Nurse in a Million

by Jennifer Taylor

  ‘Rafferty—’

  ‘They’re going to winch us down over there.’ He was all business as he turned to her again. ‘Then we’ll just have to climb the last few feet to reach the crew.’

  ‘Will they be able to winch the injured men back up into the helicopter?’ she asked dully, because once again the moment had passed her by.

  ‘They’re not equipped for that kind of operation, I’m afraid. Efraín’s spoken to air traffic control and they’re sending a fully equipped Medivac rescue helicopter to pick up the casualties. We’ll just do what we can until it gets here.’

  ‘Fine.’

  Natalie didn’t ask him any more questions because it was pointless to waste time. When the winchman tapped her on the shoulder and beckoned her to follow him to the bay doors, she unfastened her seat belt and got up. She waited while he fitted her and Rafferty with safety harnesses then explained how they undid the bolts that would secure them to the line when they were winched to the ground. Rafferty had decided to go first so he could help her, so she moved aside while the doors were opened, sucking in her breath as the wind rushed into the cabin. The ground looked an awfully long way away from where they were standing and she gulped at the thought of dangling off a thin little cable while she was lowered down to the mountainside.

  ‘You’ll be fine.’ Rafferty smiled at her and she tried her best to smile back but some of the trepidation she was feeling obviously showed on her face. He pulled her to him and hugged her hard and she heard the sudden roughness in his voice.

  ‘I won’t let anything bad happen to you, Natalie.’

  Emotion welled up inside her so that it was hard to smile back at him when she felt so choked up. ‘I know you won’t,’ she said huskily.

  ‘Do you?’

  The urgency in his voice was impossible to ignore, even though she wasn’t sure what it meant. ‘I would trust you with my life,’ she said simply, because it was true.

  Something crossed his face, an emotion so raw that her breath caught. It was as though for the first time ever he’d completely lowered his guard and allowed her a glimpse of the real man behind the highly controlled exterior, but before she could say anything, he turned away.

  Natalie’s hand clenched as she watched him step out onto one of the skids. Her heart was pounding as she watched the ground rushing up towards them until she was sure they would crash as well. Then at the very last second the pilot levelled off. The winchman tapped Rafferty on the shoulder and the next second he disappeared from sight.

  She looked down, watching in terror as he was lowered on the end of the cable. It only took a couple of seconds before he reached the ground. He released the clasp on his harness and the winchman reeled the line back in and attached it to her harness.

  Natalie could feel her legs trembling as she stepped out onto the narrow metal skid. The winchman suddenly tapped her on the shoulder and she closed her eyes and folded her arms, as she’d been instructed to do, as she stepped off onto fresh air. The wind rushed around her, buffeting her sideways as she spun towards the ground. She gasped in terror but the next moment Rafferty had hold of her. He sat her down on a rock while he unfastened the cable from her harness, grinning broadly when she finally managed to peel her eyelids apart.

  ‘Fun, wasn’t it?’ he teased, and she glared at him.

  ‘It might be your idea of fun but it certainly wasn’t mine!’

  ‘Oh, come on, Natalie, I could tell you were having the time of your life.’

  ‘Could you indeed? Then all I can say is that it’s no wonder we never agree on anything,’ she replied testily, because she still felt very wobbly after her descent from the skies. ‘Obviously, you don’t know me very well, Rafferty!’

  His face closed up as he rose and held the cable away from them so the winchman could reel it in. ‘Then it’s a good job that we’ve seen sense at last and called it a day, isn’t it?’

  Natalie bit her lip, wishing with all her heart that she hadn’t said that, especially after the way he’d seemed to open up to her in the helicopter. She longed to apologise but she could tell from his set expression that he wouldn’t listen to her.

