Authors: Meredith Webber,Alison Roberts
‘Go find the cookies!’ she snapped at him, snatching her hands from his grasp and moving crossly away. ‘I hope they make you fat!’
He was right, of course, which was what had made her angry—him being right plus the fact that her mind was now so muddled she was barely aware which way was up.
And most of the muddle was Hamish-oriented.
The more doubts she had about finding her father, the more appealing the idea of a trip to Scotland sounded.
She could always come back. What was one more broken heart?
Are you mad? Of course you don’t want to take that risk!
A loud, demanding car horn cut through her helplessly circling thoughts and she went through to the ambulance bay to meet it, arriving in time to see Georgie Turner pull up on her motorbike behind the car.
‘Bed, Kate. One of my patients about to pop.’
An orderly had already wheeled a bed out to the car, and Grace, who’d been dozing in a treatment room, also appeared.
‘This patient’s mine,’ she said to Kate, helping Georgie settle the woman on the bed. ‘Love deliveries, love babies, and, besides, I’m on duty in the nursery this week so I deserve to be the first to meet this little person.’
‘You’re so clucky it’s a wonder you don’t lay eggs,’ Georgie said to Grace, and, with the help of the husband, the two of them took their patient through to the birthing suites.
‘I’ll shift your car and bring you the keys,’ Kate told the husband, who looked too stunned to really take in what she’d said, but as the keys were dangling from the ignition, it didn’t matter.
Kate parked the car safely in the car park and took the keys in, arriving in time to see the new life emerge into the world. A little girl to take Jackson’s place in the nursery. She looked
at the love and wonder on the faces of all those present—even that of Georgie, who must deliver a dozen babies a month.
Everyone loved a newborn—but a new daughter who was twenty-seven?
She made her way back to the ED. So far, coming to Crocodile Creek had thrown up more questions than it had answers.
‘B
ATMAN AND
R
OBIN
ride again.’
Hamish’s voice startled Kate out of a reverie about the man who had spoken—a man she’d been avoiding, and about whom she definitely should not be thinking!
But though he’d made the joking comment, the coolness in his voice told her he was well aware of her avoidance tactics. And perhaps that he’d been hurt by them.
She glanced at him, but his face gave nothing away. Still, somehow, deep inside she hoped she hadn’t hurt him.
Hamish didn’t deserve that.
‘Why are you doing this flight?’ she asked, her work self ignoring all the palaver going on in her head. ‘Mike’s flying and you’re not on call.’
‘Mike’s got that twenty-four-hour bug that’s been going around. Rex is flying, and the patient’s a child, so why not me?’
Hamish spoke with such exaggerated patience that Kate wanted to grind her teeth.
Batman probably wasn’t a tooth grinder, but Batman probably didn’t get collywobbles in his stomach when he got into the Batmobile with Robin.
With a decidedly unfriendly, though meticulously polite, Robin!
‘The patient’s a child?’
‘Out on Wallaby Island.’ Hamish nodded his confirmation. ‘Apparently the silly kid disobeyed his parents and went wandering out on the reef without protection on his feet.’
‘And?’ Kate prompted, hoping to get more of the story before they took off.
‘Walked on a stonefish.’
‘A stonefish? What on earth’s a stonefish? A fish that eats stones?’
Hamish turned and his cold demeanour cracked to the extent she was sure a small smile slipped out, then quickly disappeared.
Kate felt the chain reaction of quivery delight along the nerves throughout her body, even though what she thought had been a smile might just have been a grimace.
But the quivery delight reminded her why she’d been avoiding him.
‘You’re the Aussie and you don’t know what a stonefish is?’
His question jerked her back to business, and she was about to remind him she was a city person when Rex handed them headsets then began take-off procedures. It was easier to wait until they were in the air to pursue the conversation.
‘A stonefish?’ she prompted Hamish.
Bad move as he smiled at her again, a real smile this time, but quivery delight was soon replaced by concern as he explained.
‘It’s a nasty beastie that looks very like a largish rock. It hides among other largish rocks, so unsuspecting prey rests on it then gets poisoned by venom from one of the glands along the dorsal fin spines.’
‘That’s unbelievable!’ Kate muttered. ‘I mean, I know we have a good range of poisonous snakes and spiders, but I thought, apart from sharks and stinging jellyfish, the seas were fairly safe. Is it bad venom? Do people die?’
‘Never in Australia, although there are recorded cases of deaths overseas.’
It was Rex who provided this answer, then Hamish took up the explanations.
‘The venom can have nerve, muscle, vascular and myocardial effects. We have antivenin, and normally there’s some in the medical kit out at the island, but apparently when they looked at it, it was out of date.’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, doesn’t anyone check these things?’ Kate muttered. ‘Cal insisted we check the medical kits in isolated places when I did a clinic flight with him. Isn’t there a rule that the person with the key to the kit has to check it?’
