A Family This Christmas

Jenny knew the mother was screaming at her but she ignored her, focused on saving this little girl. Quickly standing on her good foot, ignoring the pain slicing up her leg, she held Emma around her waist and located her belly button with her finger.

‘What’s going on?’ A doctor raced into the cubicle, followed by two nurses.

At last. But handing over now meant wasting precious seconds. Jenny fisted one hand. ‘This child appears to have choked. No resp rate. I’ve done five back strikes.’ Oh. Tell him. ‘I am an ED doctor.’ I was an ED doctor. Her fist thrust upward into Emma’s abdomen. One. Two. Emma coughed hard and a small round object shot across the floor.

‘A lid off a pill bottle by the look of it.’ One of the nurses retrieved it from under the next bed.

The doctor took the now crying and bewildered child from Jenny’s arms and laid her on the bed. ‘Shh, sweetheart. You’re going to be all right.’ He looked over his shoulder at the crying woman and the frantic father trying to get off his bed. ‘Mum? Come and hold your little girl while I examine her. What’s her name?’

‘Emma.’ The mother scooped up her baby and held her tight.

‘Easy. I need to give her a complete exam. Nurse, bring me a child’s blanket. Jason, get back on that bed. You shouldn’t be moving. You’ll start that wound bleeding again.’ The doctor turned back to his little patient and gave her a quick but thorough going over. ‘She’s going to be fine, thanks to this doctor.’

The mother had lost all colour in her cheeks. ‘Thank you so much, all of you. If you hadn’t done what you did …’ She swallowed.

Jenny eased her butt back onto her bed. The pain in her ankle had intensified now that she wasn’t being distracted. ‘Don’t go there,’ she advised with a smile she hoped wasn’t a grimace as pain stabbed repeatedly. ‘Instead be glad you were here and not at home when it happened.’

Within minutes the department had returned to normal. Except for the hiccups in the next cubicle as the mother slowly calmed down, only muted voices could be heard once more.

With a sigh Jenny lay back. Talk about having the day from hell. But a broken ankle was low on the scale of urgency and really she was incredibly lucky. Euphoria nudged her despair aside. That child would’ve been saved by any of the doctors or nurses on duty but she’d done it. Her old instincts had kicked in instantly. She hadn’t had to spend precious moments trying to recall the procedure. It had been there, lying in some unused corner of her brain waiting to be summoned.

It was good to know she still had it, even though she wasn’t about to do anything stupid like go back to being a doctor. Yet the words ‘I’m a doctor’ had spilled off her tongue without thought. If she had stopped to consider that, she’d probably have handed Emma to another medic and lost precious seconds.

Wriggling further back against the pillows, she wondered what she’d do once she was discharged. Originally she’d planned on staying in Blenheim for a couple of nights and visiting the vineyards she’d gone to with Alison two years ago and having a glass of her sister’s favourite bubbly.

Did she still stop here until she was capable of getting around again? Doing what? Reading, eating, sleeping. Boring. What about going to Havelock? Her chuckle was humourless. Less than five hundred people lived there. So not her, a place like that. All too soon the locals would start saying hello, and then asking how her day was going. She shuddered. Face it. Stopping for more than three nights anywhere was so not her at the moment. But as of now she was no longer on the move.

Almost six months on the road hadn’t solved anything, hadn’t given her the forgiveness she ached for, hadn’t brought her any closer to accepting what had happened.

This road trip had just about run its course anyway. There were only two more stops to go. Yeah, well, like climbing mountainsides in the Kahurangi National Park was going to happen now. Saying goodbye to Alison might have to wait another year.

Tears welled up, spilled down her face. ‘So sorry, sis. I intended being at the place where you left me on the first anniversary.’ Now that final goodbye had been taken from her in a single hit. A little like Alison’s death. One fall off a mountainside and she’d gone. For ever.

‘You look like you could do with some company.’

Now, that wasn’t a memory. That voice was from three hours ago. Ducking her head further down to hide her face, she croaked around her clogged throat, ‘Dr Cameron Roberts.’ Who didn’t sound overly pleased to be here. Surprise, surprise.

‘You remembered, then. Most people call me Cam.’

She’d always had a phenomenal memory. Right down to the very last word Alison had ever said to her. She drew a deep breath, and put Alison to one side—for now at least. ‘You can’t find the location of the boys’ Christmas party?’

