Heatherdale's Shy Nurse

Since then she’d been wary of any other relationships as the hurt of being deceived in such a way hadn’t yet healed; it was still new and agonising. Moving to Heatherdale had been about making a fresh start, but that couldn’t erase the memories of the past.

Still, she was genuinely thrilled for Julie and Brendan. They made a strong and devoted couple. However, it was difficult to imagine ever being in that situation herself.

To be asked to be a bridesmaid was a different matter. She was honoured that her friend had asked her and she’d be proud to support her on her big day. She wondered what sort of dress Julie had in mind.

Her reverie was interrupted by the couple from the yurt next door, who were having a few folks round for supper. They asked if she would like to join them. As she accepted the invitation her glance was on the hotel on the opposite side of the river and the memory came back of the one she’d turned down and was now wishing she hadn’t.

It would have given her the chance to tell Callum Warrender what she did for a living, instead of him discovering on Monday morning in front of all the ward staff of the orthopaedic unit of Heatherdale Children’s Hospital that their acquaintance was not going to be a fleeting thing. Now she still had that doubtful pleasure to come.

* * *

Callum sat in the hotel lounge, having a nightcap before returning to his apartment.

He should have been feeling content but he wasn’t. The night before he’d been full of the pleasure of being back home and enjoying the weekend ahead, but the day that would soon be over had been full of uncertainties.

The fear that they would lose the boy on the bike when there’d been no heartbeat had been allayed when he and the woman who had been at the scene of the crash had worked on him and he’d begun to breathe again.

That had been followed by him operating on the young man and he’d had no idea what lay ahead regarding that until he’d seen the X-rays, but as usual he’d been in top form and all was going to be well with the lad.

Then when he’d arrived back in Heatherdale he’d sought the Leonie person out to apologise for being bossy and abrupt and, totally out of character, when he’d discovered that she’d paid the garage for the removal of the motorcycle had invited her to dine with him and been refused, which had turned it into a very short reacquaintance.

He’d made a point of telling her why he wanted to take her for a meal and there’d been no finesse in the way he’d done it, so it was small wonder that she’d refused and come up with an excuse that could have been the result of some quick thinking.

Yet, if he was being honest with himself, hadn’t he issued the invitation because he’d seen her in different clothes, in a pretty blue dress with her chestnut hair down and the merest hint of make-up, so bringing a moment’s brightness to what had been a far from happy day? Or maybe was it because he’d been intrigued by the determination not to be told what to do by him that he’d seen in the green eyes looking into his.

But tomorrow was another day and he was going to let it make up for this one. He finished his drink and headed home. As he glanced towards the bridge that spanned the river between their two residences he heard laughter filtering over on the night air, saw a flash of blue, and wondered what had happened to the sick friend.

When he arrived at the apartment there was an email from his ex-wife, Shelley, to say that she was getting married again to her boss, hoped he would wish her well, and that they were going to live in Australia. He gazed at the screen for a few thoughtful moments and then switched the message off, wondering as he did so why he wasn’t surprised.

* * *

As Callum walked the length of the corridor that led to the orthopaedic unit on Monday morning his step was light. He was back on his own patch. Back amongst the young patients who came to him for treatment for the long-term or shorter illnesses that were blighting their lives.

It was a place where he’d performed miracles and his staff followed them up with excellent nursing, and nowhere was he happier than there.

The time in America had been rewarding and well spent, but on thinking of the persuasion that had been used to encourage him to join them he only needed to look around him at the familiar sights of Heatherdale Children’s Hospital to know that the Americans had never stood a chance.

Here he was and here he was going to stay. He hoped that there wouldn’t be any changes in the staff that he had left behind when he’d gone to the States, as they were a well-organised team.

He heard his name called and turned to see his friend Ryan Ferguson, head of the neuro unit, approaching from behind.

‘Welcome back, Callum. It’s great to have you on board again.’

It’s great to be back,’ Callum told him. ‘They wanted me to stay but this is where I belong.’

