‘It hurt a bit then, too.’
And she’d pretended that it was nothing, the same as Jenna had. The thought clawed at his heart.
‘All right. I’m going to want an X-ray.’
‘It’s not broken.’
‘Let me be the judge of that. You’re in my surgery now.’
‘Okay, doctor.’
Ethan smiled. He wasn’t going to allow her to go until he was sure that she was physically all right, and it seemed that Kate was finally coming to accept that.
* * *
‘There’s no fracture, which is always good.’ Kate had craned over his shoulder while he reviewed the X-rays, and Ethan had been momentarily blinded by her scent. Now that she was back in her seat he could think more clearly. He paused for a moment to admire the fine structure of her bones, and then forced his mind back to the matter at hand.
‘You have some bruising there. He grabbed your arm?’ Ethan avoided the very obvious fact that the bruising was in the shape of a handprint.
‘Yes.’ Kate twisted her other hand around, trying to demonstrate, but her thumb was on the opposite side from the handprint. Slowly, shyly, she held her arm out towards him.
Ethan felt something block his throat. Gently, he laid his fingers on her arm over the bruises. ‘Like this?’
‘Yes. Just like that.’
Her gaze met his. An unspoken message that somehow tenderness might wipe away the violence. His hand, placed in the exact spot her attacker’s had been, might somehow heal her.
‘Well there’s some trauma, and it’ll be painful for a while, but with rest it should improve in the next week or so. The bruising will fade eventually.’ If he could have erased the bruises now, Ethan would have given almost anything to do so.
She nodded. Ethan wondered whether kissing it better would make any difference, the way he did with Sam’s bumps and scrapes, and decided that was way out of his medical remit.
‘Use ice packs to relieve the swelling. And I’m going to give you a sling.’
‘But my work...’ Alarm registered in her eyes.
‘Maybe you should take some time off work. Just a few days, to get over the shock.’
She shook her head, pulling her arm away from his fingers and cradling it in her lap. ‘I don’t want to take time off work. I want things back to normal as soon as possible.’
‘Are you sure you’re not pushing yourself too hard?’
‘Yes, I’m sure. This is what I want.’
There was no disagreeing with her. And, even if he could, perhaps Kate was right about this and he was wrong. But he could at least attend to her medical needs.
‘In that case, I’m going to insist you wear the sling for a week. You need to keep that arm rested to allow it to heal.’
Kate nodded. ‘All right. I can get one of the veterinary nurses to help me at work.’
This was a victory of sorts. Ethan hid his smile, scribbling a note on his pad to send down to the dispensary. ‘I’m going to prescribe some painkillers as well. Just enough for a few days. If you have significant pain after that, you should go and see your own doctor.’
‘Thanks. I think I’ll be wanting those.’
There was one more thing he had to ask. He didn’t even want to think about it, but maybe it would be better coming from him.
‘Have the police seen your injuries?’ Ethan kept his eyes fixed on the pad in front of him, as if he were checking what he’d written and this was just an aside.
‘No.’
When he glanced up at her, her cheeks were bright red. Ethan knew that the officer she’d seen would have asked about injuries, and Kate had probably repeated the mantra that she was okay. She’d probably turned down the offer of victim support as well.
‘You know, don’t you, that they’ve caught the man?’ She nodded. ‘And that they’ll be wanting as much evidence against him as they can gather. It’s up to you, of course.’
It was, technically, up to Kate. But Ethan had no doubt that there would be an attempt at persuasion. Maybe it was better coming from him.
‘They’ll want photographs, won’t they? To show in court. They did that the last time.’
So she had been hurt before. It seemed to Ethan that Kate was fighting not just this incident but her memories of the last one.
‘Yes, they will. As a medical practitioner, it’s my duty to encourage you to report any injury that’s the result of a crime. As a...friend, I’ll tell you that this is a difficult process, but one that may well help you to feel better in the long run. It helps if you decide to do it on your own terms.’
