Finally, she settled on one. Her blonde hair was sleek and shiny. She was wearing a dark top and slim cropped trousers. The picture wasn’t posed. It had been taken unexpectedly and showed her sitting at an outside table at a restaurant in San Diego, wine glass in hand, and laughing. It caught all her best angles, without looking retouched. In fact, it was a relief. That was the one she would send—if she finally decided to do it.
She made her way to the mess for dinner. The officers’ mess was noisy and crowded. The medical team was in the left-hand corner of the room. A few people gave her a wave as she entered. It didn’t take long to see what food was on offer for the day and make her selection. She made her way over to the long table, headed by SMO Bridges. He pointed to the space next to him.
Tony was nearest her and gave a short laugh. ‘Prepare for the interrogation. And watch him, he’s crafty with his questions.’
Ivy gave a good-natured smile and moved to sit next to Isaiah Bridges. She had half expected this. He wanted to make her feel welcome and part of the team. She was lucky. Not all commanders were like that.
The questions came thick and fast. Her training. Her interests. In turn she learned that Isaiah Bridges was married with a son and a daughter, and his wife worked as a producer for a TV news show. His son played basketball and his daughter planned to go to art school. He’d served for nearly thirty years and for the last fifteen he’d been SMO on an aircraft carrier. During his career he’d served on every aircraft carrier that had been in active service. How she wanted that life, and that career.
As he talked he loosened the button at his collar, giving it a little tug. The weather in the Pacific was warm, but combined with the heat of being below deck and in a crowded space she was feeling warm herself.
As it was her first night on board, she’d worn her jacket with her uniform, wondering if the officers here would be a little more informal due to the temperature around them. Everyone at her table was wearing their jackets, but she could see others from different parts of the ship in their shirtsleeves.
Isaiah’s barrage of questions slowed down, and she noticed he’d only eaten a little of their delicious dinner. She passed him the jug of water on their table. ‘Everything okay?’
He gave her a smile as he shook his head. ‘Ah, just a little indigestion. I think I need some air. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head along to my quarters.’ He shrugged his left shoulder as if it was uncomfortable.
Ivy already knew that the corridors were likely to be even hotter than the mess. It was easier said than done to get some air on an aircraft carrier. Most of the crew would spend their time here below decks with faint hope of feeling the brisk winds above.
She stood as he excused himself and shot Tony a look, moving swiftly from her seat as Isaiah Bridges exited the mess hall.
‘Something wrong?’ Tony asked her.
She gave a slow nod of her head. ‘Just being cautious. Can you come with me for a minute?’
Tony nodded and grabbed the jacket that he’d put on the back of his chair. She waited until they were out in the corridor. ‘I’m worried about Isaiah Bridges. I think he might be feeling unwell, but didn’t want to give too much away.’
Tony’s professional face fell into place straight away. ‘Did he say where he’s going?’
‘His quarters. But I wonder if he might head to the med bay. He’s not stupid.’
They started down the corridor. ‘What do you suspect?’ asked Tony, his steps so brisk she had to lengthen her stride to keep up.
As they turned the corner Ivy realised there was no chance to answer.
Ahead of them, Isaiah Bridges was leaning with one hand against the bulkhead in front of them, his other hand across his chest. Ivy stepped in front of him, immediately noticing the beads of sweat on his dark forehead.
‘Isaiah,’ said Tony, all formality lost, ‘tell me how you’re feeling.’ He nodded to a crewman at the end of the corridor. ‘Get me a chair from the med bay.’
Isaiah frowned, as if he couldn’t quite process the question. ‘Damn,’ he muttered under his breath.
Ivy put her hand on his pulse. ‘Chest pain? Indigestion? Why don’t you let us take you along to the med bay and run a few tests?’ She glanced around. ‘Just Tony and myself. We’ll look after you.’
She knew by instinct that Isaiah Bridges would hate this. She thought back frantically to this afternoon, the uncomfortable roll of the shoulders, just as he’d done at dinner this evening.
