Zo

by Leanne Owens

  The two women caught up on each other’s lives while Nick was absent. When he returned ten minutes later, they knew from his expression that he had bad news. He hesitated in the door, looking at the two beautiful women sitting in the artificial rainforest and he wondered how he’d break the news to them. Be straight up, he told himself, they’re not just remarkable to look at, they’re both strong. He could sense that about them and, after listening to some of Lynette’s stories about their childhoods, he understood why they had matured into strong women who could cope with whatever life threw at them.

  ‘It’s not good,’ he began, shaking his head. ‘Nurse Jenkins didn’t want to tell me about it, but I convinced her we needed to know. Ally tried to kill herself not long before we arrived. She went out into the gardens and cut her wrists. Peter found her. When he ordered the blood for her, it turns out she’d broken into the medical room and destroyed any of the blood that could help her. So, Peter ordered the medical team to give her a direct transfusion from him because he’s the same blood type. Now everyone is in an uproar because they might lose them both, but Peter told them that if he woke up and Ally didn’t, he would shut the hospital and fire them all. Everyone’s a bit stressed.’

  ‘Oh my God,’ Lynette put her hands to her mouth, ‘What was Ally thinking?’

  ‘I can’t believe it,’ said Sandy, looking at her friend. ‘She was the one always preaching to us about how important life is, and while there’s life there’s hope. Why would she do that?

  From what Nick had heard from Lynette about this friend who had done so much to lift them out of ordinary lives into great ones, it did seem out of character. It had been so long since they had seen her that they couldn’t know what pressures she had been under. Mental illness could change a person beyond what anyone would recognise. ‘Believe it, and it sounds like she planned it well and doesn’t expect to fail. Depression knows no bounds and can make life too painful to choose, no matter what they once believed.’

  ‘We have to go to them,’ said Lynette.

  ‘You can’t. They’re being brought back up to the hospital now and they’re flying in blood for them both.’ He paused and cocked his head to one side, hearing the faint throbbing of the air, ‘That’s probably it now. She said a chopper would bring it in.’

  ‘Will they evac them to Brisbane?’ Sandy asked, her head bent slightly to the side as she listened to the increasing sound of the helicopter.

  ‘Apparently not. The medical facilities here are as good as any major hospital for this sort of emergency, or so Nurse Jenkins told me. They have to deal with a few attempted suicides that get past the security measures.’

  ‘How sad,’ Lynette shook her head. ‘The people who come here usually have plenty of money and looks and success, and yet they don’t want to live.’

  ‘It’s not something they can help,’ Nick told her softly, thinking of friends who had succumbed to clinical depression. ‘In many, the chemical imbalance of the brain that causes the overwhelming sense of sadness doesn’t respond to money, looks or success – it just is.’

  ‘You’re right, of course,’ Lynette shrugged, realising that she'd uttered her words without thinking.

  ‘I’m not sure what we should do now. I don’t suppose they want us anywhere near Ally and Peter right now.’

  ‘I guess we just wait, then,’ Sandy moved to one of the chairs and gracefully lowered herself into it, taking another swig of beer. ‘Do you know if Andrew is coming?’

  ‘I haven’t spoken to him in the last month or two,’ said Lynette, taking a seat in one of the other chairs, ‘but he’ll drop everything, like us. I’ll have hell to pay about leaving the conference like I did, but even if my career is over, I have to be here.’

  ‘Yeah, well, I walked out on the biggest movie of my career, the one that was going to clean up all the awards, and I haven’t turned my phone on to take the abuse from the director and producer who will want my head on a plate.’ Sandy shrugged and drained the last of the beer. ‘But I’m glad I’m here.’ She swung her green gaze to Nick who was now sitting in a chair next to Lynette, his knee touching hers. ‘So, Nick, tell me more about you. Lynette has never been one to be impulsive in the romance department, so I’m curious about what is going on here.’

  Lynette rolled her eyes at her friend, wishing she wouldn’t go there, but Nick leaned forward and patted Lynette’s knee affectionately, ‘I’m curious, too. Before I met her yesterday, I was getting ready for business negotiations, and I have no idea what happened. I feel like I was run over by a train with grey eyes, and I’d cheerfully stand up and get run over again just to be here.’

