Critical Condition

by Nicki Edwards

  She released her grip on Bob’s leg a second time and this time the blood flow had stopped. She looked down at her bloodstained hands and fingernails and wiped them down the front of her jeans, the knees of which were already covered in blood from where she’d been kneeling.

  Poppy was reaching for Bob’s wrist to check his pulse when the woman cheered.

  “They’re here,” she said as she jumped out into the middle of the street and waved the ambulance down.

  The moment they pulled up Poppy knew instinctively that one of the paramedics would be Liam. Sure enough, he was leaning forward over the steering wheel shaking his head at her. Her heart started to skip. She gave him a wave and tried to ignore that spark that had ignited somewhere deep inside her.

  A young woman stepped out from behind the passenger seat and loped over to her. “Hey. I’m Danni.”

  Poppy turned her attention from Liam to the dark-haired woman in front of her. “I’m Poppy. I’m a nurse. I work in ED.” She was about to explain what happened when Liam nudged her gently with his hip.

  “Twice in one day. How lucky am I? And we really must stop meeting on the side of the road like this.”

  He waved a pair of bright blue gloves in her face before slipping them on his hands. “Bit late to offer you some of these, but I’ve got alcohol hand wash back in the truck. Help yourself.”

  “Thanks.” She grimaced as she stared at the mess on her hands.

  “What happened here?” he asked, bending over to assist Danni with her assessment.

  Poppy had to peel her eyes away from Liam’s backside but it was hard not to notice the way the navy work pants pulled tight and accentuated his long legs and lean hips. She focused instead on the soles of his thick work boots. Her heart was pounding so fast she worried that she’d need medical attention herself if she didn’t stop ogling him.

  “Sounds like a spontaneous bleed from a varicose leg ulcer,” he said.

  “Rare,” Poppy replied, snapping back to attention.

  Danni looked up at them from her position on the ground beside Bob. “This bloke needs a line and fluids. BP’s sixty systolic.”

  Liam jogged back to the truck to grab the equipment he needed to cannulate Bob. Poppy followed him. He tossed a bottle of alcohol hand wash to her which she caught.

  “Do you want me to stay and help?” Poppy asked as she squirted the solution on her hands. She needed more than the pink solution – she needed running water and a nail brush – but she got most of the blood removed. Her jeans, however, were ruined.

  “We’ll be right here for now, I reckon, but can you check on the others?” Liam asked, pointing to Josh and the woman. “He looks like he’s going to pass out.”

  “And can you get that dog out of here?” Danni called out.

  Poppy lunged for the dog’s leash as it ran past her and grabbed it. She hauled the dog toward Josh and the woman and wrapped the lead around a fence post.

  “You both did a great job,” she said. She looked at Josh. “You okay?”

  He nodded. “It was scary, but I’m okay now. I didn’t do the right thing though, did I?” he asked.

  “You did what you thought was best. You weren’t to know he was bleeding under his sock. Go on home and wash up well,” she said, pointing to his hands. She turned to the woman. “Thanks for calling the ambulance.”

  “That’s okay. I know where he lives. Shall I take his dog home?” the woman asked.

  “That would be awesome. Thanks.”

  The little crowd of onlookers slowly dispersed and when Poppy offered to stay to help, disappointment kicked in when Danni made it clear they didn’t need her assistance anymore. When she hopped back in her car and checked the time, she was astonished to find it was nearly six o’clock. Her mother would be having kittens wondering where she was.

  With a wave, she drove off, whispering a little prayer that Bob would be okay. And that Liam would call. She really wanted to see him again.

  *

  Liam grabbed what he needed from the truck and headed back to Bob. As hard as he tried, it was difficult to concentrate and he was glad Danni was taking the lead. He was also relieved Danni had been the one to send Poppy away. Being in her proximity again was doing things to his neglected libido.

