The boy’s heavy coat and the snow on the ground must have broken his fall. Simon was cradling his arm, but he was sitting up and seemed able to reply to Rick’s questions. All the same, Rick seemed to be concerned about him.
“Our house is closest, if you want to take him back there...” Phoenix Flame Jones, from Sunbeam Victuals, spoke up. He and his wife, Sage Blossom, were amongst the search party, standing out from the others in their matching Tibetan-style knitted hats and bright scarves.
“Thanks, that’s good of you.” Rick turned, smiling. “But I’d like to take him straight back to the clinic, if possible.”
“Right you are, Doc Fleming. You know best.” Any awkwardness over the incident at Sunbeam Victuals had been forgotten, as Fleur had known it would be. The islanders all pulled together at times like these.
“The roads will be all right...?” Rick glanced up at Fleur’s father.
The clinic’s big, all-weather SUV could handle this amount of snow easily. Her father nodded. “Shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll follow you, in case you run into anything.”
“Thanks.” Rick unzipped the long bag he’d brought with him, unfolding a stretcher. Simon was lifted carefully onto it, and a couple of the younger men were enlisted to help carry him to the car.
“Sage Blossom’s left some soup on the stove. It won’t take long to warm up and everyone’s welcome back at ours.” Phoenix Flame raised his voice, receiving a general murmur of approval in response.
“As long as it’s not leftovers.” Her father nudged her, breathing the words quietly. Fleur had heard all about the incident when Sage Blossom had taken her Waste Not, Want Not campaign a little too far during the Sunbeam Victuals’ Freeganuary event, and given herself food poisoning.
“Shush, Dad. You know she’s learned her lesson.” Everyone knew that Sage Blossom had vowed by everything she held dear that she would never keep leftovers beyond their use-by date again.
Hot soup was tempting, but nothing could have persuaded Fleur to leave Rick at the moment. If he didn’t need her help, that was okay. She’d just be there for as long as he allowed it. Her father was deep in conversation with Jim Brady, and it seemed that the sheriff intended to escort them back to the clinic.
Sage Blossom caught her arm. “You’re going with them?”
“Yes.” Fleur couldn’t think of a good reason why, so she decided not to explain.
“Take this.” Sage Blossom took something out of her pocket, pressing it into Fleur’s hand. “Please put it close to Simon, it’ll help him.”
“Thank you. What is it?” Sage Blossom shot her a smile and then hurried away and Fleur peered at the object in her hand. She could see now that it was a crystal, but in the darkness she couldn’t tell what kind. She put the crystal into her pocket and followed Rick over to the SUV.
* * *
The right-hand side of the SUV’s back seat folded down to accommodate the stretcher, and Rick settled Simon in, taking off his wet coat and covering him with a blanket to keep him warm.
“You’re coming?”
“Yes?” Fleur couldn’t keep the question from her voice.
“Great. Perhaps you’ll sit with Simon, then. Keep an eye on him.”
She could do that. Before Rick had a chance to change his mind, Fleur climbed into the back seat of the SUV next to Simon. Rick signaled to her father, who got into Jim Brady’s SUV.
“Hey, Simon. How are you doing?” He was lying still, his gaze fixed straight ahead of him. She took his hand and felt his fingers curl around hers. Being injured and a long way from home wasn’t easy. Fleur remembered only bits and pieces from her own journey to the hospital when she’d been hurt, but they were imprinted on her brain. She gave Simon’s hand a squeeze, needing the comfort of knowing he was all right.
Simon’s eyes fluttered closed and then shot open again, a look of panic on his face when the SUV started to move slowly. “I...fell...?”
Fleur knew that feeling too. The awful sensation of falling every time she closed her eyes. It had been the same whenever the nurses had moved her bed. “Yes, you fell. But that’s over, Simon, and you’re not falling now. Just hold onto me.”
She held onto his hand with both of hers, and Simon gazed up into her face. “Yeah... Thanks. Where are we going?”
