Emergency at the Royal

‘He wasn’t doing anything. We were talking about the business and I was telling him that I’ve been trying to get some new contracts.’ He sent her a guilty look. ‘I’m probably to blame. I shouldn’t have gone on about things, but it hasn’t been easy lately, trying to keep everything running smoothly, and I think he feels that he should be doing more to help out. He can’t, of course, and that makes him frustrated. That last bout of bronchitis must have taken more out of him than he realised.’

Katie pushed open the living-room door and glanced around. Her father was sitting in an armchair, looking pale and trying to disguise the fact that he was in pain.

Her mother was by his side, but she turned as Katie approached and gave her a swift, weak smile. ‘Katie,’ she said, ‘your dad’s not feeling very well. Can you do anything to help him?’

Katie knelt down beside her father. ‘Luke says you’re a bit breathless,’ she said. ‘Are you having any chest pain?’

Her father patted her hand. ‘Your mum and Luke both worry too much,’ he said in a wheezy voice. ‘I’ll be fine in a little while. I just need to rest for a bit.’

‘Let me just feel your pulse and check you over,’ she murmured, and he gave a faint nod and leaned his head back in the chair.

After a moment or two she said quietly, ‘I think you’re having another of your angina attacks. They seem to be coming on a bit more often these days, don’t they? Have you taken your medication?’

He nodded again, and her mother said quickly, ‘It didn’t seem to work very well. I told him he should go and see his doctor and tell him that he hasn’t been feeling too good lately, but you know how stubborn he is.’

Katie smiled. ‘Yes, I do know that.’ She clasped her father’s hand. ‘I think you need a painkiller, and another one of your tablets, just to calm things down. Mum’s right. You really should go back to your GP and get him to refer you back to the specialist.’

She went and fetched some tablets from the medicine cupboard, and gave them to her father with a glass of water. ‘Do you think you’ll be all right while Mum and I go and make you a cup of tea?’ she asked after a minute or two. ‘It might help to make you feel a bit better.’

‘I’ll be fine. Anyway, Luke’s going to sit and talk to me, aren’t you, Luke?’

Her brother nodded, and Katie gave him and her father a warning look. ‘There’s to be no talk about business. Am I making myself clear?’

Both men nodded, looking sheepish, and Katie went off to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

‘Luke was anxious about him,’ her mother said, following her in there. ‘He was getting quite agitated even though you were just a few minutes late. I think he’s finding it a strain, managing the business on his own.’

Katie helped to set the cups out on a tray. ‘Luke never expected to be running the business and concentrating on administration, did he? He had other things in mind when he left university—he always preferred the design engineering side of things—but he couldn’t just stand by and see Dad struggle. You have to give him his due...he made sure that he did the right thing.’

Her mother made a face. ‘Well, let’s face it, nothing has gone the way it should ever since Jacob Bradley took over Sherbourn Medical Equipment. It doesn’t even have your father’s name any more, and the last I heard, Bradley wasn’t with the company. He just took what he wanted and moved on.’ She was silent for a moment, musing on things. ‘I wonder what happened to him and his family?’

Katie hesitated, wondering if she should say anything about her meeting with Jacob’s son. Perhaps it would be better coming from her than from another source, though. Someone might have seen them together. She poured milk into a jug, and then said cautiously, ‘I saw Drew Bradley this afternoon.’

Amy Sherbourn stopped what she was doing and looked at Katie. She appeared shocked, her face pale against the dark auburn of her hair. ‘How did that come about? I hope that doesn’t mean the family are going to be close by.’

‘I don’t think so, though they still live in the area. I don’t suppose we’ll run into them.’ She couldn’t be sure, though, and it was probably better that it was out in the open. At least this way her mother would be able to prepare her dad for anything unforeseen. ‘We both stopped to help out at the scene of an accident.’ Katie told her mother what had happened that afternoon.

As she was speaking, Luke appeared at the kitchen door. ‘You’re saying that he’s back?’ he said, sounding incredulous. ‘I heard something of what you were saying to Mum. I can hardly believe it.’

