by Fiona Lowe
Elly’s voice bounced enthusiastically down the line. ‘I’m twenty minutes away. Do you want to get together—?’
The phone crackled, cutting off her words. Just the two of us for dinner? Sure. For a drink? Absolutely. ‘Sorry, El, you broke up and I missed that.’
‘It’s low tide and as it’s still early I thought the triplets might enjoy a rock-pool ramble. That is, if one or both of your parents are able to come too so we can have one on one and not lose anyone.’
Disappointment rammed him hard in the gut, sparking an immediate spurt of frustration directed at himself. Fledgling friendship is the only thing you and El can handle. That doesn’t include dating.
‘Gabe? Or isn’t it a good idea?’
The hesitancy in her voice underpinned how both of them were stepping on eggshells around each other. He forced himself to sound enthusiastic. ‘It’s a great idea.’
‘Excellent. Let’s meet at Bluff Point in half an hour and bring their beach buckets.’
***
‘Three hats, check, three sunscreened kids, check.’
Gabe had the children lined up and ready on the sandy beach at Bluff Point.
‘Bucket, dig me?’ Rory asked as he swung the bucket around.
‘Not digging, mate, but we’re looking at starfish.’
‘Twinkle, twinkle, star.’
Lucy wiggled her pudgy fingers and Gabe laughed.
A hat suddenly got pushed onto his head. ‘One hat for the father.’ His mother smiled at him. ‘This is a lovely idea of Elly’s.’
‘Mum.’ He gave a look that he knew quelled junior residents. He’d already spoken to his mother about asking Elly to collect the boxes, but she’d sworn black and blue that the Gilberts had only offered the concert tickets after she’d made the arrangement, and in the rush to get to Hobart on time she’d completely forgotten. ‘Don’t get any ideas about Elly and me. There’s too much history and right now we’re struggling just to be friends.’
Cathleen’s brows rose in surprise. ‘Trying to be friends is … ‘ She seemed to consider her thoughts. ‘It’s admirable, darling, although I’d have thought it fraught with difficulties. All I meant was this outing is a nice idea of Elly’s and a good opportunity for her to practise as a volunteer rambling guide.’ She patted her sunhat into position.
Gabe had the distinct impression he’d just given away more than he should have. A general wave of dissatisfaction washed through him but he wasn’t sure if it was due to his mother’s comments about the problem of ex-lovers trying to be friends or the fact that Elly’s motives for the outing weren’t all about spending time with him. ‘What’s a rambling guide?’
‘Haven’t you wondered why your father’s been reading all about the local marine life? He and Elly are trainee ramblers as part of the upcoming school holiday programme.’ She laughed and gave a wave as Elly appeared at the top of the stairway. ‘Although the triplets are not going to give them any tough questions so we’ll have to do that.’
Behind his sunglasses, Gabe watched Elly descend the stairs to the beach, her feet clad in reef-shoes and her long, shapely legs exposed from mid-thigh by cut-off jeans, but it was the movement of her old T-shirt that riveted his attention. It rose and fell seductively, exposing a band of tanned midriff along with a sparkling gem belly-button stud. Heat poured through him and he tore his gaze away, wishing he could dive into the cold surf to cool down and find perspective.
Sex with Elly is a seriously bad idea.
Really? His lust-filled body disagreed loudly. It’s been so long since I had sex.
Then find someone else.
The idea lacked appeal.
Elly walked over to them, her wide smile dancing around his family group. ‘Hi, James, Cathleen.’ A ripple of tension shot across her shoulders. ‘Gabe.’
‘Hey, Elly.’ He hated the tension that always hovered between them and wondered if it would ever fade.
She tucked her hair behind her ears. ‘James, I’m hoping you can help me with my cnidarians.’
His father laughed. ‘I’ll trade you cnidarians for ascidians.’
Envy bit him at the easy camaraderie that flowed between his father and Elly, which was in stark contrast to the strained atmosphere he and Elly shared. ‘Who knew you two would bond over anemones and sea squirts?’ The statement came out overly curt.
Surprise raced across Elly’s cheeks but she didn’t reply, and instead patted the triplets on their red-hatted heads. ‘Are you lobsters ready for an adventure?’