“To the clinic. The doctor will be able to make sure that you’re okay there.” Fleur decided to be positive and Simon rewarded her with a smile, his eyes focusing on her face.
“Not the leftovers lady’s house...?”
Fleur resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. You just had to do something once...
“That was just an oversight on Sage Blossom’s part.” Fleur remembered the crystal in her pocket. Maybe Rick wouldn’t approve of her giving it to Simon...
But he kept an open mind, she knew that. She felt for the crystal, putting it into Simon’s hand. “Sage Blossom gave me this to give to you to make you feel better. It’s a crystal.”
Simon nodded, holding onto her hand and the crystal. It seemed they were both giving him comfort, and no one could argue with that.
* * *
As they passed along Main Street, Jim Brady let off a couple of whoops of his siren, and a pair of teenagers who were larking around on the sidewalk started to mind their manners suddenly, hurrying away in response to Jim’s shouted instruction to go home. Rick stayed in the tracks of the sheriff’s SUV, glancing back every now and then to make sure that Simon was all right. Soon the lights of the clinic appeared up ahead.
Simon reluctantly let go of her hand as Rick and Jim maneuvered his stretcher from the SUV. Fleur slid down from her seat, catching them up as Simon was set down on the examination couch in one of the small consulting rooms that lay beyond the emergency entrance to the clinic. She took up her place at his side and Simon smiled at her, taking her hand again.
One of the night nurses appeared in the doorway in response to Rick’s telephone call. When he saw her hurried demeanor, Rick paused.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes, but we’re busy tonight. Peyton Walsh got very upset over the storm, and her brother tried to get out of bed to comfort her and fell. He seems all right, but Alex is on his way in to check on him.”
No surprise that Peyton was afraid of the storm. She and her twin brother Connor had been badly injured in a storm on Christmas Eve, and they’d had a rough crossing over to the clinic on New Year’s Day too. That would be enough to give anyone the heebie-jeebies, let alone a ten-year-old who was still recovering from a spinal puncture wound.
Rick nodded. “Go back to Peyton. I’ll manage here.”
The nurse shot him a relieved look. “Thanks, Rick. Call if you need anything.”
Fleur knew that he probably wouldn’t. Peyton and Connor were the darlings of the clinic, brave kids whose family were struggling to overcome enormous obstacles. If they needed someone to comfort them now, Rick would think twice about calling that person away.
“You should go too now.” Rick caught her eye. “Jim needs to get back...”
And without a lift home with Jim and her father, she was stuck here. But here was where Fleur needed to be.
“I’d like to stay here with Simon. If that’s all right?”
Rick flashed a questioning look in Simon’s direction. “Are you happy for Fleur to stay while I examine you?”
Simon nodded, squeezing Fleur’s hand. As he did so, something clattered to the floor and before she could pick it up, Rick had noticed it.
“It’s... Sage Blossom gave it to me for Simon.” She could now see that it was a piece of amethyst, which seemed very out of place amongst the gleaming surfaces and medical equipment in the consulting room.
“That’s very nice of her.” Without any more comment, Rick picked the crystal up and gave it back to Simon.
* * *
Rick was used to weighing conflicting needs and priorities, but this one seemed to tear a little at his heart. Fleur should be at home, safe, not having to confront her own fears in order to calm Simon’s. But one look at her face, set with determination, and he gave in. Simon obviously wanted her here too and it wasn’t as if he couldn’t do with her help.
She hurried over to speak with her father, sending him and Jim away with a firm wave of her hand. Then Fleur took up her place again, next to Simon.
“Keep talking to him...” Rick spoke to her quietly. He’d already checked Simon’s breathing and heart, and there were no concerns there. There was no evidence of broken bones either, apart from the swelling to his wrist, and Simon’s thick clothing had saved him from any abrasions other than a few very minor ones on his face. But he was drowsier than he should be, ignoring Rick’s questions about how he was feeling.