She kept talking in a reassuring manner to Isaiah as they assisted him into the hurriedly procured chair and took him along to the med bay, getting him up onto one of the trolleys.
It only took a few seconds to loosen his shirt and attach the electrodes they would need for a twelve-lead ECG. It was clear that both she and Tony were thinking the same thing. Silent MI.
Sweat continued to pour from Isaiah’s forehead. They were in one of the single treatment rooms but Ivy signalled quietly to one of the senior nursing staff to assist. The nurse, Jane, gave a brief blink of recognition, then moved swiftly to take some blood.
This was what Ivy loved about her job. No matter where she was in the navy. No matter what base, what ship, the staff around her moved seamlessly, working as a team, with instructions barely needing to be given. They all knew their jobs that well. It was a privilege to be part of a team like this.
She glanced at the oxygen stats. ‘Any previous asthma, or COPD?’ she checked with Isaiah. When he shook his head she slipped the mask over his head and turned the oxygen flow on.
The twelve-lead printed out. ‘What does it say?’ said Isaiah hoarsely.
The results were clear to Ivy and she handed the printout to Tony. ‘ST elevation. It looks like an inferior MI. We won’t wait for the blood work. We’ll just treat you to save time.’
It was essential in the case of a myocardial infarction that it was treated as soon as possible to break up the blood clot that was blocking the blood flow and allowing part of the heart muscle to die.
Within a few seconds Jane returned with an aspirin in a medicine cup—the first-line treatment for any MI.
‘Can you get me some thrombolytic?’ Ivy asked, naming one of the popular clot-dissolving drugs commonly used for an MI.
Isaiah was shaking his head. ‘But I haven’t had any chest pain,’ he said, deep furrows in his brow.
‘What about that referred shoulder pain?’ quipped Tony. He let out a laugh. ‘Don’t let it be said that you do things the traditional way.’
‘I’m just glad we’ve caught it. We can get you treated here. Then send you to a hospital with cardiac facilities for further treatment.’
Ivy gave a slightly nervous swallow. MIs could be difficult. Lots of people required balloon angioplasty or coronary artery bypass grafting. Whilst the facilities on the ship were state of the art, they weren’t as good as a specialised cardiac unit. Isaiah could well require a different kind of treatment in the next twenty-four hours. Their goal was to treat, stabilise and move him on.
‘Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of you.’
Jane came back to the door and gave Tony a nod, handing the thrombolytic over to Ivy. It was set up in a small pump to be delivered over the space of an hour. She connected the tubing to the IV cannula that Jane had inserted while taking bloods and started the infusion.
There was a whole host of charting to be done, but Ivy pulled up a chair next to Isaiah. Right now he wasn’t her boss. Right now he was a patient. And like any patient who’d just had an MI, she knew he would be anxious.
She gave him a smile. ‘Okay, so let’s establish that we both know our fellow doctors and nurses make the worst possible patients. What can I do to help you right now? You know we need to monitor your obs for the next hour whilst we deliver the drug.’
Isaiah rested back against the pillows and l
et out the biggest sigh in the world. She got it. She really did. He still really couldn’t believe this had happened to him. Ivy understood that right now Tony would be reporting to the commanding officer that the aircraft carrier’s SMO was undergoing treatment and would have to be airlifted from the carrier. She could only imagine how that news was going to go down.
‘Would you like me to contact your wife?’
Isaiah fixed his dark eyes on her. ‘Not really. You’ve not met my wife. She won’t take this well.’
Ivy tilted her head to one side. ‘Because she’s predicted it for years?’
He waved one hand in the air. ‘Forget it. I stand corrected. You’ll get on just fine with my wife.’
Ivy gave a knowing nod. ‘Okay, so we’re most likely to send you back to the hospital facilities in Hawaii. Where is your wife based? Will she need transport?’
He shook his head. ‘She’s still on the island. Normally, we’re in Maryland. But she’s got some extended leave and was visiting family with the kids.’