‘Buck.’ Ben smiled at his new word as he held up his bucket.
‘Go Lee.’ Lucy pointed to herself.
Rory just tugged on James’s hand as if to ask if they couldn’t just start.
‘Let’s go, then.’ Elly held Lucy’s hand and started the short walk to the exposed basalt and sandstone reef.
James and Rory followed and his mother scooped up Ben. Gabe found himself walking behind, experiencing one of the few occasions, aside from work, when he didn’t have a child in his arms or hanging off his hand. It should have been liberating; instead if felt strangely like he was the stranger in this excursion and his parents had a connection with Elly he couldn’t seem to grasp.
Another family was wandering around on the reef, gazing into the rock pools. Two boys, who looked to be about ten and twelve, charged ahead, putting distance between them and their parents. ‘Be careful,’ their mother called to their retreating backs.
Elly watched the boys running off, and her brow creased in a slight frown.
‘Something wrong?’ Gabe asked quietly.
She moved her head back and forth as she shrugged her shoulders, the motion vacillating. ‘Not really, I guess. It’s just if they were mine, I’d be keeping them closer.’ Elly squatted down in front of the triplets. ‘We have to hold hands when we’re looking in the water and you can only touch what I put in your bucket, OK?’
The triplets nodded in response to the serious tone in her voice.
‘Fish.’ Rory hopefully held out his bucket.
‘I think the fish might be a bit fast for me to catch but I can show you something else.’ Elly took his bucket and put it into the pool for a moment and then handed it back to him.
Gabe looked at the beautiful five-armed, orange star. ‘Hey, Rory, Elly’s found you a starfish.’
‘Actually, it’s a biscuit star.’ James helped Rory put the sea-star on his fingers, all the while keeping it underwater.
‘Num-nums?’ Rory looked confused.
‘It’s not that sort of biscuit.’
Gabe and Elly’s words laughingly tumbled over each other in a blend of harmonies that instantly recalled the past. The good past when they’d had simpatico, something he now realised he missed.
He found himself grinning at her as a bubble of happiness floated through him, a sign that perhaps they could find a friendship groove after all. ‘So remind me, what’s its real name?’
‘It’s an echinoderm and look … ‘ she put a sea-star in Ben and Lucy’s buckets before turning one over to show the children ‘… they eat through this hole.’
‘More?’ Lucy peered into the water.
James took Rory to another pool as Elly put her hand back in and picked up a hermit crab. ‘He takes his house with him.’ The bright orange creature with blue eyes quickly retreated into its current shell.
‘Hey, Elly, I’ve found an elephant snail.’ James sounded as if he’d just won the lottery.
Cathleen shuddered as she walked Ben and Lucy over. ‘James, I really don’t know how you can stick your hands in these pools.’
‘That’s why we did the training, sweetheart, so we know what not to pick up.’
Elly moved to stand up and Gabe automatically extended his hand to help her. Her palm hit his with seductive softness and the urge to pull her up and into his arms roared through him like a hot north wind. She quickly dropped his hand the moment she was upright and immediately looked toward his parents an
d the triplets.
It was the first time they’d been alone and he wanted to extend the moment. His eyes lit on the pale green-and-yellow plant that seemed to dominate the area. ‘I’ve always wondered what this is called.’
‘Oh, that’s an easy one.’ With dancing eyes, Elly scooped up a few strands of the wet and dripping plant and draped it around his neck. ‘Neptune’s necklace.’
Her perfume and energy circled him, pulling at every resolution he’d made about her, mocking his attempt to keep her at a distance by trying to be friends. ‘Not Salacia’s strands?’ He swung some of the plant around her neck, remembering the time he’d given her a gold chain necklace for her birthday. ‘All wise men know it’s the woman who gets the jewellery.’
She stilled as the memory passed between them. ‘Perhaps that’s why Salacia hid from Neptune, because of his penchant for necklaces.’
He stroked the stray stands of hair from her cheek, tucking them behind her ear like she often did. ‘Nah, she was in awe of him and rode back to him on a dolphin.’
