Winning The Surgeon's Heart / Conveniently Wed In Paradise

Matt handed her the car keys. ‘We’d better get a start, then.’

As Hannah turned into the wide avenue that led to the heart of the country park, he got another call. He listened carefully and then turned to her.

‘Apparently our patient’s had a heart attack. There was one phone call from him, he couldn’t give his exact location but he said he’d been walking on the estate here for around half an hour, and that he was surrounded by trees. His name’s Justin Travers and they’ve given me a phone number for him, but apparently he’s not answering.’

The spike of adrenalin made a clear summer’s day move into even sharper focus. ‘Why give it to us, then?’

‘That’s what I’m wondering…’ Matt was fiddling with the phone as she drove, and Hannah concentrated on the road ahead, turning into the car park that sprawled to one side of the visitors’ centre. She got out of the car, opening the hatchback.

‘What are you doing?’ She started to unload the boxes, sorting out what they would need for the walk ahead of them.

‘Just looking…ah! Got him!’

‘What?’ Matt didn’t seem to appreciate that this was an emergency situation. Okay, so it was a fake emergency situation, but they had to pretend it was real.

‘I did an internet search for the number. There’s a business connections page for a Justin Travers and he’s obviously a walker. Look…’ Matt held out the phone and Hannah glanced at it, then went back to unloading the boxes from the car. She grabbed the two rucksacks and started to fill them with the things they might need.

‘He’s a made-up person, Matt. He’s not going to have social media.’

‘Or they’re testing us. What would you do if you were in this situation for real? You’d try to find out who he was if you could.’ He handed her the phone and Hannah scrolled through the page that was displayed. The guy was a self-employed computer consultant, and his hobby was walking. He’d been on a recent expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro, and his contact number was clearly shown. When she scrolled down a little, his other hobby was listed as ‘Watching Hospital Challenge’. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

‘I was wrong…’ She suddenly felt very small. Matt hadn’t underestimated the complexity of the challenge the way she had. He hadn’t dismissed her experience either. She hadn’t shown him that respect.

He shook his head. ‘No, we were both right. We need to get moving now and expand our search area, because someone like this is going to be able to walk further in half an hour than most people could.’

‘What do you suggest?’

‘Serious walkers tend to travel in a straight line and if that’s what he did, then there’s just one area of woodland that’s approximately two and a half miles from here.’ Matt indicated an area to the west.

‘And we go there first?’ There was woodland to the east as well, but that was only a mile away. Further on was an area of grassland.

‘It’s a risk. Under normal circumstances there would be search parties out, going in every direction, but we have to choose. We can’t split up, the instructions say that we both have to be at the scene together.’

Think. Think!

Hannah turned, staring at the hill that led away to the west. This was the challenge that any experienced walker would set themselves. When she faced Matt again, he was regarding her steadily.

‘Okay. I agree, we go west.’

Matt shouldered the heavier of the two bags, and added two bottles of water to its weight. He set off at a fast walk, and Hannah wondered if she should remind him that they needed to pace themselves. He probably was pacing himself. She watched his back, gritting her teeth. It was a matter of pride that she could keep up.

But after a mile her head started to swim, and the muscles in her legs and shoulders were screaming. She stopped, letting her bag fall to the ground. Matt turned.

‘Perhaps we should have some water…’ Just a few minutes’ rest, and she’d be ready to go again. He nodded, handing her one of the water bottles.

He was waiting for her. Matt made a show of consulting the map, but they both knew exactly which way they were going as the woodland at the top of the hill stood starkly on the horizon. One minute. Just one minute and she’d be ready to pick up the bag and go again.

‘Drink a little more.’ He picked up the half-empty water bottle that she’d put down on the grass, handing it to her. Then he caught the strap of her bag, shouldering it with his.

‘No… Matt, I’ll be okay…’

‘We have to get there together. If I get tired, you can take the bag back.’

His tone was quiet. Gentle, even. Not like the shouted exhortations to keep going that she’d trained with.

‘Don’t give me permission to give up…’

He grinned suddenly. ‘You don’t have my permission to do anything other than keep walking. I’m going to need you when we get there, so let’s go.’ He turned, obviously slowed by the extra weight but still able to keep going.

