Breaking The Drought (24 page)

‘Do you still have your appendix?'

Jenna nodded, barely able to speak through the pain.

‘I think you have appendicitis. If I'm right you'll need immediate surgery. I'm calling an ambulance to take you to the Alfred Hospital.' He immediately started tapping the screen on his phone.

She opened her eyes. ‘Luke, I'm scared.'

‘It's okay. You'll be fine. I'll stay with you and I promise I won't let anything bad happen.' He held a finger up, gesturing for her to wait while he spoke to the emergency services operator. ‘Ambulance please.' He paused for a moment and then said, ‘This is Dr Luke Tanner. I have a patient here with suspected appendicitis, possibly peritonitis. I need an ambulance immediately.'

Luke shifted uncomfortably on the hard plastic chair. He'd had to pull the “I'm a doctor” routine to be allowed to stay in ICU with Jenna overnight. Luckily one of the registrars on duty recognised him from university, otherwise he may not have managed to pull it off.

She'd lost consciousness in the ambulance, which although worrying, was probably a blessing considering the pain she was in. Unfortunately, by the time the surgeon opened her up, her appendix had burst. Thankfully she'd had the sense to call him and had not tried to wait it out until morning. God knows what might have happened.

He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and tried to refrain from going any further with that particular train of thought. Jenna was going to be fine. She'd spend a day or two in ICU and then head down to the ward for a few days. By then the antibiotics would have worked their magic and she'd be feeling a whole lot better.

‘How's she doing?' The nurse's voice startled him.

‘Fine, I think. All her vitals are good.'

‘She hasn't woken?'

He shook his head. ‘Not really. She stirred about half an hour ago, but she hasn't been fully lucid yet.'

‘I'll give her a little longer but if she's not rousing soon, we might try to wake her.'

Luke nodded as the nurse completed the chart at the end of Jenna's bed.

‘Let me know if she wakes.' The nurse headed off to the next cubicle.

‘Luke?'

He turned to see Jenna struggling to sit up.

‘Hey, you. How are you feeling? Don't try to sit up, I'll adjust the bed for you.' He rushed to the head of the bed and fiddled with the mechanism until Jenna was comfortably propped up.

‘Did they take my appendix out?' Her voice was small and raspy; a side effect from being intubated during surgery.

Luke nodded. ‘Unfortunately it had already burst. That's why you're hooked up to those tubes. One's to keep you hydrated and the other is pumping in industrial strength antibiotics to ward off the infection.'

Her eyes were glassy and a bewildered expression had settled upon her face. He was bombarding her with too much information. ‘You're going to be fine, Jen. I promise.' He took her pale hand in his own. ‘In a few days you'll be as good as new.'

She nodded and sank back against the pillows. ‘I'm so glad you're here,' she said, as her eyelids drooped.

‘Shh, you rest now. I'm just going to let the nurse know you're awake. I'll be back in a minute.' He hesitated for a moment before planting a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

The next time Jenna woke there was a nurse standing beside her bed. No sign of Luke. Perhaps she had only dreamed he was here earlier?

‘Good morning. I'm Sally. I'll be looking after you this morning. How are you feeling?'

‘Like I've been hit by a truck.'

Sally laughed. ‘You'll feel a bit sore today, but we'll do our best to manage your pain. I'll have the doctor come and see you soon and he can write up some extra pain relief for you.'

‘Thank you.'

‘Oh by the way, your boyfriend asked me to let you know he'll be back this afternoon.'

‘Boyfriend?'

‘Dr Tanner. Oh, sorry, is he your husband? I noticed you have different surnames so I just assumed.'

‘That's okay. He's neither. We're just…friends.'

Sally raised her eyebrows. ‘Really? Wow, could have fooled me. He's been mighty worried about you. Night shift girls said he didn't leave your side all night. You must be good friends.'

Jenna shrugged. ‘I guess.'

‘Well, in any case he said something about heading over to the Royal Women's Hospital to collect his nephew. He said to tell you he'd be back as soon as he could.'