He put his hand up to his chest. Ivy stood up quickly. ‘Are you okay?’ She glanced at his heart rate and BP on the nearby monitor. Both were holding steady.
He squeezed his eyes closed for a second. When he opened them again they looked a little watery. ‘I’m fine. No pain. Just wondering what this will do to my career.’
Ivy was a little taken aback at the statement. But she knew instantly what it meant. She guessed Isaiah Bridges was in his mid-fifties. Many people completely recovered after an MI. But the likelihood was that he’d find himself landlocked and desk-bound for a considerable period of time after returning to work.
Ivy’s action was instinctive. She reached over and squeezed his hand. ‘The most important thing is that you get treated, and you get back to full health.’
He gave a hollow laugh. ‘You know that I love being out here, don’t you? I love the sea. It’s why I joined the navy. I even did my medical training with the service. It’s in my blood, you see.’
Ivy had heard this often throughout her career. Many of her colleagues came from families where naval service was a tradition—a way of life. She was different. None of her family had served. Ivy had always known she wanted to do medicine but had never tied it in with the idea of service. When a high school friend had enlisted early and had told her stories of the next few years, it had intrigued her, particularly when he’d told her what opportunities were available via the navy.
Isaiah narrowed his gaze and studied her for a second. It was unnerving. She glanced to make sure the pump was still administering the drug slowly and steadily. ‘You never mentioned any family,’ he said, with an edge to his voice that made it sound like a question.
She shifted in her chair. ‘My family is good. My mum and dad stay in Colorado. My sister is a teacher in Columbia. My brother is currently in Australia. We’re widespread.’
Isaiah shook his head and looked at her hand. ‘You’re not married?’
She gave a nervous kind of laugh. ‘Not yet—but never say never.’
A frown creased his forehead. ‘You’ve met someone?’
She opened her mouth to answer but wasn’t quite sure what to say. She’d never been asked such invasive questions by her commander before.
As if he sensed how uncomfortable she was, Isaiah lifted one hand. ‘What I’m trying to say—and sounding like an old fool—is I can take this...’ He put his hand on his chest. ‘I can take what’s happened today, because I know at home I have my wife and kids waiting for me.’ His voice trembled a little. ‘If I never get back out to sea, I know I have my life back home. I’ve always had something to go home to.’
He paused for a second and gazed off into the corner. ‘My wife and I—Adele—we literally bumped into each other in the street. I often wonder what would have happened if we’d never met that way. What I would have become without her, and my family.’ He gave his head a gentle shake. ‘I was ambitious. Cocky, probably a little too dangerous. She grounded me. Made me the person I am today.’
He took a deep breath. ‘What I’m saying is don’t leave it too long. Don’t let the navy suck the best years of your life. I know it could have easily happened to me. You’re a talented doctor. You must be, or you wouldn’t be here. You have the potential to be a great SMO. But think about what you have at home. Don’t let it just be this.’ He held his hand up again and clicked his fingers. ‘Because a moment, a second and it can be snatched away.’
She could see the emotion in his eyes. Isaiah Bridges was never this man. He was usually a commander of steel; his reputation was renowned. But there was something about a life-changing event. Something that made patients re-evaluate their lives. She’d witnessed it many times before. But this time it felt more personal. As if he was playing into the thoughts she’d had for the last few months.
She gave a conciliatory nod and glanced over her shoulder to ensure no one else was listening. ‘I know what you mean.’ Her mouth curved in a soft smile. ‘I’ve been thinking about things for a while. But...’ she paused ‘...it can be kind of hard to meet someone when you’ve got a job like mine. My career comes first for me. I’m hoping my next job will be the promotion I’ve been waiting for. That will put more pressure on me. And I can’t give up on that. It’s been my dream for the last few years.’
