BY TWO that afternoon Mike was starting to get anxious that Henry hadn’t woken. When he finished surgery he intended to go back to the hospital, but just as he was leaving the clinic there was an urgent call from Eileen Fraser. Reg Fraser was close to death.
Reg had terminal lung cancer. He’d been dying for months, cared for by three sisters of whom Eileen, at ninety, was the oldest. The Misses Fraser had taken care of Reg around the clock every since he’d become ill, and he couldn’t have had better care anywhere.
Now it sounded as if the end was very, very close. Eileen was distraught. No, they didn’t want Reg to be admitted to hospital, not now, but, yes, they needed help. For the first time since he’d become ill, Reg seemed distressed.
Mike had no choice. He packed his bag and headed for the Fraser farm, and this time he left Strop behind.
Reg wasn’t distressed. He’d lapsed into a coma and started Cheyne-Stokes breathing. Mike reassured the elderly ladies that all this meant was that Reg was so deeply unconscious his breathing was almost a muscle spasm rather than the effect of a conscious message to the brain. He died half an hour after Mike arrived-a peaceful, settled death that was just how Mike had hoped it would be.
‘Oh, Reg…’ Miss Eileen fluttered forward as her brother’s breathing finally ceased. The sisters kissed their brother in turn and then fetched the coverlet that, Mike gathered, they’d spent the last six months embroidering for just this occasion.
He couldn’t leave. He spent the next two hours drinking tea and eating home-made biscuits while the sisters went through every aspect of Reg’s illness with him, step by step. It was an important time for them if they were to come to terms with what had happened, and Mike couldn’t begrudge it to them. The undertaker was booked to call later that evening. There was no hurry. No hurry at all…
Mike ended up looking through faded family photographs with the sisters commentating. ‘This is Reg on his first pony,’ and ‘This is Reg on his first day at school’ and ‘See how much taller Reg was than our father…’
By the time he could charitably leave it was five o’clock and evening surgery patients were already queuing. Still he couldn’t return to visit Henry. He made a fast phone call to Bill back at the hospital.
‘Henry’s awake and doing fine,’ Bill told him. ‘Tessa’s finally agreed to have some sleep. I’m going off duty now. If you like, I’ll feed Strop for you before I go so there’s no urgent reason why you should race back to the hospital.’
No. Mike had to agree-especially since Tessa was now asleep.
That was stupid, he told himself, but even so it made the hours spent seeing his evening surgery patients pass faster than if he’d thought Tess was sitting by Henry’s side, waiting.
Was it his imagination, or were there more patients than normal? At eight o’clock Mike finally finished. He came out to find his receptionist replacing the telephone. She sighed as she saw him.
‘For heaven’s sake, Mike, there’re rumours flying all over the valley that there’s a new doctor starting work. I’ve had more than ten patients ring to ask if they can have an appointment with the new doctor. When I say she’s not working here they’re disappointed, but then they can’t admit they don’t really need to see a doctor so they make a time to see you.’ She gave an apologetic smile. ‘I’m sorry, Mike, but you’ll have sore throats and pap smears all tomorrow morning.’
‘Great.’ Mike groaned. ‘Just what I need.’ And then he frowned. ‘Why the hell does everyone think we’re getting a new doctor?’
‘Well, because of Tess, of course.’
‘Tess…?’
‘Don’t act daft.’ Maureen, his receptionist, was fifty years old and up to every trick in the book. There was no way patients could pull the wool over her eyes, and neither could Mike. ‘If you’re not thinking of Tessa Westcott then there’s something wrong with you. Every male nurse in the place…every orderly…the ambulance boys…they’re all talking about her, and if any valley male hasn’t seen her yet then they’re busy trying to. Are you thinking of offering her a job?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Maureen, Tess works in the States. She’s a US citizen. For heaven’s sake, she won’t even have Australian registration.’
‘Well, I could fix that in a flash,’ Maureen told him. ‘Just say the word. You know we qualify as a remote district. If anyone’s stupid enough to want to work here, and their medical diploma isn’t paid for in Timbuctoo petrodollars, the medical board says thank you very much and welcome. And if Tess hasn’t Australian citizenship I could fix that, too. Her dad’s Australian.’
