Kate hugged her back, nodding happily. ‘In a month’s time. I didn’t want to risk you deciding to shoot off overseas early or something.’
‘Not much chance of that, the way my saving is going.’ But Bella shook off the depressing thought. ‘This is so cool. Where is it going to be?’
‘We’re thinking Piha beach.’
‘A beach wedding? Excellent. And are you having a honeymoon?’
‘For a few days maybe. At a beach where it’s a bit safer to swim. Rarotonga or Samoa. Would you be able to cat-sit if we were away?’
‘No worries. I’d love to. Ooh…what are you going to wear? Hey…what am I going to wear?’
‘I’m out of here,’ Connor groaned. ‘I’ll take my wine and go and sit in the garden while you two do the girly thing.’ He crossed the kitchen to hand Kate a glass of wine and plant a soft kiss on her lips. ‘Call me when dinner’s ready?’
Bella watched him go as she took a sip of her own wine. The countdown had really begun. No way could she still be living in this house when these guys came back from their honeymoon.
She’d have to find a flat to share and that meant she’d have to start paying rent. The delicious aroma coming from the pasta sauce Kate was currently creating reminded her that she would have to spend more on food than she was allowed to contribute here as well. If the money in her savings account was going up so slowly now, how much worse would it be when she had to factor in additional living costs? The dreams of going overseas to get her wanderlust out of her system before she settled down to get married and have babies was starting to look like a rather big ask.
Maybe she could get some extra shifts at work. Bella made a mental note to ask Sally about it tomorrow.
* * *
‘I’m sorry, Bella, as much as I’d like to cure my staffing problems this way, there are rules about how many hours you can do on the trot. Double shifts aren’t allowed.’
‘OK. It was worth a try.’
Sally sighed. ‘I can’t even use you on the ward this morning, so I’ll have to get a temp in.’
‘What?’ Bella bit her lip. ‘Have I done something wrong? Was it my line-dancing class?’ Or had Oliver dobbed her in about sneaking the kitten into the ward last night?
No. As much as she knew he might have liked to do the right thing about breaking such rules, Bella had complete confidence that a promise had been made that would be kept. What had gone on in that room would stay in that room. Maybe that went with all the privileged background stuff too. Bella was quite sure that Oliver Dawson was a man of his word.
Sally laughed. ‘Not at all. No…Lady Dorothy apparently pulled some strings and declared that she doesn’t want another nurse in her room. You’re it.’
‘Can she do that?’
‘When you come from a family that’s supported hospital fundraising to the extent the Dawsons have, I think you can pretty much call the shots. Do you mind?’
‘Not at all. I really like her. She reminds me of my nanna.’
‘That’s good. I get the impression that Lady Dorothy can be formidable if she doesn’t get what she’s set her heart on.’
What Lady Dorothy had really set her heart on became apparent a little later that morning, after Bella had helped her get dressed and sat with her while the physiotherapist put her through a range of exercises intended to keep her joints mobile. Bella went to fetch Lady Dorothy a cup of the Earl Grey tea she preferred when the session was finished and when she came back, she found that Oliver was visiting his mother.
They seemed to be finishing a rather intense conversation, in fact.
‘I can’t stop you,’ Oliver was saying in a low voice. ‘It’s your life and your house, after all, but I think it’s ill-advised.’ When he saw Bella enter the room, he turned away, walking two strides to the outside window where he stood staring at a view she knew was not that fascinating.
Bella had made the tea cool enough to be safe and it was in a cup with a straw.
‘Put it there, dear.’ Lady Dorothy waved at her bedside table. ‘There’s something I want to talk to you about.’
Bella set the cup of tea down and turned. She looked at Lady Dorothy sitting up quite straight in her chair. She was smiling. She looked at Oliver’s back. He was standing very straight. Bella had the distinct impression that if he turned around, he would not be smiling.
‘I want to go home,’ Lady Dorothy announced. ‘But I realise I’m going to need some help until I get better. Oliver suggested that I get a private nurse.’
