Proposing to the Children's Doctor

by Joanna Neil

  ‘I take it that your mother doesn’t live anywhere near your aunt these days?’

  ‘No. She lives with her new husband in Cumbria. I suppose that’s not too far away.’ She trailed her spoon in the apple. ‘I go and visit them from time to time, and we keep in touch by phone.’

  ‘And your sister? You mentioned her a while back, I think. Didn’t you tell me that she was supposed to be coming back from overseas?’

  ‘That’s right. There was a mix-up over her little girl’s passport and they weren’t able to travel. I’m not sure quite what’s going to happen there, so it looks as though it will be just me and my aunt on our own for a while. I must go and phone to let her know that I’ll be on my way.’

  ‘I hope it all works out for you.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  They finished off the meal with coffee and mints and then with some reluctance Rebecca pushed back her chair and made ready to leave.

  She felt odd about bringing this meal to an end. Was this the last time she would see Craig? Somehow she had become used to having him around, and it made her sad to think that they would be parting company very soon.

  Perhaps it was because they had been through so much together. That must be the reason why she felt so strangely reticent about saying goodbye.

  ‘I want to go and check up on Connor and Harry before I leave,’ she told him. ‘I heard that Harry was going to Theatre to have the haematoma dealt with, and I want to make sure that he’s come through the surgery all right.’

  ‘Me, too. I thought I would hang around until he’s out of the recovery room just to be certain that everything is OK.’ He sent her a fleeting glance. ‘I could go and see what stage they’re at, if you like, while you phone your aunt. Then we could perhaps both go and look in on Connor.’

  ‘Yes, that sounds like a good idea.’ Instantly, she felt more cheerful. Craig had been so good to her, helping her through the hazards of escaping from the crash and seeing to it that they were all safe and sound and protected from exposure to the elements. He was a good man to have around in a crisis and maybe that was the reason she didn’t want to let him go just yet.

  Even so, she was wary of this need to go on being with him. Above all, she had to be strong and take care of herself. There was no point in wishing that he might stay around. She had placed her trust in a man before, only to count the cost at a later date.

  She gathered up the bag that Helen had given to her, and a minute or so later she left him to go and enquire about Harry while she sought out a payphone and made the call to her aunt.

  Instead of her aunt coming to take call, though, there was an answering-machine message, asking her to contact the neighbour. That was very odd, but Rebecca followed the instructions, and in just a few minutes she found that her world was turning upside down all over again.

  ‘When did this happen, Margaret? How bad is it, do you know?’ Rebecca was having trouble taking in what her aunt’s neighbour was saying to her.

  ‘It was yesterday. She wasn’t feeling too well first thing this morning, and then she had a fall, so I decided to take her along to the casualty department to make sure there was no real damage. While we were there, she collapsed. They said that she’d had a stroke, a blood clot on the brain, or so the doctor told me later on.’

  Rebecca sucked in a quick breath. ‘And is she still in hospital on the island?’

  ‘No, they took her over to the mainland. I think they felt that she might get more specialised attention if she stayed at the hospital there. Apparently there’s a unit attached to the main building, where people who’ve had strokes can receive all the right kind of attention.’

  ‘Are you saying that she’s at The Park Vale Hospital?’

  ‘That’s right. I don’t know how long they will be keeping her there, but I imagine it will be for some weeks at least.’ Margaret paused. ‘What will you do? Are you going to stay over there? I’m asking because you’ll be needing your belongings, won’t you? A carrier dropped them off at my house this morning.’

  ‘Oh, I see. Thanks for looking after them for me, Margaret.’ Rebecca tried to calm herself by breathing more slowly and deeply. ‘This has all come as a bit of a shock to me, and I’m not sure yet what I’ll be doing. I’ll have to rethink all my plans, but I imagine I will be coming over there to you at some point to collect everything. Would you mind hanging onto the cases until I can get there?’

  ‘Not at all, love. You take your time and work out what you need to do. From what you were telling me earlier, it must be really difficult for you to take all this in, what with one thing and another.’

