by Lucy Clark
‘Can you come and give me a hand, please?’ She spoke as loudly as possible, trying to compete with the little girl with the big brown eyes and exceptionally good set of lungs. She called out to Tori, the senior nurse, who was still caring for Patrick.
‘I’m just going to go to the ward,’ she yelled over the din. As she headed towards the ward Harriette tried to remember what her new colleague had called the little girl. What was it? It had started with a C. Chloe? Yes, Chloe.
Harriette immediately tightened her grasp on the now squirming little girl. ‘Shh, Chloe,’ she tried to soothe. ‘It’s going to be all right.’ But even as she said the words, Harriette wasn’t so sure she was telling the truth. On the ward, after she’d located ward sister who had just finished cleaning up after a patient, Harriette quickly explained the situation and asked if she could leave Chloe here. The poor child was now screaming and thrashing about as though she were some feral animal and Harriette’s heart went out to her. The overtired toddler had lost all sense of reason and comprehension.
‘Ordinarily I’d be fine with her,’ the ward sister stated, ‘but I’m run off my feet.’
‘Call Erica. See if she can come and take care of Chloe.’
‘Good idea.’ While the ward sister placed the call, Harriette took Chloe over to a spare bed and sat down with the little girl. The child scrambled from Harriette’s grasp and bunched herself up near the pillows, wanting to get away from the stranger. She was still crying but, thankfully, not as bad as before, now that she wasn’t being held tightly.
‘My name is Harriette. I’m a doctor here.’
Chloe was breathing quickly, hiccupping a few times, and once again Harriette’s heart went out to her. ‘I’m so sorry, Chloe. Things are a bit crazy here at the moment but one of my friends, Erica, she’s going to come and stay with you. She has puppets and colouring in and stories and all sorts of fun things for you to do while you’re waiting.’ Chloe’s breathing was still fast but was starting to settle as Harriette spoke.
The ward sister came over. ‘Erica’s on her way. I’ll stay with Chloe. You go.’
‘Thanks, Sarah. I appreciate it.’ She stood and waved to Chloe, not taking it personally when the little girl turned her head away, not wanting to look at anyone.
Harriette headed off to first check the ED, then head to Theatres. What she hadn’t expected was to walk directly into a hard male chest as she pushed open the door.
‘Sorry.’ They both spoke in unison. Felix was exiting as she was entering and her hands immediately came up to his chest, in a reflex action, to belatedly protect herself. His hands landed on her shoulders. Their gazes met and held for a split second and in that second the rotation of the earth seemed to slow down completely.
Harriette was even more aware of his spicy scent mixed with earthy human sweat, a scent she found very pleasing indeed. She was also aware of the warmth tingling through her fingers as they rested against his cotton shirt and the firmness of his body beneath the clothing. He wasn’t wearing a tie and the top button of his shirt was undone. His neck was smooth and she watched his Adam’s apple slide up and down as he swallowed. Had his shirt been like that before?
She lifted her gaze back to his, her lips parting slightly as she belatedly realised he seemed to be watching her as closely as she was watching him. Her new colleague was all male. She appreciated his help and hoped it meant Felix McLaren was a good man, because he was definitely a sexy one. She smiled nervously and immediately dropped her hands, her fingertips still tingling from the touch. Time returned to normal and Felix nodded politely at her, shoving his hands into his pockets.
‘Going to the changing rooms,’ he mumbled. He started to walk off when her brain clicked back into gear.
‘Uh... Felix?’ The sound of his name on her tongue was foreign but nice at the same time. He turned on his heel and looked at her, his brow furrowed, his gaze flicking down the corridor to where he could hear Chloe crying. ‘We’re going to get Erica to come and look after her. Erica runs the day-care centre and is a retired teacher.’
‘Good.’ He turned again, seeming not to care that much about Chloe’s needs, but perhaps his thoughts were on the surgery he was about to perform. Still, Harriette should at least get some sort of identification from him, to check he really was who he said he was.
