And she hadn’t even thought about Simon Kent since…since the first few minutes of that helicopter ride with Mike last night. The crisis of Megan going missing and then the search and rescue effort had driven Simon completely out of her head. And if that hadn’t been enough to do it, those few minutes with Mike in the ICU staffroom certainly had been.
It probably always would have that effect, too, no matter what happened in her immediate future. The bubble of anticipation Emily had now was a very new sensation. Even the seed of a possibility that Mike could be interested was giving Emily more excitement—and trepidation—than any man’s interest had ever produced before.
The sensation was as scary as it was exciting. Emily knew how she felt about Mike but she had never allowed herself more than the odd fantasy that the order of the universe might change enough for him to see her as more than a friend. This could be it. The one with all the bells and whistles on. The falling into love so deeply she would never be able—or want—to surface.
This was potentially huge.
It had never been huge with Simon. Or even Cameron, the fiancé of a decade ago. On both occasions she had been flattered by the avid initial interest of the men. With Cameron, she had still had the promise of time and a chance for real love to develop. With Simon, it had felt like time was running out and she would be stupid to miss the opportunity and not give it her best shot. If it was another ten years before she attracted a partner, she would be too old to fulfil her longing for a family of her own.
She had liked Simon. There had certainly been some physical chemistry present, which had been totally absent with the other single males living in the doctors’ quarters at the time. Simon had been charming and very attentive, at least to start with, and Emily hadn’t had to work too hard to convince herself that she had been in love.
She had been. But not with the person Simon really was. Emily had fallen in love with the person he’d presented in order to charm her into his bed and the effort had worn off within a few months. He’d been bored by then but gratified by Emily’s efforts to keep him interested. He’d rewarded her compliance but Emily had made the mistake of abdicating any possibility of an equal partnership during their first disagreement.
Simon’s temper had been frightening, and in retrospect Emily could see that his shouting at her had marked the beginning of the end. Her withdrawal had been self-protection. Simon had mirrored the withdrawal and it became increasingly evident to everyone that he was no longer interested. In her, or in working in an isolated hospital such as Crocodile Creek.
Why had they kept the relationship going as long as they had? Habit? The awkwardness of living and working so closely would have meant that one of them would have been obliged to move on if they’d broken up with each other. Simon had made no secret of the fact he had been looking for a better opportunity employment-wise elsewhere. Simon would have gone and Emily would have stayed and the break-up would have been perfectly civilised if a better opportunity in a personal arena hadn’t arrived in the form of dark, vivacious Kirsty just a few months ago.
Emily wrote ‘suxemethonium’ on the label for the last syringe she had drawn up and laid it beside the row of others on the lip of the anaesthetic machine. It was time for her to go and talk to Mr Gibbons and make sure he was ready for his surgery, but she didn’t move for another few moments because the thought of Kirsty had unearthed another cringe-making memory.
She had suggested to Mike that Kirsty was perfect for him, but her motivation had hardly been altruistic, had it?
Kirsty had been quite open about the fact she was on the hunt for male companionship from the moment she’d arrived in town, and Emily had seen the way her gaze had riveted itself to Mike when they had met for the first time out by the swimming pool.
And no wonder! Mike wore a traditional, small swimsuit rather than board shorts and the sheer, male presence was overpowering—even for people who were quite used to it by now. Like Emily.
Factor in the setting sun casting a bronze glow on already olive skin, wild black curls shaking a fountain of water free whenever he emerged from a dive and that contagious, mischievous grin, and they had all known it had only been a question of when, not if, Mike and Kirsty got it together.
So Emily had suggested it, after Kirsty had disappeared to get changed for her night shift in Emergency. She had done it because Simon had been there and he had been staring at Kirsty just as much as the other men, if not more. The motivation hadn’t been to find the perfect partner for her friend, however. It hadn’t even been to stop Simon’s desire to stray. The suggestion had been prompted by the self-reproach Emily had felt her due for having the ridiculous thought that she herself wanted to be the one to fill that particular gap in Mike’s life.
