A Family This Christmas

Within minutes the department had returned to normal. Except for the hiccups in the next cubicle as the mother slowly calmed down, only muted voices could be heard once more.

With a sigh Jenny lay back. Talk about having the day from hell. But a broken ankle was low on the scale of urgency and really she was incredibly lucky. Euphoria nudged her despair aside. That child would’ve been saved by any of the doctors or nurses on duty but she’d done it. Her old instincts had kicked in instantly. She hadn’t had to spend precious moments trying to recall the procedure. It had been there, lying in some unused corner of her brain waiting to be summoned.

It was good to know she still had it, even though she wasn’t about to do anything stupid like go back to being a doctor. Yet the words ‘I’m a doctor’ had spilled off her tongue without thought. If she had stopped to consider that, she’d probably have handed Emma to another medic and lost precious seconds.

Wriggling further back against the pillows, she wondered what she’d do once she was discharged. Originally she’d planned on staying in Blenheim for a couple of nights and visiting the vineyards she’d gone to with Alison two years ago and having a glass of her sister’s favourite bubbly.

Did she still stop here until she was capable of getting around again? Doing what? Reading, eating, sleeping. Boring. What about going to Havelock? Her chuckle was humourless. Less than five hundred people lived there. So not her, a place like that. All too soon the locals would start saying hello, and then asking how her day was going. She shuddered. Face it. Stopping for more than three nights anywhere was so not her at the moment. But as of now she was no longer on the move.

Almost six months on the road hadn’t solved anything, hadn’t given her the forgiveness she ached for, hadn’t brought her any closer to accepting what had happened.

This road trip had just about run its course anyway. There were only two more stops to go. Yeah, well, like climbing mountainsides in the Kahurangi National Park was going to happen now. Saying goodbye to Alison might have to wait another year.

Tears welled up, spilled down her face. ‘So sorry, sis. I intended being at the place where you left me on the first anniversary.’ Now that final goodbye had been taken from her in a single hit. A little like Alison’s death. One fall off a mountainside and she’d gone. For ever.

‘You look like you could do with some company.’

Now, that wasn’t a memory. That voice was from three hours ago. Ducking her head further down to hide her face, she croaked around her clogged throat, ‘Dr Cameron Roberts.’ Who didn’t sound overly pleased to be here. Surprise, surprise.

‘You remembered, then. Most people call me Cam.’

She’d always had a phenomenal memory. Right down to the very last word Alison had ever said to her. She drew a deep breath, and put Alison to one side—for now at least. ‘You can’t find the location of the boys’ Christmas party?’

He sat on the edge of her bed without asking. At least he was careful not to disturb her broken foot. ‘Safely delivered and for once I’m not putting on the red suit and handing out parcels to over-excited kids.’

‘Sounds like fun all round.’ She looked up, momentarily forgetting about her tears.

‘Hey, you’re crying.’ He looked nonplussed, like crying women threw him.

Sure am. ‘Guess it’s just a reaction to finding myself in here, instead of enjoying that lunch down on the marina.’ Telling a virtual stranger the truth would sound like she was looking for sympathy and that was the very last thing she intended. She didn’t deserve it, for starters. ‘Don’t mind me. I’m fine, really.’

He looked relieved. Because the tears hadn’t become a torrent? ‘I hear you’re waiting for Angus McNamara to show up.’

‘Is he any good?’ Like, hello? What choice did she have?

‘You don’t except me to say otherwise, do you?’ Cam was still watching her closely, but now a small smile slowly appeared, like he wasn’t used to smiling.

‘Not really.’ He should try the smile thing more often as it turned an already good-looking face into something beyond handsome. Her stomach sucked in and her heart knocked gently against her ribs, as if to say, Hey, sit up and take note. He’s one cool dude. Except, dear heart, the man has a wife. Those boys mentioned seeing their mother. She shifted a little and groaned, grinding out, ‘You’d tell me if I’d be better off seeing a chainsaw specialist, wouldn’t you?’

Cam grimaced with her then told her, ‘Angus is very good.’ He swung her car keys between them. ‘The car’s parked in my garage, out of the way. I brought in your case. Thought you’d want a change of clothes some time.’ Thoughtful as well as a hunk. ‘It’s in the ED office until they know whether you’re having surgery or just getting a proper splint and crutches.’

‘Would you mind putting the keys in my case? Losing them would only give me another headache to deal with.’

‘Sure.’ Cam stared thoughtfully at a spot somewhere around his feet. ‘If you’re discharged, where will you go?’

She had no idea. ‘Yesterday I looked up motels in Blenheim and found heaps of vacancies so I didn’t bother making a booking. I’ll phone around when I know what’s going on here.’