  Half an hour later, as they were sipping coffee from the espresso machine in the corner and avoiding talking about what was happening with Peter and Ally, the door opened and Andrew strode in, closely followed by Marcus.

  Nick smiled when both women jumped up and ran to the tall, lean man he recognised from various meetings in the US, making high pitched screeching sounds as they crossed the room. Andrew’s face melted from cool, model perfection to grinning delight. He spread his arms and grabbed both women when they flung themselves at him. They danced around in a circle, holding each other tightly in a group hug, very much three excited teens rather than successful adults on the verge of turning sixty.

  While they jumped around together, Nick rose and offered his hand to Marcus.

  ‘Nick Carter. I’m here with Lynette.’

  ‘Marcus Kennedy,’ Marcus took his hand and shook it firmly. ‘Andrew’s husband.’ There was an appraising look in his eyes as he watched for Nick’s reaction, but there was none.

  ‘Then you’re quite a few steps ahead of Lynette and me. We only met yesterday.’

  ‘Here?’

  Nick snorted and shook his head, ‘Paris. She needed a lift to here. The commercial flights wouldn’t have had her here until tomorrow.’

  ‘Ah, Nick Carter,’ Marcus nodded, the information clicking into place in his mind as the name, the Texas accent, and the fact that he had a plane to offer a lift to Lynette came together, ‘we have met before, some years back. My uncle sold you that nice bay yearling filly by Elusive Quality. I think you called her something like Fast Aza Falcon.’

  Nick smiled broadly, ‘That was her. Should have called her Slow Aza Sloth. Beautiful filly, though. She’s the favourite of the kids on our farm. I think you were there with your uncle at her first race.’

  ‘That was me. She ran stone, motherless last. I’d backed her to win.’

  They both laughed.

  ‘Nick, this is Andrew Lee,’ Lynette stepped back from their gleeful greeting to make the introduction, ‘Andrew, my new friend, Nick Carter.’

  ‘New?’ Andrew picked up on the adjective as he extended his hand to Nick, ‘Good to see you again, Nick.’

  ‘Again?’ Lynette looked from one to the other.

  ‘I’ll explain my ‘again’ if you explain your ‘new’. Deal?’

  ‘That’s easy. Nick and I met yesterday for the first time and he flew me here in his jet.’

  ‘That’s pretty cool,’ Andrew chucked her under the chin with a finger, ‘you never used to be such a fast mover, Lynny-Mo, I’m impressed. Nick helped with one of my pet projects some years back – helping women in developing countries become financially independent. Nick donated all the equipment needed for several cooperatives to start their own businesses.’

  ‘I read about those projects of yours,’ Lynette nodded her head in approval. ‘The standard of living and education levels sky-rocketed after they went into effect.’

  Andrew nodded, ‘The cooperatives Nick sponsored are some of the big success stories. They now employ over five hundred women across a score of villages, and they’ve funded several schools and health centres with the profits. They also take care of orphans and unwed mothers. It’s brilliant.’

  ‘Enough of fixing the world’s problems,’ Sandy interrupted. ‘We have to get you up to speed on what is g
oing on with Ally and Peter.’

  ‘First, Sandy, Lynette – this is Marcus Kennedy, my husband.’

  ‘How come we weren’t invited to the wedding?’ Sandy frowned at Andrew, her hands on her hips in a challenging fashion. ‘Not good enough for you?’

  ‘Sorry about that, it was a private affair,’ he explained. ‘We had to keep it quiet. My father would have killed himself – quite literally - and some of Marcus’ family haven’t come to terms with a gay Kennedy. But I should have known you two would have been OK with it and invited you.’

  With a sharp smack to his arm, Lynette admonished him, ‘Yes, you should have. And congratulations.’

  ‘Nice to meet you both,’ Marcus flashed his perfect white teeth at them in a movie-star smile, ‘I’ve heard so much about you both and I’m a huge fan of yours, Sandy.’

  ‘Thank you, that’s always lovely to hear,’ Sandy inclined her head graciously, then proceeded to bring Andrew up to date with what was happening with Peter and Ally.

