by Joanna Neil
‘Okay.’ Jessie seemed doubtful. She clearly wanted the chance to be with Ross and maybe talk to him about what was on her mind.
‘We can be back in half an hour,’ Josh promised, giving Jessie an encouraging smile. ‘Ross can put our names down for first dibs with the horses. Like he says, it should be fun.’
Jessie nodded, and they walked away towards the field where the stalls were set out. Katie glanced at Ross as they, too, left the waterside and headed over to the table where the raffle prizes were set out.
‘I’m worried about Jessie,’ she said softly. ‘She’s not been herself lately. It’s as though there’s something on her mind. I get the feeling she wants to talk to you.’
‘Do you think so? It’s true we didn’t get the chance to talk much this morning. There were a lot of people around.’ He frowned. “Do you have any idea what the problem might be?’
‘Not really.’ She wasn’t going to tell him about her fears. Whatever Jessie had to say to him was between the two of them, and perhaps she would find out later when they had sorted it out. Whatever the outcome, she only hoped it wouldn’t cause a rift between Jessie and herself.
A crowd gathered around a few minutes later as Ross alerted everyone to the drawing of the raffle, and when he had given out the main prizes—a digital radio, a food hamper and a bottle of wine—he announced that the horse-riding sessions were open to those who wanted to book them. ‘The animals are all used to being ridden,’ he said. ‘They’re quite docile.’
There were more than a dozen horses in all, including several ponies suitable for children to ride. ‘We have instructors on hand to help people who are inexperienced,’ he said, ‘and those riding sessions will take place on the field. But if you’re used to riding, you can take the country-lane route. There will be experienced riders on hand to supervise.’
Josh and Jessie came to join them by the gate where the horses were assembled, and a girl came forward to tell them about the route they would take. ‘Someone will ride along with you to make sure all is well,’ she said, but Katie told her that wouldn’t be necessary.
‘My sister and I are used to these horses. I’m sure we’ll be fine.’
Jessie seemed a bit more relaxed now, and Josh was smiling, so she guessed things had gone reasonably well for them and he had somehow managed to coax her out of her sombre mood.
Josh went to pick out his horse, and it looked as though Ross had made up his mind to take advantage of his temporary absence. He went over to Jessie and took her to one side, his expression serious, and Katie felt the breath become stifled in her lungs. They moved away from her and talked quietly for a few minutes, and even though she couldn’t hear what they were saying, Katie felt awkward, worried about her sister’s well-being.
Frowning, she busied herself by going over to her horse and stroking him, and generally trying to put him at ease. She talked to Josh about his mount, a beautiful stallion, an Arabian chestnut. All the while it bothered her that Ross and Jessie were still talking, and Jessie’s expression was increasingly tense.
‘There are signs along the lane warning road users to take care while there are riders about,’ the instructor said after a while, ‘but usually there is very little traffic in this area. People coming to or from the pub mostly take a different road. Take care, anyway, and make sure you ride in single file.’
After a few minutes they set off, kitted out with hard hats loaned to them by the stables, and they let their horses find a gentle pace that suited their country-park surroundings. Josh and Jessie were in front, and Ross brought up the rear.
They passed wild blackberry brambles that were ripe with fruit, and Katie commented it was a pity she and Jessie hadn’t thought to bring baskets with them. ‘We could have made half a dozen apple and blackberry pies and stocked them in the freezer.’
‘Sounds like heaven to me,’ Ross murmured. ‘Blackberry pie with ice cream, blackberry pie with custard, blackberry pie with fresh cream...’
‘I think we get the idea,’ Jessie said. ‘You can come over to my house and have supper one day. I’ll make a pie especially for you.’
‘Don’t I get an invite as well?’ Josh asked in a plaintive tone. ‘I’m partial to apple and blackberry pie, too, you know.’
‘Hmm. I’ll think about it,’ Jessie commented.
‘Is it that difficult for you to decide?’ Josh grumbled, teasingly. ‘You owe me, anyway. Who was it who put your builders straight the other day?’
