Crisis at Katoomba Hospital

by Lucy Clark

‘Thank you for your offer to guide me through to Blackheath but I’ll be fine,’ he said politely. ‘Drive safely.’ With that, he walked out into the cold July night. A numbness encompassed him and he realised it had nothing to do with the mist surrounding him. As he unlocked his car and slid behind the wheel, Stephen wondered when his past was going to stop catching up with him.

  One of the reasons he’d moved to the Blue Mountains had been to get away from the memories of the last few years, but it appeared they were determined to haunt him no matter what lengths he went to.

  The fog was more dense tonight than it had been last night, if that was possible. He turned on his headlights and pulled carefully out onto the road, glad it was after midnight. There would be hardly any traffic to contend with except the trucks and they were usually lit up like Christmas trees.

  Nicolette had been right when she’d said he didn’t know the bends in the road but, travelling cautiously, he was able to slowly but surely navigate his way home to Blackheath, the fog becoming more dense around the area he now called home.

  He garaged his car and headed inside, remembering to switch his cellphone back on. The instant he did, it rang. He checked the display—it was Steph. ‘Hi.’ He placed his briefcase on the benchtop and hung his keys by the door.

  ‘Where are you?’

  There was panic and strain in her voice and he wondered whether Nicolette had called his sister to tell her about his past.

  ‘At home.’

  ‘Oh.’ She sighed. ‘Thank goodness.’

  ‘What’s the problem?’

  ‘You are. I started feeling depressed.’

  Stephen closed his eyes. He and Stephanie had never been able to hide anything from each other, a bond which had formed in the womb. They felt each other and knew instinctively when the other needed help.

  ‘I called the hospital but you’d already left. I was going to return the favour and have you sleep at my house. You know, it’s probably not a bad idea for you to have a room here. That way, if the weather is bad when you leave the hospital, you can walk to my house.’

  ‘I’ll think about it.’

  ‘Stephen,’ she warned. ‘I’m through stressing myself out worrying over you. First you had to deal with Mum’s illness, then Simone stalking you and then last year…’ Her voice broke on an emotional sob.

  ‘Steph. I’m fine,’ he reassured her. ‘I’m here now and we’re together again.’

  ‘It’s been too long,’ she sniffed. ‘You have no idea how your year in a war zone affected me. You’re my brother. My twin. I feel you, Stephen. I know you’ve only told me half of what happened, but I felt your anguish, your desperation and your pain.’

  He closed his eyes and raked a hand through his hair. ‘Why do you think I didn’t renew for another six-month stint? I knew it wasn’t fair to you.’

  She laughed but he could hear the sorrow in it. ‘We make a hopeless pair.’

  ‘Hopeful,’ he corrected.

  ‘So.’ She took a breath and put on a bright voice. ‘How was your first shift at the hospital?’

  ‘Quiet.’

  ‘Compared to what you’ve been used to, I can imagine.’

  ‘That’s right. No gunfire or bombs being dropped in the background or—’

  ‘Stephen,’ she warned.

  He chuckled. ‘Sorry. It was…unremarkable for a Thursday night.’ As he said the words, his thoughts returned to Nicolette.

  As though Stephanie picked up on that, she asked, ‘And how was working with Nic?’

  ‘Fine.’

  ‘Just fine? You know, you never did tell me what you think of her.’

  ‘She’s an exceptional doctor.’

  ‘So you’re going to take her on in your practice? I knew it. I knew she was perfect.’

  ‘I don’t think so, Steph,’ he said into the middle of her glee.

  ‘What?’ She stopped short. ‘What do you mean, you don’t think so? You just said she’s an exceptional doctor.’

  ‘She’s a friend of Simone’s.’

  ‘Simone? Psycho Simone?’

  ‘She wasn’t psycho, Steph, just…clingy and with no self-esteem.’

  ‘She stalked you, Stephen.’

  ‘It was never proved,’ he replied. ‘Anyway, it won’t work—Nicolette and I working together, I mean.’ Any attraction he may have felt for the blonde doctor had to be suppressed. ‘It was obvious tonight by her attitude towards me that she believed every word Simone had said about me, and she’s entitled to. Simone was her friend and it’s to Nicolette’s credit that she believes her friend.’

