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‘I thought he only had a cold,’ Alice said. ‘But...but this looks like it might be measles.’
‘How do you know?’
‘I’ve seen a lot of pictures. There was an outbreak in Edinburgh last year and we had a lot of our children absent because of the quarantine necessary. One of them had an older sister at school who got very sick.’
‘Quarantine?’
‘Measles is a notifiable disease in most countries. It’s highly contagious and it can be dangerous. The girl I was talking about got one of the worst complications—encephalitis—and she...she died.’ Alice paused to draw in a breath. ‘Even one case and anybody who’s been within possible contact has to be quarantined for about two weeks. Unless they’ve been immunised or have had measles themselves.’
‘Have you had measles?’
‘Yes. When I was a child. Have you?’
‘How am I supposed to know something like that?’
‘From health records perhaps. An immunisation card that your mother would have kept.’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t know of anything like that.’ He had taken a step back, as if that was enough to protect himself, and that bothered Alice. She cuddled Jacques a little closer.
‘You’ve been in the same house,’ she said, rubbing in the unwelcome information. ‘The same room. Contacts can spread measles before they start feeling sick themselves. There was a case in the States last year where everybody was placed in isolation because they’d been sitting in a doctor’s waiting room where there’d been a case of measles earlier that day.’
Julien shook his head again, more slowly this time. ‘That is not going to happen here. It cannot. The situation is difficult enough as it is.’ He took another step back. ‘It’s not as if I’ve touched the child.’
Alice felt a stirring of real anger. Why not? This baby had never known his mother and his father had died days ago. Had there only been hired help to offer comfort? He wasn’t even looking at Jacques again now. As if he could make the problem disappear by ignoring it. And then he spoke again, on the end of a sigh.
‘I have been forbidden to see Jacques,’ he said. ‘Ever since my sister died. But she made me his guardian and that is why I’m here today. To collect him.’
It still made no sense. ‘But you still haven’t touched him? Seen him even?’
‘The Laurent family have another court order. His grandmother is arriving later today also with the intention of taking guardianship of Jacques. That is why the solicitors are here. It is a very delicate situation. My solicitor advised me not to make things worse and...for me...’
He was looking at Jacques now. With an expression that broke Alice’s heart.
‘For me, I knew it would only make things so much harder if I saw him and then...he was taken away.’
So he really did care.
Any anger Alice was feeling towards Julien evaporated. She had no idea why he’d been refused contact with his nephew after his sister had died but, whatever the reason, it had to be unfair. Cruel, in fact. If there were sides to be taken in this dispute, she had just put herself firmly on Julien’s side.
The impression lasted only for a heartbeat. Julien’s almost desperate expression vanished as his attention was caught by something he heard. He turned his head towards the windows.
‘Someone is arriving,’ he announced. ‘Let’s hope it is the doctor, who can sort this out. Let’s hope that you are wrong.’
Or was it the DNA expert who had been summoned to sort out the other problem that was pending? Was he hoping she was also wrong about who she thought her father was?
To Alice’s relief, the doctor looked like a kindly man. Grey-haired and a little overweight, with deep smile lines around his eyes—a quintessential family GP. He came into the conservatory accompanied by the two women.
The older woman went to take the baby from her arms and he whimpered the moment as she touched him. Alice rocked him again. She didn’t want to let him go.
‘Shh,’ she whispered. ‘It’s okay, little one. We all want to help you.’
He cried out more loudly when the woman touched him for the second time and the doctor cleared his throat and then spoke in excellent English.
‘Perhaps it’s better if the baby stays with you while I examine him, mademoiselle. He seems to like you.’
Alice nodded. Was it too far-fetched to imagine that the baby was aware of a connection between them? Or maybe it was because she knew how unwelcome she was in this house as far as Julien and probably any other members of the household were concerned. This baby had no idea of the trouble she was causing and now he was causing trouble himself, poor little thing, so there was a connection to be found quite apart from any yet-to-be discovered genetic one. They were both problems. He needed protection, this little one, and she was just the person to provide it.
She held the baby while the doctor took his temperature and listened to his heart and lungs. She helped him undress the baby down to his nappy so that he could see his skin. Jacques whimpered miserably at the disturbance.
‘He needs paracetamol, doesn’t he?’ Alice asked the doctor. ‘And sponging with lukewarm water?’
‘Indeed. You are familiar with nursing children?’
‘I’m a pre-school teacher. We often have to deal with sick children and I’ve done some training. I’ve never dealt with a case of measles, though. Is that what it is?’
‘It would seem very likely. He has all the symptoms, including Koplik’s spots inside his cheeks. Are you immune?’
‘Yes. I had measles as a child.’
‘Do you have documentation to prove your immunity?’
‘No...’ Alice closed her eyes on a sigh. The need for such documentation would never have occurred to her as she’d embarked on this impulsive journey.
‘Are you aware of how serious this is?’
She nodded. ‘I’ve kept up with news of outbreaks since we had a scare in Edinburgh.’
‘Then you’ll know that a case has to be reported and that there are very strict isolation and quarantine procedures that must be followed. I need to offer immunisation and prophylactic treatment to everybody who cannot prove their immunity.’
Julien had been standing within earshot. ‘Quarantine is completely out of the question for me. I am due in Paris for filming in the next day or two. It’s a Christmas show that’s been planned for many months and cannot be postponed.’
The doctor sighed. ‘I know who you are, Monsieur Dubois—of course I do. My wife is one of your biggest admirers but...’ he raised his hands in a helpless gesture ‘...rules cannot be broken, I’m afraid. Not when it could put the health of so many others at risk.’
Alice blinked. The doctor looked to be in his sixties and his wife was one of Julien’s biggest fans? If he wasn’t in an edgy rock band, what sort of music did he produce? Romantic French ballads perhaps, with the accompaniment of an acoustic guitar? Was he doing a collection of Christmas carols for a seasonal show? No. Somehow it didn’t fit—especially right now, with that angry body language.
With a sound of pure frustration Julien pulled a mobile phone from his pocket and walked away as he held it to his ear. The doctor turned to the two women and began speaking in French again.
Concerned expressions became horrified as he kept talking. The younger woman burst into tears. Voices rose as panicked questions were asked. Behind her, Alice could hear Julien also raising his voice on his telephone call. Everybody was sounding upset