Proposing to the Children's Doctor

by Joanna Neil

  Her toes scrambled against a ledge. It was solid, but craggy, and she tested her feet against it, manoeuvring herself onto the surface and feeling the rockface with her fingertips in order to make sure that everything was stable. Evidence of the rockfall was all around, but they had lowered the winch to one side of it, so that she could access a clear patch of the rock shelf.

  She looked around. Where were Craig and the injured man? Peering into the shadows and crevices, she began to have tremors of doubt. Was the pilot right in his supposition that they might have fallen? Please, let it not be so.

  ‘Over here.’ A man’s voice came to her from some distance away, distorted by the sound of the helicopter hovering above her. She turned her head a fraction to see if she could make out his shape.

  ‘Craig, is that you?’ She hardly dared believe what her eyes were showing her. He was crouched in the far corner of the ledge, protected from the elements on three sides by rocky outcrops.

  ‘Rebecca?’ He took in a sharp breath. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I came to find you. I heard what happened and I was so afraid that you might be hurt.’ She stopped suddenly, peering at him. ‘Are you hurt?’

  ‘No, I’m fine. I tried to pull the injured man out of the way of the landslide and we sheltered in this crevice while the storm blew itself out.’

  ‘Is he all right?’

  ‘I think so. I’ve given him a painkilling injection, and his leg is in a splint, so he should be OK once we get him to hospital. He’s lost a fair amount of blood, but his circulation is still intact, so it’s not as bad as it might have been.’

  ‘Can you pull him over to me? We can tether him to the stretcher cage and send him back up.’

  ‘Yes. Steady yourself against the crag. I’ll bring him over to the winch.’

  They worked together to make sure that the injured man was safely cocooned in the metal cage, and then Rebecca signalled to the copilot that they were ready for him to be lifted up into the helicopter. They waited until the cage was in motion, and then Rebecca sank back against the rock and gazed at Craig.

  ‘You don’t know how much it means to me to find that you’re safe and well,’ she said in a strained voice. ‘I was so worried about you. They said you might have fallen from the ledge, and I couldn’t accept that might have happened. I had to come and find out if you were all right.’

  His expression was brooding. ‘It means a lot to me that you cared enough to come and find me,’ he said. ‘I just can’t get over the fact that you came in the helicopter. I thought you were never going to set foot in one ever again?’

  Rebecca looked up to where the helicopter hovered overhead. Now that the injured man had been secured in the aircraft, the winch was being sent down once more. A sudden shuddery breath racked her body.

  ‘Perhaps you shouldn’t have reminded me of that,’ she said in a small voice. ‘I’m not quite sure how I managed this. I don’t think I ever want to do it again.’ She looked at him, her eyes wide. ‘Promise me that you’ll never get yourself in a situation like this in the future. I don’t think I could cope.’

  Craig didn’t answer, but gave a brief grimace. He stood up and started to fasten the winch to her harness. Then he went on to attach more of the clips to his own safety straps.

  ‘What are you doing?’ she asked.

  ‘We’ll go up together,’ he said. ‘Just wrap your arms around me and I’ll hold onto you. I won’t let you go.’

  It sounded like a promise, and she leaned her head against him and wound her arms around his waist, and soon after that she felt a pull on the line as they were being lifted up. It felt good to be bonded to him this way, even though they were suspended in mid-air, on a nightmare journey that she would never at one time have even contemplated.

  ‘OK,’ said the copilot after a minute or so. ‘We have you on board, safe and sound.’ He smiled from one to the other, and Rebecca felt a rush of relief when she opened her eyes and found that they were in the helicopter once more. ‘You need to get into your seats and buckle up, then we’ll be on our way. If you put on your headsets, you’ll be able to talk to each other.’

  Rebecca did as he’d suggested. As the pilot whisked them away, she switched her microphone to two-way conversation and signalled to Craig to ask whether he had done the same. He nodded.

  ‘Will you think about doing a ground-based job?’ she asked. ‘I can’t go through this every time you’re up in the air.’