  ‘But there are two sides to every story. I’m sure once Nic hears yours, it will put everything right.’

  ‘Leave it, Steph. I’m tired and it’s late.’

  ‘All right, but only because I love you.’ She sighed with resignation. ‘We should get your room here organised soon. As we are now firmly entrenched in winter, the fog settles in every night.’

  ‘OK. You sleep well, sis. ’Night.’ Stephen hung up and went over to the old gas heater which had come with the house. He switched it on, not impressed with the noise it made, but as it hadn’t blown up last night, he thought he’d chance it once more. Tomorrow he’d do something more permanent about heating, like getting a slow combustion fire installed. He was really feeling the cold, especially coming here from a part of the northern hemisphere where the sun had well and truly been shining.

  As he went through to the back of the house where his bedroom was situated, Stephen unbuttoned his shirt, his mind flicking back to the way Nicolette had looked him over at the end of their shift. She’d looked as though she’d wanted to devour him…until she’d remembered where she’d seen him before. He frowned. He couldn’t recall being introduced to her, although at that time of his life there had been so much going on it was possible he’d forgotten. Usually, he had a very good memory.

  Nicolette Bourgeois.

  She was beautiful, no doubt about it. She was intelligent, too, and he hoped she was also fair and just. Usually it didn’t bother him if people didn’t like him. After all, you couldn’t expect to get along with everyone you met, but for some reason Nicolette’s low opinion of him mattered far more than he liked to admit.

  Nicolette sat in front of the heater, determined to warm up and forget all about Stephen Brooks.

  It was Friday and she was having a lazy morning as she didn’t need to be at the clinic until midday and nothing was going to spoil it for her. She’d had trouble getting to sleep when she’d finally arrived home from the hospital, visions of Stephen refusing to leave her mind.

  It had astounded her to finally remember where she’d seen him, and a lot of the things Simone had said about Stephen had come flooding back with a vengeance. He was untrustworthy, a manipulator and incapable of caring for anything or anyone…outside himself and his patients. He was cold, unemotional and totally self-centred.

  Nicolette frowned. Funny, she couldn’t ever remember Simone saying that Stephen had a sister. She’d met Stephanie in January, but for the past six months every time the bubbly doctor had spoken of her brother there’d been concern, worry and pure love in her voice. Surely that showed Stephen was capable of caring for people not associated with his work. Even the short glimpse she’d had of the siblings together yesterday had shown how extremely close they were.

  Nicolette had purposely driven past Stephen’s home last night, just to make sure he’d found his way back home. As she’d rounded every bend on the drive between Katoomba and Blackheath, she’d half expected to find his car had skidded off the road, which would have served her right for not insisting he follow her back. Despite her feelings towards him, it was no reason to put his life in danger.

  The light which she’d seen radiating from his new home—next door to the practice he was renovating—had instantly calmed her fears and she’d breathed a sigh of relief. He was home safe.

  ‘You weren’t going to think about him,’ she muttered
out loud, and busied herself by sorting through her nailpolish collection. Deciding on a colour, she prepared her toes and began painting. She’d almost finished one foot when her phone rang, startling her.

  ‘Nic, it’s Steph.’

  ‘Problem at the hospital?’

  ‘No. No. Sorry to disturb you on your morning off but I wanted to talk—’

  ‘Good. I could use a good chin-wag.’

  ‘About Stephen,’ Stephanie finished.

  Nicolette closed her eyes. Well, she’d been able to banish him to the back of her thoughts for a whole two minutes. ‘What about him?’ She worked hard to keep her voice neutral.

  ‘He said Simone was a friend of yours.’

  ‘News travels fast.’

  ‘Stephen and I are twins,’ Stephanie said. ‘We…feel each other. It’s hard to explain. Anyway, I just wanted to say there are two sides to every story. Stephen’s a good guy and the past few years haven’t been easy for him.’

  Interesting. ‘What happened?’ The words were out her mouth before she could stop them. It was none of her business.

  ‘It’s not my story to tell, but what I can say is that he’s a good, hard-working and trustworthy man.’