‘Me too,’ Ryan agreed, and followed it up by saying, ‘Melissa and I are having a belated garden party next Saturday afternoon and we would be really pleased if you could come. You remember how we had our two houses made into one? Well, it’s to celebrate that. So how are you fixed? Will you be able to join us?’

He smiled. ‘Yes, of course. Since Shelley left for a more interesting life my diary has been empty, just as when she was here it was always full. We never did find a happy medium.’

‘Do you ever hear from her?’ Ryan asked.

‘Yes, as a matter of fact. There was a message from her on Saturday night. She’s getting married again, to her boss, and going to live in Australia.

‘I don’t think there could be two people anywhere as incompatible as we were. I won’t make that mistake again, Ryan. Marriage is not for me, but I’m delighted that you and Melissa are so happy,’

Callum checked his watch. ‘I’d better get on. I’ll see you both on Saturday.’

CHAPTER TWO

LEONIE DIDN’T HAVE a car. She cycled to work each day through the centre of the beautiful old market town with its gracious Victorian buildings and famous spa that people came to from far and wide to take of its healing waters.

Once the town was left behind she pedalled into open country for a short distance until she came to the hospital, built from the same local stone as the rest of the buildings in Heatherdale.

It was Monday morning and she had arrived earlier than usual with a feeling that was a mixture of expectation and unease. She was worried about Callum’s reaction when he realised that they would be close colleagues.

She’d often heard his name spoken since coming to join the staff at the hospital as ward sister in the orthopaedic unit, but had taken little notice as she hadn’t known the man. He’d gone to America before she’d started there and therefore was of little interest, but after Saturday’s happenings all that had changed. He’d probably think her crazy for not mentioning at some time that she was a nurse at the Heatherdale Children’s Hospital, where he was head of Orthopaedics.

Yet there’d been nothing to stop him asking what branch of nursing she was involved in when she’d told him what her occupation was as they’d knelt beside the injured youth, but he’d been too high and mighty to ask such questions and probably wouldn’t have been interested if she’d told him, which meant that today he might have cause to regret asking her out in the evening when he’d arrived back from Manchester.

Prodded by a sense of duty, he had sought her out and amazed her by asking her to join him for a meal, an invitation that she’d refused with little graciousness.

Soon, very soon, when she’d fastened her bike up securely and taken off her outdoor clothes, they were going to be in each other’s company again, and considering that he’d been in her thoughts ever since Saturday night she supposed she ought to be relieved that the uncomfortable meeting would soon be over and then the less she saw of Callum Warrender the better. Though how she was going to manage that when they’d be required to work closely together, she didn’t know.

* * *

‘Good morning everyone,’ Callum announced as he strolled into the two-ward complex that was the hospital’s orthopaedic centre. He was greeted by happy voices while Leonie, in a uniform that was a darker blue than the rest, bent over the bed of a fretful toddler and kept her head down.

As his keen gaze swept over those present, Callum asked crisply, ‘Where’s Janet?’

‘She’s taken early retirement to look after her mother,’ one of the nurses told him with a glance in Leonie’s direction.

Well, there was no avoiding it now. Leonie straightened up and looked Callum in the eye.

‘I have been appointed ward sister in her place, Dr Warrender. I’m afraid that the opportunity to mention that didn’t present itself on Saturday when we met unexpectedly.’

Callum was dumbstruck. She had told him she was a nurse but he’d been too busy running the show to ask anything further. Two surprises on his first morning back he could do without.

Used to working with Janet Fairfax as sister-in-charge, he was sorry he hadn’t been there when she’d left. She’d been totally reliable, even though she had family commitments that had kept her on the go. Leonie had a lot to live up to.

He gave a grim smile. He had actually thought he wasn’t likely to meet up with her again. So much for forward thinking.

‘Carry on, everyone,’ he said briskly He turned to address Leonie directly.

‘In a moment, Sister, can you spare a few moments to update me about our current patients?’

