Читать книгу Wish Upon A Star: The Christmas Marriage Rescue / The Midwife's Christmas Miracle - Sarah Morgan - Страница 11

‘YOU look knackered.’ Nicky juggled an armful of dressings and frowned as Christy walked onto the unit. ‘Heavy night?’ She gave a saucy wink and Christy gave a wan smile.

What would Nicky say, she wondered, if she confessed that she’d spent the night lying next to Alessandro and he hadn’t laid a finger on her? Not only that, but he’d clearly had no trouble sleeping, whereas she’d lain there, tense and breathless, waiting for him to touch her. His steady, rhythmic breathing had done nothing for her ego or her hopes for the survival of their marriage.

Oh, damn, damn, damn.

He obviously didn’t even find her attractive any more. It was the only possible explanation for not touching her.

And just to bolster her insecurities still further, Katya chose that moment to stroll up to them. ‘Hi, there.’ Her voice was smoky and seductive and her blonde hair fell down her back in a perfect, smooth sheet. She wore a pale pink roll-neck jumper and a tight navy skirt that ended just above the knee, and could have walked straight out of the pages of a glossy magazine. ‘Have either of you seen Alessandro? He promised to spend some time talking me through some interesting X-rays.’

Christy gritted her teeth and swallowed hard. She wasn’t going to be jealous, she told herself. She wasn’t going to be paranoid or childish. So, the girl was beautiful. That didn’t mean anything…

‘Alessandro is with a head injury patient in Resus,’ Nicky said in a cool tone, ‘and I need you to tie your hair back in this department, please. It’s unhygienic worn loose.’

Katya frowned slightly and then shrugged. ‘No problem. I have some grips in my bag.’

‘Good.’ Nicky gave a brisk nod, very much the sister-in-charge. ‘I’d appreciate it if you’d use them.’

Katya strolled off and Nicky stared after her, still clutching the dressing packs to her chest. ‘I don’t like that girl. Where does she think she is? On a catwalk?’

‘She looks great.’ Christy said with a forced smile, and Nicky grinned.

‘Oh, yeah—and how great is she going to look when a drunk has vomited down her pink cashmere? Are you OK? You look pale.’

‘Just a bit tired.’

‘Look…’ Nicky put a hand on her arm, her gaze sympathetic, ‘I know things are rough for you and Alessandro at the moment, but I know you’ll work it out. The two of you were meant to be together.’

Were they?

She was starting to wonder.

‘There you are!’ Sean strode down the corridor towards them, interrupting them in mid-conversation. ‘Christy, the mountain rescue team have had a call about a man who has fallen some distance. Might have chest and head injuries. The details are a bit hazy but we’re trying to send an advance party of five out, with the rest of the team following.’

Christy stared at him blankly. ‘And?’ What did it have to do with her? She hadn’t been out with the MRT for several years.

‘We’re a bit thin on the ground in the team at the moment,’ Sean said wearily. ‘Everyone is either in bed with this flu bug or they’re snowed in or all sorts of other feeble excuses. Alessandro is going and I wondered if you’d join him in the advance party.’

‘Me?’ Christy’s voice was an astonished squeak and Sean gave her a keen look.

‘Why not you? You’re fit and you know these mountains. You were the best climber we had at one time.’

Christy licked her lips. ‘Yes, but I had the kids and—’

‘I wasn’t aware that childbirth affected your mountaineering abilities,’ Sean drawled, glancing round as Alessandro approached. ‘Garcia, just the man. I’m trying to persuade your wife to join you on this callout while I scrabble around and try and get some other people together.’

Alessandro’s brows met in a frown. ‘Christy?’

‘Why does everyone think it’s such a strange idea?’ Sean wondered aloud, and Alessandro’s mouth tightened.

‘Because the weather is foul and I don’t want her risking—’

‘I’ll go,’ Christy said immediately, turning to Nicky. ‘If that’s all right with you?’

Alessandro didn’t think she could do it, and she was determined to prove him wrong, just as she had by working in A and E. What was the matter with the man?

‘I’m used to it.’ Nicky gave a resigned smile. ‘I’ll just run the department on fresh air as usual.’

