‘Hello, I’m Dr Fender.’ She took the man’s hand. ‘Is Chris your son?’
Worried grey eyes met hers. ‘Yes. Mikey said he hit his head.’
Kiki nodded. ‘It was a very nasty fall. I saw it. Dr Hobson and Dr Mykonides are going to examine him now. While they’re doing that we need to know if Chris has any other illnesses, or allergies that we should know of. Has he ever had any operations?’
The father looked at his wife and she shook her head, fear huge in her eyes as she realised the gravity of Chris’s accident. ‘Is he going to be all right?’
Kiki could only pray. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t answer that. He’s very ill. He may have fractured his skull and torn a vessel inside his head. It looks as though he is building a collection of blood that is pressing on his brain. Our first preference is to fly him out by helicopter from the wharf because his condition is so critical.’
She looked at them, deeply sympathetic, but sensible to the fact they needed to know what was going on.
‘As soon as the doctors have examined Chris we’ll know if we have time to transfer him. Dr Mykonides is a passenger, but also a very experienced surgeon. He will know what is best.’ Chris’s mother began to weep silently and Kiki drew them into the waiting room. ‘I’ll send the nurse out to see if she can get you something while I find out what going on.’
‘Thank you, Doctor.’ The boy’s father drew his wife and son under the shelter of his arms and Kiki felt the tears sting her eyes.
‘I’ll be as quick as I can.’
The father’s voice followed her. ‘Take all the time you need. We’ll wait.’
She nodded, left and prayed as she hurried into join the others. Surely Chris would recover. She knew how she’d felt the pain of grief when she’d lost her tiny baby, but couldn’t imagine the worry they must be feeling.
* * *
Wilhelm had booked the retrieval team but they would be thirty minutes before arrival at the earliest.
‘We’ll lose him if we wait.’ Stefano examined the depressed skull fracture on the rapid X-ray they’d taken while Kiki read out the boy’s blood pressure and pulse. He shook his head. ‘I give fifteen before brain damage is irreversible,’ Stefano confided in Kiki quietly.
Kiki agreed. ‘Systolic blood pressure’s rising, widening of pulse pressure, and his pulse is slowing.’
The pressure inside the head was compressing Chris’s brain down towards the base of his skull. At some point it would do irreversible damage.
Will nodded. ‘Let’s do it.’
Kiki looked at Wilhelm. ‘I’ll talk to the parents, get consent, while you and Stefano get scrubbed. The nurse can get him set up in the suture room. We can make this happen fast.’
Chris’s parents stood up quickly when Kiki hurried into the waiting room.
‘A helicopter’s on its way but Chris has pressure from the blood building very quickly on his brain. Already his blood pressure is high and his pulse has slowed right down. Dr Hobson and the surgeon, Dr Mykonides, agree it is imperative to operate now to relieve that pressure. I’m sorry to have to tell you there is a real risk Chris might not survive his arrival at the hospital if we don’t do something now.’
Chris’s mother put her hand over her mouth and hugged her husband, and Kiki saw the lump shift in his father’s throat as he gathered his wife in. ‘Then do it.’
Kiki passed them the consent form, and the father signed quickly. ‘They’re setting him up now. The object is to make small round holes in Chris’s skull to let the pressure out and repair the bleeding artery before the brain is damaged. It’s an emergency lifesaving procedure. We may be too late. Do you understand?’
‘Just save him. And afterwards?’
‘A medical team will arrive to stabilise him and transfer him to a hospital neurological ward.’ She squeezed the mother’s shoulder. ‘Do you have any other questions?’
The father looked at his wife and other son. ‘Not now. He’s in your hands. Hurry.’
Kiki nodded and did just that.
By the time she was back in the tiny operating theatre Chris’s skull had been shaved on the side of the fracture and draped to create a sterile field. Will and Stefano were preparing the area with an antiseptic solution.
‘Consent signed. They’ll ask questions later. Please go ahead.’
