The emergency doctor claims his wife

by Margaret McDonagh

  It had worked out perfectly for both of them, with each feeling the other was the sibling they’d never had. They squabbled as much as brother and sister, too, and had different tastes in almost everything. Apart from work, the only interest she and Will shared were the monthly ten-pin bowling matches they enjoyed with friends from the hospital and from other local medical, fire and rescue services. Indeed, the first fixture of the new year was only a couple of days away.

  Will, a keen runner, didn’t share her passion for cycling and swimming…but Nathan did. Annie loved dogs…so did Nathan. Will was a cat person. He also loved junk food, while Annie tried to eat healthily…the same as Nathan. Why was she even thinking like this? No matter what common ground she and Nathan had shared over books, music, food, the environment and various hobbies, it hadn’t made a jot of difference in keeping them together. It hadn’t made Nathan love her enough to commit to her. Or made her consider another point of view and let Nathan have his say, a tormenting inner voice nagged at her, as the insidious seeds of doubt Nathan had sown in her mind began to take root.

  Forcing her mind back to Will, she reflected on how often they had acted as escort for one another when they’d had to go to a hospital function, a friend’s wedding or some other event. And if anyone thought they were a couple it suited them both fine not to correct them, taking the pressure off at work and socially, as neither was ready to dip their toes back into turbulent waters and try dating again.

  And now Nathan had turned up in Strathlochan, determined to seek her out and stir up a hornets’ nest with his talk of the past. Scared and vulnerable, Annie desperately needed Will to extend the boyfriend role for her.

  ‘I have to keep Nathan at a distance. If he thinks you and I are together he’ll leave me alone,’ she explained, her worry increasing as Will shook his head again, then dragged the fingers of his free hand through his hair.

  ‘I don’t like this, Annie.’

  ‘I know, but—’

  ‘This isn’t the best way to handle it,’ Will insisted, releasing her hand and standing to pace the small room. ‘I can understand it was a shock to see him again so unexpectedly, but tricking him isn’t going to solve anything. At some point you are going to have to talk things over with him.’

  It was her turn to rise, seeking motion to temper her inner turmoil. ‘No! I can’t. He hurt me, Will.’ She cursed the errant tear that escaped. It hovered on her lashes for a moment before dropping on to her skin.

  ‘I know that, and I’m sorry.’ Will’s smile was kind, his touch gentle as he brushed the moisture from her cheek with one finger. ‘But I think you need to put things in perspective.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Why are you so angry all these years on?’ he countered.

  The question shocked her. ‘You know why!’

  ‘We all get dumped and hurt, but we pick ourselves up and go on, wiser and stronger. You’ve never let this go, Annie. Why is that?’ His expression turned speculative as he leaned against the worktop and watched her, arms folded across his chest. ‘In all the time I’ve know you, you’ve never dated anyone.’

  ‘Pots and kettles, Will. You’ve been the same.’

  ‘At first. But I don’t always want to be alone, and I’ve started going out again. At least I’m willing to try. Are you? You use Nathan as an excuse,’ he accused, and although the words were gentle they stung.

  ‘I don’t. It’s just that I don’t want to get hurt again. I can’t trust anyone.’

  ‘And maybe you’ve never got over him. Maybe you still have feelings for him…deep down inside you still love him.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous!’ Her attempt to laugh off his shocking suggestion failed miserably.

  ‘Is it? So how did you feel when you saw him again? When you heard his voice for the first time in five years? Behind your front of anger and pain, I mean,’ he persisted. ‘Does Nathan still make your heart miss a beat? Do your toes still curl?’

  She spun away, wringing her hands together, trying to deny Will’s words and the images they conjured up. ‘Don’t be silly. Of course not,’ she denied, her pulse throbbing in her veins as she thought of her instinctive reaction when she had first looked at Nathan again, let alone his searing, erotic kiss.