‘My walking boots are in the car but all my other gear is at home.’

‘You can use Ally’s gear,’ Sean was already walking towards the door. ‘You’re about the same size. My dear wife never gets round to removing it from my boot. Come on.’

As they walked towards the car Christy’s anger at Alessandro mingled with excitement. Ahead of them the fells loomed, covered in snow and ice and potentially lethal. Who had gone walking in this weather? she wondered. How had they got themselves into trouble?

‘You stick right by me,’ Alessandro growled as they slid into his car, and she turned and glared at him.

‘Why? In case I fall down a hole? For crying out loud, Alessandro, when I was twenty I could outclimb you any day!’

It wasn’t strictly true and she saw by the lift of his eyebrow that he was aware of that fact, but he didn’t contradict her.

‘You’re not twenty any more.’

‘No, I’m thirty-two. Ancient.’ She stared at him in disbelief. ‘Is this what this is all about? You think I’m suddenly too old to do these things?’

‘It has nothing to do with age.’ Alessandro crunched the gears viciously. ‘You’re the mother of my children.’

‘And what? That means I should stay at home and knit?’ Her voice rose and she took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. ‘Giving birth to children doesn’t come with a personality transplant. Believe it or not, I’m still the same person I was twelve years ago when you first met me!’

‘You can’t just swan up a mountain when you haven’t been near one for years.’

‘That’s rubbish! I may not have been on the team, but I’ve done plenty of climbing and walking and I’m every bit as fit as you are!’

The atmosphere in the car was simmering with mounting tension and she looked away, so angry that she wanted to hit something. Or someone.

‘Fine.’ His voice was tight as he concentrated on keeping the car on the road in the lethal conditions. ‘Just no heroics.’

‘Heroics?’ She turned and glared at him as she tugged a hat onto her head. ‘Since when have I suffered from a hero complex?’

‘You always took risks when you were climbing.’

‘That’s not true.’

‘As you said yourself, you haven’t been with the team for a long time.’ Alessandro changed gear with a vicious thrust of his hand. ‘What you’ve forgotten could prove dangerous. I just don’t want your ego to get in the way. If you don’t know something, say so.’

‘What I know is that I’m not the one with the ego around here,’ she spat angrily, jamming her feet into her boots and yanking so hard at the laces that she almost snapped them. ‘There’s only room in this car for one ego and yours is taking up all the space!’

He had no confidence in her whatsoever, she thought, her temper building to dangerous levels. ‘I hadn’t been in A and E for years either,’ she pointed out angrily, ‘but so far I haven’t killed anyone! This used to be my life, Alessandro! This was what I did, but somewhere along the way I’ve lost it all. I’ve lost A and E, I’ve lost Mountain Rescue and now I’ve lost—’ She had been about to say ‘you’ but she stopped herself just in time. Instead, she clamped her teeth down on her bottom lip and blinked back the hot sting of tears.

His opinion of her was obviously at rock bottom, she thought miserably as she turned her head and stared out of the window while she struggled for control.

He slowed down to take an icy corner. ‘You make it sound as though your entire married life has been one big sacrifice.’

‘No.’ Confident that she was back in control again, she turned her head and studied his hard, handsome profile. She loved him so much. Despite everything, she completely adored him and always would. ‘That isn’t how it is. The children are everything. But there are parts of me that I put to one side while they were small and you can’t blame me for wanting them back now.’

Alessandro was silent, his strong hands gripping the steering-wheel. ‘I had no idea that you missed it so badly.’ His voice was a low growl and she swallowed hard, her anger dissolving to nothing, suddenly desperate to make him understand.

‘Wouldn’t you miss it? If you were the one who had to give it all up, wouldn’t you miss it?’

‘That’s different.’

‘How is it different, Alessandro? Because you’re a man and I’m a woman?’ Her temper boiled up again and she resisted the temptation to thump him hard. ‘Well, I’ve got news for you, my Neanderthal, chauvinistic male, it isn’t different at all! Which marriage rule book says that it’s the woman who has to make all the changes in her life?’