‘This is ridiculous,’ Mike said flatly. ‘She doesn’t want to come here to work. She’s here to visit her grandfather. That’s all. We’re fine on our own.’
‘No, we’re not fine,’ Maureen said frankly. ‘Not now. When you first started here you could handle the work, but that was because most patients took themselves to the city for treatment. Now they know they can get hospital care and superb medical treatment right here so they’re staying. More and more, they’re staying. Which leaves you, Mike Llewellyn, working your socks off.’
‘Hard work doesn’t hurt me.’
‘Not for the short term, maybe. But for the long term… You need some social life.’
‘I have a social life.’
‘Oh, yeah…’ Maureen jeered gently and her motherly face creased into lecture mode. ‘You know you haven’t had time to have one serious girlfriend since you returned to the valley, and at your age…’
‘Maureen, I don’t need a girlfriend.’
‘Of course you do.’ She smiled. ‘And, of course, you need another doctor. And here is this Tessa. I haven’t met her yet, but if Bill’s report is anything to go on… Well, you may be able to kill two birds with one stone. Girlfriend and workmate all in one.’
‘Maureen…’
‘Yes?’ She dimpled up at him.
‘Butt out.’
‘Yes, sir.’ She put her hand up in a mock salute. ‘So I can’t ring the medical board, then?’
‘No.’
‘Rats. And it’s the weekend now, too. Still…’ Her smile deepened. ‘I guess it can wait until Monday.’
‘It won’t be happening on Monday.’
‘We’ll see.’ Her twinkle refused to be suppressed. ‘Bill says this Tessa’s a very determined young lady. Like a bulldozer, he says. Oh, and by the way…’ With difficulty she forced herself back to business.
‘Yes?’
‘Speaking of love life, there was a call for you from Liz Hayes. She’s been trying to ring you all week.’
‘Liz.’ He frowned, trying to concentrate on something other than Tessa. Liz was the local shire engineer. ‘What does Liz want?’
‘She wants you to take her to the shire ball tomorrow night.’
‘The ball…’
‘You need to go,’ Barbara said patiently. ‘Everyone does. I put it in your diary a month ago.’
‘Yeah. Right.’
‘Liz knows you’ll be there in name only,’ Barbara told her. ‘She says she’ll meet you there and your name will be beside hers on the supper table. It’s the same table as the shire president. Oh, and she says if you can squeeze in time for a couple of dances, she’d be grateful.’
Maureen sighed as she watched him think this through. The valley girls knew what to expect from Mike now. It gave them a certain amount of social cachet to be his date for the evening, but if a girl expected him to pick her up, she’d be two hours late every time-if he came at all. There was always a medical imperative. And even if he came, there was a risk of one lumbering basset-hound in the passenger seat.
But still they tried. He was a great dancing partner and if they were lucky enough for the phone to stay silent and for him to be dogless, there was the ride home in his gorgeous Aston Martin, and maybe a kiss…
But nothing more.
‘Yeah, you’re right,’ he said abstractedly. ‘The council supports the hospital so I need to go to the ball. Tell Liz it’s fine. I’ll meet her there.’
‘You wouldn’t like to ring her and tell her yourself?’ Maureen asked, but she asked as if it was a forlorn hope.
‘Why?’ He frowned, lifting his list of house calls and leafing through the pile.
‘Because one of these days you won’t want your secretary organising your love life,’ she retorted.
‘Why would I change now?’ He grinned and pocketed his list. ‘You do a fantastic job. My love life is entirely satisfactory, thanks to you, Maureen.’ He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the top of the head, then took himself out to his Aston Martin, which-apart from Strop-was the love of his life and the only love of his life. He had house calls to do.
It was ten that night before he returned to the hospital and he was starting to feel the strain. In fact, he was dead beat.
Strop was already asleep and not the least bit interested in asking how his day had gone.
‘Half your luck,’ he told the dog, but Strop didn’t stir.
He did a cursory ward round in the darkened hospital, checking obs and organising changes of treatment with night staff. He left Henry till last, as he wasn’t worried. He’d been assured at each of his phone checks that Henry was going well.