The ventilator machine was breathing for him, but no anaesthetic had been used because the boy was deeply unconscious. It would be Kiki’s task to monitor that and Stefano handed Will a syringe of local anaesthetic for the skin incision just in case.
Will hesitated and Stefano waved him on. ‘Let’s go. Inject the site. Make a three-centimetre incision through the skin. Separate the fascia.’
Will did so and the boy didn’t move. His breathing sounded mechanically in the room and Kiki was glad they’d had time to intubate, because at least they could keep him going until the pressure on his breathing centre was released.
She’d never seen the operation before, and Stefano kept a commentary going as Will performed the surgery.
‘Control the bleeding with the diathermy. Use the retractors now.’ They could all see Will’s hands shaking but Stefano’s voice was rock-solid. ‘Exactly. Yes. Now drill the hole with the hand drill two centimetres above and behind the orbital process of the frontal bone.’
Will’s hands shook more, and Stefano leaned across and steadied him.
‘This is good. You will be an old hand soon.’ He glanced at Kiki. ‘How’s our boy going?’
‘Holding his own, just. Pulse now forty. BP one fifty on forty.’
‘We have a minute or two at the most. Faster drilling.’
Stefano’s eyes looked even grimmer and Kiki wondered if he was frustrated by Will’s nerves. She couldn’t tell, and wondered if he might throw legality to the wind and take over.
Will continued with the procedure.
‘Watch for the release of pressure.’ Just as the words left Stefano’s mouth a thin, powerful stream of blood shot upwards high off the table from the collection in Chris’s head.
Will jumped back as it slowed to an oozing trickle and Stefano murmured, ‘Good. Pressure is released.’
Will shuddered. ‘No wonder his observations were going off.’
‘Speed is essential. Now we find the bleeder.’ Stefano pointed with tiny mosquito forceps. ‘There it is. Tie it off.’
Will leaned in. Tying off vessels was something he was good at.
‘Good. Now bandage for transfer.’
* * *
Half an hour later the emergency team loaded an almost stable Chris into the helicopter.
Stefano walked across to where the other boy watched the transfer of his brother. His red hair stood on end from his agonised raking and fat tears rolled down his freckled face. He knew the turmoil ahead and Stefano’s heart ached for him.
Mikey looked up. ‘It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have teased him. He wouldn’t have been so angry.’
Stefano put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, squeezed the bony ridge as Mikey dashed his hand across his eyes. ‘It is hard to watch. Especially for you as a twin.’
Stefano sighed as he fought back his own images. He couldn’t bear the thought that this boy would go through the remorse he had.
‘My brother was sick like yours once. And I tell you it is not your fault your brother hit his head. Boys run and chase, and things happen we have no control over. It could have been you that fell and he would not have been able to stop it happening.’
Mikey looked away from Chris to the man beside him and he did not look so woebegone. ‘You think?’
He knew. ‘You did everything right by getting your parents to the hospital. We might not have saved your brother without them being there so quickly.’
M
ikey sniffed and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. ‘I ran. I did what the doctor asked me to do.’
Stefano nodded and patted the boy’s shoulder again before he lifted his hand. ‘You did well. Your brother is strong and he has you.’
They watched the helicopter pilot start the rotors and soon it was in the air. Chris parents came across to shake Wilhelm’s hand and thank Kiki and Stefano, and then with Mikey they climbed into a waiting taxi that would take them to the hospital.
Will turned to Stefano and nodded. ‘Thank you.’ He sighed ruefully. ‘Though I wish you could have done it.’
Stefano smiled grimly. ‘No. It is better to have the experience. One day another boy may need your skills, and doing it yourself can never be replaced by watching. There were only seconds between the same result for you or I.’
Will nodded again and glanced at the ship that shadowed them on the wharf. ‘I need to report to the Captain.’ He glanced at Kiki, and then Stefano, but held his tongue. ‘See you later.’
