Outback Doctor, English Bride

‘Hmm. Is that it, then?’

‘That’s it,’ she confirmed. ‘I have all my really important stuff in here.’ She tapped the large leather satchel she’d swung over her shoulder. ‘Oh—who’s this, then?’ she laughed as a black Staffordshire terrier tore from the region of the back yard to wait inside the gate, thumping his tail on the cement path.

Jake opened the gate. ‘Get down, boy.’ He shooed the dog away with a nudge of his knee. ‘This is Chalky. He came with the practice so I’m stuck with him.’

Maxi bent and fondled the Staffy’s blunt head. ‘Chalky? Oh, I see.’ She gusted a laugh. ‘Upside-down logic—Chalky because he’s black.’

‘I didn’t name him so don’t blame me.’ With the dog glued hopefully to his side, Jake led her up onto the verandah and produced a key to the front door.

‘Do you take him for walks?’ she asked, as Chalky followed them inside, his claws clipping across the polished floor.

Jake snorted. ‘Of course I don’t take him for walks. ‘He’s got a huge back yard to run in. And when would I get the time?’

‘I suppose… It’s a nice house,’ Maxi changed tack, her gaze flying over the simple furnishings.

‘It comes with the job. You’d better have this room,’ he said abruptly. ‘It has its own en suite bathroom.’

‘Oh, lovely.’ She lifted a hand to tug off her cap and shake out her tangle of hair. ‘I’d kill for a bath.’

‘No baths.’ Jake went into the bedroom and dumped her backpack on the end table. ‘Three-minute showers are all that’s allowed.’

‘Oh, of course.’ She frowned a bit. ‘I imagine it’s imperative to use the least amount of water as possible.’

‘You’re going to hate it,’ He said flatly.

‘Don’t go making assumptions on my behalf, Jacob,’ she responded sharply. ‘Now, do you have spare linen? I’ll need to make up the bed.’

Jake’s eyes glazed over and he took a deep, very deep breath. This was never going to work. ‘Sheets and towels in the built-in cupboard in the hallway. Help yourself. Marie Olsen is employed by the hospital to come in once a week and keep the place clean and aired so you should find everything else is OK.’

‘Fine, thanks. Um, you mentioned a hospital.’ Maxi’s curiosity was piqued. ‘What’s the bed capacity?’

‘These days, ten,’ he replied, a slight edge to his voice almost as though he thought it was none of her business. ‘Four are designated nursing-home beds. We’re funded differently for those.’

‘The same the world over, then. Doctors being slaves to management number-crunchers wherever they work.’

Jake gave a noncommittal grunt and glanced at his watch. ‘Speaking of the hospital, I have to make a quick round. Couple of patients to check.’

Maxi’s eyes brightened. ‘I need to stretch my legs,’ she said. ‘Give me a minute to freshen up and I’ll come with you.’

Jake sensed he was never going to win here so he’d better just go with the flow. Or go nuts. ‘Whatever makes you happy.’ Shaking his head, he turned and left her to it.

Maxi spritzed water on her face and then ran a brush through her hair. It needed cutting and shaping again, she thought ruefully, disentangling a couple of strands until her brush ran smoothly.

She looked in the mirror, feeling an expectant throb in her veins as she twisted her hair up into a presentable knot. She’d found him again. Now, somehow, some way she had to make him want to reclaim all they’d had.

Impossible as it appeared on the surface, she had to get Jake to tap into his feelings again. Realise that what they’d shared together in England they could have again here on the other side of the world—his world in the Australian outback. She had her fingers firmly crossed as she left her bedroom and went to find him.

His efforts at hospitality left a bit to be desired, Jake thought thinly as he poured fruit juice into two tall glasses. She was probably dying from thirst after being on the road for most of the day and he hadn’t even offered her a drink of water. His mouth clamped.

He still found it unbelievable she was here. Under his roof. The time they’d spent in England suddenly seemed pitched into sharp focus. And he knew now that meeting her had changed the whole course of his life. And it hadn’t just been the intimate moments they’d shared, although they had been magic. No, it had been the way she’d made him feel, the way she’d made him laugh. In fact, it had been the whole damn package that was Maxi. His Maxi?

Well, she had been. For a while.

Suddenly, he felt as though his heart had been squeezed with terrible force and hung out to dry.

CHAPTER TWO

RETURNING the jug to the fridge, he swung back just as Maxi popped her head in and then joined him at the breakfast bar.

‘Cheers.’ She lifted her glass, tilting her head in that alert, bird-like way he remembered. ‘Who do you need to see?’