She was still soothing the fractious infant but nodded her agreement.

‘Then I will see you in my office in ten minutes, Sister...er, I’m afraid I don’t know your surname.’

‘It is Mitchell,’ she said levelly. Returning to her work, she placed the now pacified infant back in his cot and went to speak to parents. They’d been there all night beside their baby, who had been born with a deformation of one of its feet and been operated on the previous day to correct the problem.

All had gone satisfactorily and the relief surgeon who had been filling in for Callum had been pleased with the result of what had been his last task before moving to a Manchester hospital for a spell.

‘We are so relieved that our baby’s feet are now normal,’ the mother said. ‘We were going to wait for Dr Warrender to come back, but the chance came and we couldn’t let it pass by. We have an older child who was born with the same problem and he operated on her, so it would seem that the fault might be genetic.’

‘And if it is, we aren’t having any more,’ the baby’s father said grimly.

When Leonie finished her chat, Callum was at the door of the ward office, waiting for her, and after saying goodbye to the parents she moved towards him and was watched with interest by other staff members.

‘Take a seat, please, Sister,’ he said, pointing to a nearby chair as she closed the office door behind her. He sat down behind his desk. ‘Why on earth didn’t you tell me that you were a nurse employed in my unit when we were involved in the catastrophe up on the moors road?’

‘It was hardly the moment to start giving you my life history,’ she replied. ‘I told you I was a nurse to reassure you that I was capable of assisting you, which I did. I wouldn’t have expected you to want to know anything else at that moment, and in any case there was nothing to stop you from asking me in which area of nursing I was employed. I came to this hospital a couple of months after you went to America when my predecessor left at short notice because of her mother’s health.’

‘Where did you work before?’

‘At a large hospital in London. This position became vacant just as I’d decided that I needed a change And so I made the move up here.’

‘Right,’ he said, getting to his feet. ‘Now that’s cleared up, we’ll do a ward round so I can familiarise myself with our patients.’

‘Yes, of course,’ she said, and led the way to the first bed, where a ten-year-old boy was engrossed in the tablet that he was holding.

‘This is Daniel,’ she said. ‘He ran across the road when the lights were red, was knocked down by a car and has two broken legs. He is due to go home tomorrow on crutches.’

‘So maybe next time he will wait for the green man,’ Callum said as he read the notes that were clipped to the end of the bed. When he’d done that he lifted the bed covers to observe heavy bruising in parts that were not covered by a plaster cast. He turned to Leonie. ‘I shall want to see X-rays of his fractures, and when he is discharged make sure he’s given an early appointment to attend my clinic in Outpatients.’

As they went from bed to bed Leonie described in detail the problems of each young patient and as he listened Callum was aware that Janet Fairfax had been good but she was even better. One thing was very plain to see. Leonie Mitchell was a natural with children, which was more than he had ever been able to say about his ex-wife. Shelley had held no yearnings to bring children into the world, which was something she’d kept quiet about until she’d had his wedding ring on her finger.

It had been the first of many things that they hadn’t agreed on as they’d discovered that sexual chemistry alone wasn’t enough to make a good marriage.

As they moved from bed to bed it was obvious that Leonie knew exactly what upset each child and, equally, what comforted them, and the only thing that was spoiling his return to base was the fact that he hadn’t known that the yurt dweller with the glinting chestnut hair and wide green eyes was a member of his staff. He supposed it should have been a pleasant surprise, but he felt a bit as if he’d been made a fool of.

Their round was interrupted when Callum was paged to attend A and E.

Leonie breathed a sigh of relief as he left the ward, before remembering that she hadn’t asked Callum for an update on the young biker they’d treated. She’d make a point of asking him later that day.

* * *

It was hours before Callum came back to the ward, looking grimly preoccupied. Leonie hoped that it wasn’t anything to do with her appearance in his working life. It seemed that it wasn’t. A child had been badly injured when an ancient stone stump in one of the town’s parks had fallen over onto her.