She thought for a moment. Then that spark of resilience flashed in her eyes. ‘Yes, you’re right. Can you do it?’
The thought that she trusted him was almost overwhelming. Ethan could do it. He’d documented and photographed injuries many times before for police use. If there were any question about his personal involvement in the crime, then he’d take the flack that Mags would almost certainly dispense.
‘You’re sure?’
‘Yes. Positive.’ Now that Kate had made up her mind, she seemed impatient for action.
‘All right. I’ll go and get the forms and see if I can find a nurse.’ An impartial observer would be good on two counts—first to countersign the forms. Mags would like that. And second to help Kate pull up her shirt at the back and position her arm. Because, if the first time he’d touched her had been intoxicating, now it was almost becoming a craving.
CHAPTER THREE
THIS WAS NOT GOOD. A hero, someone who would appear out of nowhere and save the day... It was every girl’s dream, which was absolutely fine, just as long as that hero didn’t think he could remove himself from the imaginary world and infiltrate reality.
And Ethan Conway was more than six feet of solid reality. The kind that made her melt when she looked at him and shiver whenever he touched her. He’d stepped out of a dream, and was wreaking havoc with her waking world, and she’d let him do it. She’d given in and allowed him to help her.
He’d been in the right place at the right time. That was all it was. If she could just concentrate on not being so needy, then Ethan wouldn’t seem so much of a hero.
* * *
Kate had learned her lesson, the last time she’d been mugged. It had been two days before Mark had come to see her. Looking around and declaring that he hated hospitals, he’d dumped an ostentatious bunch of flowers across her legs, making Kate wince in pain, and then had selected a chair, brushed it off with a handkerchief and sat down.
After the attack, as soon as she’d been able to get someone to help her with the phone, Kate had made frantic calls, trying to find out whether Mark was all right. She’d heard that he was professing himself to be a bit shaken up, but that he was uninjured, and her friends had expressed surprise when they’d heard she was in hospital. Mark had never thought to mention that.
‘It’s every man for himself in these situations, Kate.’ Mark had seemed keen to justify his actions, but suddenly guilt had cut into his air of nonchalance.
He couldn’t have known. That was what Kate had been telling herself. He’d thought that she’d be able to run too, and that was why he hadn’t come back. And afterwards...? Perhaps he’d felt guilty and that had kept him away.
Mark’s mouth twisted suddenly. ‘You need to keep your wits about you a bit more.’
‘I... I couldn’t get away...’ Tears had blurred her vision and Kate had tried to blink them away. However needy she’d felt, however battered and bruised, it had been clear that Mark didn’t want to see it.
‘Like I said—if you’d been taking notice, then you would have been right behind me.’
Mark had shaken his head slowly, as if her slow-wittedness left him at a loss.
And that had been the end of it. Mark had talked about a fi
lm he’d gone to see—one that they’d been planning to see together—and had left exactly one hour after he’d arrived. He’d clearly been keeping his eye on the time.
She’d asked one of the nurses to give the flowers to a woman at the other end of the ward, who didn’t seem to have any. Mark wasn’t coming back.
And he’d been right in one thing. If Kate couldn’t look after herself, then no one else would.
* * *
Kate stubbornly refused to call Ethan, and he hadn’t called her. For three weeks she’d worked solidly, trying to get her life back into some semblance of normality. And then his name showed up on her caller display.
This must be the call she’d made him promise to make. She tapped the answer button, smiling into the phone, trying to inject some of that smile into her tone.
‘Hi, Ethan. How’s everything?’
‘It’s Jeff. He’s failing fast.’ His voice was broken with emotion.
‘Okay. Why don’t I drop in and see you? I’ve just finished my Friday evening surgery, and I can be with you in half an hour.’
‘Are you sure? That would be great.’
‘That’s fine. No point in having you come all the way here.’ If Ethan was going to lose Jeff tonight, then it would be better for both he and his dog if they were at home. Then a thought struck her.
