Prescription-One Bride

CHAPTER THREE

JESSIE tried hard not to listen. The voices in the corridor were muted. One doctor discussing a case with another?

Not likely.

If Frank wasn’t so desperately ill she’d have no compunction in putting her ear to the door but there was enough to do in the ward for Jessie’s attention to be fully occupied. She worked swiftly with Sarah to set up the drip, trying to dispel the nurse’s doubts as she went but aware all the time that the most important thing was to get the drip going and the fluid and insulin into Frank’s dehydrated body.

Sarah was like a frightened rabbit.

The nurse sobbed as she worked and Jess came close to strangling her. Finally, as Sarah dropped a bag of saline, Jess paused.

‘Sarah, pull yourself together,’ she told her. ‘Immediately.’

The nurse gulped on a sob. ‘I c-can’t. I’m so scared.’

‘Why?’ Jessie lifted the saline bag and hooked it to the stand, then fitted it to the needle in the back of Frank’s hand. She gave Frank’s arm a reassuring squeeze as she did so.

‘You’ll be OK now, Frank,’ she said gently, with more assurance than she was feeling. The elderly farmer seemed beyond hearing but she could hope…‘The insulin’s going in. Just try and relax and let it take over.’

Relax…

She looked across at Sarah. Sarah was a crumpled mess.

‘I should have insisted,’ Sarah said harshly, self-blame starting to show through her fear. ‘I should have stood my ground and insisted Dr Hurd come back. I knew something was wrong-but Dr Hurd made me feel like a fool. I should have…’

‘Trusted your own judgement?’ Jessie bit back irritation, trying to imagine how she’d feel coming back to veterinary medicine after a twenty-year absence. She crossed to take the woman’s hands and gave them a swift squeeze. It was either that or give in to anger-and anger here would help no one.

‘Sarah, you’ve been a fine nurse in the past and you’re a sensible woman,’ she said roundly. ‘Coming back after an absence of twenty years must make you nervous-but technology hasn’t changed so much that you can’t tell when a man’s sick. You have to trust what your common sense tells you.’

‘But Dr Hurd wouldn’t come and I didn’t think past that,’ Sarah gulped. ‘I hardly thought about the diabetes. I just knew Frank’s leg was infected and maybe the poison had spread.’ She took a deep breath.

‘Well, maybe it was my own insecurity working there, too. If I was sure of myself I would have thought things through-thought of the diabetes-instead of blindly waiting for orders.’ She looked doubtfully down at the bed. ‘Oh, Jess, do you think we’re in time?’

‘I certainly hope so.’

The awful heaving had stopped for the moment. Frank was lying back on the pillows, grey with exhaustion, and Jessie’s heart stirred in pity. The fluid was already dripping steadily into his veins-but had they moved fast enough?

She crossed to the bed and lifted Frank’s hand.

‘I have some good news, Frank,’ she gently told the sick man, perching beside him on the bed. She didn’t know whether he could hear her but she could at least try. ‘We’ve found Harry. He’s tired and hungry but he’s asleep in my kitchen right at this minute and as soon as you’re well enough for visitors he’ll be the first one through the door.’

Lionel Hurd would have a pink fit if he could hear her make such a promise, Jessie knew. Dogs in Lionel’s hospital? Never!

That fight was for tomorrow. Jess would cross that bridge when she came to it.

It had been the right thing to say now, though. The old man’s eyes flickered open, bodily ills put aside for an instant. There was relief in the exhausted eyes.

‘He’s…Harry’s safe?’ he whispered.

‘Quite safe,’ Jessie promised in a voice that wasn’t steady. If only she could say the same for Frank.

‘Then I’d best hold on,’ Frank managed, and Jess had to lean down to hear his thready whisper. ‘For Harry…’

‘You do that, Frank,’ Jess whispered back. ‘Please…You do that.’

There was nothing more that Jess could do. It was just a matter of waiting now-and hoping that the insulin would stabilise him and the fluids would save Frank’s life. And hope that not too much damage had been done…

‘I’ll look after him now,’ Sarah whispered, smoothing her apron with grim determination. ‘I’m right. Oh, Jess…What if Dr Hurd says to take the drip out?’