  She stood up as Rafferty finished unclipping their haversacks from the cable. The winchman reeled in the line for the last time and the helicopter lifted off, the downdraught from its rotors almost blasting them off the side of the mountain. Rafferty grabbed hold of her arm and his touch was so impersonal that she could have wept, only it wouldn’t have achieved anything. When he handed her one of the rucksacks, she took it without a word. There was nothing to say that hadn’t been said before. They’d quarrelled and apologised so many times that it had become routine, yet not once had they addressed the reasons for their problems, and she blamed herself for that.

  She should have realised sooner the effect Rafferty’s upbringing must have had on him, instead of dismissing his concerns. Now it was too late to redress the damage, too late to do anything except go along with this decision he’d made that they must part. She could tell him that she understood his fears, but she couldn’t take them away from him and she’d never felt more helpless in her life. She didn’t want to lose him but she simply didn’t know how to keep him either!

  ‘Am I glad to see you guys!’

  Rafferty dredged up a smile as they crested the final ridge and found themselves face to face with the pilot of the stricken helicopter. The climb had been far more arduous than he’d expected it would be and he’d been worried in case it had been too much for Natalie. A couple of times he’d been tempted to tell her to wait while he found an easier route but he’d guessed what sort of response he would get. Natalie didn’t need his help—as she’d made abundantly clear.

  ‘I bet you are.’ He held out his hand, reminding himself that it was pointless torturing himself now when he would have years to think about the fact that Natalie didn’t need him. ‘I’m Michael Rafferty, one of the surgeons with Worlds Together. Miami air traffic control asked us to pop up here and see if we could stick on a plaster or two.’

  ‘Tom Wolfe. Although I’m none too sure what a plaster is, I’m happy to let you do whatever you like so long as you start with Dex.’ Tom glanced over to where the other two crew members were lying and lowered his voice. ‘He’s in a pretty bad way, from what I can tell, Doc.’

  ‘Then I’ll check him over first.’ Rafferty turned to Natalie, making sure that no trace of emotion was in his voice. ‘Can you take a look at Tom while I check on the copilot?’

  ‘Of course.’ She dropped her backpack on the ground and smiled at the pilot. ‘I’m Natalie Palmer and I’m a nurse-practitioner so you can safely let me stick on your BAND-AID, which I believe is what you call them in the US.’

  ‘So that’s what they are. Shame. I was hoping it might involve a rather more intimate procedure, seeing as I’m going to be in your tender care.’

  Rafferty turned away as she laughed, because it wasn’t very professional to want to punch a patient on the nose. Neither was it his place to object to the tone of the banter either. He’d given up any right to have a say in her life so he would have to get used to watching other men flirt with her.

  It was a depressing thought, so he tried not to dwell on it as he made his way over to where the copilot was lying. He was conscious but obviously in a bad way. He managed to tell Rafferty that his name was Jeff Dexter—Dex to his friends—but even that brief conversation proved too much and he passed out before Rafferty finished examining him.

  Rafferty’s spirits plummeted further as he logged up a broken leg and a displaced collar-bone, as well as fractures to both arms. It certainly wouldn’t be easy to get the man down from the mountain in this state. He was just checking Dex’s spine when Natalie arrived and crouched down beside him.

  ‘The pilot seems to have had a miraculous escape. He’s got a sprained wrist and a couple of cuts on his right forearm, but nothing serious.’

  ‘Good. That’s one less to worry about. Could y
ou check the winchman next?’ Rafferty barely glanced up because he was too busy checking the copilot’s spine. ‘He looks a bit disorientated so he might have bumped his head when they crashed.’

  ‘Will do.’

  She got up and went over to the other man while Rafferty finished what he was doing. His searching fingers suddenly detected a misalignment in the cervical spine and he groaned—it was the worst possible place for an injury. Damage to the spinal cord at this point could result in quadriplegia—paralysis in all four limbs—so his main concern now was to minimise the risk of any further damage occurring.

