Healed by Her Army Doc

by Meredith Webber

  ‘Well, I’d booked it and paid for it, why shouldn’t I enjoy it?’ she’d said with a smile that had belied the cloudy sadness in her eyes.

  Had he hurt her more?

  Caused the change?

  Surely not, but something had...

  He turned his attention back to Harriet.

  ‘You probably know all about regular emergency structures but most of them are intended for long-term use, say after an earthquake. The “tent”, as Kate called it, is a smaller affair—an inflatable, easily set-up protected area that combines a trauma unit to act as the ED, a surgical theatre for life-and-limb-saving surgery, and a multifunction unit with drugs and blood products, facilities for lab tests, and sterilisation support. Some of these are “add-on” units in other emergency set-ups, but what we’ve tried to do is provide the best facility possible for first response units like your SDR.’

  ‘That makes sense,’ Harriet said. ‘Most patients are airlifted, or taken by road transport once they’re stabilised, so you wouldn’t need an intensive care unit or ward beds like some I’ve seen. It sounds like a great idea.’

  ‘It’s only a great idea if it works,’ Angus told her. ‘I’ve been planning and organising the construction of this one for some time, but I’ve only recently been posted to a base on the outskirts of Sydney. I knew Blake back when I was studying medicine so when I heard about his—well, the hospital’s—SDR team I hooked up with him, hoping maybe we could get to trial it.’

  He paused, then added, ‘Not that I’m looking for a disaster—heaven forbid—but things happen, don’t they?’

  Harriet gave him a weak smile and pointed to her leg.

  ‘Don’t they just,’ she said, and a finality in the words finished the conversation.

  Could he go? Just stand up and walk out? Say goodbye, of course—but even if he went, could he go back to Kate’s—or Alice’s—apartment? He doubted he’d be welcomed. Kate had been out the door here before he’d got settled on the sofa.

  He stood up.

  ‘I’d better go,’ he said. ‘I do hope you get back on the team before long. You might even get to try out my “tent”.’

  But Harriet didn’t respond and he’d seen enough PTSD cases to know that even if she hadn’t been diagnosed with it, she was deeply depressed. She’d made all the right noises when he’d first come in and even shown interest in his knowing Kate, but that short stint of casual conversation had taken all her energy.

  And although he wanted nothing more than to go back to Alice’s apartment and see Kate, he sat down again.

  ‘How long since you hurt your leg?’ he asked, watching her face so he could read the argument going on in her head about whether or not she would answer.

  Politeness won.

  ‘Months now—I’ve lost count. I got a post-op infection that knocked me back, and the rehab seems to go on for ever.’

  ‘You’ll get there,’ he said. ‘You’ve got to keep believing that you will. Don’t give up. Giving up’s easy, it’s sticking it out that’s hard, but in the end, it’s worth it. The inner strength you gain will make you a better nurse and better SDR team member.’

  ‘And a better person? Did you forget that bit?’ Harriet asked, but at least she was smiling again.

  ‘Don’t know about that, but seeing medicine from the other side definitely improves your understanding of patients and what they are going through.’

  ‘Been there yourself?’

  He smiled and shook his head.

  ‘Close enough,’ he told her, remembering the long bleak months after his last posting, part of a humanitarian response team to an overcrowded refugee camp in South-East Asia. Some of the things he’d seen—the stories he’d heard—had made him wonder if he’d ever feel normal again.

  ‘And Kate?’

  ‘Nice try,’ he said, as Harriet’s teasing smile told him he could leave with an easier conscience. He’d jolted her out of her dark mood, although for how long he didn’t know.

  He said goodbye, adding that he hoped they’d meet again, and was pleased when she roused herself enough to walk to the door with him.

  As he left he realised he had an excuse to talk to Kate again—he could knock on the apartment door, mention his concern about Harriet’s mental state.

  It was a weak excuse and she’d see it that way, but having met up with her again he knew he—

  What?

  Wanted to see more of her?

  Yes, there was that—definitely—but...

  What he really wanted to know was what had changed her from the woman who’d smiled through the pain of the end of her relationship, who’d settled terrified guests with a warm word and a joke during the cyclone, who’d been friendly and outgoing and...

  Well, fun!

  Back when he’d met her, she’d have had every reason to be withdrawn. She’d discovered her best friend had been sleeping with her fiancé and had broken off the engagement, heading for the island to escape the talk.

  But she’d taken one look at his pale face on the island boat and made him stay on deck, explaining it was far better to be outside than in if you felt the slightest bit queasy. So they’d clung to the rail, salt spray washing over them both, and she’d kept his mind off the journey, telling him about the little coral cay that lay ahead, and the research station on it that she’d visited each year with her great-aunt Alice, a marine biologist.

  Alice!

  The great-aunt!

  By the time they’d reached the island he’d realised Alice probably meant more to Kate than her parents, and now here she was, living with Alice—a ‘loner’!

  Because?

  He realised that, in spite of all they’d been through together, he didn’t really know her.

  He looked around the elevator lobby, and finally pressed the ‘down’ button.

