He groaned in despair. He was getting nowhere! Every time he tried to find a solution, another problem emerged. It wasn’t just his feelings of inadequacy that stood in the way now, but also a fear of what the future might hold in store. He couldn’t keep going round in circles like this, certainly couldn’t bear to think that Natalie was trapped in a relationship which was going nowhere. He either had to resolve these issues once and for all or call it a day.
Natalie drove straight to the clinic after she left Palmer’s. Even though she wasn’t supposed to be on duty that night, she felt a desperate need to fill in the time and stop herself thinking about what had happened. Rafferty was deluding himself if he thought he loved her. Oh, maybe he cared about her and enjoyed having sex with her, but love?
No way was it love! Not true love, the sort of love her parents had had together, the kind of love one read about in books. That sort of love knew no boundaries, had no fears, overcame any obstacles. It withstood anything and everything that got in its way and it certainly didn’t falter because of money or profession. True love was the most precious gift one person could give to another. And Rafferty didn’t have a clue what it was about!
‘My, someone’s keen. Is this just a social visit or are you here to work?’ Trish Burnham, one of their volunteer doctors, paused on her way to the treatment room when Natalie opened the front door.
‘Work.’ Natalie summoned a smile but her lips felt as though they were being tortured to death. If Rafferty didn’t understand the true meaning of love, they didn’t have a hope of sorting out this mess. ‘Helen mentioned we were short-staffed tonight so I thought I’d offer my services.’
‘Well, I certainly won’t turn down such a wonderful offer,’ Trish replied cheerfully.
Trish was in her fifties and had retired from medicine the previous year after working as a GP for over thirty years. When she’d found that the days had started to drag, she’d signed on at the clinic and now worked there every afternoon. She was the most experienced of all their doctors and an absolute mine of information. Now she laughed as Natalie followed her into the clinic.
‘Although I have to say that most women your age would think twice about giving up their Friday evenings to work in this place.’
‘I don’t mind. I hadn’t anything planned so I may as well make myself useful.’
Natalie didn’t bother to explain that Friday was just another night to her. Most Fridays she sat in front of the television, too worn out after a week spent wrestling with Palmer’s problems to think about going out.
How had Rafferty been spending his Friday evenings since they’d parted? she wondered all of a sudden, then blocked out the thought because she really didn’t want to know.
She found a scrub suit and changed out of her office clothes then set to work. Trish asked her to clean and dress a cut that had gone septic so Natalie took the youngster into a cubicle.
‘Just sit on the couch while I find what I need,’ she told the boy, going over to the cupboard. She laid the trolley with antiseptic, cotton wool, plastic forceps and a selection of dressings then put on some gloves and went back to him.
‘So how did you manage to do this to yourself, Ryan?’ she asked, breaking open the cotton wool and fitting a piece into the disposable forceps. The wound was fairly deep and she felt the boy wince when she began to clean it, working outwards from the centre of the injury to avoid getting any more dirt into it. Although Ryan looked tidy enough, he smelt dreadful and his skin was ingrained with dirt so she made a note to give him the address of a local hostel where he could clean himself up.
‘I cut it on some broken glass,’ Ryan muttered, turning pale as he watched blood ooze from the wound.
‘Don’t watch if you hate the sight of blood,’ she advised him, dropping the piece of cotton wool into the waste bag hanging on the end of the trolley. Picking up a clean piece, she worked her way around the other side of the wound, washing away the blood and dirt that had accumulated. ‘Was it a broken bottle?’
‘No, a window.’
Ryan shrugged when she looked at him in surprise. He’d claimed to be eighteen when he’d given his details to Annie, who was acting as both receptionist and triage nurse that night, but Natalie doubted if he was anywhere near as old as that. He looked more like fourteen to her and she bit back a sigh at the thought of a child that age living on the streets.
‘Me and my mates have been squatting in a flat down by the station but the landlord has had the place boarded up so we had to find somewhere else to stay. We found a shop that’s been closed up for years so we moved all our stuff in there.’ The boy grimaced as he looked at his arm again. ‘I cut myself when I was climbing through the window.’