‘Oh, well...in that case...’
They ambled along the lane, chatting about this and that, taking in the fresh, country air and absorbing the beauty of the hills and valleys all around. Jessie was subdued, but it was obvious she was trying to join in with the generally laid-back spirit of the occasion.
Katie began to cheer up as Ross talked to her about the familiar landscape, pointing out features that he’d missed through all his years away from the island.
‘Do you remember that weir?’ he asked, and she nodded, smiling at the memory.
‘We used to stand on the bridge and race small sticks in the water. They were happy times.’
‘They were.’
They stopped for a while in a lay-by next to a large wooden gate so that they could drink in the view across a meadow covered with wild flowers and take in the smooth expanse of a distant loch. The girls stayed close by the gate while Ross drew his horse into the shade of the hedgerow, where a silver birch vied for space with hawthorn and alder.
Ross leaned closer to Katie. ‘Look,’ he whispered, his head next to hers so that his cheek briefly brushed hers, ‘there’s a grouse hiding in the heather. Do you see his reddish head?’
Katie followed the direction of his gaze, trying to ignore the warm, contented feeling that surged inside her at his touch. ‘Oh, yes, I see him,’ she said in a low voice. ‘He’s so plump, isn’t he?’ She was fascinated, watching the bird, who stayed perfectly still in the undergrowth. He had a bill that was slightly hooked at the end, and he sat there, unblinking, watching them watching him. Then suddenly he rose up into the sky with a great flapping of his wings and eventually disappeared from view.
Katie turned to see if Jessie and Josh had seen him, too, but as she twisted around in her saddle she heard the noise of an engine and caught sight of a car coming round a bend and along the lane towards them.
Music was blaring from its radio, getting louder as it grew nearer, and Josh’s horse was clearly spooked by it. He began to move restlessly. When the car passed them, the sound was deafening, and Katie’s expression turned to one of horror as the horse reared in panic.
Josh tried to calm his mount but it was all in vain. No matter how hard he tried, there was no stopping him. Ross acted quickly, catching hold of the reins in an attempt to restrain the frightened horse, but it was already too late. The animal bucked and twisted, throwing Josh off his back and into the air.
Jessie looked on in shock. ‘Oh, no, Josh.’ She gasped as he hit the ground, sprawling partly into the hedge and over the dry, grassy ditch. ‘No, no...this can’t be happening.’
They all dismounted and hurried to see if Josh was all right. Jessie knelt down beside him while Katie checked his breathing and circulation and Ross tried to bring the horses under control. They were all agitated now, whinnying, their nostrils flaring, tails swishing. Ross spoke quietly, stroking Josh’s mount, gently soothing him, and then he tethered three of the horses to the gate.
‘He’s unconscious,’ Katie said anxiously, looking to see how badly Josh was injured. ‘He must have banged his head on a branch when he fell. I think the hat would have protected him to some extent, though.’ She pulled open his shirt so that she could monitor the rhythm of his breathing, and when she’d finished, she looked up at Ross. ‘I think it’s a flail chest injury,’ she said. ‘I’m afraid a rib might hav
e punctured his lung.’
‘Ring for an ambulance,’ he told her. ‘I’ll go back to the pub and get my medical kit. We haven’t come far, and with any luck I should be back here before the paramedics arrive.’
‘Okay.’ She nodded, anxious about their injured friend, desperately hoping that they could help him to breathe more comfortably and restore him to consciousness.
Ross spurred his horse to a gallop and soon disappeared from view. Jessie said unhappily, ‘What does it mean, Katie? What’s a flail chest? Why won’t he wake up?’
Katie finished making the emergency call. ‘It means a segment of his ribs has broken away from the chest wall and is moving independently,’ she explained. ‘The broken section is stopping his chest from expanding properly. And at the moment it’s worse because it looks as though a rib has punctured the lining around the lung. Air or blood may have entered there and that will put even more pressure on it and prevent him from breathing.’
