Undressed by the Rebel: The Honourable Maverick

It was ridiculous to feel like he was being excluded from something important. What did he want? To accompany Ellie and Mouse to the shops so that people would think it was his baby? So he could feel some kind of fatherly pride?

This had to stop.

‘I’d better get back to work. My couple of hours’ cover for this morning has about run out. Text me if you need anything other than fish and chips when I’m on the way home. You’ve got my mobile number?’

‘Yes.’ Ellie was smiling again. ‘Go, Max. You’re needed at work.’

Meaning he wasn’t needed here?

This was good. One step closer to discharging the responsibility he’d taken on when Ellie had stepped into his life.

Max went. Quickly. Before he had time to register any more inappropriate reactions let alone try to analyse them.

Ellie watched the SUV pull away, leaving the space in front of her unit empty.

It felt empty inside, too. She was alone with her baby. Really alone this time. No bell to push to summon assistance. No medical staff walking past her door at frequent intervals or the familiar, safe sounds of a busy hospital.

Max would be back later, though, and Ellie was determined to show him how well she could cope. That she was worth the effort he’d already put in to helping her.

For the next few hours, Ellie coped very well. She arranged her things in the unit, which made it feel more like her own space. She made up the bassinette with the cute sheets that had little, yellow ducks embroidered on the edges. She arranged baby clothes in a drawer and positioned nappies and wipes beside the padded change mat. When Mouse woke up, she fed and then washed her, putting her into a new set of her birthday clothes. She took her daughter around the unit, telling her about every item of furniture and what grown-ups used them for and when she fell asleep again, she was happy to go into her new bassinette and Ellie flopped onto the big bed and slept deeply for some time herself.

She was woken by the sound of a television set coming on loudly next door. For a moment, she lay totally bemused by where she was and desperately wanting to simply roll over and go back to sleep but then she remembered and staggered into the bathroom to splash water on her face, hoping to wake herself up properly before Mouse needed attention or, worse, Max turned up with dinner.

The cold water didn’t seem to help much. Ellie’s legs felt like lead, her eyes were gritty and her brain distinctly foggy still. She pushed damp strands of her fringe out of her eyes as she dried her face. She was well overdue for a haircut. Maybe she should just chop it all off because finding the energy to brush it right now was just too hard. Dropping the towel, Ellie raised her gaze wearily to the mirror to consider the option.

Oh…Lord, she looked awful.

She’d lost a lot more weight than she should have by giving birth, thanks to being so ill for several days. Her face looked pale and pinched. Her hair was lank and the oversized sweatshirt that had been useful in helping disguise her pregnancy was totally swamping her now. She looked like a street kid. A homeless person. About as far from a competent new mother as it would be possible to look. It was a pathetic picture and, for a long moment, Ellie was swamped by more than the sweatshirt.

She was homeless. The future was a chasm of the unknown. She wasn’t even here under her own name and she couldn’t afford not to hide her existence. Until she escaped the country she was going to be afraid of discovery. Terrified of Marcus tracking her down. Of something happening that might separate her from her precious baby.

A door slammed upstairs and the sound of angry pounding began again. The wail of a siren could be heard from the main road advertising the urgency of some emergency situation. The tension was contagious. In a sudden panic, Ellie dashed from the bathroom. How could she have left Mouse unattended, even for a moment? Had she even locked the sliding door before she fell asleep?

Her heart pounding, she stood by the bassinette and looked down at the peaceful, innocent face of the sleeping baby. She had to fight the urge to snatch Mouse up into her arms so she hugged herself tightly instead.

Huge, hot, painful tears rolled down her face.

She wanted to be somewhere else. She wanted to feel healthy and full of energy. She wanted, more than anything, just to feel safe. To know that her baby was safe.

She wanted…Max.

Nothing felt this bad when he was close. He gave her strength. Made her feel…too much. Alive. Optimistic. Safe.

As if to underline the difference in the space she was in without Max, the noise overhead increased. There were crashing noises, an ominous moment of silence and then a cry of pain. A moment later, simultaneously, came a woman’s scream and a large, dark shape hurtled down past Ellie’s glass door.

The screaming continued but, by some miracle, it wasn’t waking Mouse. Ellie ran to make sure her door was locked but, when she tugged the net curtain aside to expose the doorhandle, she gasped in horror.