He inhaled sharply. ‘You knew when you married me that I wasn’t the sort of man who could stay at home and change nappies, but if you’d wanted a nanny you could have said so.’

‘I didn’t want a nanny! I wanted to be the one to raise our children.’ She was shouting now, shouting as she zipped up her jacket and reached for her gloves. ‘But I’m allowed to be honest about missing some bits of my old life. And I’m also allowed to see if I want some of those bits back now that the children are older. Is that really asking too much?’

Alessandro flicked the indicator and pulled into the car park at the mountain rescue base. Then he switched off the engine and sat staring into the freezing cold December day, his handsome face blank of expression. ‘No,’ he said finally. ‘It isn’t asking too much.’

‘When we first met, we were doing the same things,’ she said, suddenly desperate to say the things that had been building inside her for months. ‘We were on the same path. But somehow that’s all changed. You’ve gone on ahead and I’ve been left behind.’

He turned towards her. ‘Is that how you see it?’

‘No,’ she said quietly. ‘It’s just how it is.’

She wanted to ask where that left their relationship but he seemed so distant and icily remote that she didn’t know what to say and was relieved to see Jake and two other members of the MRT striding across the car park towards them.

‘Oh, great—there’s Jake.’ Grateful for a reason to escape from the chill inside the car, she opened the door and slid out.

Alessandro sat for a moment, simmering with mounting tension, the expression in his dark eyes approaching dangerous as he watched her greet Jake with a warm hug.

Had she always been so demonstrative with Jake?

Why had he never noticed how physical they were before now?

He knew that Jake found Christy attractive but never before this moment had he had reason to ask questions about where Christy’s affections lay because he’d always known that she adored him. He’d been utterly secure in their love.

From the first day they’d met, he’d taken her adoration and devotion for granted. They had been so crazy about each other, so hot for each other, that it had never entered his head that she would ever look at another man.

But something had obviously changed over the years and now it seemed that Jake knew things about Christy that he didn’t. Private, intimate things. Like the fact that she’d never really been happy as a practice nurse. And the fact that she missed bits of her old life.

Alessandro stared out of the window and his mouth tightened.

He should have known those things about his wife.

Why hadn’t she told him? Why had Jake been easier to talk to? Experiencing self-doubt for one of the few times in his adult life, Alessandro cursed softly and reached into the back seat for the rest of his gear.

He’d get this rescue out of the way and then he was going to sort this out.

He loved her. He loved her desperately and keeping his distance from her was turning him into a crazy man. But if she was in love with Jake then he’d give her the freedom she wanted. Wasn’t that what you were supposed to do with someone you loved? Set them free?

Christy lifted the pack onto her back, careful not to look at Alessandro.

He didn’t think that she could do this, but she was going to prove him wrong. Prove that she was more that just the mother of his children.

‘According to the call we had, he was one of four walkers taking a path just below the summit,’ Alessandro said as he assembled the advance party. ‘They called the police on a mobile and one of them had a global positioning instrument so we’ve got a good idea where they are.’

‘Weather’s looking unfriendly,’ Jake observed as he lifted his pack onto his back and settled it comfortably. ‘Might need to carry him off the hill if the helicopter can’t fly in this.’

Alessandro nodded. ‘That’s a distinct possibility. One of his group reported that he had breathing difficulties so we’re carrying an oxygen cylinder just in case. All right, let’s go.’

He strode out in front and Christy walked behind him, hoping that she wasn’t going to fall down gasping for breath because that would be too humiliating for words. She was fit, she reminded herself. And she knew these mountains as well as she knew her own back garden. The fact that she hadn’t been part of a proper rescue for a few years really didn’t signify. Once it had been a huge part of her life. The regular training sessions, callouts, social events—she’d done it all and she’d loved every minute of it. And all that knowledge was still there, she reminded herself.

All the same, she was quite relieved to be sandwiched between Alessandro and Jake. Having someone in front and behind made it easier to resist the temptation to slow the pace.

They walked steadily for two hours in decreasing visibility and deteriorating weather conditions and then heard shouts from up ahead.

‘Bingo,’ Jake murmured, as they pushed on through the swirling snow and mist and finally saw torches and bright jackets on the path ahead.