  ‘How would you feel about working on the mainland?’ he retaliated. ‘Are you really so intent on going back to Islay?’

  ‘I dare say I could give it a miss,’ she said, ‘given the right circumstances.’

  ‘And what would they be?’

  Rebecca gave an awkward shrug. ‘I’m not sure, but it’s something I would definitely think about.’ It had just occurred to her that nothing had really changed. Craig was safe, and that was all she had been thinking about, but there was no real future for her with Craig, was there? There was still the matter of Cheryl and the little boy, and they weren’t going to go away any time soon?

  Craig gave her a thoughtful look. ‘Perhaps we should talk things through when we get back to the hospital,’ he said.

  She nodded.

  It seemed like only a few minutes more before they were coming down to land on the helipad, and she was helping Craig to offload the stretcher with their patient. They waved to the pilot and copilot and hurried with the man into the lift.

  Helen was waiting for them in A and E. She stood to one side until they had handed their patient over to the emergency team, and then she came and threw her arms around Craig and hugged him tight. ‘Don’t ever do that to me again,’ she said, on a note that was halfway between a laugh and a sob. ‘We all thought you were done for.’

  ‘As you can see, I’m fine,’ Craig said with a half-smile.

  ‘We were all worried sick,’ she told him, ‘and as for Rebecca, well, she was beside herself.’

  He gave a thoughtful nod. ‘Yes, I was wondering about that.’ He let his gaze drift slowly over Rebecca. ‘I’ve been meaning to ask what that was all about.’

  Rebecca’s cheeks flushed with heat. ‘I’m going to go and get changed out of this rescue outfit,’ she said, as though she had no idea what they were talking about. ‘And it’s late, and I’m hungry, so any questions will have to wait. I’ll see you both in the morning, probably.’

  She made her escape, well aware of Helen’s amused expression and Craig’s raised eyebrows. She hurried into the locker room and changed into jeans and T-shirt, and didn’t come out until she felt that she was ready to face the world again.

  Pushing open the door, she stepped out into the corridor and immediately pulled up short. Craig was waiting there, leaning negligently against the wall. He had his car keys in his hand.

  ‘I’ll drive you home,’ he said.

  ‘I have my own car,’ she murmured.

  He shook his head. ‘I have it on good authority that you left it at the rescue base,’ he said. ‘So if you want to go home, this is the best deal on offer.’

  ‘Oh.’ She blinked. ‘I’d forgotten about that. Of course you’re right.’

  He nodded. ‘It’s only to be expected that you not thinking straight,’ he said in a soothing tone. ‘You’ve been through a lot. We’ve both been through a lot.’ He gave a lopsided grin. ‘Perhaps we should console each other.’

  He led her out to the car park, and she slid into the passenger seat of his car, too wound up to give him any argument. She rested her head back against the upholstery, and didn’t say anything to him, just let him drive until they reached the turn off for her aunt’s cottage.

  ‘It’s that way,’ she pointed out. ‘It’s quite close to the hospital, so it’s really been quite handy for me, living there.’

  ‘Yes, so I heard, but that’s about all that it has to recommend it, apparently. Heather’s been telling me about it in her disjointed way. Apparently
, it’s damp, cold, and in serious need of renovation. I don’t think we’ll be going there tonight somehow.’

  He took the road to his own home, and when he switched off the engine and held open the door for her, she climbed out stiffly. ‘You didn’t need to do this for me,’ she said. ‘I would have been perfectly all right at my aunt’s house.’

  ‘But I wouldn’t,’ he said, ‘and I couldn’t possibly have left you there on your own, after what you did for me.’

  He sent her an indecipherable glance as he put his key in the lock of the front door and pushed it open. ‘Come on inside. I’ll make us a pot of tea, and you can explain to me what was going through your head.’

  She didn’t want to do that, but she saw no option but to follow him into the kitchen. ‘Nothing was going through my head, except that you were in danger,’ she said in a flat voice. ‘You’ve done so much for me, and I wanted to make sure that you were all right, that’s all.’