  ‘Yes, you’re right, it is. I’ll go and see Aunt Heather right away, if they’ll let me. I’ll be in touch, Margaret. Thanks for everything that you’ve done for me and my aunt.’

  ‘You’re welcome.’

  Craig was waiting for her when Rebecca went up to Connor’s ward a few moments later. After all that Craig had done for her, she felt that she needed to go and say goodbye to him and explain what had happened before rushing off to see her aunt.

  ‘Connor seems to be doing a lot better,’ he told her, ‘and Harry is out of surgery. They think he’ll be just fine.’

  ‘That’s really good news,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, it is.’ He sent her a frowning glance, studying her features intently. ‘Has there been some problem with your aunt?’ he asked. ‘I was expecting you to be all fired up and ready to go, but from your preoccupied expression it looks as though there must have been yet another setback.’

  Rebecca nodded. ‘Sometimes it seems that everything that can go wrong will go wrong.’ She pressed her lips together, trying to keep all her pent-up emotions locked in. ‘You’d have thought I would be getting used to it by now, wouldn’t you? The thing is, my aunt has had a stroke. I don’t know how bad it is yet, but she’s being looked after here in this hospital—in the stroke wing. I’m going to go over there as soon as I’ve looked in on Connor. I need to be by her side.’ She gave a brief frown. ‘It doesn’t look as though I’ll be going over to the island after all.’

  He frowned. ‘I’m really sorry about that, Rebecca. Is there anything I can do to help?’

  She shook her head. ‘You’ve done enough already, but thanks all the same.’ Her teeth lightly grazed her lip as she attempted to think things through. ‘I’ll have to look into finding myself somewhere to stay here, on the mainland…I suppose I could rent a place for the short term. There’s no point in travelling all that way to the island every day when I need to be here, close to my aunt.’

  He nodded. ‘I can see how this has changed all your plans. It must have come as a huge shock to you.’

  ‘Yes, it has. I just wanted to say thank you for all that you’ve done for me. I’m going to look in on Connor and then I’m going to go over to the stroke unit. I shan’t be able to concentrate on anything until I know how she is.’

  He laid a hand on her shoulder, lightly kneading the softness of her flesh with his palm. ‘You’re not on your own, Rebecca. I’m here if you need me…you know that, don’t you?’

  She tried a smile. ‘Thanks for that.’ This wasn’t his problem—it was hers, and hers alone, but it was good of him to try to take some of the weight off her. ‘I’ll go in and say hello to Connor. It’s good to hear that he’s feeling better.’

  Connor’s parents were sitting with him in the small side ward. His mother was holding his hand when Rebecca and Craig walked into the room, but she turned and sent them a small nod in greeting as they introduced themselves.

  ‘The nurse told me that you both looked after him on the journey.’ She glanced at Craig. ‘She said it was your treatment that helped him on the road to recovery.’

  ‘I wasn’t alone in taking care of him,’ Craig told her. ‘Dr McIntyre started his antibiotic treatment and made sure that he was comfortable.’

  Rebecca was standing by Connor’s bedside. ‘They tell me that you’re feeling a bit better,’ she
said softly. ‘Is that right?’

  ‘Yes. It doesn’t hurt so much to breathe now.’ Connor hesitated. ‘I’m still not hungry, though. The nurses keep asking if I want to eat anything, but I don’t. They won’t give me porridge again, will they?’

  She laughed. It was good to hear him talking again. ‘Not if you don’t want it,’ she said. ‘I’ll have a word with them about it, if you like.’

  He nodded and smiled contentedly. ‘Crisps,’ he said. ‘I like crisps.’

  ‘Then we’ll have to see what we can do about that,’ she murmured. ‘I’m sure they’ll be able to rustle some up for you.’

  She left the room just a little while later, with Craig walking by her side along the corridor. ‘I’ll go straight over to the unit now, to see my aunt,’ she said, sending him a quick glance.

  ‘OK,’ he said. ‘I hope she’s not too poorly. At least you’ll know that she’s in good hands. The people who run the stroke unit do a really good job.’