‘You sure that’s what you want to do? You could catch a flight home as soon as they kick you out of here.’ The question in his eyes asked where home was.

She wasn’t answering it. ‘I’ll be fine. Lots of options, really.’ She played mental ping-pong. A motel where she’d have to get take-out delivered because of her inability to move around? Or a flight out to where? Which town would she settle in and pretend it felt like home until she was okay to move on again? According to some, home was where the heart was, and her heart was lost right now.

At the moment all her worldly possessions were locked up in a container in a storage yard in Auckland, no doubt going mouldy. She suspected that after her road trip she’d like somewhere new to start again.

‘I’ll leave you my numbers so you can call me if you want anything else out of your car.’

‘Thanks.’ The carton of medical journals could wait a month or so. The hiking boots, running shoes and camping gear were absolutely useless at the moment. Blink, blink. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It’s a broken ankle, not a catastrophe, even if you are stuck here for a while. Her gaze drifted to Cam, over his expansive chest and on down to the long legs stretched half across the cubicle. ‘How did you manage to get behind the steering wheel of my car? Your knees must’ve been up around your ears.’

‘That’s something I’m used to. Though driving a sports car was a novelty, even if only for half a kilometre. The boys couldn’t believe what they were seeing when I pulled up at home.’

‘I can picture their faces.’ She continued checking him out. Why? She had no idea.

This guy spent time in the sun. His skin had a mouth-watering tan. Those calf muscles were well honed. Her stomach squeezed. Settle. The last thing she needed right now was to get interested in a man. She had nothing to offer anyone. She ran on empty all the time. Anyway, this particular man was taken. Remember? Remember. ‘You look fit. You run?’ Why was she even asking? He’d disappear any minute and that would be the end of that.

Surprise widened his eyes. ‘It’s the one thing that keeps me sane some days.’

She’d focus on his running, nothing else. ‘That can’t be easy with only a handful of short streets or the main highway to pound out on.’ An hour in Havelock had been ample time to get the idea of how small the place was.

‘I use Queen Charlotte Drive. The hill’s a bit of a grunter but the traffic moves at a far slower pace than out on the main road. Sometimes the boys cycle with me. I’d never take them on the main road. Too many large trucks rolling through all the time.’

‘Your boys are cute.’ Where was their mother? Had she gone to the party with them?

‘Don’t you dare tell them that. They absolutely hate anyone using the “cute” word.’ Another smile, more expansive this time, lifted his mouth into a delicious curve and lightened the brown of his eyes.

‘They’re strong-willed?’

Cam nodded his head slowly. ‘Unfortunately, yes.’

‘You’d want your kids to be pushovers?’ she asked, wondering exactly why he’d dropped by. She wasn’t his patient or his friend.

His sigh filled with sadness as the smile switched off and his gaze dulled. ‘They’re a funny mix of strong and soft. Kind of nice, I guess, but there are things I wish they were stronger about.’

If only she knew how to wipe away that look, bring back the warm smile. But it wasn’t her place. They were strangers who were going to remain so. ‘I’m sure all parents think that.’ How enlightening. Not.

‘You got kids?’ His question was nothing startling, fitted into their conversation, and yet it arrowed in for her heart.

‘No.’ She’d always hoped she’d get married and have a family. That had been part of her life plan, along with the medical career, the extended travel to Europe and watching Alison achieve her goal to become an international airline pilot. Except Alison had died because she had failed as a doctor. Her new life plan was waiting to be rewritten, but one thing she knew for certain was that having a family would be a part of it. Losing her sister had heightened that need.

‘Hello, Cam. Didn’t expect to find you here. You know my patient?’ A middle-aged man strode around the curtain and stopped at the end of her bed.

‘Not really. My boys are responsible for this. A skateboarding accident of no mean proportions.’

‘Ouch.’ The casually presented man turned to her. ‘I’m Angus, your surgeon.’

She held out her hand. ‘Jenny Bostock. Should I be asking if you caught any fish? Or will that make you go a little harder on me?’ Plastering on a smile she didn’t feel much like making, she watched closely to see how he reacted to her.

‘Your timing was perfect. Dinner’s ready and waiting in the fridge at home. Blue cod. The best fish in our waters, as far as I’m concerned.’ His friendly smile faded. ‘I’ve seen your X-rays. The lower tibia has a fine fracture, but it’s the talus that needs attending to, I’m afraid. You require plates to be attached.’

‘That’s what I expected.’ And didn’t want. But there was nothing she could do about it, except rewind the clock four hours and stay in her car, instead of walking around Havelock.