The Doctor & the Runaway Heiress

CHAPTER NINE

AT DAWN Pippa helped Amy feed a still sleepy Baby Riley. Amy and baby went back to sleep. Exhausted, Pippa abandoned her sentry duty and crawled into bed. When she woke it was ten and Baby Riley was squawking for her next feed.

The jaundice might well recede without the need for phototherapy, she thought, but mostly she thought… had Riley come home?

She padded down the passage and just happened to glance into Riley’s bedroom on the way.

No Riley.

Were they still searching, or was he needed at the hospital?

She flicked on the radio to the local news and listened to the account of last night’s tragedy.

A drowning followed by a heart attack. In an understaffed hospital that could be enough to keep him busy for hours. Or was he was staying out because of her?

Was she making herself more important than she was?

Keep busy, she told herself. Don’t think about him.

Easier said than done.

She helped Amy bathe Riley Junior, encouraged her to feed again then settled them both to sleep in a patch of sunshine.

Lucy and Adam arrived. They’d walked round from their hotel. Lucy’s legs were swollen. To fly for almost twenty four hours at full term… There were reasons for regulations.

She settled Lucy on the settee, raised her legs, massaged her swollen feet, working on getting circulation happening.

Sent Adam out for supplies. Made sandwiches.

Riley still didn’t return.

The place was like home without its hearth. Maybe that was a dumb thing to think but there it was. He should be there.

‘I can’t believe Dad lives here,’ Lucy said, relaxing a little. ‘This place is like a barn. Has he only just moved in?’

‘He’s lived her for six years,’ Pippa said. ‘But he’s a guy.’

‘I resent that,’ Adam retorted. He was also relaxing-maybe because Pippa was obviously caring for Lucy, and being twenty and the only one to care for a very pregnant girlfriend was truly scary.

‘Your dad needs posters,’ Amy said, hopping into her third sandwich. ‘Pippa rang up this really cool poster shop when I was in labour and next thing we had posters everywhere. The nurses said the poster shop’s huge.’

‘But I don’t have any money,’ Lucy said sadly. ‘Mum’s cut me off without a penny. Adam’s broke, too. But it’d be great to decorate this place.’

And Pippa couldn’t help herself. She’d run out of things to do. She couldn’t just sit still and wait for Riley.

‘I’d love some posters,’ she said. ‘If you order them, I’ll pay.’

‘Really?’ Lucy demanded, astounded.

‘I kind of think this house is boring as well. What about surfing posters? That’s your dad’s thing.’

‘My dad surfs?’ Lucy demanded. ‘Awesome.’

Had Marguerite told Lucy nothing about Riley? Her heart wrenched for both of them, and her resolution built. Family. That meant shared interests. Surfing.

‘Let’s see what the shop has,’ she said.

‘Maybe we could intersperse surfing with skiing-it’s the same sort of theme,’ Lucy said. ‘Dad looks like the kind of guy who’d ski.’

He did, Pippa thought. An outdoor adventurer. Living life on the edge. Alone.

He was the kind of guy who’d hang out of a helicopter, who’d risk his life to save hers.

He was also the kind of guy who’d make love to her to take her out of her terror. And mean nothing by it?

She’d told him it meant nothing.

Something was happening inside her she hadn’t meant to happen.

It no longer meant nothing.

He spent the morning deep in the paperwork a death by misadventure always entailed. Then, inevitably, he was at the hospital when a car crash came in, and how could he not assist? Finally he was free. He walked back to the house, entering from the veranda the way he always did. Entering his house.

It was no longer his house.

For a start it was full of people.

Amy was in an armchair, holding her baby. Lucy was on the settee and Adam was beside her. Lucy had her feet propped up on Adam’s knees. She looked even more pregnant today, he thought. The baby seemed to have dropped, settling low.

Uh-oh.

And, of course, Pippa was there. She was seated at the dining table behind a sewing machine, surrounded by fabric. She looked… worried?

His gaze met hers and held. The look she gave him was one of defiance, but her worry stayed. Like… I’m not sure I should have done this.

This?

This would have to be the house.

His breath drew in and wasn’t replaced. Breathing seemed extraneous.

He’d left at four that morning. It was now mid-afternoon and it was a different house.

The sea had come inside.