He opened the ward door softly, and found Louise, one of the night nurses, sitting beside the bed. Until Henry’s pulse settled to a strong beat-until the chest infection was under control and the fluids were completely restored-Mike had requested he be special-led.
But… He’d sort of hoped Tessa might be here.
She wasn’t, and he had to swallow a lurch of disappointment.
Louise looked up in query as he entered. She smiled and handed him the obs chart.
‘Things are looking good here, Doctor,’ she said primly. Louise was that sort of nurse. Primness was her forte. ‘Mr Westcott’s awake.’
‘Are you, then, Henry?’ Mike smiled and walked over to the bed. Henry’s old face was gaunt and shrunken on the whiteness of the pillows but, in the dim night light, Mike could see his old eyes looking up with sharp intelligence.
‘Mike…’
Mike gripped his hand and held on.
‘Welcome back to the land of the living, sir,’ he said softly.
‘It was thanks to you…’
Henry’s voice was amazingly strong, considering. Mike gave an inward sigh of relief. Hell, after all he’d gone through, the man must be as tough as old boots.
‘Your rescue was thanks to your granddaughter,’ he told him. ‘Tessa’s one determined lady.’
‘She is that. My Tess…’ The old man closed his eyes for a long moment, and Mike thought he was drifting back to sleep, but the hand gripping his was still strong.
Tomorrow they’d run a few tests. They’d see then what the damage was. He wasn’t moving his left arm, Mike noticed. Still, if the speech was only slightly affected…
‘Tess says she intends staying,’ Henry said, and Mike shook himself. God, he was tired. If he didn’t watch himself he’d be asleep before Henry.
‘Does she?’
‘She can’t stay long term,’ Henry whispered fretfully.
‘I guess she’ll stay until you’re back on your feet.’
‘Yeah, but…I’ve only got one foot.’ Henry managed a twisted smile. ‘Can’t feel the other.’
‘That’ll come back. I promise you, Henry. You’ll need physiotherapy but we’ll get movement back.’ If Henry was speaking already, it was a safe enough promise.
‘But not tomorrow.’
‘No, sir,’ Mike agreed gravely. ‘Not tomorrow.’
‘Tess says she’s quit her job in the States.’
‘She told me that.’
‘Will you take her on here?’
Silence.
‘Mike?’ Henry prodded.
‘This is all a bit sudden,’ Mike said at last. ‘I think we need to talk about it, but not yet. There’s time, sir, to be making decisions about the future when you’re on the road to recovery.’
‘But I want to know now,’ Henry fretted, and under Mike’s hand his pulse rate went up. ‘I’ve been lying here thinking. I should have died in that damned cave. There’s nothing left for me, and my body’s failing. But if Tess came back…’
‘Tess has her own life in the States.’
‘She says she wants to stay,’ Henry told him, and Louise cast an urgent look at Mike. The old man was getting agitated, and agitation was the last thing he needed.
He knew that, but to make such a promise just to calm him…
‘You’ll check…’ The old man’s voice was failing him now. Each word was getting more and more slurred. ‘You’ll check her training. I wouldn’t ask you to have her if she wasn’t any good, but…she’s a good girl, my Tess. I ought to know. Will you check her credentials?’
‘I’ll check,’ he said heavily, and this time Louise’s glance was curious. His reluctance must be obvious.
‘And if she’s any good, you’ll employ her?’
‘I’m making no promises,’ Mike told him. ‘I’m not sure we need another doctor.’
‘Oh, Dr Llewellyn.’ Louise could no longer keep silent. The nurse was practically agog. ‘Not need…? Oh, of course we need another doctor. If Dr Westcott would agree to work here…’
‘Just say you’ll try,’ Henry begged. ‘Mike… What do you say?’
He gripped Mike’s hand hard, pleading-and there was nowhere left for Mike to go.
‘Very well, then,’ he said at last. ‘If that’s what Tessa wants-and she hasn’t told me it is, by the way. But if that’s what Tessa wants, then we’ll try.’
Mike was starving.