  ‘You’re a little biased, don’t you think?’

  Stephanie laughed but Nicolette could still hear the concern in her voice. ‘Definitely. I never met Simone and I don’t know all the details, but I do know she gave Stephen a hard time. Our mother was really ill at that point as well and…he…But anyway, when she died he took it personally. That’s when he left.’ Stephanie faltered, which was very unlike her, and Nicolette realised there was a lot more to what had happened than she’d been led to believe. ‘Look, all I’m saying is give him a chance. I don’t know whether you still keep in contact with Simone or not, but if you do, please, don’t tell her where he is.’

  There was fear in Stephanie’s voice, which puzzled Nicolette. Before she could say anything to reassure her friend that she would keep quiet about Stephen’s whereabouts, Stephanie groaned. ‘I’d better go. Someone’s just knocked at my door…probably wanting the roster changed. I can’t wait to hand them over when the new director arrives. I’m never doing them again.’

  Nicolette smiled. ‘Hang in there.’

  ‘You, too.’

  When she put the phone down, Nicolette thought back to the last time she’d seen Simone. The other woman had taken her to Heathrow, making her feel guilty for returning to Australia when her time at the London hospital had been up. Actually, Nicolette had felt a little suffocated by Simone but hadn’t said anything as there would soon be half a world between them.

  The two women had become friends just after Stephen had broken off with Simone and the nurse had transferred to the hospital where Nicolette had been working in the A and E department. As they’d both just come out of relationships, they’d joined forces in slanging men in general and enjoying wallowing in their self misery.

  ‘But I pulled out of it a lot earlier than Simone,’ Nicolette murmured. For her final few weeks in London, every time she’d gone out with Simone she’d come home depressed after listening to the blonde nurse whine on about Stephen.

  No. Even if Simone contacted her, she wouldn’t say a word about Stephen. Nicolette also realised her behaviour to Stephen yesterday had been unfair but, still, the fact he’d already broken one woman’s heart was evidence he could do it again. Nicolette had suffered enough emotional heartbreak with men to last her for quite some time. She herself needed to find a common ground with Stephen, especially if, as she hoped, they were going to work together.

  ‘Colleagues—or if absolutely necessary professional acquaintances.’ She resumed painting her nails, feeling better about the whole situation. ‘Friends?’ She asked the question out loud and immediately shook her head. Becoming friends with Stephen Brooks would make matters worse in the long run. She was already attracted to him and friendship would just muddy the waters, and she didn’t need anything stirred up.

  On Saturday night, Stephen turned up at the hospital ready for his shift. He punched in the code for the male changing rooms, stowed his briefcase in the locker and hung up his jacket, curious to see if Nicolette would be here this evening. Perhaps she’d asked Stephanie to change the roster so the two of them wouldn’t be working together.

  He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as he hooked his stethoscope around his neck. It didn’t matter whether she was here or not. Nicolette was nothing to him but a colleague—a fact he’d told himself ever since he’d walked away from her at the end of their shift the other night.

  Stephen went in search of whoever was in charge that night and was surprised to find his sister there. ‘Hey, kiddo.’

  ‘Hey yourself.’

  ‘You look flustered.’

  ‘I am.’ She thrust two files into his hands. ‘EC-2 and EC-7 are for you. Nicolette’s running late so you and I’ll have to pick up the slack until she gets here.’

  ‘Everything all right?’

  ‘Car trouble.’ Stephanie opened a new file and began writing as she spoke.

  At least that answered one question, Stephen thought, a little surprised at the stirring of pleasure in his gut at the thought of seeing Nicolette again this evening…although he wasn’t sure why. He glanced at the casenotes before heading into EC-2.

  ‘Good evening, Mrs Bevan. Good evening, Sister.’ He nodded to Sophie, who had just finished taking Mrs Bevan’s blood pressure. ‘I’m Dr Brooks.’ He addressed his patient. ‘I understand you’re having some chest pain.’

  ‘Ooh, it’s awful, Doctor. Just awful.’

  Stephen nodded and unhooked his stethoscope from his neck. ‘Let’s have a listen.’

  ‘Any pain in your arms? Neck?’