‘Well, fortunately it isn’t very deep, although it’s still a nasty injury,’ Natalie said quietly. It wasn’t her place to admonish him for breaking into the derelict shop. In any case, if there’d been enough decent accommodation for the youngsters they treated, they wouldn’t be forced to resort to such methods.
‘The doc said I might need stitches,’ Ryan told her glumly.
‘We’ll see once it’s all cleaned up.’
Natalie finished off and went to fetch Trish, who decided that the cut wasn’t deep enough to warrant stitching. Ryan looked relieved when Natalie explained that she would hold the cut together with steristrips until it healed. She gave his whole arm a good cleaning with antiseptic then carefully placed the steristrips over the wound and bandaged his arm.
‘How does that feel? Not too tight, is it?’
‘No. It’s OK.’ Ryan waggled his arm about and nodded. ‘It feels a lot better, thanks.’
‘You’re welcome.’ Natalie smiled at him as she opened the cubicle door. ‘If you have any problems with it, come straight back and we’ll take another look at it. In the meantime, I suggest you go and take a bath. Here, let me give you this card. You can use the facilities at this hostel. There won’t be a charge and nobody will ask you any questions.’
Ryan took the card from her and hurried away. Natalie sighed as she watched him leaving, because she had about as much hope of him attending to his personal hygiene as she had of flying to the moon!
Trish must have overheard the conversation because she chuckled as she came out of the neighbouring cubicle.
‘I think you’re on a loser there, Natalie. Young Ryan doesn’t seem too keen on water to me.’
‘Tell me about it,’ Natalie said wryly, holding her nose.
Trish laughed in sympathy. ‘Hmm, he did pong, didn’t he? Still, he seemed a nice enough kid—even thanked me, which doesn’t often happen. That’s a point in his favour.’
‘It is, and, let’s face it, the poor boy needs something going for him, doesn’t he?’
Trish was still laughing as Natalie made her way to the front desk to fetch their next patient. They saw half a dozen minor injuries then it was time for Trish to leave. Piers was on duty again that night and he grinned when he saw Natalie, or, more specifically, what she was wearing.
‘I know you agreed to relax the dress code, Nat, but maybe you’ve gone too far the other way now. From full evening dress to scrub suit in the space of a week seems a big step down to me.’
‘That’s because you’re too young to understand the protocol in these matters.’ Natalie patted his cheek. ‘One should never make the underlings feel uncomfortable. It’s just not done.’
‘Woowee! Get her!’ Piers declared when Helen came out of the office to see what was going on. ‘Our Nat should audition as a replacement for Emily Post. She’s certainly well up on what is and isn’t done in high society.’
Helen sniffed. ‘Our Nat, as you call her, could give Emily Post a run for her money without any difficulty. Do you have any idea who she actually is?’
‘What do you mean?’ Piers demanded, looking blank.
‘Does the name Palmer Pharmaceuticals mean anything to you? I know you have a very limited knowledge of the big wide world but mayb
e you’ve heard them mentioned somewhere,’ Helen said scathingly.
Natalie shifted uncomfortably. Although she had never tried to hide who she was, she hadn’t made a song and dance about it either. She would hate to think that Piers might feel it necessary to treat her any differently once he found out who she was.
‘Of course I’ve heard of Palmer’s,’ Piers retorted. ‘Do you think I’m a complete moron…’ He stopped and his jaw dropped as he stared at Natalie. ‘You don’t mean that our Nat is one of those Palmers, do you?’
‘Got it in one. My, my, so there’s at least one brain cell alive and well inside that head of yours.’ Helen smiled beautifically as Piers spluttered. ‘Easy now, sonny. Don’t tax yourself too much. We don’t want you doing yourself any permanent damage, do we, Natalie?’
