Marion Lennox - Wildfire Island Docs - The Man She Could Never Forget / The Nurse Who Stole His Heart / Saving Maddie's Baby / A Sheikh to Capture Her Heart / The Fling That Changed Everything / A Child to Open Their Hearts

Someone had put a row of chairs at one end of the building, and he and the elders took their places there. The crowd grew quiet when he spoke, talking with love of the man he’d known—the young, strong man who’d been a master boatman, often called upon to rescue people who had foolishly put out to sea when the weather was bad.

He reminded his people of some of the history of M’Langi that Alkiri had passed on to him, true tales and folklore, fascinating stories for two story-hungry youngsters.

And finally he asked for others to speak, and speak they did. A flood of reminiscences followed, first the elders, then ordinary people whose lives Alkiri had touched.

Swallowing a lump of emotion as he listened, he was almost glad Caro wasn’t here. Always a softie, she’d have been in floods of tears by now.

Caro …

A disturbance of some kind at the back of the longhouse brought him out of his reverie—useless reverie, in fact.

There were raised voices, angry voices, then one of the men departed, maybe told to leave by someone senior to them.

But the bits and pieces of talk he’d heard suggested the man was going to the hospital. He could see Hettie and Sam sitting with the works foreman, Hettie having obviously returned when Caroline had explained she wasn’t coming down.

Caroline!

The man was a miner …

With a very hasty excuse to the nearest elder he departed, following the man up the hill, hurrying to catch up, to get in front of him.

He recognised him.

Definitely one of the miners he’d seen the other day.

He called to him but in spite of the early hour the man had probably been drinking and nothing could make him deviate from his determined path.

Keanu was close on the miner’s heels when he reached the gate near the airstrip and there Keanu diverted from the miner’s path, taking the back way, which he knew was shorter, running now, his heart thudding in his chest, reaching the hospital and racing in, calling for Caro.

He must have looked and sounded like a madman because she reached out her hand and rested it on his arm.

‘Calm down, Keanu, tell me what’s up.’

‘Go back to the house—no, he’ll go there next. Go out the back. My villa is the lowest one. Go inside and lock the door.’

He could hear the man by now, ranting about the closure, and knew how close he must be.

‘Go now,’ he said to her, but she stood her ground, wanting an explanation.

The phone broke their stalemate and she answered it, turning back to him to say, ‘That was Hettie to tell you Sam and some of the young men are on their way. On their way where? What’s happening?’

But it was too late for explanations. The angry man was already on the hospital steps, his voice crying out for a Lockhart and, woman or not, any Lockhart would do.

‘I can’t have them coming in here—there are patients, well, one patient. I’ll go out and see him.’

Keanu grabbed her shoulders as she started to move past him, pulling her back, thrusting her towards the kitchen.

‘At least go in there and lock the door. I’ll talk to him!’

He turned away, sure the man wouldn’t hurt a woman, yet only half sure. Who knew what a man made brave by cava might do?

‘She’s not here,’ he said, meeting the man on the veranda. ‘And she’s not up at the house so don’t bother looking there. Anyway, I’m the one who closed the mine, and it was for the safety of all the miners. It’s a temporary measure until we find some money to give everyone their back-pay and start things up again.’

‘That’s what you say, Keanu, but for all your closeness you’re not a Lockhart and we all know what they can do.’

The man pushed forward, but Keanu blocked the doorway.

‘This is a hospital, not a boxing ring,’ he reminded them. ‘Let’s talk about this in the garden.’

No one moved—well, the man threw a punch, which missed Keanu’s jaw by a whisker but still served to fire his anger.

He hit back, knocking the culprit down the steps.

It had been stupid. He knew that immediately, because now he’d made the man look foolish, and that had angered him even more. He righted himself and pressed forward again and this time the punch that was thrown connected, knocking Keanu sideways against the door-jamb. He’d barely straightened when he felt a shove from behind, and Caroline stood there, hands on her hips and fury in her eyes.

‘That’s enough!’ she said. ‘Keanu’s right, this is a hospital. And you are right as well—it was a Lockhart who brought the troubles on you. But he was one bad apple. Do you think I’m not as upset as you all are?’

The answer was another roar of anger. Keanu spun Caroline behind him.

‘Go and protect the patients—lock the ward doors if you can, or put furniture against them.’

Would she do it?

No time to find out but somehow he had to protect her.

‘Caroline’s right about the one bad apple,’ he said to the man who still loomed on the steps. ‘But he’s gone now and I know the Lockharts are doing all they can to fix things, Caroline in particular.’

‘The mine’s closed—what can she do?’

‘Find the money to get the mine started again, to pay the wages you’re all owed. But in the meantime, think of the other things the Lockhart family has done for you—and will continue to do in the future. You’ve got kids. If you chase them off, and the hospital closes, where do you go when one of your kids is stung by a stonefish? And what job will you have if you don’t allow us time to get the mine operating again?’

It had certainly quietened him down.

‘Now move away, we don’t want trouble here.’

The new voice made them turn. Sam was there and with him a group of elders and young men, very strong young men.

‘Shame on you,’ the senior of the elders said. ‘You do something like this on a day when one of our most revered friends is being laid to rest. And now the feast is ready—let us celebrate his life.’

The fight seemed to ooze out of the man, although Keanu wondered if he might return.

Or worse, raid the house while Caroline slept inside it …

SSAM RETURNED TO the celebration. As guest of the resort foreman he had to stay for the feast, but Hettie insisted on remaining at the hospital.

‘You go down,’ she said to Caroline, who shook her head.

‘Go down there where people hate the very mention of my name? I know that lout was drunk, but he was probably expressing the sentiments of most of the community. I doubt if anything will ever restore our name, given the amount of damage Ian’s done—and I only know little scraps of it.’

‘Something will work out,’ Hettie said, but with so little conviction Caroline knew she was only being kind.

She probably didn’t think much of the Lockhart family herself.

And who could blame her?

‘Then I’ll just head up to the house,’ she said to Hettie, thinking she’d phone her father just to talk to him, to ask about Christopher, then …

Get back to the books.

‘You will not go up to the house,’ Hettie said firmly. ‘Not until Keanu, or Jack or Sam are here to go with you, and then only to get whatever you need, then you can come back down here and stay in one of the empty nurses’ villas.’

It bothered Caroline that even Hettie was being protective. Surely there wasn’t that much risk.

Well, she could forget the phone call, but she had to do something.

And surely all this fuss was overdone …

Hettie had disappeared so Caroline slipped out of the hospital, taking the back path up to the house in case the angry man was still lurking around. It took her only minutes to collect what she wanted, then she headed back down the track, not to one of the nurses’ villas but to Keanu’s place.