It was a lot easier without the bag. Hannah caught up with him, walking beside him.

‘You don’t believe in a little encouragement?’

‘What, you mean bullying you until you pick the bag up again and start walking? No, I don’t believe in that.’ He was suddenly tight-lipped.

‘Sometimes a bit of a push is what’s needed.’

He nodded. ‘Yeah. But don’t ask me to do it.’

Matt wasn’t wasting any words, and it wasn’t just the extra weight he was carrying. This was a line that he didn’t cross. His relaxed attitude to everything wasn’t a matter of laissez faire. It was more like a decision about how he was going to interact with the world.

‘I get it. If I need any shouting to get me back on my feet, I’ll do it myself.’

‘I’d appreciate that.’ He gave her one of his sudden smiles. Those deep blue eyes were enough to drag anyone to their feet, heart pumping faster and legs suddenly strong.

‘I’ll take my bag back in a little while.’

He nodded. ‘All right. I can’t make it all the way like this.’

He had his strengths, just as she did. And finding them, using them, was a challenge that was both daunting and delicious.

Matt knew what Hannah had been asking of him. He knew that getting her to her feet wouldn’t be a matter of real aggression, and more one of channelling her thoughts and reactions towards one clear aim. But he still couldn’t do it.

It had been more than twenty-five years since he’d cowered before his father’s wrath. Everything he’d done and said had been calculated to please, because when his father had got angry it had been over the smallest things. This wasn’t the same, and pressuring Hannah back to her feet wouldn’t have been the same kind of aggression that his father had dispensed so freely, but he still couldn’t bring himself to do it. It wasn’t who he was. What he’d made himself be.

When she took her bag back, he caught the scent of her sweat. Not stale or pungent, but an exciting sweetness, which spoke to his body on a level that he’d learned to ignore. He should ignore her touch, too. Something about the way that she snatched her hand away from his when he gave her the bag told Matt that she felt something too, and he couldn’t help but smile.

‘We split up?’ They’d reached the edge of the woodland, and Hannah took the map from him, spreading it out on the ground. The trees formed a wide band that stretched out ahead of them.

‘I think so. I’ll walk along the ridge, there, and you take the path.’ Matt chose the more uneven, sloping terrain. Physical effort might take his mind off her auburn hair, glinting in the sunlight, and the way that her sweat-dampened T-shirt didn’t hide her curves as well as it had.

‘Giving me the easier route again?’ For a moment her expression told him that she might well argue with that.

‘Don’t worry. I reckon there are enough challenges ahead of us to go round.’

Hannah grinned suddenly. ‘Probably. Thanks, I could do without climbing to the top of that ridge.’

They walked more slowly now, keeping each other within sight and scanning carefully for any signs of the man they were looking for. Matt caught a glimpse of blue, between the trees on the other side of the ridge, but when he scrambled down towards it, he saw that it was an abandoned plastic carrier bag, fluttering in the breeze.

‘Anything…?’ He heard Hannah’s voice, calling to him.

‘No. Nothing.’ Matt shouted back, and she started walking again. As the woodland area started to narrow, the ridge wound down to meet the path.

‘Where is he? Suppose we’re wrong, Matt.’ She seemed suddenly exhausted from the effort it had taken to get here.

‘Suppose we’re right?’

Hannah nodded, straightening suddenly. ‘We’ll walk through to the end of these trees, and then double back for a second look, shall we? When we’re sure he’s not here, we can think again.’

They walked for another ten minutes and then he saw it. Deep amongst the trees, in a patch of bright sunshine, the body of a man propped up against a tree stump. They forced their way through the undergrowth and Matt felt a bramble tear at his arm, catching at the supple branch before it hit Hannah straight in the face. She ducked ahead of him, jogging towards the man and falling to her knees beside him.

Matt wasn’t sure what to expect right now. Surely they weren’t supposed to carry out resuscitation procedures on what was presumably a perfectly healthy volunteer? Then the man opened his eyes, grinning up at Hannah.

‘Hi, there. You made it, then.’ He jerked his thumb behind him. ‘Go over there.’

Hannah didn’t move. ‘Are you all right?’

