raina listened and smiled as she began to absorb the child’s enthusiasm. Finally, there was a pause for breath and Raina spoke.

“Brenna, I have to go now as I have other important things to attend to, but I really enjoyed talking with you tonight.”

“What’s your name nurse?”

“Raina.”

“How do you know my mother’s language Raina?”

“I lived in Austria as a child Brenna.”

“Will you come and see me, Raina?”

No, it will have to be a telephone call Brenna because I have all these other children to look after and can’t leave them.”

“When will you phone me again so I can hear you talk my language?”

“Probably next week Brenna because I must work through the week. I must go now so talk with you next week.”

Raina heard the phone changing hands and knew Brenna’s father had taken it from her. He spoke quickly before she disconnected the phone.

“Thank you. I know this was a huge sacrifice for you to do this for someone who is not one of your own family. I hope your husband is that understanding.”

Raina paused from activating the red disconnect button on her phone. Then spoke.

“Well, it so happens I don’t have a husband so no problem there but there is a problem satisfying Brenna’s desire for a lot of attention from me as I have heavy responsibilities at work as a supervisor, but I’ll try and contact her when I can as I see it does help in her rehabilitation.

But as time went by the weekly phone call to Brenna slowly morphed into twice a week and then whenever Raina was not too exhausted from her shift work to find the energy to make that call. As the frequency of these calls developed Raina had the desire to see the girl and realized she was missing the pleasures of motherhood. While Brenna always insisted on seeing her new mother figure after each call Raina had resisted the temptation judging it unprofessional. What would this man Donald Cartwright think of such a meeting. He was probably wondering why it was necessary for the contact to have extended for such a long period of time and regretting asking her to do him this favour. Perhaps she should end the phone calls but by now she needed them herself and felt wretched she’d allowed things to go this far. By then a year had passed since Brenna last admission to the hospital for treatment. It was customary for children to have a spurt of growth at this stage of their early childhood, and she wondered what she looked like now.

Then after a long phone call with the girl and the usual request to see Raina she capitulated.

“Brenna, you need to ask your father about that as it’s not up to me to come and see you without an invitation from him.”

Immediately a male voice interjected on the other end of the line.

“Raina I’m so happy to hear you are at last willing to spend time meeting my Brennie. She just longs for your phone calls and conversation in a language precious to her. Where would you like to meet up with us and I’ll be glad to arrange that. I know you don’t have a vehicle of your own so would pick you up in my car at a time and place of your choosing.”

Raina was surprised and a little annoyed that Donald Cartright had been listening to the calls between the two of them. Then it occurred to her that he must understand the dialect she and Brenna conversed in. She recalled his excellent physique and good looks from the picture she’d stored in her mind at the hospital and decided not to be annoyed.

“Sounds good Mr. Cartwright. I hope you don’t think I’m trying to grab your child from you with all these phone calls over the past year. You did ask me to keep in touch with her, but I was wondering if this had gone too far.”

“Please call me Donald Raina and no I welcome what you’ve done to fill a void in Brennie’s life. She longs to see you again so when can we get together. I’m on leave to spend a year with Brennie so any time is OK with us, but I know you have an important taxing work to do at the hospital and it would be a privilege if you could spare some time for us.”

Raina’s heart began to race at the thought of a meeting between the three of them. She was honest enough to admit she was attracted to both this man and his daughter. She was in her early thirties now and realizing life was slipping away from a chance at a meaningful relationship. She loved her job and found it fulfilling but having someone in life to share with would fill a void she felt at the loss of her parents. She’d not spent that much time with her fiancé, so his memory was beginning to recede at last and a new interest was developing.

To be continued.

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