Katie swung around to look at him properly. ‘He’s only here for a short time, as far as I know,’ she said, ‘and it doesn’t necessarily mean that his family are going to be moving closer.’ She studied his face briefly. ‘Is Dad all right?’

‘He’s OK. I think the painkiller must have begun to kick in. He asked me to find out what’s happening with the tea.’

‘That sounds as though he’s feeling better.’ She poured the tea and set some biscuits out on a plate on the tray. ‘It’s ready. You can take it in to him.’

Luke’s mouth set in a taut line. ‘Drew was every bit as bad as his father. He wouldn’t hear anything wrong about him. None of them cared that we lost everything, including the house.’

‘I don’t think they realised that happened,’ she said, ‘and you can’t hold Drew responsible for what his father did.’

‘No, but he’s like him in a lot of ways. Not that you could ever see it. You’ve always been ready to stand up for him. He could never do anything wrong in your eyes, could he? You were sweet on him.’

‘That was a long time ago. What happened affected me badly, too, you know. I didn’t like what happened either, and it hurt me as well when we had to sell the house.’

Luke winced. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go on at you. It was just hearing that he’s back that set me off. In my head he’s tarred with the same brush as his father. Anyway, I expect he’ll go away again, like he did before. He didn’t bother to make any contact then, did he? You’d have thought he would if he had cared about you.’

Katie flinched. ‘I’m sure he had his reasons. Anyway, we parted on bad terms after what hap pened. I don’t imagine he would have wanted to meet up with any of us after that.’ Luke’s bitterness stemmed from having to stand in for their father and take over the family business, and it was understandable that he felt the way he did.

As for herself, it had hurt that Drew had gone away, and when she had recovered from the initial sting of bad feeling she had inwardly hoped that he would get in touch. He hadn’t, though, and she had got on with her life and tried to put him out of her mind.

Now, in the space of a few short hours, all those emotions had been stirred up once again, and she felt the heartache every bit as much she had before. The repercussions of the dispute between their families went on and on.

CHAPTER TWO

AT LEAST her father was feeling better by the time Katie left her parents’ house. She was still worrying about him, though, as she made her way to her own cottage.

It was getting late by now, and there were chores she had to finish before her time was her own, but that wasn’t such a bad thing. If she kept busy it would help her to work through her frustrations. So far it had been a peculiar day, one way and another, and she was feeling edgy and distracted.

The house was small and cosy, just right for her, and it wouldn’t take her long to tidy up all the things she hadn’t had time to sort out that morning. As soon as she had done that, she would turn her thoughts to her evening meal. Her mother had offered to cook for her, but she had been too uptight to eat just then. Luke’s bitter recriminations had upset her.

The doorbell suddenly rang, startling her as she was folding away the last few items of clothing in the airing cupboard. Who could that be?

She went downstairs to investigate, and when she opened the door and saw Drew standing in the porch she let out a little gasp of astonishment.

She said awkwardly, ‘I hadn’t expected to see you again...at least, not quite so soon.’

He lifted a dark brow and his mouth made an odd quirk. ‘I hope that doesn’t mean you’re going to turn me away?’

She recovered herself and stood back from the door. ‘No, of course not. I don’t know what I was thinking.’ She couldn’t leave him standing on the doorstep, and so she waved a hand towards the end of the short hallway. ‘Come in. Do you want to come through to the kitchen? I was just about to make a pot of coffee.’

He followed her into the room and glanced around. She said defensively, ‘It’s only tiny, but it does for me. I haven’t been here long, just a few months, and there are still things I need to put right. I’ve done a bit of decorating and changed the floor tiles, but it isn’t quite as I want it yet.’ She was babbling, nervousness getting the better of her, and she clamped her mouth shut. Why was she defending her home to him?

‘I think it’s lovely,’ he murmured. ‘You chose well with the pale yellow for the walls, and everything looks bright and cheerful in here. I like the way you’ve found room for a breakfast bar in the corner.’ He sent her a quick, easy smile. ‘That is one of your touches, isn’t it? I recognise the style.’

She had done something similar in the old family house, renovating the kitchen in an attempt to make it light and cheery. ‘That’s right,’ she said. ‘I’m surprised that you remember.’

