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wasn’t his fault he’d forgotten, was it? ‘Some other time, then. Soon,’ he added.
    But when? Not tomorrow—that was his trauma medicine course. Thursday was the practice late night. Maybe Friday, then.
    When had life become so complicated? When had he and Rachel stopped having time for each other? More to the point, how were they going to fix it? Right now, he didn’t have any answers.
    * * *
    On Thursday morning, Rachel was surprised to see Megan Garner halfway through the morning. The practice antenatal clinics were held on Wednesdays, and she’d seen Megan last week. ‘Hi, Meg. I thought I was seeing you next Wednesday?’
    â€˜You are.’ Megan’s face was ashen and there were dark shadows under her eyes—more than Rachel expected to see, even though Megan was probably having the usual difficulty sleeping in late pregnancy.
    â€˜What’s up?’
    â€˜It’s Jasmine. She’s got chickenpox.’ A tear trickled down Megan’s face. ‘I haven’t had it. Ever. I played with all the kids in the village and I never, ever got chickenpox. And my mum’s friend said chickenpox can—can ki—’ She broke off, her breath shuddering, clearly too distraught to say the word, and scrubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand.
    â€˜Hey.’ Rachel took her hand. ‘Of course you’re worried. And I’m glad you came to see me. First things first, we don’t know you haven’t had chickenpox.’
    â€˜Mum said I didn’t.’
    â€˜It’s possible that you had it so mildly, you only had oneor two spots and your mum thought they were gnat bites,’ Rachel reassured her. ‘Studies show that eighty per cent of people who can’t recall having chickenpox are actually immune. And chickenpox in pregnancy is really rare—only about three in every thousand pregnant women get it.’
    â€˜What about the baby?’
    â€˜Yes, there is a risk of the baby developing problems such as skin scarring, eye problems and neurological problems, but that’s only a risk if you get it between thirteen and twenty weeks. So you can stop worrying about birth defects because you’re well past twenty weeks.’ She paused. ‘When did Jasmine go down with it?’
    â€˜She got the first spots yesterday. She was in the bath and I saw them.’ Megan shook her head. ‘I’d heard you can literally see chickenpox spots coming out, but I thought people were exaggerating. But I could see them popping up on her back.’
    Rachel nodded, calculating mentally that Jasmine became infectious four days ago. The incubation period was between ten days and three weeks, so if Megan did develop chickenpox it would be somewhere between the end of the following week and the next fortnight. ‘Right. You’re due to have the baby in ten days’ time. If the baby’s late, that could mean you’ll deliver the baby in three weeks’ time. Jasmine’s spots will all have crusted over by the end of next week, so there shouldn’t be any risk to the baby from Jasmine.’
    â€˜What about if I have the baby early? Or if I get it?’
    â€˜Let’s not panic yet. There’s a very high probability that you’re already immune—remember, around ninety-five per cent of adults have already had it—so I’ll do a blood test and ask the lab to rush it through for me. If you’re not immune, I can refer you to the hospital for preventative treatment—they can give you something called VZIG and give the baby the same thing when he’s born.’ She smiled. ‘That stands for “varicella zoster”—chickenpox to me andyou—“immunoglobulin”. They’re antibodies which will protect you and the baby against developing chickenpox.’
    Megan was shaking slightly. ‘But if I do get it—or the baby?’
    â€˜If you get it before