  He took a cervical collar out of his bag and fitted it around the copilot’s neck, then found a head restraint, using a length of tape across the man’s forehead as an added security measure to prevent him moving. Inflatable splints on his arms and leg helped to stabilise them but there was little Rafferty could do about his collar-bone, because he couldn’t risk moving him while he manipulated it back into place. They would have to sort it out at the hospital, so he left it at that. Natalie came back as he was administering a shot of morphine for the pain and he could tell at once that she was worried.

  ‘The winchman’s definitely suffered a head trauma. I’d guess there’s subdural bleeding because he seems very disorientated and he’s also slurring his words. I’d put his GCS at about seven.’

  ‘He needs to be admitted to hospital if we’re to avert a disaster,’ he said bluntly. ‘The same goes for this fellow. Slide your hand under here and tell me what you can feel.’

  He moved aside so she could check the patient’s spine, seeing the worry on her face when she looked up. ‘Definite misalignment between C5 and C6,’ she confirmed.

  ‘Which means we’ll need to handle him with kid gloves when we have to move him.’ Rafferty took a deep breath, forcing himself to focus on what needed to be done for their patients. It wasn’t easy when his thoughts kept wandering back to Natalie all the time, but he had to do what was right. ‘We need to keep a close watch on the winchman as well as the copilot, check if there’s any change in his condition—fitting, loss of consciousness—you know the drill.’

  ‘Fine. I’ll stay with him while you keep an eye on the copilot. Is there anything else we can do for him?’

  ‘I’m going to set up a drip. With this level of injury, shock is going to be a problem, although the biggest problem of all will be getting him off the mountain.’

  He broke off as the radio in his backpack suddenly started crackling. He depressed the receive button and was surprised when he recognised Larry’s voice on the other end of the line.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, because he could only assume there must be a problem if Larry had contacted him. The team should have been on their way to the airport by now and he couldn’t imagine why they were still at the camp. ‘I thought you’d have left by now.’

  ‘We were just about to set off when Miami control got onto us again so I stayed back to contact you. Apparently, there’s a hitch with the rescue helicopter. They’ve forecast dense cloud over the mountains and the chopper won’t be able to fly out until it clears.’

  ‘We have two men here in urgent need of medical treatment,’ Rafferty bit out. ‘We’re talking about a major head trauma as well as an unstable spinal injury.’

  ‘Then I don’t know what to suggest for the best. I’ll get back onto Miami and explain how urgent the situation is, but they weren’t very hopeful a few minutes ago when I spoke to them.’

  ‘Do that. And tell them that we need help and we need it sooner rather than later if we’re to avert a double tragedy.’ Rafferty put the radio back in the bag, sighing when he saw the worry on Natalie’s face. ‘It never rains but it pours, does it?’

  ‘What’s happened now?’

  ‘They’ve forecast dense cloud over the mountains and the rescue helicopter doesn’t know when it will be able to get here.’

  ‘No! But what are we going to do in the meantime?’

  ‘I’ve no idea. We need that helicopter, because there is no way we can carry these men down the mountainside.’

  ‘Maybe they’ll send someone up here on foot to help us,’ she suggested.

  ‘Maybe.’ He shrugged, deeming it wiser not to point out how long it would take a team of mountaineers to reach them. There was no point piling on the pressure and making it even more stressful for her.

  He stood up abruptly, suddenly wishing that he hadn’t involved her in the first place. He knew how upset she would be if they lost the two men and he blamed himself for not thinking about that before. His tone was gruff when he continued, because the last thing he wanted was to cause her any more unhappiness.

  ‘Can you keep an eye on the copilot while I take a look at the other guy? I’d just like to assess for myself how bad he is.’

  ‘Of course.’

  They traded places and Rafferty went over to the winchman. Tom was with him and he looked up when Rafferty appeared.

  ‘Jim’s not looking too good, Doc.’

  Rafferty nodded as he squatted down beside the injured man. His eyes were closed and he was muttering under his breath. He quickly checked the man’s skull, his heart sinking when he felt a deep depression above the winchman’s right ear.