She turned away to set up the coffee-percolator. She felt awkward, talking to him as though the years that had gone by had dissolved into nothingness, and she still had no idea what he was doing there.

Perhaps he sensed her discomfort, because he said, ‘I brought your shopping bag. Someone handed it to me when I walked back towards my car this afternoon. You left it in the café apparently, and the woman who gave it to me had seen us talking together and guessed that we knew each other. She asked me if I would pass it on to you.’

‘Oh, heavens...’ She stared at the bag in dismay. ‘I’d forgotten all about it.’ She glanced up at him. ‘Thank you for taking the time to bring it to me.’

‘It was no trouble. With everything that went on, I’m not surprised that you forgot it. I’m just glad that you told me where you were living so that I was able to bring it to you.’ He set the bag down on a clear space on the worktop. ‘I couldn’t get it to you any earlier. My meeting went on for much longer than I expected.’

She glanced at the contents of the bag. ‘Thanks again,’ she said, relieved. ‘I’m so glad to have it back. I was just so worried about those poor people that I wasn’t thinking properly when I rushed out of the café.’ She paused, remembering what had happened. ‘I hope they’re all right.’

‘I rang the A and E department to check up, and the consensus was that they seem to be doing as well as can be expected. The man and the boy both had surgery and came through it all right, and the van driver has been transferred to the stroke unit. He’s lost the movement in an arm and leg, but they’re hoping he’ll regain that in time, after intensive therapy.’

‘That’s good to hear.’ She studied him briefly, her gaze running over his strong features, taking in the straight line of his jaw and his firmly moulded mouth. He was far too good-looking for her peace of mind, and she had to get a grip on herself before she spoke again. ‘It was thoughtful of you to follow it up. I didn’t expect to find out what had happened to them until I got in to work in the morning.’

She might have known he would check up. He wasn’t one to leave loose ends. Even after the row that had erupted between her family and his, he had made his position clear. He had stood by his father, and he believed her father had been well compensated for his loss. She had never been able to come to terms with that, and it had coloured everything between them after that. Now that he had turned up again she was at war with herself, and her emotions were all over the place.

What was she to make of him? Her brother thought he was tough and ambitious, unyielding in his attitude, and yet Drew had shown her a caring side, a concern for the well-being of others. Wasn’t that why he had become a doctor?

She couldn’t make any sense of her feelings towards him. She was confused, drawn to him on the one hand but wary on the other, and all the time she was conscious of the way her brother and her parents felt about him and his family.

She glanced at him once more. He looked weary, a faint shadow of tiredness around his eyes, and she guessed it had been a long day for him. ‘Do you want to sit down?’ she asked. ‘I’ll just finish making the coffee. Have you eaten?’

He shook his head. ‘I didn’t get the chance.’ He pulled out a bar stool and angled himself on it by the breakfast corner. ‘I was hoping to grab some lunch before my meeting, but that all changed, as you know.’

‘I’ll heat some pasties,’ she offered, ‘and I’ve a bowl of salad to go with them. Not the most adventurous of meals, but it might fill a gap.’ He had taken the trouble to bring her shopping bag to her, and it was the least she could do to return the favour.

She watched him guardedly. She still couldn’t get used to the idea that he was here at all, and there was no point in wondering about what was to come of it. He would soon be moving on and out of her life once more.

As they ate, he said lightly, ‘I couldn’t help noticing that your shopping was mainly toys. A wooden train set and some baby things.’ He gave her a quizzical look. ‘Is there something I don’t know about? Are you married now? What have you done with the children? I don’t see them around, or maybe they’re in bed?’

She gave him a brief, taut smile. He didn’t seem at all concerned by the idea that she might be a mother, and for some reason that bothered her.

‘No, I haven’t married...yet. The train set is for my brother’s little boy, Reece, and the baby clothes are for the baby he and his wife are expecting. I thought I would get things in neutral colours since they don’t know whether they’re going to have a boy or a girl. They were in a sale, so I took the opportunity to buy now.’ She gave a small frown. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have—I’m way ahead of myself.’

‘Is there a problem with being prepared?’ His blue-grey eyes watched her curiously.

‘No...not really, but Becky hasn’t been feeling too well through this pregnancy. I hope I’m not jumping the gun.’

