‘He’s a good surgeon,’ Beth agreed cautiously. She pulled her sweatshirt off and reached into her locker for the dark blue tunic, hoping this wasn’t going to be another fishing expedition to gauge whether or not she was attracted to Luke. ‘I hear the girl’s been discharged from Wellington hospital already.’
Roz nodded again. ‘Apparently, she’s giving up her gang associations and going home. Being in hospital gave her mother a chance to see her for the first time in years.’
‘That’s a nice, happy ending. She’s been very lucky, having the chance to start again.’
‘Thanks to Luke.’ Roz was waiting for Beth to lace up the comfortable trainers she wore for work. ‘He could have been a cardiothoracic specialist by now—you know, working somewhere like the Mayo Clinic. We’re so lucky to have him here.’
The look Beth received implied that she had been lucky to have the opportunity to assist him so closely and it was too good an opening to pass up.
‘Really?’ Beth’s eyebrows rose. ‘What made him come and work in a place like Hereford, then?’
‘Something to do with his family, I think. I heard he had a sister who died a few years back.’
‘Oh?’ Beth’s response was genuinely surprised.
‘And he grew up here.’
Beth had not known that. For a horrible moment she wondered if he had told her and the information had been buried in her subconscious, ready to sabotage her after she’d chosen a new place to live. No. He’d talked of Nelson as his childhood stamping ground—a much larger town than Hereford but still not exciting enough for Luke. He hadn’t been able to wait to get away…and stay away. Working somewhere like the Mayo Clinic had been right up there on the career ambition list.
Beth shut her locker and then waited as Roz paused in front of the mirror to redo her ponytail and catch errant strands of her long hair.
Losing his only sibling—and a twin at that—would have been dreadful but did it explain the change for someone as determinedly ambitious as Luke had been? Especially when he had never talked about his family in more than general terms. Had he been that close to his sister?
Had it been her own influence that had prevented him sharing that aspect of his life? She had certainly avoided families as a topic of conversation because she’d had no desire to let her own family diminish the joy of being with Luke.
She had made the accusation that it had been Luke’s lack of knowledge about her that had caused the failure of their relationship, but how well had she actually known Luke?
Surely well enough to guess that the death of a family member wouldn’t have been enough to sway the whole direction of his life. There had to be more to it than that but Beth wasn’t about to appear too interested by asking questions. If Maureen and Chelsea had a running bet going, how many other staff members would have their antennae up?
Imagine if it got back to Luke that the newest staff member in Emergency appeared to fancy him? The thought was enough to make Beth cringe and she willingly accepted a new topic of conversation as she followed Roz into the department for the 6:45 a.m. staff changeover.
‘So, how are you finding work here?’
‘It’s great.’
‘Know your way around now?’
‘I’m getting a good handle on the emergency department but I’d still get lost pretty fast if I had to go much further afield.’
‘I’m supposed to keep an eye out for you today.’ Roz was smiling, apparently happy with the assignment. ‘If we get a quiet spell I’ll see if can take you on a tour.’
There was to be no quiet spell in the early part of the day. Beth was kept busy monitoring an 84-year-old woman from a local rest home who had a history of cardiac problems and was now developing pneumonia. She required blood tests and X-rays, fluids and antibiotics, and her family needed reassurance that she was getting the best possible care. It was nearly 9 a.m. by the time the elderly woman was transferred to the medical ward and Roz signalled Beth as she returned from accompanying her.
‘Would you mind taking the baby in cubicle 3? He’s been vomiting all night and I won’t be popular if I take a bug home to my boys.’
‘Sure.’ Beth collected the referral note from the GP. ‘How many boys have you got?’
‘Five. Six, if you count my husband, Gerry.’
‘You’re kidding!’
‘I wish I was sometimes.’
‘How on earth do you manage to find time to work here?’
‘I only did one night a week until my youngest, Toby, started school last year. Gerry’s very supportive.’
‘Five kids!’ Beth shook her head, as she moved away. ‘That’s a big family these days.’
