Her Four-Year Baby Secret

by Alison Roberts

  ‘He still needs help,’ Fiona said mildly. She supported Jeff on his side until he stopped vomiting. ‘Does he live alone?’

  Jeff rolled onto his back again. His eyes opened briefly and he mumbled incoherently. Fiona slipped an oxygen mask onto his face.

  ‘He had a girlfriend but I got the impression she took off a couple of days ago.’

  Right after his injury? Nick frowned. ‘He was really upset at losing his finger,’ he remembered. ‘He reckoned his career was over.’ Had he missed something important in his patient contact that day? It had been pressured and exhausting but that was no excuse. He’d known that Jeff needed support. He’d just assumed that the girlfriend who was coming to collect him would provide it. Maybe he should have spent more time talking to this man.

  ‘I don’t think this cast was broken by his fall.’ Shane was examining Jeff’s lower arm. ‘It’s dented and cracked all over the place, like he was hitting something.’

  ‘I’ll check his limb baselines,’ Fiona decided aloud, as she pulled the leads from the side pocket of the life pack. ‘Have a quick look inside, Shane. We’d better make sure we’re not dealing something more than an ETOH overdose.’

  Nick had a look at Jeff’s hand while Fiona was attaching the electrodes that would enable them to monitor heart rhythm and rate.

  ‘Capillary refill isn’t great on the broken finger,’ he reported. ‘And the hand’s really cold. And dirty.’

  Shane returned with two bottles of tablets in his hand.

  ‘They’re the antibiotics and painkillers we discharged him with,’ Nick said. He opened the bottles as Shane helped Fiona with a quick set of baseline recordings. ‘Painkillers are gone,’ he told them. ‘But he hasn’t taken any of the ABs.’

  ‘Let’s get him on the stretcher. It’s too cold to hang around out here.’ Fiona smiled at the neighbour. ‘Thanks for your help,’ she said. ‘Would you be able to lock the house up and keep an eye on things for Jeff?’

  ‘I guess.’ But the man sounded dubious. ‘It’s not his house, though. He just rents it.’

  Fiona continued talking to the neighbour as Shane and Nick moved the stretcher closer.

  ‘Jeff’s been through a fair bit in the last few days,’ she said. ‘Not everybody copes that well when things get too much.’

  The neighbour nodded. ‘I didn’t know he was that badly hurt. I thought he’d just broken his wrist or something.’

  Fiona stood up and moved the life pack and oxygen cylinder to allow the men to lift Jeff onto the stretcher. She was watching their patient carefully, Nick noted, and the frown on her face suggested focus, not judgment of any kind. She seemed oblivious to the unpleasant setting and smell around them and certainly wasn’t compromising her standard of care because this crisis had been self-inflicted.

  Nick could feel a kind of inward nod. Of both approval and confirmation. He’d always suspected she’d be like this in a professional environment and it didn’t seem that long ago that he had wished he could see it. Back when he’d been envious that that had been how Al had met Fiona in the first place—when he’d been injured in a rally crash and she’d been on duty in the ED he’d been taken to.

  Now he could not only observe this woman at work, he could work alongside her.

  As an unexpected bonus of a new job, this one would sure take some beating.

  It was three days before Jeff was allowed to go back to his home in Arrowtown.

  The day after that was Saturday and Nick and Fiona had also come back to Arrowtown, this time with Sam.

  They had walked down the main street, admiring the old buildings and galleries and the abundant reminders that this had been a gold-mining settlement.

  ‘My legs are tired, Mummy,’ Sam announced as they reached the end of their route beside the old post office restaurant.

  ‘Lunch?’ Nick suggested.

  ‘Let’s get some sandwiches and drinks at one of the cafés. I’ve got somewhere else I really want to show you today while the weather’s this good. You’re going to be busy moving into the Patterson place tomorrow. And, besides, I have a sneaking suspicion this might be where Bernie is taking Mum for lunch. I wouldn’t want her to think I was checking up on them.’

  Nick ruffled Sam’s hair. ‘Would those tired legs like a piggyback?’

  ‘Yes!’