  ‘So, we don’t know if they’re OK or if we’re going to lose both?’ he asked, visibly shaken.

  ‘I doubt the staff will obey Peter’s instructions,’ Nick pointed out, thinking of the possible consequences of those actions. ‘If they let him die, they could be charged with manslaughter or worse. They’re not going to let that happen to their chief doctor and employer in order to save a patient. I think the main concern is that Ally may not recover as she had lost so much blood and, if they do save her, there could be problems due to oxygen deprivation.’

  ‘I didn’t even think you could do a person-to-person blood transfusion,’ said Sandy. ‘Obviously Peter knew he was the right blood type, but doesn’t blood have to be treated or something before a transfusion?’

  Marcus took this one up since he had several doctors and surgeons in his family and had spent some time considering a medical career before deciding on law. ‘It’s almost never done because of possible diseases being transmitted so all blood transfusions are done with blood that has been collected and tested. One of the major problems is determining how much the donor gives, a risk I’m sure Peter understood if he was telling his people to, basically, drain him. If the blood types match and Peter is clear of disease and the medical staff keep a close eye on blood pressure so that he doesn’t give more than he can afford to lose, then it is relatively safe to do.’

  ‘Relatively,’ repeated Sandy with a disapproving shake of her head, hoping Peter’s love for Ally didn’t end his life. ‘Well, I hope he managed to save her without too much risk to himself. And I hope we know what to do to keep Ally wanting to live, I mean, really - how do we stop her repeating this?’

  ‘Nick said something that struck me as important,’ Lynette looked up at the man she had met yesterday and, for a moment, lost herself in the depth of his eyes. It was crazy to feel like this in the space of a day. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. ‘He pointed out that if Zo is half the man she thinks he is, then he won’t want her to die, he’ll want her to live. I think that’s what we can do - convince her that he would want her to live.’

  ‘What about psychiatric help?’ suggested Marcus.

  Andrew shook his head emphatically, ‘No, definitely not. That’s part of what went wrong when we lost her. She could accept everything about us, and we couldn’t accept her version of reality. I think it’s time to see Zo as part of her life, as though he’s as real to us as he is to her. I don’t want to lose her again.’

  ‘If we get a second chance,’ said Lynette in a sad voice as she remembered her part in trying to force Ally to receive the help they offered for mental illness. It was difficult to consider the notion that she was not mentally ill, and accept the notion of a second life that was real, but, in hindsight, they could have embraced that. ‘I don’t think she ever really recovered from losing her parents, then she felt as though she’d lost us because we ganged up on her with that treatment. I’m not going anywhere near something like that again. I just want to have her in my life, Zo and all.’

  ‘Agreed,’ Sandy nodded. ‘I want to go to an awards ceremony and look out into the audience and see her there. Everything I’ve ever won is because she was there for me when I needed her. I want to have an annual reunion with you guys and have Ally there to make us complete. I want to grow old knowing all of us have each other’s backs. I think one of the reasons we haven’t seen enough of each other is the guilt about losing Ally. We haven’t wanted to face it.’

  Andrew took one of her small hands in his and gave it a comforting squeeze. ‘We’re facing it now. We did what we thought was right at the time and now we know it wasn’t. We’ve learned. And let’s pray that we are given a second chance to prove to Ally that we need her to stay with us.’

  Nurse Jenkins quietly entered the room to let them know that Peter was conscious and would be able to see them within the hour.

  ‘And Ally?’ asked Lynette.

  ‘She is stable at present, but not awake, and even if there are no further complications, I doubt she’ll be up to visitors before tomorrow. Dr Barker has told us that you’ll be staying in his house here at Kamekura, so I can show you there now, if you like. You can come back to see him later.’

  They followed her out of the jungle, through the hospital, and across the lawns to a house hidden behind a citrus orchard. A large Colonial home in sandstone with wide verandas on all sides overlooked the gardens that were a feature of Kamekura. The interior indicated the hand of a talented decorator at work, with antique furniture and artworks blending seamlessly with twenty first century technology and comfort. Three large bedrooms with king sized beds and private bathrooms had been prepared for Sandy, Lynette, and Andrew and, after showing them to their rooms, Nurse Jenkins excused herself and invited them to return to reception when they were ready, and she’d take them to see Peter.

