Читать книгу The Nurse's Special Delivery - Louisa George, Louisa George - Страница 11

CHAPTER TWO

‘SHANE! SHANE!’

The boss had come to a halt a hundred metres or so down the hill, splayed against the rear of the helicopter. He wasn’t moving.

Cal reassessed, looking from Shane to Marty and then back down the slope again, allowing himself the briefest moment for his heart to thump hard and fast against his chest wall. Damn. Damn. Then he closed off all emotion.

Panic didn’t help. Helplessness didn’t help. Just action. He’d learnt his lesson the hard way. Had been learning for two long years.

Two patients now. One scoop and a fledgling helper.

Their patient took priority. Getting him down the hill now was going to be a challenge.

Somehow Callum had managed to keep a firm grip on Marty’s scoop. ‘You okay, mate?’

‘Holding on,’ he groaned. ‘Just about.’

The scoop listed at a sharp forty-five-degree angle, from where Cal had maintained his hold and height, to where Abbie had been twisted by the sudden lurch sideways and pushed to the floor. She was just about managing to hold the scoop aloft with her arms outstretched underneath Marty, bearing his weight in a desperate attempt to keep their patient still and secure. There was an ooze of blood on her head. ‘Abbie? You okay?’

She grimaced, her body contorting in an effort to hold up the scoop and the man, who must have weighed three times what she did. ‘I’m fine. It’s okay.’

‘You’re bleeding.’

‘It’s nothing. I caught my head on a rock as I fell. It’s just a scratch.’ She shook her head, trying hard to pretend she was okay, but he could see right through it. ‘You should see the other guy.’

‘Sadly, I can see him.’ The boss looked knocked out and flat. Marty was groaning in agony in the tipped-up scoop. And Abbie had a cut head.

It looked worse than just a scratch, but he had to believe her because he just couldn’t do this alone. She seemed orientated and fine. Feisty, actually. He’d have a closer look once they were on safe terrain and out of danger. ‘Right then. I’m going to lower him down so we can right the scoop, then we can wait for Brian to come help.’

‘He’d be better staying down there, don’t you think? To see if Shane’s okay?’

‘I’ll talk to him.’ Cal shouted towards the chopper but couldn’t make himself heard. He flicked on the two-way. ‘Hey. Did you see Shane? He took a bad fall, he’s at the rear. Roger.’

‘I’m on my way. How are you going to manage with the scoop? Slide it down?’

‘Not sure yet. Over.’ There were too many rocks sticking out of the ground to make sliding a feasible option.

‘She’s a little thing. Roger.’

‘We’ll be fine.’ It was Abbie, glowering. She had the affronted air of someone who would not be underestimated. He knew that trait well. Too well. Someone who insisted on overstretching...and then paying the consequences. She’d lowered her side of the scoop now and was brushing the snow and ice from her clothes. As she bent to the left she winced. ‘Just give me a couple of seconds.’

They barely had one. The weather was closing in. This was all falling apart, but he needed to stay in control. ‘Are you hurt? Is it something more than your head? Did the scoop hit you?’

‘Just winded me.’ She shook her head again but he could see the way she flinched as she turned. ‘Let’s do this.’

‘I can call back-up. You won’t be able to manage.’

‘Says who? I could be a champion weightlifter for all you know. I could have won the Queenstown Primary arm wrestling competition in 1997.’ She flexed her arms, but all he could see was the huge coat covering her from neck to knee. With the head wound and her wayward hair and the enormous coat she looked like a bag lady rather than the professional she was proving to be. ‘What do you think, Marty? Am I stronger than I look?’

‘I hope so,’ Marty groaned. ‘Yes.’

She gave Cal an I-told-you-so grin that made her eyes light up and his stomach feel strange, then she shuffled to the end of the scoop and bent in readiness to pick it up. ‘So, let’s do this. What choice do we have?’

‘We could wait for back up. Or Brian.’ But even with the space blanket, Marty was shaking with cold; they had to get this done and quick.

‘He’s with Shane and it looks like he needs help too.’ Too true. Brian was trying to lift Shane up, but the senior paramedic kept buckling forward. She glanced at the swirls of snow falling around them. ‘There isn’t a choice. We have to do this or we’ll all freeze to death.’ Without any further chance at a conversation she bent at the end of the scoop and shouted, ‘Ready? On my call. One. Two. Three.’

