‘Yes.’ Shelley raised her head and she was smiling sweetly, her gaze fixed on Zac. ‘That’s his daddy. Zac. Dr Mitchell.’
It wasn’t just Summer’s brain that was frozen now. The whole world seemed to have stopped spinning.
‘Oh, my God…’ The packages containing the cannula and swabs dropped from Mandy’s hands.
Rob’s jaw dropped.
‘Oh…no…’ Kate buried her face in her hands.
Zac simply stared at Shelley, his face utterly blank and immobile.
Shelley smiled back at him, the Madonna-like expression completely out of place given that she was holding her badly injured child.
And then, as if given a director’s cue, everybody turned to look at Felix. Still pale and limp, he looked back at all these strangers with those big dark eyes. From a perfect little face that was framed by soft dark curls.
The heads turned again, as if at some bizarre tennis match, to look at Zac.
There was no denying that it seemed quite possible he was Zac’s child.
Zac’s voice was as expressionless as his face. ‘I am not his father.’
Mandy made an odd sound as she stooped to collect the packaging. ‘But…I remember now. Shelley was always bringing you stuff. Cakes. Even flowers…and…’ She straightened and looked at Felix again, her words trailing into silence.
Doubt hung in the air. As palpable as thick smoke.
Summer stared at Zac. The numb part of her brain was coming back to life. Painfully. She had had those doubts herself but she had dismissed them on nothing more than Zac’s word. On instinct. But her instincts weren’t always to be trusted, were they?
She’d believed Shelley when she’d first proclaimed the paternity of the baby she was pregnant with and she’d been wrong about that. She’d believed her mother when she’d said that no man could be trusted and that love wasn’t enough. That what had gone wrong in her life was her father’s fault. She’d been wrong about that too and look at how much damage trusting her instincts had already done.
All she needed now was the reassurance that she was right to trust Zac.
To love him…
But she couldn’t see anything. He could have been looking at Rob or Mandy or Kate. Possibly even Shelley. There was nothing there for her to read and, just for a dreadful moment, fear kicked in. A dreadful certainty that there was something he hadn’t told her.
What if he was hiding the real truth?
And then something happened that forced an abrupt break to that desperate eye contact.
Felix screamed—a tortured sound that gave way to broken sobbing.
Rob spoke briefly to Zac and then gave Mandy a curt nod and took a tourniquet from her hand. It was past time they got some pain relief on board for this little boy.
Shelley burst into tears as well. ‘I didn’t mean it,’ she sobbed. ‘It just happened…’
Kate moved to touch her sister. ‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘We’re going to look after you. And Felix.’
More people arrived in the resus area. The paediatric orthopaedic consultant, who had two registrars with her. Another nurse, who was carrying a paediatric traction splint, and an older woman who didn’t have a stethoscope around her neck. The psyche consultant, perhaps? Or someone from Social Services?
Zac was edged further back in the room and Summer couldn’t catch his gaze again.
She didn’t need that reassurance, did she? This was Zac and of course she believed him. Shelley was crazy. She wanted to say something but the noise level in the room was rising and the moment had long gone. X-ray technicians were getting ready to use the overhead equipment. Tubes of blood were being handed to a junior nurse. An IV line was in place and medication had been administered. Felix, thankfully, was now sedated and peacefully asleep.
Stuck in a corner behind Kate at the head of the bed, Summer couldn’t even move without disrupting something that was far more important than her need to talk to Zac.
‘Do you need blood on standby?’ One of the ED registrars was by Rob’s shoulder as he was getting the splint ready to go on the small twisted leg. Summer had been asked to provide support when they were ready to fasten the Velcro straps and put the traction on to straighten the leg.
‘Yes, please. Just in case. Have we got the type and cross match back already?’
‘Yes. And it’s good that we checked. He’s AB negative.’
Summer’s brain raced. AB negative was the rarest blood group there was. And she was pretty sure that the parents had to have the blood groups of A, B or AB.
‘That means that someone who’s an O couldn’t be his father, doesn’t it?’
Rob nodded. ‘You ready?’
‘Yes.’ Summer lifted Felix’s foot, keeping one hand under the calf. The splint was slipped into place and Rob began to fasten the straps. ‘Zac’s an O.’
The look Rob gave her was scathing. ‘You didn’t really think he was lying, did you?’
‘No. Of course not. But this proves it…’ But Summer could feel the colour flooding her cheeks.
She’d meant that it was proof for Shelley’s family. For the psychiatrist. But she’d made it sound as if she had needed the proof. And she hadn’t. But Rob didn’t believe that. What if Zac didn’t believe it, either? She would never be able to erase that last time their eyes had met. When she’d bought into that collective doubt for just a moment in time because she was so sure there was something he hadn’t told her. A moment that could potentially have been long enough to destroy the trust they had built between them. Possibly irreparably. And she couldn’t blame him entirely if it did.
She had to get out of here. She had to find Zac.
‘I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go,’ she told Kate. ‘I’ll be back later.’
