Adam was now swimming, a machine-like crawl that ate up the distance. He passed between the yellow buoys, passed Johanne. Now he, too, was in danger, and Amy saw him picked up by a giant wave, heaved high into the air. But he was near the figure, floating still in the water.
Another wave grabbed Adam and exploded against the rocks in white spray. Amy moaned. She thought he had been dashed against a rock. But then she saw him, still swimming, apparently with the unconscious swimmer in tow. He was moving much more slowly now.
Johanne had obeyed him when he had told her to stop swimming, but she was waiting outside the buoys. When her father came near her she grabbed hold of the figure and helped him pull it towards the beach. By now the water’s edge was crowded with anxious onlookers who ran into the sea to help the couple pull the figure ashore. Elizabeth had sensed the mood and was crying.
It was a young girl—perhaps Johanne’s age—in a red costume. Her limbs flopped lifelessly as she was lowered onto the sand.
Adam took charge at once. He rolled the girl over and water ran out of her mouth.
For a moment Amy didn’t know what to do. She saw blood running down Adam’s arm and a long gash across his back. But he wasn’t in immediate danger, the girl probably was. Amy was a nurse, who’d worked for years in A and E. This kind of thing was her speciality.
By now a crowd had gathered, pushing dangerously close. Perhaps they wanted to help but they were doing the opposite. Amy pulled Johanne away and handed Elizabeth to her. ‘Hold her and don’t let her go. Get these people at least six feet away—we need space. Find someone with a mobile phone and send for an ambulance. Make sure that they know that the girl is unconscious, is not breathing so the call is prioritised. Check that it’s done.’
‘Right,’ said Johanne.
Resuscitation room or Spanish beach, the techniques were still the same. ABC—airway, breathing, circulation. The first, all-important things to check.
Adam had checked that the girl had not swallowed her tongue. He said, ‘Airway’s patent but there’s no breathing, no pulse.’
Vaguely Amy was aware of the crowd moving back. She could hear someone shouting at them like a sergeant major. Johanne must have passed on the message to someone more adult. In fact, Amy was aware of a frightened Johanne clutching Elizabeth and staring down at the lifeless body. Concentrate on what was important!
‘Amy, you do mouth to mouth while I massage the heart.’ He was the doctor, it was his decision to make.
Amy nodded and she knelt by the girl’s head, held it by skull and jaw and eased it backwards so the airway was open. Ideally she should use a mask. Conditions here weren’t ideal.
First she breathed into the girl, managed to get the chest to rise. Only then did Adam place his hands together, over the heart, lean forward, stiff-armed, and start the rhythmic pressure that would force the blood to circulate.
Amy kept her lips pressed to the girl’s cold mouth and blew air into her lungs. At least, there was no obstruction. So, in tandem and in rhythm, they worked together.
The two breaths, then fifteen compressions.
Amy managed to glance at Adam. He was completely absorbed, thinking only of what he was doing. There was blood running down his arm, dripping off his back, mingling with the seawater and the sweat. Amy looked at Johanne and said calmly, ‘Tear up a couple of towels and see if you can put a rough dressing on those cuts on your dad’s shoulder and back. But don’t disturb his work and keep hold of Elizabeth.’
Adam looked up, nodded at Johanne. Johanne stood there a moment, horrified. Then she did as she was told.
Amy and Adam worked on. Amy knew he wasn’t conscious of the crowd or even her. All his attention was on the lifeless figure between them. Did she have any chance of survival?
It was almost as if he read her thoughts. He looked up, sadly shook his head at her. Was there any point in carrying on? From behind them came Johanne’s despairing voice. She had seen and realised the meaning of the signal between them.
‘Dad, you can’t give up now!’ she cried.
So they carried on desperately trying to maintain life until the ambulance arrived with a defibrillator.
And then, finally, they heard the ambulance siren.
Chapter Four
It was good to be surrounded by a trained team, with all the equipment they needed. Within minutes, to everyone’s relief, the paramedics had the girl’s heart beating again and then lifted onto a stretcher and carried up the beach to the waiting ambulance. A paramedic made a lightning assessment of Adam’s injuries and decided they weren’t serious. He slapped field dressings on them and said that Adam should come to the hospital too.
