Authors: Meredith Webber,Alison Roberts
‘I don’t have any spaceship stuff.’
Kate smiled. The kid had Hamish now.
‘Cal will help you make some,’ he said. ‘Cal knows all kinds of things about space and the solar system and other solar systems. You ask him to help you.’
CJ considered this for a moment, then he nodded.
‘He does know a lot of stuff. I like Cal. But he’s working and so’s Mom, so would you take me back and tell the teacher I was late because the man with the gun made the helicopter late?’
Hamish sighed.
‘I’ll take you back to child care and tell the teacher you had trouble getting Rudolph to stay home,’ he said. ‘Remember what I told you about lies?’
CJ nodded, and lifted one of Rudolph’s silky ears.
‘I’d like child care a whole lot better if he could come with me.’
The wistful statement made Kate smile, but Hamish was getting to his feet, giving orders for Rudolph to stay and sending CJ to wash his hands and face before they departed.
‘Mom, Dad, Cal?’ Kate asked him, when the boy had disappeared.
‘I’ll explain later,’ Hamish promised. ‘In the meantime, would you mind seeing that Rudolph doesn’t follow us? The dopey dog once chased my car right up the main street of the town, just because I had CJ with me. I’ll get his lead—Rudolph’s, not CJ’s, although maybe he needs one too—and if you can just hold him while we get going, then tell him to stay, he should be OK. The child-care centre is just the other side of the hospital, so I won’t be long.’
Hamish disappeared inside the house, reappearing with CJ a few minutes later. He waited patiently while CJ kissed the dog goodbye, clipped on the lead and handed it to Kate, then he herded CJ through the house and out the front door.
Kate shifted from the step to an old settee set back in the shade of the back veranda. Rudolph needed no invitation to climb up and flop beside her.
‘Dog-minding duties? I assume you’re Kate and no doubt Hamish roped you in to hold that hound.’
A woman with a cascade of deep brown curls and a soft American accent was taking the steps two at a time.
‘Is CJ with Hamish? Did Hamish take him back to child care?’
Kate nodded, and the woman pushed the dog to one side and flopped down on the couch.
‘I’m Gina,’ she said, ‘CJ’s mother, in case you hadn’t guessed. I don’t think it’s the child-care place that’s bothering CJ so much as not being here. From the day we arrived, he’s been petted and spoilt by everyone in the hospital, so now he thinks he might be missing out on something if he’s not here. What was his excuse this morning?’
Kate stared at the woman who was frowning at the spectacular view beyond the garden.
‘He had to bring the dog home,’ Kate offered, and Gina gave a scoffing laugh.
‘This dog could find his way to Mars if he had to,’ she said,
patting the head of the dog in question with absent-minded affection. ‘I keep wondering if it’s because of Cal. CJ’s more or less had me to himself since my husband died, and now he has to share me with Cal, but he seems to love Cal and the two did boy things together all weekend, so …’
She sighed, then added, ‘I don’t know! Perhaps I should stop work and be a full-time mother, though I know I’d hate not working and the hospital needs a cardiologist.’
She stopped again, and flashed a smile at Kate.
‘Heavens, but you’re good! You arrive here and get whisked away on a rescue mission, then get shot at, then left to mind a dog, and now some total stranger is unloading on you—and you’re just sitting there and taking it. Tell me to go get a life!’
Kate smiled at her vehemence.
‘I’m really too tired to tell anyone to do anything,’ she admitted. ‘I’d be inside sleeping only once I go to sleep I might not wake for twenty-four hours and I promised Jack—the young man we brought in—I’d be there when he comes out of Theatre, so I may as well be dog-minding and listening to anyone who wants to unload.’
Gina reached across the dog and gave her a hug.
‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘But now I know CJ’s gone back—one of the carers rings me as soon as they realise he’d done a bunk. Problem is, they can’t work out how he gets out, with the child-proof locks on the gates. Anyway, that’s my problem, or theirs, really, because they have to stop it happening. For now, this mongrel …’ she brushed his ears with loving hands ‘… can be shut on the side veranda, so why don’t you have a shower and lie down? I promise I’ll come over and wake you when Jack comes out of Theatre. Have you got a room? Did you get that far when you arrived?’