‘Is there any particular reason why she’s unwell?’

‘I’m not sure.’ She frowned again. ‘Things have been difficult for Becky and Luke this last few months and she might be suffering under the strain. Luke is trying to cope with running Dad’s business, and it’s been quite stressful for him lately. My dad’s been able to do less and less, and Luke’s finding it hard to manage on his own.’

‘Can’t he bring in more people to help out?’

‘I suppose he could, but that would mean training them up, and anyway I’m not sure that the business is doing well enough for them to take on more staff. Drew’s done his best these last few years to make a success of things, but working in management was never part of his plan when he left university.’

‘It’s difficult, I know, but sometimes things don’t go the way we want them to.’ He didn’t look particularly concerned. ‘I’m sorry to hear that your dad is still having problems with his health. Is there anything that can be done to improve things for him?’

‘Possibly. I’ve persuaded him that he needs to go and see the specialist again.’ She glanced at Drew’s plate, and saw that he had finished his food. ‘Can I get anything more for you? I think there’s some more crusty bread if you want it.’

‘No, thanks. That was good, but I must be on my way now.’ He pushed back his chair and stood up. ‘Thanks again for the food,’ he said. ‘It filled me up and made me feel much more human.’ He gave her a fleeting smile. ‘Perhaps we’ll meet up again some time.’

‘Maybe.’ She didn’t believe that was true, but it was easier to say it and to see him out. She went with him to the door and watched him climb into his sleek silver saloon car. Part of her wanted to beg him to stay, but her innate sense of self-preservation held her back. He drove away without looking behind him and she felt as though the lifeblood was draining out of her. She was empty inside.

A few days later, in A and E, she took advantage of a few minutes’ break to wind down. She had been on the go all morning, and when there was a slight lull, she stopped by the desk and chatted to Craig, a senior house officer who had been spending the last six months learning about emergency medicine.

‘How’s things?’ he asked. ‘I didn’t see you at the party last weekend. I was hoping you might be able to pop in for an hour or so.’

‘Something came up,’ she said. ‘I heard that you had a good time. Something about dancing the conga through the park?’

He laughed. ‘We all had a bit too much to drink.’ He leaned a little closer and slid an arm around her waist. ‘It would have been so much better if you had been there.’

She smiled at him. ‘You’re an inveterate flirt,’ she said.

‘You can’t blame a man for trying. One of these days you might agree to come out with me.’

‘In your dreams.’ Craig would have been a catch for any young woman, with his dark good looks and happy-go-lucky attitude, but Katie was steering clear of any kind of commitment. He was far too casual in his relationships for her to take him seriously and, anyway, she was looking for something more in a man, something that remained elusive. There had only been one love of her life, and that had turned to ashes. She wasn’t about to let herself get burned again.

An ambulance siren sounded in the distance, and she readied herself to receive her next patient. Craig went off humming to himself, full of beans, and she heard him call the name of a man who was in the waiting room. She had no idea how he could be so lively at this time of the day. Katie glanced at his patient. He looked as though he was hurting, but she couldn’t see any particular injury.

Her own patient was suffering from a particularly nasty fracture, and she called on Hannah to assist her. Hannah was an A and E nurse, with many years of experience of working in Emergency, and Katie liked working with her.

‘Have you seen the new consultant?’ Hannah asked.

Katie lifted a brow. ‘No—I didn’t know he was about. I’ve been so busy today I’ve been chasing my own shadow. What’s he like?’ She made sure that her patient had a painkilling injection and called for a surgical consultation.

‘He’s incredible.’ Hannah lifted her eyes heavenwards. ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get any work done around here—he’s so good-looking you wouldn’t believe it. I almost fainted at his feet when I saw him. He must have thought I was mad.’

Katie laughed. ‘I expect he was too busy finding his way around the place to notice.’

‘He noticed you.’

‘Did he?’ Katie was surprised. ‘When? How come I didn’t see him?’

‘You were talking to Craig and having a laugh. Neither of you was taking much notice of anything going on around you.’

‘Oh, well...I expect he’ll catch up with me later.’ Katie turned her attention to her patient.