‘What about Sam? Is he there?’
‘I’ve explained everything to him. He seems to be taking it better than I am...’
Ethan’s voice faltered and Kate wished she could hug him. This must be so hard for him. Not only dealing with his own feelings but also trying to decide what was best for Sam.
‘I’ll call my mother and ask her to pick him up. He can spend the night with my parents. Perhaps we can take things from there?’ Ethan seemed to pull himself together suddenly.
‘Okay, that’s a good idea. I’ll see you soon.’
Kate ended the call and pulled on her jacket. Then she hurried outside to her car.
* * *
Ethan had hoped that Sam would be gone by the time that Kate arrived. But his son was dawdling, obviously waiting for something before he went with his grandmother, and Ethan didn’t have the heart to hurry him up.
The doorbell rang, and Sam ran to the door with him. ‘Why don’t you go upstairs and help Grandma?’ Ethan tried to deflect Sam but Sam shook his head stubbornly.
‘No!’ Sam pressed his face against the glass in the front door, trying to see through the frosted panels. Ethan saw movement outside, a blur of red hair and the wave of an arm. Sam waved back.
‘Out of the way, then.’ Sam stepped back a little, allowing Ethan to open the door.
‘Hello.’ Sam greeted Kate before Ethan had a chance to.
‘Hello. You must be Sam.’ Kate smiled down at his son and Sam nodded.
‘Are you the lady who might take Jeff to heaven?’
Sam had clearly taken everything that Ethan had told him and put it together in his own way. Ethan flashed a look of apology at Kate, gently trying to move Sam away from the doorway.
Both of them ignored him. Kate bent down and Sam escaped his grip, joining her on the front porch.
‘Yes, I am.’ She reached out, brushing the back of Sam’s hand with one finger. ‘Is it all right with you if I come in?’
Sam looked Kate up and down, obviously thinking about it. Kate was smiling, and any interruption was suddenly impossible, as the two sized each other up.
‘Dad says that Jeff’s very, very old.’
‘Yes, he is.’ Kate’s tone was gentle.
‘Will he see Mummy in heaven?’ Sam’s question delivered a knife to Ethan’s heart. He saw Kate’s gaze flip up towards him, in the way that most people’s did when Sam asked questions about his mother, but she didn’t back off or change the subject, leaving Sam to wonder what was going on.
‘What do you think, Sam?’
‘He will.’
‘I think you’re right.’
If Kate really was an angel, come to take Jeff to heaven, then she made a very good one. She almost shone in the evening sunshine, which slanted across the porch—red-haired, with soft, honey-coloured eyes, which were unafraid of Sam’s questions. Sam seemed to see it too, stepping towards her and laying his hand on her knee. Then he leaned forward, whispering into Kate’s ear, and Ethan strained unsuccessfully to hear what he was saying.
‘Yes, of course I will.’ Kate crooked her little finger, hooking it around Sam’s. ‘There. That makes it a promise.’
Sam nodded, clearly satisfied, and ran into the house and straight up the stairs to his grandmother. Kate got to her feet.
‘How’s your arm?’
‘Fine. Gives me a twinge now and then, but it’s okay.’
She was smiling. She was wearing a short-sleeved top, which allowed Ethan to see that the bruises on her arm had faded now. More than that, there was a lightness about her. Maybe she’d been right in getting straight back to work. It seemed that the last three weeks had lifted the burden that had rested on her shoulders.
‘I’m sorry about Sam ambushing you.’
‘That’s okay. He’s working it out for himself.’
Ethan thought about asking Kate what Sam had said to her and decided against it. If Sam had wanted him to know, he wouldn’t have made such a show of whispering in Kate’s ear. It seemed that Sam had grasped the concept of having secrets now, and Ethan supposed he should respect that.
She leaned forward, the evening sunlight tangling in her hair. For a moment, Ethan couldn’t move. ‘Can I come in, then?’