Perhaps it had been a test, set instinctively. Kirsty was so different to Emily. Tall, pretty, outgoing and dark. Greek-looking, in fact. Sophia would approve of any potential grandchildren. And if Mike was as keen as Emily feared he might be, then that would add weight to her certainty that someone like herself would never enter the picture on a romantic basis. That confirmation would force her to curtail any fantasies and get on with her own life. Alone, probably, if she and Simon couldn’t recapture any of the closeness they had started their relationship with.
Mike wasn’t in the least reluctant to follow up the suggestion either. That should be ringing a very loud alarm bell for Emily concerning the sincerity of what he might have been going to say last night. And it was. The problem was that that alarm was being drowned by that almost liquid sensation of excitement.
Or was it lust? Had those fantasies she’d added to bit by tiny, guilty bit over the last two years become some kind of addiction? One that was strong enough to lead her into taking any opportunity to fill even a tiny part of them, no matter what the consequences?
Emily shook the thought away and moved. The sooner she had company and couldn’t agonise over this, the better. She would find out soon enough.
Mr Gibbons was looking quite relaxed as he waited patiently in the admissions area. He was more concerned about his wife.
‘She hasn’t said it directly but I know she thinks they might have made a mistake in saying the tumour was benign. She works herself up over something like this, Dr Morgan. Maybe you could have another word with her?’
‘Is she in the hospital at the moment?’
‘They’ve told her to wait in the relatives’ room next to Recovery.’
Emily sped in that direction.
‘All the tests have been conclusive so far,’ she reminded a tearful Mrs Gibbons. ‘And we’ll be doing more during the operation. They’ll send a good-sized piece of the tumour to our pathologist to look at under a microscope. It’s very, very unlikely that they’ve missed anything.’
‘But you’ll let me know? As soon as you’re sure?’
‘Of course.’
Entering the corridor again, Emily glanced at her watch, hoping for a window of a couple of minutes so she could duck into Intensive Care again. She couldn’t feel annoyed at the time Mrs Gibbons had stolen, however. Relatives were a part of every case, weren’t they? Patients themselves in their own way.
How were Megan’s relatives doing? The guilt that she hadn’t found the time to call them herself yet took Emily by surprise. So did the voice behind her.
‘Good morning, Dr Morgan.’
‘Oh! Charles!’ Emily swung around just as the doors to ICU came into view. ‘Is it still morning? I’m losing track.’
Almost lunchtime,’ Charles admitted. ‘How much sleep did you end up getting?’
‘Enough.’
‘Busy in Theatre?’
‘Usual Monday stuff. It’s busy because I keep going back to check on Megan.’
‘I’m just about to go and review her case myself. How much time have you got?’
‘None.’ Emily grimaced as she checked her watch again. ‘We’ve got a partial gastrectomy due to start in two minutes.’
‘Come back after that. I’ll be able to bring you up to speed by then.’
‘Can you check that the last chest films have come through? We’ve got ARDS to deal with now.’
‘Of course. Anything else pressing?’
‘It’s just occurred to me that I haven’t contacted her parents. I know Jill rang last night when we admitted her to the unit but, as her primary physician, I should talk to them myself.’
‘I spoke to Jim this morning,’ Charles said. ‘We go way back and I thought he might appreciate a personal touch.’
‘Thanks, that was good of you. How much did you tell them?’
‘I said that Megan is seriously unwell and that if there’s any way they can get into town, they should.’
‘Did you tell them why?’
‘That there’s a good possibility she’s not going to survive? Yes.’ Charles nodded grimly. ‘I didn’t say that the mortality rate for septic shock was at least fifty per cent but I made the gravity of her condition pretty clear.’
‘No, I meant the cause of the septic shock.’
Charles shook his head and looked slightly uncomfortable. ‘That’s a minefield that will need careful handling. If it’s at all possible, it should be Megan’s choice over how it gets handled. I’ve told her parents that she has septicaemia. Blood poisoning. I did hint that it might have gynaecological connections and Honey picked up on that immediately. She’s read about septic shock caused by tampons being left in too long and she’s assuming that’s the problem. I didn’t try and change her mind. I’m ashamed to say I fudged.’