Pushing her way out of the resus room, Summer scanned the emergency department. An ambulance crew she recognised were handing over a patient at triage. Orderlies were pushing patients in beds or wheelchairs. A nurse was wheeling a twelve lead ECG machine into a cubicle. A group of doctors were standing around a computer screen looking at the results of an MRI scan. There were people everywhere but no sign of Zac.
She went to his office. It was empty, but there, on the corner of his desk, was a mobile phone. Dylan’s phone. The reason they’d come down here in the first place. The reason they’d had those brief moments in the lift when he’d kissed her with all the pent-up passion of not having been able to make love to her for days now.
And superimposed on those thoughts was the image of Zac’s face and the way he’d looked at her that last time. As if he didn’t even recognise who she was.
Oh…God… was it possible that that kiss in the lift was the last one she would ever receive from him?
Summer clutched Dylan’s phone.
She could ring Zac. Or text him.
And say what? That the blood results were back and now everyone believed him? With the unspoken assumption that that ‘everyone’ included her?
No. This was too big for a message that could be misinterpreted in any way. Too big for communication that couldn’t include body language or touch, even.
In the moment of indecisiveness, the phone in her hand began to ring. For a heartbeat, the wild hope that it might be Zac brought the sting of relieved tears to her eyes.
‘Is that you, love?’
‘Oh…Dad…’
‘Dylan wanted to check that you’d found his phone.’
‘Um…yes…’
‘I need you to take him home. To collect his things. We’ve had a talk and I’ve got friends coming to collect him this evening.’
‘Okay…I’m on my way. Just give me a minute or two, yes?’
She had to go back to the resus room first. Rob was amongst the team members who were standing back as a series of X-rays were being taken.
‘Rob?’ Summer tried to catch his attention discreetly. ‘Do you know where Zac is?’
‘I told him to go home early. To get himself away f
rom this until it’s sorted.’ Rob’s gaze was on Shelley, who was now flanked by two security guards and well away from her son. He shook his head. ‘It’s always so much worse when there are kids involved in this kind of crisis.’
Indeed it was. And now Summer had a child involved in what felt like a personal crisis of her own. She raced back to her father’s ward. Dylan made no protest about being bundled into his jacket and helmet for the ride home and it took all of Summer’s focus to cope with the traffic and blustery conditions as she rode over the exposed harbour bridge. Rain wasn’t far off now and it could well be accompanied by a thunderstorm by the look of the turbulent sky.
Dylan ignored Flint when they arrived at the boat, which should have been a warning sign, but Summer had too much else on her mind.
‘I’ve got to go and see Zac—just for a minute,’ she told Dylan. ‘I’m sure he’ll want to see you before you go tonight.’
His look was as scathing as the one Rob had given her not so long ago but she couldn’t explain why she had to see Zac face to face instead of ringing him. Or to try and reassure him that Zac didn’t want him out of the way and not interfering with his life any more than she did. She wouldn’t know where to begin, trying to explain any of it to a young boy, and there simply wasn’t the time.
‘It’ll take fifteen minutes. Twenty, tops. You pack up your stuff and, as soon as I get back, I’ll take you back to the hospital so your friends can collect you.’
‘Fine.’ Dylan turned away from her, the word a dismissal.
It was only a few minutes’ ride away but the lower level of Ivy’s house had an empty feel to it. Summer kept knocking on the door but the sinking feeling got stronger. Nobody was there to answer it.
A voice came from the balcony above, though.
‘Is that you, Summer?’
‘Yes.’ She stepped back until she could see Ivy peering over the railing. ‘I’m looking for Zac.’
‘He’s not home yet. Come inside and wait for him. This weather’s getting dreadful.’
‘I can’t. I’ve got to get back to Dylan. If you see him…can you tell him I’m looking for him?’
‘Of course.’ Ivy pushed wind-whipped strands of hair back from her face. ‘Is everything all right, darling?’
Again, Summer had no idea where to begin. She could only nod, emphatically enough to try and reassure herself. If nothing else, the action had the bonus of holding back tears.
If Zac wasn’t home by the time she’d taken Dylan back to the hospital and returned, then she would tell Ivy everything. Surely this amazing woman was old and wise enough to be able to tell her how to fix something that seemed to be more and more broken with every passing minute.
It had probably been a little more than twenty minutes when Summer eased her bike into the stand at the marina. She hurried down the jetty to the mooring. Past all the yachts she knew almost as well as Mermaid, all of them bobbing on an increasingly disturbed bed of water. Most were empty, waiting for their owners to have some spare time at the weekend. A few, like hers, had people living in them.
Clive was the closest marina neighbour and he was the friend who could look after Flint if she was ever caught out on a job.
He was out on his deck right now, tying things down in preparation for the coming storm. He stopped what he was doing and stared at her, a rope dangling from his hands.
‘Summer! What on earth are you doing here?’
The odd query stopped her in her tracks. Why wouldn’t she be here, on her way to her home?
‘I saw you going out. Fifteen or so minutes ago. Thought you must be getting the boat out of the water or something.’
‘What?’
Summer started running, her boots thumping on the wooden boards of the jetty. She got to the point where Flint was usually sitting to await her return. Beside the bollards that her ropes were always curled around to anchor the boat.