  * * *

  Kate did her best to concentrate on cooking the chicken breasts in lemon and capers that was one of Alice’s favourite dinners, but she’d made it so often it couldn’t distract her enough.

  Why wasn’t Angus wearing a wedding ring?

  Hadn’t he gone to the island to check it out as a place for his and Michelle’s honeymoon?

  They’d joked on that terribly rough boat trip that they were both on pretend honeymoons, talking to take their minds off the wild seas.

  And the cyclone hadn’t even been close at that stage. It was only two days later it changed direction—as cyclones so often do—and headed straight for the island.

  Maybe army personnel didn’t wear wedding rings, she decided. Some kind of safety thing? Could a light flashing off a gold or silver ring tell a sniper where to shoot?

  Kate shook her head as she turned the capers in the frying pan, crisping them nicely. Think about the capers, not have ridiculous thoughts about snipers. Angus had been based in Townsville, anyway, and she doubted he’d have been bothered by snipers there.

  Angus.

  ‘You burning those capers, Kate?’

  Surely not! She looked down at the pan, forcing her mind away from the man who’d come back so unexpectedly—shockingly, really—into her life.

  ‘No, but you like them crisp. Nearly ready!’

  She put the thin slices of chicken breast back into the pan, with the lemon juice and zest, swirled it around, then served them onto the waiting plates. The bowl of salad was already on the table, and Alice joined her there as she set down the plates.

  They ate in silence for a few minutes, savouring the tasty food, but Kate could hear the wheels turning in Alice’s head as she decided how to phrase the question Kate knew she would ask.

  Except she didn’t ask a question, instead issuing a statement.

  ‘So that was the man who caused you all the trouble!’

  Kate shrugged.

  ‘He wasn’t
to blame for anything,’ she said quietly.

  ‘Oh, so you got pregnant all by yourself?’

  Kate pushed her plate away and looked at her aunt. Great-aunt really, but they’d never made the distinction. She’d been closer to Alice than she had to her mother, had learnt more about life and the way the world worked on those holidays on the island than she’d ever learnt at home or at school.

  ‘The getting-pregnant part was definitely my fault,’ Kate admitted. ‘I’d been on the Pill so didn’t give a thought to the fact that I hadn’t been in my room for three days during the height of the storm, which meant I hadn’t been taking it. Stupid, I know, but it had been a tense time with so little sleep, and the relief of finally getting the injured and the majority of the upset tourists off the island had overwhelmed us both.’

  She paused, then looked up to meet Alice’s eyes.

  ‘It was survivor sex, if that makes sense, yet...’

  ‘It was more than that?’ Alice asked gently.

  Kate nodded.

  ‘It seemed that way,’ she murmured, a little of the remembered passion sparking to life inside her. ‘We’d been through so much together, it was as if we had a...bond, I suppose, is the only way to describe it. A special bond.’

  ‘Didn’t you tell him you were pregnant, get in touch with him?’

  Kate shuddered as she remembered the anguish of those early days.

  ‘How could I? I’d done exactly what my best friend had done—slept with someone else’s fiancé—and that had broken up my marriage plans. Should I break up his as well?’

  She sighed.

  ‘In the end, I knew it wasn’t right to not tell him so I kind of left it up to him. I sent him a note, care of the base in Townsville, just asking if he’d like to give me a call—gave him my number. I never heard anything after that, which, I think, given all that happened, was for the best, don’t you?’

  Alice shook her head.

  * * *

  Angus made his way back towards the hospital where he’d left his car, his left hand in his pocket, fingering the card Blake had given him.

  Some impulse made him stop and look around at the dark water of the ocean disappearing into the night, at the sand, patterned in shadows by the street lights on the esplanade. He breathed deeply, drawing in the salty tang of the air that only existed this close to the beach.

  He was a free agent at the moment, at the beginning of an untimed trip to talk to groups like Bondi Bayside’s SDR all over Australia. He’d started here because it was closest to his army base, intending to find a hotel in Sydney to use while he covered the other response teams and government officials he needed to see. But wasn’t that a hotel? Just across the road from the apartments? Bondi wasn’t so far out of Sydney city that he couldn’t base himself here for the local appointments.

  He pulled out Blake’s card and phoned him, inordinately pleased when Blake said he was only too happy to take him on their next callout. Another reason to stay in Bondi!

  ‘So you can see how our system works,’ Blake had added, causing a small twinge of guilt in Angus’s gut. ‘I’ll give Mabel your mobile number. We meet at the chopper on the roof of the hospital. Check in at Reception if you get a call. I’ll leave instructions for them to give you a special visitor’s card that will give you access to the elevator, and allow you to go up to the roof.’

  It was only when this was organised that Angus realised Kate might not be on the next SDR callout, but she was here, in Bondi, he’d seen her, and he had no intention of leaving until he’d seen her again. Seen her properly! If he didn’t catch up with her this way, he’d have to think of something else.

  Why?

  The question struck him as he was about to turn away from the beach, and he couldn’t brush it away.

  Was it simply determination to find out why, according to the little he’d heard, she’d changed from a lively, friendly, outgoing young woman to a loner? Back then, he’d seen the shadows of sadness in her eyes, but she’d talked and laughed and even joked about her solitary honeymoon—been vibrantly alive...