‘We certainly don’t,’ Natalie said briskly, deeming it time to bring the conversation to an end. Swinging round, she went to call in her next patient but didn’t get very far because Piers suddenly dropped to his knees and proceeded to genuflect in front of her.
‘Forgive me, oh, illustrious one. If I’d known who you were I would have shown suitable humility,’ he intoned.
Natalie chuckled, because it was so typical of Piers to react this way. Her spirits lifted at the thought that nothing had changed as she gently jabbed him with her toe. ‘You are forgiven this time but make sure you remember your place in future, slave.’
‘Thank you, thank you, oh, mighty one. I am truly grateful.’ He stood up, grinning widely as he made his way to Reception to fetch in another patient.
Natalie laughed as she glanced at Helen. ‘A typical Piers reaction, wouldn’t you say?’
‘He’s a complete idiot, isn’t he?’ the other nurse declared, although the warmth in her voice took the sting out of the comment.
‘He is indeed, but his heart’s in the right place and that’s what matters most of all.’
Helen didn’t say anything but Natalie saw her blush. She smiled to herself as she went out to Reception. It looked as though there might be a romance in the offing and it couldn’t happen to two nicer people than Helen and Piers.
She sighed as she picked up the next patient’s notes because she couldn’t help wishing that her love life was as uncomplicated as theirs. Fat chance of that ever happening!
The queue of people waiting to be seen dwindled around ten o’clock so Natalie made a start on clearing up. She knew there would be another rush before they closed and it would help to have everything straight before then so she filed their notes and restocked the shelves in all the cubicles with dressings. She was just thinking about making herself a cup of coffee when the outer doors opened. She went to see who it was, gasping in dismay when she found Danny Kennedy clutching hold of the doorjamb.
‘Piers, I need a hand out here!’ she shouted, running over to the teenager. She looped his arm around her neck and managed to support him until Piers arrived to help her.
‘Let’s get him into a cubicle,’ the young doctor said tersely, half carrying and half dragging the boy through Reception.
They got him onto a bed and Natalie whipped the oxygen mask off the wall and slipped it over his nose and mouth. Danny was struggling for breath, his lips blue-tinged from the lack of oxygen reaching his lungs.
‘He’s asthmatic,’ she told Piers hurriedly. ‘We’ve sorted out a treatment regime for him but there was a hiccup at the beginning of the week when someone stole his drugs. They broke one of his ribs in the process.’
‘It could be a knock-on effect from that, I suppose, although it doesn’t sound like an asthma attack to me,’ Piers said worriedly, slotting the ends of his stethoscope into his ears. He listened to the boy’s chest and shook his head. ‘Something’s not right. There’s no crackling or wheezing sounds coming from his lungs—not much sound of anything, in fact. The airway could be completely blocked, of course, but I’m just not sure.’
‘Shall I call an ambulance?’ Natalie suggested. This wasn’t the right time to worry about how Danny would react to a stay in hospital.
‘Yes. I don’t like the look of him at all.’ Piers glanced round when Helen appeared. ‘This kid needs to go to hospital a.s.a.p., if not sooner, so can you phone for an ambulance?’
‘That’s what I came to tell you. There’s been a major incident at one of the stations and all the ambulances are busy with that,’ Helen explained. ‘Sam just phoned to warn us in case we had problems getting hold of one. He also said that all hospitals within the Central London area have closed their A and E departments until they know how many casualties they might be dealing with. All other emergency cases will be ferried out of the city.’
‘That’s just what we need!’ Piers sounded really worried as he shot another look at the youngster. ‘He needs urgent treatment and we can’t afford to waste valuable time while he’s driven around London. I don’t have either the experience or the skill to know what to do for him.’
Natalie bit her lip. Danny was unconscious now and barely breathing, despite the oxygen he was receiving. He desperately needed to be seen by an experienced accident-and-emergency consultant, but it could take a while to get him to a hospital at the moment. Even though she hated the thought, she knew there was just one person who might be able to help them.
