Joanna Neil - Proposing to the Children's Doctor

‘Here we are already,’ he said as the glass doors to the main entrance of the hospital swished open before them. ‘That was quick. You certainly landed a prime position, with your flat being just a hop and a skip away from here.’

‘I suppose I did.’ Rebecca hesitated, and then started to move away from him in the direction of the stairs. ‘I have to go to the surgical ward to collect my patient,’ she told him. ‘Do you know your way about, or do you need directions?’

‘I’ll manage,’ he murmured. ‘I’ll take the lift.’

‘OK.’

He inclined his head towards her and she returned the gesture with a brief ‘Goodbye,’ before going on her way.

She didn’t turn back to watch him take the lift. She wouldn’t be seeing him again and that was perhaps just as well, because he seemed to have a very strange effect on her. In the few hours she had known him, he had managed somehow to put her on the defensive and caused her to examine her reasons for doing things, and she was tired of all that uncertainty.

What she needed now was a fresh start, a chance to go home to her island roots and find peace within herself once again.

Pushing all thoughts of him out of her mind, she tapped in the security code at the door of the children’s ward and then made her way over to the nurses’ station.

‘How’s everybody doing?’ she asked, looking at the women who had been her colleagues over the last couple of years. ‘Has everything been peaceful overnight?’

‘More peaceful than your going-away party.’ Connie laughed. ‘Have you heard any news about James?’

Rebecca nodded. ‘I checked up on him by phone before I came here. He’s doing all right… He had several deep cuts that needed stitching, but he’s recovering well, and they’re thinking of sending him home later today.’

‘That’s a relief.’ Connie smiled. ‘As to your little patient, he’s just about ready for the journey home. He’s a bit pale and anxious-looking, but his temperature is OK and his heart rate and oxygen levels are satisfactory, so he should be clear to travel.’

‘That’s good news. I’ll go and have a word with him and get him ready for the journey. Do we have any idea what time the ambulance will be arriving?’

Connie glanced at the nurse who was standing by the phone. ‘Do we?’

‘I’m not sure. I think we have to check with the transport services. There was a query over what was happening, and I was told to ring again in a few minutes to check.’

‘That’s all right. I’ll go and talk to Connor while you do that.’

Eight-year-old Connor was overjoyed to see her. ‘Becca, you came back!’ Her young patient’s face lit up. ‘I know you said you were going to stay with me, but they told me you weren’t going to work at the hospital any more. I didn’t think I would see you again.’

‘Well, there you are, you see,’ she said on a cheerful note. ‘I’m here, and I’m going with you all the way back to Scotland. I shan’t leave you until I hand you over, safe and sound, to your mum and dad.’

He gave her a blissful smile. ‘I can’t wait to see them again.’ He sank back against his pillows as though the effort of talking had taken a lot out of him. Even so, he shot her a troubled glance. ‘Do you think they’re all right? Are they still in hospital?’

She nodded. ‘They’re both still in hospital, but they’re getting better every day.’ His mother had leg and arm injuries, and his father was suffering from whiplash and a dislocated knee, but Connor was the one who had come close to death because of internal injuries.

She looked at him now, noting the dark shadows beneath his eyes, made all the more noticeable by his pale features and the contrasting colour of his brown hair. He had lost a lot of blood in the car accident, and had almost died from injuries to his chest and abdomen. It was only because of the skill of the surgeons who had operated on him within the golden hour, from the time of the accident to admission to hospital, that he stood a good chance of recovery without suffering too many after-effects. In fact, all going well, he would probably be released from hospital in a few days.

‘We need to concentrate on you right now,’ she murmured. ‘We have to make sure that you’re well enough to manage the journey, and that you stay on good form. That means you need to get some rest and allow your body to heal. We still need to keep an eye on you to make sure that everything gets back to normal.’

‘I’m better than I was yesterday.’ Connor gave her a wide-eyed glance. ‘And I ate all my breakfast, even the yucky porridge the nurse gave me.’

Rebecca laughed. ‘That’s good. It’s a start, at any rate.’ She surreptitiously checked the readings on the monitors by his bedside. ‘I’ll have a quick listen to your chest, and then perhaps we can get ready to go on our way.’

She gently laid her stethoscope over his rib cage and listened to the sounds coming from his lungs. There was a slight wheeziness, but all in all things appeared to be good. Since the drainage tubes had been removed from his chest a couple of days ago with no ill-effects, it looked as though she could give the all-clear for the transport to go ahead.

‘You’re doing all right,’ she told him with a smile, ‘so I’ll go and have a word with the nurse and see if we can be on our way.’

‘Yeah!’ Connor whooped, and then coughed, clutching his chest as his body responded to the exertion. ‘Ouch!’ he said. ‘That hurt.’

Rebecca made a wry face. ‘I guess we’d better top up your painkillers before we go.’ She reached into her pocket and pulled out an electronic computer game. ‘Here, you can amuse yourself with this for a while, if you think you’re up to it.’

‘Oh, wow.’ His eyes shone as he looked up at her. ‘Where did you get this from?’

‘I borrowed it from the play leader. She didn’t want you to be bored on the journey.’

He was already thumbing the buttons on the device, absorbed in checking out the game she had slotted in place. ‘This is great.’

Rebecca grinned, and went off to talk to the nurse. ‘How are things coming along with the transport?’ she asked.

‘You’re all set to go,’ the nurse told her. ‘Only there won’t be a paramedic travelling along with you this time. There will be another doctor on board.’

‘That’s unusual, isn’t it?’ Rebecca murmured. ‘How did that come about?’

‘I think it was because—Oh, hang on, here he is now…’ The nurse broke off and looked towards the door. ‘He’ll be able to fill you in on the details himself.’ She shielded her face with her hand in a covert fashion as she turned back to Rebecca. ‘Lucky you! I wish I were the one who was going along with him. He’s gorgeous.’

Rebecca’s stare flicked across the room and she gazed in open-mouthed wonder at the man who was walking towards them. She blinked in disbelief. Surely there was some mistake? What was Craig doing there? How was it possible that the nurse was pointing him out as though he was the doctor who was to accompany her on the journey?

Craig’s dark brows lifted. ‘Are you all right?’ He came to join them at the nurses’station, sending Rebecca a swift, assessing glance. ‘You look as though you’re in shock.’

‘I think that’s because I am.’ Rebecca floundered. ‘I mean, I had no idea that you were anything other than a stranger passing through. How was I to know that you were a doctor? You didn’t tell me.’

His gaze was steady. ‘You didn’t ask.’

‘Yes, but even so…’ Rebecca shook her head. All her preconceived ideas about him had dissolved in an instant. To think that she had even been feeling some degree of sympathy towards him…and now it turned out that she had everything wrong and she felt utterly foolish.