He sat on the edge of her bed without asking. At least he was careful not to disturb her broken foot. ‘Safely delivered and for once I’m not putting on the red suit and handing out parcels to over-excited kids.’

‘Sounds like fun all round.’ She looked up, momentarily forgetting about her tears.

‘Hey, you’re crying.’ He looked nonplussed, like crying women threw him.

Sure am. ‘Guess it’s just a reaction to finding myself in here, instead of enjoying that lunch down on the marina.’ Telling a virtual stranger the truth would sound like she was looking for sympathy and that was the very last thing she intended. She didn’t deserve it, for starters. ‘Don’t mind me. I’m fine, really.’

He looked relieved. Because the tears hadn’t become a torrent? ‘I hear you’re waiting for Angus McNamara to show up.’

‘Is he any good?’ Like, hello? What choice did she have?

‘You don’t except me to say otherwise, do you?’ Cam was still watching her closely, but now a small smile slowly appeared, like he wasn’t used to smiling.

‘Not really.’ He should try the smile thing more often as it turned an already good-looking face into something beyond handsome. Her stomach sucked in and her heart knocked gently against her ribs, as if to say, Hey, sit up and take note. He’s one cool dude. Except, dear heart, the man has a wife. Those boys mentioned seeing their mother. She shifted a little and groaned, grinding out, ‘You’d tell me if I’d be better off seeing a chainsaw specialist, wouldn’t you?’

Cam grimaced with her then told her, ‘Angus is very good.’ He swung her car keys between them. ‘The car’s parked in my garage, out of the way. I brought in your case. Thought you’d want a change of clothes some time.’ Thoughtful as well as a hunk. ‘It’s in the ED office until they know whether you’re having surgery or just getting a proper splint and crutches.’

‘Would you mind putting the keys in my case? Losing them would only give me another headache to deal with.’

‘Sure.’ Cam stared thoughtfully at a spot somewhere around his feet. ‘If you’re discharged, where will you go?’

She had no idea. ‘Yesterday I looked up motels in Blenheim and found heaps of vacancies so I didn’t bother making a booking. I’ll phone around when I know what’s going on here.’

‘You sure that’s what you want to do? You could catch a flight home as soon as they kick you out of here.’ The question in his eyes asked where home was.

She wasn’t answering it. ‘I’ll be fine. Lots of options, really.’ She played mental ping-pong. A motel where she’d have to get take-out delivered because of her inability to move around? Or a flight out to where? Which town would she settle in and pretend it felt like home until she was okay to move on again? According to some, home was where the heart was, and her heart was lost right now.

At the moment all her worldly possessions were locked up in a container in a storage yard in Auckland, no doubt going mouldy. She suspected that after her road trip she’d like somewhere new to start again.

‘I’ll leave you my numbers so you can call me if you want anything else out of your car.’

‘Thanks.’ The carton of medical journals could wait a month or so. The hiking boots, running shoes and camping gear were absolutely useless at the moment. Blink, blink. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It’s a broken ankle, not a catastrophe, even if you are stuck here for a while. Her gaze drifted to Cam, over his expansive chest and on down to the long legs stretched half across the cubicle. ‘How did you manage to get behind the steering wheel of my car? Your knees must’ve been up around your ears.’

‘That’s something I’m used to. Though driving a sports car was a novelty, even if only for half a kilometre. The boys couldn’t believe what they were seeing when I pulled up at home.’

‘I can picture their faces.’ She continued checking him out. Why? She had no idea.

This guy spent time in the sun. His skin had a mouth-watering tan. Those calf muscles were well honed. Her stomach squeezed. Settle. The last thing she needed right now was to get interested in a man. She had nothing to offer anyone. She ran on empty all the time. Anyway, this particular man was taken. Remember? Remember. ‘You look fit. You run?’ Why was she even asking? He’d disappear any minute and that would be the end of that.

Surprise widened his eyes. ‘It’s the one thing that keeps me sane some days.’

She’d focus on his running, nothing else. ‘That can’t be easy with only a handful of short streets or the main highway to pound out on.’ An hour in Havelock had been ample time to get the idea of how small the place was.

‘I use Queen Charlotte Drive. The hill’s a bit of a grunter but the traffic moves at a far slower pace than out on the main road. Sometimes the boys cycle with me. I’d never take them on the main road. Too many large trucks rolling through all the time.’

‘Your boys are cute.’ Where was their mother? Had she gone to the party with them?

