‘Corporal,’ said Travis in a stern voice, ‘I expect a full report about this.’ His eyes swept to Donnelly and Ivy gave the smallest shake of her head. She could see the exchange of glances around the creased faces. She’d served with some of these men before and she could see one of the corporals was just about to challenge Travis. He was, literally, a stranger in their midst, and since he’d flung his formal uniform aside they had no idea who, or what, he was.
‘This is our new SMO, Travis King,’ she said as a board was slid under her marine to transport him. She kept pressing on his wound as he was lifted upwards. There was another exchange of glances. But this time there were a few nods of heads. Recognition that this was the man they wanted looking after their colleagues, and they understood the command structure.
The movement up the stairs and along the slim corridors was a little awkward. Four staff were around each patient. They reached the hospital and took each marine to a different bay. ‘We’re going to need to go to Theatre.’ Ivy nodded to one of the nurses. ‘I need to scrub,’ she said, adding to another nurse, ‘Dev, take over here, and, Donna, get Theatre set up.’
Everyone moved like clockwork. Ivy didn’t need to spend more time examining the wound. She’d seen the spurt of blood when she’d lifted the jacket and the immediate blood loss at the scene, which was everything she needed to. Already another medical corpsman was stripping the clothes from the marine and covering him with a gown, while yet another was inserting a cannula and running through a bag of IV fluids.
On the other side of the room she could see Tony attending to the head wound and Travis reading an X-ray. Things certainly moved fast in here.
She moved through to the theatre. Her staff were already opening the packs of equipment that she’d need. The nurse anaesthetist was ready in scrubs and checking some notes. She looked up. ‘Marine Ajat. I have his details. He’s grouped and cross-matched. Do you need blood?’
Ivy nodded. ‘Please. I can only approximate his blood loss, but at a guess around four hundred mils. He has a fluid line up. Let’s start with one unit and take it from there.’
There was noise at her back as her patient was rolled into the theatre. She turned around in time to see Travis start to scrub behind her. Her mask was already tied to her face, so when she opened her mouth to speak he didn’t notice. Instead, he gave her a professional nod. ‘You don’t mind me scrubbing in this time, do you, Flight Surgeon Ross?’
It wasn’t really a question. It was a courtesy as other people were in the room. She gave a nod of her own head. ‘Of course not.’
He was the boss. How could she actually object? It didn’t really matter whether she was in a regular hospital setting or a military organisation. If a head surgeon wanted to scrub in, she’d be a fool to voice any kind of objection.
She needed to stay on the right side of her boss. More than that, she wanted him to be secure in her competence and know he could rely on her clinical judgements and skills. He would give a report on her at the end of this. Would he know she was in line to be an SMO like himself? She needed to make sure he could see that she was ready. She might not like the fact that Travis had walked into the job she wanted, but making sure she kept her nose clean and got a good report was every bit as important.
She held out her hands for her surgical gloves and moved over to the theatre table.
One of her nurses was poised at the marine’s arm, still pressing on the wound. Ivy swallowed. The brachial artery was usually only injured like this from a stab or gunshot wound. She had no idea what was happening with the outside of the aircraft carrier, but it seemed that at some point a piece of sharp-edged panelling had lifted and this marine had suffered the misfortune of it ripping through his arm. She could almost picture him dangling from a line at the side of the ship, being buffeted by the strong winds and being thrown into the sharp edge.
Ivy didn’t let herself shudder. She couldn’t. She was the surgeon. She had to keep steady hands and a steady heart.
As soon as her colleague lifted the current wound pad, it was likely that the area would flood with blood and she would be unable to see the damage clearly. It was a tricky procedure. Worst-case scenario was that he would pump out blood faster than she could get it back into him...on an aircraft carrier they didn’t have a never-ending supply of blood.
‘Ready with suction?’ she asked the nurse next to her.
Lynn nodded. Her eyes crinkled and Ivy knew that underneath her mask Lynn was smiling. ‘We’ve got this, don’t worry.’
The words were reassuring. Lynn had been in service for more than twenty years. She must have sensed Ivy’s slight flurry of nerves and wanted to show support, and Ivy appreciated that. But if Lynn had sensed her nerves, did that mean that Travis had too?
Ivy wanted to impress her new boss. Not because of the previous flirting. That was a whole other area she’d have to get her head around.
But, just like with Isaiah Bridges, she wanted the SMO to have confidence in her, and her abilities. She was good enough. She just needed to show him that.
She didn’t even look behind her to see where Travis was, she just gave Lynn a nod. ‘Let’s get started.’
* * *
Travis was drawing in deep breaths. He’d been in surgery hundreds of times, but he never forgot just how important it was to realise the significance of having a person’s life in his hands. Most surgeons he’d met in his life had been arrogant. There was no getting away from that. He’d always vowed never to be like that, and he liked to make sure that the people who worked for him weren’t like that either.