‘The first one wasn’t exactly planned.’ Roz grinned. ‘But we figured that since we’d started we might as well carry on. We kept hoping to get a girl eventually.’
‘You’re not…’ Beth stopped speaking as she realised that the question was rather personal, but Roz laughed.
‘No. We’re not still trying. Have you got any idea what it’s like, living with six men? I may as well just nail the toilet seat to the wall.’ She pointed towards the IV trolley. ‘You’ll need to take that. They’ve sent the baby in because the GP’s concerned at her level of dehydration. I’ll get one of the docs to come and put it in.’
Beth was still smiling inwardly at the thought of Roz and her toilet seat as she helped the houseman get an IV line into ten-month-old Barry. He was the first child for the anxious mother and Beth did her best to reassure both of them after the young doctor had left to arrange admission.
‘Barry’s going to be fine, honestly. The worst part’s over now that the line is in. He’s just going to need watching and some fluid replacement.’
‘I just can’t bear him being so sick.’ Barry’s mother was holding him tightly enough to make him protest. Her eyes filled with tears. ‘It’s awful!’
‘He’s going to be fine,’ Beth repeated. ‘Whoops! It might take a while longer for that vomiting to stop. I’ll go and a get towel so you can clean up a bit.’
Roz pushed a wheelchair past the linen trolley as Beth collected supplies and she wondered just how many minor or even major crises Roz would have fielded with her tribe of children by now. The feeling of envy was fortunately muted by familiarity but it still stung. Beth was running out of time to hope for much more than one or two children, let alone the big family she had always dreamed of.
Acceptance might have to be the next step. She wouldn’t have any children if she wasn’t with a partner she truly loved. She had come here to avoid just such a compromise, hadn’t she? The notion of a childless future was still not acceptable, however. Beth smiled at Roz. She wasn’t going to give up yet. She was only thirty-four, for heaven’s sake, and she was in a new place, starting a new life.
She was a whole week into that new life now but Beth had yet to catch another glimpse of Luke. No night time emergencies had occurred that required a surgeon to be called into the department. Disappointingly, it looked as though her first day shift might go the same way.
Having made the decision to stay, Beth had been preparing herself for the next time her path crossed Luke’s, quietly confident that she would be able to cope without the confusion and angst that first meeting had sparked. With every passing day she was feeling happier with her decision so why did that knot appear in her stomach when the call for a surgical consult on her next patient was answered…by Luke?
The young girl had come in by ambulance from her school, looking pale and complaining of severe abdominal pain, and Beth hadn’t been surprised when the houseman made a provisional diagnosis of appendicitis and referred her to the surgeons.
Luke’s smile at Beth, after being introduced to the patient and her mother, was friendly. Professional.
‘What’s been happening?’ ‘Katy’s had dull, generalised abdominal pain for the last twelve hours.’ Beth repeated what the houseman must have already told the surgeon. ‘No nausea but sh
e’s been anorexic. The pain’s settled into the right lower quadrant and she felt too unwell to stay in class this morning. Vital signs are all within normal limits but she’s running a mild temperature of 37.4.’
‘Got a white-cell count yet?’
‘On its way.’
‘So, Katy.’ Luke’s smile for his patient was much warmer than the one Beth had received. ‘Got a bit of a sore tummy, huh?’
‘It feels better now.’
‘Mind if I take a look anyway?’
Luke pressed on the left side of Katy’s abdomen first.
‘Ow!’
‘Where does that hurt?’
‘Here.’ Close to tears again, Katy pointed to the right side of her abdomen, well away from the pressure.
Luke glanced up. ‘Know what that is, Beth?’
‘Rovsing’s sign.’ Beth nodded. ‘Associated with rebound tenderness.’
His eyebrow twitched. ‘You do know your stuff, don’t you? No wonder Mike’s been so impressed with you.’
Had the emergency department consultant been talking about her to Luke in the last few days? Was Luke impressed? He didn’t appear to be.
Neither did Katy’s mother. She looked worried.
