Bachelor Cure (12 page)

‘There's no way we'll get the toe out by pulling.' Mike's fingers were carefully probing the little foot. ‘The whole foot's swollen now. Our best chance is to manoeuvre it free once we have both sides exposed.'

There was a thumping under the house and the sound of men's voices. The plumber obviously had back-up. The child started whimpering again, and Kylie put her face in the child's hair.

‘Hey, hush, Sally, Sally,' Kylie said softly. ‘We've got two doctors on top and a big plumber underneath, cutting your toe out. We'll be able to take the pipe to playschool for show and tell, and if we're lucky the fireman might give you a ride in the fire engine.'

‘Good girl,' Tess said warmly. Underneath the make-up and the earrings and the bravado, there was a good kid. Kylie must have been almost as scared as Sally, facing this on her own.

The change in Kylie seemed to affect Sally—or maybe it was the pethidine kicking in. The little girl lay slumped on Kylie's lap and let them do as they willed, and five minutes later the whole bath outlet and three inches of outlet pipe lifted upwards and the little foot was free.

Free from the bath, but not from the pipe.

‘Now what?' Kylie said uneasily, gathering the little girl closer, pipe and all.

‘We get her to the hospital,' Mike said. He could see the tip of the toe now and he wasn't happy. It had no colour at all. There wasn't time to immobilise it and wait for the swelling to settle before they tried to free it.

‘I want my mummy,' the child whimpered and buried her head in Kylie's breast.

‘Yeah, well, I ought to have found out where they were going,' Kylie muttered, close to tears herself, and Mike put his hand on her shoulder.

‘They should have told you. Let's not blame yourself here, Kylie. You're doing a great job.' Then he looked at Tess, his mind working over options. ‘How do you feel about giving an anaesthetic, Dr Westcott? Under supervision, of course.'

Tess met his look, and bit her lip.

She knew what he was asking here. Mike Llewellyn was asking an unregistered doctor to give a general anaesthetic to a child without her parents' consent.

If she didn't, the child would lose her big toe. And if she did…the legal ramifications were vast.

‘Tess, there's no choice,' Mike said heavily. ‘I know it's a lot to ask but I'll take all legal responsibility. I'll put it in writing if you like.'

‘You trust me?'

‘Yes,' he said, and he did. He met her look and he nodded. Yes, he was sure. Tess might be flirtatious and frivolous, but he had the gut feeling that, whatever else she was, she was a damned fine doctor.

‘OK, let's do it,' Tess said softly. She smiled at Kylie, a big, cheery smile that was meant to totally reassure her. ‘Isn't it lucky that I came all the way from the States?' she said. ‘I must have just known that Dr Llewellyn couldn't manage even a stuck toe without me.'

 

Much to Mike's relief, they got the toe out without sawing the bath pipe right back to the skin.

Tessa's anaesthetic procedure was extremely competent, as Mike had guessed it would be, and once he'd reassured himself that she knew exactly what she was doing he was free to deal with the toe.

Their friendly plumber, looking like a big green bear with his overalls covered by a theatre gown, cut the pipe again, this time half an inch from the toe. That meant Mike could work on the toe from both sides.

He applied cold compresses to the toe. The nurse—the horrible Hannah who was
so
nice in Mike's presence—applied warm cloths to the metal to get maximum expansion, while Mike carefully applied lubricant to the toe. Then, with gentle pressure from the front of the toe, he was able to finally push from one side and pull from the other.

The toe came free with a pop, and Tess looked up from her dials to see colour seeping back into it almost instantaneously.

‘Oh, well done,' she said, and she started reversal straight away. There was no point keeping Sally asleep a moment longer than needed, and there was now no drama.

‘Well done to you, Tess,' Mike said softly, looking along the table to where she was carefully monitoring Sally's breathing. He hadn't been in the least concerned about the anaesthetic, he realised as he gently massaged the little toe. One look at Tessa's confident preparation had put his mind at ease. The lady knew her job.

So now what? he thought. Now what?

It was almost unbelievable. Out of the blue he'd been granted one fine doctor—a doctor with skills in anaesthetics and trauma medicine. If he'd hunted Australia for a new partner, he couldn't have found anyone better.

Once she was registered there was nothing they couldn't do, he thought suddenly—jubilantly. All the minor surgery that he currently sent away…the road accidents that he couldn't cope with on his own…the urgent stuff. He'd lost patients in the past because there'd been only one of him when he'd needed two.

If she really was willing to stay…

She was, he knew she was, but there were strings. Or rather, there was a string. One string—and that string was emotional involvement. Hell, he could have this girl as a partner and keep his distance. He must! He couldn't think clearly when she was near. His mind felt weird now—fuzzed at the edges. It was the way he'd always known he'd feel if ever he let go.

