When Bonnie drove the ambulance to the medical centre, she found the cumbersome vehicle surprisingly easy to manoeuvre. Harry monitored the patient in the back, and the man’s wife sat with her hands clasped together tightly in her lap in the front with Bonnie.
Bonnie finally had a moment to spare the woman some attention. ‘Are you all right?’ She glanced across at Clint’s wife. ‘Your husband’s very lucky you knew what to do.’
Donna, their patient’s ashen-faced wife, a petite fifty-year-old blonde, twisted her hands and swallowed the tears in her throat. ‘Yes. Thank you.’ She looked over into the back, bright tears running down her cheeks. ‘Thank you both. All of you. The wonderful porter who took over from me. Those compressions.’ She shuddered. ‘I was so exhausted by the time he got there.’
‘He looked a little weary too by the time we arrived, but you both did an incredible job of keeping the blood and oxygen circulating.’
Donna ran her hand over her face to wipe away the tears. ‘I never want to have to do that again. Thank goodness you came. Those portable defibrillators are incredible, aren’t they?’
Bonnie could see Donna needed to talk. Needed to dump some of the nervous energy she’d been holding back so incredibly. She’d been amazing. What a heroine. ‘They’re very handy. And so quick to do the job.’
She thought of Donna’s husband’s hairy chest and smiled. ‘I’m afraid Clint’s going to have two shaved areas on his chest. Like two big eyes. Not very neat either.’
‘He’ll cope. I might wax the lot of him while he’s unconscious,’ Donna shakily joked, ‘ready for next time.’
Bonnie took her hand off the wheel and patted Donna’s shoulder. ‘Hopefully he’ll be sorted out by his doctor and there won’t be a next time. But I think you’re incredible, the way you’re holding yourself together.’
Bonnie saw more tears spring into Donna’s eyes. Oops, sometimes sympathy wasn’t helpful. She should have known that. Bonnie hastily changed the subject. ‘The medical system here is very efficient. All the mod cons as well.’ Bonnie pulled into the medical centre.
The next few minutes were taken up by transferring the patient to a ward bed and connecting him to the wall monitors. When they had Clint settled Bonnie went back to Donna, who’d been in contact with their grown-up children on the phone.
‘The children are so appreciative. And impressed,’ Donna said. ‘I think he had more chance here than if he’d had the heart attack at home in Sydney.’
Bonnie smiled. ‘You might be right. But a lot of the outcome depends on what other people do in those crucial first few minutes. You called for help and got on with it. You did everything right.’ She smiled. ‘I think you’re marvellous. So it couldn’t have been his time to go.’
‘My word, it’s not.’ Donna glanced across at her husband as if to check he was still there. ‘We’ve worked hard all our lives and he’s not losing his retirement because of ill health. I’ll make sure he eats the right things and does an exercise programme. In fact, I’ll do it with him.’
Harry joined them. ‘Sounds great. We all need to.’
Bonnie gestured with her hand. ‘Harry. Dr St Clair. This is Donna, Clint’s wife.’
‘Hello, Donna. We didn’t have much time to chat, did we? The night porter said you were terrific with the CPR before he arrived.’
‘Thank you, Doctor. I hope I never have to do that again but as I said to Bonnie, I’m not losing him now. We’ve got too much fun to have yet. Too many children together and too much history.’ Donna’s voice shook on the last word.
Bonnie felt tears sting her own eyes. History. Would she ever have that kind of history with a man in her life? Not just bad memories and brief emotional flings with liars and losers?
She saw the way Harry closed down, too. As if he didn’t want to know about history, and children and wives losing husbands, or vice versa. Maybe she would understand more if she knew the circumstances of his loss but she refused to ask Steve or Vicki. It was Harry’s story and if he didn’t think she needed to know, she’d be fine with that. Either way, it wasn’t her business. She’d keep it that way.
By the time Clint was flown out it was almost dawn. Harry and Bonnie saw Donna back to her room, which Housekeeping had tidied for her, and Bonnie tucked her in.