Kiki felt as if she’d been run over by steamroller now the tension had been relieved by Chris’s transfer, and suddenly it didn’t matter that Stefano was the only one left beside her.
She saw him in a different light. She’d watched him go out and talk to Mikey and hadn’t been able to help overhearing some of his words.
Today Stefano had been kind, thoughtful, and a steady teacher. As much as she hated to admit it, he’d seemed like the man she’d fallen for. He’d been great with Will. And he obviously cared about the trauma to both boys.
So what had happened to them? Her and Stefano? Nine months ago? Didn’t she deserve the same consideration that he now gave to an unknown family?
It didn’t make sense that he’d stepped out of character and left her with no further contact after the week they’d had without a good reason.
Was there more she didn’t know?
‘Perhaps we should talk?’
Stefano smiled ruefully and she felt the mirror of her own response. ‘Somewhere public?’
‘Lord, yes.’ No way was she going anywhere near his bedroom.
CHAPTER FIVE
STEFANO STEERED KIKI to the rooftop coffee shop and chose a corner table behind an exuberant fake palm. Kiki didn’t mind because she was feeling particularly pale and not very interesting as nausea elbowed its way back into her consciousness now she had time to think about herself.
Stefano frowned as he noticed her pallor. ‘Do you wish for something to eat?’
Kiki’s stomach rolled and she winced. ‘No, thank you. Just black tea.’
‘You are unwell?’
He leaned towards her and again she recognised the tang of his cologne. This time, unfortunately, it wasn’t her stomach that reacted. Something much more visceral stood up and waved.
She leaned back. ‘Something I ate.’
‘Strangely, my appetite for food is also absent.’ His eyes darkened and she hated that—because she could feel herself weaken...and waken.
There was that damned glint in his eyes that she couldn’t help but smile at. ‘Stop it.’
He shrugged those shoulders and she looked away.
He said, ‘So, I admit it is good to see you, Kiki.’
She wasn’t falling into that one. ‘No comment.’
His brows went up teasingly. ‘So comment on something else.’
Umm. Something safe. ‘Do you think Chris will be okay?’
He shrugged, not with unconcern—she could see that—but with a glimmer of hope despite the contrariness of life. ‘I will keep in contact by phone, but I think the surgery should have done the job before damage, and his vitals maintained perfusion. Tomorrow will give a good indication.’
She’d known that. But still it was good to hear the hope in his voice. A silence fell. She could feel his eyes on her.
‘I think there is more you wish to discuss with me.’
Well, he was right there. She should get it out and finished with. Dispel the questions that were beginning to eat at her all over again. She drew a deep breath and looked back at him. ‘Why didn’t you contact me after you left so hurriedly?’
The waitress arrived, took their order, smiled and batted her eyelashes at Stefano. He allowed her to walk away, and when she was out of earshot he leaned forward and said the last thing she’d expected.
‘I was in an accident. Unconscious and then physically disabled.’
He had her full attention as she searched his face. Now she could see them. Tiny lines that hadn’t been there before, a few strands of silver through his black hair at the side of his face. She had a sudden memory of that ridge of scar on his hip she’d fleetingly discovered yesterday. Her fingers fidgeted with the salt shaker, tensed, ached to reach across and touch his hand in sympathy. But luckily she wasn’t that stupid.
She let go of the shaker and retreated her hand to the edge of the cloth. ‘What kind of accident?’
‘Motor vehicle. I spent several months in hospital. By the time I was discharged and could begin to sort what needed to be sorted you were gone.’
He laid his hand palm up on the table, as if to signal he knew she wanted to comfort him with touch. Like a coward she shifted her hand into her lap, and his fingers closed over themselves emptily as he sat back.
When she didn’t say anything he said, ‘By the time I could look, I could not find you. I thought perhaps you wished it that way.’
He watched her face and she saw the moment he understood that she had, actually. By then.