  When he’d left Poppy outside The Bean Counter earlier it had taken every single piece of his rapidly depleting self-control not to turn and watch her walk down the street. He knew if he had, he’d have been a goner. Instead, he’d headed back to work with his head in a fog, unable to stop thinking about her. Unfortunately his scattered thoughts hadn’t miraculously come together again. He felt like a lovesick teenager with no off button. He shook his head to try to dislodge the image of her imprinted on his eyeballs. It wasn’t like Poppy was the first hot girl he’d laid eyes on, so what the heck was his problem?

  He knew exactly what the problem was.

  There was something different about her. Aside from her height, which would put her eye to eye with him if she ever wore heels. And aside from her hair, which he still dreamt about running his fingers through. And her smile. And her sassy attitude. Aside from all those things, for the first time since Lily, Liam found himself wondering what it would be like to share his life with someone again. Someone like Poppy.

  He shook his head again. This had to stop. He never should have kissed her in the first place. But it was hardly his fault. From the instant he’d laid eyes on her at the airport he’d been captivated. Then, when she’d jutted out her chest at him and given him a dose of her spunk, he’d fallen over the cliff.

  But none of that mattered, because unless he did something about it, she was still leaving.

  “Latest girlfriend?” Danni asked, once they’d loaded Bob onto a stretcher, put him in the ambulance and driven off toward the hospital.

  Liam heard Danni’s tone. What was it with women? He sucked in a silent breath and forced himself to act nonchalant. No matter how he answered, there’d be more questions.

  “No. What makes you say that?” he asked carefully.

  “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to ask rhetorical questions?”

  He scowled at her and when she grinned in return he scowled harder. Danni was almost half his age and acted like a cocky kid at times.

  “So? Who is she?” she prodded.

  “A friend.” And my feelings for her are none of your business, he wanted to add.

  “As if I believe that.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

  “Aw, come on, Liam, as if you don’t know. You might tell yourself you’re happy being an old bachelor but I saw the way you looked at her.

  “Watch the old bit, kiddo,” he replied, “and concentrate on the road.”

  “Yes, boss,” she said, laughing quietly.

  Liam knew he hadn’t heard the last of it. He also knew if he didn’t put a stop to Danni’s questions, rumors of him and Poppy would circulate through the station and the hospital Emergency Department faster than a gastro outbreak.

  Chapter 25

  Driving back to the farmhouse, Poppy allowed her mind to wander. She wasn’t imagining it. There was some weird magnetic pull between her and Liam. It had taken her by surprise the moment she’d first seen him at the airport and unless she was mistaken, Liam felt it too. Had they only known each other for a few days? It seemed so much longer.

  Every time she saw him, sparks flew. Their conversations were like oxygen which fed the sparks and caused them to flare into flames. She had been slightly miffed when he didn’t ask her to stay and help him and Danni look after Bob, but she understood they had a job to do and although there was some crossover between the role of a nurse and a paramedic, she probably would have done the same thing if the situation was reversed and he hung around in the emergency department helping her do her job.

  As Poppy turned in through the gate and drove over the cattle grid again, she forgot all about Bob. She was filled with the strangest feeli
ng that if she had to live anywhere in the world, she would choose to live here. Here in Birrangulla, and here at Cooinda.

  She paused at end of the driveway and surveyed the dusky beauty around her. The vista was timeless, changed only by the seasons. In New York change happened every day. Overnight new cranes appeared on the city skyline, new restaurants and shops and businesses opened and others closed. Stores changed their displays weekly. It was never-ending change. And right now she wanted stability, not constant change.

  A thin fog slowly danced and swirled around the trees and rolled out across the green paddocks. On her left black cows grazed silently and on her right a mob of woolly sheep huddled together under the protection of a long line of pine trees. In the distance, behind the trees, the lights of the nearest neighbor glowed and twinkled. As she continued down the driveway, her headlights picked up the glistening gleam of lacy spiderwebs along the fence line. The calm serenity of the farm felt majestic and glorious, almost holy.