There were huge montages of surf and sky and beach and sun, and smaller montages of skiing, snow and sun.

He saw a series of ten posters of dolphins riding the waves, taken as stills one after the other, from the moment the pod entered the back of the wave to when they twisted triumphantly out as the wave crashed out onto the shore.

And there weren’t just posters.

There were cushions. Throws. And curtains! He stared around in amazement. Every window had curtains, great folds of blue and gold, draped from rods with huge wooden rings.

How the…?

‘Pippa bought a sewing machine.’ Amy seemed the only one not nervous; she was breathless with excitement. ‘The fabric shop delivered rolls and rolls of fabric and rings and rods. Adam put up the rods. Pippa’s sewed and sewed, while me and Lucy stuck up posters. Adam told us where to put them-Lucy says he wants to be an artist. And Pippa’s taught me how to sew curtains. They’re easy. She says I can have the sewing machine for a baby present and the leftover material for curtains when I get home. Do you like it?’

They were all looking at him.

It felt…

He wasn’t sure how it felt.

There was a part of him that loved it. His house was being converted into a home. More, this was a home designed specifically for him. The views from outside were echoed, but softly, the sunlight diffused, the harsh yellows turned to soft gold. Here a man could take sanctuary. He wouldn’t have to head to the surf-the surf had come to him.

He looked at the people surrounding him, Lucy and Adam, tremulous with hope that they’d done something good, Amy, beaming with pride and excitement.

Pippa, looking… wary.

She’d organised it, he thought.

She’d given him a home.

And that was the problem. Did he want a home? Had he ever? He lived out of a duffel bag. He’d never put down roots.

As a kid, his mother had always been dragging him from one place to the next, from one substitute father to the next, from one disaster to the next. Now he made sure his escape route was always open. He’d been here for six years but every moment of that time he’d known he could walk away.

How could he walk away now? He couldn’t. Amy was depending on him. Lucy and Adam were depending on him.

Pippa was still looking wary. She looked… as if she expected to be hurt.

Was she depending on him?

‘It’s fantastic,’ he said, as sincerely as he could, and everyone beamed except Pippa.

‘It’s so cool,’ Lucy said. ‘It’s even better than the hotel. I thought… if we buy a cheap mattress and put it in the spare room on the floor… could Adam and I stay here, too? The hotel was fine last night but here’s better. Pippa’s been so nice.’

She had been nice, Riley conceded. She’d invited Amy into his house. Her niceness was drawing Lucy in, too.

Nice.

But she was so much more…

‘I’m not staying here long,’ Pippa said, still wary.

‘You’ll be here until I have to go,’ Amy said, panicked. Pippa cast another sidelong-wary-glance at Riley, and nodded.

‘Yes.’

‘I want you to be here when our baby’s born,’ Lucy breathed. ‘Amy says you helped with her baby. She says you were lovely. You and Dad both. You know, if you two were here, why do I have to go to hospital? I could lie on the veranda and watch the sea when I’m in labour and I wouldn’t have to do any of that scary hospital stuff. And…’ Her happiness faded. She gave her father a scared glance. ‘It might be better. I… I don’t have insurance.’

‘You don’t have…’ Riley was speechless. ‘We couldn’t get any insurance company to cover me,’ she said. ‘Not here.’

‘Of all the…’ He turned and stared at Pippa-who was looking at a half-made curtain. Studiously not looking at him.

His life had been under control until this woman arrived. Since then… ‘This is you,’ he said.

‘Me?’

‘It’s down to you.’

‘How exactly am I responsible for Lucy not having insurance?’

‘You’re responsible for telling her she can have her baby here.’

‘She hasn’t,’ Lucy said, astounded that he was attacking Pippa. ‘It’s just… I’ve heard of lots of people having home births. I thought maybe I could, too. I knew you were a doctor. I knew… I hoped you’d help me. But if you won’t…’ She sniffed and clutched Adam’s hand. ‘Adam will.’

Adam swallowed. Manfully. ‘I… I expect you will need to go to hospital,’ he said, sounding terrified. ‘We can figure out how to pay later.’

‘But the debt…’

‘There’s lots of stuff we have to figure out,’ Adam said, squaring his puny shoulders. ‘Baby first. You first. Let’s take care of you. Nothing else matters.’

