Daredevil, Doctor...Husband?

by Alison Roberts

  Inevitably, the real world had to intrude again. Zac checked his watch as he became aware that they really were alone here now. ‘We’ve got two minutes and then we need to head back fast for the ferry. Gravy would be upset if we don’t get back for the dinner she’s cooking up for us.’

  Her lips were moving against his. ‘We’d better make the most of them then, hadn’t we?’

  ‘There you go, Gravy. A nice hot lemon drink to wash down that paracetamol. You’ll feel better in no time.’

  ‘I just hope I didn’t give Summer this cold when she was here for dinner the other night after you’d been out to the bird island.’

  ‘I think she’s pretty tough. She’ll survive.’

  Ivy sniffed her drink. ‘You know, I think a hot toddy might work faster. With a good slosh of whisky.’

  ‘Hmm.’ Zac took a mohair rug off the back of the couch and held it up but Ivy shook her head.

  ‘Far too hot for that. Summer colds are the worst.’ Ivy blew her nose and leaned back in her chair but she was smiling. ‘Summer,’ she murmured. ‘Such a lovely name. Conjures up the feeling of blue skies and sunshine, doesn’t it? The sparkle of the sea and long, delicious evenings to enjoy it.’

  ‘Is there anything else I can do for you before I head downstairs?’

  ‘Sit and talk to me for a minute. Unless you’re meeting your Summer?’

  ‘Not tonight.’ Zac settled himself on the couch beside his grandmother. ‘She’s doing some crew training. And we don’t spend every minute of our time off together, anyway.’

  ‘You’ll have to bring her to dinner with me again soon. I ordered some new champagne online yesterday and it looks lovely. I could do your favourite roast chicken.’

  ‘You’re not to do anything for a few days except rest and get better. If that cough gets any worse, I’ll be having a chat to your GP. You might need some antibiotics.’

  ‘I’ll be fine. I can’t have been eating enough garlic, that’s what it is.’

  ‘Maybe you should stop swimming when the weather isn’t so good. I saw you out in the rain the other day.’

  Ivy snorted. ‘You know as well as I do that the weather doesn’t cause a viral infection.’

  ‘Getting cold lowers your resistance.’

  Ivy flapped a hand in his direction. ‘I’ll stop swimming when I’m dead, thanks very much, and who knows how far away that is? I intend to make the most of every day I’ve got.’

  ‘Don’t say that.’ Zac frowned. ‘I expect you to be around for a long time yet.’

  Ivy’s smile was unusually gentle. ‘Nobody lives for ever, darling.’

  Zac smiled back and took hold of one of her hands. When had her skin started to feel so papery and fragile? An internal alarm was sounding faintly. This was what it was like when you had somebody who was this important to you. You had to live with the fear of losing them. His gran was all the more precious because of that knowledge he’d come by too early in life.

  ‘You could try.’ There was a tight feeling in his throat. ‘You’re my touchstone, Gravy. I don’t even want to think about what life will be like when you’re not around.’

  ‘Maybe you’ve found a new touchstone.’ Ivy turned her hand over and gave his a squeeze. ‘Your little ray of summer sunshine.’

  ‘You wouldn’t have thought that the first time I met her. She’s not only tough. She can be quite fierce.’

  ‘Good.’ Ivy sipped her hot drink. ‘Being fierce is an attribute. Sometimes you have to fight in life to get through things. And it sounds like she’s had to get through more than her fair share. Not that she said much, but it sounded like her mum was the only family she had and she lost her when she was far too young.’

  ‘Mmm…’ He’d had the opportunity to ask more about her background when they’d been on the island but he’d held back. Boundaries were still being respected. On both sides? Was that a good thing—or another warning?

  ‘She’s got a heart of gold, that girl,’ Ivy said quietly. ‘And she loves you to bits.’

  ‘You think…?’

  ‘It’s obvious from where I’m standing. And I think you feel the same way.’

  Zac pushed his fingers through his hair. That would certainly explain why this felt so different. ‘Maybe…’

  ‘But?’