  ‘Then you have nothing to worry about, have you? You can be professional and do your job. Nathan’s a good-looking guy. Olivia won’t be the only one interested and in a few days he’ll have women around the hospital lining up to date him.’ Will’s sly smile widened to a grin as he studied her face, and she tried to relax the sudden tension that had gripped her. ‘You don’t like that idea?’

  ‘He’s a free agent. He can see whomever he wants. He’s probably dated dozens of women in the last five years.’ She manufactured a casual shrug, desperate to ignore the betraying curl of despair that tightened her insides at the prospect of Nathan’s hidden passions being unleashed and focused on anyone else.

  ‘But you don’t like to think of Nathan with another woman, do you?’

  ‘Stop it!’ Annie wanted to stamp her foot in angry frustration. ‘Why are you doing this?’

  Sighing, Will closed the gap between them and pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on top of her head. ‘Oh, Annie…Why are you so scared? What do you think is going to happen if you deal with the past?’

  ‘Nothing.’ She shivered, unable to tell Will of her deep-down fear—that Nathan would ease his way back into her life and break her heart all over again.

  ‘Don’t you think you need to sort this out with Nathan once and for all?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘I care about you, Annie, and I’ll always be here for you,’ he reassured her, one hand stroking her back. ‘But I think you’re wrong about Nathan, and in danger of making a big mistake.’

  The only danger here was Nathan himself. ‘You don’t know him, Will,’ she protested, her voice muffled against his chest.

  ‘No, but I saw his eyes, Annie.’

  Puzzled, she drew back to look at up him. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘They carry the same emotions as yours, only deeper—longing and loneliness and soul deep pain.’

  ‘Will…’ Disturbed, she tried to pull away, but his hold tightened.

  ‘Even if I agreed to do what you wanted, it’s not going to solve anything,’ he explained, his voice soft and patient. ‘And it couldn’t go on indefinitely. Nathan’s going to be here for a while, and starting out with a lie is going to make things worse. At some point you are going to have to lay the past to rest—for both your sakes. You’ve shut it all away and it’s eating at you, stopping you from living fully. Either you have to acknowledge you still care about Nathan and do something about it…or you have to let him go for good.’

  Overwhelmed with tiredness and inner pain, Annie slumped against him. ‘I can’t do it, Will. Not at the moment, anyway. Please, play along. Give me some space to think it all out.’

  A soft curse reached her ears. ‘All right. A day or two. But that’s all,’ finally conceded, with obvious reluctance.

  ‘Thank you!’ Relief washed through her as she flung her arms around him.

  ‘Annie, I’m only doing this if you promise that you’ll think about what I said and sort things out with Nathan…soon.’

  She stepped back as Will released her, initial relief giving way to a new uncertainty. Her feelings were jumbled, tumultuous, disordered. She didn’t want to go back, but she was afraid to go forward. And Will’s sympathetic reaction to Nathan, his insistence that she talk to the man who once broke her heart so badly, troubled and confused her.

  ‘I’ll think about it,’ she murmured after a long pause, knowing it was as much as she could agree to for now.

  Will’s face slowly changed, his eyes widening. ‘I won’t have to kiss you, will I?’ he asked with mock horror.

  ‘Don’t be gross,’ she teased back, thankful that he once again acted like the easygoing man she knew so well.

&
nbsp; ‘A couple of days, Annie,’ he warned a moment later, bringing her crashing back to earth. ‘Talk to Nathan. You’ve been given a second chance. Don’t make a mess of it and end up with even more regrets.’

  He tweaked the tip of her nose before walking out of the kitchen, and she listened to his footsteps on the stairs as he headed up to his bedroom. Thinking about what lay ahead caused tension to settle like a lead weight in the pit of her stomach. Will might have grudgingly agreed to her little charade, but she hadn’t bought herself much time. She dreaded having to see Nathan again tomorrow as they worked the same shift in A and E…dreaded even more that she was not going to be able to ignore the spectre of their past indefinitely.

  ‘Stuart, the X-ray confirms the dislocation of your elbow, but there is no sign of a fracture on the initial pictures,’ Nathan explained, holding the image up so that his patient, a man in his early twenties who had fallen badly during an impromptu football game, could see the resulting injury.

