Emergency Reunion

by Abigail Gordon

  The man was semi-conscious, unable to move his legs and far too badly injured to speak, but every time they touched him he groaned.

  ‘We’re going to have to ease him onto a spinal board before we put him in the chopper,’ David said, adding with a quick glance at Hannah who was standing anxiously beside him, ‘You’re going to have to give a hand, Dr Morgan.’

  ‘While I’m getting him onto the board, phone the hospital with details of his injuries. Tell them that at first examination they appear to be many and serious, especially the lack of movement in the legs.’

  Even as he was telling her what to say, David was getting ready to lift the patient off the ground with the help of the paramedic and two of the ambulance men. Each man took part of the blanket he was lying on to make a hammock shape that would prevent jarring.

  When that had been accomplished David eyed her questioningly. ‘Are they going to be ready for us?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said briskly, eager to be involved.

  Once they were finally airborne, Hannah reflected on her position in the team. It gave her no pleasure, having to watch when she wanted to be part of the action. Admittedly she’d had no experience of these sorts of conditions. Her role previously had been more like that of one of the trauma team that would be waiting on the hospital roof for the arrival of this attempted suicide victim.

  But she was raring to go and in ten days’ time she would be allowed to participate in whatever emergency surgery was required when there was a call out.

  She was the only woman presently on the team and she intended to let the others see that she knew her stuff…especially Kyle Templeton.

  The thought of him reminded her that they’d been intending to have lunch together, but the desperate action of a despairing man had put paid to that and she didn’t know whether to be relieved or sorry.

  Once they’d reached the hospital and the trauma team had taken over, they didn’t leave immediately. The two doctors stayed in the corridor outside the resuscitation unit and waited for news on the man’s condition. They’d already been told he would be lucky to pull through and it wasn’t hard to believe, considering the extent of his injuries.

  This was where it was different from being in the usual accident and emergency set-up, Hannah thought. In the places where she’d worked before they’d taken over from the local ambulance crews and gone on from there, treating the patients in Casualty with a triage nurse there to decide who should be seen first, according to the seriousness of their condition.

  But there was no need for picking and choosing in the helicopter emergency service because every patient they brought in was in a life-threatening state. The fact that their part in the scheme of things was over once they’d delivered the sufferer into the best possible care sometimes created a feeling of anticlimax, and both Hannah and David Wainright were loth to leave for that reason.

  A doctor came out and David went to speak to him. As they talked Hannah rang Kyle to give him an update.

  ‘Where are you?’ he asked briskly.

  ‘We’re at King’s Hospital. Hanging on until we know just how serious the patient’s condition is. The pilots have gone for a quick coffee and David is talking to one of the trauma team. Do you want to speak to him?’

  ‘No, not yet. I want a word with you first. Are you coping?’

  ‘Er…yes.’

  ‘You don’t sound very sure.’

  ‘It’s just that I can understand why the likes of myself are only allowed to work on the unit for a short time. The stress is so much more than in the kind of accident and emergency situations I’ve been in before.’

  ‘Well, of course it is,’ he agreed. ‘On this unit we’re in the thick of it. I agree that it’s the most stressful healthcare situation that any of us have ever worked in, but we never find anyone asking to be allowed to opt out.’

  ‘Naturally,’ she agreed coolly.

  Was he administering a rebuke? Did Kyle think she wasn’t up to it because she’d dared to express some concern?

  He didn’t need to. She would show him! He might have no time for her in any other area of his life, but when it came to the job he wasn’t going to be able to fault her.

  ‘Tell David not to be too long there. Another call could come through at any time,’ he was saying as if the subject was closed, and on that he hung up. When she turned round David was beside her, his face less sombre than before.

  ‘The guy is hanging in there,’ he said. ‘Was that Kyle?’

  Hannah nodded, thankful that the conversation was over.

  It was the middle of the afternoon when they got back and she was starving. A piece of toast before she’d left home was the only food she’d had and the pull of hunger found her heading for the restaurant on the floor below.

  With a pot of tea and a sandwich in front of her she began to unwind, but not for long. When she looked up Kyle was making his way towards her and her heart began to beat faster as it always did when he was around.

  ‘I imagine that you’re ready for that,’ he said calmly as he looked down on her. ‘Do you mind if I join you for a moment?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ she said quietly. ‘What can I do for you?’

  She’d taken off the claustrophobic surgical suit, and dark eyes were taking in her silver fairness and the sleeveless white top and lightweight black trousers she was wearing underneath for coolness.

  Hannah could feel her cheeks warming. What was he thinking? she wondered. That a petite blonde such as herself stuck out like a sore finger amongst these fast-thinking, fast-moving, male medics?

  Or was his mind winging back to that other time when they’d been madly in love? Maybe she ought to make the first move, in spite of telling him she wasn’t interested in his affairs.

  ‘You say that your son is with your parents. Is your wife there, too?’ she asked casually. Her mouth had gone dry and her heart was hammering against her ribs as she waited for an answer.

  ‘I haven’t got a wife.’

  ‘Why? Are you divorced?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘So…?’

  ‘I had an affair.’