‘I have and I did, but I haven’t unpacked. Maybe I will have a shower and unpack, then see about a sleep.’
Kate looked anxiously at Gina.
‘You
will
wake me?’
‘Promise!’ Gina said, then she took the lead from Kate. ‘Cal and I have a kind of flat on the hospital side of the house,’ she explained. ‘There are two of them—ours is two-bedroom and the other is a one-bedroom. Mike and Emily are using the other one, though not for long. Mike’s parents are building a place for them beside their house and restaurant on the other side of the cove.’
‘You and Cal, Mike and Emily—is this pairing off to do with the love epidemic Hamish said was happening in Crocodile Creek?’
Gina laughed.
‘I guess you could call it that. You’re lucky Christina and Joe are over in New Zealand, or you’d have three pairs of lovebirds under your feet.’
Kate looked at the still smiling woman, seeing the translucence of love in her eyes and the sheer delight of it in her smile. Gina might be worried about her son settling into the child-care centre, but there was no doubt the rest of her life was richly rewarding right now.
‘See you later,’ Gina added, leading Rudolph away along the veranda.
Kate stayed where she was for a little longer, then decided she really, really needed a shower, and if she didn’t get up and have one right now, she’d fall asleep on the settee and be there until nightfall.
She found the room she’d been allotted, and was surprised to see her case had been unpacked, her clothes hung in the wardrobe and her toiletries set out on a small dressing-table. A plastic folder on the bed held a plan of the house, the rooms or suites marked with the occupants’ names, while the kitchen had a note beside it, giving the times breakfast and dinner were served at the staff dining room at the hospital should the tenants not want to cook.
A second sheet of paper showed a plan of the downstairs
area of the old house. This was obviously the rec room—with a bar, pool table and a big-screen TV marked. Below that was a note explaining when and where laundry could be left, and a phone number for her to contact someone called Dora Grubb, should she need any more information.
A place like this, she realised, with resident doctors and nurses working irregular hours, would need someone to keep it running, and from the look of the spotless room Kate had been given, Mrs Grubb did a wonderful job.
Kate set the folder aside, noting as she did so that the closest bathroom was two doors down the central passageway. Gathering up what she needed, she headed straight there. Suddenly a shower seemed infinitely appealing, but she’d get dressed again after it and sleep in her clothes, knowing Gina could return to wake her any time.
Hamish knocked, then opened the door very quietly. Kate was sleeping soundly, fully clothed but with a throw across her legs. He’d called in at the hospital after dropping CJ back at the child-care centre, and Gina, after thanking him for his help, had asked him to wake Kate and tell her Jack was about to be shifted to Recovery.
She couldn’t have been asleep very long, he knew that, but he also knew she’d want to keep her promise to Jack.
‘Kate!’
Not wanting to enter her room, he called her name from the doorway, but when she didn’t stir he ventured inside, telling himself that looking at a sleeping woman wasn’t really voyeurism. Yet looking at her disturbed him and he finally nailed the reason. It was something to do with the total vulnerability of a sleeping woman—anyone asleep, he supposed, though he doubted he’d get knots in his stomach watching Cal sleep.
‘Kate! Wake up.’
He put his hand on her shoulder and shook her gently,
watching her eyes snap open, her expression confused at first then clearing as the dark brown irises focussed on him. Her full lips curved into a smile.
‘Jack’s awake?’
She sat up, dropped her legs off the side of the bed and thrust her feet into the flowery purple sandals. ‘Thanks for waking me.’
That was it?
Thanks for waking me?
Well, what had he expected? Sleeping Beauty after the Prince’s kiss?
Weird thoughts were still muddling around in his head while Kate pulled a brush through her loose curls, dropped it back on the dressing-table then left the room, poking her head back inside a moment later.
‘I think you’ve done enough good deeds for the day, Dr McGregor. Go have a sleep.’
Hamish looked down at Kate’s bed, still with the indentation of her body on it, and thought of his own bed awaiting him next door. An urge to lie on her bed—feel the warmth of where she’d been—was so strong he very nearly gave in to it. After all, he’d heard her sandals tap-tap-tap their way along the hall and through the kitchen to the back steps. She’d be well on her way to the hospital by now.
Then, shaking his head at the folly of his thoughts, he left the room. A shower and a sleep would surely sort him out. Tiredness, that was all it was, not love at all.