They were badly matched size-wise, but if he kept his arms straight and stooped down low they were just about able to maintain a satisfactory balance. But it was slow going. He could see every muscle in her hands tighten and strain as she bore the weight of the hiker.

She doesn’t have gloves on.

Somewhere along the way she’d taken them off—to work the IV and draw up drugs, probably. And hadn’t had the chance to put them back on. Her fingers were white—with strain? With cold?

That was all he needed. Frostbite.

Frostbite. The enemy of the winter hiker. Could do untold damage from the inside out.

The dread swamped him along with the memories. He wasn’t going to let that happen. They were getting off this mountain without any further incident. Stooping low, he gripped harder and tried to take more of the weight. It was impossible without upending the whole thing. Regardless of how strong she thought she was, she was starting to tire—steps becoming slower as she navigated the rocks. She needed to rest without losing face, he got that. ‘Stop. Stop, Abbie. I need a minute.’

‘Oh. Okay.’ Very gently she lowered her end of the scoop then straightened up, twisting slowly left and right to ease out her muscles. Her hands were still in crooked fists and even from this distance he could see red marks on her palms. More blood?

‘Brian! Brian, come here and take over.’ They were about fifty metres from the chopper. Shane was sitting slumped against the landing gear holding his shoulder. ‘You go down and take over from Brian and he can come and help me with this.’

‘I can do this.’

He kept his voice level despite his growing frustration. ‘And I’m telling you not to. Your hands are cut and cold and there’s no need for you to lift anything if we can get Brian to do it. I need you down there to sort out Shane. He’s not looking happy. Brian’s just a pilot—he can’t assess anything. I need your nursing skills and his muscle.’

‘Okay. I’m gone.’

He was impressed with the agility and speed with which she made it to Shane, crossing paths with Brian and stopping for the briefest of handovers.

He watched as she tripped lightly over the rocks, that jacket swamping her tiny frame. She had guts, that was for sure. In another life he might have...

No, he wouldn’t.

No point in wishing. He didn’t have space for a relationship; and definitely not with someone a million miles away from his home. That would never work. No point starting something.

He pressed forwards, forcing all his attention to the here and now, not the murky past or his short-circuited future.

* * *

Finally, they were all settled into the chopper. Two patients. One more than they’d bargained for.

Brian gunned the engine. ‘It’s going to be a bit bumpy, but we’ll be back in no time.’

She looked a little green as they rose into the air and shunted sharply east as a rogue gust caught them. For one second she looked terrified, then she regained her composure and started to chat to Shane, keeping him orientated to time and place. Her voice was like music cutting through the grim roar of the engine and the beeping of the portable ECG machine that monitored Marty’s heart trace.

She was laughing, but it was gentle and lyrical. ‘So, Shane, your crampon front-ended and you did a spectacular cartwheel down the mountain. If you want to train for the gymnastic world championships you could do with finding a more level place to do it.’

‘Er...what’s...happening? Did we have a patient?’

There was a flicker of a frown, then she recovered. ‘Yes. He’s just here, next to you. Marty’s had some ketamine so he’s doing okay. No. No, stay where you are, love. We need you to keep as still as you can.’ All the while she talked, her eyes roved over first one patient then the other, assessing, monitoring, smiling.

Dancing. Moving. Smiling.

There was just something about her that was mesmerising.

Cal shook himself and focused on Marty’s observations. Mesmerising or not, he had promises to fulfil. Three months, he’d been given. Three months to train with the most highly skilled search and rescue team in the world and then he’d be back in Scotland to resume his duties and try to make amends for the mistake that had cost his brother his future.

* * *

By the time they reached the ED it was almost the end of Abbie’s shift. Her head was thumping a little but the bleeding had stopped. And, okay, she’d lied. The scoop had been so heavy, her hands were cut and sore, but none of that mattered until Marty and Shane were sorted out. Having already taken Shane through to her waiting colleagues, she now helped wheel Marty’s gurney into Resus and handed over to the ED staff. Into safe hands.

Theoretically, from this side of the process, she was done, but she hung around, feeling a little sidelined and a lot out of sorts. Actually, she was in pain and a little shocked at how things had progressed in those wintry conditions and how close they’d come to disaster. Cal was standing next to her. He looked up from his notes, those bright eyes catching her by surprise. He was a big man. Tall. Broad. Calm. He glanced at her forehead. ‘You need to get that cut sorted out. I’ll ask someone to take a look.’