Harry waited at the door. ‘Have a couple of hours’ sleep, and Reception will help you get an early flight. It will truly take that long to get him settled into the ward and the tests will take up most of the morning until you get there. Try not worry too much.’
As they walked away, Harry captured Bonnie’s hand and held it. ‘Well done, Bonnie.’
She was not going there! Bonnie eased her hand free and kept her voice level. ‘You should say, “Well done, team.”’
‘Actually …’ Now that she thought about it, she stopped walking until he stopped too. ‘Imagine if you hadn’t decided to come and that was all on me and the porter?’
He frowned as if to say, ‘So?’
She shook her head at his refusal to understand. ‘This is exactly what I meant at the airport at Denpasar. I can’t give some of those drugs, Harry. Not without medical orders. That all takes time and I really don’t think Clint had time.’
She saw his comprehension settle. ‘Maybe,’ he said, still reluctant but aware of what she was getting at. Finally he nodded. ‘Yes. I’m glad I was here for that. And for Clint.’ He looked at her. ‘And for you. I don’t like to think of you having to cope with emergencies like that on your own, Bonnie.’
‘People have to if the resources aren’t there. Like you did before you gave up medicine.’
He frowned. They arrived back at the Desert Pea and Harry held the door for her. He didn’t comment on her words.
And he wouldn’t. Why should she be surprised? Bonnie yawned. ‘Shame about a night’s sleep.’
Harry glanced at the lightening sky. ‘You go to bed. Stay there till lunchtime if you can. I won’t sleep. I’ll ring you if I need you. Maybe you can relieve me this afternoon when I crash.’
She glanced at him and she could tell he was wired. He wasn’t shutting his eyes any time soon. She guessed he did have a lot to think about. And she was stuffed. ‘Sounds very democratic. Goodnight.’
Harry watched her close her door and for a brief moment wished he could just follow her into her room and never come out, but he turned away. He’d burned his boats there. Best go for a walk around the grounds, let the morning air wash away the tension, and when he got back he could ring Alice Springs and see if Clint had arrived safely.
Harry flexed his shoulders. So he was a little unsettled by the last few hours but he was beginning to accept he just might be in the right place for him at this time. At least he wasn’t dreading that first day on call any more.
Later that morning, Harry discovered he might not have offered to do the clinic if he’d realised it was antenatal clinic day. It was all very well to begin to feel more comfortable with medicine, but pregnant women were way too close to home.
By the time Bonnie surfaced about eleven he’d recovered his equilibrium, but his face lit up when she arrived. ‘You could take over here, Bonnie.’
Bonnie smiled when she saw who the clients were. ‘Hi, guys.’
Bernie’s pearly white grin lit up the room and he nudged his girlfriend. ‘She’s the nurse I said about.’
Harry smiled at Bernie’s delight. ‘I was just saying to Tameeka that she should think about how long she stays in Alice Springs as she approaches her due date. In fact, she’s only got five weeks to go she may as well go soon.’
Bonnie saw the frowns on both young people’s faces and glanced between the three of them, feeling her way to diplomacy. ‘Women usually wait until two weeks before their due date if they move into town.’
That didn’t go down well with the medical officer. ‘I disagree.’ Harry shook his head to underline it. ‘We have no idea when that first baby is going to arrive and this isn’t a safe pla
ce to have baby without the hospital.’
Bonnie tried not to telegraph her feelings but it was a battle she only just won. She wanted to frown like her patients were at this insensitive goose.
She tried another angle, hoping that Harry would get the hint. ‘Do you have anyone you can stay with, Tameeka?’
Unhappily, the girl shook her head and rolled her eyes at Bernie. Bernie spoke for her. ‘She’s worried about bein’ homesick ‘cause I can’t stay up there. I gotta job down here with the traditional owner tours. I work mornings from five till eleven. She don’t need to go yet. It’s only a five-hour drive.’
Bonnie lifted her brows and tried to lighten the mood of the conversation. ‘Might be interesting, having contractions on a motorbike.’
‘Nah.’ Bernie grinned. ‘My cuz has a car and he’ll take us when she goes into labour.’