Jenna smiled. ‘Thanks. His nephew was born prematurely. He's being released from hospital today. Luke promised his sister-in-law he'd be on hand for the homecoming. I guess she's a little nervous.'

‘Sounds like Dr Tanner is a pretty nice guy.'

‘Yes,' said Jenna, her eyes filling with moisture. ‘He is.' She used the back of her hand to swipe away the tears sliding down her face. ‘Sorry.'

Sally handed her a box of tissues. ‘It's normal to feel a bit weepy after an operation. Have a little cry and then try to get some rest. I'm sure Dr Tanner will be back before you know it.'

Once Sally had left her alone Jenna allowed the tears to flow freely. It wasn't just the shock of waking up in a hospital bed with stiches in her belly and tubes in her arms that was making her weep. Sally's assumption that she and Luke were together had her crying for what would never be. Obviously he did care about her a little, maybe even more than a little, but not enough to let her into his life.

Anger at her own stupidity bubbled up inside her, causing the tears to flow even harder. She gulped back a couple of sobs and tried to bring herself under control. This. This was the reason for the checklist. She'd known only too well the dangers of giving her heart away.

What she hadn't bargained on was having her heart stolen while she was looking the other way.

It was late afternoon before Luke made his way back to the hospital. A call to check on Jenna's condition had provided some good news, she'd been moved out of ICU and was now in a regular surgical ward. This knowledge had eased his guilt at being away from her side for so long. All day he'd been distracted, unable to stop thinking about her, but it had been important to spend this time with Maggie, especially now. Soon there would be a huge distance between them and he wanted to make sure that Maggie was fine before he left.

And then there was business to attend to. Tandarra wasn't running itself in his absence. He'd been fortunate enough to get his cousin, Sean, to manage the property while he was away. Sean was expecting him back the day after tomorrow but now there was a change of plans. Luckily his cousin had been amenable to a more open-ended arrangement.

He hoped Jenna would be awake when he got there. Maybe it was selfish but he didn't want to wait any longer to tell her about his day, to tell her about all the plans he'd put in place.

He found her on the fourth floor, thankfully in a single room. It took some charm and persuasion before the nurse in charge granted him permission to see her — apparently visiting hours finished at three o'clock “sharp”— but his doctor status, along with a promise not to overexcite the patient, got him over the line.

The perfume of cut flowers assaulted his nostrils as he opened the door. Jenna looked up from the magazine she was reading. ‘You came back.'

‘Of course I did. I'm sorry I took so long, but I had some things to take care of.' He kissed her gently on the cheek and sat down on the vinyl-covered chair beside her bed.

‘That's okay. I know this was a big day in the Tanner family. I hope you didn't rush off on my account.' She lowered her eyes.

‘I had plenty of time with Maggie and Joey. Mind you it was hard to get a look in with Maggie's mum and sisters all clucking about.' His mouth formed a lopsided smile. ‘I'm glad to see you looking so much better than you did this morning.'

Jenna nodded. ‘I feel better, thanks to you. I'm so grateful for your help. If you hadn't come over when you did, goodness only knows what would have happened.'

He waved her thanks away. ‘You would have called an ambulance yourself. I really didn't do anything.'

She shook her head and her eyes became watery with emotion. ‘I don't know about that. In any case, thank you for coming when I called and for staying with me.'

‘It was truly my pleasure.' He couldn't bear to watch her cry. More than anything he wanted to comfort her, to take her in his arms and plant soft kisses on her head, but he was unsure of how she would react to such an outpouring of affection. Hopefully there would be time for that later. Instead he changed the subject. ‘It's like a florist in here. I can't believe so many people have tracked you down already.'

‘I know. I'm pretty amazed myself. The roses are from Maggie and Joey, the lilies are from Brooke, and that beautiful native arrangement is from Charlotte.'

‘Lottie, eh? Good to see the Barlow Grapevine is in good working order.'

Jenna laughed and then winced. ‘Ow. Don't be cracking too many jokes. It hurts to laugh.'