‘He’ll do no such thing,’ Jessie promised, but she wasn’t all that sure. Lionel Hurd had an ego the size of a house…and Niall Mountmarche had just marched straight over it.

And Niall didn’t appear the sort of man to wave peace flags either.

Jessie walked out into the corridor and carefully closed the door behind her-to find the two men still there.

Lionel Hurd was rigid with anger. His florid complexion was almost beet-red and the hands by his side were clenched into fists. As Jess emerged he wheeled to face her and directed his anger straight at her.

‘How dare you, girl?’ he snapped. ‘How dare you…?’

‘How dare I what?’ Jess asked, her eyes moving past him to Niall.

Niall didn’t comment. He stood, a dark, enigmatic stranger. His hands were in the pockets of his riding jodhpurs as he waited.

As if he was waiting with benign interest to see what would happen.

He’d lit a fuse. Now he was waiting for an explosion.

It came.

Lionel Hurd had obviously not been able to berate Niall as he would have liked. Someone claiming to be another doctor…One he didn’t know…

He’d be unsure of his ground.

Jess, though…An insignificant girl vet…

‘How dare you drag someone in to see my patient without my permission?’ he remonstrated. ‘You have no right. How many times do I have to tell you your place is on the other side of the building, Jessica Harvey, and neither you nor the animals you treat are to step over the boundary? The island board of management will hear of this. I’ll have you evicted from this building.’

‘It’s a privately owned building,’ Jess said mildly. ‘You can’t.’

‘Not even with the Health Commission behind me?’ Lionel glared at her with something akin to hatred. ‘If they hear…’

‘If they hear anything about Dr Harvey’s interference then they’ll hear you’ve treated one of the locals with what amounts to criminal negligence,’ Niall interceded. Niall’s voice was carefully controlled but Jess had the impression of disgust, well contained.

‘I have not…’

‘You’ve treated a diabetic suffering from cellulitis with oral antibiotic for over a week with no noticeable improvement and without changing the antibiotic to an intravenous line. One.’ Niall touched a finger on one hand. He lifted the next finger.

‘Two, as far as I’ve seen you’ve done no blood-sugar tests in the entire time he’s been in hospital. No check for ketones in his urine or electrolytes done. Three and four. And he’s been vomiting for six hours with you refusing to see him. Five. Nail in the coffin, Dr Hurd. Wouldn’t you say? If I were you I’d keep my tail nicely between my legs and not make any complaints to anyone.’

‘Who the hell are you?’ Lionel blustered. ‘Who the hell are you to question my treatment?’

‘I’m a qualified medico, believe it or not,’ Niall said wearily. ‘And I don’t want to be involved. Not one bit. You left me with no choice.’

‘Qualified…?’ Lionel stared at him belligerently. ‘From where?’

Niall’s eyes suddenly narrowed. ‘London University,’ he said slowly. ‘And you?’

‘I don’t have to tell you…’

‘And you?’ Niall snapped the demand in the tone of someone who was brooking no argument and Lionel’s colour rose even further.

‘Melbourne,’ he spat. ‘Not that it makes any difference. Whoever you are, I want you to get the hell out of my hospital. Now. You’re not welcome here. Wherever you trained you should know it’s unethical to interfere with a patient without their own doctor’s consent. So clear off. And take your girlfriend with you.’ He cast such a look of sneering dislike at Jessie that she flushed.

‘I’m going,’ Niall said evenly. He held out a peremptory hand to Jess, signalling her to silence. ‘But there’s two things you should know, Dr Hurd. One is that I intend to take a look at your credentials. A long look. The second is that if Frank Reid dies then I’ll personally make every effort to have you struck off every medical registry in the known world. And I’ll take personal pleasure doing it.

‘So if I were you I wouldn’t interfere with the treatment I’ve instigated. If I were you I’d be very sure my instructions are followed to the letter.’

And Niall turned and walked out of the hospital entrance, pulling Jessie along with him.

They didn’t talk until they were outside and even then there was a good two minutes’ silence before Niall spoke. He stood in the sun, taking long deep breaths and staring out at the distant sea.