‘What are you talking about? The sign? Is it Katy’s appendix?’
‘It’s a definite possibility. Rovsing’s sign is one of the things we look for. There are a few other possibilities, though, so we’ll need to run a few more tests. Like an ultrasound or CT scan. Beth, could you see if CT is free at the moment?’
‘Sure.’
Katy looked frightened. ‘Does that hurt?’
‘Not a bit, sweetie,’ Luke said reassuringly. He rested a hip comfortably on the side of the bed and smiled as Beth slipped out of the cubicle. ‘You getting your periods yet, Katy?’
Beth headed for the phone. When had Luke become so comfortable talking to children? Or laid back enough to practically sit on their bed for a comfortable chat? The Luke she had known had always been moving way too fast to pause that long. In far too much of a hurry to get to the top.
This new Luke was even more attractive than the old one. Beth’s confidence that she could cope with working in the same place dropped a notch. Possibly two.
Beth’s first day shift at Ocean View hospital was almost finished by the time Roz took her on a quick tour.
They bypassed the area adjacent to Emergency that Beth was now familiar with. The minor theatre, Radiology and CT and the plaster room. Roz paused near the pharmacy and small gift shop, manned by volunteers.
‘Outpatients is down that corridor. There’s also Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Mental Health Services and so on. A few people wander into ED by mistake so it’s worth knowing where to direct them.’
Beth peered past Roz. ‘It looks busy.’
‘It always is. Hereford’s only small but the hospital has a huge catchment area.’
‘That explains why the staff is so much bigger than I’d expected. I must say I was surprised. I’d expected this quiet little small town hospital.’ The number of staff hadn’t been the real surprise, though, had it? More the calibre. ‘I’m still amazed at how many consultants there are.’
‘Yes, we have a lot. The private work fills in any slack time but there seems to be less and less of that these days.’
‘There are private patients?’ Beth couldn’t hide her astonishment.
‘Just one ward. It’s shared by all the consultants doing private work. They use the hospital facilities and I guess the insurance companies pay the government. The consultants and anaesthetists get a separate fee, of course.’
‘Of course. I suppose Luke Savage does most of the private work?’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘I…um…’ Beth bit her lip. What had made her say that? Because fame and fortune had been so important to the man she’d known? Because his desire to become a kind of clone of her father had started the rapid downhill slide of their relationship? The fact that private work was available had seemed like another small piece to fit into the puzzle of why Luke was here, but the expression on her colleague’s face was making her wonder now. ‘I have no idea,’ she concluded lamely. ‘It just seemed to fit.’
‘Weird.’ Roz shook her head. ‘He’s the only surgeon who doesn’t do private work. Len does any general stuff and the orthopaedic guys share out the hip replacements and so on.’
‘Is that the maternity ward?’ Beth was eager to change the subject.
‘Yes. And that’s Paediatrics beside it.’ Beth latched onto a good way to distract Roz. ‘My sister’s a paediatrician. In Sydney.’
‘Really?’
‘And I’ve got a brother who’s a cardiologist in London.’
‘Wow. That’s a very medical family.’
‘Mmm.’ Beth suddenly regretted the change of subject because the look Roz was giving her was rather too familiar. Maybe Luke hadn’t spread the interesting information about her background any further.
‘Dawson…you’re not related to Nigel Dawson, are you? That heart surgeon guy?’
Beth suppressed a groan. ‘He’s my father.’
‘Wow!’
Beth shrugged her eyebrows. Despite the feeling that she and Roz could end up being good friends, she wasn’t about to start spilling the beans about how her father’s personality and career had had such an adverse effect on her family and childhood.
‘I read about him not so long ago,’ Roz continued. ‘Isn’t your mother medical as well?’
‘An anaesthetist,’ Beth confirmed. ‘They met in a theatre and have worked together ever since.’
‘How romantic!’
‘Mmm.’ Was it romantic to allow nothing, including three children, to interfere in any way with accruing fame and fortune?
‘And you went into nursing?’