‘That sounds like a very good idea,’ Bella said cautiously, not sure what this had to do with her.
Lady Dorothy beamed at her. ‘So you’ll take the job, then?’
Bella’s jaw dropped. ‘I’m not a private nurse. I work here, at St Patrick’s.’
‘That’s what I told you, Mother,’ Oliver said, without turning around. ‘Private nurses probably have specialised training.’
‘Nonsense,’ Lady Dorothy said. ‘A nurse is a nurse.’ She was still smiling at Bella. ‘What’s to stop you taking on a private job?’
‘Oh…no, I couldn’t.’ Bella was taken aback. ‘I’m only working until I can save enough money to go overseas.’
‘There you go,’ Oliver said. ‘You need someone who can commit to more long-term employment.’
‘I’d pay you very well, dear.’ Lady Oliver frowned at Oliver’s back. ‘And Oliver won’t be in the way. His wing of the house is quite separate, really.’
Bella couldn’t help sucking in an audible breath. His wing of the house? Her astonishment came out as a rather different query, however. ‘You live with your mother?’
The back stiffened further, quite visibly, and Oliver turned to face Bella directly. Oh…Lord…how could she have forgotten just how intimidating this man could be? Except…something about his face reminded her of how he’d looked when she’d caught him out with the fast food. Was he embarrassed by the fact that he still lived with his mother?
Even though the tiny hint of vulnerability was quite appealing, Bella knew it would be a big mistake to smile.
‘How long is it going to take for you to save up to go overseas?’ Lady Dorothy seemed undeterred.
‘Um…a wee while, I guess.’ Bella had to look away from the direct stare she was receiving from Oliver. He didn’t approve of what his mother was trying to do here. What was the problem? Did he think she wasn’t good enough to care for his mother without the kind of supervisory hierarchy a hospital provided? Of course she was. If she wanted to be a private nurse, she would be an excellent one. It was, in fact, the type of job she was considering doing when she went overseas because she’d heard that it paid very well.
‘Is that why you live with your aunt? To help you save money?’
‘Partly.’ Bella turned her attention back to Lady Dorothy who was, after all, a much more likeable person than her son. ‘She’s also my favourite person in the world. She’s not that much older than me and she lived with my family for a long time.’ Bella was happy to change the subject because the idea of a job that would pay well enough to speed up her saving was rather tempting.
She also had to admit that Oliver was right. They needed someone who could commit long term. It wouldn’t be fair to Lady Dorothy to take on a job as her private nurse and then disappear off overseas in a few months. ‘She’s getting married soon and I’m going to be her bridesmaid.’
‘How exciting. I love weddings. Have you decided what to give them for a gift?’
‘No…’ Bella hadn’t thought about that at all. She wasn’t given time to think about it now either because Oliver made a kind of huffing noise and muttered something about having to get back to his ward round.
‘I’ll see you later, Mother. When I get a chance I’ll ring an agency and make some enquiries abo
ut private nursing arrangements.’
He nodded at Bella as he left. The matter was ended.
Lady Dorothy left the subject alone for the moment as well, moving on to an animated discussion about potential wedding gifts. Bella’s head was whirling with suggestions by the time she headed for her lunch break. Of course she wanted to give Kate and Connor something special but that was going to be awfully expensive, wasn’t it?
Bella took a few minutes to surf the internet while she had a coffee to end her break. It seemed like a good idea to try to reconnect with her dreams of overseas travel. She looked at the cost of flights and what she might have to pay for even cheap accommodation in a place like London. She reminded herself that she would need to factor in the cost of eating at least occasionally and allow for it taking a bit of time to find a new job. Then she scribbled on a piece of paper, trying to decide how long it would take her to save enough to spread her wings.
The results were depressing. It might take her a lot longer than the six months she’d been counting on given her determination to get out of Kate and Connor’s way by the time they came back from their honeymoon.