‘Felix.’ She stopped him again and this time he gave her a look that said he didn’t like being waylaid. ‘I was...uh...’ Good heavens. Why was she stuttering and finding it difficult to speak? She knew it couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that her fingers were still tingling from touching his chest, nor that his face had been so incredibly close to hers, nor that his spice scent was continuing to tantalise her tired mind.
‘What is it?’ His tone was brisk and impatient, as though she were a first-year medical student daring to speak to the high and mighty surgeon. It was enough to snap her from the trance their accidental contact had created. Harriette squared her shoulders and lifted her chin.
‘I’d like to see some identification, please. After all, you’re about to operate on a patient here and quite frankly you could be any Tom, Dick or Harry who just says they’re a doctor.’
His jaw clenched. ‘That’s ludicrous. Besides, I thought small hospitals didn’t care so much about red tape.’
‘I’m not asking you to fill in a mountain of forms, Felix.’ Her own exasperation was starting to rise. If he was who he said he was, why couldn’t he just show her a driver’s licence to put her mind at ease? And why should he make her feel guilty about protecting her patients? ‘I’m asking to see some identification, which I don’t think, given the circumstances, is at all unreasonable.’
Exhaling harshly, he shoved his hand into the back pocket of his trousers and pulled out his wallet, opening it to reveal his Australian driver’s licence, which had his name, address and date of birth as well as a picture that most definitely matched the handsome man before her.
‘Satisfied?’
‘Thank you.’
‘Can I go now?’ He jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the corridor where the changing rooms were situated.
She bit her tongue as a thousand answers came into her mind of where she wanted to tell him to stick his overbearing and dictatorial attitude. ‘Yes. I’ll be assisting you in Theatre.’
‘Fine.’ He rubbed a hand across his forehead, then turned on his heel and headed towards the changing rooms. Was it strange for him, to just walk into a strange hospital and then operate in a strange theatre? She knew he would have come in on the daily flight to Meeraji Lake but where had he travelled from? Had today’s journey been a short hop from Darwin or Alice Springs or had he been travelling for days?
‘What do you think of the new doctor?’ Tori asked Harriette when she returned to the ED to assess Bazza and his brawling mates. Henry had arrived and thankfully his police presence was stopping the men from starting anything else.
So many thoughts went through her mind at Tori’s question. She thought Felix was exceptionally handsome but also brisk to the point of rudeness. Of course if she’d confessed that to the nurse, who was counting down the weeks until her wedding day, Tori would have plied her with excited questions and then tried to matchmake them. Why did engaged couples feel that every unattached person around them needed to be paired off?
‘I don’t think anything,’ Harriette responded. ‘Patrick’s been taken to Theatre?’ she asked in an effort to ensure they didn’t remain on the topic of the new surgeon.
‘Yes.’
‘Good. If you’re OK to finish cleaning and stitching the wounds of our bar-room brawlers, I’ll head over there.’
‘Go. I’ll keep the ED under control.’
‘Thanks, Tori.’
Harriette did her best to keep her thoughts one hundred percent strictly professional a
s she changed into theatre garb. She was also conscious that Chloe didn’t seem to be screaming the hospital down any more. Clearly Erica had arrived to lend a hand, so that was another problem dealt with. ‘Two down, one to go.’ She left the changing rooms and headed to the anteroom, joining Felix at the scrub sink.
‘What did the ultrasound show?’ she asked Felix.
‘Confirmed enlarged appendix.’ He finished scrubbing and elbowed off the taps, grabbing a sterile towel to dry his hands. ‘I’ll see you in there.’
Harriette watched him with curiosity as he headed into Theatre, hands upheld, back to the swinging door in order to push it open and keep his hands sterile. He was clearly focused on what needed to happen with the operation, which was a good thing, but in some respects she’d expected him to ask about the three bar-room brawlers or at least to ask how Chloe was.