The green of her eyes disappeared under a disc of wide black and the tip of her tongue touched her plump top lip before she swallowed hard. ‘I’ve always had a soft spot for dolphins.’
In a primal rush of need that consumed every part of him, he stared into her eyes. She feels it too. He wanted to pull her close, feel her breasts flatten against his chest, have her long legs pressed hard against his own, and fill her mouth with his. He wanted to taste her, have her heat ignite his and lose himself in the mind-blowing sensations he’d always experienced when he’d kissed her.
‘Elly.’ Her name came out on a croak of need combined with utter frustration that they really weren’t alone at all, and to do anything would expose them as much as the reef they were standing on.
‘Mum!’
The terrified shriek of a boy curdled his blood.
‘Jack’s been bitten by a blue-ring.’
Elly turned and ran.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘WHAT can we do?’ Shock and fear lined James’s face.
‘Get the kids off the reef and call an ambulance.’
Gabe raced after Elly, who’d pulled off her T-shirt, and by the time he reached her, she was shredding it into strips.
‘I’m a doctor, Jack, and you must lie perfectly still.’ Elly instructed the boy as she laid him down.
‘I’m Gabe and I’m a doctor too. Are you sure it was a blue-ringed octopus? I didn’t think they’d be in Tassie.’
‘We get them here.’ Elly bit the material with her mouth.
The younger boy nodded. ‘I saw the bright blue rings and told him to drop it.’
‘It’s too late to do anything once you see the rings.’ Elly started wrapping the boy’s arm with the strips of her T-shirt, making a compression bandage.
The boys’ parents arrived out of breath from running, their faces white with shock. ‘Do you know what you’re doing? ‘ The father stared at Elly’s halter bikini top and sparkling belly-button ring and immediately moved forward, his actions pure protection.
Gabe put his hand on the man’s shoulder. ‘She’s slowing down the spread of the venom. We’re both doctors and she certainly knows what she’s doing.’
‘Oh, like snakebite.’ The mother nodded her understanding. ‘So there’ll be antivenin at the hospital?’
Elly’s hands kept bandaging but her gaze hit Gabe’s with the message to tell them because she couldn’t waste precious seconds.
There was no easy way to give this news. ‘I’m afraid there’s no antivenin for blue-ring octopus bites.’
‘Oh, God, what does that mean?’ Jack’s mother gripped his arm.
‘I feel sick, ‘ moaned Jack.
Elly tied a knot in the bandage that now covered the length of Jack’s arm. ‘Gabe, we need to get off the reef. Pick him up and run. ‘ She stood and looked at the terrified parents. ‘Follow us.’
Elly’s bullet-point instructions rammed home the critical situation and Gabe scooped up the boy, moving as fast as he could, given he was picking his way across uneven, wet rocks and around large pools of water.
Elly ran alongside. ‘Take him to the bottom of the stairs and we’ll reassess before we attempt to get him to the car park.’ She put her hand on the boy’s head. ‘Jack, can you see me?’
‘You’re fuzzy.’ Fear laced the boy’s words.
The venom was spreading and doing its damage. Gabe’s feet finally hit sand and he tightened his grip on Jack and really ran. A long minute later he lowered the boy onto the sand. ‘Can you squeeze my hand?’ He put his palm into the unbitten hand.
Jack gave a feeble squeeze.
‘Gabe, the ambulance is on the way and we’re taking the triplets home.’
‘Thanks, Dad.’ Gabe nodded to his father and prayed the ambulance wasn’t far away because he’d feel a lot happier with an air-viva and a tube to maintain Jack’s airway when the inevitable happened.
‘What’s going to happen?’ Shaking, Jack’s mother fell to her knees next to her son.
Elly took her hand. ‘Like Gabe said, we’re going to do everything we can for Jack. Your job is to stay calm so Jack stays calm.’
The woman breathed in deeply, valiantly trying to find some semblance of composure. ‘OK, but tell me what’s going to happen.’
‘We’ve tried to slow down the circulation of the toxin but his vision is blurred and he’s nauseated so it’s starting to spread, and eventually it will paralyse him.’
‘Oh, God.’ Sharon’s hand covered her mouth as if trying to stop her fear.