In the end it was Jess who broke the silence.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said tentatively, ‘to drag you into that…It wasn’t fair.’

‘It wasn’t,’ Niall agreed and the anger that Jess hadn’t heard when he’d been talking to Lionel was all there in his voice. ‘How on earth did the island board ever employ such an incompetent oaf?’

‘I told you,’ Jess said, trying to keep her voice light. ‘We were desperate.’

‘You realise he’ll kill someone?’

‘Maybe he won’t,’ Jess said unhappily. ‘Maybe this will give him a fright. If it’s just laziness…’

‘I wish I could think this is just laziness,’ Niall growled. ‘But it should be instinct to order blood sugars on diabetic patients.’ He glanced at his watch and swore. ‘Jess, I have to go.’

Strangely, there was a note of reluctance in his voice as if he understood the pressures building up on her and really didn’t want to leave.

And Jess didn’t want him to leave, either. To go across to her half of the building and try to block out what Lionel Hurd was doing to her friend…

To just have to hope that the man really was competent…

‘Paige is waiting,’ Niall said roughly. He looked from Jess to the sea beyond and then back again. His gaze almost seemed to be magnetised to the slim young vet.

Something was growing between them. Something intangible that Jess didn’t want to explore.

The Ogre of Barega…

It would be better if he went right back to being an ogre. Easier for everyone…

Safer…

‘I…We’ll be right,’ Jess said slowly. And then, as a thought struck her, ‘My car…It’s still on the ridge.’

‘I’ll organise it to be brought back to the hospital.’

‘You can do that?’

‘I can do that-keys, please?’

Jess flipped the keys from her pocket.

‘Niall…’

‘Yes?’

‘Thank you,’ she said simply and watched his face.

‘I wish I could say it was my pleasure,’ Niall told her, and his face changed. He fingered the car keys and didn’t meet her eyes. ‘I’m starting to think, though…I’m starting to think it’d be better if I’d never met you.’

Mid-afternoon…

Mid-afternoon of a weekday and Jess was so far behind that she didn’t know where to start.

Lunch?

She’d gone past it. She wasn’t the least bit hungry.

She’d promised one of the local farmers to drive out and check a mastitis-affected cow. She’d do that as soon as her car was back. There was normally a small animal clinic at four and she needed to check Harry-and feed one orphaned wallaby and one tiny wombat.

And worry about Frank…

And think about Niall Mountmarche…

Ogre of Barega.

All those things she somehow fitted into her crazy day but by the time Jess slumped down at her kitchen table that night it was eight o’clock and her stomach was growling in hunger.

OK, OK…

Jess opened a can of soup, made some toast and then slumped down again.

And then looked over to where Harry was lying.

The dog had opened his eyes and was looking at her with definite interest.

Or was he looking at her toast?

Smiling, Jessie carried a quarter of a slice of toast over to where Harry lay. She held it to his mouth and the dog lifted it off her palm with a delicate tongue.

Even half-starved, this dog had manners.

‘Hey, Harry,’ Jessie smiled, her heart warming in delight

They shared another slice of toast in companionable silence, the big dog’s tail moving wearily back and forth in token wag mode. Finally, replete with toast, Harry settled back to sleep.

He’d make it.

Would his master?

Jessie chewed her bottom lip. She wasn’t welcome in the hospital. If she went over and Lionel Hurd was there…

She’d be thrown out on her ear.

Still…

Lionel usually did a fast ward round at six and then went back to his own quarters on the other side of the building. Jess had her own ideas of what he did then, augmented by the number of whisky bottles found in the hospital garbage since Lionel’s arrival.

He’d be well into his bottle for the night, she decided. Maybe it was safe.

She couldn’t stand not knowing.

It was all she could do not to tiptoe through the hospital corridors to Frank’s room. There was an elderly lady with a sprained ankle in the women’s ward and there was no sound there-but there was movement in the men’s ward.

Jess stopped and listened and then her face cleared as she heard a woman’s voice.

Geraldine.

Geraldine was one of the island’s two senior nurses. Middle-aged and competent, she’d elected to do night duty when Sarah started working. By the sound of it Geraldine was talking to Frank.

So at least Frank wasn’t dead.