‘I’ll sort it. Thanks. They’re all too busy with Marty and Shane and a load of other things.’ She swiped the back of her hand across her forehead. ‘It’s all dried up. I’ll do it later.’

‘Or, I’ll do it for you, now.’ He pointed to an empty cubicle. ‘Grab a seat.’

‘But I want to stay and work on Marty.’

‘Tough luck. Not your job right now.’ A straight talker, then. As he spoke Cal wheeled round and opened a few drawers, finding some gauze and saline.

‘Actually, it is my job. I can’t just abandon my shift.’

‘I’m not asking you to, but you’re my responsibility right now—you hurt yourself on my watch.’

‘It was hardly your fault; we did what we had to do. This is just a bit of fallout. I’ll live.’

‘But I’m duty bound to fix you up. Plus, I can’t let you tend to any patients looking like that—you’ll scare them off.’ His eyes glinted with laughter and she couldn’t help joining in. Next thing she knew he was moving her to a seat and pressing the gauze onto her forehead. He’d been firm but fair up the mountain, having been thrust in charge of three—no, four, including the pilot—lives. Clearly, he was the kind of guy who took responsibility seriously. He hadn’t been flustered or snappy, he’d just calmly told them all what they needed to do. A leader by example. And here he was doing it again.

He was also incredibly close. She couldn’t remember being this close to a man who wasn’t her patient for a long time. A long, long time. He was still being all calm and in control—if not a little bossy. And that made her nervous inside.

And...and he had the most amazing scent. A fresh air kind of smell. Something she wanted to inhale.

Stop it. She could feel her cheeks starting to burn. ‘Look, give me the saline, I’ll just wipe it—’

‘No.’ His voice was level and steady and she got the feeling he wasn’t going to cave in to her refusal. ‘Sit down and let me clean this up. This is going to sting.’

‘Are you, by chance, an older brother?’

‘Yeah. How did you guess?’ There was a grim smile at that comment, his eyes dulling a little.

‘Oh, you know, the take-no-crap bossiness. I bet your sibs love you.’

‘As it happens, he does. One brother. Younger, by two and a half years. He hates me and loves me in equal measure.’ There was a pause where Callum seemed to retreat into his own thoughts, his eyes clouded with pain that seemed to come from nowhere, but permeated his body. ‘No, actually he just hates me.’

‘Boys will be boys, I guess.’

‘Something like that.’ Cal took her hand and started to open the fist she’d made to try to keep the blood circulating, because to straighten out the broken skin hurt. A lot. Instead of thinking about the pain she focused on what he was saying, and what he was leaving out. It wasn’t something like that at all; she could tell. His manner had changed. He’d shut down a little at the mention of his brother. Or maybe she was just imagining it. She couldn’t fathom why she’d even noticed, and why his reticence intrigued her. He touched her fingertips lightly and they began to tingle. ‘Let me see your hands properly.’

‘Oh. Ouch. Remember when I said, be gentle with me? Yeah...that.’

Compared to the rounds and rounds of IVF she’d been through, the head wound was a walk in the park. Her hands, though—they were still frozen and cut and she just knew if he saw them he’d flip out. Because he was that kind of guy. The protective sort. The thought of which made her stomach constrict. She’d had one of them. A wonderful, amazing protective man who’d held her heart so tightly she couldn’t imagine giving it to anyone else. She didn’t need to, or want to. So she had no right to be thinking about Cal’s eyes or manner, let alone getting carried away with smelling his scent. ‘My fingers are starting to thaw out...you know that weird buzzy feeling?’

‘Aha. Only too well.’ He peeled her fingers open and sucked in a breath at the sight of her raw, bleeding skin. ‘You shouldn’t have carried such a heavy weight, or you should have put your gloves on to protect yourself.’

‘Should have, would have, could have. There wasn’t time, remember? None of it is important, anyway. Marty’s safe and Shane’s being looked at. That’s all that matters. Right?’

But he’d zoned out, looking at her wedding ring. He was all matter-of-fact when he spoke. ‘Yes, well, all fixed up now. How are your feet?’