Adam shook his head. ‘I’m a doctor, I can manage. As soon as I return to my hotel, I’ll send for the doctor there.’ The paramedic decided not to argue.
Now the crowd was drifting away. Amy and Johanne stood by their little pile of belongings, feeling a certain sense of anticlimax. Amy held Elizabeth close to her.
‘Dad, I hate this beach,’ Johanne said tearfully. ‘I want to go home now. That girl nearly died!’
‘I know,’ said Adam, ‘but she’ll be alright now and you were such a great help, taking care of Elizabeth while Amy tended the girl.’
Amy hugged Johanne in agreement then looked at Adam, now slightly pale. ‘You’ll be going into shock if you’re not careful,’ she said. ‘I’ll drive back to the hotel, we’ll all be better there.’
‘Good idea,’ he said. ‘Incidentally, if I ever want an emergency nurse I’ll know where to look.’
‘I’m a district nurse now. I much prefer it. Shall we go to the car?’
Adam didn’t go into shock, he seemed much better on the drive home. Amy sat in the back, held Johanne’s hand. Johanne sobbed quietly. Amy realised that this was perhaps her first meeting with near-death. And the girl had been about her age. It would put Johanne in mind of her own mortality. Elizabeth slept between them.
It was only early afternoon when they got back to the hotel. They parted in the lobby, Adam saying that a subdued Johanne needed a rest. Amy went to her room and showered, and then discovered that there was a Beach Babes meeting if Elizabeth wanted to attend. Elizabeth did want to. The events of the previous few hours had passed her by.
Amy took her book to read on the balcony but just couldn’t settle, so after half an hour she phoned Adam. Perhaps he wouldn’t want to be on his own.
‘Did you phone the doctor, Adam? What did he say about your cuts?’
His voice sounded weary. ‘I didn’t bother with the doctor. All I’ve got are superficial cuts and bruises.’
‘A doctor who diagnoses himself has got a fool for a patient. How’s Johanne?’
‘She’ll be fine. In fact, she’s sleeping. I don’t really approve but I gave her a sedative. She’ll be a lot better by dinnertime. Are you OK?’
‘I’m fine. I did nothing.’ She hesitated a moment and then said, ‘I think I ought to come up to your room and have a look at you. I could borrow a first-aid kit from the hotel. After all, there’s no way you can deal with a cut on your own back.’ Then she paused and said, ‘If you want me, that is.’
‘I do want you. And I’ve seen you at work, you’re a good nurse.’
Amy took a deep breath. ‘So I’m coming. You’re in room 704?’
‘I am. Johanne’s next door, we have connecting rooms.’
‘So I’ll be chaperoned?’ Amy knew it was a feeble joke.
‘Not really. Like all teenagers, Johanne can sleep through anything. Anything resembling work, that is.’
‘Ten minutes,’ said Amy.
She looked down at the outfit she had changed into. T-shirt and shorts. Not exactly a doctor’s outfit, but she wasn’t going to risk one of her new dresses. She went to Reception to borrow a first-aid kit.
Feeling a bit nervous, she tapped on his door. She got a shock when he opened it. He was clad only in a pair of shorts. Well, why not? And she had seen him dre
ssed much the same on the beach. But somehow, here, his semi-nakedness was more obvious. As a nurse she was accustomed to walking into people’s bedrooms, seeing them half naked, seeing evidence of their everyday, intimate lives. But here it seemed more personal.
There was a towel wrapped around his hand and she saw the temporary dressing on his shoulder was wet. He saw her looking and explained, ‘I just had to have a shower. And I suppose everything got wet. But come in.’
‘Your room is bigger than ours,’ she said, just for something to say.
‘It’s the end of the row, on the corner. I’ve got a very secluded balcony—no one can see into it.’
‘That’s nice,’ she said, going rather warm at the thought of Adam and herself hidden away together. ‘And Johanne is...?’