  ‘So what happens now, Doc?’ Lines of anxiety and discomfort were evident on the young man’s ruddy face. ‘Will I need an operation?’

  Nathan put the X-ray image back on the light-screen on the wall before pulling up a stool and sitting beside the trolley bed to run through the next course of action with Stuart. ‘Hopefully not. We’ll give you some sedation and attempt to reduce the dislocation here. If all goes to plan we’ll set the arm, take another X-ray, and then you should be able to go home as soon as the sedation has worn off.’

  ‘That sounds good. Thanks.’

  ‘No problem.’ He was satisfied that Stuart was a good candidate for the procedure, with nothing in his medical history or his current condition signifying an increased risk. Nathan turned to Gail, thankful to have an experienced nurse working with him. ‘I’ll need Midazolam, please, Gail,’ he requested, stating the dosage.

  ‘Of course.’

  As she busied herself getting the sedative ready, Nathan told Stuart what to expect. ‘The drug will be delivered intravenously,’ he explained, gesturing to the cannula already inserted in the man’s uninjured arm. ‘Once it takes effect you’ll feel drowsy, and your speech will be slurred, but you’ll be able to hear me and carry out any movements I ask you to.’

  ‘OK.’

  ‘The sedative is ready,’ Gail informed him, moving to his side.

  ‘Thank you, Gail.’ Nathan took the syringe from the nurse and double-checked it. ‘Try to relax now, Stuart, and we’ll have you back on your feet as soon as we can.’ Smoothly, he administered the sedative through the IV, and kept an eye on the monitors that recorded the patient’s vital signs. ‘While that takes effect I’ll get someone to help with the reduction.’

  Rising to his feet, he stepped out through the gap in the curtain. The first person he saw was Annie. His heart lurched and his pulse-rate rose—typical responses whenever he looked at her. It had been two days since he had found out about Will. Despite him having no chance to talk to her or be alone with her, the tension and electricity that shimmered between them continued to increase.

  ‘Annie?’ She spun round in surprise as he called her name, looking like a deer caught in the headlights as she noticed him. ‘Do you have a moment? I need some help with a dislocated elbow.’

  It was clear she was nervous as she glanced round to see if she could avoid the task, her shoulders slumping as she realised no one else was available. ‘OK,’ she agreed with a resigned sigh.

  As she walked reluctantly towards him, Nathan reflected on how working with her was both a pain and a pleasure. Seeing Annie with Will had been as difficult as he had imagined but what he hadn’t expected was to like the other man. He didn’t want to—Will had Annie, after all. Nathan wished he could find fault with the man, but he couldn’t. Aside from being a good doctor, Will had a natural way with people, and his presence brought an irreverent humour to the department, lifting the spirits of staff and patients alike and making them smile.

  After his one man pity-party the evening he had been confronted with the knowledge that Annie had another man in her life, diminishing his hopes for a reconciliation with the only woman he had ever loved, he’d woken up filled with a fresh resolve. He was damned if he was going to meekly give in and let Annie go a second time. The timing might have been wrong five years ago, when he hadn’t been free to pursue his own needs, but it was different now—he was different now—and he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  For all their closeness and affection, something didn’t sit right about Annie and Will. He’d thought about little else since being confronted with the information they were a couple, but he couldn’t put his finger on what bothered him. Annie wasn’t acting like a woman in love. She certainly hadn’t been thinking of another man when she had kissed him with a storm of hungry, needy passion that had matched his own. Will had never been mentioned. Not until later.

  No matter how she protested, Nathan didn’t believe Annie was indifferent to him, or that she felt nothing. She was too skittish, too reactive. And all the while there was even a minute chance he wasn’t going to stand back. It didn’t help that he genuinely liked Will. The man clearly cared for Annie—but so did he. And unless he was convinced that Annie was irrevocably in love with Will, Nathan determined to persist in his efforts to lay the past to rest. If he could win Annie back in the process, so much the better. This time he was going to fight for what he wanted: the woman he needed.