  ‘Who said there was a but?’

  ‘You only mess up your hair like that when you can’t decide something. You’ve been doing it since you were a little boy, Isaac. I always had to carry a comb whenever we went out anywhere.’

  ‘Hmm. It’s early days, I guess.’

  Ivy snorted. ‘Nonsense. When something’s right, it’s right. You should know by now.’

  ‘I don’t want to rush into anything.’

  ‘You’re already into it up to your eyebrows, from what I can see.’

  Zac couldn’t deny it. He’d never felt this way about any girl before but… Yes, there was a but…

  ‘Maybe it’s her independence that bothers me,’ he admitted. ‘How different she is. How many girls live by themselves on a boat? Ride a motorbike and kick ass in a job that would be too much for most people to cope with?’

  ‘Language, Isaac. Please.’

  ‘Sorry. But she’s amazing at what she does. She’s got this confidence that makes you think she’d cope with anything by herself. And yes, she probably did have to cope with too much when she was young. But would she want to fight to keep a relationship together if times got tough or would she just walk away and cope all by herself again?’

  Ivy sniffed. ‘Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black, Isaac Mitchell. How many relationships have you walked out on so far when they didn’t go the way you wanted them to? When they wanted more than you were ready to give? You’ve broken your share of hearts, you know.’

  ‘It wasn’t intentional.’

  ‘I know that.’ Ivy patted his hand. ‘And you were always very kind about it.’

  ‘I’ve just never found the person that makes me want to give everything I could to.’ But he had now, hadn’t he? The only thing stopping him was a fear of…what? Having his heart broken? Again?

  Ivy was giving him a look that said she understood. That she remembered the small boy whose world had crumbled when he’d lost his mother. But it was also a look that told him it was time to be brave enough to break his own rules. The ones about working hard and playing hard and guarding your heart. That she knew exactly who the person was. A look that suggested he was being just a little bit obtuse.

  Zac felt the need to defend himself. ‘You only got married once,’ he reminded her. ‘I’m cut from the same cloth. If I give everything, it’ll only happen once. I think if the trust it takes to do that gets broken, you never find it again. Never as much. So it has to be right.’

  Ivy’s gaze was misty. Was she remembering the love of her life, who’d sadly been taken before Zac was old enough to remember him?

  ‘Nothing’s ever perfect, darling. At some point you have to take a leap of faith and hope for the best. I hope you’ll be as lucky as I was. But don’t wait too long.’ She closed her eyes as she leaned her head back against a cushion. ‘I want to see you waiting for your bride at the end of the aisle. I want to throw confetti and drink a wee bit too much champagne and be disgracefully tipsy by the end of the reception.’ She opened her eyes again and the expression in them gave Zac that tight feeling in his throat again. This time it felt like a rock with sharp edges.

  ‘I want to know that you’ll be living here in this house and there’ll be babies playing in the garden and building sandcastles on the beach. Dogs tracking sand into the house and maybe a paddleboard or two propped up against that dusty old boatshed.’

  Zac found his own eyes closing for a long blink. He could almost see it himself.

  And it looked…perfect.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THE MORE TIME he spent with Summer, the more Zac could see that picture of a perfect future.

  ‘D’you think
you’ll always want to live on a boat?’ The query was casual. They were restocking gear during a quiet spell one afternoon.

  ‘No way. I had no idea I’d be doing it for this long.’ Summer turned to look at the pouch Zac was filling. ‘Have you got plenty of size eight cuffed tracheal tubes in there?’

  ‘Three. That’s enough, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes. Make sure we’ve got sizes three, four and five of the laryngeal mask airways, too. And we’ll do the paediatric airway kit next.’

  ‘Sure.’ Zac checked the size printed on the sterile packages for the LMAs. ‘So how long did you think you’d live on a boat, then?’

  ‘As long as it took to save up a house deposit.’ She snapped a laryngoscope handle into place to check the light and then folded it closed again. ‘I was looking for a share flat when I moved up from Hamilton but then I heard about the boat and it was cheaper. I didn’t expect house prices to go so crazy, though. It feels like I’m getting further and further away. And living on the boat’s not helping.’