  She swallowed hard. So he had found somebody to snuggle up to on cold nights. Suddenly she didn’t want to know any more. Every moment of that wretched time was etched on her mind for ever and yet here was Kyle calmly telling her he’d had an affair and had fathered a child from it.

  She sensed that he was waiting for her to ask who it had been with and how he came to have the boy, but she wasn’t going to oblige.

  ‘Yes. I see,’ she said dismissively.

  His smile was taut. ‘I wonder if you do. But what about you, Hannah? You were so close to that brother-in-law of yours I would have expected you to have filled the gap your sister left. That was what he had in mind all along, wasn’t it?’

  Don’t start protesting your innocence, the voice of pride was saying. The damage was done long ago. Let Kyle think what he wants. It’s quite clear that he wasn’t in mourning for long.

  ‘Maybe,’ she agreed with enigmatic calm, ‘but I would have thought it was what I had in mind that counted.’ With sudden heat she continued, ‘I hope you’ve changed, Kyle. You were very unforgiving then.’ Before he could answer she concluded, ‘I’m not going to let you drive me away from here, you know.’

  ‘I’ve no intention of doing any such thing,’ he said coolly. ‘How could I do that to a neighbour?’

  ‘N-neighbour?’ she stuttered.

  ‘Yes. I signed a short lease for the vacant penthouse this morning. Which reminds me that I have to go and start moving my belongings. I’m leaving Graham Smith in charge for the rest of the day.’ With a brief nod he went.

  The accommodation that Kyle was renting was high above her own and prestigious to say the least, and as Hannah made her way home at the end of the day all she could think of was that, in spite of their hurtful conversation of the afternoon, to some extent the barren years were over.

  Ky
le was back in her life again. Not as a lover, or even a friend for that matter, but she was going to be seeing him all the time during the next few months, and in spite of still being in a state of shock at his sudden appearance, she’d never felt more alive.

  If she’d expected him to be hovering when she arrived at the apartments she was to be disappointed. There was no sign of him as she paid off the taxi, and when she looked up at the windows of his new abode the curtains were still drawn as they had been for weeks.

  Her smile was wry as she put her key in the lock of her own front door. She rarely saw any of the other occupants, so why should he be any different?

  ‘Hannah!’ he said suddenly from behind, and she swung round, startled, on the dimly lit landing. ‘Sorry!’ I didn’t mean to make you jump. I’m here to ask you out for a meal in gratitude for getting me out of that hotel room.’

  ‘There’s no need,’ she protested awkwardly, her poise deserting her at the sudden encounter. ‘I know how hard it can be to find accommodation in London.’

  ‘How did you come across this place?’ he asked as they faced each other in the shadows.

  ‘A friend of mine from Manchester told me about it. Richard came to work in London ahead of me and he’d driven past it.’

  She didn’t know why she’d thrown Richard’s name into the conversation. Maybe it was to let Kyle see that she wasn’t entirely without a man.

  Would Kyle care, though? So far he hadn’t exactly been jumping for joy at meeting up with her again, and although he professed to be keen to hear what she’d been up to all the time they’d been apart, his only question had been about Paul.

  It would seem that he didn’t care as he merely commented, ‘Good for you that he did.’ He went on to ask, ‘Have you eaten?’

  ‘No. I was going to have something ghastly like a boiled egg.’

  Hannah was cringing inwardly. What had possessed her to say that? He would think she was either playing the part of the lonely bedsit dweller or was just pathetic.

  However, to her surprise he was laughing, a deep chuckle from low in his throat. Tears threatened. It was a sound she hadn’t heard in many long years and yet it was as familiar now as it had been then.

  ‘I think I can do better than that,’ he said with the laughter still in him. ‘Come on!’ Taking her hand, he pressed the ‘down’ lift button.

  His touch was like coming home, and Hannah began to tremble. If she wasn’t careful she was going to make a fool of herself, she thought, but the moment was passing as the whirring of mechanism announced the lift had arrived and he let go of her hand.

  Seated across from Kyle in a small restaurant nearby, Hannah wasn’t aware how the gentle lighting turned her fair bob into a silver halo and the bright blue of her eyes into mysterious cobalt pools. The man opposite was, though, and it was Kyle’s turn to question his motives.

  He admitted to himself that he’d contrived this meeting. He’d watched for Hannah coming home, guessing that it would be at a similar time to the previous night, and had waylaid her on the landing without knowing exactly why.

  There had been gratitude behind it. He’d been telling the truth when he’d said that. Finding somewhere to live could have been hellish without her help. He would be working long hours like the rest of them on the team and would have had little time for apartment-hunting.

  But it wasn’t just gratitude that had made him seek her out. There’d been a reason, just as there’d been a reason for wanting to clear the air about his son.

  However, he could be presuming too much in thinking that Hannah might be interested in either himself or Ben. She’d already mentioned some guy called Richard and he’d heard Jack telling his copilot that he fancied her.

  One thing was good, though. It didn’t look as if anybody had been waiting for her behind the door she’d been about to unlock or she wouldn’t be sitting opposite him now.

  She was stunning, he thought in taut admiration. The pretty young trainee doctor he’d loved all that time ago was now a beautiful woman, doing an important job in what could often be hazardous circumstances.