  Nick lifted the small boy onto the top of the stone wall beside the footpath and then turned and bent down so that Sam could wrap his arms around his neck and his legs around his waist. Fiona was looking at the nearby street.

  ‘I wonder how Jeff’s getting on?’

  ‘He was in much better shape when I talked to him on the ward yesterday. Brilliant idea of yours, asking him to work on the publicity for the new fundraising campaign. He’s going to give it a good shot, I think.’

  ‘We were looking for someone. Seemed like a win-win situation.’

  ‘There’s not many people that would go out of their way for a patient like that. I’m impressed.’

  Fiona just smiled. It would have been worth doing just to get an appreciative glance like that from Nick.

  ‘He’s got a few issues going on,’ Nick continued more cautiously. ‘Don’t let him get too dependent on you, Fi.’

  ‘I won’t.’

  ‘Good. Now, where’s this place you’re taking me next?’

  ‘It’s a surprise.’

  ‘It’s more than a surprise. It’s magic, that’s what it is.’

  ‘Gorgeous, isn’t it?’

  ‘It’s real!’

  ‘Sure is.’ But Fiona wasn’t looking at the spectacular scenery in front of them. Or even at Sam, who was running from tree to tree in the forest, pretending to hide but unable to stay put for more than thirty seconds at a time.

  She was watching Nick as he turned an incredulous gaze back to the towering, snow-capped peaks behind them, to the glimpse of the river and the sweep of the untouched wilderness bordering the forest.

  The expression on his face was compelling. A grownup version of the kind of wonder Sam displayed whenever the boundaries of his small world suddenly expanded. Nick was right. It was magic and knowing that she had been the one to bestow this gift gave Fiona the warmest glow.

  Not that it had been difficult. All she had done had been to drive Nick less than an hour away from Queenstown, not counting the stop for a picnic lunch, to the Glenorchy region at the head of Lake Wakatipu. An area now famous for its role in providing beautiful fantasy settings for movies. The kind of excursion it was easy to offer any guest. His rapt appreciation of their destination meant that it had been exactly the right thing to do, however, and the mutual pleasure was bringing them closer together again.

  Unravelling the final kinks in that knot that had lain between them over the last week.

  ‘This was why I came to New Zealand,’ he said solemnly.

  ‘For a fantasy set tour? You’re a movie buff?’

  ‘No.’ Nick took a deep breath that was released in a sigh. ‘It goes a lot deeper than that.’

  ‘A lot deeper,’ he repeated a minute later as they started walking again, by tacit consent, following Sam’s erratic path through the forest.

  It seemed an invitation to talk about something more personal but Sam was running back towards them right now, his face alight with excitement.

  ‘Mummy! I’m going on a bear hunt!’

  ‘Are you, sweetheart?’

  ‘Yes. I’m in the forest!’

  ‘I didn’t think New Zealand had any bears,’ Nick said.

  ‘We don’t. Sam’s just acting out one of his favourite stories.’

  ‘It doesn’t involve his dad, does it? Hunting bears?’

  Fiona laughed. ‘No, this one comes from a book. Didn’t you notice the books Sam has in his room? Some of them are falling apart because we read them so often.’

  ‘I was like that. Only I had to wait until I was old enough to start reading for myself.’

  ‘Really?’ Fiona was sho
cked. ‘Didn’t your mother ever read to you in bed?’

  Nick shook his head. ‘I think she used up whatever maternal urges she had on Al. They called me an afterthought but I always knew they really meant a mistake. Al was old enough to look after himself by the time I came along and Mum’s life was full of far more exciting things by then than staying home with a baby.’

  ‘That’s really sad.’ Again, Fiona was struck by how little she knew of Nick’s childhood, but this was worse than not knowing he’d had asthma. How could any mother let their child grow up feeling ‘invisible’? She had to resist the urge to touch Nick. To let him know that she sympathised.

  More than sympathised. This was a side of Nick that touched something deep in her. Vulnerable was too pathetic a word for a man who exuded the kind of inner strength Nick did. It was more that he was prepared to reveal something so personal. Al had been like that at the beginning. When he had been injured. Had that been reason she had fallen in love with him? The thought was startling. It took a moment to refocus on what Nick was saying.