  ‘Both, Doctor, and I’m so worried about my Clayton. He’s outside all on his own and it’s going to be blowing a gale tonight. I hope he’s all right.’

  ‘Clayton?’

  ‘My cat, Doctor. He’s my baby.’ She twisted a handkerchief in her hands.

  Stephen nodded as Mrs Bevan continued.

  ‘My neighbour brought me in here and then left to go and find poor Clayton to make sure he was all right. I was calling him, you see, getting him to come inside for his dinner and he wouldn’t come. He usually comes immediately when I call him but not tonight, Doctor. Then I got worried and upset. Oh, dear.’ She sniffed, tears welling in her eyes once more.

  ‘I’m sure it’s fine, Mrs Bevan. I’ll have one of the nurses call your neighbour to check on Clayton’s situation.’

  ‘Oh, would you, Doctor? I’d be ever so grateful.’ She dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief. ‘Thanks awfully.’

  ‘Not a problem.’ While Stephen had been talking to her, Sophie had been taking Mrs Bevan’s vitals and she handed the chart to him. He read it quickly and nodded before writing up his own report, requesting a new set of scans and nitroglycerine should Mrs Bevan require it.

  ‘I think we’ll get you across to Radiology for a set of scans, Mrs Bevan, so we can get a better idea of what’s happening.’

  ‘But I’ve already had some scans,’ Mrs Bevan rasped, looking quite pale.

  ‘Tonight?’

  ‘No. A few weeks ago. Dr River sent me here for some scans but when I saw him the other week for the results he said everything looked fine.’

  Stephen glanced around for an X-ray packet but couldn’t see one. ‘Sophie?’

  ‘I’ll chase them up.’

  ‘Thank you. I’ll pop back and see you once your scans are done.’ He smiled at the elderly woman.

  ‘Oh, thank you, Doctor, and let me know about my Clayton.’

  ‘Will do, Mrs Bevan.’ Stephen headed over to the nurses’ station and searched Mrs Bevan’s notes for a contact number. There was no one around he could palm the call off on so he pulled out a chair and lifted the receiver. The dial tone was internal. He pressed zero and received the extended dial tone before dialling the required number. A mom
ent later someone picked up the phone at the other end.

  ‘This is Dr Brooks from the hospital. Is this Mrs Bevan’s neighbour?’

  ‘Yes. You don’t sound like Dr Brooks.’ The woman’s voice was suspicious. ‘In fact, you sound decidedly male. Is this a joke? Are you playing a prank?’

  ‘No. No. I am Dr Brooks. Dr Stephanie Brooks is my sister.’

  ‘Oh.’ The woman’s tone changed and she sighed with relief. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘That’s fine.’ Stephen explained the reason for his call and when he was assured that Clayton had indeed been found and was now safe inside the neighbour’s house, eating his dinner by the heater, Stephen smiled. ‘Thank you. I’m glad the cat’s safe.’ He rang off and made a note of the information.

  He turned to find Nicolette standing behind him, a look of surprise on her face. ‘Lost your cat?’

  Stephen’s eyes twinkled but he didn’t smile. ‘No. I don’t own a pet. Merely checking up for a patient.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Something wrong?’ He stood, towering over her, and it was then she realised how close they were in the confined quarters.

  ‘Er…no. I’m just surprised, that’s all.’

  ‘That I care about my patients?’

  ‘That you care about their cats.’

  ‘If it affects their mental and emotional healing, I care.’

  ‘Holistic medicine?’

  ‘Is there a law against it?’ He stepped around the chair he’d just vacated and pushed it under the desk, the action bringing him even closer to Nicolette. She took a breath to say something then stopped as his spicy, clean scent floated around her. He smelt good…very good—and what she’d been about to say disappeared from her mind.

  ‘C’est bien,’ she muttered, unable to look away as their gazes held. Her heart was hammering wildly, so forcefully she was positive he could hear it without the aid of his stethoscope. Her lips parted as her breathing increased, allowing the pent-up air to escape softly rather than whooshing out of her in a rush.

  ‘Listen, Nicolette.’ His words were soft and the deep timbre of his voice vibrated through her, causing a swirl of tingles to explode within her. ‘About the other night—’