Jessie gave a small sob, her face pale and tearstained. After a moment or two, though, Josh’s eyelids began to flicker, and then he said breathlessly, ‘What’s happening?’ He tried to move, and gave a sharp moan as pain coursed through him.
‘Try to stay still, Josh,’ Katie said, thankful that he had regained consciousness but afraid that he might hurt himself even more. ‘We’re going to take care of you.’
Jessie held his hand between hers. ‘You’ll be all right,’ she told him. ‘You had a fall, but the ambulance is on its way, and we’re going to get you to hospital.’
He tried to move his head to see where he was. ‘Am I...in a...ditch?’ he asked haltingly, gasping for breath.
‘Yes, sort of, but don’t worry about that. We’ll get you out.’ Jessie lifted his hand to her cheek, holding onto him as though she was afraid to let him go. ‘I’m so sorry this has happened to you,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry I was mean to you. You know I was only teasing, don’t you?’
Josh gave a wan smile. ‘Is this...what it takes...to get you to notice me?’ He closed his eyes, struggling for breath, and Katie moved in to check his pulse. It was fast and erratic, and she was very much afraid he was going into shock. If only Ross would come back with the equipment they needed—she felt so helpless like this.
A moment later she heard the sound of a car heading towards them from the direction of the pub, and relief washed over her when she saw that it was Ross who was driving. He had with him three of the girls who had been supervising the riding sessions.
‘They’re going to ride the horses back to the field,’ he told Katie.
‘That’s good.’ They handed over their riding hats and the girls quickly led the horses away.
Ross went over to Josh. ‘Hey, there,’ he murmured, kneeling down beside him. ‘I’m glad you’re back with us. I knew your skull was too thick to be badly damaged.’
Josh gave a weak smile, but he was obviously in great pain and closed his eyes once more.
Ross opened up his medical kit. ‘Do you think you could hold the oxygen mask in place, Jessie?’ he said, and she nodded, eager to help in any way she could.
‘Josh, I know you’re in a lot of pain,’ Ross said. ‘We’ll give you something to help with that. I’m also going to put a tube in your chest to relieve the pressure on your lung. I’ll use a local anaesthetic, so that will make the procedure more comfortable for you. Are you okay with that?’
‘Fine,’ Josh muttered, clearly in too much discomfort to really care how it was done. ‘Do what you have to.’
Katie began to swab the area with antiseptic in preparation, and when she had finished, Ross started the process of inserting a chest tube. They glanced at one another. She could see he was worried about Josh, and filled with regret that a day that had started out with such promise had turned out so badly in the end. For herself, she was anguished that their friend was in such a bad way.
While Ross worked, Katie prepared the drainage bottle that would act as a seal, allowing air and blood to drain away into water but preventing its re-entry into the chest.
‘That seems to be in place properly,’ Ross said, after a while. ‘It looks as though it’s draining freely.’ He looked at Josh. ‘How are you doing?’
‘That feels much better, thanks.’
‘Good. Once you get to hospital, they’ll probably do a CT scan to find out what’s going on in your chest and to check that the chest tube is in the right place. They’ll keep you in for a few days and give you painkillers.’
Katie helped him to clear away the equipment while Jessie talked to Josh and tried to bolster his spirits. He was still in the same position where he had fallen, but when the paramedics arrived a couple of minutes later, they all helped to get him on to a stretcher.
‘I’ll go with him in the ambulance,’ Jessie said, as she and Katie stood to one side while the men transferred Josh to the vehicle. ‘I feel terrible about what’s happened. I never realised I could react this way. Josh has always been there, our friend, through all these years, and it’s awful to see him hurt.’
‘I know,’ Katie said, putting an arm around her sister. ‘We all feel the same way. We’ve been friends for such a long time.’
Jessie wiped away her tears and looked at Katie. ‘I was amazed, watching you and Ross work on him. You were a team—you worked together so well, knowing what to do, what the other needed, without having to say anything.’