The dark shape hadn’t been a piece of furniture being tipped over the balcony, as she’d assumed. Sprawled exactly where Max had parked his car earlier was the body of a man, one jeans-clad leg at an awkward angle and a heavily tattooed arm bent under his head. Ellie could see the manager running from the motel office. The older man stopped and stared, his jaw sagging. The woman upstairs was still screaming.

The scene looked frozen. The man on the ground wasn’t moving. Neither was the motel manager. Ellie yanked her door open.

‘Call an ambulance,’ she shouted at the manager. ‘And the police.’

‘No-o-o…’ The screaming upstairs morphed into words. ‘It was an accident. I didn’t mean to. Oh, my God…Nigel…’ Ellie heard the footsteps of the woman as she ran along the balcony to the stairs, sobbing now. ‘You’re not dead. Please don’t be dead…’

Was he dead? Ellie’s blood ran cold. She didn’t want to be here with her innocent child with a dead man outside their door. The motel manager had vanished back into his office, presumably to call the emergency services. Other people were emerging from their units but they all looked unsure of what they should do. Maybe she was the only person here who had any medical training.

With a desperate glance at her sleeping baby for another heartbeat, Ellie stepped through her door and pulled it closed behind her. The least she could do was make sure the man had a patent airway and to keep his C-spine protected for the few minutes it might take for an ambulance to arrive.

‘Hello…’ She crouched beside the sprawled figure and touched his shoulder. ‘Can you hear me?’

She hadn’t expected a response. Falling from the second floor onto concrete was a recipe for a severe head injury and spinal trauma, if not instant death. Carefully, she tilted his chin just far enough to ensure his airway was open and then she bent, her cheek close to his mouth to feel for a puff of breath, her fingers on his neck to feel for a pulse and her eyes watching for any chest movement.

The woman was beside her now, sobbing uncontrollably as she dropped to her knees.

‘Don’t touch him,’ Ellie warned. ‘We don’t want to move him in case he’s got spinal injuries.’

‘He’s dead,’ the woman sobbed. ‘I killed him. Oh…God…’

‘He’s not dead. He’s breathing quite well and he’s got a good pulse.’ She looked up at the gathering crowd. ‘Can someone find a blanket, please? And maybe some towels? And check that an ambulance is on the way.’

‘It’s coming.’ The motel manager appeared again. ‘They’ll be here as soon as they can.’

‘Good. Can you put your hands on his head, like this…?’ Ellie showed him how to support the man’s neck. ‘Keep him as still as you can. When we get a towel I’ll make a padding to help. I’m going to check for any bleeding.’

Someone ran towards them with a pile of towels and some plastic shopping bags.

‘I couldn’t find any gloves,’ the middle-aged woman said breathlessly, ‘but I did a first-aid course and they said bags were good.’

‘Thanks.’ The word was heartfelt. Ellie hadn’t thought enough about her own safety. She put bags over her hands and a heartbeat later one was covered in blood. The man was bleeding heavily from a wound on the underside of his arm. Ellie turned the limb and a spurt of blood from a large laceration made it obvious an artery was involved. She covered the wound with her hand and pressed down hard. The rest of her survey would have to be visual. She couldn’t see any more blood but there was an obvious, open fracture to his ankle. She needed something to cover it to help prevent infection. The man needed covering as well. If he was going into shock he needed to be kept warm.

‘How did it happen?’ someone was asking in a horrified tone.

‘I saw him having another fight with his missus,’ another voice answered. ‘She went at him with something and he kind of rolled over the balcony railing.’

‘Probably a knife, by the look of that arm. Has someone called the cops?’

‘They’re on the way.’ The motel manager sounded grim.

‘They’ve got kids, haven’t they? Maybe someone better check on the poor little blighters.’

The woman had buried her face in her hands and was rocking back and forth, crying hysterically.

‘Mummy?’ A frightened voice came from overhead. ‘What are you doing? Darren’s crying. He’s scared…’

Ellie glanced up to see the terrified face of a small girl who was crouched down and peering through the railings. It was a stark reminder that there were children involved here. She couldn’t afford to forget about her own child either. Mouse was due to wake up any time now and the thought of her being alone in the unit and crying for her mother was unbearable. But she couldn’t leave. She had pressure on an arterial bleed and she couldn’t let go.

The voices of the people surrounding her began to blur into a muttering that merged with the wailing of the distraught woman and the cries of the children upstairs. Ellie’s fingers in the plastic bag slipped for an instant and a fresh well of blood appeared. It made her feel faint. Dizzy.