  ‘It looks as though there could be bleeding going on inside his skull,’ he told Tom flatly.

  ‘They’ll be able to sort it out at the hospital, though?’ the pilot asked hopefully.

  ‘Yes, but we’re not sure when we’ll be able to get him to hospital.’

  He quickly explained their predicament and the pilot nodded.

  ‘You can’t fly a helicopter in dense cloud. It’s way too risky in a mountainous region like this. I’ve flown in this area before and once the cloud sets in, it can be days before it lifts.’

  ‘It will be too late by then, I’m afraid.’

  Rafferty came to a sudden decision, knowing that he didn’t have a choice. The winchman’s condition was deteriorating rapidly and if he didn’t do something soon the man would die. He stood up and went back to Natalie, knowing that what he was suggesting was extremely risky. However, it might be the only chance the man had.

  ‘I’m going to do a craniotomy. He’s getting worse and we can’t afford to wait for an unspecified length of time until the helicopter gets here.’

  ‘A craniotomy?’ she echoed in astonishment.

  ‘We don’t have a choice, Natalie. There’s pressure building up inside his skull and we need to release it. We’ve got everything we need, apart from a drill,’ he continued as calmly as he could. Performing such a delicate procedure on the side of a mountain would be a new experience even for him.

  ‘Maybe the pilot has one. They usually keep a fairly comprehensive tool kit on most aircraft.’

  Rafferty’s brows rose steeply. ‘And where did you glean that little nugget of information from?’

  ‘From the company’s pilot.’

  She looked him straight in the eyes and he knew that she was waiting for him to make some sort of remark. He sighed under his breath because it didn’t make him feel good to realise how childishly he’d behaved. All those comments he’d made hadn’t helped and he bitterly regretted them.

  He’d always felt uncomfortable about the difference in their lifestyles yet what did it really matter when it came down to it? So what if Natalie’s family was rich? And so what if she’d been brought up with every conceivable kind of luxury and he’d had to work for everything he had? Did it really change who they were inside?

  The thought stunned him. It was as though a light had been switched on and he could see the situation clearly for the first time—see how foolish he’d been to think that any of those things had mattered. He loved Natalie, not despite her wealth or because of it. He loved her for herself—for the warm, caring, sexy, desirable woman she was—and there was no reason to believe that she didn’t love him for who he was either.

  He groaned in despair. Why in the name of all that was holy had
n’t he realised it sooner?

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ‘HOLD him steady…that’s fine. I just need to drill this last hole then we can see what we’re dealing with.’

  Natalie held her breath as Rafferty drilled the final burr hole in the man’s skull. The operation was a delicate one at the best of times, and under present conditions she knew how dangerous it was. However, she wasn’t in any doubt about what they were doing. Unless they managed to relieve the pressure inside the winchman’s skull, he would die.

  ‘Just as we suspected.’ Rafferty’s tone held a certain grim satisfaction when he removed the lid of bone to reveal a massive haematoma.

  ‘It’s huge!’ Natalie exclaimed.

  ‘One of the biggest I’ve ever seen.’ He smiled wryly. ‘We should have known it would be. It’s always the way, isn’t it? These things never happen when you’ve got access to a nice, safe, sterile theatre unit.’

  She chuckled at that. ‘Yes, it’s typical, isn’t it? The one time you decide to perform a craniotomy alfresco it turns out to be a monster haematoma you’re dealing with.’

  Rafferty laughed. ‘It’s certainly that all right.’

  He returned his attention to the patient, working with his usual skill and dexterity despite the unusual circumstances, and Natalie felt a huge wave of pride well up inside her as she watched him. Other surgeons would have balked at attempting this kind of surgery under such difficult conditions but not Rafferty. He was bold when he needed to be, yet ultra-careful when it was essential that he should proceed with caution. He seemed able to respond no matter how difficult the situation was, in fact.