Читать книгу Australian Bachelors: Outback Heroes: Top-Notch Doc, Outback Bride / A Wedding in Warragurra / The Outback Doctor's Surprise Bride - Fiona Lowe - Страница 16

RUTH WILLIAMS was at the airstrip when they alighted from the plane. ‘I organised one of Jack Dennis’s boys to take your car to the clinic,’ she said to Matt. ‘I didn’t want to leave it out here overnight, especially with your medical equipment on board. I can give you a lift back into town.’

‘Thanks, Ruth,’ Matt said. ‘That was thoughtful of you.’

Ruth turned to Kellie. ‘You must be exhausted. What a drama to face on your first official day with us.’

‘Yes, it was,’ Kellie said, looking down at herself ruefully. ‘That’s the longest run I’ve ever been on. Next time I’m going to take an overnight backpack just in case.’

Ruth gave her a rueful look. ‘I did warn you things can happen out here in the blink of an eye.’

‘Yes, well, I’m a believer now,’ Kellie said as they made their way to Ruth’s car.

The clinic was fully booked so Ruth dropped off Matt before taking Kellie to the Montgomerys’ cottage so she could get changed and drive herself back to town.

By the time Kellie made it back to the clinic the waiting room was full. Every available chair was taken and three male patients were standing. A small child was howling piteously in one corner, his harried mother doing what she could to placate him while nursing an infant at her breast.

Trish gave Kellie a relieved smile as she ended the call she was on. ‘Welcome to Mayhem Medical Clinic,’ she said. ‘I know you’re not going to believe this, but it’s not always as busy as this.’

Kellie straightened her shoulders. ‘I’m ready for a challenge,’ she said. ‘That’s why I’m here.’

‘Good,’ Trish said, handing her the file on top of the stack on the reception counter. ‘Angela Baker is your first patient. You won’t get much more challenging than that.’

Kellie suppressed a frown, hoping the patient hadn’t overheard Trish’s comments. She hadn’t appeared to, although perhaps it was because her son was now having a full-on tantrum in the middle of the waiting-room floor.

‘Angela?’

The young flustered woman got to her feet, almost dropping the baby in the process.

‘Here,’ Kellie said as she reached for the baby and the nappy bag the young mother was carrying. ‘Let me help you.’

‘Thanks,’ Angela mumbled as she reached for one of her toddler’s flailing arms. ‘Come on, Charlie. It’s time to see the doctor.’

The little boy opened his mouth even wider, his reddened eyes streaming with tears. Kellie felt sorry for both the toddler and his poor mother, who looked like she was close to tears herself. She looked far too thin for someone who had not long had a baby. Her cheeks were sunken and her hair looked like it hadn’t seen a brush in a couple of days at least.

It took a bit of cajoling but eventually Charlie shuffled in with his mother and sat down on the floor to play with the small basket of toys in Tim Montgomery’s room.

Kellie was glad she had come to the post with experience as she hadn’t had time to check the facilities out first. The room was fairly well equipped and organised in such a way that she didn’t think she would have too much trouble finding what she needed.

The baby became restless as it was still hungry so Kellie handed her back to Angela so she could run her eyes over the file to familiarise herself with the young woman’s history. There wasn’t a great deal of information, apart from the two pregnancies which had both progressed more or less normally. Tim’s writing was a little difficult to read in places but she could see that Angela was a nineteen-year-old girl. She wasn’t married but lived with the father of her children on the edge of town.

‘Right.’ Kellie smiled as she looked up from the notes. ‘What can I do for you, Angela?’

‘I think there’s something wrong with Charlie,’ Angela said, not quite meeting Kellie’s gaze. ‘He’s been crying a lot and keeps trying to hit the baby.’

‘Lucy is, what …?’ Kellie glanced at the notes again. ‘Just ten weeks old and Charlie is nineteen months old. It’s perfectly normal for him to be a little put out by the presence of a new baby. He’s had you to himself for all that time. He’s only a baby himself so it will take him a little while to adjust, but I’ll run a few standard tests to reassure you.’

Charlie was surprisingly obliging when Kellie approached him. She crouched down to his level, brushed back his dark brown hair from his face and told him she was going to see how much he had grown over the past few months.

Once she had finished her examination she handed him one of the more colourful toys and he played contentedly while she turned her attention to Angela and the baby.

Lucy was as cute as a button. Kellie felt every maternal urge pulling cathedral-like bells on her biological clock as she examined the tiny wriggling infant.