And Riley looked at his daughter’s terrified face, at Adam’s terrified response-and he knew his anger at Pippa was totally unjustified.

Lucy was eighteen years old. This was her first baby. She was alone except for Adam, and Adam was scarcely older than she was.

‘Will you help us, Pippa?’ Adam asked, while Riley fought to make a recovery.

‘Of course I will,’ Pippa told him, turning stiffly away from Riley. ‘Lucy, Adam’s right. There’s no need to worry. All you need to concentrate on is welcoming your baby into the world. Do you have any good books? There’s lots of stuff to read about what to expect, and it might be fun for you and Adam to read them together. I can borrow them from the hospital.’

‘And you should learn breathing,’ Amy said wisely. ‘I bet Pippa could teach you.’

He was being excluded, Riley thought. Maybe justifiably. What the hell was he doing, putting his needs before Lucy’s?

‘We’ll do this together,’ he growled, and he spoke to Adam rather than Lucy because now that Lucy had Pippa and Amy behind her, it was suddenly Adam who was looking the most worried. ‘The hospital might be best. I can help you…’

‘We can decide that close to the time,’ Pippa said, and her tone was suddenly resolute, almost daring him to defy her. ‘I hope I’m still here to help,’ Amy said. ‘Having a baby is awesome.’

‘It doesn’t hurt at all,’ Pippa teased, and Amy giggled.

‘It does hurt a bit,’ she conceded. ‘But then you get this baby at the end of it and it’s fabulous. I’m not going to have any more until I’m about thirty but I loved it. Can I help Pippa teach you to breathe?’

‘I can breathe already,’ Lucy said, and peeped a glance at her father. Who was glaring at Pippa. ‘I’m sure I can. Why are you looking at Pippa like that?’

‘She’s organising my life.’

‘I’m not,’ Pippa said. ‘If Lucy and Adam are staying here, maybe I should go back to my hotel.’

‘No,’ Amy said, suddenly panicked. ‘You promised.’

‘I need you here,’ Lucy said, sounding even more panicked.

Maybe he should go to the hotel, Riley thought, absorbing the fact that he was in a house that had been transformed suddenly into a home-his home-and it was full of people who were depending on Pippa.

‘It’s like having family,’ Lucy said.

And he thought, Exactly.

It was exactly why he wanted to walk away right now.

Another bombshell was about to land.

Amy retired to have a nap. Pippa went back to curtain sewing and Adam put up more rods. Lucy took her father on a tour of the posters.

‘I’ll pay you for these,’ he said, trying to make up for his less than enthusiastic initial response. ‘They must have cost a fortune. Plus the sewing machine and the fabric…’

‘I didn’t pay for them.’ Lucy said. ‘I don’t have any money. Mum said if I stay with Adam then she’d cut me off with nothing. And Adam’s an art student.’

‘You’ve come to Australia with nothing?’

‘Adam sold his motorbike. That just got us here.’

That made him feel… dreadful. The money itself didn’t worry him. He had twenty years of savings, he earned an excellent wage and the overtime in the work he was doing now was truly astounding. But to have Lucy so helpless… And who’d paid for the posters?

‘So Pippa paid?’

‘It doesn’t matter to her. She says she’s not your girlfriend, but, Dad, if I were you I’d make a move. She’s funny, and she’s kind, and she’s loaded.’

‘Loaded?’

‘You didn’t know?’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘I didn’t recognise her but Adam did, as soon as he heard her full name. We got the posters delivered. She paid for them over the phone by credit card. She’s Phillippa Penelope Fotheringham.’

‘It that supposed to mean anything to me?’

‘Yeah. It is. I sort of knew about her. She’s an heiress. And we know even more, ’cos Adam read a story about her last month while I was getting tests at the hospital. Adam read the glossies while he waited. There was a piece on Pippa. He says her grandfather made millions with some food company. Her parents are socialites-worse than Mum. Even I’ve heard of them; they’re always in the news. But Pippa’s not social. The story said Pippa went nursing when she was seventeen. Her family hated it but she did anyway. She’s been quiet ever since. The article was about her grandpa saying she’s the best of his relations and he’s left the company to her. Oh, and she was going to marry the company’s chief accountant-that was what the piece was about. You know, heiress finds true love, that sort of thing. I don’t know what happened, but what I do know is that she’s seriously, seriously rich.’