  ‘I didn’t miss what I never had, I guess. But when I learned to read I found that there really was magic in the world.’ Nick’s step slowed after his sidelong glance at Fiona. ‘Why are you smiling?’

  ‘It’s the second time you’ve mentioned magic.’

  ‘You find that strange?’

  ‘Well, you’re a doctor. A scientist. Most doctors I know wouldn’t admit to believing in magic.’

  ‘Maybe they didn’t read fantasy books when they were ten.’ Nick’s laugh was self-effacing. ‘A few more times after that, in fact. It was like a security blanket. A place to escape that worked well enough to feel like magic.’

  Fiona grinned. ‘Magic?’

  ‘Amazing, anyway. Too good to be true. A bit like finding you and discovering I have a real-life nephew. Family…’

  ‘Speaking of which…’ Fiona’s head turned swiftly. ‘Sam? Where are you?’

  The silence was unnerving. For a horrible moment Fiona thought she might have been so caught up in listening to Nick and enjoying the feeling that they’d reconnected that she’d allowed her only child to get lost.

  Nick touched her arm. A gentle grip that gave a surprising sensation of strength. He tilted his head and rolled his eyes. The movement was subtle but enough for Fiona to spot the toe of a small shoe protruding from the mossy base of a treetrunk.

  ‘Boo!’

  Sam hurtled into his mother’s arms. ‘You didn’t see me, did you, Mummy? I gave you a fright, didn’t I?’

  ‘You sure did,’ Fiona said with conviction. She caught Nick’s gaze over the top of Sam’s head. His face was solemn but his dark eyes were smiling and she could swear she still felt the touch of his hand.

  It was a feeling of reassurance.

  Of safety.

  Of being with someone who had understood completely.

  Someone who cared.

  And it felt so good.

  Fiona needed to find a way of sharing how good it felt—preferably one that didn’t involve pulling Nick into some kind of cheesy group hug.

  ‘Do you think it’s too cold to go and find an ice cream somewhere?’

  ‘No!’ Sam said.

  ‘Definitely not,’ Nick agreed.

  ‘Come on, then.’ Fiona put Sam down but kept hold of his hand. The little boy casually held out his other hand and just as casually, Nick took hold of it.

  The three of them walked out of the forest and Fiona had the weirdest feeling that Sam was like an extension of both herself and Nick. He was their link. A son and a nephew.

  That might explain why the connection was strong enough to make her feel like she was actually holding hands with Nick. And why it felt like the most natural thing in the world to be doing.

  He may not realise it yet but Nick Stewart belonged there.

  CHAPTER SIX

  IT WAS too easy to feel like he belonged there.

  Things were falling into place for Nick with a strange kind of inevitability, like the combinations on the lock of a safe tumbling from one correct alignment to the next. A process that could be leading to a secure, heavy door swinging open. Entry to a place Nick had never been so he had no idea what could be behind that door.

  The first click of those tumblers finding a correct position had been meeting Fiona again, of course—along with the discovery of his nephew and the closest thing to a family Nick had ever known.

  The second had been falling in love with where he was, thanks to that trip Fiona had taken him on last weekend. And maybe another turn of that lock had also been discovered on that outing. Sharing that magic had been enough to reconnect. To uncover the bond of friendship he had originally had with Fiona. Except that this felt new. Stronger. Tempered by maturity and the reminder that it was perfectly possible to turn on a force field that could direct any inappropriate emotions inward and make them undetectable to anyone else. He’d learned those skills way back, hadn’t he? Learned that it was better to make the most of what you had and not hanker after things you could never have.

  And, just in case that hadn’t been enough, fate had shifted him into the Patterson household. A month felt semi-permanent thanks to the almost nomadic life Nick had led for years, and this dwelling and its setting had to be the most beautiful place in the world. Hugh had converted a long, low structure that had once been shearers’ quarters and the house sat only a stone’s throw from the vast and rather mysterious waters of Lake Wakatipu.

  Fiona had told him a version of the Maori legend in which a terrible sleeping giant had been set on fire. The snow and ice on the surrounding mountains had been melted by the heat and the run-off had been enough to fill an eighty-kilometre length of valleys. The giant was still there and this was why the lake apparently ‘breathed’ with a rhythmical rise and fall of its water level every five minutes.