Perhaps it wasn’t so strange that Felix hadn’t asked about Chloe or the brawlers. Perhaps it was just Harriette’s way of thinking as she’d worked the majority of her medical life in small district hospitals. She’d only done two years at a major teaching hospital and that had been enough to make her hurry back to the small country hospital that had been her refuge for so many years. A small community where she’d been able to figure out her life, to get the help she’d needed when her parents had—
‘Now is not the time to think about that,’ she chided herself softly as she finished scrubbing, and by the time she entered Theatre she had forced her mind not to think about the bar-room brawlers, not to think about little Chloe, not to think about the other patients who were presently undergoing treatment or recuperation in the ward. Her mind was always so busy that getting it to focus on one solitary thought really did require her concentration.
‘Are you fine if I take point?’ he asked as she stood on the opposite side of the table to him. Patrick was draped, prepped and sedated. Bill stood beside Felix in order to provide immediate nursing assistance and Adonni, one of the nurses who was also trained in anaesthetics, was monitoring Patrick closely. They were ready to remove the offending appendix before it perforated and caused them more problems.
‘Absolutely. I’m sure Pat would be honoured to be your first surgical patient here in Meeraji Lake,’ she said.
‘You’ve got that right,’ Adonni added.
‘I prefer not to think of my patients by name while they’re on my operating table,’ Felix stated.
‘Really? I’ve always found it helps me to concentrate better, to know that Pat needs my full attention, that I need to do my best for him. That sort of thing.’
‘I do not and I’d kindly thank you to refrain from speaking in such a way because the last thing I need now is to lose my concentration.’ There was a crispness to his tone that brooked no argument. Harriette glanced at Adonni, the two of them sharing a brief look before apologising.
Thankfully, the surgery went well, with no complications. Felix managed to remove the appendix before it perforated. ‘At least Pa...er...the patient won’t be faced with a case of peritonitis thanks to your careful and brilliant skills, Dr McLaren,’ she stated as he started to close the wound. ‘Has it been a while since you’ve removed an appendix via laparotomy rather than laparoscopically?’ she asked as they finished up.
‘No.’ He gave Adonni the nod to reverse the anaesthetic.
‘Oh. That’s surprising. I thought the majority of big hospitals now only remove the appendix via—’
‘What if the patient’s allergic to the gas used to inflate the stomach as required for laparoscopic appendectomy?’ he interrupted.
‘Ah, of course. Then the patient would require a laparotomy.’
‘Precisely.’ Felix stepped away from the table and started to degown. Adonni began to reverse the anaesthetic and Bill gave her a nod, indicating he was ready to take over monitoring Patrick.
As they were degowning Harriette decided that even if Felix was all gruff and grumpy it was no reason for her to act in the same way. She smiled at him.
‘Thank you for operating, Felix.’
Felix didn’t bother to look at her and she clenched her jaw, forcing her smile to stay in place.
‘Good. Now, if you wouldn’t mind showing me to the doctors’ residence, I’d like to get settled in.’
‘Of course but uh...’ She frowned and pointed in the direction of the ward. ‘What about Chloe? Your daughter?’
Felix stared at her blankly for what seemed like a few long seconds. ‘Yes, yes. Chloe.’ He frowned as though he really had forgotten he had a child. It begged the question of what had happened to the child’s mother. Had she passed away? Had they divorced? Was she due to arrive in Meeraji Lake at a later date? At any rate, it did strike Harriette as a little more than odd that he’d forgotten he had a daughter. ‘Of course I have Chloe to consider but I thought it best if I could get set up at my new digs before bringing her across. If that’s OK with the ward sister and...er...whoever you said was going to help look after her.’
‘Erica. I’m sure it’ll be fine.’ Harriette pulled off her cap and tossed it into a recycle bin. ‘Just let me change into a fresh pair of scrubs. Won’t be a minute and I’ll show you where you’re staying.’ She turned and spun on her heel, sprinting to the change rooms before he could say another word. Within a minute she was back before him, beckoning him to follow her.