Dinner was steak and salad, cooked on the barbecue. With Riley thinking Pippa had paid for the steak.

Amy and Baby Riley were asleep before the washing-up was complete. Adam and Lucy headed back to their hotel with baby books. They couldn’t get a mattress until Monday but they looked wistful as they left the house.

Riley headed out to the veranda, and Pippa followed.

She stood and watched him for a while. He watched the sea and said nothing.

‘You can take the posters down after everyone’s gone,’ she said at last.

‘Why would I want to do that?’

‘Because you like bare walls?’

‘I don’t actually like walls at all. How rich are you?’

‘Very rich.’ There was no sense in denying it.

‘So what the hell are you doing here?’

‘I’m not accepting free board and lodging,’ she said warily, because there was nothing in his voice to suggest any warmth. ‘I’m staying here because of Amy but I’m paying rent to the hospital. The same as you.’

‘That’s not what I meant. You took the job with Flight-Aid under false pretences.’

‘Under what pretences?’ she demanded, starting to feel angry. ‘Are you saying I had no right to apply? Because there’s money in my background?’

‘You can apply for what you like.’

‘Because I’m rich?’ Anger was coming to her aid now, pure and simple. ‘I didn’t pay for Coral to employ me at Flight-Aid. I was employed on the basis of my experience and my qualifications.’

‘It’s a plaything.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You’ll do it and leave.’

‘I might,’ she said, astounded. ‘So might you. I did, however, work in the same hospital in Britain for over ten years. Match that, Dr Riley.’

‘What are you doing here?’ It was like an explosion. He turned to face her and his eyes were dark with anger. ‘What are you playing at?’

‘I’m not playing.’

‘Filling my house with… what’s the quote? A monstrous regiment of women.’

‘Like three,’ she said, gobsmacked. ‘Three!’

‘Four. Even Baby Riley howled when-’

‘When you gave her her blood test. I’d howl too if someone pricked my heel. Whatever. You’re putting her in your conspiracy theory, too? Riley Chase, his life hijacked by women. What about Adam?’

‘He’ll figure it out,’ Riley said harshly. ‘Lucy’s grandparents… her mother… they’re angry with her now but they’ll want her back. They’ll haul her back into their lives and Adam will be left on the outside.’

‘Are we talking of Adam, or are we talking about you?’

‘It’s none of your business.’

‘And neither is my money any of your business. What earthly difference does it make?’

‘Why are you working?’

‘Because I want to.’ She was almost yelling. Almost but not quite. ‘I left my job to marry Roger. The deal was that we’d have a long honeymoon, then we’d go back to London and, guess what, I’d find another job. Nursing. I love what I do. Believe it or not, I love it a lot more than I ever loved Roger. And guess what? I’ve fallen in love again, only this time I’ve fallen in love with Flight-Aid. With the whole package. With Whale Cove Hospital, with Jancey, with Coral, with nurses who care so much they don’t even see the end of their shifts coming. Who see the place as an extension of their lives; their community.’

‘That’s not-’

‘Shut up and let me finish,’ she said. ‘Because I need to say it. Because I love what you do, too, and I’m not intending to walk away from it. I love the search and rescue component of the job-all the worthwhile things. I sneaked into the hospital when I went for a walk this morning and I talked to Jancey. I know what you did for that family last night. You got his body back so they could grieve, but more. You stayed with them. You talked them through their grief. You made George’s body presentable so by the time they saw him he didn’t look like he’d died in terror. And then you cared for Maria, you reassured her, you were just there. Jancey says sometimes you doubt that a doctor should be on these search and rescue missions, but everyone here thinks exactly that.’

‘This is nothing to do with-’

‘Me? Yes, it is, because I’m a Flight-Aid nurse. I’ve signed Coral’s contract. And there’s more. Joyce’s clinic. Her house-cum-hospital. It took my breath away. I want to be a part of that so much it’s like a part of me I didn’t know was missing. And I will be a part of it. Jancey says there’s two complete crews, two medical teams who cover inland settlements. She says if you and I can’t get along then we’ll swap teams. Mardi can come to you and I’ll go on Jake’s team.’