  ‘Even if it’s cheaper?’

  ‘I’m getting spoiled. I can’t imagine living far from a beach now and they’re always the pricier suburbs.’

  ‘I know. My grandparents had no idea what a good investment they were making when they bought a rundown old house on the beach nearly sixty years ago.’

  ‘It’s a perfect house.’

  Zac opened the paediatric airway kit. He ran his gaze over the shiny laryngoscope blades and handles, the Magill forceps and the range of tracheal tubes and LMAs. There didn’t seem to be anything missing from the slots. He checked the pocket that held the tiniest airways that could be needed in resuscitating a newborn baby and sent out a silent prayer that they wouldn’t be needing to use any of them any time soon.

  A quick glance at Summer took in the way she was sitting cross-legged on the storeroom floor. She had another kit open on her lap—the serious airway gear that made things like scalpels and tracheal dilators available when all else failed.

  Her words still echoed in the back of his head.

  The house that he would inherit one day was perfect. Like the life that Ivy had imagined him living in it one day.

  He’d always loved the house but how much better was it on the nights that Summer and Flint stayed over? When they could all go out at first light and run on the beach or brave the cold water for an early morning wake-up swim?

  It was like his job. Perfect but so much better when he got to share it with Summer. The bonus of seeing the crew in their orange flight suits arrive to hand over a patient when he was on a shift in Emergency always added something special to his day. Days like today, when he was actually working on the rescue base as her crew partner, were the best of all.

  Ivy’s warning of not waiting too long had been surfacing more and more in recent days.

  He was coasting. Enjoying each day as it came. Trusting that it would continue for as long as they both wanted it to. Trusting that it was safe to give more and more because it could become stronger and potentially last for the rest of his life.

  And there was the rub. He might be confident that Summer felt the same way he did but he couldn’t be sure until he heard her say it out loud. And maybe she was waiting for him to say something first? Something else Ivy had said had struck home. He was the pot calling the kettle black. Maybe he and Summer were more alike than he’d realised. They both had the kind of skills that came from putting so much effort into their work. They chose leisure activities like ocean sports and riding powerful bikes that meant they could play as hard as they worked. Perhaps Summer’s fierce independence came from self-protection and it would take something extraordinary to persuade her to remove the barriers that were protecting her heart?

  But what they had found together was extraordinary, wasn’t it? Surely he couldn’t be the only one feeling like this?

  The buzzing of their pagers broke the silence. Kits were rolled up and stuffed back into the pack with swift movements. They were both on their feet within seconds. Strapped into their seats in the helicopter within minutes. Heading west.

  ‘Piha Beach,’ Monty confirmed. ‘ETA ten minutes.’

  ‘I’ve been there for near-drownings,’ Summer said. ‘And falls from the rocks. I can’t believe someone’s been attacked by a shark.’

  ‘We’re being followed,’ Monty told them. ‘Reckon you’ll both be starring on the national news tonight.’

  Zac knew he would recognise the landmarks below with ease. Lion Rock was famous. Lying forty kilometres west of the city, Piha was the most famous surf beach in the country.

  ‘I used to surf at Piha when I was a kid,’ he told Summer. ‘When I got my first wheels when I was seventeen, I chose an old Combi van and me and my mates were in heaven. We’d load up the boards and wetsuits before dawn and we’d get home, sunburned and completely exhausted, well after dark. There was always a big roast dinner on offer when we got back. It was no wonder I was so popular at school.’

  The look he was getting from Summer suggested that there were other reasons he might have been popular. Her gaze held his with a tenderness that made something ache deep in his chest and her smile made it feel like whatever it was had just split open to release some kind of hitherto untried drug.

  Love. That was what it was, all right.

  Summer did feel the same way he did—he was sure of it. And he’d never loved anyone this much. Never would ever again. It was time he did something about making sure he never lost it. For both their sakes, he needed to be brave and be the first one to take those barriers away. To put his heart on the line.