‘One of our seniors who was admitted with heatstroke earlier today and a third-time mum. Delivered twenty-four hours ago.’

Maxi looked surprised. ‘I’ve been doing a bit of homework about Australian rural medicine. From what I’ve been reading, most bush doctors decline to take midwifery cases. Because of the litigation tangle if things go wrong,’ she elaborated. ‘I mean, you’re so far from specialised help.’

‘We operate on a slightly different premise here.’ Jake lifted his glass and downed half his drink. ‘One of our nurses, Sonia Townsend, is a midwife. If the pregnancy looks straightforward, we like to deliver women here. Otherwise it’s a huge disruption for the family if the mum has to travel ahead of time and hang about for the birth at Croyden. That’s our closest regional hospital and it’s over two hundred Ks away.’

Maxi thought that through. ‘So, what else do you do?’

Jake sent her a wary look. ‘Medically?’

‘Of course.’

‘Let’s just say a broad-based training has helped me out more times than I care to recall. But there’s also an internet hook-up for rural doctors where we can consult with a specialist if we get desperate.’

Maxi slowly drained her glass and then placed it carefully back on the countertop. ‘It’s a different world out here, isn’t it?’

He gave a hard laugh. ‘You noticed?’ Without giving her time to answer, he swept the glasses off the bench and into the sink. ‘Let’s go and do this round,’ he said briskly. ‘And then I might buy you tea at the pub.’

‘Tea?’ Maxi took off after him as he strode to the front door. ‘As in cucumber sandwiches?’

‘More likely steak and chips.’

She sent him a speculative look, wondering if she was being sent up. ‘So, you actually mean you’ll buy me dinner?’

His smile was gently wry. ‘Something like that.’ Ushering her through the front gate, he began striding off along the concrete footpath.

‘Hey!’ Maxi trotted to keep up. ‘Aren’t we driving?’

‘Hospital’s just next door.’ Jake indicated the low-set weathered brick building some hundred metres up the road. ‘Years ago, the town council bought up acreage to build the hospital and then the doctors’ residence came after. Apparently in those days, when Tangaratta was a thriving rural community, there was a permanent medical superintendent on staff and several GPs in the town.’

‘So, what happened?’ Maxi asked, increasing her strides to match his.

‘Technology, probably. The needs and skills of the work-force change. And then a kind of domino effect sets in. Folk have to relocate to go after jobs and towns as small as this go into a kind of recession. But apparently, a couple of years ago, people were beginning to trickle back to start new ventures in the district. Gem fossicking, tourism and the like.’

‘And then the drought hit,’ Maxi surmised quietly.

He nodded, tight-lipped.

As they neared the hospital, Maxi began to look about her. There was a strip of lawn, faded and burned from the harshness of the sun, but along the path to the front entrance a border of purple and crimson shrubs was vividly in flower. ‘They look like hardy plants,’ she commented.

‘Bougainvillea.’ Jake huffed a laugh. ‘Can’t kill them with an axe. They thrive under these kinds of hot, dry conditions.’

‘The hospital itself looks quite a spacious building, at least from the outside.’ Maxi cast an interested glance around. ‘And I love those verandahs.’

‘In the summer they bring a sense of coolness. Conversely, they’re great for catching the morning rays in the winter months. The walking wounded love them.’

She shot him a brief smile. ‘So the architects of earlier times knew what they were about, then?’

He grunted. ‘More than they do now in lots of cases. This is where the CareFlight chopper lands when we have an emergency transfer.’ Jake led her across to where a windsock hung listlessly at the far end of large unfenced paddock.

Maxi’s gaze stretched across to the distant hills, muted into diffused greys and blues as the evening light softened their stark outlines. ‘It’s so quiet…’

‘Mmm. It kinds of enfolds you. You stop noticing it after a while.’

‘I guess you would, yes. Oh, look!’ Surprise edged Maxi’s voice and she pointed skywards, watching as a flock of large birds thrummed by on urgent wings, calling harshly to one another as they passed overhead. ‘What are they—wild geese?’

‘Wild duck. There’s not much water in the lagoons for them these days. They’re leaving in numbers now to fly towards the coast.’

‘Will they come back?’

‘When the waterholes and lagoons are full again. Come on, Doctor.’ He touched a hand to the small of her back. ‘Enough of the local commentary. Let’s do this hospital round.’ He shot her a questioning look as they went through the front entrance. ‘I’m assuming you still want to accompany me?’

‘Yes, please.’