‘Don’t you dare tell them that. They absolutely hate anyone using the “cute” word.’ Another smile, more expansive this time, lifted his mouth into a delicious curve and lightened the brown of his eyes.

‘They’re strong-willed?’

Cam nodded his head slowly. ‘Unfortunately, yes.’

‘You’d want your kids to be pushovers?’ she asked, wondering exactly why he’d dropped by. She wasn’t his patient or his friend.

His sigh filled with sadness as the smile switched off and his gaze dulled. ‘They’re a funny mix of strong and soft. Kind of nice, I guess, but there are things I wish they were stronger about.’

If only she knew how to wipe away that look, bring back the warm smile. But it wasn’t her place. They were strangers who were going to remain so. ‘I’m sure all parents think that.’ How enlightening. Not.

‘You got kids?’ His question was nothing startling, fitted into their conversation, and yet it arrowed in for her heart.

‘No.’ She’d always hoped she’d get married and have a family. That had been part of her life plan, along with the medical career, the extended travel to Europe and watching Alison achieve her goal to become an international airline pilot. Except Alison had died because she had failed as a doctor. Her new life plan was waiting to be rewritten, but one thing she knew for certain was that having a family would be a part of it. Losing her sister had heightened that need.

‘Hello, Cam. Didn’t expect to find you here. You know my patient?’ A middle-aged man strode around the curtain and stopped at the end of her bed.

‘Not really. My boys are responsible for this. A skateboarding accident of no mean proportions.’

‘Ouch.’ The casually presented man turned to her. ‘I’m Angus, your surgeon.’

She held out her hand. ‘Jenny Bostock. Should I be asking if you caught any fish? Or will that make you go a little harder on me?’ Plastering on a smile she didn’t feel much like making, she watched closely to see how he reacted to her.

‘Your timing was perfect. Dinner’s ready and waiting in the fridge at home. Blue cod. The best fish in our waters, as far as I’m concerned.’ His friendly smile faded. ‘I’ve seen your X-rays. The lower tibia has a fine fracture, but it’s the talus that needs attending to, I’m afraid. You require plates to be attached.’

‘That’s what I expected.’ And didn’t want. But there was nothing she could do about it, except rewind the clock four hours and stay in her car, instead of walking around Havelock.

‘Do you want me to outline the whole procedure, Dr Bostock?’ The surgeon emphasised her title.

Beside him, Cam lifted his eyebrows. ‘So you are a doctor. I wondered if you were.’

‘Angus has been reading my admission slip.’ She should’ve put dog walker or cleaning lady but some habits didn’t disappear, even after six months. ‘Anyway, it was irrelevant to the situation. I’m presuming you’d have treated me the same, no matter what my job was.’

Cam shrugged. ‘Of course.’

She didn’t go around telling anyone she was a doctor. People might ask her to treat them or give them advice, and they really didn’t need that from her. But when it came to filling in paperwork she tended to honest. Just in case she ever got her life back on track.

‘Jenny—I can call you that?’ The surgeon’s eyebrow rose in query.

‘Sure.’

‘Jenny’s being coy. I’m surprised you haven’t heard how she saved a child who was choking not more than thirty minutes ago. Everyone’s talking about her.’

Cam’s eyes widened. ‘Truly? That’s awesome. I have to say you seem to have a habit of finding yourself in the middle of trouble. Is that usual? Or is today the exception?’

Define trouble. Crossing her fingers, she muttered, ‘It’s been one of those days when I shouldn’t have got out of bed.’

‘Well, you’re back in one now.’ Cam’s smile was cheeky, warming her where she didn’t want to be warmed. Right around her heart.

‘Right.’ Angus became brisk. ‘Let’s get this under way. The anaesthetist should be here any minute. I’ll head over to Theatre and wait for you there.’ He flicked the curtain wide to stride out.

Cam took his cue. ‘I’d better go and check on those boys of mine, see what other mischief they’ve managed to get themselves into.’

She called after him, ‘Thanks for dropping by. I’ll sort out what to do about my car when I’m a bit more mobile. I’ll give you a buzz some time tomorrow. Is that okay?’

‘It can stay where it is for weeks, if necessary. Call me if you want anything else.’ He was only being helpful to a stranger for whom his boys had caused trouble. It was there in his eyes, in the now flat smile he gave.

‘Thanks.’ Suddenly she didn’t want him to go. Her fingers picked at the sheet covering her. The idea of being anaesthetised made her feel tetchy. All the what-if scenarios popped into her mind. Surgery was not without its risks. So talk to Cam, ask him questions about anything at all to keep him here for a bit.