Katie smiled. ‘It’s what we’re trained for,’ she said softly, but Jessie shook her head.
‘It’s more than that, I think. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but everything went so smoothly, as though you were interpreting each other’s thoughts.’
‘Well, that happens, too,’ Katie murmured. But Jessie was right, she reflected. She’d known what Ross had been thinking as he’d treated Josh, and it was more than possible he’d had the same experience with her.
Ross went over to the ambulance as Jessie prepared to leave a minute or so later. ‘Try not to worry,’ he told her. ‘They’ll take good care of him at the hospital.’
Jessie nodded, but her brave attempt to remain calm crumbled, and she leaned towards Ross, tears falling anew down her cheeks. She rested her head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.
‘He’ll be all right, Jessie,’ he said. Then, as the ambulance driver started the engine, the sound of their voices was drowned out. Whatever Ross said to Jessie seemed to do the trick because she nodded and dashed away her tears and then appeared to pull herself together. She even gave a little smile.
The paramedic indicated that he was ready to go, and Jessie reluctantly eased herself away from Ross. ‘Thanks for taking care of him.’ Her voice was firm now, and clear. She glanced at Katie. ‘You, too, Katie.’
They watched the ambulance pull away, and then Katie and Ross walked to his car.
‘This wasn’t at all how I expected the day to end,’ Ross said quietly as he set the car in motion and followed the ambulance to the hospital.
‘No, it wasn’t for any of us. Jessie’s very upset.’
‘She’s had a nasty shock,’ Ross said, ‘and you have to bear in mind that she probably isn’t used to seeing people who are injured. We are, and it was still difficult for us.’
‘Still, she turned to you for comfort, and you were there for her.’ Her voice was flat, she realised, and she pulled herself together, adding, ‘I’d like to stay at the hospital for a while, to see how he’s doing. Once they’ve completed the X-rays and scans, and so on, we should generally have a better idea of what damage has been done.’
He nodded. ‘Perhaps we could go back to my place afterwards?’
She was surprised. ‘The house, you mean? I didn’t realise you’d moved in already.’
‘I moved in yesterday. It didn’t take long. Living at the pub, I didn�
��t have a great deal of furniture or stuff that needed to be transported. Most of the new items are coming along in dribs and drabs.’ He turned the car onto the main road. ‘It’ll give me a chance to talk to you.’
‘Oh, I see.’ Her voice faltered. She wanted to go with him, more than anything, but how could she go on seeing him when her sister was so troubled? It would be like pouring petrol on flames. She loved Ross, but how could she risk hurting Jessie? She said quietly, ‘Ross, I’ve had a chance to think things through. I...I don’t think it would be a good idea for you and me to be together any more, outside work.’
She heard the breath catch in his throat. ‘You’re not serious?’ Ross was stunned. ‘You can’t be. Katie, what’s this all about? What’s brought this on?’
‘I just feel it would be better that way. It’s too complicated for us to be together, there are too many things keeping us apart. You’re my boss...we both have trouble putting our faith in someone else...’ And in the end he wasn’t going to commit to a relationship with her, was he? Was it worth hurting Jessie for a dream that would never come true?
‘We can overcome all of those things,’ he said in a taut voice. ‘It just takes a bit of effort, the will to make things work out.’
She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, and her stomach was leaden. ‘I’ve made up my mind, Ross. It’s over. We can’t be together.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘HOW IS JOSH? Is there any news?’ Katie caught up with her sister in the hospital waiting room and handed her a cup of coffee. ‘It’s from the machine, but it might help to perk you up a bit.’
‘Thanks.’ Jessie put her hands around the polystyrene cup and took a sip of the hot liquid. ‘They’re giving him oxygen and he’s had a strong dose of painkillers so at least he’s not in any pain.’
‘That’s good. I’m sure he’ll come through this all right, Jessie. I know how worried you are about him, but he’ll make a successful recovery, I’m sure.’