So would she tell him about her own little visit to hospital? No. She couldn’t go there now. It was all too painfully close.
‘I was on ship. Had my own family stuff happening. My brother got married. I made friends here.’
He sat back further, as if to illustrate the distance between them now. ‘Life went on?’
She nodded, as if everything was sweetness and light. Not the way she was feeling. ‘As it does.’
‘But now we meet again.’
His voice dropped like that cloak around her shoulders and she mentally shook herself at the spell he could weave just by words and cadence and his very presence.
Harden up, she reminded herself, and sat straighter in the chair. ‘Life is still going to go on, Stefano. You’ll get off the ship. I’ll sail away.’
He leaned forward. ‘It does not have to be that way.’
‘Yes, it does.’
She wasn’t stupid. She’d learnt her lesson. Yes, he’d been sick for a couple of months, but that had been months ago. No contact after that because she didn’t count enough. Well, she deserved better than that.
‘Because we’re from two very different worlds.’
It would always be that way, which was why she wasn’t going to put her heart out there to be stamped on again. Or be seduced into his bed for the next few convenient days.
Now his voice was more formal and his expression more difficult to read. ‘So are you always going to be a ship’s doctor?’
But she didn’t need to read him. She just needed to get out of here. ‘No. I’m ready to move on.’ Now. Literally. She glanced at him. ‘Funny how I feel so unsettled today,’ she said dryly.
‘And where would you move on to?’
She shrugged. This whole scenario was surreal. They were like two acquaintances, chatting over a cup of tea. ‘Maybe I’ll go for experience. There’s always the other extreme to this—foreign aid medicine. My brother’s wife worked in a tent city in the Sudan. Or I could move into family medicine with Nick and his wife back in Australia.’
He nodded. ‘It is very beautiful there.’
‘They’re having twins.’ She shut her mouth with a snap as hurt from the past rose in her chest.
Her eyes prickled. S
he did not want to talk about expected newborns with Stefano.
She looked away hurriedly, in case he saw something in her face, then went on brightly as she drained her tea. ‘Or I could go back to Sydney to another hospital. The family home’s still there.’
‘I see you have put some thought into this.’ He looked pensive.
She didn’t like to tell him it was only since yesterday. His fault. All she had to do was resign.
The nausea rose unexpectedly and she stood up. ‘I’m sorry. I have to go.’
He rose also, his forehead creased with concern. ‘Let me see you to your cabin safely.’
She could almost smile at that. ‘I’m in the crew section. Out of bounds for passengers. So you see...’ she leant on the table and pushed herself away from him ‘...I will be safe.’
Stefano watched her hurry away. Was she really nauseated? She looked pale—or was she upset? Did she hate him that much? All questions he would like an answer to, he mulled as he walked back to his suite. There was more going on than she had explained, he was certain of it, because deep in his gut he knew she was hurting—and he had caused it.
It seemed it was his lot in life to hurt the people he loved. But how to ensure she would at least talk to him?
Perhaps it was time to take the Captain up on his offer to inspect the bridge.
* * *
Will sent Ginger to check on her around four. ‘Will wants to know if you’re up for dinner in the officers’ mess tonight. Captain’s request.’
Kiki sighed. ‘Bloody Stefano.’ She didn’t think she’d said it out loud but apparently she had.
Ginger looked suitably shocked. ‘Kiki! I haven’t been here long but I’ve never heard you swear.’
Stefano hadn’t been here then. ‘Sorry, Ginger. But stick around for the next three days and you might hear more.’ Oooohhh, she’d kill him.
Ginger sighed dreamily. ‘He must really like you.’
Yeah, right. ‘He liked me before. For a week.’ Indiscreet. She shouldn’t have said that. But she guessed most people could tell they knew each other a little. Even Wilhelm had noticed. ‘Stefano’s bored and he thinks he can amuse himself before he disappears back to his little island.’
The Prince Who Charmed Her Page 5