‘Oh. Yes, of course. Thanks for coming.’
He showed her through to the conservatory, and she walked across to Jeff’s basket, kneeling down. It looked as if Jeff was just sleeping, and Kate was stroking him gently, but Ethan knew that she was examining him.
‘I think...’ She looked up at him suddenly. ‘Is Sam going now?’
‘Yes, in a minute. As soon as my mother gets his things together. I think he’s been waiting to see you.’
She pressed her lips together, in an unspoken understanding that this was hard. ‘I think that if Sam has any goodbyes to say...’
‘No, it’s okay. I’ve been talking to him about this, and he’s done what he wants to do.’ Ethan indicated the drawing taped up by Jeff’s basket. Sam had drawn himself, so that Jeff could show the picture to Jenna.
‘That’s nice.’ Kate looked at the drawing and smiled, seeming to understand Sam’s intentions.
‘I’ll go and see what he’s doing.’ Suddenly he wanted Sam away from here, so that he could keep what was left of his innocence of the realities of death for just a little longer. Ethan didn’t want his son to see what he’d seen so often at the hospital.
‘Okay. I’ll stay here, with Jeff.’
* * *
Sam had gone, and Ethan no longer had to smile and pretend that everything was okay. He walked back into the conservatory and found Kate where he’d left her, kneeling on the floor next to Jeff’s basket.
‘Would you like to sit with him a while?’
This wasn’t what Ethan had expected. He’d already said his goodbyes to Jeff, privately and out of Sam’s earshot, anticipating that Kate would arrive and gently suggest that it was time to put Jeff to sleep. It would be over in a moment.
Suddenly he did want to spend a little more time with his old friend. But a little more time was what everyone always wanted, wasn’t it?
‘Don’t you have to go?’
She shook her head. ‘No, there’s nowhere I have to be. Would you like me to make you a cup of tea?’
He was taking advantage of her time and her good nature. But Ethan couldn’t resist. ‘Thanks. I’d really like that.’
He picked up the large floor cushion that Sam liked to sprawl on from the corner of the
room and sat down on it next to Jeff’s basket, his hand straying to Jeff’s head. Kate watched him, then nodded quickly, as if everything was going exactly as she wanted it to and disappeared into the kitchen.
He could hear her clattering quietly around, opening and closing cupboards. The temptation to get up and show her where the mugs and teabags were drifted away. Ethan was exactly where he was supposed to be at that moment.
The kettle took its time to boil, and Kate took her time making the tea. She walked back into the conservatory, holding two mugs, and put them down on the table next to him, pulling one of the wicker chairs across to the other side of Jeff’s basket.
‘Which one’s yours?’ Ethan reached for the mugs and she shrugged, so he picked up one and tasted it. ‘Ugh. Too sweet...’
She grinned at him. ‘That’s because I’m not sweet enough.’
Ethan would take issue with that. Kate’s sweetness wasn’t like sugar, liable to melt at the first drop of adversity. It was like steel, unbending but true. He wanted her here, now, not just for Jeff but for himself.
She leaned back in her seat, sipping her tea. Clearly she wasn’t going anywhere for a few precious minutes.
* * *
It didn’t always happen like this. Sometimes an animal was in pain, and sometimes Kate didn’t have the opportunity to wait with an owner while it drifted away. But now wasn’t one of those times, and they could let nature take its course, secure in the knowledge that the drugs in Kate’s bag could be used if they were needed.
Ethan wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet, but he was getting there. She could see the small stress lines around his eyes begin to relax as the light grew dimmer. Kate lit one of the fat candles lined up along the low windowsill and they talked quietly in the flickering light. Waiting.
Jeff’s sleep became deeper and his breathing slowed, stopping for long moments and then starting again. Ethan must have known that the time was coming, and he leaned over, his lips just inches away from Jeff’s head.
‘Go to sleep now, boy. Everything’s all right.’
CHAPTER FOUR
Healed by the Single Dad Doc Page 4