‘There's no need for you to stay now,' he told Tess brusquely, and even Hannah threw him a curious glance. He sounded strained and angry—not as if he'd
just performed a successful operation. ‘If you're supposed to be looking after Louise's mum…'

‘Mmm.' Tess glanced at her watch and then back to Mike, her face expressionless. ‘The ball starts at nine. That's twenty minutes ago. Aren't you due to be there?'

‘I'm meeting Liz inside.'

‘Liz?'

‘My date.'

‘Oh, right. Of course. Your date.' Tessa's eyes twinkled a little. ‘Not your lover?'

‘Tess…'

‘OK, OK.' She held up her hands in mock defeat and looked down at the pathetic little bundle coming into life on the table. ‘I'm off. You take care good of Sally.' There had been no need to say that—she knew he would. ‘I'll tell Kylie that she can come in now, shall I? And her parents? Are they here yet?'

‘If they're not, I'll stay here until they come,' he said heavily. ‘And until Sally's fully out of the anaesthetic. Liz won't mind if I'm late.'

‘I'll bet she will,' Tess said softly, thoughtfully. ‘I'll just bet she will mind, Mike Llewellyn, but she won't say so. It seems to me that you have the ladies in the valley too well trained for their own good.'

‘I'd drink to that,' Hannah retorted before she could stop herself, and Tess grinned.

So did Hannah, which left Mike feeling…

Stupid?

A
S BALLS
went, it was a fizzer.

Maybe it was the tragedy of the fire the night before that was casting a pall over the night, or maybe it was just that Mike wasn't in the mood for dancing.

It wasn't his partner's fault. Liz was at her vivacious best, svelte and lovely in shimmering black and silver. Usually he enjoyed her company. Liz was a hard-headed career woman with no aspirations for emotional entanglements, and with her he could dance, knowing there was no hidden agenda.

Or could he?

Tessa's words still stung.

‘Liz, do you think I'm a bastard?' he asked, as the evening drew to a close. The music was slowing and couples were dancing cheek to cheek.

Liz was dancing easily in his arms, matching his steps superbly, but there was no desire on either part for them to dance any closer.

‘What do you mean?'

‘I've had it implied that I'm a heartless bastard for not taking out any girl more than twice.'

‘You've taken me out more than twice.'

‘That's different.'

Liz grinned. ‘Yeah. But that's because I'm also a heartless bastard. “Love 'em and leave 'em”—that's my motto. My dad was like that, and I am, too.
There's no way any man's going to tie me down. You and I suit very well, Dr Llewellyn.' Her grin deepened. ‘But don't get any ideas about us suiting too well or I'll run a mile.'

He smiled back. Right. It was fine.

It was fine with Liz, but what about the other women? Women like Hannah, whom he'd dated twice and when she'd clung he'd put away fast. Maybe Tess was right. It wasn't fair.

So where did that leave him, then? Should he only be dating women like Liz?

Yes. A vow was a vow!

Just on midnight he got another call. Mavis rang from the hospital to say Myrtle Jefferson had suffered a fall and needed an urgent house call. It seemed Myrtle had taken an hour to crawl to the phone to call for help, but when Mavis had offered to send the ambulance the old lady had become almost hysterical. She'd told Mavis she only needed the doctor. She needed Mike, she'd wept, but she needed no one else.

It was almost a relief to leave. He left Liz to the attentions of the remaining Bellanor bachelors, and Liz didn't mind him going in the least.

So… That was the way he wanted it—wasn't it?

Yes, it had to be, so concentrate on medicine, he told himself fiercely. Concentrate on Myrtle. His medicine had to be the only thing that mattered.

 

Myrtle certainly needed him. It took him ten minutes to get into the house because she wasn't capable of reaching the front door to unlock it. In the end he broke a bathroom window, to find her lying on the
hall floor by the phone. She'd broken her hip, but what was of even more concern to the old lady was that she'd lost control of her bladder.

Myrtle was rigid with mortification, and it took him a while to figure out just how much of her distress could be put down to embarrassment and how much was due to pain.

‘It's OK, Myrtle,' he told her. ‘No one's going to judge you by this. It often happens after an accident—even to young, fit teenagers.'

But Myrtle would have none of it. She sobbed weakly in distress so, despite his reluctance to move her more than necessary, he administered morphine and then set himself to fix things. By the time the ambulance arrived, Myrtle had been sponged with warm water and was dressed in a clean, soft nightgown. Her soiled night things were soaking in the laundry.