‘You did the right thing,’ Emily told him. And you’ve no doubt done a far better job than I would have. I’ll leave you to it and get back to Theatre for a bit.’ She grinned at Charles. ‘I’ve got some haemorrhoids and an ingrown toenail to look forward to after lunch.’
A few steps down the corridor, Emily turned again. ‘How’s Lucky, do you know, Charles? Have you seen him this morning?’
‘I held his bottle.’ Charles didn’t smile that often and when he did, the transformation of his face was worth seeing. ‘I suspect he’s going to grow up to be a member of the Wallabies rugby team.’
Emily took the image of that softening of Charles’s craggy features back into Theatre with her like a talisman. Baby Lucky had touched all their hearts. His mother was going to get through this crisis. She had to. And she couldn’t fail to fall in love with her baby when she did. The staff of the entire hospital loved the infant already.
Lunch was late for Emily because the analysis of the biopsies on Mr Gibbons’s tumour had taken longer than expected, but the news was good and the visit to the intensive care unit to find Megan still stable buoyed Emily’s mood even further.
When she ducked into a still crowded cafeteria to grab one of Dora Grubb’s legendary chicken salad sandwiches, Emily found that the involvement with Baby Lucky’s case was spreading rapidly into the community of Crocodile Creek as well. There seemed to be a baby shower happening, and it wasn’t just hospital staff members forming the crowd.
Emily could see Cal talking animatedly to George Poulos, Mike’s father. Harry, the local cop, was there, and even his father, whom Emily knew was involved in the running of the largest sugar mill in the district. He’d been a key figure in a large fundraising effort a couple of years ago to help purchase the new rescue helicopter.
‘What’s going on?’
Emily bypassed the sandwich cooler and stared at the array of items covering a table.
‘Isn’t this cool?’ Christina was smiling happily. ‘People read about Lucky in Saturday’s paper and they’ve started bringing gifts. Look, there’s even a pram, and Kylie knitted those bootees herself. Said she spent all day yesterday doing it.’
Emily grinned. The community on this side of the bridge was small but almost self-contained, thanks to the tiny shopping centre near the Athina hotel. Kylie ran Klipz, the hair-dressing salon favoured by hospital staff, and the thought of the Dolly Parton look-alike, who was also the source of any juicy gossip to be had, sitting down for a day knitting bootees was incongruous enough to be delightful.
‘And Sophia Poulos made this.’ Christine picked up a small piece of embroidery that had blue beads sewn in a pretty pattern. Apparently it’s for luck. We need to pin it somewhere near the bassinet and that will help us find Lucky’s mother.’
‘They haven’t been spitting anywhere, have they?’
‘What?’ Christina looked startled but Emily just smiled, busy scanning the room. If Mike’s parents were here, there was a good chance he would be here as well.
But Emily just knew he wasn’t. She would have sensed his presence—as she always had. It was only just after 1 p.m. and he was probably still sound asleep. An image of what he would look like sprawled on his bed, with just a sheet carelessly scrunched over his lower body, actually brought a flush of heat that threatened to ambush Emily’s cheeks. When Cal tapped loudly on the side of his coffee-cup with a spoon, Emily gladly gave him her attention.
‘You’ve all heard me rabbiting on a bit in the last few days,’ Cal said.
‘About Gina?’ someone with a suspiciously Hamish-like Scottish accent suggested from the back of the room. ‘Noo!’
Everybody laughed and Cal went slightly pink, which did not suit the burnt red curls framing his face. He tried to look stern.
‘I’m talking about the kids up at the Wygera Settlement. My idea of getting them a swimming pool as an incentive to keep them out of trouble and get them to go to school.’