  ‘That’s good to hear.’ She hesitated for a moment, and then said, ‘Thanks again for everything that you’ve done to help me in these last few days, and especially for the way you held everything together today. I’m sure it was your clear thinking that made sure we all managed to get clear of the helicopter.’

  He smiled at her and took her hand in his, holding it lightly between his two palms. ‘I’m glad that you’re safe.’

  There was so much comfort to be had from the touch of his hands, but above all it was distracting, swamping her with confusion and errant thoughts of what might have been.

  She didn’t want to prolong the goodbye. She would probably never see him again, and somehow that was too painful to contemplate so she nodded lightly and slowly began to turn away from him.

  He released her and she walked away. How was it that in such a very short time he had managed to work his way into her heart?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ‘I SO wanted to be there for you…at home.’ Heather said slowly. She was struggling to get the words out, slurring her speech a little, and it was difficult at times for Rebecca to understand what her aunt was saying. It saddened her to see her looking so pale and tired in the hospital bed, her faded brown hair splayed out in wisps over the pillow.

  ‘You don’t need to be worrying about that,’ Rebecca said. ‘I just want you to get well, Auntie. I only wish I’d been here for you when you needed me.’

  It was distressing to see her usually energetic aunt struggling to lift her arm and unable to walk. The only positive aspect was that she was still able to speak at all, albeit in a slower, more laboured fashion than usual, and she seemed to be able to understand what Rebecca was saying to her, which was a bonus.

  Rebecca glanced over her aunt’s hospital chart to satisfy herself that everything possible was being done to make her well again. ‘They’re giving you medicine to dissolve the clot that’s causing the trouble,’ she told Heather, ‘and along with that they’re trying to bring down your blood pressure.’ She gave her a smile. ‘That means no excitement for the next few weeks.’

  ‘Chance would be a fine thing,’ her aunt managed haltingly. She lay back wearily. ‘You must take the key to the house.’ She tried to signal, indicating her leather handbag, which rested on the bedside locker. ‘Make it your own while I’m stuck in here.’

  Rebecca shook her head. ‘I’m not going over to the island, not while you’re in here. I’ll make some other arrangements so that I can stay close to you.’ She frowned. ‘Mind you, I’ll have to go back to pick up my belongings at some point. Margaret says she’s looking after them for me.’ She smiled gently as she patted her aunt’s hand. ‘It was really good of her to take care of you the way she did. I’ll always be grateful to her for that.’

  ‘Aye. She’s a fine friend.’ Her aunt’s brow furrowed. ‘You were looking forward to going back to your old home, weren’t you?’ She managed to indicate that by a series of half-formed words and by using her good arm to make hand gestures and arm movements.

  ‘This is like playing charades,’ Rebecca said with a smile. ‘Is it a book…is it film? Do you remember how we used to play that game at Christmas and at birthday parties? You were always good at that.’

  Rebecca desperately wanted to cheer her aunt up. Heather had always had a good sense of humour and she hoped that she would pick up on the fact that things might not be as bad as they seemed right now.

  ‘Yes, I was looking forward to being back on the island,’ Rebecca went on, ‘but none of that really matters now. It was you I wanted to see most of all, and at least I’m here with you now. The important thing is that we help you to get back on your feet. I expect they’ll start doing physiotherapy and speech therapy with you as soon as you’re up to it.’

  A nurse came into the room just then with a tray of food for her aunt, and Rebecca stayed to help Heather manage the cutlery.

  It occurred to her that if they were serving the patients’ evening meals then time was running on, and she still had the task of finding herself somewhere to stay for the night.

  ‘I’ll have to go,’ she said some time later in a resigned tone, ‘but I’ll be back here tomorrow to see you. You take care, and try to get some rest, Auntie. At least I know the doctors and nurses will look after you very well, so that makes me feel a little better about leaving you.’

  A few minutes later Rebecca dropped a kiss on her aunt’s cheek and then she went quietly out of the room, leaving her aunt to doze in the hospital bed.