By now Christy’s cheeks were stinging with cold and her eyelashes were wet and clumped together. But she loved being outdoors in the mountains. The wind had picked up, the weather was wild and unforgiving and it all seemed as far from the rain-washed streets of London as it was possible to be.

The injured man was sitting propped against a rock, covered in several coats. There was blood on his forehead and he had a hand on his chest, his face crumpled in pain. Hope lit his eyes as he saw them trudge towards him through the mist and snow.

Crouching next to him, offering moral support, was one of his fellow walkers, and he stood up as they arrived, his relief plainly visible on his tired features. ‘Boy, am I glad to see you! My first aid isn’t up to the challenge, I’m afraid. He fell about twenty feet,’ he told them, ‘and since then he’s had real trouble with his breathing. It’s really noisy. He was really struggling so I sat him up—I hope I did the right thing. I know you’re not supposed to move an injured person, but—’

‘You’ve done well,’ Christy assured him quickly, heaving her rucksack off her back.

Alessandro was already reaching for the oxygen, his movements as decisive as ever.

That was one of the things she loved and admired about him, Christy thought to herself. Some doctors were fine as long as they were in a hospital, surrounded by high-tech equipment and a phone to give them access to doctors from different specialities. Alessandro was equally cool and self-assured when he was halfway up a mountain in a blizzard with a potentially seriously injured patient.

He was a man who thrived on challenge and she’d always found his inner strength and bold self-confidence incredibly seductive. There was no situation that Alessandro wouldn’t be able to handle.

Ignoring her aching shoulders, she dropped to her knees beside him, trying to ignore the angry howl of the icy wind that threatened to obliterate her vision.

‘His name is Simon Duke,’ the friend volunteered, ‘and he’s fifty-two.’

‘Did you see what happened?’ She knew that an account of the accident might give clues as to the injuries they were potentially dealing with.

‘We’ve been out since early this morning. We’d just started our descent when Simon slipped.’ He pulled a face. ‘I’ve been climbing and walking in the mountains for most of my life. I never thought I’d be calling on the services of the mountain rescue team. To say that I’m finding this highly embarrassing would be a major understatement.’

‘It happens to the best of us,’ Jake said cheerfully, squinting through the blizzard as he heaved the pack off his back and removed the oxygen cylinder he’d been carrying. The snow was now blowing horizontally and their packs had started to freeze. ‘I must say, you chose fabulous weather for your walk.’

‘Ignore him, he’s deranged,’ Christy said dryly, then glanced towards Alessandro for guidance. ‘If he fell twenty feet then he should probably be wearing a collar?’

‘Definitely. But we also need to get him into a shelter while I check him over.’ Alessandro reached into his rucksack and pulled out the necessary equipment. ‘Jake, get that oxygen going and let’s get him into a bivvy tent so that I can examine him properly. We’re going to have to carry him off because there’s no way they can fly a helicopter in this.’

Simon gasped and closed his eyes briefly. ‘So sorry to be such a nuisance,’ he panted. ‘Can’t believe I need oxygen.’

‘I’m glad you do,’ Jake drawled as he removed his gloves so that he could adjust the flow rate. ‘If I’d lugged this canister all the way up this hill for nothing, I would have been steaming mad.’ He handed the mask to Christy and she fixed the mask over the man’s mouth and nose.

‘There.’ She spoke gently. ‘That should help. We’re just going to get you some shelter before you get too cold.’

Jake moved across to help Alessandro with the shelter. ‘Has anyone placed a bet on a white Christmas?’

‘We always have a white Christmas up here.’ Noticing how pale Simon looked, Christy checked his pulse while her team members erected a tent. She glanced up at the patient’s walking companion. ‘So was this a pre-Christmas holiday?’

‘Supposed to be.’ He gave a rueful smile. ‘We were making the most of a few days’ peace and quiet before we go down to London for Christmas.’

‘And he slipped?’

‘Just seemed to lose his footing. I suppose there must have been a patch of ice on the rock,’ the man shrugged. ‘One minute he was walking along happily, in front of me, the next he was slithering downwards. Gave me a bad moment, I can tell you. I think he managed to grab hold of a rock or something, otherwise goodness knows how far he would have fallen.’