A few heads were nodding. Most of the staff, including Emily, had at some time gone to one of the regular weekly clinics held at the Australian Aboriginal settlement. And it wasn’t just Lucky who had caught the community’s interest in the last few days. An awful car crash involving kids from the settlement and its aftermath had started a lot of people talking about the issues and whether something—anything—could be done that would really help. Cal’s idea was great but dauntingly expensive.
‘If we’re going to get any serious support from politicians we’re going to have to show them we mean business.’ Cal smiled at two men standing nearby. ‘Tony Blake wants a focus for a new fundraiser for the mill and George Poulos has just offered to host a dinner at the Athina on Saturday night. We’ll invite every businessman in the area and see just how much support we can drum up.’ Cal was smiling delightedly now. ‘It’ll be a great night. The best Greek food, music and probably a spot of plate-smashing as well.’
Sophia was making a beeline for her husband, her body language suggesting that her plates would be protected at all costs. George, however, was nodding and smiling benignly in response to the wave of encouraging and appreciative noises coming from the audience.
Emily edged her way towards Cal, collecting a chicken salad sandwich and a carton of juice on the way.
‘You wouldn’t be just trying to avoid those haemorrhoids, by any chance, Dr Jamieson?’
‘Oh, Lord!’ Cal’s gaze went straight to the large clock on the wall. ‘We are late. I got a bit carried away.’
‘It’s a brilliant idea,’ Emily told him as they both hurried back towards Theatre. ‘And well worth getting carried away by.’
‘So you’ll come to the dinner? Set price, and all profits are going to the pool fund.’
‘If I can,’ Emily agreed readily. ‘It’ll depend on rosters and how Megan is doing, of course.’ It might also depend on the outcome of a conversation with the youngest member of the Poulos family still in town. Surely Mike would wake up soon. Emily would get back to the house by dinnertime. The opportunity to finish that conversation was getting closer.
‘It’s days away. We should know one way or the other about Megan by then.’
‘Mmm.’ Emily didn’t want to consider the possibility of losing this battle.
‘And the Athina is only ten minutes’ walk away. Three minutes if you run fast. You can go there while you’re on duty, no problem.’
; ‘OK, I’m sold.’ Emily chuckled. ‘Did you have to be this persuasive with Gina?’
‘More. That’s why I’m getting so good at it.’
‘But you guys are officially engaged now?’
‘Oh, yes.’
‘Will you stay on in the house?’
‘Not for long. Having a small boy and a large puppy will be a bit much for shared living.’
‘Not to mention that you want some space that’s just your own. Are you going house-hunting?’
‘As soon as things settle down a bit around here.’
‘Don’t go out of the cove,’ Emily warned. ‘Not if you want babysitters on tap.’ Her smile was mischievous. ‘You could move next door to the Grubbs. They’ve half adopted CJ by now.’
‘And I’d be just down the road from the Black Cockatoo. I could go and prop up the bar with Mr Grubb every night.’
‘Yeah, I can just see that.’
Emily smiled again and realised that any hint of Monday-itis was long gone. She was actually looking forward to the minor cases Cal had decided to squeeze in prior to his outpatient clinic that afternoon.
She enjoyed the challenge of providing adequate IV sedation and pain relief without administering a general anaesthetic. The good feeling engendered by both the stream of presents arriving for Lucky and the enthusiasm Cal was already generating for the swimming-pool project lifted everybody’s spirits.
And while Megan was still not improving, she was holding her own. More time for her body to recover from the extra insult of surgery, and for the antibiotics to kick in and add real muscle to the supportive intervention.
‘Any word about her parents coming in?’
‘Doesn’t sound likely, from what I’ve heard,’ Megan’s nurse relayed to Emily.’ Her mother’s going to try but it won’t be before Wednesday.’
Megan was probably no more aware of the lack of any loved ones nearby than she was of the baby close by in the hospital nursery. How sad would it be if she died without ever knowing? Emily’s last visit before she left the hospital for a dinner-break was to see Lucky, and she timed it perfectly because she got to help feed the baby.
The Doctor's Unexpected Proposal Page 9