  ‘So…’ Lynette eyed the large bed in her room and then looked at Nick next to her, clicking her tongue in thought a couple of times. She didn’t want to presume that he was prepared to stay with her in this room, but she didn’t want him to think that she didn’t want him there, because she did. ‘I rather like the look of this bed…are you staying? I mean, here, at Pete’s place? I imagine you need to get back to work. We could always ask for another room for you, if you’re staying and don’t want to...’

  Entertained by her clumsy attempt to find out what he intended to do, he cut into her uncharacteristically awkward speech, ‘I’ve had more entertainment in the past 30 hours than I’ve had in a year,’ he said quite seriously, taking her right hand and raising it gently to his lips, noting how Lynette’s eyes closed when she felt his warm breath on her skin. He kissed her hand, his lips lingering on the backs of her fingers. ‘So, if you don’t mind, I’m thinking I might stay around a bit longer.’

  Forcing herself to breathe after feeling his kiss, Lynette allowed him to lead her by the hand across the room. He sat on the edge of the bed, bounced a couple of times, and then grinned up at her, a devil of mischief in his eyes. With a quick move, he pulled her down to sit on his lap. She erupted into laughter at his action.

  ‘I think what we achieved at a mile high should be replicated quite well, and frequently, at ground level, don’t you?’ he teased, leaning back on the bed, and pulling her with him so that she sprawled across his chest, shaking with chuckles. ‘And this does seem like an extremely comfortable bed, don’t you think? So, Dr Morrison, are you game?’

  Rolling off him on to her back so that she gazed up at the ceiling, Lynette felt more comfortable. She was painfully aware that youth was the age for a woman to look down at her lover. With decreasing elasticity of the skin, looking down on him at her age had him looking up at a face that was sagging towards him like melting icing. ‘I’m game, but are you sure? I’m nothing like the women you are well known for preferring. I’ve seen the photos from social pages – good taste, of course, in all those lovely models so much younger than you.’

  ‘You ma
y not be doing front covers of fashion magazines,’ he rolled on to his side and propped his head up with one arm to look at her, a gleam in his eyes as he took in her flushed features, ‘but you may well be a model of perfection. Perhaps it’s time I dated someone who’s on the front covers of business magazines,’ he slowly trailed a finger up her arm watching her shiver in anticipation at his touch, ‘but according to my file on you, you don’t date anyone.’

  Lynette smiled at him and winked, ‘I don’t date anyone who talks to the media about dating me,’ she corrected, ‘and I don’t take them to nightclubs so the paparazzi can get photos of us together, but I’m not an ice princess, you know.’

  ‘So I’ve discovered.’

  ‘And how long before you realise you miss your sweet, young things?’

  ‘At least a day,’ he shrugged, his eyes on her lips. ‘We can have another day together, can’t we?’

  Lynette frowned, pretending to give this serious consideration, ‘I guess we can have another day. So, this bed is OK for you tonight? With me in it? And then we’ll re-negotiate tomorrow?’

  ‘I’ll seal that contract right now,’ he leaned over and sought her lips.

  ‘Better close the door,’ she struggled to say the words through an imprisoned mouth. ‘And lock it.’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Together Again.

  Kamekura Private Hospital, Queensland. May, 2019

  After putting their belongings in their rooms and freshening up, Sandy, Andrew, and Marcus relaxed in the lounge waiting for Lynette and Nick to appear, sharing meaningful glances and small smiles when they did, but saying nothing. The soundproofing in the house had room for improvement. Once together, they went to see Peter who was in the hospital section of Kamekura. They found him alert and cranky as he argued with his doctor, an attractive, tall blonde woman who looked too young to have finished a medical degree.

  They stood outside his room, out of his line of vision, listening to him arguing about staying in the hospital bed for the night. It looked more like a five-star hotel suite than a hospital room, apart from the medical outlets in the wall and the disinfectant handwash over a basin. The room bubbled in cheery shades of yellow, pink, and white, with vases of roses in matching colours and artworks on the walls echoing the tones, giving the impression that the decorator had studied, Colours to Prevent Depression and Lift the Spirit 101.