Isaiah met her smile with his own. His tone kind, he said, ‘I believe there will be someone out there for you. Someone who will be just perfect. Maybe you’ll turn a corner and walk into him, just like I did with Adele. Or maybe...’ this time he reached for her hand and squeezed it ‘...there’s a chance already there, and you just need to reach out and grab it. You’ll get your chance for the job, Ivy. Just make sure you take your chance for life too.’ He looked at the pump next to him. ‘I guess I’m doing fine.’
She looked at the monitor. ‘Things seem to be going smoothly. I’ll stay with you until it’s finished and Tony comes back, and then...’ she stood up and smoothed her skirt ‘...I’ll phone Adele. Don’t worry, I’ll break the news gently.’
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out.
Still waiting for this photo. What are you—chicken?
She bristled as she grinned. It was as if he knew her. Knew that taunting her and challenging her would bring out her competitive edge. Her fighting spirit.
Jane appeared back at the door, along with Tony. ‘We’ll take over now,’ she said kindly. ‘You must still be tired. Go and get some rest.’
Ivy paused for a second. ‘Are you sure? I’m happy to assist.’ Tony walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. She knew he’d served with Isaiah Bridges for a few years. He’d just had to go and tell the commander that they would need to airlift him off the ship, and that the aircraft carrier would need a new SMO. That couldn’t have been easy. He probably wanted to spend some time alone with his colleague.
She gave an understanding nod. She turned to face Isaiah. ‘SMO Bridges, it’s been an honour. I’ll go and call your wife.’
He gave her a wave of acknowledgement. ‘Flight Surgeon Ross, remember what I told you.’
She disappeared down the corridor towards her quarters. ‘Well, that was some first day,’ she muttered to herself. Things were starting to play around in her brain. She was here. She was ready. There was at least half a chance she’d be considered to step into Isaiah Bridges’s role. It made sense. Why ship someone else to the middle of the ocean if she was already here? Part of her hated the fact that it had even occurred to her. But of course it would.
It wasn’t a crime to be ambitious. She just hoped someone back at headquarters would join the dots and make the decision to give her a chance. Her steps grew more confident as she went. By the time she’d reached her quarters, her phone was in her hand.
You show me yours. I’ll show you mine.
Too much? Too daring? Maybe it was time to rea
ch out and grab something.
Didn’t think we were quite at that stage. Are you that kind of girl, because I’m thinking about being that kind of guy...
She burst out laughing at the cheeky response. It was exactly what she needed.
You know exactly what I mean. If I send you a photo, you need to send one back. Deal?
She had the photo ready to send if he agreed. A thought flickered across her mind. What if he backed out? If she sent her photo, and then he just...ghosted her? What if he thought she wasn’t good enough for him?
Panic gripped her chest for a second. That thought was just...ugh. Then Isaiah Bridges’s face flashed into her head—his expression when he’d talked about his wife and his kids. A warm feeling spread through her, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it as her phone buzzed again.
Deal.
One word. How could one tiny word cause her heart to leap in her chest and her stomach do an Olympic-medal-winning backflip?
Hesitation was for fools. She took a breath and pressed Send.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE CALL CUT through the dead of night and made him leap from his bed, poised for action.
Old habits died hard.
Every hair on Travis’s body stood on end. It took only a few seconds to realise that it was his phone that was ringing—not a siren. He looked quickly around his apartment, which was lit only by a thin strip of light streaming through a small gap in the blinds.
It was ridiculous. He knew it was. As a doctor he’d spent half his life on call, always ready to jump at a moment’s notice. But the last few years had changed things.
First he’d been on deployment with a team in a war-torn area, acting to provide healthcare and medical aid. They’d come under mortar fire. In a heartbeat he’d lost three close colleagues and had twenty injured people around him. It had been three days of being constantly under fire before another team had rescued them. And it had left scars. In the dark space at night he constantly wondered if he could have prioritised differently, maybe saved more lives, or used his scarce supplies in a different way. Every debrief told him he’d done the best job possible—but debriefs didn’t give reassurance in the middle of the night.
His Blind Date Bride Page 4