  There was, no doubt, a scientific explanation for this phenomenon. It probably had something to do with one point being the deepest in any southern hemisphere lake or the fact that its icy temperature barely changed between summer and winter, but Nick rather liked the magic and mystery of the legend.

  Fantasy.

  Escape.

  Tucked under the shadow of the Remarkables—a towering, bleak mountain range—with the lake opposite and an expanse of farmland on either side, it should have been a lonely place to live for someone used to sharing close, makeshift quarters with large groups of people, but Nick was far from lonely.

  He had Hugh and Maggie’s two old sheepdogs, Tuck and Lass, to keep him company and encourage him to walk the stony shores of the lake every day and soak in the beauty. With the Murchisons on the other side of that lake, he had family to visit whenever he felt the need and, only partly due to Sam’s insistence, Nick had already clocked up two visits in the five days since he’d moved. Close, but not too close. The force field could be turned off and its energy levels restored far more easily with a little distance.

  He also had a working environment that was different enough to be a novelty and varied enough to keep him interested. And he had the added bonus of Fiona being virtually a colleague. The ambulance station was just a few steps away from the hospital and it was a journey that was becoming a habit despite the fact that Nick was only approaching the end of his first week as Lakeview’s medical director.

  It was a journey he was making again now and Nick paused on finding Shane about to begin his usual end-of-day vehicle clean.

  ‘You doing anything tonight?’

  ‘Nothing special. Why?’

  ‘I’m shouting pizza and a few drinks at the Fox and Hound down the road. Steve and Lizzie and Megan are coming. I was hoping you and Fi might like to come as well.’

  ‘Sounds good to me. What’s the occasion?’

  ‘Getting to the end of my first week working here.’ Nick grinned. ‘Oh, yeah…it’s also my birthday.’

  ‘Hey! Many happy returns, mate!’

  ‘Thanks. Fi inside?’
>
  ‘Yeah. She’s been showing that guy around. Jeff. The one who’s getting involved in the fundraising campaign?’

  Nick nodded. ‘I know him.’

  ‘They were heading for the storeroom when I came out. Jeff wanted to see what sort of supplies we keep on station.’

  Nick could hear Fiona before he saw her. As he stepped into the garage he wasn’t far away from the open door of the storeroom. He stopped, not wanting to interrupt the conversation. He wasn’t in a hurry and it was hardly a hardship to listen to the sound of Fiona’s voice and let his imagination play with what she looked like.

  ‘Traction splints…’he heard. ‘Used for broken femurs. They’re less painful and the patient loses less blood if they’re splinted properly.’

  Nick could imagine the way Fiona was using her hands as she spoke. Supple joints and long fingers in a kind of graceful dance of emphasis.

  ‘There’s a heap of stuff in here.’

  ‘It looks a lot because it’s crammed into a small space but we do get a lot of trauma. Much more than your average city station would get.’

  ‘Why is that?’ Jeff sounded interested. Keen.

  ‘Nature of the place,’ Fiona responded. ‘We’re one of the world’s favourite adventure playgrounds. We’ve got skiing, mountain climbing, white-water rafting, bungee-jumping, jet-boating…’ Was she counting the sports off on her fingers? ‘You name it, if it’s fast or dangerous, it’ll be happening somewhere around here.’

  Nick found himself smiling. He knew that Fiona’s hazel eyes would be shining as she spoke. He could hear the passion she had for her career. People would be out there doing their adventure sports and inevitably some would be injuring themselves. Fiona and her colleagues would be ready and more than willing to get to the top of a mountain or the bottom of a canyon to rescue them.

  ‘Yeah. Guess I’ve had first-hand experience of that, haven’t I?’

  ‘This is one of our scoop stretchers over here. Good for getting people out of awkward places. Like the hunters that seem to get shot or injured at regular intervals. How is your hand, by the way?’

  ‘A lot better, thanks.’ Jeff’s voice got suddenly quieter. ‘I’m really sorry about last week. You know…I’ve never done anything like that before.’