A
TALL POLICEMAN
with cool grey eyes and floppy black hair was leaning against the wall in the ED when Kate entered it, looking for someone to give her directions to Recovery. He smiled at her and she found herself returning the smile, though this probably wasn’t an occasion to ask a policeman for directions.
A nurse with a badge that said her name was Grace appeared from inside a cubicle, and flashed another smile in Kate’s direction.
‘Recovery is through that door, down the corridor, turn left and it’s the first door on your right,’ she said.
‘Am I the only stranger in town, that everyone seems to know who I am?’ Kate asked.
‘The only small, dark curly-haired stranger at the hospital,’ Grace told her, then she introduced herself. ‘Actually, Harry here is waiting to see Jack as well. You could take him with you if you like.’
Kate looked up at the policeman. He was no longer smiling but neither was she.
‘You want to see him right now? He’ll be in terrible shape, just out of an op. Is that fair, talking to him when he’ll be woozy as all get out?’
‘Probably not,’ the policeman called Harry said. ‘But there’s someone out there with a gun and, as far as we can tell, he’s
not too fussy about where, when or at whom he points and fires it. The sooner we have information about him, the safer it will be for anyone in his vicinity.’
Kate couldn’t argue with the theory, but in practice, if this man tried to badger Jack …
She followed Grace’s directions, very aware of the man walking beside her. A local policeman—if he was a local—could be very useful in her search for information about her birth parents, so perhaps she shouldn’t antagonise him.
Like hell she shouldn’t. Jack was her patient—kind of—and she wasn’t about to allow this policeman to bother him.
‘Are you a local?’ she asked, as they turned the corner and she saw the recovery room in front of them.
‘Born and bred,’ he said, pushing open the door and holding it for her. ‘My family have owned the sugar mill here for generations.’
So he
would
be useful.
But Jack wasn’t only physically unwell, he was emotionally upset. He was also awake, and looking around. A pretty woman with honey blonde hair and grey-blue eyes was on the other side of the bed, studying the monitors to which Jack was still attached.
‘Hi, I’m Emily,’ she said, barely turning her attention from the screen in front of her.
Kate nodded in response then hurried forward, taking Jack’s hand and holding it in both of hers.
‘I thought you weren’t coming,’ he said, and Kate saw the tears in his eyes.
‘You came out of that anaesthetic far faster than I thought you would,’ she told him. ‘You are one tough guy.’
The tears were blinked away and he smiled, then must have noticed Harry standing right behind her, for he paled and closed his eyes.
But before Harry could ask questions, the cavalry arrived. Charles wheeled himself into the room, Jill and Cal not far behind.
‘Sorry, Harry, but we need you out of here.’ There was no mistaking the authority in Charles’s voice. ‘The surgery’s shown up an unexpected complication. We need scans and more blood tests and some expert advice on what to do next. I’m expecting he’ll need to go back into Theatre today, or tomorrow at the latest. Kate, Cal will fill you in on what’s happening—Cal, take Kate through to the dining room for a coffee. Jill and I will stay with Jack until you get back.’
Harry left without an argument, but what surprised Kate even more was Jack’s acceptance of the orders. Here she was, being hustled down the corridor by Cal, and Jack hadn’t even protested.
‘Did Charles do that to prevent the policeman questioning Jack just yet, or is there a problem?’ she asked Cal.
‘Big problem,’ Cal said gloomily. ‘Big, big problem. Here.’
He directed her in through a door into a reasonably sized dining room, where the smell of coffee and the enticing aroma of a hot meal reminded Kate it had been a long time since she’d eaten the dreadful dry biscuits.
‘Do you want food? There’s always something hot in the bains-marie along that side, and cold sandwiches and salads in the fridge.’
It was closer to dinnertime than lunch, but Kate chose a pack of salad sandwiches while Cal fixed their coffee. They were heading for a table at one side of the room when Hamish appeared.
‘Problems?’ he said, raising his eyebrows at Cal this time.
‘And then some. Did you find out about it through osmosis?’
Hamish grinned and slipped into a chair between Cal and Kate.
‘Much the same thing. Mrs Grubb. She came over to make sure there was food in the house for me and Kate and told me Harry Blake had been turned away from questioning Jack in Recovery because of some complication.’