  But the feelings of tranquility stopped the second Poppy pulled up out the front of the house. Every nerve ending stood on alert and dread flooded deep into her bones. Something was seriously wrong. Poppy climbed out of the car with a sense of trepidation as sharp slivers of unwelcome memories hit her, piercing her skin like shards of glass. Not again.

  When she’d left her mum less than three hours earlier, smoke had been wafting from the chimney and everything had been calm and peaceful. Now, lights shone from every window. Music was playing so loud Poppy couldn’t hear herself think.

  Pushing open the front gate she ran up the path and inserted her key in the lock. The lock turned but the door refused to budge. She shouldered it so hard that tomorrow she’d have a bruise and still couldn’t make it move. Had her mother pushed a chair under the handle or something?

  “MUM!” Poppy shouted. “Open the door!”

  No answer. If anything, the music seemed to build even more. She recognized the song immediately. It was from her mother’s favorite musical, Cats. If Poppy regretted anything, it was taking her mother to see the show not long before she left for New York. For weeks afterward, all day, every day, Terri had played the song Memory on repeat. Unfortunately her mother was tone deaf and didn’t understand that karaoke-style singing didn’t foster neighborly relations. The same song was playing now but Poppy couldn’t hear any singing.

  She pounded her fist on the door and when there was no answer she peered in the lounge room window and stepped back in shock. The room, which three hours earlier was fully furnished, was now empty. What the hell? Is that what was blocking the door? Had her mother somehow moved all the furniture into the hallway and shoved it against the front door? How?

  Fear thundered through Poppy’s heart and on quivering legs she raced to the back door only to find it locked too. The only key she had for the house didn’t fit the lock. She ran around the house banging on every window and begging her mother to respond. When the song finished, Poppy rapped on the glass at the back door until she thought her knuckles would crack. She screamed her mother’s name continually. Still no answer.

  The song started again, building up and up quickly. What was she going to do? Terri was most likely unharmed – probably sitting in the hallway smoking a cigarette where Poppy couldn’t see her, but she might be injured. Or worse.

  Poppy remembered the letters from her father. She’d pulled them from her suitcase when she’d unpacked and left them sitting beside her bed. Had her mother found them and read them? Is that what had set her off?

  Without another thought Poppy grabbed her phone and scrolled through until she found Liam’s number. She went back around the front of the house as she waited for him to pick up. Please pick up, she begged. As she was about to hang up, she heard his breathless answer.

  “Poppy, hi.”

  She exhaled heavily. “Sorry, have I called at a bad time?”

  “No, you haven’t. We’ve just dropped Bob off at the hospital and I was heading back to the truck. I was going to call you later to let you know he’ll be okay but lucky you got there when you did or he probably would have bled out.”

  “That’s good. Great.” Poppy didn’t have the headspace to think about Bob right now. She had more pressing problems. The song climaxed again and Poppy had to step off the verandah away from the blaring music so she could hear him.

  “Is everything okay, Poppy? Where are you? I can hardly hear you.”

  “I need your help.”

  “I thought you didn’t like being a damsel in distress.” He chuckled. “What is it this time?”

  When she didn’t answer, he must have sensed something was wrong.

  “Poppy? What’s up? Where are you?” he repeated, his tone changing from teasing to serious.

  A small sob escaped. “At the farmhouse. She’s locked herself inside and I can’t get in.”

  “Who?”

  “My mother.”

  “Do you think she’s hurt?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve just arrived home. She’s barricaded herself inside.”

  “Barricaded?”

  “Yeah. From what I can see through the windows, she’s shoved every piece of furniture up against the front door.” Poppy let out a strangled laugh. “Trust me, it would make the set designers of Les Mis proud.”

  “And you can’t see her?”

  “No. I’ve looked in all the windows.”

  “Do you think she’s inside? Maybe you should check around the house. She might have gone for a walk.”