She stamped her boots and wiggled her toes. Luckily she’d put extra-thick socks on today. ‘Feet are just fine. Thank you. I’m good to go.’

‘And I’m in charge of this shift now that Shane’s indisposed, so finally, just one last thing: you need to get a hot drink inside of you and something to eat before you do anything else. We need to debrief before the next call if possible. Definitely time for a break. Paramedic’s orders.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘You usually have blue fingers?’

Looking first at him then back at her hands, she realised there was no point in arguing. He was, in fact, right. She was still freezing and hadn’t had a drink in hours. She’d be no use to anyone like this. But she wasn’t letting him know that. And, if she was absolutely honest, she wanted a couple more minutes with him—it had been a strange day and debriefing was a great idea. With a theatrical sigh she rolled her eyes. ‘Definitely an older sib.’

* * *

Could have done a lot better. Cal looked at the inexpertly applied gauze on her forehead and inwardly cringed. It looked as if it had been stuck on by a kindergarten kid.

It was because he was cold; that was what he was telling himself, anyway. And not because there was anything going on here—like attraction. Given he was heading out of town soon, attraction was a spectacularly bad idea.

Because of her wound, her bobble hat was pushed back, so more tufts of dark, coffee-coloured hair stuck out around her face. She looked as if she’d been...well, as if she’d been on the top of a mountain in a hurricane. It was lucky she’d been there as an extra pair of hands—albeit damaged in the process. She’d coped well, but his heart had only just about started to beat normally again. The SARS training had given him confidence he’d have been able to deal with anything up there, but he hadn’t wanted to test it.

He paid for the flat white and handed it to her, wondering what this urge to chat with her was all about. He didn’t usually buy Shane a cuppa and debrief. Yeah, right...great chat-up line; that’d have them all laughing back at base. The closest they ever got to debriefing for real was a quick chat on the ride to the next emergency, scoffing a lukewarm pie and bad coffee from the petrol station.

They steered through the busy cafeteria and found an empty table. Once they’d settled in, he broke up his bar of chocolate and offered some to her. ‘Eat; you’ll be better with something inside you to bring up the blood sugar.’

She blinked. ‘You really do do a lot of bossing around.’

‘Sorry. Bad habit of mine. You’re not the first person to tell me that. It’s a kind of misguided attempt to look after you.’ Instead of analysing his faults—he was aware he had a few, because Finn made it his personal mission to highlight every single one of his brother’s shortcomings—he went for a change of subject. ‘So, you had a baptism of fire up there. You handled it all very well, though. Not bad for a newbie.’

Underneath the huge jacket, she bristled. ‘I’ve been a nurse for a long time. I’m just new at ED, that’s all. Well, I’ve been here a few months. But it’s a big learning curve, right?’

‘When you’re out in the field, yes. You don’t know what’s going to be thrown at you.’

She took a sip and seemed to settle a little. ‘I haven’t seen you here before, though.’

‘Different shifts probably, and I’ve been out at Wanaka a lot and with the SARS team. I’ve only been in New Zealand a couple of months all up.’ Which reminded him that spending what little time he had left talking to women he could never see again was pretty pointless. Although very nice. Actually, more than nice.

‘And you’re from...Scotland? Is that right?’

‘Aye.’ The familiar tug of responsibility tightened in his gut. He needed to get back there. Wasting another month here felt as if he were killing time. Time he could be using to sort Finn out. But, he’d promised to get as much training as he could and he didn’t want to go back unqualified, or to seem ungrateful to everyone who’d pushed him to come here in the first place. ‘Another month then I’m gone.’

She nodded before blowing on the steaming drink. ‘Of course you are.’

An odd reply. ‘What does that mean?’

‘The majority of people working in Queenstown are just passing through, so I’m not surprised you’ll be going, too. Where next? Aussie? Asia? The big OE we call it. Overseas Experience. A gap year?’

‘At twenty-nine, I’m a bit too old for a gap year. Honestly. No travelling, I’m going straight back home.’

She looked surprised. ‘So you did all your travelling before coming here?’

‘No. I’m not travelling. I came to do specialist search and rescue training. For my job. I have...’ And here was the thing—he was suddenly torn. The minute he’d been needed he’d pledged to spend the rest of his life looking after his brother. This trip had been the first glimpse of how life could have been, but nothing was going to stop him going back. Finn needed him. ‘I have responsibilities back home.’