She screwed up the piece of paper and threw it into the bin in the nurses’ station. When she went back to Lady Dorothy’s room, it seemed like salt was being rubbed into the wound to find her patient brandishing a very similar-looking piece of paper.
‘There…’ Lady Dorothy was having difficulty keeping hold of the paper but managed to push it towards Bella. ‘That’s how much I’ll pay you to come and be my nurse. I don’t care if it’s not for very long. I’m sure I’ll be much better by the time you want to leave and if I can’t manage by myself, I’ll come up with another plan.’
Bella took the piece of paper, mainly to save Lady Dorothy the embarrassment of having it fall from her stiff fingers. She caught sight of the amount written in wobbly figures on the paper, however, and her jaw dropped.
‘That’s ridiculous,’ she squeaked. ‘You could probably hire three nurses for that much.’
‘I don’t want three nurses,’ Lady Dorothy said firmly. ‘I only want one. You.’
CHAPTER FOUR
‘MOTHER…Bella said she couldn’t take the position. Stop pestering her.’
‘I’m just trying to understand, Oliver. That can hardly be considered pestering, can it?’ The question became directed at Bella as Lady Dorothy turned her head. Her smile was sweet. There was even a dimple flashing in a soft cheek.
Heavens, but she’d changed in the few days Bella had been nursing the elderly lady.
She couldn’t help smiling back but she said nothing, merely continuing the task of folding and packing Lady Dorothy’s clothes in preparation for her discharge.
Oliver Dawson picked up a book and moved to put it in the suitcase beside Bella.
‘Sweet as they come on the outside,’ he murmured, ‘but you have probably noticed that my mother has a core of reinforced steel.’
Bella caught her bottom lip between her teeth to stop herself laughing aloud as her gaze flew up to meet his. This was a surprise visit and he obviously hadn’t finished his theatre list because he was still wearing scrubs. He even had a red mark on his forehead from recent, and probably lengthy, contact with the elastic edge of a theatre cap. Having Oliver dressed like this was quite enough to put Bella back into a space of feeling very nervous. She would make some idiotic mistake any moment now and have to bear the consequences. A mistake like thinking he was making a joke about his mother?
There was no mistaking the glimmer of humour in those dark eyes, however, and Bella felt suddenly confused. Thrown off balance. It was as much of a surprise as finding the eminent surgeon sitting on a bed and eating disreputable fast food.
‘I’ll bet the campaign has been going on for the last three days, am I right?’
Bella made a choked sound that could have been agreement. She was finding it disturbingly hard to look away from that totally unexpected humour.
‘Just tell me again, dear,’ Lady Dorothy’s voice came from behind them. Her voice had the faintest hint of a plaintive wobble. ‘Time’s running out now.’
Bella turned back to the bed. ‘It wouldn’t be fair to sign on as your private nurse. I’m not going to be in Auckland for much longer.’
‘But where are you going?’
‘Overseas,’ Bella said firmly. ‘I told you all about it yesterday.’
‘Mmm.’ Lady Dorothy was smiling again. ‘But you made it sound like it was just a holiday, not something…urgent.’
Bella tried to see beneath the sweet smile and the sincere interest that had had her talking about herself for days now. Had Oliver been warning her that his mother was still embarked on a campaign to get what she had decided she wanted?
‘It’s my time to travel,’ Bella said. She tried to keep an apologetic note from her voice but this was making her feel guilty. She had become enormously fond of Lady Dorothy over the last few days. She’d love to give her exactly what she wanted but it simply wasn’t possible. ‘And it is urgent because if I don’t go now, I never will.’
‘Of course you will, dear. Europe isn’t going to disappear, you know.’
She really didn’t understand. Bella sank onto the chair beside the bed, only too aware of Oliver standing at the end of the bed.