  Or was it because she’d somehow got beneath his skin three years ago?

  Because something special, quite apart from the sex, which had been momentous, had happened between them on the island? Something had drawn them together during those terrifying hours in a way he’d never felt before?

  Or since, come to that.

  Until she’d walked into the SDR meeting earlier today.

  Until he’d felt a surge of excitement—electrifying excitement—rush through his body...

  Okay, so maybe there was more reason for him to see her again, than to find out what had changed her...

  He walked back to the hospital, retrieved his vehicle from the car park and headed to the hotel, telling himself he was being foolish yet unable to persuade himself to move on. He had to see the leaders of the State Emergency Service and the Fire and Rescue Service. He’d chosen Bondi Bayside Hospital as his starting point because he’d known Blake was there, but he’d begin phoning other services in the morning, make appointments, arrange meetings. There was plenty to keep him in Sydney.

  * * *

  Kate was almost pleased when the phone rang in the early hours of the morning. She’d been tossing and turning all night, her sleep disturbed by memories of the island, of the fury of the cyclone, of fear...

  Of Angus.

  ‘Yes, Mabel,’ she answered, knowing from the ring tone it was their SDR co-ordinator. As usual, Mabel wasted no time on pleasantries.

  ‘RTA at a crossroads in a farming community north-west of Sydney. Road train, fortunately on its way to collect cattle, hit a car, number of passengers unknown. Blake will keep you posted as he hears more.’

  Kate was pulling on her SDR overalls as she thought about the accident—road trains consisted of the huge prime mover with three double-decker trailers hooked on behind. Stopping one suddenly would be almost impossible. Although easier without the cattle...

  She laced up her boots so she didn’t trip as she hurried back to the hospital. Their other gear was kept in a shed on the hospital roof—helmets with headlamps and communication equipment, safety vests and the big backpacks that carried both basic first-aid and life-saving, equipment.

  In a little over ten minutes she was on the hospital roof, joining the others as they snapped on protective vests, fitted their helmets and clambered on board.

  Where a large man, similarly dressed, was sitting in what she thought of as ‘her’ seat.

  Angus!

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded, tasking the empty seat next to him and strapping herself in. ‘We won’t need your tent.’

  He grinned at her, which caused a flood of unwanted reactions.

  ‘Just wanted to see how the other half do it,’ he said, and she shoved away her personal issues and shuddered as she thought of the emergencies that army medical response teams must answer. She’d seen her share of torn and damaged bodies cut from vehicle wrecks, but bodies mangled by unexpected bombs?

  ‘Do you still do it?’ she asked, as the rest of the crew settled themselves, desperate to keep things on a professional level.

  He shook his head.

  ‘Not for a while—not after the last trip.’

  And something in the way he spoke told her it had been horrific. Her hand moved towards his knee then quickly retreated, although her heart ached that this was how it had to be between them.

  He was obviously having no trouble with professional distance, continuing to explain his situation.

  ‘I’m strictly home based for the moment. My last overseas posting was when I got back from the island—within a day, in fact.’

  So maybe he’d never received the note she’d sent.

  And why that brought a sudden blip of pleasure she didn’t know.

/>   Relief she’d have understood, but pleasure?

  Because it meant he hadn’t ignored it completely, you idiot, she told herself, then conversation ceased as Blake checked who was on board and the aircraft took off.

  They lifted into the air, the engines settled into their customary throb, and Blake began to fill them in on what lay ahead.

  ‘Country crossroad, no lights or signals but a stop sign for traffic in the minor road, and clear views both ways along the major road.’

  ‘It’s still dark enough for the road train to have had its lights on. It would have been hard to miss it,’ Paul, one of the paramedics, remarked.

  ‘Not our problem,’ Blake reminded the speaker. ‘The hows and whys are up to the police and the coroner, our job is to treat the injured. Unknown number of people in the car, which was still being extricated from the prime mover when Mabel called, then the driver of the big rig.’

  ‘Do we know if he was carrying a passenger—his wife, or a relief driver perhaps?’ someone asked, and Blake shook his head.

  ‘The local police, fire and ambulance services will all be at the scene by the time we get there. There’s a very small town with a district hospital nearby but it hasn’t the facilities to handle anything serious so we’ll probably be flying anyone badly injured back with us. Paul, I want you on triage. We’ve got an extra doc with us in Angus, the fellow some of you met the other day.’

  Several heads turned to nod at Angus, while Blake, briefing over, walked forward to stand behind the pilot and air crewman so he’d see the scene from above.

  ‘He doesn’t waste words, does he?’ Angus said, twisting his mike away from his face so he could talk to Kate.

  ‘We all know the routine. Right now, he’ll want to check out the terrain and see where the best place for us to set up might be. The helicopter usually puts down some distance away so people on the ground aren’t affected by downdraught. We cart all our stuff to the scene in the backpacks. The ambulance on site will have its monitoring equipment already set up but in a small country town there’s likely to only be one ambulance so they need us as well.’

  Was she relaxing as she talked to him?