The man snorted with laughter. ‘Yes, of course I am. We try to make everything as authentic as possible, but I draw the line at having a real heart attack.’

She frowned suddenly. ‘Have you got some water?’

Matt felt for the water bottle in his bag. They’d both been caught up in the illusion, but Hannah had stepped out of it for a moment and seen a real issue. The man had been sitting in full sunlight, and it was a hot day. His face was already a little red.

‘Actually, I could do with some. Looks as if I’ll be here for a while.’ He took the bottle from Matt. ‘Thanks. Now go on, will you? Five minutes in that direction.’

Hannah got to her feet, staring ahead of them. She turned questioningly to Matt and he shrugged. He couldn’t see anything either.

They walked downhill through the brush, and he saw something amongst the trees. The shape of an expertly camouflaged tent. They approached it, and Matt ducked around the tent flap, seeing a busy crew and four tables, each bearing one of the team colours. He turned to Hannah, holding the flap aside for her.

‘Great.’ A young woman approached them, beaming. ‘Go over to your table…’

‘In a minute.’ Hannah’s grim determination to get the job in hand completed seemed to have deserted her. ‘I’d like to speak to whoever’s in charge.’

‘You’re still being timed.’ The young woman frowned.

‘Then I’d like to speak to them straight away, please.’ She shot an apologetic look at Matt and he nodded. He knew now what was on her mind, and he wasn’t about to tell her to forget it and hurry her over to the table.

A man responded to the woman’s beckoning hand, and hurried over. ‘Is there a problem?’

‘Yes, there is. The man lying out there is in direct sunlight, and he’s got no water, we gave him some of ours. He’s already looking a little red in the face, and I’m hoping he doesn’t get sunstroke.’

Matt grinned. Go, Flash.

‘Um…’ The man scratched his head. ‘Did he say he felt ill?’

‘No. But prevention’s always better than cure, and I was sure you’d want to know.’ Hannah shrugged. ‘Health and safety, and all that…’

She was being nice about it, but there was a hint of firmness beneath her smile. Matt never had to explain what he wanted, he just made a decision and everyone went with it. Hannah must face this kind of situation every day, and she was clearly practised at getting her own way with the minimum of confrontation and fuss.

‘Yes, of course. Thanks for letting me know, I’ll get straight on it. If we sit him in the shade a little closer to the path, and make sure he has plenty of water, would that be okay with you?’

‘That’s fabulous. Thanks.’ Hannah flashed him a smile, and turned to make her way across to the red table.

‘That’s very sportsmanlike of you.’ Matt shot her a smile, so that Hannah would be in no doubt that he approved. ‘The other teams will be able to see him more easily if he’s closer to the path.’

She shot him a querulous look. ‘You think I should have done anything different?’

‘No. I’m just pleased to see that I have a teammate who won’t stop at nothing to win.’

Hannah flushed a little, then leaned towards him. ‘You just wait and see what I’ll do if you don’t get over to that table. Right now.’

That was almost an incentive to stay put. Hannah could do anything she wanted with him, the more up close and personal the better. The sentiment must have shown on his face, because she raised her eyebrows.

‘Since you asked so nicely…’ Matt turned and walked over to the table.

CHAPTER FOUR

THEY’D SPENT ALMOST an hour going through what they’d brought in their bags, and how they would have treated their patient, with two of the judges. About halfway through, the yellow team had turned up, but there was no sign of the blues or the greens. Finally they were allowed to go, walking with one of the production assistants along a path that led to the perimeter of the park, and then being ferried back to the visitors’ centre by car.

Matt got into the red car, feeling his back pull as he did so. He reached for the ignition, and Hannah stopped him.

‘Your arm’s bleeding.’ She reached under her T-shirt and into the pocket of her jeans, pulling out a packet of antiseptic wipes that she must have saved from the medical bag she’d been carrying.

Matt was vaguely aware that thorns had ripped through both the fabric of his T-shirt and his flesh at some point, and that his shoulder was stinging. Now that he looked, he could see a trickle of partly coagulated blood.

‘It’s okay.’

She gave him the look that she probably saved for any of her patients who proved intractable. Half smiling, half determined.