‘I had planned to go when I left home,’ Bella told Lady Dorothy. ‘But that was when Nanna came to live with us and I couldn’t leave. And then I did my nursing degree and ever since then I’ve been trying to save up enough to go but…’ She didn’t need to go into details in front of Oliver about how bad she was at saving her money, did she? Confess to the impulsiveness that made a new dress or killer pair of shoes an absolute must-have? ‘Anyway, that’s why I came to Auckland. So I could live with Auntie Kate and finally save enough to get away.’
She could see that this argument wasn’t hitting the right note. She could almost see Lady Dorothy gathering her breath to tell her again that if she became her private nurse, she could save the money she needed in no time. She’d dropped that subject the other night and had distracted Bella into talking about weddings but it hadn’t gone away, had it? Maybe she’d been simply gathering more ammunition so that she could fire it all at the same time.
‘And it’s urgent now,’ Bella continued, ‘because I’m twenty-six. Going on twenty-seven, in fact, and I intend to be married and having my first baby by the time I’m thirty. And I want to spend at least three or four years travelling the world,’ she added with a touch of desperation.
‘Oh, my…’ Lady Dorothy’s eyes were wide. ‘You have a fiancé?’
‘No.’ Bella closed her eyes for a moment, wishing Oliver would go away. ‘Not yet,’ she muttered.
She opened her eyes to see that Lady Dorothy was looking at her son and that she was smiling again.
Oliver also muttered something that sounded remarkably like give me strength.
Good grief…surely Lady Dorothy didn’t think that Oliver would be remotely interested in the fact that she was single? How embarrassing!
‘Quite apart from that,’ Bella said crisply, ‘I’m not qualified. I don’t know about the kind of rehabilitation programme you’re going to need. Occupational therapy and so on.’
‘We can learn together, then,’ Lady Dorothy said calmly. ‘You already know far more than I do, dear. Because of your nanna.’
‘There’s physiotherapy, then. Specialist exercises.’
‘We could learn those together, too. And—’ Lady Dorothy’s eyes twinkled ‘—maybe I want to learn line dancing.’
Oliver did more than mutter this time. He actually groaned.
Bella ignored that one. ‘Physios have access to things that you might need. Like hot pools.’
‘We have a hot pool at home, don’t we, Oliver? There’s a spa bes
ide the indoor swimming pool.’
There was an indoor swimming pool? Separate wings of the house? There were probably converted servants’ quarters that would be available as a private apartment, too. Bella’s head was spinning slightly.
It stopped spinning abruptly, thanks to the loud crash directly outside Lady Dorothy’s door.
There was a moment’s shocked silence inside the room and then Oliver took two long strides and flung the door open.
‘What the—?’
Bella didn’t let him finish his outraged query about what might be going on because she’d seen the figure on the floor.
‘Oh, my God… Wally.’
Her favourite line-dancing pupil had collapsed and he was lying flat on his back. Bella flew to his side.
‘Wally? Can you hear me?’
There was no response. Automatically, Bella reached for the elderly man’s head, tipping it back to ensure his airway was open. She bent down to listen for breathing, one hand on his neck to search for a pulse. She was ready to start CPR instantly if she couldn’t find one. Her adrenaline level was sky-high. Why on earth was Oliver just standing there? He wasn’t even calling for extra assistance yet.
‘Let him go, Bella.’ Oliver spoke calmly. ‘Stand back.’
Her jaw dropped. He wanted her to stand back and let her patient die? Why? Because he was old or overweight or deaf or something?
‘No way.’ Bella glared at Oliver. ‘He needs help.’ Even as she spoke, however, Bella could feel something happening beneath her hands. An ominous twitching and jerking. Wally was having a seizure.
Bella knew better than to try and restrain someone who was having a seizure. There was nothing anyone could do until it stopped, other than try and protect the head from banging into something. When the uncontrolled movements stopped she would be able to ensure that his airway stayed clear and that he wouldn’t be frightened in that confused period before full consciousness returned.
‘Move that trolley,’ she heard herself order Oliver. ‘I’ll find a towel to go under his head.’
Falling for Her Impossible Boss Page 4