  Guiding Annie inside the treatment bay, he felt a quiver run through her as he rested a hand at the small of her back. She stiffened, edging away, but he had recognised the instinctive response to his touch. Forcing himself to concentrate, he briefly ran through Stuart’s case.

  ‘He’s had IV Midazolam.’ As Annie checked the X-rays on the screen, Nathan reassessed Stuart’s condition and his level of sedation. ‘Everything all right, Gail?’ The nurse nodded in confirmation and smiled at him. ‘OK. Stuart, we’re going to sort out this elbow now.’

  As Nathan flexed the elbow, Annie provided countertrac-tion on the upper arm. Gail held Stuart’s other hand, soothing him as he groaned in response to the activity, but the sedation would alleviate any recollection of the procedure once they were finished. Gently Nathan pulled on the forearm, careful not to cause any soft tissue or other damage. After a few moments the sound of a characteristic ‘clunk’ confirmed that the reduction had been successful and that the elbow joint had settled back into its rightful position.

  ‘Well done.’

  Annie’s soft words of congratulation had him looking up. He could drown in those blue eyes. Right now a welter of conflicting emotions chased across them, and several silent moments passed between them before Annie blinked and stepped back.

  ‘It’s all in the technique,’ he murmured, seeing the faint wash of colour stain her cheeks.

  He hadn’t meant anything by the comment, but judging by her reaction Annie’s mind had wandered-and if the heat in her eyes was anything to go by she was remembering how she had teased him when they had first made love. Sated and boneless with satisfaction, she’d smiled in surprise and pleasure and joked about never imagining his intensity inside, given his outer reserve. He couldn’t stop the slow smile that curved his mouth at the memory, and her blush deepened further. Hell, no, Annie hadn’t forgotten—and she wasn’t as indifferent as she wanted him to believe.

  Remembering where they were, Nathan reluctantly broke the spell of the moment and returned his focus to his patient. ‘We’re done now, Stuart. The elbow is back in and you’ll be feeling much better soon,’ he reassured him, rechecking the pulses in the injured arm as Gail made the young man as comfortable as possible.

  ‘Would you like me to arrange for the other X-ray?’ the kindly nurse asked.

  ‘Yes, please. I want to ensure there’s no ensuing or hidden fracture. We’ll get a plaster of Paris backslab on first, though, Gail,’ he decreed, writing up the notes. ‘And keep a close eye on him for any after-effects from the sedation. Does he h
ave family?’

  ‘Yes,’ Gail confirmed, after a quick glance at her paperwork. ‘He lives with his fiancée. She’s at work, and he didn’t want me to ring her until he knew what was happening.’

  Nathan handed her his notes for the file and put his pen back in his pocket. ‘OK. I’ll check back on him in a while, when he’s more alert. When he’s well enough I’ll write him up some medication and he can go home with supervision. Thanks, Gail.’

  ‘My pleasure.’ She gave him a motherly smile, her gaze curious as she looked from him to Annie. ‘I’ll phone Stuart’s fiancée now.’

  Leaving the cubicle and walking back to Reception with Annie, Nathan rested a hand on her arm, detaining her in a quiet corner. Her warm skin was super-soft beneath his fingertips. Again she edged away from his touch, but not before he experienced the heat of the contact searing his flesh, and felt the shiver that rippled through her. He hated the awkwardness between them, but was not about to let her coolness put him off.

  ‘Thank you, too, for your help in there.’

  ‘It’s my job,’ she pointed out with a casual shrug, crossing her arms and looking away from him.

  Nathan wasn’t deceived by her dismissive tone. ‘We still need to talk, Annie. I’m not giving up.’

  ‘Nathan, I—’ Her nervous words were cut off as someone called to them, and, while he was frustrated at yet another interruption, Annie was visibly relieved.

  ‘Two doctors—just what I need!’ The sister in charge approached, a determined gleam in her eyes. ‘We have two patients on the way in with smoke inhalation. Firefighters pulled them out of a burning workshop. No further details as yet.’