He nodded at a door. ‘Through there in her own room. She’s sound asleep. Nothing will disturb her.’
‘Good. Now, d’you want to sit by this table? I can see that your hand and your shoulder are hurt, and I remember there was a long gash on your back.’
‘Jut minor,’ he said. ‘In A and E they wouldn’t even merit the attention of a doctor.’
She stood up for her profession. ‘In A and E they would be better dressed by a nurse than if a doctor did it.’ Then she blushed as she saw him look at her, he had been teasing her.
She put the first-aid box on the table, opened it. The first thing she saw was a big packet of rubber gloves. It was second nature to put them on but here it didn’t seem... well, friendly.
He saw her hesitation, grinned again. ‘I do expect you to follow protocol, nurse,’ he said. So she snapped them on.
She was a nurse. For the moment this man was a patient. But it was hard to concentrate on work when the warmth of his body, the electric touch of his skin, the clean smell of soap and shampoo... Stupid thoughts! She had to get a grip.
He had injured his hand, his shoulder, his back. She recollected the wave that had tossed him against the rocks, he had been lucky. The hand and the shoulder were easily treated, she bathed and cleaned them and then put on fresh antiseptic dressings. The back was another matter. A jagged gash ran across from the right shoulder blade to just above the left kidney. She wondered if he knew how serious it was, he couldn’t easily see it.
‘We’ll go into the bathroom,’ she said. ‘I want to do a better job of cleaning this.’
She washed the wound with antiseptic again, then examined it carefully—she had to ease out a couple of grains of sand. It must have hurt. She felt his muscles clench once or twice, then saw the deliberate attempt he made to relax. When she had finished she dabbed the wound dry, then sprinkled it with antiseptic powder.
‘You’re going to have to be careful how you move for a day or two,’ she said. ‘I’ll close it with a set of butterfly stitches and that should do.’
When she had finished she covered the gash with a loose dressing, held on with sticky plaster. ‘There, Adam, all done. I think you’ll live.’
‘And I think you’re an excellent nurse.’
He watched as she repacked the first-aid box, and she found his gaze rather unnerving. After a while he pointed to a cupboard and said, ‘I always take a small travelling kettle with me and a packet of tea. Would you like a cup?’
‘That would be lovely. But I’m going to make it.’
She took his hand, felt for his pulse. ‘Hmm. Still a bit fast. You must be a bit shocked still, you’d better sit down and rest for a while. Did it hurt when you hit the rock? In fact, does it hurt now?’
He thought about this. ‘It didn’t hurt when I hit the rock, only afterwards. And it does...sting just a bit now. I can cope.’
‘A typical male response. I suppose it’s no good suggesting you lie on the bed?’ Then she blushed when she saw his smile and realised what it had implied.
He said, ‘Not really. But I’ll go and lie on a lounger on the balcony. If you join me.’ He saw her blush again and added, ‘That’s where Johanne and I relax.’
‘I’ll bring the tea through,’ she said, trying to sound efficient.
While he carefully lay down on the lounger, she busied herself making the tea to stop herself thinking. Then she carried the tray out.
There were two loungers on the balcony, side by side. They had been pulled into the shade because of the heat of the afternoon. No one could see onto the balcony.
She handed him his tea, sat on the lounger next to him and drank her own. Neither of them felt the need to speak, and she realised that she was tired. He was probably more tired. When she had finished the tea, she gingerly lowered herself onto the pillow. It had been a hard half-day and, yes, she was tired. Just ten minutes’ relaxation and she would... Her last thought was that it had been ages since she had slept with a man so close to her.
Amy wasn’t sure what had wakened her. Something nice, she thought. She came awake slowly, not sure where she was, then remembered and felt quite happy to lie there with her eyes closed. Perhaps she was half-awake.
Something was touching her cheek. It tickled but it was pleasant. It wasn’t a fly or anything like that and it moved gently down her cheek. When it reached the corner of her mouth she took it between her lips, touched it with her tongue, even bit it slightly. She recognised what it was. It was a finger.