‘I’m the black sheep,’ Beth confessed lightly.
Roz laughed. ‘Every family should have one, I guess. Do you know where the surgical ward is?’
Beth nodded. ‘I went up with Katy when she got admitted for surgery.’
Luke hadn’t been there. And Beth had been irritated with herself at finding that disappointing.
‘OK. I’ll show you the really important stuff now, like the staff swimming pool. You’ll be diving in like the rest of us at the end of every shift in summer, believe me.’
‘I love swimming,’ Beth said, ‘but I prefer the beach.’
‘You’d better talk to Luke, then.’
Beth’s spine prickled as her pulse quickened. ‘Why?’
‘He lives on the most perfect beach around these parts. Boulder Bay. You’ll have to wangle an invitation and try swimming there. It’s gorgeous.’
‘But New Zealand has public access to any beach. They can’t be private.’
‘It’s not, but you need four-wheel drive to get up and down the access road safely. Have you got a four-wheel-drive vehicle?’
‘No.’
‘So that’s why you’ll need to talk to Luke. He won’t mind giving you a lift if you leave your car at the top of the hill. That’s what we all do. Look, that’s him just over there. I could ask him for you, if you’re shy.’
Beth laughed. ‘No, thanks. I can do my own asking. He looks a bit busy right now.’
He was talking to a woman who had just emerged from the pharmacy and was looking into the contents of a paper bag. She was an attractive blonde, probably in her late twenties, and the diamond rings on her left hand caught the light as she moved. Whoever she was, and despite her obvious marital status, she had Luke’s full attention.
‘I’m just going to grab a chocolate bar from the gift shop,’ Roz said. ‘Want something?’
Beth shook her head. ‘No, thanks. I’ll just wait here.’
Where she could appear to be admiring the display of flowers and teddy bears for sale while Roz waited in a small queue. Where she could still see Luke talking to the pretty blonde.
The woman seemed to be scrub
bing tears from her face when Beth flicked a glance in her direction. Was she the relative of a patient perhaps? She saw the blonde nodding as though whatever Luke was saying was what she needed to hear. Then she saw Luke’s arm going around the woman’s shoulders and the impression of closeness touched a very deep chord in Beth. This was no professional relationship. She would never believe that Luke would be having an affair with a married woman, but whoever the blonde was, she had a bond with Luke that clearly meant a lot to them both.
And it hurt, dammit! There was no way Beth could reason her way out of this reaction. Had she really thought she could cope? This was jealousy, pure and simple. A nasty feeling that Beth wanted to eliminate as quickly as possible. Roz was finally paying for her chocolate. Beth moved to meet her at the door of the shop. A rapid escape seemed entirely possible.
Until Luke called out. And waved. And came towards her.
‘We got to Katy’s appendix just in time,’ he told Beth. ‘It looked like it wasn’t that far off perforating.’
‘That’s good.’ Beth edged closer to the door. She didn’t want to talk to Luke. Not while she was struggling with the knowledge that she still cared enough to be jealous of any other potential women in Luke’s life.
Luke’s smile hadn’t lost any of its charm. ‘Look, I’m sorry about the other night. I shouldn’t have said anything to Mike about your father. I really don’t want to make a new start any more difficult for you.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Beth muttered ungraciously. It was on the tip of her tongue to say something about how hard it was to escape the past no matter how much you might want to but fortunately, perhaps, Luke spoke again first.
‘We should have a coffee one of these days, Beth, and catch up on the last few years.’
He was being so friendly. Casual. As though she was simply an old acquaintance and it really didn’t matter if they ‘caught up’ or not. The evil claws of jealousy were still digging into Beth and they sharpened her tone far more than she liked.
‘I came here for a change of lifestyle, Luke. I don’t see much point in raking up the past.’
‘Fair enough.’ The upward inflection on the last word was subtle but nevertheless conveyed that Luke had received the message. He wouldn’t be making another attempt to engage Beth socially in a hurry. ‘See you around, then.’
The Surgeon's Engagement Wish Page 5