Was he dreaming or did she look at his hand? For a wedding ring? Laughable. He had enough to do without taking on someone else. ‘Well, they’ll be glad to have you back, I’m sure.’

He smiled. She didn’t know the half of it. ‘I doubt it. But I’m going anyway. What about you? Obviously a Kiwi...?’

She smiled right back. Looked straight into his eyes, and he got a warm sensation swimming through him. ‘I’ve lived in Queenstown my whole life. Been out of the country a few times for holidays, but always came straight back here. It’s where my family is.’

‘You’re not one of those New Zealanders who has the travel bug, then?’

‘No. I need to stay here.’ At his raised eyebrows she continued, ‘Responsibilities too.’

‘Oh—?’ But of course. He’d noticed the wedding ring on her finger before. That was okay. He could do platonic. Yeah, platonic was good. Maybe then he wouldn’t be so mesmerised by her.

Odd, but she quickly drained her coffee and looked at something behind him, her eyes darting and dancing, kind of nervous, kind of sad. ‘Oh-oh, caught in the act. My boss is heading over. I’ve got to go.’

‘Hey, Cal.’ It was Steph from ED. ‘Abbie, sorry to disturb you. I heard you did well today. Awesome job.’

‘Thanks. It was...’ She caught Cal’s eye and smiled. A shared day, shared joke, shared rescue. There was always a bit of a connection after that. ‘Interesting.’

‘You left this on the desk, I thought you might want to keep it safe.’ Steph handed her an ultrasound picture. He was no expert, but it looked like an antenatal one. Yep—even from here he could make out the shape of a baby.

She’s having a baby.

‘Thank you. Yes. Oh, goodness. My scan.’ Abbie’s eyes were filled with pride that gave Cal a strange jolt in his gut.

Steph ambled on chatting as white noise filled his head. ‘Thought of any names yet? Did you ask about the gender?’

‘No. We’re going to wait. It’s exciting, though. I can’t believe that by Christmas there’s going to be a baby here.

She’s having a baby.

A bairn.

His overprotective gene fired into action. Finn would have laughed as usual and told him to back right off, but Cal couldn’t help it. This was serious. He waited until Steph had gone, then, ‘You didn’t tell me you were pregnant. Up there. In the snow. You fell over. I let you carry a heavy weight. Why did you let me think you were okay?’

‘I am okay. I’m fine, actually. Honestly.’ She didn’t even look a little contrite. What a dangerous game she’d been playing. And he shouldn’t care, not at all, but for some reason he was firing on all protection cylinders today.

Maybe he was missing Finn. Missing the opportunity to care and be useful. To fuss and smother, as Finn would say.

‘You carried that scoop, which would have put a strain on your whole body, and you hurt your side. You were wincing and it’s obvious you still have some pain.’

She shook her head. ‘It’s nothing, just a pulled muscle. Really, I’m fine.’

Yeah, he’d heard that before. When his brother wanted him to believe everything was okay. It hadn’t been. It had been far from okay. He wasn’t buying it. He stood up. ‘I want you to get looked over. I’m not listening to any excuses...you need to be checked out. An ultrasound or something.’

‘Who are you? My mother?’ But she was smiling. Smiling and moving and dancing. Really? He knew she was committed to someone else. Married, for God’s sake. He needed his head looking at.

‘I’m just concerned, Abbie. You could have hurt—’

‘My baby?’ she cut in, laughing. ‘Don’t worry, Callum. My baby is...’ she nodded towards a pregnant woman walking towards them ‘...over there.’

What?

He did the maths, joined the dots, put all the jigsaw pieces into place.

Ah.

How could he have got it so wrong? His gay radar wasn’t working today. ‘Oh. I see. Your partner’s having your baby... Your wife?’

She rubbed her fingers over her wedding ring and laughed. ‘You really have got it so wrong, I can’t begin to tell you. But I’ve got to go. I’ve a very important coffee date. Thanks for warming me up.’ Then she paused, blushed, her eyes meeting his in a very heterosexual kind of way. He could see something there that was just for him—a softening, a little bit of playfulness, a very timid flirt. Or was there? Was he going mad? There was definitely a connection here he just did not understand. She shook her head, dragging her gaze from his. ‘I mean... Well...thanks.’