Harry shook his head. ‘You can’t wait until she’s in labour.’ He turned to Bonnie and mouthed, ‘Talk some sense into them, please.’ Out loud, he said. ‘We’ll see what we can arrange.’ And left Bonnie to it.
‘What’s up his jumper?’ Bernie said as Harry walked away.
‘Apart from being up all night at an emergency, he wants what’s best for Tameeka and your baby, that’s all.’ Inside, Bonnie was fuming. What a lot of angst for nothing.
If they sent Tameeka too early she’d get homesick and come home again anyway. Then they’d have a devil of a time getting her back to Alice Springs for the actual birth. Bonnie dealt with these issues all the time on outreach clinics. Heavy-handed tactics weren’t helpful at all.
Didn’t he realise it was a terrifying thing for the young woman to be sent to a large town on her own to give birth? Well, Bonnie would do what was necessary to smooth that path and hopefully it wouldn’t all backfire in her face. Life might have more facets of frustration with Harry than she’d anticipated.
Harry walked away and he could feel the rigid set of his shoulders as he fought panic.
Everything had been going along fine until he’d realised Tameeka was exactly the same length of time into her pregnancy as his wife had been when she’d died. Thirty-five weeks.
That awful paralysing fear had grabbed him by the throat and he’d wanted to put the young woman on a plane and get her to safety. Get her off his hands. Away from his responsibility. Let Alice Springs deal with her birth and she and her baby could come home well.
Which was ridiculous. Tameeka might not go into labour for another four weeks. Bonnie was right. But he also knew a person who feared the natural process of birth should not be caring for pregnant women. And that included him.
Needless interventions, like sending pregnant women away too early, didn’t help anyone. The inherent dangers if she came back and refused to leave again, increased risk of car accidents from multiple trips and postnatal depression from a lonely stint away from her family all had to be weighed up.
He didn’t know what the answer was. Except now he was wishing he hadn’t come.
CHAPTER EIGHT
AT THE end of the first week, Bonnie waited for the Sounds of Silence Dinner bus in the reception area with all the tourists. She doubted she’d have arranged it so soon except that when Clint had been flown out by the RFDS, Donna had given Harry and herself the tickets they couldn’t use. And the porter loved the bottle of Scotch that Donna had said Clint wasn’t going to open now.
It felt odd to be dressed up to eat on a sand dune but Vicki and Steve had been adamant it added to the ambiance of the evening. Even odder when she reminded herself who her dinner companion was.
When Harry arrived in dark trousers and a white shirt stark against his tan, the other women waiting swivelled to admire him, and Bonnie smiled wryly as she watched them compare the two of them. Just like in Bali.
‘You look gorgeous,’ Harry said, and the way his eyes lingered reminded her how accomplished he was at beaming light at her. She remembered how she’d thought of him as a lighthouse the first time she’d seen him.
Funny how she forgot about the competition in an instant and even forgot how well she knew this man. Actually, she forgot about everything except the powerful way he could draw her in like a merman to his shipwrecking rocks. Watch those rocks, she told herself.
That day he’d come over to talk to her at the swimming pool seemed so long ago and such a convoluted dance they’d been in since then. So much for not being one of his harem of admirers.
At least he didn’t turn it on at work.
Or maybe she had a force field when she was with a patient because after that first day or two she could separate the two then, helped immeasurably by that not-so-little issue of trust that she didn’t have with him now.
But tonight she could feel herself weaken. Pathetic woman. ‘Well, thank you, you’re looking debonair yourself.’
Harry’s fingers rested on her elbow as he steered her out to the arriving bus and the warmth of his possession ran up her arm. It was happening again. Waves of awareness tingling in her skin, heat, low and hard in her belly. Lordy, yes, this man made her know she was alive.
He leant down and spoke into her ear so the others couldn’t hear. ‘What’s the chance you get through this night without a call out?’
It was hard to listen when she was feeling so intensely. It felt so good to be hip to hip again. Too good to have his hand on her skin and his face near hers.