She was writing up her notes at the desk a little later when she saw Craig’s patient walking towards the exit. He didn’t look at all well, and he was squinting a little as though the light hurt him.

He appeared to stagger, and Katie was immediately concerned. She hurried over to him and helped him recover his balance. ‘You don’t look too good,’ she said. ‘Do you need to sit down for a while?’

‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ he muttered, and clutched his stomach. ‘The pain in my head is driving me mad.’

Katie alerted Hannah, who hurried up with a bowl and a cloth. ‘Have you seen the doctor?’ Katie asked.

The man tried to nod and winced as though the effort was too much for him. ‘He gave me a prescription.’

Katie glanced at the paper he held, and saw that it was a prescription for migraine medication. ‘I think perhaps you had better lie down for a while,’ she said. ‘You don’t look well enough to go anywhere just yet. I’ll see if I can get hold of Dr Marshall and let him know what’s happening.’ She was surprised that Craig had sent him on his way in this condition, but perhaps the man’s symptoms had worsened since then. She glanced at Hannah. ‘Would you stay with Mr Framley? Cubicle two is empty. Perhaps he should go in there and lie down.’

Hannah nodded, and Katie turned to hurry away and immediately found herself in collision with someone.

‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ she began, struggling to right herself, her fingers meshing with a shirtfront and registering the hard wall of a man’s chest. His heartbeat was strong and steady. She took a faltering step backwards and started to lift her gaze. ‘I wasn’t looking where I was going.’

‘I guessed as much.’ The deep voice had a familiar ring to it, and when she stared into the face of the man she gave a startled little jump.

‘Drew? What are you doing here?’

‘I work here. As of today, I’m your new consultant.’ He looked at her assessingly. ‘You seem to be in a bit of a hurry. Is that because of Dr Marshall’s patient?’

She swallowed hard, trying to brace herself against the shock of seeing him here. ‘I just thought I would alert him to the fact that the man wasn’t very steady on his feet. There’s no problem. We can deal with it. I imagine you must have plenty to be getting on with.’

Her mind was racing. She was worried that something wasn’t quite right with the patient, but she didn’t want to get Craig into any trouble. She was also finding it hard to take in what Drew had said. He was working here? How could that be?

She pulled in a deep breath and stared at him. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to be working here?’

‘Has it come as such a shock to you?’ he said. His mouth was taut, and he must have seen how much it bothered her that he was here. ‘I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure how things were going to work out,’ he said, ‘but as it happens they wanted me to start straight away. Mr Johnson, the consultant who was here before me, has had to take some compassionate leave. Family problems, they said, but they don’t think he’ll be coming back.’

Katie had heard that her former consultant was in a bit of a quandary. His son had been involved in an accident, and he had made up his mind to go and stay with him for a while. He had talked of finding work as a consultant near where his son lived. She said quietly, ‘I heard that his son had multiple fractures, but as far as I know he’s going to recover.’

‘That’s what I heard, too.’ He glanced around. ‘As for Dr Marshall’s patient, I was just coming to take a look at him. I’m not satisfied that he’s well enough to be discharged.’

Katie was distracted. From the set of his jaw she guessed that he was unhappy with Craig’s diagnosis. She said flatly, ‘Given the symptoms he presented with, I’m sure Dr Marshall thought he was doing the right thing. Headache and sickness are common symptoms of migraine.’

‘Maybe.’ Drew wasn’t giving anything away. His mouth was set in a straight line and his eyes were dark as though he meant business. ‘I’m going to take a look at him now. If you’re not too busy, perhaps you would ask Dr Marshall to come and join me?’

Katie went and found Craig. She didn’t like the fact that Drew had taken it on himself to intervene, but he was in charge now, and he was ultimately responsible for the actions of his colleagues.

‘What’s wrong?’ Craig asked. He was in a cheerful mood, his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the desk in the middle of the room.

She explained the situation. ‘I think your patient, Mick Framley, is unwell—at least, not well enough to go home just yet.’

‘He was going to call for a taxi. I told him he needed to lie down in a darkened room.’

‘I don’t think he can make it home on his own.’ She frowned. ‘The new consultant, Drew Bradley, wants a word.’