He walked out of Henry’s room with all sorts of emotions tumbling disjointedly around in his head, but hunger won out. The Misses Frasers’ biscuits had been his only meal since breakfast. It was eleven at night now, and he really needed to go to sleep. He also really needed time to get his mind in order over Tess, but even more he needed a feed first.
The kitchen was dark and deserted. He flicked on the lights and headed for the fridge. In ten minutes he had a vast mound of eggs and bacon and fried bread in front of him. This was standard fare. Bother cholesterol. Without eggs and bacon, he’d starve.
He sank down at the table and ate two mouthfuls-and then the door swung open to admit Tessa.
Once again, this was a different Tess.
She was dressed all in crimson but this time it was a bathrobe. The thick red towelling wrapped her from neck to toes. Her hair swung free in a riotous flaming mass, and her toes were bare. Her toenails peeped out from under her robe and Mike blinked as his gaze reached them. Her nails were painted blue, and each toenail had a tiny gold star painted over the blue lacquer.
She followed his astounded gaze, and she grinned. She flopped down in a chair beside him, put a toe up on the table for inspection and wriggled it.
‘Do you like my toes?’
‘I don’t think…’ He stopped. For the life of him, he couldn’t think of a single sensible thing to say.
‘You don’t like,’ she said sadly. She put both feet up before her and wiggled all ten bare toes. ‘I do. They cheer me up. It took me ages to do them.’
‘I can imagine,’ he said faintly.
She grinned and shook her head, her magnificent hair flying.
‘You know, I’d almost be willing to bet my boot-laces that you can’t imagine.’ She chuckled. ‘One of my patients taught me how to do it.’ Her face clouded a little. ‘She was a sixteen-year-old with cancer. This is my legacy from a brave kid. Star toes.’ Then she brightened again. ‘Want to let me paint yours? Then you’ll really see how long it takes.’
He shoved his safely booted feet further under the table and managed a smile. Hell, this girl took his breath away.
‘No. Thank you very much, but no.’
‘Politely said. Cowardly but polite. Where’s your dog?’
‘Asleep.’
‘Where you should be,’ she said wisely. ‘Grandpa says you’re offering me a job.’
He sucked in his breath. If his breathing got any harder here, it’d stop entirely.
‘Keep eating your eggs,’ she told him. ‘Don’t let me interrupt. I just woke so I popped in to see Grandpa. He’s nearly asleep but he told me you were job-offering. Louise says it’s true and she told me to find you here and take you up on it before you have the chance to change your mind.’
‘That was big of Louise.’ He took a mouthful of bacon and glowered.
‘She’s a lovely girl. Repressed, though,’ Tess said thoughtfully. ‘Did you know she’s an only child and her mother has an asthma attack every time any boy asks Louise out? It’s ruining her love life. Louise is thirty-two and if her mom doesn’t shuffle off this mortal coil soon, she’ll dwindle into reluctant spinsterhood.’
‘How the hell do you know that?’
‘She told me.’
‘Why?’
‘I asked,’ Tess said kindly. ‘I can see I’m needed around here, Dr Llewellyn, if only to do something about Mrs Havelock’s asthma.’
‘Mrs Havelock’s asthma is fine.’
‘It’s all in her head?’
‘No. But she uses it-’
‘As a tool. I guessed that. But what have you done about it?’
‘Nothing,’ he said more sharply than he’d intended. ‘It’s none of my business.’
‘Yes, it is. Louise is depressed and I’ll bet Louise is your patient, too.’
‘Yes, but-’
‘You don’t have time to look after the psychological well-being of all your patients.’ Tess nodded sympathetically and studied her toes. ‘You know, I think Louise could do with gold stars. I think I’ll suggest it. And tomorrow…’
‘Tomorrow?’ He was listening in trepidation. What next?
‘Harvey Begg has asked Louise to go to the shire ball with him tomorrow night. Is Harvey an eligible young man?’
Mike blinked. Harvey… Conversation with Tessa was like holding onto an octopus, he thought, confused. You never knew which hand would grab you next. Or where you’d be led. Harvey Begg…
‘I guess you could say Harvey Begg’s eligible.’ He managed a smile. ‘Harvey’s our local accountant. He’s very solid, in every sense of the word. Balding. Mid-thirties. Drives a Volvo and plays cribbage.’