Hamish nodded.
‘Unfortunately, they’ve had so much trouble with the kit at Wallaby Island, Charles has been thinking of removing it. The island is only a twenty-minute flight away—Look, you can see it now.’
Kate peered out the window at the rounded shape of the island, jutting out of the azure sea, the waters around it paler shades of translucent green.
‘That’s the reef,’ Hamish explained. ‘One of the reasons Wallaby is so popular as a tourist destination is the magnificent fringing reef.’
But although she was stunned by the beauty of the place they were approaching, she was more worried about the child who’d been stung by the stonefish.
Hamish must have been just as worried. The moment they touched down, he was out of his seat, unstrapping a small backpack, another backpack that contained resuscitation gear and the lightweight stretcher.
‘I’ll yell if we need the stretcher,’ he said to Rex, who had come through to open the door. ‘Come on,’ he added to Kate, dropping out of the chopper then racing, doubled over, to where a small group of people was clustered beside the helipad.
The child, eight or nine, Kate judged, was sitting, white-faced,
on his mother’s knee, an oxygen mask on his face and one foot in a bucket of water.
Beside the pair, a young man wearing a bright Hawaiian-print shirt stood uncertainly. A second man detached himself from the group and headed towards the helicopter.
Hamish nodded at the young man, acknowledging his presence but at the same time conveying the utmost disapproval.
‘That’s Kurt,’ he muttered to Kate. ‘Wallaby Island’s current keeper of the medical kit. At least he’s done something right, with the hot water.’
‘Hot water?’ Kate echoed.
‘The pressure immobilisation we use for most venoms is useless with stonefish. In fact, it can worsen the pain,’ Hamish explained as he knelt beside the child. ‘Immersing the injured part in hot water—forty to forty-five degrees—is the best thing to do until we can get some antivenin and regional anaesthetic into the patient.’
He’d let his pack slide to the ground and Kate put hers down beside it, grateful resus equipment wasn’t needed. She opened the one Hamish had carried, while Hamish introduced himself to the boy—Jason—and his mother, Julie.
‘It hurts so much,’ the boy whimpered.
Kate found the ampoules of stonefish antivenin easily enough. She broke one open and filled a syringe, while Hamish checked the child, asking questions about allergies and examining the wound.
‘We’ll need another ampoule of the antivenin, Kate,’ he said quietly. ‘We use one for every two puncture wounds and young Jason here has managed to tread on four of the beastie’s thirteen spikes.’
‘This is going to hurt when I prick you, Jason, but it won’t be nearly as bad as the pain from that rotten stonefish, so just hang onto Mum for me while I get it in.’
He injected the antivenin into the muscle on Jason’s thigh,
and though the boy did no more than wince at the injection, his mother’s face lost colour and Kate put out a hand to hold her steady.
‘Not much good around needles,’ Julie said weakly, smiling her thanks at Kate.
‘I don’t know anyone who is,’ Kate told her.
‘OK, now we’ll see what we can do to stop some of that pain, young Jason,’ Hamish said. ‘Kate, you’ll see a pack with a sterile syringe of bupivacaine in there somewhere,’ he said. ‘Twenty mils at 25 per cent. That’ll provide a regional block, which works better in these cases than narcotic analgesics.’
Kate found the pack he needed and handed it to him. She watched the child, and Hamish handling him—so gently competent and comforting Kate could see why paediatrics should be his specialty.
‘I’ll get this into him and we’ll check him out while it’s working. A couple of minutes at this stage won’t make a difference.’
Check out the mother, too, Kate thought, noticing for the first time that Julie was pregnant.
Hamish was asking her if Jason was on any medication, and Julie was answering calmly enough, but a flutter of fear trembled beneath the words and revealed itself in the tremor of the hands that rested lightly on her son’s shoulders.
‘We’ll take you both back to the mainland,’ Hamish said, when Kate had finished jotting down Jason’s details on the initial assessment form. ‘Stonefish toxin can affect many parts of the body, so we need to keep an eye on Jason, at least overnight. We also need to treat the wounds themselves. I want an X-ray to make sure no fragments of the spines broke off in his foot, and it’s possible he’ll need antibiotics if the wounds become infected.’
‘What about my husband?’ Julie asked. ‘He went off on a fishing trip early this morning—he doesn’t know about this. What will he do?’
‘Do you want us to let him know? We can radio the fishing boat,’ Kurt offered.
Julie thought about it for a moment, then turned to Hamish.
‘Should I let him know?’
Kate knew the question behind the question was,
Is my son’s life in danger?
And she silently applauded Julie’s courage in asking it.
‘We’ll watch Jason carefully for any signs the venom is affecting him. The resort has a small helicopter and I’m sure if you needed your husband urgently, they would fly him over, but the decision about whether you tell him now or later is up to you.’
Kurt nodded his agreement, adding they could always airlift him off the fishing boat.