Frank Reid was still an extremely sick man but his grey colour had receded a degree or two. He lay motionless against his mound of pillows but his eyes followed Geraldine round the room and they moved to the door and lit up when Jessie entered.

‘Jess…’

It was an exhausted whisper but it was so much better than last time she’d entered this room that Jess practically burst into tears.

‘Hey, Frank…’ She crossed to the bed and gave him a swift kiss. ‘How goes it?’

‘I reckon I’ll live. Geraldine’s bossing me into it.’

‘I sure am.’ Geraldine gave Jess a worried look. ‘Jess, this is awful. I’m feeling dreadful about it. Sarah’s told me what’s happened. I knew Frank was diabetic but assumed the blood-sugar tests were being done during the day. Sarah wasn’t confident of working nights on her own so we organised her to be on day duty when Dr Hurd would be around to support her-but arrangements seem to have gone badly wrong.’

In other words, Geraldine hadn’t been able to supervise Sarah and Dr Hurd had been incompetent.

‘It’s not too bad,’ Jess said swiftly, signalling Geraldine with her eyes to change the subject. This conversation couldn’t go further without discussing Dr Hurd-and Lionel was still Frank’s treating doctor. Jess smiled down at Frank. ‘It can’t be too bad, can it? Frank looks like he’ll live.’

‘And Harry, too?’ Frank asked eagerly. ‘Tell me, girl…’

It was a pleasant respite-to sit on the bed and describe Harry’s rescue to Frank and Geraldine. At the end they both stared at her, astonished.

‘Well, I never!’ Geraldine said roundly. ‘The Ogre of Barega turning out to be human. A doctor and a father, too.’

‘Yes.’ Jessie’s face clouded at the sudden remembrance of Paige. There was something there that wasn’t right. It was the child who seemed to be haunted-not the ogre.

Her eyes flicked up to Frank’s drip. The saline bag was almost empty.

‘How many litres has Frank had?’ she asked.

‘Three.’ Geraldine frowned. ‘I’ve another bag ready but Dr Hurd hasn’t left any orders. Should I put it up?’

‘What would you normally do?’

‘Ring and ask him.’

‘Then ring and ask,’ Jessie said steadily. There was no way that Jess could operate as back-up doctor. Unethical in the extreme and totally unworkable. She stood up and smiled a farewell to Frank. ‘I expect Dr Hurd will check you before he goes to bed, anyway. I’ll pop in tomorrow.’

She’d pop in during Lionel Hurd’s clinic times when he was safely out of the way.

The words weren’t said but each person in the room knew what Jessie meant.

Geraldine grimaced.

‘Only six more months until our proper doctors come back,’ she muttered. ‘They can’t come back fast enough for me.’

‘Or me either,’ Jess agreed.

Her long day was finally over.

Jess was more than ready for bed. She showered swiftly, checked her invalid animals one last time and headed for her pillows with speed-only to be stopped by a tap on the door.

Now what?

Jess’s flat was at the back of the vet clinic and Lionel’s flat was at the rear of the hospital, making four rather unequal quarters to the rambling medical complex.

The door being knocked on was internal-so it was someone from the hospital doing the knocking.

Lionel…

Jess pulled on a long robe and buttoned it to the neck. Lionel had knocked on her door after whisky before-and was a much friendlier proposition than the daytime Lionel.

She preferred his daytime aggression.

Jess opened the door an inch-and then pulled it wide. Geraldine.

‘You weren’t in bed yet?’ Geraldine asked, her face creased with worry. ‘Jess, I hate to disturb you but…’

‘Is there something wrong with Frank?’

‘No.’ Geraldine shook her head. ‘He’s still recovering. I put the next saline bag up, but I had to do it without orders. Dr Hurd hasn’t been back-and he doesn’t answer his phone.’

Jess frowned. As the island’s only doctor, Lionel Hurd carried a mobile phone with him wherever he went. Even if he was on the other side of the island he should still be carrying it.

Jess glanced at her watch. It was still only nine o’clock. She went to bed early because of her broken sleep with animal feeds-but the rest of the island should be still awake.

‘Maybe the phone’s not functioning.’