Cal sighed.
‘The bullet is lodged in bone. The X-ray wasn’t clear because there was a lot of blood pooled around the actual site, and when I went in I could see the bullet had scored down along the periosteum.’ Cal turned to Kate. ‘That’s the fibrous vascular membrane that covers bones. Then it entered the greater trochanter.’
‘The ball-shaped head of the femur that fits into the hip bone?’ Kate checked.
‘A job for an orthopod?’ Hamish asked.
Cal nodded.
‘Which means flying Jack out to Townsville,’ Hamish said.
Cal shook his head. ‘Charles doesn’t want to do that. He says we have all we need here, and the flight could further weaken the lad. He
is
very sick—the infection is still causing fever—but I think that’s just an excuse. Damn, but it’s complicated!’
Cal stirred sugar into his coffee then tapped the teaspoon fretfully on the side of the cup.
‘I suppose Charles is worried that if Jack goes to Townsville and the police there become involved, Jack could be placed under arrest,’ Hamish suggested, taking the teaspoon out of Cal’s hand and setting it on the table.
‘Placed under arrest? Why?’ Kate demanded. ‘He hasn’t confessed to anything. All we know is that he’s been shot. The rest is just guesswork.’
‘No, Hamish is right. That’s a definite possibility. Apparently there’s been a special federal police squad working on organised cattle thefts in this area,’ Cal explained. ‘One of their officers went under cover some months ago, and only last week his body was found—in a state of advanced decomposition and with a bullet in his chest. If that bullet matches the one in Jack’s leg, it’s enough of a connection for the police to hold him pending further enquiries.’
‘But he was the one who was shot, not the shooter,’ Kate protested, looking at Hamish as she recalled the saga he’d told
her. ‘And what about Megan and Lucky and Mr Cooper? What will it do to Mr Cooper’s fragile health if his grandson’s father is arrested?’
Hamish shrugged his shoulders.
‘I’m sure Charles is considering all of that,’ Cal told them. ‘He probably feels he might have more control over the situation if we keep Jack here and Harry does the investigation. But there’s more to it than the police side of things. First, the kid’s Charles’s nephew and Charles will want to keep an eye on him. It was a dumb accident with a gun when he was a kid that put Charles in a wheelchair and I’m betting there are a whole bunch of memories being stirred up right now that Charles is trying to keep a lid on. Charles’s accident caused the family feud which is maybe how Jack got to be in this mess. So Charles is going to want to hold him close.’
‘But doesn’t Jack have parents? Do they have a say in this?’ Kate asked.
‘That’s the next hassle,’ Cal explained. ‘Charles has to let them know he’s injured, and if they hear we’re moving him to another hospital, Charles believes they’ll want him flown to Sydney—to top specialists down there.’
‘But if he’s in Sydney and Megan’s up here, what chance will they have to sort out their feelings for each other?’
Cal answered Kate’s new protest with a nod.
‘Exactly!’ he said. ‘That’s the other reason we really need to keep him here if we possibly can.’
‘So, what’s the answer?’ Hamish asked Cal. ‘Will you do the op? Do you feel confident of handling it?’
Cal hesitated.
‘With expert help, yes. Charles is trying to set it up now. He has a friend, an orthopaedic surgeon, in Brisbane. If we set up a video camera and link it via computer to Charles’s mate, he can virtually guide my hands. In a less complicated form, this system’s being trialled in a number of country areas where
there’s a nurse but no doctor. It’s mainly been used for diagnostic purposes but some operations have been performed this way.’
‘You OK with it?’ Hamish asked, and Kate sensed a bond between the two men.
Cal nodded.
‘The worst part will be the timing. The surgeon we need is in Theatre right now, and he has a full list for today. It could be midnight before we get going.’
‘Late night for all the staff. Because of the von Willebrand’s you’ll need Alix on hand and Emily for the anaesthetic—do you want me to assist?’ Hamish asked.
Cal grinned at him.
‘You’ll probably be more useful as a babysitter. Knowing Gina, she’ll insist on assisting. I know it’s not heart surgery, but as soon as she heard you’d found Lucky’s father, she’s been itching to get involved.’