‘Now no one will ever know except you and me,' he told her, smiling. ‘And you and I go back a long way, Myrtle. I reckon you might even have changed a nappy or two of mine, so that must make us about quits.'

‘I reckon that's right,' she said weakly, clutching his hand in gratitude. ‘You were the sweetest little boy. And you've turned out… Well, your mother would be proud of you. This new lady doctor's a lucky young woman.'

‘This new lady doctor…?'

‘Mrs Abbot saw her at surgery this morning and she told Henrietta Smiggins and Henrietta told me. She's just what you need.' The morphine was kicking
in, her dignity was restored and Myrtle was bouncing back to her old impertinent self.

‘As a medical partner—'

‘No, dear.' Myrtle patted his arm and fixed him with a knowing look. ‘As a proper partner. That's what you need, dear. You need a wife, and I won't let you tell me any different.'

‘Myrtle—'

‘I think I need to go to sleep now, dear,' Myrtle said weakly, closing her eyes on his protest. ‘I just thought you ought to know…the whole valley's very happy for you. And so am I. You and Henry's granddaughter… Well, well.'

He couldn't stand it.

Tessa had been in the town for a whole three days and the entire district was matchmaking. He travelled back to the hospital behind the ambulance with his mouth set in a grim, angry line.

This was nonsense, stupid, crazy stuff. Fluff! It seemed like the whole town was going nuts.

‘Everyone except me is crazy here,' he said into the night. ‘I'm not going nuts. I'm the one that's level-headed here. For heaven's sake, if she thinks she can bulldoze me…' His voice died away.

If Tess thought she could bulldoze him, how on earth was he to stop himself being bulldozed?

 

It took a while to settle Myrtle. He X-rayed her hip and, at Myrtle's insistence, decided on a conservative approach. The bone wasn't displaced. With care and bed rest she could recover without internal splinting. Splinting required a trip to an orthopaedic surgeon in
Melbourne and a general anaesthetic, and Myrtle wasn't having a bar of it.

‘Myrtle, it'll mean up to ten weeks of bed rest if we don't send you to Melbourne,' he told her. ‘It'll take you much longer to recover.'

‘I don't care.'

‘If you get it splinted you could be up and about much sooner.'

‘I'm not leaving here.'

‘If you stay, you risk pneumonia,' he told her gently. ‘There's also the problem of pressure sores and increased difficulty of getting you mobile again afterwards. Myrtle, at your age—'

‘I don't care what I risk,' she told him. ‘I'll lie here and wiggle my toes and keep my circulation going so I won't have a problem. And at my age I'm well old enough to decide for myself. I'm staying here.'

Maybe she was right. Myrtle was nearly ninety so there were risks whatever course of action Mike decided on. With immobilisation she risked complications, but by giving her a general anaesthetic and putting her through the trauma of travelling to the city maybe she risked worse.

And she was absolutely definite. ‘I've lived my whole life here and this is where I'll die,' she told him. ‘So if there's a chance this'll kill me, I'd rather take the chance that it'll kill me here.'

‘I doubt it'll kill you,' he told her, adjusting the lines on gentle traction. ‘You're tough as old boots.'

‘Well, even old boots crack in the end,' she said wearily. ‘And now… I pulled you away from the ball. You go back and enjoy yourself.'

She was wonderful. Mike looked down at her with affection, and suddenly thought this was how Tess would end up. A feisty old lady, loving to the end.

Tess…

He didn't do as Myrtle had ordered. He didn't return to the ball. The ball would be over by now and Liz wouldn't have waited for him. She knew better than that. He wouldn't mind betting she'd have latched onto another eligible bachelor for a ride home, and he didn't mind at all.

Now if it had been Tess…

It hadn't been Tess. Stop thinking like that!

He paused in the corridor, strangely unsettled. It was one a.m. It was time he was in bed, but he didn't feel in the least tired. Strop would still be snoring. After such an exciting event as a football match he'd likely sleep for a week, so there was nothing calling him home.

He'd just check on Sally, he decided. They were keeping the little girl in overnight to make sure the anaesthetic wore off with no ill effects. Her mother and father had been in earlier, abandoning their intention to go on to the ball, but he imagined they'd have gone home now.

So he'd just check…

He opened the door of the children's ward, and Tess was there. She was sitting in a chair beside the cot, and she had Sally cuddled in her arms. In the half-dark, with her back to him, Tess was totally oblivious to anything but the toddler in her arms. She was humming the little one to sleep.

He stopped short.