Loretta Campion, the charge for the shift, was just coming out of her office as they approached the nurses’ station. ‘Evening, Jake.’ She tilted her fair head enquiringly. ‘We expected you much earlier. Was there a problem?’

He gave a short laugh. Only the female one beside him. ‘Got held up a bit. Loretta, this is, Dr Maxi Somers. She’s—’

‘The new locum,’ the charge guessed, smiling as she extended her hand to Maxi across the counter. ‘We expected you on today’s plane.’

‘Ahh…’ Maxi took a moment to think on her feet, her green eyes sparkling with mischief. ‘I’m afraid I rather surprised Dr Haslem. I drove here.’

Jake almost choked. He could see what she was up to. ‘Maxi’s here on a trial basis,’ he counter-claimed swiftly, trying to salvage something that had some semblance of truth.

Loretta’s eyes widened in query. ‘I thought the tenure was for three months?’

‘I’m sure we’ll sort something out that will benefit us both,’ Maxi came in smoothly. ‘Jacob’s just being his usual cautious self.’

Loretta’s gaze skittered curiously between the two medical officers. ‘Am I missing something here?’

‘We worked together in England,’ Maxi said, keeping the patter going but flicking Jake a don’t-you-dare look. ‘But I’m sure I’ll settle in here. I love the place already.’

‘Well, it’s not at its best at the moment,’ Loretta said sadly. ‘But what a godsend to have another doctor—and no offence, Jake, but my guess is that the ladies of Tangaratta will be making a beeline for Dr Somers’s surgery.’

‘Excellent.’ Maxi beamed. ‘I’ll look forward to meeting my new patients.’

Jake bit back a squawk of unbelief. She’d outgunned him without blinking an eye. Hell! And he’d thought she needed protecting! He turned to the charge, his expression carefully neutral. ‘Loretta, do you have the charts for Bernie Evans and Karryn Goode, please?’

‘Mr Evans has perked up. We’ve pushed fluids into him for most of the afternoon,’ Loretta said, proffering the files. ‘But I think we should keep him overnight. He was in a right old state when the meals-on-wheels folk found him. If it hadn’t been their day to call…’

Maxi opened her mouth and closed it again quickly. She was full of questions and suggestions but wisely kept them to herself. She guessed she’d already stretched Jake’s patience a little too far.

‘And Karryn wants to go home.’

‘We’ll have to see about that.’ Jake ran his eyes over his patient’s chart. She’d recovered well after the birth of her baby boy. Maybe he’d let her go and maybe he wouldn’t. ‘OK, thanks, Loretta.’ He lifted a hand in acknowledgment. ‘We’ll find our way.’

‘Where to now?’ Maxi asked eagerly. They’d walked from the nurses’ station and turned the corner into a short stretch of corridor.

‘Nowhere.’ In a quick, precise movement Jake angled himself in front of her so she was almost pressed against the wall. He stared down at her, his look unreadable. ‘Just what are you trying to prove here, Maxi?’

‘Sorry?’ She blinked uncertainly at him.

‘Pretending to be the locum. And what’s with the “I love the place already”,’ he mimicked.

Maxi winced. Had she really sounded like that? Almost simpering? She shook her head, biting the soft inside edge of her bottom lip. ‘It was a silly, spur-of-the-moment thing.’

His dark brows came together. ‘You’ve hardly been in the place five minutes. How could you have formed any opinion?’

She shrugged, wrapping her arms over her chest and kneading her upper arms.

‘Max, this isn’t some kind of mind game!’ Jake’s voice was laced with frustration. ‘This is about real patients with real needs!’

Maxi’s heart thumped. Had she gone too far? ‘I know that, Jacob.’ She swallowed uncomfortably. ‘I know.’

‘Then why give Loretta the impression you’re the locum?’

‘Your receptionist happened to mention the locum hadn’t arrived and I thought…well, I thought, why not? It was out of order,’ she admitted, her green eyes soulful and large. ‘I’ll rectify things with Loretta before we leave.’

‘You won’t,’ Jake said, his tone implacable. ‘If you want to be taken seriously, just start thinking of a plausible explanation for your sudden departure, when the time comes.’

‘But—’

‘Maxi…’ he warned.

She hesitated. Then lifted her shoulder in a dismissive shrug. ‘Whatever you say.’ A beat of silence. ‘So, do you want me to just make the tea while I’m here or am I allowed to speak to the patients?’

‘Just drop it, please.’ Jake’s gaze narrowed on her flushed face, the angry tilt of her small chin. ‘For the time you’re here, you’re a VMO—a visiting medical officer. With all the responsibility the title carries.’