Kate was only half listening to the conversation, aware more of the interaction of the two men and the sense of belonging that being part of a hospital staff engendered. Dangerous stuff—belonging. She finished her sandwiches, drained her coffee-cup and stood up.
‘Speaking of babysitting, I’d better get back to Jack,’ she said, and if Hamish looked surprised by her abrupt departure, that was too bad. She’d opted to go through an agency to get this job, rather than applying direct to the hospital. She knew from experience with agency nurses in the hospital in Melbourne that they worked set contracts. They came, they did their jobs, remaining uninvolved with the people around them because they were moving on. Her contract was for two months. Long enough, she’d decided, to find out what she wanted—needed—to know. Then she’d move on.
Yes, she wanted to find her father, and to learn the circumstances of her birth—she needed to know these things to give her new life some foundation. But her new life would not be
dependent on other people. From now on, she was depending solely on herself.
‘He’s sleeping, and so should you be,’ Charles told her, when she arrived in Recovery where Jack was being held awaiting his second operation.
‘I feel I should stay,’ she said, but Jill, on the other side of Jack’s bed, shook her head.
‘I’ll order you to bed if I need to,’ she said, smiling to soften the words. ‘But common sense should tell you, you need to sleep.’
Kate nodded her agreement but as she walked away she wondered why she felt a little lost now Jack had so many other people to be there for him. This wasn’t how someone who depended solely on herself should be feeling.
She made her way back to the house, pleased Hamish was still over at the hospital with Cal, then, as she heard voices in the kitchen, contrarily wished he was here so she wouldn’t have to face a roomful of strangers alone.
‘Here she is—the elected judge,’ someone said, and Kate looked helplessly around the smiling faces, catching sight, eventually, of Gina’s.
And CJ’s.
CJ and Rudolph and another little boy were cutting and pasting something in a corner where the kitchen opened onto the back veranda.
‘Elected judge?’ Kate echoed weakly. What on earth were they talking about?
Gina took pity on her, coming forward and introducing her to Mike—the paramedic chopper pilot Hamish had spoken of—and Marcia, a fellow nurse. There was also Susie, a pretty woman with short blonde curly hair and blue eyes who was apparently the hospital physiotherapist, and Georgie Turner, O and G specialist, a stunning young woman with very short shiny black hair and long legs encased in skin-tight jeans. The only other man there was someone called Brian—someone
Kate realised she should have met earlier, as apparently he was the hospital administrator.
‘Poor Kate, I bet she doesn’t even know about Wygera and the swimming pool,’ Georgie said. ‘And here we are appointing her judge of the designs.’
‘Judge of the designs? I’m a nurse, not an architect.’
The others all chuckled.
‘We don’t need an architect—well, not yet. We need an unbiased person, someone who doesn’t know any of the people of Wygera, to choose the best model or design then we’ll pass it on to an architect to draw up the plans for us.’
Kate was about to protest that surely the architect should be the judge when Susie spoke.
‘We’ve been arguing about it for ages, then decided you’d be the best, not only because you don’t know anyone and can’t be accused of bias but because you’re going out there tomorrow. Doing the clinic run. Jill always puts new nurses on the clinic run to give them an idea of the area we cover.’
As everyone was smiling encouragingly at Kate, she couldn’t argue, so she accepted the dubious honour of being the judge of the Wygera Swimming Pool Competition.
‘Is there a prize? Do I have to give someone something?’ she asked, sitting down in the chair Mike had brought over for her.
‘The prize is free entry to the rodeo for the entrant and his or her family—within reason, the family part,’ Mike explained. ‘The company who brings a truck to all the rodeos, selling clothes and rodeo equipment, is also donating a western shirt and hat, so whoever wins gets that as well.’
‘We want to win the hat,’ a small voice said, and Kate turned to see CJ looking up from his task. ‘I’ve got a hat, but Max hasn’t.’
‘Max is mine,’ Georgie explained, but then everyone was talking again—this time about the barbeque they were planning for dinner—so Kate couldn’t ask on what criteria she should judge the contest.
‘Are there rules for this contest? I don’t want to choose some stupendous design whoever’s paying for this pool can’t afford.’
‘We’re paying for the pool,’ Georgie said, and Kate looked around the group, arguing amiably about who would do what for the barbeque. None of them looked as if they had fortunes tucked away.