‘Ugh.’ Tessa’s nose wrinkled. ‘Not my cup of tea. Still…’ She smiled. ‘Louise seems smitten. Each to his own, I say, and maybe there’s passion in cribbage that I haven’t seen before. And the back seats of Volvos are huge!’
‘Tess!’
She chuckled. ‘Oh, well, maybe not. But Louise is getting her chance to find out tomorrow. I’ve arranged to mom-sit.’
‘You…’
‘Grandpa will be still in hospital.’ Her face grew serious for a moment. ‘I can’t keep staying here, taking up a hospital room. I know that. So tomorrow night I’ll stay at Louise’s place-Louise’s mom can think it’s because Louise is doing me a favour, offering me accommodation-but it’ll let Louise go to her ball. And after that…’
‘After that?’ Mike was eating but he was eating on automatic pilot. He felt as if he were being pushed along by a tidal wave.
‘After that I’ll go back out to the farm and stay there until Grandpa comes home.’
‘You really are serious about staying?’
‘I really am.’
Mike hesitated, not sure where to take it from here.
‘And…you seriously would like a job?’ he asked slowly.
Her face brightened.
‘Absolutely.’ Her eyes met his and there was determination behind her gaze. ‘Mike, I do want to stay, but Grandpa’s going to feel too guilty if I stay just to look after him. It would be much better if I could combine my medicine with his care.’
‘For how long?’
‘For however long it takes.’
‘Tess, we could be talking years here. There’s no guarantees Henry will be fit enough to look after the farm on his own again. Ever.’
‘I know that.’
‘So what will you do, then?’
‘If you’re agreeable, I’ll take him back to his farm and keep him as happy as I can for the rest of his life,’ she said simply. ‘If I can practise medicine here, then everything falls into place. If Grandpa needs extra help, I’ll be able to afford it.’ She hesitated and her tongue flicked out to moisten her lips. It was a gesture of uncertainty-her first. ‘If…if you’ll have me.’
If he’d have her… He stared across the table at this extraordinary woman while he tried to figure out what to say. She’d burst into his life like a flash of flame and he’d felt breathless ever since. As if his world were being turned upside down.
He didn’t want this girl. He didn’t. In less than two days she’d destroyed the even tempo of his existence. For Mike Llewellyn, life was work. Life was medicine and dedication and caring. Life had nothing to do with painting gold stars on your toenails.
But…
But the valley was grossly medically understaffed. Maureen had been right when she’d said he was overworked. There had been times of late when Mike had been forced to cut corners-to not question as closely as he should during an examination, or to make do with changing a dressing three times a week rather than daily. And a vaccination programme should be started in earnest, and a health programme for the elderly and…
And the town needed another doctor. But not this…flibbertigibbet.
‘Why don’t you want me?’ she asked curiously, watching his face. ‘Louise tells me you need a doctor. Every nurse in this hospital- Every person I’ve met says the valley needs an extra doctor. Is it because I’m US-trained?’
‘No.’
‘Is it because I’m a woman, then?’
‘No!’
‘Look, I’m serious about working here,’ she said firmly, her smile fading. She put her hands flat on the table and met his look. ‘Mike, I’m a good doctor,’ she told him. ‘I know I’m trained in city medicine and there’s a heap here I need to learn, but I’m willing and I want to try.’
‘But…why do you want to leave the States?’
‘I don’t,’ she said flatly. ‘But, well, Mom and I have always felt dreadful about Grandpa. We felt bad that Dad wouldn’t come home. Mom’s always brought me up to think I was half-Australian. And this way…’
She sighed, her voice now serious. ‘Mike, I’ve told you I’m interested in family medicine,’ she said. ‘That’s not a lie. But in the States, well, more and more, medicine’s being taken over by the specialists. As an internist I won’t get to see kids or trauma or heart attacks or surgery. Family doctors can’t do anything hands-on without getting sued.
‘Here…here I can deliver babies and help with road trauma and counsel Louise about her love life and help old men with prostate problems. I won’t just be sitting behind a desk, handing out pills and referrals.’