A finger, stroking her cheek. Now, that was really nice. Then she came to full consciousness and jerked her head away. She opened her eyes fully—and there he was, looking at her, their heads not twelve inches apart. It was an intimacy that rather shook her.
‘You look peaceful when you’re asleep,’ he said. ‘You look happier too.’
As he smiled down at her, Amy’s first instinct was to sit upright. Then she decided that she didn’t really want to. It was pleasant lying here in the warmth, with the smell of the sea and a nearly naked man next to her.
A what? A nearly naked man? That thought had crept up on her.
She rolled onto her side to face him. He did the same—but her nurse’s eye noticed that he did it very cautiously. Now they were facing each other. She could feel the warmth of his breath, see his eyes very close to hers. They were grey, she noticed. And sometimes they changed in shade. Now they were darker, as if something had upset him—or excited him. His gaze seemed more intent.
His hand stretched out again, this time to her shoulder. It was the gentlest of touches, but she felt as if it burned her. And still he looked at her. She knew what he was thinking, knew what he was going to do but there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing she wanted to do about it.
For a moment her body tensed and she knew he could feel her anxiety. But then she sighed and her body relaxed. She fell onto her back again and closed her eyes. This wasn’t the time to think, to worry. What would be, would be. And after all, she was on holiday.
His finger traced down her arm to caress the inside of her elbow, then to feel the thudding of the pulse on her wrist. Then it stroked upwards again, across her shoulder, and she caught her breath as it dipped inside the neck of her T-shirt. But it was only to run along the length of her collarbone, then back across her neck to her cheek again, touching her lips. This time she deliberately caught his finger in her mouth, gave it the tenderest of bites.
She heard the creak of his lounger, felt his body move, and the light shining through her closed lids was suddenly darkened. He was leaning over her, poised on top of her. If she wanted, this was the time to stop him. But she didn’t want. She felt as if a power other than herself was moving her. Her old life was discarded, there were no memories, there was only now.
His lips touched hers. She could tell by his gentleness that he didn’t want to frighten her. Still the lightest of touches, still every chance for her to stop him. She didn’t want to stop him. And his lips moved from her lips to her cheeks and then her closed eyes. She didn’t want him to stop.
To her side she could feel his arm taking his weight as he leaned over her. She ran her hand up his arm, slid it round his back. She cou
ld feel the thickness of the dressing she had put on his back, she would have to be careful. And carefully she pulled him down towards her.
He kissed her lips again, but this time there was a difference. The kiss deepened and she moaned as his tongue probed, tasting her sweetness and bringing a sweetness of its own.
Somewhere in the back of her mind a shadow of doubt flickered. Was this a good idea? It certainly seemed a good idea. And her eyes remained shut. If she wasn’t looking then she wasn’t responsible.
Still with her eyes closed, she wriggled, rolled onto her side again and eased him across until the pair of them lay on her lounger. She had to be careful, he was injured. But they were now pressed together and he kissed her again.
She felt his arm round her waist. His fingers slipped under the waistband of her shorts, stroking the skin and making her feel things that she thought had been dead for years.
Now her arms were around him, pulling him to her. She knew from the tenseness of his body exactly what he was feeling. Her lower body was clad only in the thinnest of shorts and she was wearing the skimpiest of underwear. Her body could have been naked and she knew the excitement of him.
Her breath sobbed as he took his lips from hers. His hand slid up her back, felt the clip and undid her bra and she shuddered with excitement. Then she slid down onto her back, and felt his hands easing her shirt upwards, pushing aside her bra. There was the coolness of the breeze on her now naked breasts. A moment’s delicious anticipation. Then she sighed and softly cried out, her body arching as his mouth took first one, then the other rose-tipped bud. He kissed them, even gently bit them, she had never felt like this before.
Where would it end? At the moment she didn’t care. She only knew that she wanted this, wanted him. Any consequences were not her concern. She could hear, feel the harshness of his breath and wondered, a little fearfully, what he was going to do next. Take off her shirt? If he wanted to, he could.
A Doctor to Come Home to Page 5