‘I'll try to keep that in mind. Speaking of the Barlow Grapevine, there's something I want to talk to you about before some well-meaning busybody mentions it to you. I want you to hear it from me first.'

Last time a guy had said he wanted to give her the news himself, the “news” was he was marrying someone else. Please God, don't let it be that. Not today. She realised now she'd never loved Simon, so while his betrayal had thrown her it hadn't left her completely devastated.

Luke was a different story. What if it wasn't that he had no room in his life for love, but that he simply didn't have enough room for her? That was a rejection she wasn't up for. Not today at least. ‘You don't owe me any explanations about anything, Luke. I'm leaving Melbourne soon so I don't think you need to fear me accidentally discovering your secret, whatever it may be.'

Luke grinned. ‘Now that's where you're wrong.'

Clearly he was hell bent on spilling the beans. She sucked in a breath and tried to steel herself against whatever was to come. ‘Okay, out with it then.'

‘I've decided to sell Tandarra.'

In a million years she would not have guessed that these words would come out of his mouth. ‘What? Why? I don't understand.'

‘It doesn't feel like home anymore.'

‘But Maggie — '

‘Maggie agrees. Turns out that I needed Maggie far more than she ever needed me. She's decided to move back to Melbourne to be closer to her mum and sisters. It'll be good for Joey to grow up surrounded by his cousins, just like Joe and I did.'

‘But surely Tandarra needs to be part of that? If not every day, then on holidays?'

Luke shrugged. ‘That would be ideal of course, but Tandarra doesn't run itself. It needs someone to manage it. I can't afford to employ someone, and even if we sold off the stock, I can't afford to have the property just sitting there idle.'

‘I'm confused. If you're not running Tandarra what will you be doing?'

Luke smiled. ‘Something I should have done ages ago. I'm going back to medicine.'

Now he was starting to make sense. ‘Luke, that's wonderful.'

‘I have you to thank for making me realise it was possible.'

‘Me?'

‘Yes. When Brooke hurt herself and I had to treat her I realised how much I missed being a doctor, but I still didn't trust myself enough to consider going back to the profession. Then you made me look at things a different way.'

She shook her head slowly. ‘How did I do that?'

‘When you yelled at me during Maggie's labour and told me to get over myself, I started to wonder if I was being self indulgent by staying away from medicine. Joey's birth made me think about the possibility of going back to it. Then, last night…' His voice wavered slightly and he dropped his gaze.

‘What?'

‘Last night when you called, I knew that despite knowing everything about me, you still trusted me with your health. That meant a lot.'

‘Of course I trust you. Everyone in Barlow trusts you too. You are your harshest critic.'

Luke nodded. ‘You're right. The truth is I've been scared. It takes guts to make the hard decisions and I've been a wimp. Last night I decided it was time to harden up.'

‘Good for you. And for the people of Barlow.'

Luke shook his head. ‘Maybe not so much for the town depending on how you look at it.'

Was it the painkillers they had her on or was Luke being deliberately obtuse? Jenna creased her brow in exasperation. ‘What do you mean by that?'

‘I'm not going back to Barlow.' There was a hint of excitement in his voice.

‘Oh… I guess I can understand that. Maybe a fresh start is what you need. Where do you think you'll go?'

He was beaming at her now. Grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat. ‘Guess.'

Now he was just being tiresome. ‘I don't know. And really, I'm rather tired. Either tell me or don't. I'm not in the mood for guessing games.'

‘Sorry.' His face flushed slightly. ‘London. If you'll have me, I would really like to come to London with you.'

Did he mean…? Was he saying he wanted to be with her? Really be with her? Was this some sort of drug-induced hallucination? Or was he joking? She looked up sharply. ‘What are you saying? Don't mess with me, Luke. I'm not well enough to deal with practical jokes right now.'

‘I'm not joking. Far from it. That's where I've been all afternoon, ringing and emailing mates in the UK. Seeing if I can wangle myself a job over there. I love you, Jenna. Last night, watching as they carted you off to surgery, I was terrified. I knew then that I didn't want to waste any more time. I couldn't bear the thought of losing you.'