‘Oh.’ Emotions began clogging her throat. His generous approach to what could have turned into a messy situation took her by surprise. And yet it shouldn’t have, she allowed. He’d always played fair. ‘I appreciate that—thank you,’ she said quietly.

‘You’re welcome.’ He began walking again. ‘Now, come and meet Karryn.’

Maxi felt a sudden overriding sense of caution. ‘I wouldn’t want the midwife to feel I was going over her head.’

‘You wouldn’t be. Sonia’s not around anyway. She left this morning to check on a couple of expectant mums on outlying properties.’

Maxi inclined her head towards the files. ‘May I see Karryn’s notes, then?’

Handing the chart over, Jake said, ‘I’m not sure I want her to go home just yet.’

They held a mini-consult in a nearby small treatment room. After Maxi had speed-read the patient’s history, she said musingly, ‘Karryn’s twenty-nine and this was her third pregnancy, right?’

‘Yes.’

And the delivery had been straightforward, Maxi noted. There’d been no excessive bleed and only a minor repair necessary. And twenty-four hours post-partum, her obs were well within the normal range. Maxi brought her gaze up. ‘So, why don’t you want her to go home?’

‘They live miles out of town, for starters.’ Jake hitched himself against the treatment couch. ‘She has a child of six and another four. The eldest, Belinda, goes to school. The four-year-old, Nathan, is home with Mum. Plus now she’ll have the new baby. And no one around for back-up.’

‘Are you concerned she’ll overdo?’

‘No question.’ Jake rubbed a finger along the bridge of his nose. ‘Karryn and her husband Dean are trying desperately to keep their property viable. For the last few months Dean has been away most of the day sinking water bores, and right up until she delivered the baby Karryn had been doing the feed drop for the cattle.’

‘I see.’ Maxi made a moue of conjecture. ‘So, fill me in here, Jacob. What does that entail? And when you say cattle—how many does that mean, a dozen or fifty?’

‘Nearer four hundred head.’

‘OK…’ Maxi refused to be thrown. ‘So, how physical is it for Karryn, then?’

‘It’s physical, time-consuming and iffy with the set-up they have to use. She takes the Land Rover with a trailer attached. She’s had to take Nathan with her. Now she’ll have to take the baby as well. They’ll be in safety harnesses but just the thought of it scares the hell out of me.’

‘It’s obviously a struggle,’ Maxi agreed. ‘But it’s the physical part that alarms me. Karryn is not hauling bales of hay out of the trailer, is she?’

Jake shook his head. ‘Not quite. The method they use is to put the vehicle into the lowest gear and secure the steering-wheel so it can’t deviate. The idea then is that the vehicle crawls along while Karryn walks behind, throwing out armfuls of hay from the trailer.’

‘It must be exhausting in this heat.’ Maxi’s heart went out to the young mum. ‘And Dean, the husband, can he not take over the chore until Karryn’s quite fit again?’

‘He’d like to, I’m sure,’ Jake said. ‘But their present bores are drying up and they have to sink for more water sources on the place. The alternative is that they sell their livestock, getting a pittance for it because there’s a glut on the market. And then basically…’ Jake paused for effect. ‘They’ll walk off their farm.’

Maxi winced. ‘I’m beginning to get a handle on things now. Could they buy in water, perhaps?’

Jake shook his head. ‘Not when every spare dollar has to go to buy feed for the cattle.’

‘I understand your concern as Karryn’s doctor, but realistically how far can you interfere?’

‘Maxi, credit me with a little sense. I’ve no intention of interfering. I just need a reason to keep Karryn for another few days. And then to think of a possible solution to ease her workload when she gets home.’

Maxi frowned, beginning to understand just how swamped he must be feeling with his patients’ stress rapidly becoming his own. And obviously Karryn and Dean were just one of many families facing similar scenarios.

But Maxi had a few ideas of her own. ‘Does the town have a physiotherapist?’

‘Not any more. She left a month ago. And I know where you’re going. Some appropriate exercise would up Karryn’s fitness considerably.’

‘Yes, it would. But we can get round that. I have the basics to know what I’m doing. But I’d like a chat with Karryn first. And I promise I won’t go over the top.’

Jake’s mouth crimped at the corners in a dry smile. ‘Can I trust you, though, I wonder?’

‘Give me a break, Jacob.’ Maxi hastily turned towards the door. ‘You’ve told me I have a job here—for the present, at least. So just let me get on with it, please?’

Jake pushed himself away from the couch, his jaw working for a moment. ‘I’ll introduce you to Karryn, then leave you to it,’ he said, grabbing the swing door before it slammed in his face. ‘And, Max?’