But Fleur got through to him. She asked if he had any pain, and he answered that just his wrist hurt. When Rick checked for a concussion, she kept the lad focused and responsive.
Then Rick found what he was looking for. When he removed Simon’s shoe, he found a small scorch mark on the bottom of one of his socks, and on further examination there were tell-tale red marks on his foot and ankle.
“Simon, I’m going need to take a look at your back...”
Simon muttered something about leaving him alone, and Fleur smiled at him. “We just need to know you’re okay, Simon. Once we do, you can rest...”
She reached forward, helping Rick sit Simon up on the couch. It occurred to Rick that if he were ever in Simon’s position, the one thing he’d need were Fleur’s gentle hands and smiles to help him along. She was venturing back into her own experience of being hurt to make Simon feel safe and cared for.
He flashed her a smile, hoping that it gave some hint of how well she was doing. How much he appreciated her being there. Simon slumped against her, his eyes closed, as he pulled the lad’s sweater and T-shirt over his head, and he heard Fleur catch her breath.
“Whatever’s that?” Her eyes were wide with horror, and she mouthed the words so that Simon wouldn’t hear.
“It’s okay. It’s what I was looking for, or something like it. It’s called arborescent erythema, and it’s the result of high voltage rupturing the skin capillaries. It’s not a significant injury, and it’ll usually disappear within a couple of days. It confirms what I’d suspected. Simon’s been struck by lightning.”
The red, tree-like tracery across Simon’s back looked as if it had been put there by design, and it was almost impossible to believe that something that intricate could have occurred naturally. It was almost beautiful.
“Is this normal?”
“Red marks on the skin are very common with lightning strikes, but something as large and extensive as this is pretty rare. I’ve read about it but I haven’t seen it before. Hold him steady a moment. I want to get a photograph of it so we can see later whether it spreads or changes.” Rick let go of Simon, and Fleur supported him for a few moments while Rick reached for his phone, taking photographs of the pattern before laying Simon back down.
“What’s happening?” Simon suddenly seemed to jolt back to his senses, catching Fleur’s arm.
“You’ve got some marks on your back and ankle. Dr. Fleming says that they’re because you’ve been hit by lightning.”
“Uh... I’ve been pretty stupid, haven’t I?” Simon grimaced apologetically.
“Well, you might like to think about climbing a tree in a storm next time.” Fleur’s smile seemed to take the bite out of her words. “But don’t worry about that now. Dr. Fleming’s going to take good care of you.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
IT HAD TAKEN an hour of calm, concentrated work, but Simon was resting now. Rick had checked Simon’s ears for any damage to the membranes and performed an ECG. Then he’d taken X-rays, joking that, however hard he tried, he couldn’t find anything wrong with him, apart from a hairline fracture of the small scaphoid bone at the base of his wrist.
He’d applied an antiseptic to the red marks on Simon’s leg and the burn on the bottom of his foot, and covered them with light dressings. The strange pattern on his back had also been cleaned and covered. The quiet assurance with which he’d worked had calmed Fleur as well as Simon, who was gradually becoming more alert.
“I feel as if I’ve just run a marathon.”
Rick shot him a smile. “I’m not surprised. You were struck by lightning and fell out of a tree. You were lucky that the snow broke your fall.”
“Yeah. I think I remember falling. When I close my eyes...”
“I’m sure Fleur empathizes with that.”
Rick saw it all. He’d been meticulous and thorough in his examination, and he hadn’t missed this either. Simon’s fear and her own. And he saw too how much she wanted to help.
“Y-you just need to b-breathe through it. It’ll get better, I promise you.” She stammered out the words and Rick nodded.
“Okay?” His mouthed word and the warmth in his face pulled her back out of the dark place where falling was the only reality. She nodded, flashing him a smile.
“My back itches...” Simon moved fitfully on the couch.
“You have a mark there, where the lightning hit you. Rick’s dressed it and it’ll be okay.”
“A burn?”