‘Then let him enjoy his day out,’ Julie said. ‘He’ll be angry I didn’t contact him but he’s been working far too hard and been under a lot of stress. He needs whatever relaxation he can get.’
‘The fishing trip gets back in time for him to take this afternoon’s flight back to the mainland,’ Kurt offered. ‘I’ll get the housemaid to pack up your things, then I’ll meet the fishing boat and tell Mr Anstead what’s happened. Our agent in Crocodile Creek can meet the chopper and take him to the hospital.’
Hamish nodded his approval of this arrangement, though he was still furious with Kurt for neglecting to keep the contents of the medical kit up to date.
‘OK, let’s get you into the helicopter, young Jason,’ he said, reaching down, removing the oxygen mask and lifting the child into his arms. Kate had already slung one backpack across her shoulders and she carried the second as she herded an anxious Julie across the helipad.
And though 98 per cent of Hamish’s concentration was on his patient—feeling the steady rise and fall of the child’s chest against his, watching the throb of a pulse beneath Jason’s chin—
the other two per cent had been enticed into consideration of Kate—and the way she’d been avoiding him for the last few days.
Perhaps it was for the best. He could understand her reluctance to get involved again, yet he couldn’t clear his head of the daft idea that she was the only woman in the world for him.
He, who had never believed in such nonsense! As if there would only be one perfect match for every person in the world!
But the deep ache inside him gave lie to his argument. It told him there was only one person in the world for him.
Kate …
‘Want to sit up front?’ he asked Jason, knowing young children who didn’t need mechanical support or monitoring were usually happier if they could ride up front.
‘Yes please.’
Jason’s response was so wholehearted Hamish was reassured that his initial assessment of the child—that he hadn’t taken in a huge dose of venom—had been correct. Whether the stonefish was immature or Jason’s bodyweight was so light the spines didn’t penetrate deeply, Hamish didn’t know, but apart from the excruciating pain Jason hadn’t shown any of the toxic effects of stonefish venom.
So far!
Rex helped him settle the boy into the copilot’s seat, and pointed out what all the controls did.
‘You can help me fly it if you like,’ Rex offered. ‘Just hold on here and do what I do.’
He fitted a pair of headphones to the small head.
Kate, who was helping Julie fasten her seat belt, looked towards the cockpit with alarm, and Hamish smiled. As far as he knew, she hadn’t ridden up front on a flight yet, so wouldn’t realise the second set of controls wasn’t effective unless a special switch was thrown.
Hamish handed Julie a second pair of earphones.
‘Here. You can talk to Jason through the mouthpiece.’ He
pointed to the small attachment, then passed Kate one of the white helmets she’d worn on her first flight—helmets that held both earphones and a microphone.
A microphone so those in the helicopter could converse without shouting, yet it couldn’t help him talk to Kate—even if they’d been alone. You couldn’t talk to someone who didn’t want to hear.
Charles met them at the helipad.
‘The boy all right?’ he asked Hamish, as Kate helped Julie out of the chopper and Rex lifted Jason out, settling him on the stretcher two orderlies had waiting nearby.
‘You get a ride to the hospital, kid!’ Rex said, and Hamish saw the look of hero-worship in Jason’s eyes.
‘I liked the helicopter best,’ he assured Rex, and Hamish nodded to Charles.
‘Yes, I think the boy’s all right,’ he said, ‘but we’re going to have to do something about the medical kit at Wallaby. They don’t deserve to have it there if the person in charge can’t be bothered to check it regularly.’
‘I’ll go over myself later this week and sort it out,’ Charles promised, then he frowned, not at Hamish’s concern but at Kate, who was walking beside Jason on his wheeled stretcher.
It was the first time Hamish had ever noticed this reaction—the frown Kate had mentioned to him before she’d started avoiding him.
‘She’s a good nurse—very empathetic,’ he told Charles, although he knew Kate wouldn’t thank him for sticking up for her.
Charles turned his frown on Hamish.
‘Do you think I don’t know that?’ he demanded.
Frowns all round! Hamish was sure one was gathering on his forehead.
‘You were frowning at her,’ he pointed out, then saw a look of sadness cross Charles’s face.
‘Frowning at my own bitter thoughts, Hamish, not at your Kate.’
‘She’s not
my
Kate!’ Hamish snapped, and he walked away, moving swiftly to catch up with the cavalcade of stretcher, patient, mother and nurse, which was now inside the hospital grounds.
He tagged along as they entered the ED, in time to ask the orderlies to take Jason straight to a treatment room. He could use a portable X-ray machine to check for spines in his foot, then debride the wounds and dress them. If he had to operate to remove pieces of spine, it was a minor procedure and could be done in the treatment room.
She’d never be his Kate, unless he could come up with a miracle.
Grace met them as they came in, introducing herself to Jason and explaining she’d be helping Dr Hamish look after him.