Maxi felt an odd little dip in her stomach as her gaze flew up to meet his. ‘Yes?’

He shrugged a bit awkwardly. ‘Just—thanks, I guess.’

She huffed a jagged laugh. ‘I may need that in writing later.’

Jake was as good as his word, taking his leave as soon as he’d courteously introduced Maxi and adding for good measure that she’d come from England on a working holiday.

Maxi shrugged inwardly. It wasn’t quite the truth but it would do for the moment.

‘You must be wilting in our summer weather,’ Karryn said shyly, pulling herself higher on to the pillows.

‘Just a bit,’ Maxi admitted with a smile. ‘But, then, I gather it’s not been an easy time for you either. How’s your bub doing?’

Karryn’s gaze went softly to the downy head in the cot beside her. ‘Really well. He seems a placid little guy. After Nate, that’s a blessed relief, I can tell you.’

Maxi husked a low laugh. ‘Handful, was he?’

‘Like you wouldn’t believe. Always on the go. Still is, for that matter.’ She blinked, her eyes filling suddenly. ‘I hate being away from my kids…’

Maxi placed her hand on the young mum’s shoulder and squeezed. ‘I’m sure you do, Karryn. And that’s what I want to talk about. How best and how quickly we can get you ready to go home to them. Dr Haslem has told me a little of your circumstances. I hope that’s OK?’

Karryn nodded, palming the wetness away from her eyes. ‘It’s hard for everyone around here at the moment. Not just our family.’

‘So I believe. How about you, though?’ Maxi persisted gently. ‘How do you feel in yourself?’

‘It’s been good just to be able to stay off my feet, I reckon,’ Karryn said honestly. ‘But I have to get back to help Dean. I don’t really have much choice.’

‘Perhaps you do,’ Maxi’s voice firmed. ‘If we put our thinking caps on.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Well, how would you feel about having a few more days with us?’

The young mother looked torn. ‘I don’t know…’

‘I promise we’d use the time well,’ Maxi coaxed. ‘For starters, I could give you a daily massage.’

Karryn bit her lip. ‘I’ve never had one of those.’

‘I used to do it back home for my new mums. They always found it brilliant.’

‘My tummy is a disaster area,’ Karryn mourned.

‘Hey, that’s only to be expected,’ Maxi returned bracingly. ‘At this stage your tummy will naturally lack muscle tone. And don’t forget, it’s your third pregnancy.’

The young mother laid a hand across the tummy in question. ‘It just seems a bit more wobbly this time,’ she reflected.

‘Your ligaments and joints will be loose for about three months,’ Maxi explained. ‘But in the meantime I could show you a series of exercises to get you on the right track again.’

Karryn looked uncertain.

‘It would all be very low-impact,’ Maxi promised.

‘What kinds of things would I have to do?’

‘Nothing more taxing than sitting and keeping your lower back flat,’ Maxi illustrated. ‘Then breathing out and drawing your belly button towards your spine, holding the position for a count of ten and then repeating it. Think you’d be cool with that?’

Karryn grinned. ‘I reckon. And I could keep the exercises going when I got home.’

‘That’s the general idea,’ Maxi affirmed with a smile.

A flicker of uncertainty crossed the young mum’s face. ‘But…I couldn’t afford to pay much. Would this extra stuff cost a lot?’

‘Well, I certainly won’t be charging anything,’ Maxi dismissed. ‘I’d guess you’ll simply transfer from Jake’s list to mine so I’ll be treating you. If that’s all right with you, of course?’ And all right with Jake, she willed silently.

‘Oh, yes,’ Karryn asserted quickly. ‘I mean, Jake’s always very kind and I don’t know what the district would do without him—but sometimes it’s just nice to be able to speak to a woman doctor. We only ever had another one out here and that was when I was having Belinda. But she left soon after. I don’t think she really took to the place…’

Maxi grinned. ‘She wasn’t from England, too, was she?’

‘Melbourne, I think,’ Karryn replied guilessly.

Maxi got to her feet, deciding she’d gained enough of her new patient’s confidence to go forward with her plan. ‘I’ll let you get some rest now, Karryn. But I’ll pop back first thing in the morning and we’ll get cracking, all right?’

‘That’d be great. I hope you stay in Tangaratta, Dr Somers,’ the young woman added earnestly.

‘Oh—thanks. Me, too.’ Maxi felt incredibly touched. A wild kind of expectancy hurtled through her veins. Now she only had to convince Jake to let her stay…