There was nothing there. Just an empty space—the water dark and rippled.
Summer looked out at the harbour. It was already darker than it should be for this time of day. There were plenty of small yachts anchored away from the marina and they were all moving in the wind and the roll of the sea so it took a minute to make sure that none of the movement was as purposeful as it would be if there was anybody on board.
If there was a motor running.
She couldn’t see Mermaid anywhere.
Dylan had taken her. With Flint on board.
He’d run away.
Thank goodness her brain didn’t freeze this time. Summer knew exactly what she had to do. She pulled her phone out and made two calls.
The first was to the coastguard to raise the alarm.
The second was to Zac.
‘Summer?’ His tone was wary. Had he been reluctant to even answer her call?
‘Zac…where are you?’
‘I’m at the rescue base. I came in to have a chat to Graham.’
About giving up being a HEMS member, perhaps, so that he didn’t have to work with her any more? The thought intruded even if it was completely irrelevant right now—fear for others was overwhelming any fear for herself.
‘Dylan’s gone. He’s taken Mermaid.’
‘No way… How?’
‘I showed him how to start the motor last night. And I…’ Summer squeezed her eyes shut. This was all her fault. She’d taught Dylan how to make the boat move and then she’d left him alone long enough to give him a head start. She’d known he was upset and that was her fault, too. He’d overheard the tail end of the conversation she’d had with their father and he had only been beginning to be ready to share the most important person in his life with the girl who’d been so mean to him for so long.
‘There’s not much petrol,’ she added desperately. ‘He could be drifting by now. He doesn’t know how to use the radio and he’s got Flint on board as well and…’ Her voice caught in a strangled sob.
Zac’s voice was calm in her ear. Any wariness had vanished. ‘Have you called the coastguard?’
‘Yes. Of course.’
‘There’ll probably be a call coming in here soon, then. Monty’s on base. I’ll ask him whether it’s possible to go out in this weather. How soon can you get here?’
Summer was already running back towards her bike. ‘I’m on my way.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
AS A DOCTOR, Zac Mitchell knew that a heart couldn’t actually break.
As a man, he knew that that was exactly what happened to his heart the moment he saw Summer arrive at the rescue base.
One look into her eyes and he could feel it happening with a pain like no other he had ever experienced.
Of course she was afraid. Her young brother and her beloved dog were out there on an unforgiving sea in a small boat in a breaking storm but—as he held the eye contact for a heartbeat longer—he could see another layer to that fear.
Summer could feel the distance between them.
And she knew why it was there.
She had doubted him. He might love her more than he thought it was possible to love anyone, but how could he commit to spending his lifetime with someone who had doubted him—about that—even if it had only been for an instant?
But right now that didn’t matter.
What mattered was that Summer needed him and he could be here for her a hundred per cent, even if it would be for the very last time.
He closed the physical distance between them with a couple of long strides and then he gathered her into his arms and held her close enough to feel his heart beating against her small body.
‘We’ll get through this,’ he promised. ‘Together.’
The hug was a brief one. They weren’t alone, even though most of the day’s crew had gone home.
Graham’s face was grim. ‘The coastguard’s boat has been tied up with an incident out on Waiheke Island. They’re on their way but conditions are worsening and the light’s fading fast.’
‘We’ve got to find them
.’ Summer’s face was white. ‘What if they drift into a shipping lane? With no lights?’
The thought of what would happen to a small boat, unseen by a container or cruise ship, was horrific.
Monty looked away from the weather maps and rain radar he had on the computer screen in front of him. ‘We’ll take the chopper up. Turn on the sun.’
Graham shook his head. ‘It’s getting marginal for flying.’
Monty’s chair scraped on the floor. ‘We’d better get on with it, then.’
Summer raced to her locker to grab her gear. Zac was right behind her.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ she told him. ‘I would never ask you to put yourself in danger for my sake.’
Zac could only meet her gaze for a moment. ‘You would never have to ask,’ he said. ‘And I’m coming. End of story.’
Every minute that passed was a minute too long.
It took time to scramble into the gear they needed for an offshore rescue mission like this. A titanium under-vest and Poly-Lycra under-suit and then the specially designed wetsuit. The lifejacket came equipped with a range of accessories like a strobe light and mini flare, a whistle and a knife and even survival rations.
They strapped themselves into winching harnesses even though they knew how unlikely it was that it would be safe to be winched onto a moving target like a boat in this kind of weather. It took more time for Monty to complete pre-flight checks and get them airborne. And then minute after minute flicked past as they circled the inner harbour, working out from the marina where the Mermaid had been moored.
There was no sign of any small craft, including the coastguard vessel. Even the larger ferries were on the point of suspending services and the only people going near their yachts were those who were trying to make them more secure as the storm bore down on the city. The flash of lightning on the horizon heralded the first squall of rain that obscured visibility enough to make Monty curse.
‘We’ll have to abort if this keeps up.’ But there was no indication that the pilot had any intention of calling it quits yet and Summer knew that this was the kind of challenge that Monty thrived on. He’d keep them as safe as possible but would also take them right to the edge if that was what was needed to save a life.
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