  He turned to look at her, leaning against the cupboard, his hip against the worktop, his long legs thrust out before him. ‘I think there was a lot more to it than that,’ he said drily. ‘I’ve been thinking about what must have led you to leave my house in the first place, and all I can come up with is the fact that Cheryl turned up at the hospital that day. You put two and two together and made five, didn’t you?’

  Rebecca looked away. ‘She’s very fond of you. Anyone can see that. And as for her little boy…’ She looked up at him, deciding that she had to face up to this once and for all. ‘He looks very much like you, and I was sure there had to be a connection.’ She made a resigned face. ‘I just feel that I can’t come between you. You make a beautiful little family group, and I don’t want to be the one to break that up.’

  He straightened up. ‘There’s nothing to break up,’ he said. ‘We’re just very good friends. And I would be really happy if you were to come between me and anything you like. In fact, I thought maybe one day you and I could start our own little family group.’

  Rebecca stared at him in bewilderment. ‘I don’t understand. That can’t be right. They think the world of you—and I’ve seen the way you are with them. That’s more than friendship, surely?’ She pulled in a shaky breath. ‘And you’ve never said that you cared about me in that way.’

  His dark brows lifted. ‘Do I have to say it? Haven’t I shown you in so many ways that you mean the world to me? I’ve only known you for a relatively short time, but I’ve loved you almost since we first met. I can’t remember the moment when it happened, but I love the way you face up to things and battle through, come what may. I love your gentle ways with the people around you, the way you care for your aunt. Everything about you makes me want to keep you by my side for ever and a day.’

  He frowned. ‘I hoped that you felt the same way about me, but when you left that night, it shocked to me to the core. I couldn’t begin to imagine why you had done that.’

  Rebecca gazed at him in open-mouthed wonder. ‘You said you love me,’ she whispered.

  ‘Yes, I did. I love you. And I think, after what you did tonight, that you must love me in return, despite how you try to deny it. Why else would you brave a trip in a helicopter and suffer being winched down into a gully, if you didn’t have those feelings for me?’

  Rebecca started to tremble. ‘Please, don’t remind me that I did that,’ she said in a choked voice. ‘I don’t even want to think about it. I must have been mad.’

  He came over to her and put his arms around her. ‘Madly in love, perhaps?’ he murmured. ‘Is that the truth of it, Rebecca?’

  Her face crumpled. ‘I can’t help myself,’ she said. ‘I can’t help being in love with you, but it doesn’t make it right. I thought I would go away and take the job on the island, but then you had to go and get yourself stuck on the ledge, and everything went wrong.’

  ‘That’s when everything started to go right,’ he said. He tugged her close to him, nuzzling her cheek with his, and she knew that she was losing the argument. She felt a warm thrill of sensation ripple through her entire body. She needed this closeness, she yearned for him to hold her and never let her go.

  His hands lightly smoothed along the curve of her spine and came to settle on the rounded swell of her hips. ‘Perhaps we should talk about Cheryl,’ he said, and she tensed a little, bracing herself for what was to come.

  ‘I told you about my friend who died,’ he said in a roughened voice, ‘but what I didn’t mention was that on the day of the accident his wife and baby were waiting for him at home.’

  ‘Oh…’ Rebecca shook her head, absorbing what he was saying. ‘No, you didn’t. I had no idea…’

  He pressed his lips together for a fleeting second. ‘I was the one who had to go back and tell them that he hadn’t made it through the crash. It was shocking news to give anyone, and afterwards, because they were friends of mine, I felt that I had to take care of Cheryl and help her through the difficult times. I owed her that much. She had a young baby to look after, and she needed someone to rely on, and I wasn’t going to let her down. I had to do that. Do you understand?’

  ‘Yes. I understand. Of course you had to help her.’ She looked at him. ‘You wouldn’t be the man I love if you had simply left her alone.’

  A fleeting smile touched his lips. ‘She still turns to me when she’s in trouble, but I know that she’s getting stronger every day, every week, and sooner or later she’ll be able to stand on her own two feet. She’s getting out and about now, meeting new people, making a life for herself, but I have to go on being there for her while she needs me.’

