Sue MacKay - The Family She Needs

The words fell like heavy weights between them.

‘This is Mickey’s home, the place where he remembers his mum and dad. I will not take him away from here. He gets upset enough as it is some days.’

‘I see.’

‘Do you?’ Those perfectly shaped eyebrows lifted. ‘What about the surgery? If we sell the house, where’s that going to be relocated?’

‘I’d have thought that’d be the last thing you’d want to be bothered with. I know you struggle to keep a GP full-time.’

She could have told him what he already knew, that she’d managed with locums so far. But she didn’t. Instead she went for his throat. ‘Unless you have plans to take over?’

Logan stood up so fast the chair knocked against the table. ‘Are you out of your mind?’

Him? Working in a small town, dealing with the everyday stuff of colds and stomach bugs and high blood pressure? Signing on for ever?

‘That would not work. Believe me.’

He strode over to stare out of the window onto the drive, with its hole that needed repairing, and swore silently. Not in a million years. He wanted to be with people who had no choices, who were forever grateful for any little help they got. People who came and went so quickly they didn’t cling to his life.

Mickey banged his empty mug on the table. ‘I want to play with Mr Grumpy.’

Karina didn’t move, almost as though she hadn’t heard Mickey. Even if the neighbours probably had.

Logan turned. ‘Who’s Mr Grumpy?’

‘He teaches me things.’ Mickey slid off the chair and picked up his mug to bang it on the bench. ‘Doesn’t he, Karina?’

‘Yes, he does, sweetheart.’ She stood up. ‘And I should’ve changed Jonty’s dressing before now.’

Definitely looking for an excuse to escape him.

‘Can it wait a few more minutes and I’ll come with you?’ When she looked at him with astonishment, he hastened to add, ‘I take it Jonty and Mr Grumpy are one and the same.’

Karina’s lips twitched. And sent his hormones into a little spasm. She really was seriously distracting.

She told him, ‘Yes.’ And then, turning to Mickey, said, ‘Mr Grumpy should be in the potting shed, planting the tomato seeds. If he’s not you come straight back here and we’ll find him together. Okay?’ She held her hand up, palm out.

Mickey high-fived it. ‘Okey-dokey, hokey-pokey.’

Logan watched his nephew racing from the room and felt his heart stir just a tiny bit. Having Down syndrome wasn’t holding the kid back from enjoying himself.

‘Does he understand fully what happened to his parents?’

Sadness filled Karina’s eyes. ‘As much as a kid his age can. Sometimes he asks when Daddy’s coming home from work, or if Mummy’s going to make his dinner. There are nights when I find him crying into his pillow. But then I’ve found him doing that when he’s lost his favourite toy, so I could be completely wrong and he hasn’t got a clue why he now lives with me.’

‘From what my parents told me, you had a lot to do with him before the accident.’

Not a stranger, like him. Guilt raised its head again. Mickey hadn’t remembered him this morning. No surprise, considering he’d been about three the last time Logan had flown in for a quick visit. Thank goodness James had had the good sense to make Karina joint guardian with him. Even if she wasn’t family in any DNA kind of way, the boy had a firm constant in his life and wasn’t coping with a man who preferred working and living in exotic places. Make that who had used to prefer.

Mickey needed security—he needed the same people in his life day in and day out, to see the same kids at playgroup every time he went. He certainly wouldn’t get that tagging along with his uncle to desolate places on the African continent. Besides, that wasn’t an option after what had happened on his last tour. Far too dangerous.

Karina spoke quietly. ‘I’d been working here for a few months when the accident happened.’ She blinked furiously. ‘Mickey and I were great mates even then.’

‘Coming from Auckland to such a small place must’ve taken some getting used to.’

‘It was refreshing.’ She picked at a spot on the table. ‘Maria and I met in Auckland while doing our nursing training and became firm friends. Inseparable at times.’

She raised those beautiful eyes to his face and the sadness spilling out made him want to wrap her up in his arms and hold her tight.

He didn’t. Because he mightn’t be able to let her go. Because he needed to be held, too. Because he should have been here for Mickey, and even for Karina.

‘You were Maria’s bridesmaid. I vaguely recall a wedding photo.’

‘Hardly a bridesmaid when those two went out to lunch and came back married. They dragged me along, saying they had a surprise.’

‘There was a guy there as well.’

‘The law requires two witnesses.’

The words were flat. Her face had gone blank, her eyes expressionless.

The devil got hold of his tongue. ‘Who was he? I didn’t recognise him as one of James’s friends.’

He’d recently gone weeks without talking to anyone, bar demanding to be freed, and since then he’d apparently lost the ability to be circumspect.

‘My ex-husband.’

Never had he heard so much emotion in two little words. Anger, disappointment, despair, hurt, and a whole lot more. Something beyond his shoulder seemed to fascinate her for a long, drawn-out moment. Then she blinked.

‘We split very suddenly and I wanted a change of environment. Staying on in Auckland no longer worked for me.’ She continued spilling her guts. ‘About that time Maria decided to be a stay-at-home mum and asked me to fill her place at the surgery. I think she made that up, because she’d been managing very nicely until then. But I arrived here within days and I’m not likely to leave again.’

‘Only now you’ve got a wee boy.’

And a big heart. She didn’t appear to be struggling with everything she did, and yet her days had to be close to chaotic at times—especially given that Mickey needed a lot of attention with his condition.

‘A boy I’d do anything for.’

He got the message loud and clear. Don’t mess with Karina. Or Mickey.

‘So what do you do for a social life in Motueka?’ Might as well ask anything that came into his brain while he had her talking.

Karina shrugged. ‘Friday night drinks at a bar on High Street with a friend is more than enough for me. As I’ve no intention of marrying again I’m not joining the dating circuit.’

Unbelievably honest.

‘I can understand that.’

Way too much information, Logan. He knew from the slight widening of her eyes that she’d read between the lines of his simple statement and understood he was as uninterested in finding a soul mate as she was. He’d seen far too many relationships bite the dust in Africa. Commitment to the health organisation left little time for anyone or anything else.

Karina said, ‘You want to sell this place?’

She was forthright. He’d give her that.

‘Yes.’

He’d be the same.

‘Why?’

‘I’ve seen the builder’s report the lawyers have had done. This place needs major repairs and maintenance, which won’t come cheap—especially for a property nearly eighty years old. A comfortable house with no financial worries for you seems a good idea. Though what you’d do for jumping puddles I’m not sure,’ he added, forcing a smile.

A smile that she chose to ignore as she stood up, stretching as tall as possible on her toes, which still left her well short of his chin. ‘Haven’t you left something out?’

‘Like what?’

Those eyes that had entranced him now appeared to be ready to slice him to shreds. He was about to get an earful. Her cheeks were reddening, her mouth tightening.