  His mouth twisted at the thought of how the fates had brought them together again. Maybe they thought that he’d played the part of the ‘sinned against’ long enough.

  He’d been hurt and very angry when it had happened, but not without just cause. After being left to kick his heels on the sidelines for months while Hannah had comforted her brother-in-law, he’d found them in each other’s arms and he’d gone berserk. So much so that he’d left the very same day for pastures new.

  Yet now she was telling him that nothing had come of it. That the whinging Paul had married somebody else! How had she felt about that? he wondered. Had her heart been broken, too?

  When he looked up she was watching him with questioning eyes. ‘Where were your thoughts just then?’ she asked quietly. ‘With your son? In Australia? At the helipad?’

  ‘None of those things,’ he fibbed. ‘I was wondering where my razor has got to during the move.’

  They came out of the restaurant into a starlit night and as they walked side by side Hannah was so conscious of Kyle beside her that she felt he must surely hear the thundering of her heartbeats.

  But he just shortened his long, easy stride to match hers and lapsed into a thoughtful silence until they reached the apartments that were now home to them both.

  Back on the landing where he’d found her earlier they faced each other and Hannah wondered if he had any idea how much she wanted to keep him with her.

  Whether it was because of the longing inside her, or merely exhaustion after a long day with the emergency services, she didn’t know, but suddenly she found herself swaying on her feet.

  The keen, dark eyes that didn’t miss a thing had seen what was happening and he reached out for her and cradled her to him.

  ‘What’s the matter, Hannah?’ he said softly. ‘You’re tired, aren’t you? I should have realised and let you go to your bed, instead of tempting you outside to keep me company.’

  She shook her head in wordless denial.

  ‘So what is it, then?’ he asked as his arms tightened around her.

  ‘Is it this?’ Lifting her face up to his, he kissed her lips fleetingly.

  She nodded mutely and he did it again, and as her mouth sprang to life beneath his the years rolled away.

  But maybe she was reading too much into it. Taking her key from her hand, he turned it in the lock and gently pushed her inside.

  ‘Go to bed. I’ll see you in the morning,’ he said, and with a last backward look over his shoulder he headed towards the lift.

  As she did as he’d suggested Hannah’s mind was in chaos. It was still there! Incredibly, the flame that had burned so brightly all that time ago hadn’t gone out. In those brief seconds in his arms she’d felt its warmth.

  But then what had Kyle done? He’d broken into the moment with mundane considerations when she could have stayed there for ever.

  Yet there was one consolation. ‘I’ll see you in the morning,’ he’d said, and it was true. He would…and the day after…and the day after that, she thought, and what could be better than that? Whatever he did or said, Kyle was back in her life again.

  CHAPTER THREE

  WHEN they met the following morning Hannah was expecting there to be a new rapport between Kyle and herself after those moments outside her door, but there was little chance to follow it up.

  The staff of the helicopter unit had barely had time to set foot on the premises before the alarm was sounding to say that somewhere inside the awakening city they were needed.

  A message from the ambulance centre was coming through to alert them to a serious accident in Piccadilly Circus. A man flagging down a taxi had been hit by a young motorcyclist and both were badly hurt.

  The helicopter had only just arrived and as those who were on the day’s main response team ran to pick up their equipment, the two firefighters who were stationed at the hel
ipad stood by.

  Their function was to be there when the helicopter engines were switched on in case of fire and once that was satisfactorily accomplished Hannah, the doctor on duty, and the paramedic scrambled on board.

  As they were about to take off into a clear morning sky the door opened and Kyle flung himself into the seat beside her. When she eyed him in surprise he said, ‘I told you that I wasn’t going to be sitting behind the desk all day.’ Without further explanation he fixed his eyes on the approaching skyline.

  The other member of the team was Pete Stubbs, who was now back on duty with fading bruises and a dressing on the partly healed cut.

  ‘Just one more week and you’ll be functional instead of the onlooker, eh, Hannah?’ Pete said, as if he guessed that she wasn’t entirely comfortable at that moment.

  She smiled. He was a nice guy. In fact, all the team members were. The only one she wasn’t so sure about was the man beside her. The man who this morning appeared to have reverted back to his usual aloof self if the uncompromising shoulder half turned away from her as he scanned the ground was anything to go by.

  He was different. It wasn’t liking that she felt for Kyle Templeton. It was something much deeper and yet, at this moment, rattled by his abrupt manner, she could have wished him miles away, instead of throwing her into confusion by his nearness.

  When they’d first split up it had been agony to be without him and she’d searched for him far and wide…but sadly not as far as Australia.

  The dreadful feeling of loss had gradually eased and for the last few years she’d been able to shut him from her mind for long periods. But two days ago that had all changed when she’d found him gazing down on her in a London street, looking tanned, trimly fit and even more heart-stopping than before.

  She was both excited and dismayed to find that he still affected her, yet it was so. The excitement was because her personal life had been on hold for so long, and now the man responsible for that had come back from the limbo he’d disappeared into all that time ago.

  The dismay stemmed from the feeling that to all intents and purposes she was still the ‘unforgiven’.