‘Her name is Carys and she’s seven years old,’ he told the staff. ‘She has a fractured shoulder and two broken arms, which I’ve dealt with. She will shortly be coming up here to be nursed. Needless to say, she is very weepy and traumatised, and being so young doesn’t realise that she missed death by inches. Luckily her father saw the stump toppling and pulled her away, but not fast enough to prevent some injuries.’ He glanced at Leonie. ‘So work your magic on this little girl, please.’

‘Yes, of course,’ she replied. ‘We all will, won’t we?’

On his way back from the operating theatre Callum had thought about his childlessness in a brief moment of sadness, and pondered, as he’d done many times, how Shelley could be so lacking in maternal feelings. Yet he was aware that it was the woman who inherited the pains and problems of pregnancy and giving birth, and for any who were not prepared to go along that road there had to be understanding.

But in the case of his ex-wife it had been more of not wanting to be bothered with what she called the shackles of motherhood. She had wanted parties and expensive clothes, holidays abroad, what to her was the good life, and when the demands of his calling had sometimes come first and he’d had to refuse, she would go with friends or relations, not prepared to be denied her pleasures.

The marriage had lasted three years, with them growing further apart all the time, and when it had ended with a huge fall-out about that very thing, his only feelings had been of relief and a firm intent to steer clear of marriage in the future.

After telling the ward staff about the injured small girl who’d been hit by the falling stump, Callum went into the office and Leonie followed him to ask about the motorcyclist of two days ago.

‘I spoke with his parents last night,’ he informed her. ‘They wanted to thank us for what we did for their son. He has been moved from Intensive Care and is now in a side ward, so it seems as if he is progressing as I thought he would.’

‘How about his mobility and the heart stoppage that we brought him out of?’ she asked anxiously.

‘His heartbeat is now regular, but regarding any movement, with two fractured legs it will be slow progress, whatever the doctors over there decide to do.

‘By the way, I called at the garage on my way here this morning and they’d picked up the motorcycle as soon as you’d been in to ask them to do so.

‘When his parents phoned I told them where it was and they’ve asked the garage to repair it for him. They are insisting on reimbursing you for the money you paid the garage to collect it.’

Before she could reply their patient arrived from Recovery and without further discussion she went to supervise the little girl’s transfer to the ward with her traumatised parents by her side.

* * *

The day had run its course and the staff of the orthopaedic unit were homeward bound. As Leonie pedalled out of the main gates of the hospital Callum passed her in a smart car and pulled up a few yards ahead.

He wound the window down. ‘It’s good to have you on the unit, Leonie. You have the right touch with the children and having read your application form from when you applied for the position you also have all the necessary medical knowledge and experience for the position.’

The colour rose in her cheeks and he groaned inwardly at the way he’d sounded so patronising when that was the last thing he’d wanted to be. If he had any doubts as to that was how he’d come across, her reply confirmed it.

‘I would have thought that the opinion of the person who interviewed me when I applied for the job would have been enough to reassure you with regard to my abilities,’ she said coolly, ‘unless, of course, I was proving unsatisfactory.’

‘Certainly not that,’ he said. ‘Surely a word of praise can’t be unwelcome?’

‘No, of course not,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘There’s no need to be,’ he assured her. He was about to drive off but had one last thing to say that he feared would also not please her.

‘You are going to let the biker’s parents pay you for having the bike brought to the garage, I hope? If it had been the child of either of us that had been hurt and strangers had shown them such kindness, I think that we would want to do the same, don’t you?’

Her reaction surprised him. ‘Yes. I suppose so,’ she agreed, almost choking on the words, and as she started to pedal away from him he saw tears on her lashes and wondered what that was all about.

* * *

Leonie called at Julie’s flat on the way home to make sure that she really was over the bug that she’d picked up and found her on the point of returning from a busy day at the community centre looking fully recovered.

They were good friends and noticing Leonie’s red-rimmed eyes Julie was concerned. ‘Have you been crying?’

Leonie managed a smile. ‘Just a moment’s blub, that’s all.’