“No, it’s called...” Fleur couldn’t remember. She glanced at Rick.
“It’s called arborescent erythema. Have you heard of Lichtenberg figures?” Rick responded.
“Yeah, when an electrical current passes through something it produces fractal patterns. I’ve got one of those on my back? That’s so cool...”
“Yeah. I’m afraid it’s going to heal, though. It’ll probably be gone in a few weeks’ time at most. You want to see it?”
Simon nodded, and Rick passed his phone over to Fleur. She found the pictures, leaning over Simon to show him.
“Awesome. I love fractals, they’re like... Nature and Math... Infinite patterns...” Simon was struggling to find the right definition. “Perhaps I should have it tattooed to make it permanent.”
“I wouldn’t advise that,” Rick cut in quickly. “You need to keep that area very clean in case of infection. Best just to take a few pictures.”
“Yeah, okay. Perhaps you’re right, my parents would kill me if I got an inking...” Simon frowned, as if he was trying to recall something. “Pictures... I was getting some pictures... The thunder snow. Did they find my camera?”
“I don’t know. We brought everything back with us, it’s probably with your jacket. I’ll check.” Fleur got to her feet.
“Yeah, please... I really hope that didn’t get zapped too.”
* * *
Fleur had found Simon’s camera, and by some miracle it was still working. A video of the thunder snow had survived, along with another that ended with a disconcerting lurch as the camera fell to the ground, followed by a six-minute recording of the heel of Simon’s motionless boot as he lay in the snow. Simon seemed just as pleased with the second video as he was with the first, and then his elation gave way to drowsiness again, and he fell asleep.
“He doesn’t remember everything.” Fleur finally let go of Simon’s hand and stepped away from him. Rick had been worried about her, but it didn’t come as any surprise to find that she was strong enough to deal with this.
“No, that’s to be expected. Most people don’t.”
“But he’s going to be all right?”
“As far as I can tell. Some lightning-strike victims report headaches and other post-trauma symptoms, but those aren’t universal. It looks as if it wasn’t a direct strike, the lightning probably hit the tree and jumped from there.”
“He’s been so lucky. Getting hit by lightning and then falling out of a tree—either of those things could have killed him. And if D
ad and the others hadn’t found him in time, he could have died from exposure on a night like this.”
Rick allowed his fingers to trail across the back of her hand. “Hey, don’t think about what could have happened to him. He’s okay. Think about that instead.”
She nodded, seeming suddenly weary. She’d done all she could and it was time for her to take a step back now.
“Why don’t you go up to my office? There’s a sofa bed and you can take that for the night. I’ll take Simon to the ward and have him admitted and give the nursery nurse a call to check on Ellie, then I’ll bring you a hot drink.” Rick took his keys from his pocket, separating the one for his office door from the bunch and giving it to her.
“Where is Ellie? In the daycare center?”
“No, she’s at home. When we work nights, the nurse comes and stays at our homes, so the children can sleep in their own beds.”
“That’s nice. Although it means you can’t go and give her a hug.” Fleur’s wistful tone gave Rick the impression that she might just have gone with him, and done what he wanted to do now. Kissed his sleeping child, to remind himself that everything was all right.
Rick leaned forward, whispering in her ear, “I’ll hug you instead. I won’t be long.” He wanted to hold her, and calm the fears she’d faced tonight. Stop her from falling.
“That sounds like something to look forward to.” Fleur grinned at him, picking up the crystal from beside the examination couch, where Rick had put it for safekeeping. “I know this isn’t the kind of treatment you’d regularly prescribe...”
He put his finger to her lips and took the crystal. “I don’t have all the answers. If this makes Simon feel better, I’m not going to argue about why.”
Tonight had been full of things that defied any logic. How Simon had survived a trio of potentially lethal accidents. How Fleur had forgiven Rick for interfering in her life and taken him back, making him feel whole again. But he wasn’t going to question any of it.
Resisting Her English Doc Page 12