She pulled back, needing to make a play for some distance. ‘Fair to poor. But I’m going to enjoy the moments I do get. My friend in Darwin has been talking about this dinner since she did a stint here.’ Now she was babbling. There had to be a happy medium.
He ushered her up the steps of the bus and into a window seat. His hip was against hers as the bus took off on the ride out to the dunes, the excited chatter of their dinner companions a hum around them.
Bonnie felt Harry’s leg near hers, like on the bus on the day of the bike ride, but she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to end up naked in his arms like she had that day. She blushed. She had better not. It would be a lot harder to hide the damage from a repeat performance of gullibility.
She looked desperately out the window towards the orange and red hues of near sunset. There was the Rock, she thought with relief, and hung on to that magnificent vision like a lifejacket.
Bonnie breathed in the sheer magic like an antidote. Slowly she gained a measure of stability. The sight filled her head until she could shift aside Harry for a moment and the issues they had, and just savour Mother Earth at her most majestic.
‘Gorgeous,’ she said as she turned back to Harry and found him watching her, studying her profile as if he couldn’t understand something, and she felt her neck heat as she resisted the urge to give in and blush.
‘Have I got a smut on my nose or something?’
He laughed without humour. ‘Not that I can see.’
Bonnie frowned at him. They couldn’t do this. Work together and continue the level of awareness they generated between them. She opened her mouth to broach the idea of strategies for managing that when she reminded herself they were surrounded by other people.
Funny how the world seemed to narrow down to just the two of them when she was with Harry.
In the end it didn’t matter because the bus jerked to a halt, out in the middle of the desert between the two great icons of central Australia, the single massive of Uluru and Kata Tjuga, the huge collection of enormous boulders that made up the Olgas.
As she stepped off the bus Bonnie didn’t know which way to turn, to watch the sun reflected against the rock or setting behind the Olgas, and the choice was an aweinspiring dilemma.
Harry gestured to the silk rope and suggested she follow the guests up the incline to the top of the dune where a tuxedoed waiter stood with silver tray of champagne in crystal glasses.
The setting was beyond anything she’d expected. ‘Thank you,’ Bonnie said, and took a half-full glass from the man and slowly turned to admire the full view from the t
op of the dune. She crossed to the bar and at her request the waiter filled her glass with soda water. Harry did the same and she smiled at him. ‘Trying to get into my good graces?’
‘Not fair for just you to be on call.’ She’d never said he wasn’t thoughtful but she’d prefer if he made it easier to keep her distance and not harder.
They turned back to face the Rock. Neither spoke as the chiselled face of the massif grew more shadowed with wrinkled stone and signs of weathering in gold and different pinks that seemed to glow brighter. Too beautiful. As a backdrop, the dark velvet red of the desert, with sparse desert oaks interspersed up and down the rolling mini-dunes, blushed with its own radiance.
‘Kangaroo, crocodile or Tasmanian salmon.’ The waitress offered tiny hors d’oeuvres with cress on crackers, and Bonnie blinked as the spell was broken.
She glanced at Harry, suddenly more composed. She did feel better. More grounded and relaxed with him. She could do this without making a fool of herself.
The idea of eating a wallaby wrinkled her nose, but crocodiles often ate humans so it seemed fair to return the favour. ‘Thank you.’ She glanced at Harry, darkly handsome as he watched her, and she pretended she wasn’t perturbed by his study. Hers was a front but a fairly good one.
‘After luwak coffee I’ll try anything.’ Bonnie took a serviette and biscuit with crocodile meat and nibbled at the edge of it. See, she could even allude to a previous time. She was strong. It was quite an act not to drop crumbs or her lass but her composure held.
Her juggling must have looked a little dangerous because Harry collected another serviette for her with a smile.
‘Maybe we should take turns, and the other person can hold the glass, like an old married couple.’
Harry using the M word. Good grief. And he didn’t look happy about it. She glanced away. ‘There’s a few of those here. Lucky things, to be travelling round together. Clint and Donna should be here. They’d fit right in.’
Harry St Clair: Rogue or Doctor? Page 11