She quickly left the cubicle and went into the office. Rafferty picked up the receiver on the third ring and she shivered when she heard his deep voice flowing along the line. She really and truly didn’t want to curry favour by telling him about the work she’d been doing at the clinic, but she had no choice when Danny’s life could depend on it.
‘It’s me—Natalie,’ she said without preamble. ‘I need your help, Rafferty.’
‘Where are you?’
There was no sign of panic in his voice yet she could hear the underlying urgency it held, and something warm and soft flowered inside her. Even if Rafferty didn’t love her the way she wanted him to, he still cared.
‘Brookside Clinic. Have you got a pen? I’ll give you directions.’
She rattled out the instructions on how to get there and made him repeat them, because it was vital that he shouldn’t get lost.
‘OK, I’ve got that. I should be with you in about ten minutes, with a bit of luck,’ he told her briskly. ‘I’ve got my mobile phone with me so call me if you need to.’
‘Will do.’ She started to hang up then paused. ‘Thank you,’ she said softly, and heard him draw in a deep breath.
‘You don’t need to thank me. I’ll always be here whenever you need me, Natalie.’
He didn’t say anything else before he hung up. Natalie replaced the receiver, feeling her heart welling with a mix of emotions. She knew that he’d meant what’d he said, knew, too, that she could rely on him to help her. Rafferty would never let her down but did he love her as much as she loved him? Love her with every fibre of his being for the woman she was rather than the woman he wanted her to be?
She couldn’t answer that question because only Rafferty knew the answer to it. All she could do was hope that someday he would be able to see beyond her background and focus on her, the woman who loved him with the whole of her heart. Maybe then he would realise just how precious love really was.
CHAPTER FIVE
RAFFERTY drove as fast as he could but the traffic was horrendous, so it took him almost fifteen minutes to reach the clinic. He parked his car outside and hurried across the pavement, taking stock as he went. He had no idea what Natalie was doing in a place like this, but the litter that was strewn across the pavement and the graffiti that covered the walls of the arches didn’t bode well for what he would find inside.
It came as something of a shock, therefore, when he opened the door and found himself in a pleasantly appointed reception area with rows of seats neatly lined up against the walls. There was even a vase of flowers on the counter and a couple of good-quality prints on the white-painted walls, so it definitely wasn’t what he’d been expecting, but there again Na
talie had a way of tossing surprises at him, didn’t she?
‘Oh, am I glad to see you! Come straight through.’
All of a sudden Natalie was there and Rafferty forgot everything else when he saw the worry on her beautiful face. He hurriedly followed her through the door behind the reception desk, rapping out questions as he went.
‘What’s happened? Why did you phone me?’
‘We have a sixteen-year-old male asthmatic. He presented at the start of the week with the usual symptoms you would expect to find in someone suffering a severe asthma attack.’
‘Is he following a treatment regime?’ Rafferty cut in, wanting to have all the facts before him so he knew what he was dealing with.
‘Yes. He’s been responding well to sodium cromoglycate. The number of attacks he’s suffered recently have been reduced by roughly half,’ she explained, opening the door of the nearest cubicle and ushering him inside.
Rafferty nodded to the young doctor standing beside the bed, although he didn’t waste time on introductions. There would be time enough for the pleasantries later. ‘If he’s been responding well, why did he suffer an attack earlier in the week?’ he asked, going straight to the bed.
The younger man offered him a stethoscope and he nodded his thanks as he took it from him then checked the patient’s general condition, which was pretty grim. The boy’s breathing was so shallow as to be almost non-existent, his pulse rate was right off the scale and when Rafferty listened to Danny’s chest, he could hear very little—not a good sign at all.
‘Someone stole his medication so he wasn’t able to take it as per instructions,’ Natalie told him flatly, moving to stand beside him so that she could hold the boy’s hand.
Rafferty felt a little spurt of awareness shoot through him when he saw her slender fingers squeezing the teenager’s hand. If touch alone could cure the boy, he should be leaping off that bed by now, he thought wistfully. He’d always found Natalie’s touch to be pure magic.
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