The injured man tried to say something and Christy put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. ‘Don’t talk, Simon,’ she said quickly. ‘We’ll soon have you inside the bivvy tent and then the doctor can look at you.’

His companion looked at her in surprise. ‘He’s a doctor?’

‘You’ve got half the A and E department up here,’ Jake said cheerfully, walking back across to them, ‘and just to cap it, if you want a baby delivered then I’m your man.’

Christy giggled and then caught something black in Alessandro’s gaze and her laughter faded. What was the matter with him? Normally he found Jake as amusing as she did.

Soon Simon was safely inside the protective covering of the tent and Christy saw more lights flashing through the snow. ‘Looks like the rest of the team are arriving.’

‘More? Obviously we’ve bothered a great number of people.’

‘It takes a lot of people to stretcher someone off a mountain,’ Christy explained. She stuck her head inside the bivvy tent and Alessandro looked up from his examination.

‘He has broken ribs and a broken ankle. He’s not showing any signs of a pneumothorax,’ he said swiftly, ‘so I’m going to splint the ankle and give him some analgesia and get him off this hill before he gets hypothermia.’

Christy helped him stabilise the injured walker and get him into a fleece-lined casualty bag.

The rest of the team joined them and Christy helped them put together the two halves of a stretcher that would be used to carry the casualty down off the mountain. It was a task that they’d practised over and over again during training evenings, assembling the stretcher as fast as possible. Once, she recalled, they’d even done it in the dark to try and mimic the conditions they might face on the mountain. Now, with Alessandro’s gaze resting on her all too frequently, she was glad of that training. Glad that she knew exactly what to do and wasn’t letting herself down.

Only when they were ready did they remove the shelter that was protecting their casualty.

By now, a team of twenty-five had assembled and one of the other MRT members stood at the head of the stretcher and acted as an anchor to prevent the stretcher moving downhill while it was being prepared for evacuation.

Alessandro made another check on his patient and then tied a rope to the stretcher with a bowline knot.

‘We’re going to have to do this very carefully,’ he instructed, ‘because he’s already suffering from chest injuries.’

‘How do I know you’re not going to drop me?’ Simon said weakly, and Christy smiled.

‘Because you’ve got ten bulky guys holding onto the stretcher and a rope as back-up. And if we drop you, we’re fired.’

The man managed a smile. ‘You’re all volunteers.’

‘You think we do this for nothing?’ Jake’s blue eyes gleamed with wicked humour as he tightened the straps. ‘That would make me certifiably insane, don’t you think?’

Christy heaved her pack onto her back. ‘Well, now that you mention it…’

How had she survived without this? she wondered. The comradeship and the banter. The physical challenge of extracting someone from a perilous situation.

Eventually everyone was satisfied, the safety checks had been made and the team started their descent, picking their way over boulders made treacherous by ice and snow. Whenever possible, they sledged the stretcher down the mountain and finally the mist and snow cleared and the road came into sight.

As Christy slithered and slipped, she noticed Alessandro constantly glancing in her direction.

Checking up on her?

The MRT vehicle that doubled as an ambulance was waiting.

‘You’re only a ten-minute drive from the hospital,’ Christy told Simon as they carried him the final few metres. ‘They’ll soon have you comfortable.’

He shook his head. ‘My wife is going to kill me. She’s always telling me I’m too old to be walking in the hills.’

‘Ignore her,’ Jake advised cheerfully as he yanked open the back of the vehicle and prepared to lift the stretcher inside. ‘What do women know about anything?’ He winked at Christy and she gave a wan smile.

Thanks to Alessandro, she was starting to feel as though she knew nothing.

Leaving the rest of the work to their colleagues, Jake pulled her gently to one side and gave her a searching look. ‘You all right, babe?’

‘Of course.’ Behind her, they were loading the injured man into the ambulance. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘Hey.’ Jake frowned. ‘This is me you’re talking to. Not some stranger. I can tell you’re not all right. I don’t suppose the look on your face has anything to do with the broken bed and the ruined sofa?’