Lucy, like her brother, had big brown eyes and beautiful skin. Her weight and length were normal and she even gave Kellie a gummy smile, which sent the clanging bells inside Kellie’s head into overdrive.

Once the baby was settled back in Angela’s arms Kellie asked a few questions about the young woman’s health and diet, suggesting she might need to eat a bit more because she was breastfeeding. ‘I imagine it’s a difficult time, juggling the needs of two small children, but you need to take care of yourself. I’d like to run a few tests just to make sure your haemoglobin is fine and your thyroid function is normal.’ She waited a beat before adding, ‘I notice you have a slight tremor in your hands. How long have you had that?’

Angela’s eyes moved away from hers. ‘I don’t know … A little while, I guess …’ She brought her head back up after a moment and said somewhat defensively, ‘I don’t drink. As soon as I knew I was pregnant I stopped.’

‘That’s good, Angela,’ Kellie said with an encouraging smile. ‘That was a very sensible thing to do. Alcohol crosses the placenta and it also passes through breast milk so it’s best to avoid it.’

‘It’s hard … you know?’ Angela said, looking down at the baby. ‘There’s no one to help me. Shane doesn’t see it as his thing. He thinks it’s women’s work to look after the kids. I never get a break.’

‘Would you be interested in being part of a mothers’ group if I set one up?’ she asked.

Angela gave a one-shoulder shrug. ‘I guess.’

Kellie smiled. ‘I’ll make some enquiries and let you know.

You’ll need to come back and see me if the blood tests show up anything abnormal.’

Once she had drawn up the blood for testing she helped Angela back out to Reception with the children before reaching for the next patient file.

The rest of the morning whizzed by as patient after patient came in and out. Kellie saw Matt only twice, once when she was out at Reception, quizzing Trish on facilities available for an elderly patient, and then again when she went in search of the toilet. He had been coming out of his consulting room and briefly asked how she was settling in.

‘Fine,’ she said. ‘I have a couple of patients I wouldn’t mind talking over with you when you’ve got a minute.’

‘Trish usually leaves a thirty-minute gap for lunch so we can go over them then,’ he said. ‘The kitchen’s out the back. I’m not sure if Trish has had time to show you around. It’s been a full-on morning due to yesterday’s cancellations.’

The thirty-minute gap became a ten-minute one because Kellie was held up with another young single mother who was finding it difficult to cope with her three young children. Kellie spent most of the consultation handing over tissues as Gracie Young told her of her woes, but it made her all the more determined to try and sort out something for these unfortunate girls.

‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ Kellie said as she came into the clinic kitchen after seeing Gracie out.

Matt looked up from the paper he was reading. ‘That’s fine. Trish told me you’ve seen some of our more difficult patients.’

Kellie frowned as she flicked on the still warm kettle. ‘Where is Trish now?’ she asked.

‘I think she said something about going to the general store for something,’ he answered. ‘Why?’

She leaned her hips back against the counter and faced him. ‘She made a comment about a patient that I thought was a little inappropriate,’ she said. ‘The waiting room was full and anyone could have heard. The patient hinted that she had heard it as apparently it’s quite a common occurrence.’

‘Which patient was it?’

‘Angela Baker.’

‘Do you want me to have a word with Trish about it?’ he asked.

She let out a sigh as the kettle clicked off. ‘I probably need to talk to her myself.’

‘Angela is a hard case, Kellie,’ he said. ‘Gracie Young is even worse. They both have pretty sad backgrounds, lots of violence and drinking while they were growing up.

‘She told me she’s stopped drinking.’

His expression took on a cynical edge. ‘And you believed her?’

Kellie stood up straighter. ‘Yes, I did, as a matter of fact,’ she said. ‘She loves those kids. She’s doing the best she can. It’s not easy for her, you know.’

‘You won’t be able to fix anything in the short time you’re here,’ he said, lifting his cup to drain its contents.

‘As far as I can see, no one is doing anything to turn things around.’ She threw back.

Matt stood up and pushed in his chair. ‘Listen, Kellie,’ he said. ‘You’re not a social worker or a psychologist or indeed a drug and alcohol counsellor. You’re a GP. Your job is to diagnose and treat illness. You’ll end up doing more harm than good.’

‘I want to start a support group for the young mothers,’ she said with a defiant jut of her chin. ‘Once or twice a week for just a couple of hours for them to have a cup of tea or coffee together and chat, sort of like a playgroup. I can do some workshops on parenting or cooking classes even. Anything will be better than nothing.’