‘Okay, so you want to be a man about it. I won’t tell anyone. I find that it’s in my own interest to keep you as healthy as possible over the next four weeks, so you’ll just have to take a hit for the team.’

The stinging felt a little too close for comfort to the scar on his shoulder, which he kept hidden from everyone. But he did what he imagined everyone else doing in the face of Hannah’s charm. He pulled the sleeve of his T-shirt up, gratified to find that if he held it in place the dark red mark wasn’t visible.

‘Oh. Nasty.’ Hannah squinted at the gash on his arm. ‘Hold on a minute. Sharp scratch.’

‘Ow! That’s not a sharp scratch. What did you do?’ If he was going to forgo being a man about it, then he may as well go the whole hog.

‘You had a thorn still in there.’ Hannah held up a vicious-looking spike. ‘I think there’s another one. That might be a slightly sharper scratch…’

It was. But this time it didn’t take Matt so much by surprise, and he kept quiet about it. Hannah wiped the wound carefully, and then applied a plaster from her pocket. ‘That should hold it. Although—’

‘Give it a good wash when I get back? I’ve got that part…’ Matt pulled the sleeve of his T-shirt back down again.

‘Yes, of course. Sorry, force of habit.’

She leaned back in her seat, staring out at the sun-dappled grass in front of them. Suddenly Matt didn’t want to start driving again. He was used to knowing people in terms of the way they did their jobs, and it didn’t usually occur to him to make small-talk about his colleagues’ lives. But Hannah was different.

‘You know this place pretty well?’

She nodded. ‘Yes. We used to come here on Sunday afternoons when I was little. My dad taught me how to fly a kite here.’

It must be nice to have those memories. To be able to access them whenever you wanted and smile.

‘You’ve never thought of moving away?’ He was interested. It was an experience that was so very different from his.

‘Not really. After my dad died my mum was just…lost. I was away for a while, and by the time I managed to get back, my dad was already gone. I couldn’t leave her again.’

‘I’m sorry. That must have been very difficult.’

‘It was for Mum.’ Hannah shrugged off whatever regrets she had of her own. ‘He knew that I was coming back for him, he just couldn’t wait.’

A tear trickled down her cheek, and she wiped it away impatiently. Matt wanted very badly to comfort her, but wasn’t sure whether she’d accept it.

‘I imagine that there isn’t much you can tell people that you love that they don’t already know.’

She nodded. ‘That’s what I think as well. I hope so, anyway. My biggest regret is that I never got to tell Dad that he wasn’t to worry about Mum, because I’d look after her.’

‘I dare say that you know what your son’s capable of, even better than he does, at times.’ Matt really wasn’t qualified to give advice on families. But maybe all that time when he was a kid, spent watching other people’s families, studying them carefully from the outside, gave him a slightly different perspective.

Hannah laughed suddenly. ‘Yes, you’ve got that right. It’s just as well that I can out-think him a bit, or I’d never manage to keep up with him.’

‘I guess that having a child puts things into perspective. You get to understand your own parents a little better.’

‘Yes, it puts a lot of things into perspective. I wish that Sam could have known my dad, he would have adored him.’

‘You’ve taught him how to fly a kite?’

Hannah laughed. ‘No, actually, I haven’t. That’s a very good idea, though. Maybe I’ll wait for a windy day and bring him up here.’

The question was on the tip of his tongue. Whether Hannah might wait for that windy day, and call him to see if he might come along. He had no idea how to fly a kite and it seemed suddenly as if it was something he’d be interested in learning about.

He didn’t ask. Hannah’s was one of those families that had fascinated him as a child, stable and loving, the exact opposite of his own. But they were unknown territory and he’d kept his distance. And anyway, Hannah was really just an acquaintance. One who he felt suddenly very close to, after working through the challenges they’d been set for today, but still just an acquaintance.

He jumped as someone rapped on the car window, and Hannah pressed the control to wind it down. The yellow team had been dropped off in the car park now, and were making their way to their car.

‘Guys, we need you back at the hospital. We’re doing a few interviews there, and when the other teams get back we’ll be announcing the winners.’