  The first chance he got—tonight—he was going to tell Summer how he felt. Maybe even ask her to move in with him.

  Marry him…?

  Whoa…where had that notion come from? And now that it was here, it was the weirdest thought ever—maybe because it felt so right. The knowledge was fleeting, however. It couldn’t claim even another second of headspace as the distinctive shape of Lion Rock—the formation that separated the two beaches at Piha—loomed larger.

  Zac could see the knot of people on the beach below, including the red and yellow uniforms of the lifeguards, and many more were watching from a distance. Several bystanders were waving their arms, urging the rescue crew to land as quickly as possible. There was nobody in the water, surfing or swimming. It could be a while before this popular beach could be deemed safe, despite a shark attack in New Zealand being an extraordinarily rare occurrence.

  One of the lifeguards met them as they raced from the helicopter over the firm sand they’d been able to land on.

  ‘We’ve got the bleeding under control with a pressure bandage but he’s lost a lot of blood. And his leg’s a real mess, man… I hope he’s not going to lose it.’

  ‘Is he conscious?’ The priority was keeping this patient alive, not discussing a potential prognosis. It sounded like preservation of blood volume was likely to be the key management, along with as swift a transfer to hospital as possible.

  ‘He swam in himself with his board, yelling for help, but he was barely conscious by the time we got him onto the beach. We’ve got oxygen on and put some blankets over him to try and keep him warm and he’s woken up a bit. He’s in a lot of pain.’

  The knot of people—including a skinny lad gripping a surfboard that had obvious tooth marks and a chunk bitten out of its end—parted to let Zac and Summer into the centre and place their packs on the sand. Summer immediately dropped to her knees to open the pack and start extracting gear they would need, like a blood pressure cuff and IV supplies. She reached for the man’s wrist as Zac crouched by the patient’s head.

  ‘No radial pulse palpable,’ she said.

  The man looked to be in his early fifties and he was deathly pale but breathing well and Zac could feel a rapid pulse beneath his fingers from the carotid artery in his neck. It was a lot fainter than he would have liked and if it wasn’t reaching his wrist it meant that his blood pressure was
already dangerously low. Hypovolaemic shock was a life-threatening emergency and they might have to fight to keep this man alive. From the corner of his eye, Zac could see Summer unrolling the IV kit. She would be putting a tourniquet on and aiming to get a cannula in and IV fluids running as quickly as she could.

  ‘Hey, buddy.’ Zac shook the man’s shoulder. ‘Can you open your eyes for me?’ Response to voice was a good indication of level of consciousness and he was relieved to see the man’s eyelids flutter open and get a groan of verbal response.

  Zac glanced up at the onlookers. ‘Does anyone know his name?’

  An affirmative chorus sounded from all sides.

  ‘It’s Jon,’ one of the lifeguards told him. ‘He’s one of us—a Patrol Captain.’

  ‘Jon Pearson,’ someone else called. ‘He’s fifty-two. Lives locally.’

  Pearson?

  Startled, Zac’s gaze swerved towards Summer and—just for a heartbeat—his focus was broken by regretting not taking that opportunity he’d had to find out more about her background. He really needed to know more than he did right now.

  What little information he had flashed through his brain with astonishing speed. Her parents had been hippies. She’d been conceived on a beach in the wake of a surfing competition. She had no siblings. Her mother had died when she was seventeen and her father was already ‘well out of the picture’. Her parents had not been ‘a shining example’ of something to follow as far as relationships went. What had she meant by that? Dear God…had there been violence involved? Had she had to cope with the same sort of fear in her childhood as he had?

  More importantly in this moment, however, if this man was Summer’s father—and that seemed quite likely given that he was a surfer—how was she coping, seeing him for the first time in so many years, let alone in a life-threatening emergency? Having to treat him? It was a paramedic’s worst nightmare, having to treat a loved one. How much harder could it be if the relationship was complicated and emotionally distressing anyway?