‘I don’t want to rain on your campaign to save the world but you really would be wasting your time,’ he said. ‘Before you’re in the air on your way home they will go back to what they’re familiar with.’

‘How can you be so cynical?’ she asked. ‘You’ve lived out here for this long—surely you realise the issues they face?’

‘Of course I do, and I do what I can when I can,’ he said as he went to the sink to rinse his cup. ‘It’s heartbreaking to see the destruction of so many young lives.’

‘Is there a community centre I could use?’

Matt turned to look at her. ‘You really are serious about this, aren’t you?’

Her brown eyes glinted with determination. ‘Yes.’

He shoved his hands in his pockets, to stop himself from reaching to brush back a wayward strand of her hair off her face. She looked strong and determined but that chestnut strand lying across her left eyebrow gave her a look of endearing vulnerability. Even the pillowed softness of her mouth made him want to bend his head to press his lips against hers. ‘All right, I’ll see what I can do,’ he said, but somehow his voice came out a little croaky.

She smiled and before he could do anything to stop it—even if he had wanted to—she reached up on tiptoe and pressed a little soft-as-a-summer-breeze kiss to his cheek. ‘Thank you, Matt.’

His eyes locked on hers, the silence stretching and stretching until Matt thought the room would burst. He knew he should say something but he couldn’t get his mind into gear. He was standing too close to her. Her perfume had bewitched him. He could feel the drugging of his senses as each pulsing second passed.

‘I hope I’m not interrupting anything,’ Trish said in a singsong tone as she came in carrying a packet of tea bags.

‘No, not at all,’ Matt said brusquely, stepping away from Kellie. ‘We were just discussing Angie Baker.’

Trish’s gaze flicked to Kellie’s before returning to Matt’s. ‘Oh?’

‘I know you’ve had some run-ins with Angie in the past, but I would prefer it if you’d refrain from making your opinions of her public,’ he said. ‘That’s not how this practice is run.’

Trish’s mouth tightened for a moment before she released it on a sigh. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘You’re right, of course. I just get so frustrated. David and I spent years trying to have a child and it never happened. She just seems to fall pregnant just looking at a man.’

Matt gave her shoulder a little pat. ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself, Trish. You’re doing a great job. Thanks for rescheduling all those patients yesterday. I owe you.’

‘Then promise you’ll come to this year’s bachelors’ and spinsters’ ball,’ Trish said. ‘You never been to one before and it’s about time you did.’

‘I’ll think about it,’ he said.

‘Will you come too, Kellie?’ Trish asked with a broad smile. ‘You’d have a great time, I’m sure. People come in from miles around.’

‘It sounds like fun,’ Kellie said. ‘When is it?’

‘It’s next month,’ Trish said, ‘I’ll give you an invitation with all the details on. You’ll have a great time and, you never know, you might even meet the love of your life. Believe me, it’s happened before. We’ve had four marriages in four years so you never know whose turn it will be next.’

Kellie carefully avoided looking at Matt in case he saw the blush she could feel creeping along her cheeks. ‘I can’t see that happening,’ she said. ‘Besides, I’m not intending to stay out here any longer than six months.’

Trish’s hazel eyes began to twinkle as she bustled out to answer the phone. ‘You’ll have to change her mind, Matt,’ she said over her shoulder. ‘I’m sure if you put your mind to it, you could do it.’

There was a flicker of irritation in Matt’s gaze as it met Kellie’s. ‘Don’t take any notice of her,’ he said. ‘She, along with just about everybody else in town thinks it’s time I found myself a wife. I’m sorry if you were embarrassed by her—she means well in spite of her rather obvious and clumsy attempt to matchmake.’

‘It’s all right,’ Kellie said. ‘I understand. I have heaps of friends and colleagues who do the same thing to me. I’ve been on so many blind dates over the past few years I reckon I could almost qualify for a guide dog.’

The smile that pulled at his mouth made Kellie’s heart skip in her chest. It made his dark blue eyes soften and the tight set to his jaw disappear completely.

He held her gaze for a moment or two before turning away, his smile gradually fading. ‘I have patients to see,’ he said in a gruff tone.

Kellie drew in a breath and let it out in a long unsteady exhalation as the door clicked shut on his exit. You’re in deep trouble, my girl, she thought as she tipped her undrunk tea down the sink.