Once Upon a Christmas

He gave the morphine and then put a cannula into the other arm and looked at Bryony. ‘OK, let’s get some fluid into her and get her covered or she’ll get hypothermia from the cold water.’

He and Bryony worked together, each anticipating the other’s needs, until finally the little girl was stabilised and in the ambulance.

‘I’ll go with her,’ Jack said. ‘Meet me at the hospital when you’ve dropped Lizzie at your mother’s.’

‘I want to come, too,’ Lizzie said firmly, and Bryony shook her head.

‘Sweetheart, no.’

‘Bring her,’ Jack said firmly. ‘I’ll run her home later. She can wait in the staffroom.’

He dug in his pocket and produced his car keys, a wry smile playing around his firm mouth. ‘If you prang my car, Blondie, you’re history.’ Handing the keys to Lizzie, he jerked his head towards the front of the house. ‘Go and wait for your mother by the car, sweetheart.’

Lizzie did as she was told and Jack took Bryony by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. ‘She’s just seen her best friend horribly burned,’ he said quietly. ‘That is going to stay with her a long time and will be easier to bear if she knows she did something to help. Trust me on this one. She’s tough, our Lizzie. She’ll be fine. But do it my way.’

Bryony swallowed and nodded, knowing that whatever they did now the trauma had already happened for Lizzie. Maybe it was best for her to be involved.

Anne’s parents came over, her mother clinging to her husband, her face streaked with tears.

‘Can we go in the ambulance with her?’

Jack exchanged glances with one of the paramedics and then nodded. ‘Of course. But try and be calm. I know it’s a terrible shock but she needs you to be strong. If she sees you panicking, then she’ll panic, and I don’t want her any more scared than she is already.’

Bryony waited while they loaded Annie into the ambulance and then she joined Lizzie by Jack’s car.

She pressed the remote to unlock the door and gave a short laugh. Now she knew it was an emergency. There was no other reason that Jack would have let her near his precious sports car—he never let anyone drive it.

She strapped Lizzie in the front seat and slid into the driver’s seat, telling herself that it was only a car. Exactly like her car really, except that it was capable of ridiculous speed and cost about fifteen times as much.

She started the engine and flinched as the car gave a throaty growl. ‘Boys with toys,’ she muttered disparagingly, finding first gear and carefully pulling out of the driveway onto the road. She just hoped she didn’t meet any other traffic on the way to hospital.

When she arrived she settled Lizzie in the staffroom, promising to come back and update her as soon as possible.

Jack was already in Resus, along with Sean Nicholson and a full team of staff. Jack was barking out instructions as he worked to stabilise Annie.

‘Can someone check her weight with her parents?’

‘I’ve just done it.’ Bryony hurried into the room and reached in her pocket for a calculator. ‘I’ve worked out 4 mils of fluid per kilogram multiplied by the percentage of the burn. Do you have that yet?’

‘Just doing it. My estimate is twenty-two per cent,’ Jack said, glancing up at her. ‘Are you OK?’

Bryony nodded and studied the Lund and Browder charts that helped them to assess the area of the burn according to age. ‘You’re about right, Jack,’ she said lightly, feeding the numbers into her calculator. ‘I make it twenty-two per cent.’

She worked out the volume of fluid and showed her calculation to Jack.

‘Right.’ He gave a nod. ‘So she needs that in twenty-four hours, but we need to give her half in the first eight hours and monitor her urine output. I want her to have a combination of crystalloid and colloid.’

‘Catheter is in,’ Nicky said quickly, ‘and I’ve started a chart.’

‘Great. Can you test her urine? And, Bryony, we need to take some bloods before she’s transferred. Cross-matching, FBC, COHb, U and Es, glucose and coagulation.’

Bryony reached for the appropriate bottles. ‘You’re sending her to the burns unit?’

Jack nodded. ‘The helicopter is waiting to take her as soon as we give the word. I’ve spoken to the consultant, he’s waiting for her.’

Bryony took the samples and then went to talk to Annie. The little girl was drifting in and out of sleep, hardly aware of what was going on around her.

‘I gave her some sedation,’ Jack said softly, covering the last of the burns and then giving Nicky a nod. ‘OK. Let’s go.’

‘Are you going with her?’

He nodded. ‘Take Lizzie home in my car. I’ll see you later.’

‘How will you get home?’

‘I’ll get the paramedics to drop me at your place, or I’ll grab a taxi.’ He shrugged, totally unconcerned, and she nodded.

‘Fine. I’ll see you later. Do you want me to talk to Annie’s parents?’

‘I’ll do it,’ Sean said immediately. ‘That way you can get home with your little girl and Jack can get loaded into the helicopter.’

Bryony was tucking Lizzie into bed when she heard the doorbell. ‘That will be Jack.’

She dropped a kiss on Lizzie’s forehead and went to answer the door, praying that Annie’s condition hadn’t worsened during the transfer.

‘How is she?’

Jack strolled into her house and gave a shiver, and it was only then that she remembered that he’d used his jacket to put out the flames and that he’d been working only in a jumper. He must be freezing.

‘Come and sit by the fire,’ she urged, and he did as she’d suggested, stretching out his hands towards the flames.

‘It’s nice and warm in here.’ He looked at her. ‘Is my girl asleep?’

Bryony shook her head, her expression troubled. ‘No. She’s very upset by it all.’

‘Of course she is.’ His jaw tightened. ‘I’ll talk to her.’

They both walked towards Lizzie’s bedroom and Jack strolled in and settled himself on the edge of the bed.

‘Hi, there.’ His voice was soft and Lizzie stared up at him, her eyes huge in her pretty face.

‘Hi, Jack.’ Her smile was shaky. ‘Annie is very badly hurt, isn’t she?’

Jack hesitated. ‘She is pretty badly hurt,’ he agreed, and Bryony mentally thanked him for not lying. She knew that Annie’s condition was serious and if anything happened to the little girl, she didn’t want Lizzie to feel that they’d been dishonest.

‘Is she going to die?’ Lizzie’s voice trembled and Jack shook his head.

‘No, sweetheart. I’m sure she isn’t going to die. I’ve just taken her to a special hospital where they know all about burns.’