  Her mind was busy with all kinds of thoughts as she hurried along the hospital corridor. Perhaps the first thing she ought to do was to look through the telephone book and pick out a hotel where she could stay for the night. It was too late now to find rented accommodation. All the agencies would be closing up.

  ‘Hey, slow down. I’ll walk with you.’

  Rebecca’s eyes widened as she saw Craig coming towards her. Whereas she was beginning to wilt after the strain of the day, he looked tall and strong and as energetic as ever, and the sight of him gave her senses a lift.

  ‘You’re still here,’ she said unnecessarily. ‘I thought you would have gone home ages ago.’

  ‘I might have done that, but it occurred to me that you might be feeling a bit disorientated and out of synch, having to stay on in a strange place, so I hung about for a bit. I went and checked up on Tom while you were with your aunt.’

  He was saying that he had been thinking about her…Why did that come as a surprise after the way he had looked out for her today? He had not for one second let any of them down. She said quietly, ‘Is Tom OK?’

  ‘He’s doing all right.’ He slanted her a sideways glance. ‘How did it go with your aunt?’

  ‘I suppose it wasn’t too bad…at least, it wasn’t as wretched as it might have been. She still has some speech, but she’s lost the use of her arm and leg to a large extent. It’s a question of giving her the right medication and allowing time for her to heal. Of course, she’ll need a lot of physiotherapy in order to regain the function of her limbs.’

  It was a sad situation, but even so she gave a faint smile. ‘I’m just glad that I was able to be with her at last. I love her to bits and I can’t bear to think of her being ill in hospital and separated from her family, so it means that all my plans are out of the window. I need to stay close to her, so I guess that’s my next job—finding somewhere to stay.’

  He considered that for a moment or two. ‘I thought you might have difficulty sorting things out, and it occurred to me that you might be in need of some help. That’s partly why I stayed on here.’

  A small glow started up inside her. ‘That was thoughtful of you—it’s too late for me to look at rental properties, so I was going to ring around and see if I could find a hotel, somewhere close to the hospital, preferably. I suppose, if you work here, you must have some idea of where I might find something suitable in the area.’

  He nodded. ‘As a matter of fact, I know just the place, and
it isn’t too far away from here—just a ten-minute drive or a short bus ride. I have my car here at the hospital, so I could show you, if you like.’

  ‘That would be good.’ She made a wry face. ‘I wonder if they would mind me turning up with no luggage, just the clothes I’m wearing and the credit card that the bank organised for me?’ She remembered how she had looked askance at Craig when he had turned up with just a holdall at the flat, back in Northumberland. It just went to show that you couldn’t judge by appearances alone.

  ‘Actually,’ he said in a low tone, ‘that wouldn’t really matter at all. I wasn’t going to show you to a hotel. It just so happens that I have a small house not far from here, and there’s a guest room that you’re welcome to use.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘Your place?’

  He nodded. ‘It’s been a really long day for you—for both of us, in fact. It would probably be a lot easier for you to just stay over at my house for a while. The fridge is stocked up and there are plenty of ready meals in the freezer, so at least you won’t starve, and it won’t cost you anything.’

  The suggestion had come out of the blue, and Rebecca wasn’t quite certain how to react. She wanted above all to be independent and manage for herself any problems that came along, but this had been a particularly awful day and she wasn’t sure she could take any more hassle. Craig’s suggestion was more than tempting. ‘Are you quite sure about this?’

  ‘Of course.’ He sent her a quick grin. ‘You weren’t planning on throwing any wild parties or anything like that, were you? Not that I mind people enjoying themselves, you understand…it’s just that my place isn’t all that big and I’d need a bit of notice to get things organised.’

  ‘You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?’ Rebecca murmured.

  ‘Probably not.’

  ‘All the same, I think I would like to take you up on that offer,’ she said softly. ‘It’s getting late, and I wasn’t looking forward to searching around for a place. It’ll just be a temporary arrangement, of course. I’ll look for somewhere as soon as I’m back on my feet—tomorrow.’