  Rebecca said slowly, ‘Yes, you do. Only, if it’s all right with you and Cheryl, she’ll have two people to turn to now, won’t she? I could be her friend, couldn’t I? Sometimes a woman can be just the right person to help and advise, or simply to listen.’

  He smiled down into her eyes. ‘I had a feeling that you might react that way. That’s why I love you, Rebecca. You’re everything I could ever want, or need. I hope you know that.’

  His head lowered, his lips brushing her mouth, and in the next moment the kiss turned into a sweet and tender explosion of delight. Rebecca kissed him in return, loving the way his cheek touched hers and the way his body warmed her through and through. She melted into his arms, wanting this moment to go on for ever and ever.

  After a while, though, he reluctantly eased back from her. ‘What are we going to do about the way we feel for one another?’ he murmured. ‘We both have such different ways of looking at life and work, but there has to be a way that we can sort things out between us, doesn’t there?’

  Her answer was guarded. ‘You mean, because we both have different ambitions and priorities?’

  He nodded. ‘That’s right.’ His hand stroked along the length of her arm. ‘You said that you might consider working on the mainland,’ he murmured. ‘Did you mean it? I know Dr Bradshaw would be happy for you to stay on in A and E.’

  ‘Would he? Yes, I did mean what I said. I think I was always searching for peace and tranquillity, for the place that I could call home, but I realise now that home is where the heart is, as they say…and I know without a shadow of doubt that my heart belongs with you.’

  ‘And mine with you.’ His gaze moved over her. ‘I want to be with you for always, Rebecca. I need to know that you’ll there with me when I wake up in the morning, and that you’ll be waiting for me when I come home in the evening. Do you think you could do that for me? Will you marry me?’

  ‘I could. I will.’ She smiled up at him. ‘But you have to try to meet me halfway. Will you, please, think about taking a ground-based job? You didn’t answer me when I asked you that question before, did you?’

  ‘Yes, I’ll keep my feet firmly on the ground, if that’s what you want.’ He looked her over, his mouth curving as he saw her face light up. ‘I’d do anything for you,’ he said softly, and he kissed her again, an enchanting, deeply satisfying kiss that took her breath away.

  S
he ran her fingers over his chest, loving the feel of him. She loved the way the softness of her breasts was crushed against his rib cage so that she could feel the thunder of his heartbeat reverberating through her own slender body. Most of all, she loved the way he was holding her, his arms wrapped around her as though he would meld them together for all time.

  Gently, he broke off the kiss, simply keeping her gathered to him, and she gazed up into his eyes. ‘We’ll have to break the news to my aunt,’ she murmured, ‘but I’m not sure quite how she’ll respond. And above all, I feel as though I need to have her near to me so that I can keep an eye on her, but I know she’ll want to go back to the island eventually.’

  He ran his fingers over her cheek. ‘I think she’ll be perfectly happy with what’s going on. It seems to me that she’s a very perceptive woman, and nothing much gets past her…I suspect that she already knows pretty much how we feel about each other.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘I did wonder if she gave you the keys to the cottage to throw a spanner in the works and get us to bring our feelings out into the open.’

  Rebecca’s eyes widened. ‘Do you think so?’

  He nodded. ‘She did tell me that she thought I was a fool in letting you get away. She more or less told me to buck my ideas up. She certainly calls a spade a spade, doesn’t she?’

  ‘That does sound like my aunt.’ Rebecca thought things through. ‘Whatever happens, she won’t be ready to go back to the island for some time to come, and I’ll need to make arrangements to take care of her.’

  ‘Maybe we could do up the cottage for her,’ Craig said, ‘and make it a comfortable place for her to stay.’

  Rebecca reflected on that for a while. ‘Yes. She might appreciate that, even if it’s just somewhere to live while she’s recovering. At any rate, my sister will be coming back home to Scotland soon, and she plans to make her home on the island, so between us we should be able to work things out, shouldn’t we?’