‘Feel better now?’ he grumbled, as though her changing had caused him great inconvenience. ‘I also need to check my bags have been sent to the residence from the airstrip. The pilot told me that he would take care of it.’
‘Dale’s a good lad and a good pilot. They’ll be there and if they’re not, we’ll just chase them up. In a town this small, it shouldn’t take us too long to find a few suitcases.’
‘Hmm.’ He frowned again, trying to control the surge of irritation and impatience coursing through him. He was beyond exhausted and all he wanted now was to find his bed and sleep, but of course he had Chloe to consider, his bags to find, a thousand things to think about before he could give in to the need to sleep. It wasn’t as though he wasn’t used to this sort of tiredness—he was—but travelling with a small child and dealing with her tantrums had wiped him out. Give him a hectic operating schedule any day rather than dealing with a three-year-old.
‘Are you ready to head over now?’
‘I’d like to change out of my scrubs.’ And to have a shower and something to eat and drink, he wanted to add, but that information was irrelevant and, besides, he wasn’t sure he had the reserve energy to do any of those things.
Harriette shrugged, her disposition still cheerful. Did the woman have any other setting? He wasn’t sure he could work around someone who smiled too much. ‘I prefer to wear them most of the time when I’m working at the hospital.’ She chuckled and the tinkling sound washed over him, soothing him a little, which, he had to confess, surprised him. How could a person’s laughter be relaxing? He’d certainly never felt anything like that before. He looked at her lips, her perfectly formed pink lips, which, even as she spoke, seemed to be curved upwards in a smile. ‘You go change. I’ll check on Chloe and let the staff know you’ll be collecting her later. Meet me on the ward.’
‘Fine.’ He turned on his heel and went to the changing rooms, needing a bit of distance from happy Harriette. Felix resisted the urge to sit down on the chair in the changing room, knowing if he did, he’d probably fall asleep right there and then. Instead, he went through the automatic motions of changing.
He headed to the ward and found his new colleague standing at the bottom of Chloe’s bed, watching the child sleep.
‘She’s an angel,’ Harriette murmured softly.
‘They managed to get her to settle again?’
She chuckled and the sound soothed the pain around his temples. He resisted the urge to massage the area with his fingertips, knowing it
would alert her that he was tense. The last thing he wanted was to play twenty questions with his new colleague as to exactly why he was so tense. He hadn’t realised Harriette would be so chatty, as, it seemed, were most of the staff.
Harriette pointed to where two women were chatting quietly at the nurses’ station. ‘Erica’s a genius when it comes to children and Sarah’s an excellent nurse.’ The two women saw them looking and waved before resuming their conversation.
Felix had never worked in a small hospital before and the informality everyone seemed to exhibit was completely foreign to him. Still, he had to make it work. He had to try the hardest he’d ever tried in order to fit in with this community, to make these next few months full of transition and peace.
He had to get it right. In the past he’d only had himself to contend with but times had changed. He was responsible for Chloe. He was her guardian and, although he was still annoyed with his brother for doing this to him, he wasn’t the type of man to shirk his responsibilities.
Chloe was an innocent little girl and as he looked down at her, her breathing peaceful and trusting, he knew he couldn’t let her down. He’d taken a risk by coming here and he was now desperate for it to pay off because if it didn’t...the consequences didn’t bear reflection.
CHAPTER TWO
BY THE TIME Harriette went to bed that night, it was well after midnight. Although it had been great having Felix perform Patrick’s surgery, his arrival had left her feeling highly confused. It wasn’t the fact that she now had to share a house with him. She’d lived in shared housing before and she’d been fine. Nor was it the fact that he had a child who would also be under the same roof. She’d lived in the same house as a child for a very long time. No, it was more to the point that her new colleague was already causing conflicting emotions within her and she wasn’t at all happy about it.