For a long moment he stared. Tess didn't see him. Her face was in the baby's hair and she was crooning silly, half-remembered lullabies. She rocked and sang, and Sally whimpered and snuggled in half-sleep.

Dear God, she was beautiful.

Mike couldn't turn his head away. He couldn't back out. He stood like he'd been struck.

Tess still didn't see him. She was wholly concerned with what she was doing, and she had no thoughts for anything but the little one in her arms.

He swallowed and closed his eyes. Hell! Tess had spent the first part of tonight babysitting Louise's mum so Louise could have a chance at a love life, and then she'd made the effort to come back into the hospital to check on a toddler she cared about.

She had a heart so big…so warm…

Somehow he managed to get himself out into the corridor, but he didn't know how.

This, then, was what he'd vowed never to have, he thought bitterly. He'd never understood the consequences of his vow so clearly until now. Up to this moment, his vow had been easy to keep. There'd been no one like this to tempt him.

The thought of his mother swept across his mind. Dead… When a decent doctor—a doctor who'd had his mind on his job—could have saved her life.

This woman—Tessa—did have the power to distract him, he knew. She had the power to make him think of something other than medicine, and he dared not risk it. There was no way he was getting personally involved with this woman!

His mother deserved better than this. His mother
deserved that he keep his vow. He kept the vision of his mother in his head, and he held it as if he'd drown if he let it go. No! He couldn't let himself be swayed.

Damn her. She'd have to go.

But he couldn't make her go. The valley needed Tess almost as much as it needed him.

Swearing softly to himself, he made his way back along the darkened corridor. A nurse came out of Henry Westcott's room—it was the horrible Hannah—and she lifted surprised eyebrows at the sight of Mike.

‘I thought you'd gone to bed. Myrtle's resting peacefully. There's no need—'

‘Is Henry awake?'

‘He is,' Hannah told him, obviously even more surprised by his curtness. ‘I've just given him a rub. He's been complaining that the pressure sores are hurting.'

Mike frowned. He really didn't like Hannah on night duty. She meant well, and she would have given Henry an efficient and effective rub, but her words were often capable of inflicting more hurt than her hands could heal. And at night and alone in a hospital bed, everything seemed so much more bleak.

‘I'll go in and see him.'

‘Suit yourself.' Hannah shrugged and moved off down the corridor toward the lights of the nurses' station. ‘If you don't think you're better off sleeping…'

Her inference was obvious. Talking to old men in the middle of the night just for the sake of talking, that was a waste of time. Hannah would never do it. She'd do what had to be done medically and no more.

She wasn't like Tess, Mike thought bleakly. Tess, sitting up half the night to keep a grumpy old lady happy and free her daughter to enjoy herself, and then returning to the hospital to give a two-year-old a cuddle…

No wonder he'd never been tempted to break his vow when he dated the likes of Hannah, he thought. There was no comparison at all.

‘Goodnight, Hannah,' he said firmly, and he pushed open Henry's door. He'd check on Henry no matter how much a waste of time Hannah thought it. Maybe he needed a top-up of painkillers.

Henry was wide awake. The old man was watching the opening door with hopeful eyes and Mike smiled in sympathy as he saw the old man's face fall. That the old man was hoping the visitor would be Tessa was painfully obvious.

‘Tessa's in the children's ward,' Mike said softly. ‘Do you want me to fetch her?'

‘No…' Henry gave a wheezy cough. He fought to get his breath as the door swung closed. ‘No. I don't need her. I don't need anyone. You should all be asleep, not wasting time on me.'

Mike looked at him more closely, hearing the rough emotion in the tired old voice. ‘What's wrong, Henry? Pain?'

‘No. The rub helped.'

‘Has Hannah been upsetting you?'

‘No. No…'

‘She has. I can hear it in your voice.' Mike walked across to the bed and dragged up a chair. ‘Hannah's technically one of my best nurses,' he told Henry
gently. ‘She never puts a foot wrong, but as for her mouth… Medically she might never put her foot wrong, but when her foot's not in use she stores it in her mouth. Tell me what she's been saying.'

‘Just…'

‘Just?'

‘She's just been telling me how good the nursing home here is.'

‘Yeah?'

‘It's not a bad place to end up, I suppose,' Henry said wearily. ‘Good as anywhere.'

‘As good as your farm?'

‘No, but—'

‘But nothing,' Mike said solidly. Damn Hannah. He'd have to give her a few solid orders about what she could and couldn't talk to patients about. ‘Tessa has you all sorted out,' he told the old man. ‘Like it or not, she's dragging you back out to your farm as soon as you're on your feet, and she has every intention of you and her and Doris the pig living happily ever after.'

‘That's no life for a girl.'