‘I can hang around until Sheree gets here.’ So he read minds.

‘Sheree?’

‘The anaesthetist on duty this weekend.’ His butt sank back onto the edge of the bed. ‘In what field of medicine do you practise?’

The down side of having him stay was fielding the unwanted questions. ‘Emergency.’

‘You feel weird, being an ED patient?’ Those eyebrows rose again.

Kind of cute when they did that. Did he like the ‘cute’ word? Why was she even asking herself that? The man had a family, wasn’t available. But it had been a long time since she’d been interested in a man that way. ‘Not weird, just scary being on the receiving end of all the attention.’

‘I had keyhole surgery for appendicitis ten months ago. If it hadn’t been for the pain and knowing how fast the whole thing could’ve turned bad, I’d have bailed out of having the operation. Call me a wimp, but I knew everything that was going to happen, and that made it worse.’

‘You mean you understood what could go wrong.’ Like she did.

A big, warm hand covered hers. ‘You’ll be fine. Sheree and Angus know what they’re doing. The worst of this will come afterwards, when you can’t get around easily. I could send my boys in to be your slaves for as long as it takes to get back on your feet.’ His brow crinkled. ‘They’re not very good at cooking, or cleaning, or making decent coffee. Great at fetching and carrying, though.’

Surprised he could joke with her, the nervousness took a step back. ‘You make them sound like puppies. Fetch, Booboo.’ The warmth seeping into her from that small contact made her relax even more. Then she tensed. Tugged her hand free. He has a wife. ‘Thanks for your concern, but I’m fine. Really.’

Cam’s gaze cruised over her face, studying her intently. Looking for what? Then with a brief nod he stood up. ‘I can hear Sheree talking out there. I’ll head away. Take care.’

She stared at the curtain long after he’d gone. What would it be like to have Cameron Roberts to come home to at the end of a busy day in the department? Excuse me, you don’t work in an ED any more. You don’t work at all. As for coming home to that particular man, you must be high on laughing gas. He’s taken, remember?

A girl was allowed to dream, wasn’t she?

CHAPTER THREE

JENNY WOKE TO a nurse pumping a blood-pressure cuff wrapped around her arm. ‘Did I miss the party?’

The nurse frowned. ‘Party?’

‘The dry mouth and fuzzy head.’

An easy smile. ‘The revolting after-effects of anaesthetic. Your blood pressure’s normal. I need to take your temperature.’ A thermometer was slipped into her mouth as the nurse continued to talk. ‘Breakfast will be along shortly. You’ve got visitors, too.’

‘Visitors?’ Jenny spluttered around the glass stick between her lips. ‘I don’t know—’ Anyone except Cam and his boys. ‘Oh.’

‘Those boys are so gorgeous.’ Then the girl winked. ‘Just like their dad.’

‘True.’ It had to be post-op trauma that made her agree. ‘Does Mr McNamara do rounds on Sundays?’

‘He phoned earlier to say he’d drop by to see you this morning.’

‘Hey, sunshine, you’re looking more comfortable,’ Cam called from the doorway. ‘Up to visitors? As in three of us?’

‘You bet.’ Shuffling up the bed, she pulled the sheet up to her throat and settled back on the pillows the nurse rearranged at her back. Sunshine, eh? More like a disaster zone, with hair that hadn’t been brushed and probably yesterday’s mascara making dark smudges under her eyes. But it felt inordinately good to see him.

Cam stepped into the tiny room, followed by his sons carefully carrying coffee and something smelling suspiciously like a hot croissant.

‘Hello, guys. Is that for me?’

They nodded in unison. ‘Yes.’

‘You’re crackerjacks, you know that? I’ve been hanging out for a proper coffee since I arrived in this place.’ To think she could’ve blown this by venting her anger at them yesterday.

‘There’s a bacon and egg thing, too.’ One of them held out the bag to her.

‘Bacon and egg croissant,’ the other explained.

‘Okay, tell me, is there a trick to knowing who’s Marcus and who’s Andrew?’ They were darned near identical, though now that she was looking for differences she could see one of the boys had a tiny scar on his chin. Tapping it gently, she asked, ‘What happened there?’

‘Marcus pushed me off the swing when we were little.’

‘Gotcha. You’re Andrew.’ Now all she had to do was remember to look for that pale scar every time she bumped into these two scallywags. Like how often would that happen?