‘But-’
‘And Mom’s behind me on this,’ she said solidly. ‘A hundred per cent. She was an only child and her parents are dead. She’s always felt like Grandpa was our family and we shouldn’t be so far apart. It’s my guess that if I stay then she’ll be over here in a flash, and that’s a worry because she’s bossier than me. But I do want to stay. I do. So employ me.’
‘Tess…’
‘Now-tomorrow morning,’ she said softly, brooking no interruption. ‘Louise says you have Saturday morning clinic. How about if I run it-with you watching?’ Then, as he opened his mouth to protest, she held up her hands to silence him.
‘No. Don’t refuse. I know I won’t be able to do heaps of things. I haven’t a clue as to Australian rules and regulations. But I’m a fast learner, and if we give each patient the choice when they come in as to whether I can practise on them… We’ll tell them my registration isn’t through yet, so anything I say has to be backed up by you…’
‘You have it all worked out, then.’
‘Yes.’ She tilted her chin, a trace of defiance colouring her voice. ‘I do. Anything wrong with that?’
What could be wrong?
If someone had asked him a month ago-or even a week ago-whether he’d like a partner, he’d have jumped at the chance like a shot. He was tired past the point of exhaustion.
But a partner had always seemed an impossibility. No doctor in their right mind would practise here. The doctor who’d been here when Mike’s mother died had been an alcoholic and that’s why he’d ended up in such a remote place. Nowhere decent would have him.
To work here meant practising medicine at its most basic. There was no specialist back-up available. At worst, a helicopter could come in and evacuate but there was no landing strip for a light plane and in rough weather even a helicopter had trouble.
Doctors today wanted back-up and nights off and private schools for their kids. There were few opportunities in the valley for the things most doctors and their families had come to expect, and Mike knew that to attract anyone here would take a miracle.
And here was a miracle. A slim, fiery, bossy, determined miracle-with blue toes and golden stars.
So grab her and hold…
That was just what he wanted to do, he thought suddenly. That was the problem. She was sitting beside him at the big kitchen table, made to seat a staff of twelve or more. Her feet were propped up before her. Her bathrobe was vast and warm and she looked like a gift package in crimson.
She was sitting so that her gown just brushed his shoulder.
He pulled back, suddenly acutely aware of the touch, and she grinned.
‘Hey, I’m not proposing to seduce you here, Dr Llewellyn,’ she said mildly. ‘Only work with you.’ And then she furrowed her brow. ‘Anyway, why so touchy? You’re not gay, are you?’
‘No!’
‘Hmm.’
‘Hmm, what?’ She was watching him as if she were looking at a frog on a dissecting table, and Mike found the sensation unnerving.
‘There’s a problem here, but I don’t know what.’ She brightened. ‘I’ll bet you have a past.’
‘A past…’
‘A deep and mysterious love life of which we know not.’ She grinned again. ‘A skeleton in the closet. Am I right?’
‘Dr Westcott…’
‘Oh, I am right.’ Her smile widened. ‘How about I do a bit of matchmaking? If the Volvo and cribbage doesn’t do the trick, how about Louise?’
‘Tessa!’ His voice was an explosion but for the life of him he couldn’t stop a chuckle. This girl was incorrigible. And now she was smiling straight back at him.
‘That’s better,’ she said approvingly. ‘You look ever so nice when you smile.’ She swung her crazy feet off the table and stood up. ‘How about it, Doctor? As of tomorrow, can I be on probation, please, sir? If you think I’ll make a good doctor, can I stay?’
‘Tessa…’
‘Just say yes,’ she begged. ‘Then you can go to bed, which is just where you look like you ought to be.’
He stared at her, baffled. She stared right back.
‘I’ll be a good little doctor,’ she said meekly. ‘I won’t cause any trouble, please, sir. And I’ll even take your most difficult patients.’
‘Tess…’
‘Just say yes.’
There was no choice. He stared at her for a long, long moment, but he was too tired-too confused-too just plain baffled-to make his mind think of anything but how gorgeous she looked. How he’d like to touch that magnificent flaming hair. How he’d like to-
‘Yes,’ he said quickly, before his traitorous mind took him one step further. ‘Fine. Starting tomorrow morning, Dr Westcott, you’re on probation.’