‘I don’t suppose you know where the other teams are, do you?’ Hannah’s competitive spirit emerged suddenly and the young woman shook her head.

‘Sorry…’

‘Okay, thanks.’ Hannah wound the window back up. ‘Can’t say or won’t say, I wonder.’

Matt chuckled, reaching for the ignition. ‘We’ll find out soon enough.’

Hannah had stepped over the line a little. She usually gave the sanitised version of what had happened when her father had died, just that she’d been out of the country and got back as soon as she could.

She didn’t tell anyone about the clawing guilt. About how she’d left, accompanying her boyfriend on travels that were his dream, not hers. John had been her dream, and she’d followed him.

Her father had asked her what she really wanted, and she’d told him it was this. She wanted to see the world. He hadn’t believed her, and he and her mother had obviously been worried for her, but they’d let her go without any more argument, waving her off at the airport with fixed smiles on their faces.

And that was the last time she’d seen him. When the telegram had got through, routed through various different post offices, she’d called her mother and found that her father was dying. John had waved her off at the airport rather more cheerfully than her parents had, and she hadn’t seen him again either. By the time she’d arrived home, her father had died, and she’d never had the chance to tell him that she was sorry.

The car turned into the road that ran through to the back of the hospital and she saw her mother with Sam. He was standing right at the front of the spectator area, waving the red flag that she’d helped him make. Matt stopped the car, right in front of him.

‘Mum… Mum!’ Sam was hallooing at the top of his voice. Hannah shot Matt a smile and got out of the car.

‘Mum… Did you win?’

‘We’ll have to wait for the judges to say.’ Hannah stroked her son’s cheek as his face fell. ‘But we did the best we could, and that’s what matters.’

What seemed to matter now was winning, but Sam accepted the thought without question, jumping up and down and waving his flag. Hannah gave him a hug and Sam craned around as Matt got out of the car. He gave Sam a wave and the little boy pretended not to notice, suddenly shy.

Hannah beckoned Matt over, and he walked towards them. ‘Sam, this is Matt.’

‘Hi, Sam.’ Matt squatted down on his heels in front of the boy, giving him his space and smiling quietly as he waited for Sam to get over his attack of nerves. ‘That’s a great flag.’

‘I made it.’ Sam gave the flag another wave, and Matt nodded solemnly.

‘I can see that. It’s better than all the others.’ He grinned when Sam waved the flag more vigorously. ‘It was the first thing we saw when we got to the hospital.’

Sam liked that. He began to chatter excitedly as Matt got to his feet and introduced himself to Hannah’s mum. His quiet manner, and the way he held his hand out to shake hers, elicited a glance in Hannah’s direction from her mother. No doubt about the meaning—Mum liked the strong silent type, and good manners always impressed her.

The home crowd had seen them, and people were beginning to cheer, the banner with the name of the hospital lifted aloft after what must have been a long wait to greet them. Hannah lifted Sam over the barrier, feeling her fatigued muscles protest at his weight, and he waved his flag wildly.

Anxious to get as good a view as possible, Sam reached for Matt’s taller frame. Hannah saw Matt hesitate, and then he smiled. As she delivered Sam into his arms, the brush of Matt’s skin against hers was suddenly all she could feel. He hoisted the boy onto his shoulders, holding him carefully so that he didn’t fall, and Sam howled with delight.

‘He’s not too heavy for you, is he?’ Matt grinned a no, and Hannah tapped Sam’s knee to get his attention. ‘Don’t wriggle so much. Matt won’t be able to hold you.’

‘I won’t let him go.’

This. This was what it would be like if Sam had a father. If John had responded to the news that she was pregnant by wanting anything to do with his child. But he hadn’t. He had been too busy with his own life to bother with hers or the one they’d unwittingly created together. Hannah felt a lump rise in her throat, and realised that her mother was staring at her.

‘Do you mind staying here with Sam for a moment? I’ll go and park the car up…’ She wanted to get away from here before the picture of a complete family formed too clearly in her mind.

‘Um… Yeah. Sure.’ Matt clearly wasn’t used to being around kids, and he was taking the responsibility seriously, but he was grinning from ear to ear. If he wanted to let Sam down, then her mum was there to take him.