‘You talked to Jancey? About me?’

‘Everyone talks about you,’ she said wearily. ‘Everyone worries abut you. They love you, Riley Chase, only you don’t get it. You do this loner thing and no one can get near. Jancey says you had the pits of a childhood. Alcoholic mother. No parenting to speak of. One of the older nurses knew your mother and she said-’

‘I don’t have to listen to this.’

‘No, you don’t,’ she said. ‘Like I don’t have to listen to you saying my medicine is a plaything. I’ve come from money and neglect; you’ve come from poverty and neglect. Either way, we’ve ended up here. The only difference is that I intend to make here my home. I’ll buy an apartment here and you know what? I won’t need Adam and Lucy and Amy to make it a home for me because I’ll do it myself. Oh, and by the way, while you’re busy getting your knickers in a twist, here’s something else to get on your high horse about. I’m about to throw more money about. I’m about to set up a trust for Joyce’s House. I’ll use whatever I need to set it up as an accredited hospital. I’ll do it anonymously but I’d imagine you’ll find out, so you might as well despise me now. Not for the act. For having the capacity to do it. For what I was born into rather than what I am.’

He didn’t speak. He stood staring at her in the moonlight like she was someone he didn’t know-and didn’t want to know.

‘I know how Lucy’s mother and grandparents treated you,’ she said, her anger finally fading at little as she remembered the bald outline Lucy had told her. She had every right to be angry, but money had messed with so much of her life that in a way she understood his confusion. His emotion. If she could come to this man on his terms…

But there was no way she could. Her money was there, like it or not. She would help Joyce, and she would help other communities, even if it meant Riley looked at her the way he was looking at her now.

‘I’m not my money, Riley,’ she said softly. ‘That’s not me. I’m who you pulled out of the water, a woman at the end of her life, a woman with nothing. But one thing this week has taught me is that I only have one chance at life. And Flight-Aid is what I want. But you know what? There’s a part of me that wants more. There’s a part of me that wants…’

She faltered. She couldn’t say it. He was a stranger, standing aloof against the balcony rail, a shadow against the moonlight and the fluorescence of the sea.

He didn’t want anything. He didn’t want the posters and curtains and the accoutrements of home.

He didn’t want her.

What was she doing, being angry with him? She had no right. He’d made love to her only because she’d been needy.

She had to move on.

‘I’ll stay here for as long as Amy needs me,’ she said, making her voice even, almost calm. ‘You’re stuck with me until then and I’m sorry. I invited Amy here and that was a mistake. I should have got an apartment for her and for me. But moving now… I don’t think that’s possible without heartbreak. So I’ll stay here and we’ll lead separate lives. On Monday I’ll talk to Coral about being rostered onto a different crew from you. We’ll work apart. That’s the best I can do, Riley, but I won’t do more than that. I can’t walk away completely.’

She closed her eyes and bit her lip. This was so hard.

Just say it.

No.

Yes. Why not?

Why not be honest?

‘I can’t walk away because I’ve fallen in love,’ she said softly now, but with her dignity intact. ‘With Flight Aid, with Jancey, with Amy, with Whale Cove.’

Deep breath. Just say it.

‘And I’m very close to falling in love with you,’ she whispered. ‘Because… there’s this connection. I don’t get it, I can’t figure out why I’m feeling it, but I am. Like we’re linked. Our backgrounds. Something. I’m sorry but there it is. Honesty on all fronts. But I’m a big girl. I’ve walked alone all my life and I’m good at it. I know you don’t want whatever I’m feeling, and that’s more of a reason for me to get myself as apart from you as I can without leaving Whale Cove. So for now… you need to put up with posters, put up with sharing your home, put up with people in your life for another week or so. And then… I’m not sure what you’ll do with Lucy, but that’s up to you and Lucy. For the rest of it I’ll respect your right to be alone.’

‘Pippa…’

‘There’s nothing else to say,’ she said, and then before she could stop herself she stepped forward, took his hands in hers and stood on tiptoe.

She kissed him and it was a kiss of farewell. She wasn’t leaving but she was moving away.

He didn’t respond. He didn’t touch her.

There was nothing else to be said. She released his hands. She walked inside and she closed the door behind her.