  Poppy looked around and her heart lurched. Night had fallen and in the shadowy stillness, it was difficult to see far. If her mother had wandered off, she could be anywhere. The sheds, the road back into town, the dam.

  “I’m almost home, Poppy. I’ll grab my car and I can be at your place in twenty minutes. Will you be right till then? Or do you think you should call the police?”

  “No! Not the police. I’m sure she’s fine. Perhaps you could ring Nathan or Mackenzie for me and see if they have another key for the back door. Don’t tell them why, just tell them I locked myself out or something.”

  “I could do that, but I know Kenz. She’ll drop it over herself so she can meet you. Sounds like right now you want to keep things with your mum under the radar.”

  Relief swept through her. Liam understood.

  “Yeah, that would be good. I’m sure Mum’s inside and I’m sure she’s okay. She was a bit manic this morning and I have a feeling she hasn’t been taking her medications for a while. She’s done this kind of stuff before.”

  “Hang tight. I’ll be there soon.”

  “Thanks Liam. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.”

  While she waited for Liam to arrive, Poppy pressed her ear against the window. This time, over the music, she heard faint off-key singing.

  She exhaled. At least she knew her mother was inside. And alive.

  *

  Liam drove like a pack of wild dingoes was chasing him. He tried not to speed, but worry kept pushing down on the accelerator. Eighteen minutes later he pulled into the driveway of Cooinda. Seconds later, through the fine misty rain that fell, his headlights picked out Poppy huddled on the front step, head lowered, hunkered down in her thick coat. Lights blazed from every window behind her.

  Poppy jumped up and came straight over to the car and the second he opened his door she collapsed into his arms. Tears flowed, surprising him. Until then, he wasn’t sure Poppy had a vulnerable side to her. As far as he was aware, she hadn’t even cried at her dad’s funeral.

  He smoothed her hair down her back and whispered in her ear. “It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”

  She twisted in his arms and pointed at the house. “Does this look okay to you?”

  He put both fingers in his ears. “I can’t hear you. What did you say?”

  This earned him a tiny smile.

  “Come on, let’s see if we can break in.” He had to shout over the music.

  Reached for Poppy’
s hand he grasped it tight as they walked up the path to the front door. He tried shoving it open, but it wouldn’t budge.

  “Jeez, what’s she put there?” he yelled.

  “Have a look.” Poppy pointed to the lounge room window. “She’s somehow moved the lounge suites and bookcases. See all the books on the floor? I spent all morning putting them on the bookshelves.”

  “How the hell has she moved everything on her own?”

  Poppy shrugged. “Beats me. But it’s not the first time she’s done this kind of stuff when she’s manic.”

  He walked around the house trying the windows but every single one was closed. The song ended, giving them a short reprieve.

  “At least if she’s turned off the music she probably knows we’re here,” Liam said. He hammered on the front door with his fists. “Open the door, Terri.”

  “It’s the break between the song. Give it a minute and it will start again.”

  He looked at Poppy. “Unless I smash a window, I don’t know how else I’m going to get inside,” he said. “And we need to see if she’s okay.”

  “I really don’t want you to break in.”

  “My only other choice is to call Nathan and ask him to bring over a key for the back door,” he replied.

  “But what if that’s barricaded as well?”

  He inhaled deeply. “Good point. I need to call someone. Even if she’s not hurt or injured, she’ll need to be taken into hospital for admission. You know that, right?”

  Beside him, Poppy sighed heavily. “This is what I was worried about. Does the hospital here even have the facilities to care for someone like her?”

  “Let’s get her assessed first.”

  “Alright. Call the police. I’d rather they break in, not us. I can get the window fixed later. I really don’t want to involve Nathan and Mackenzie.”

  “Your call, but they’re good people and they’ll understand.”

  “Whatever. You decide.”

  “They’re all on their way,” he said a few minutes later. Some time while he was making calls the music had stopped mid-song. After all the noise, the silence was bliss.