Andrew smiled a bigger, more impish version of that smile his father had given her yesterday when he’d visited the ED. ‘Marcus has got a scar on his bottom.’

‘Have not.’ The other twin stuck his chin out and glared at his brother.

‘Have too.’ Andrew scowled and made to haul his brother’s shorts down.

Cam stepped in. ‘That’s enough, boys. We came to visit, not turn the ward into a war zone.’

Jenny felt something oddly like laughter beginning to bubble up. When was the last time she’d laughed? ‘Better than the boring place it is at the moment. So how was your party? Did Santa Claus bring presents?’

‘Santa Claus isn’t real. He’s—’

‘Just an old man dressed up funny.’

Her breath hitched. A lump blocked her throat. She and Alison used to finish each other’s sentences. Oh, boy, this just got hard. Harder. Think of something to say. They’re all staring at you. ‘Bet you accepted the presents he gave you.’

‘Of course. They are cool. I got a remote-control plane.’

‘I got a helicopter.’

‘Pilots, eh? Have you been flying in real planes?’ She wanted to tell them how cute they were but knew not to if she wanted to remain friends with them, and, strangely, despite that little glitch over the way they shared sentences, she found she did. Though the chances of seeing them again once they walked out of here were very remote.

Cam was shaking his head at the three of them. ‘Don’t any of you come up for air?’

All three of them shook their heads and smiled at Cam, who said, ‘Great, so I’m the only sensible, sane one around here. Jenny, do you want milk for your coffee? Sugar? I can scrounge some off the nurses.’

‘Milk and sugar would be good.’

‘Dad, can we bring our presents to show her?’ Marcus—or was it Andrew?—asked. They weren’t directly facing her so there were no identifying marks in sight.

‘The lady has a name. Miss …’ His brow wrinkled as he glanced at her hands. ‘Miss Bostock, or Dr Bostock.’

Jenny locked gazes with him, and felt a nudge in the pit of her stomach. He really was gorgeous. She hadn’t been imagining it through the haze of nitrous oxide. ‘I’m happy with Jenny, unless you object.’ Definitely not Dr. She didn’t deserve that title any more.

He shrugged. ‘No problem. Okay, lads, give Jenny the food and coffee. No, don’t climb on the bed. She has a very sore foot.’

Instantly Marcus’s smile disappeared and his head dropped forward. ‘I’m sorry.’

So was she, but it had happened and grumping about it wouldn’t make him feel good. Wouldn’t do her any favours either. Leaning forward, she raised the boy’s head with her hand under his chin so he had to look at her. ‘Listen to me. It was an accident. You didn’t mean it, did you?’ His head slid from side to side. ‘You didn’t see me and I didn’t see you. I was watching the fishing boat out on the water. So let’s not worry about this again. Okay?’

Marcus nodded and looked at his dad. ‘She’s nice, Dad. I like her.’

Heat seeped into her cheeks, probably making her usually pale face resemble a stop light. That was the nicest thing anyone had said to her in a long while. She could even feel tears collecting in the back of her eyes. Great. Crying twice in less than twenty-four hours. Cam would think she should be in the mental health ward and rush his boys away.

‘Breakfast time,’ called an older woman, as she pushed in a cart that rattled with plates and cups.

Saved by the cart. ‘Can I have some milk and sugar, please?’

‘Certainly. Your family brought in some decent coffee for you. That’s lovely. Here, lads, hand Mum the milk, will you?’

Marcus stared at the woman with his mouth open and something like anguish in his brown eyes, while Andrew took the plastic bottle and passed it to Jenny, looking bemused but not upset.

‘She’s not our mother,’ he informed the woman. ‘She hurt herself on our skateboard so we’re visiting.’

‘That’s nice of you. Is that breakfast in that bag? It will probably be tastier than the cereal I’ve got here for Dr Bostock.’ With the number of patients she saw every day the woman would be used to making similar mistakes.

Cam finally got a word in. ‘Jenny, do you want the hospital breakfast? We won’t be insulted if you do.’

She shook her head. ‘Just the milk and sugar, thanks, Sadie.’ A quick read of the name badge pinned to the woman’s ample chest earned her another smile.

‘Here you go, then.’

Then another voice spoke from the doorway. ‘Good morning, Jenny.’ Angus strolled into the room, dressed in light slacks and a T-shirt. ‘Morning, Cam, boys. How’s everyone today?’