‘Jack can hear us and understand us, but he won’t be able to speak and we’re going to have to use a ventilator to breathe for him until the toxin wears off. ‘ Elly continued to hold the woman’s hand. ‘I promise you, we’re doing everything we can and he’s in good hands.’
Gabe kept a close eye on Jack as he listened to Elly’s words. He’d always admired the way she could empathise with patients, which was why he’d been so gutted the night he’d told her about Jenna. He’d expected more. Needed more.
You just hated it that she was right. You loathe what you did to Jenna and if you hadn’t been using sex to forget Elly you might have seen the real and struggling Jenna.
But he hadn’t seen it. He’d missed all the tell-tale signs and that ate into him more than anything.
We both know how hard bipolar is to diagnose in the early stages and hindsight is of little value, especially as she wasn’t your patient.
Elly’s words kept coming back to him. On one level he knew she was right. He and Jenna had been consenting adults—out for fun, good times and no commitment, although he knew now that was an oxymoron. But on the other hand he just couldn’t get past the fact that if he’d realised earlier that she was sick, things would have been very different.
But then you wouldn’t have the triplets.
The thought both shocked and steadied him. Being a father was the most challenging thing he’d ever done and even though he was constantly exhausted and had no desire for any more children, he couldn’t imagine his life without Rory, Ben and Lucy.
Honour Jenna’s memory through the children. Was that the key to putting his demons to rest? But how the hell did he do that?
‘We love you, mate.’ Jack’s father’s gruff tones said it all as he flanked his son. ‘How’s his breathing, Doc?’
Gabe had been resting his hand lightly on Jack’s chest, monitoring his breathing, and could now feel his increasingly shallow respirations. ‘Not so good.’ Where the hell was the ambulance? ‘Jack, I might have to give you mouth-to-mouth soon, but it’ll be OK, I promise.’
The boy’s pupils—fixed, dilated and stark with fear—stared blindly at him as the toxin-generated neu- romuscular paralysis took hold.
Jack’s chest barely lifted. The ambulance’s siren sounded faintly in the distance but it wasn’t close enough to arrive in time. ‘Starting mouth-to-mouth.’ Gabe tilted Jack’s chin, l
owered his head and with his lips making a seal he breathed life-saving air into the child’s lungs
and prayed it was enough.
***
Elly signed off on Jack’s paperwork, thankful that they’d been able to maintain his airway, avoid cardiac arrest and the risk of aspirate pneumonia. She was really pleased that together she and Gabe had achieved the best outcome for Jack, but as Midden Cove didn’t have an ICU, she’d transferred him by air ambulance to Hobart. The moment the chopper had taken off and banked, Gabe had looked at his watch and said, ‘El, I need to go.’
She’d recognised the look. The ‘I’m a parent with responsibilities that are solely mine’ look, and the icequeen had resurfaced to try and soften the jab of her own heartache. ‘Of course you need to go.’
That had been fifteen minutes ago. As she dropped the file into the out-basket, she pictured Gabe sitting in the triplets’ bedroom, playing his guitar and singing them to sleep. She could imagine Ben listening quietly, Lucy trying to use the cot as a trampoline and being told she had to lie still or there’d be no song, and Rory would have started singing anyway. Their personalities were all so different but their exuberance had snared her and she adored spending time with them.
Careful, they’re not yours.
I know that, but spending time with them is easier than with Gabe. But even that bit of insight didn’t stop the empty feeling around her heart intensifying.
So how do you truly feel about Gabe?
Sometimes she hated her subconscious but was it time to work out how she really felt? For sure she’d loved Gabe once, and she’d experienced a long time of hating him, but right now she didn’t love him or hate him, but her body kept responding to him as if programmed by the past. If she was honest, she just wanted things to be less strained between them.
She dropped her white coat into a linen-skip, walked out of the hospital and headed toward the car park before she realised her car was still at Bluff Point. The warm evening air tickled her bare shoulders and she decided a walk was just what she needed to blow away all the confusion and trauma of the last few hours. She’d ring the police sergeant after she’d had a meal and then catch a lift out to collect her car.