‘That’s just it,’ Geraldine fretted. ‘I thought I’d test it. I rang the number and then let it ring while I went to the doctor’s flat. I can hear it ringing out in his living room.’

‘Then he’s gone out without taking it,’ Jess said grimly. It broke all the rules of Lionel’s contract to do so-but the man was angry enough to do anything tonight.

‘Maybe he’s down at the pub.’

‘No.’ Geraldine’s face grew more troubled. ‘Jess, I think there’s something really wrong…’

‘You mean, he’s in trouble?’

‘No.’ The nurse hesitated. ‘When I couldn’t find him I rang Sarah at home, thinking at least he might have given her specific orders for numbers of saline units. One of Sarah’s boys reckons he saw Dr Hurd board this afternoon’s plane out to the mainland. Sarah thought he must be mistaken-but now I can’t find him…’

Jessie stared.

Today was Wednesday and on three afternoons a week a passenger jet left for Sydney. One of those afternoons was Wednesday.

‘He wouldn’t just leave.’ Jess shook her head in bewilderment. ‘Would he?’

Geraldine met her anxious look. ‘There’s a spare key to his flat on the master set,’ she said diffidently. ‘You have the master set, Jess.’

‘Y-yes.’

Jess didn’t want to use it. To use it was to confirm a nightmare.

The nightmare was real.

Geraldine and Jess opened the door of Lionel’s flat and were met by chaos. The flat had been turned upside down and it didn’t take more than a moment to see that most of the doctor’s belongings were missing.

‘He’s done a bunk,’ Geraldine stammered. She turned to Jess, bewilderment written across her face.

‘But why?’

Jess closed her eyes. ‘Geraldine, your husband’s on the island board of management, isn’t he?’

‘Yes.’

‘When Dr Hurd applied for the locum position…do you know if anyone verified his qualifications?’

Geraldine stared. ‘I guess…Maybe not. I mean, we were desperate. The last doctor had to go in such a hurry. But Dr Hurd…Well, why would he lie?’

Why indeed?

‘Niall Mountmarche will know,’ Jess said slowly. ‘He was going to check. I don’t know whether it was just a threat or if he really meant to find out if Lionel’s qualifications were OK-but it seems Niall Mountmarche has lost us our island doctor.’

‘If Lionel Hurd ever was one,’ Geraldine said shortly. The capable nurse was almost visibly bracing herself for a rocky future. She met Jessie’s look with grim determination. ‘Where does that leave us, Jess? Without a doctor at all? And for how long?’

‘I guess we still have Dr Mountmarche…’ Jess was thinking aloud but she hardly believed the words as she said them. ‘If Niall Mountmarche is really a doctor himself. I suppose we don’t even know that. Good grief!’

‘Niall Mountmarche saved Frank Reid’s life,’ Geraldine said solidly. ‘He’s a better bet than Lionel Hurd ever was. All you have to do, Jess, is persuade him to help us.’

‘Oh, yeah…’ Visions of the Ogre of Barega flooded back and Jessie visibly flinched.

‘Well, at least you know him,’ Geraldine reasoned. ‘I guess if you don’t succeed we can send an island deputation. But I think you should try first, Jess.’

‘What, now?’

Geraldine smiled. ‘Well, maybe give him until morning. I’ll keep Frank’s saline drip going overnight. It can’t hurt, after all, even if I don’t have specific orders. His blood sugar’s still dropping. Tomorrow, though…Well, I’ll need a doctor to assess further insulin dosage and antibiotic levels. So, as long as you talk this Dr Mountmarche into starting by lunchtime…’

‘Geraldine, I get the feeling the man doesn’t want anyone going near the place-much less persuading him to come out on a regular basis. If he doesn’t want to…’

‘He must.’ Geraldine spread her hands. ‘Jess, you either persuade him to come or we’ll have to airlift Frank off the island-plus every other emergency that comes to hand. He has to help us. Surely…’

Surely.

‘Get yourself a good night’s sleep first,’ Geraldine advised kindly. ‘It’s never a good idea to tackle ogres after a sleepless night.’

‘Gee, thanks,’ Jess said expressively. ‘That really helps, Geraldine. I bet I’ll sleep like a baby.’