‘A sick child twisted your heartstrings?’

‘Yes, that was it.’ No way was she going to go into details about a momentary return to the past. She quickly changed the subject. ‘So how are wedding plans progressing?’

‘We’ve decided on a date in June. I’d like to be a June bride, and guess what?’

‘Go on, tell me. What?’

‘We were going to have the reception at a nice hotel but have had a better offer. The council is having the community centre remodelled and have invited us to have our wedding reception there after a service in the church because we are both staff. What do you think?’

‘That would be lovely.’ No way was she going to let the mention of weddings and children turn the day into an even more painful occasion.

* * *

It was Saturday after what Leonie felt had been a strange week on the unit, getting used to Callum’s presence. But she’d adjusted and admitted to herself that, whatever their original meeting had been like, working with him was a pleasure.

To her surprise, the young biker’s parents had called at the yurt one evening to repay what they insisted they owed her, and remembering what Callum had said she’d graciously accepted it. They had stayed for a while and had told her over coffee how much they felt indebted to Dr Warrender, who had given of his time and expertise to make sure that their son would walk again without difficulty in the future.

‘He spoke very highly of you,’ the young guy’s mother had said. ‘Of the assistance you gave him and of how you had given up your Saturday to take those kids out into the countryside in place of someone who was sick.’

‘And we believe that you also work in the orthopaedic section of the hospital?’ his father commented.

‘Er, yes, that is so, although Dr Warrender and I have only recently started working together,’ she told him, though it seemed like for ever.

* * *

That afternoon Leonie took care in getting ready to attend the garden party that Melissa and Ryan Ferguson were having to celebrate the joining of their two houses and, even more delightful, the wonderful entwining of their lives.

She’d got to know Melissa, who was a part-time doctor alongside her husband in the neuro unit of the hospital, when between them they had jointly brought back to health a young patient with a cerebral problem who had spinal problems from a fall. They had been firm friends ever since.

* * *

Callum had spent the morning up on his beloved moors, but had returned before lunch to get ready for the garden party. If the invitation had come from anyone other than Melissa and Ryan he wouldn’t be going.

He’d gone to enough parties to last him a lifetime to please Shelley when she’d been around, and ever since the divorce he had toned down his social life until it was almost non-existent, which was going to the other extreme, he told himself sometimes. Today he was going to go through the ritual to please his friends and then would slope off somewhere.

* * *

As he parked outside the crescent of elegant town houses where Ryan and Melissa had joined theirs together on the occasion of their marriage, he could hear music and voices coming from the large garden at the back and hoped that his arrival was going to go unnoticed.

Yet he could hardly shuffle in amongst those there without greeting his host and hostess and presenting their two children with the presents he’d brought them from America. Rhianna and Martha were special and he couldn’t help but envy Ryan and Melissa their family.

A taxi pulled up at the kerb edge behind him and when he turned his eyes widened. Leonie Mitchell got out, looking fresh and relaxed in a pretty floral dress that matched her colouring exactly. When she straightened up and saw him standing there her face reddened.

‘Hello,’ she said uncomfortably. ‘I didn’t know that you would be here.’

‘Ryan and Melissa are friends of mine,’ he explained, and as two small voices from not far away called his name, ‘and Rhianna and Martha are delightful. They will be here in a moment, eager to see what I’ve brought them from America. Being around them makes up for a lot of things.’

Leonie didn’t know what he meant by that but maybe she wasn’t supposed to. Just as he’d said they would, the two daughters of their hosts came rushing from the garden and threw themselves into his arms.

‘So how are my girls?’ he said laughingly. ‘Ready to see what I’ve brought you back from America?’

‘Yes!’ they chorused.

As they delved into the gift bags he’d handed to them he told Leonie, ‘I’ve brought them both mini-cheerleader outfits, complete with pompoms.’

Leonie observed him in surprise.

He laughed. ‘I may not have any kids of my own but I see enough of them to know what to buy them.’