He watched as Ivy Ross prepared herself and conversed with her scrub nurse. There was nothing about her actions that gave him concern, or almost nothing, right up until that last moment when she seemed to pause before proceeding.
Maybe she was centring herself. Focusing solely on the task at hand. It could be that his presence was making her nervous, but no competent surgeon should be nervous while being observed by another.
He waited, wondering if he should speak, but the moment passed and Ivy proceeded with the surgery. It was a difficult and slightly unusual task. This wasn’t a surgery she would carry out every day—it would normally be carried out by a specialist vascular surgeon, but that was the thing about being a navy surgeon. Out here, she had to cover every speciality as competently as possible.
He stood silently, watching her technique. The patient was losing blood fast and tying off this artery was crucial. The number of bloodstained swabs was mounting as the scrub nurse tried to keep the blood vessel visible for Ivy to do her work.
‘Got it!’
The words let him breathe a silent sigh of relief. She turned to face him, her green eyes bright. ‘Well, that was a little sucker.’
He laughed—he couldn’t help it—as Ivy and the scrub nurse laughed too. He stayed there, conscious of the other work he wanted to observe in the medical bay. He’d worked with Tony previously, but he’d checked the rota—he hadn’t met any of the other personnel before, and he liked to know everyone on his team by name.
This was an initiation by fire, but at least he’d got to see performance of some key individuals and the teamwork in place right from the start. He’d have to look up Ivy’s file later to learn a little more about his mysterious almost blind date.
He moved a little closer and watched Ivy continue with the delicate surgery. Her stitching was clear and deft, and now the crucial part of surgery was past it felt easier to move closer without making her feel uncomfortable.
The monitor gave a ping and the anaesthetist changed position. ‘Blood pressure has dropped, heart rate increasing.’
Ivy lifted both hands and looked carefully into the wound. As she did, she spoke smoothly. ‘Let’s hang another unit of blood. I think it’s a delayed response to the blood already lost. There’s no evidence of another bleeder.’
<
br /> Good. She wasn’t panicking. She was immensely calm. She signalled behind her for a stool on wheels, which one of the staff moved closer, and she perched on it. ‘I’m going to wait before I fully close. Let’s make sure we can get Marine Ajat stabilised. I’d hate to have to open him twice. Everyone agree?’
She looked around the theatre, waiting until each member had nodded, before finally meeting Travis’s gaze. ‘What about you, SMO? Do you have an opinion?’
He looked at her curiously. It was an interesting take. Was Ivy Ross a real team player—or did she lack confidence to make a decision herself? If it was the former—that she would listen to opinions that might be different from hers—he was impressed. If it was the latter—if she needed approval from others to make a decision—then it was just the opposite and he was worried.
‘You’re the surgeon, it’s entirely your call, Flight Surgeon Ross,’ he said in a steady voice.
There was a blink of silence. ‘Great,’ she replied, spinning around on her stool. ‘Then we wait, everyone.’
It could have been awkward. But it wasn’t. Ivy chatted easily to the team around her. It only took him a few moments to remember that she’d only got here just a few days before him. Of course. She was asking the crew questions about where they lived, their families—getting to know them, the exact thing that he intended to do himself.
Apart from her eyes, the rest of her was covered. There was hardly any part of her in view, but what did seep out was her interest in her fellow crewmates, her professionalism. She asked the anaesthetist a few times for updates on Marine Ajat’s condition. The extra unit of blood started to make a difference. First, his blood pressure and heart rate steadied, then eventually started to pick up. Ivy stood up. ‘I’m going to close now, folks. Don’t worry, I’ll have you all out of here in time for dinner.’
Travis knew it was time for him to leave. He now needed to have a conversation with the commander about how an accident like this could have happened on the aircraft carrier. He glanced at the clock on the bulkhead opposite. He could take bets now that the commander had expected him to ask those questions before now. But Travis had his own way of doing things. He was going to check on all the other marines affected today and make sure he was happy with their care. Then he was going to take time to debrief Medical Corpsmen Donnelly to get a good overview of the situation, and to make sure his staff member was fine. This was his team. This was his job.
As he left the theatre he paused a moment to take a look at Ivy as she bent to close. He still wasn’t sure. Was she a good team member or not?
He intended to find out.
CHAPTER FIVE
SHE HAD THE strangest feeling that she’d done something wrong. Ivy wasn’t usually unnerved at work. She was settling in well, getting to know the staff and crew and learning the different ways people worked. Because Ivy was used to moving around, she was used to quickly ascertaining the most pertinent points about her teammates.
Usually within forty-eight hours she knew who the smart-mouthed folks were, the pedantic ones, the laissez-faire types, and the two levels of confidence—super-confident and likely to overextend themselves, and can’t-make-a-decision, continually second-guessing themselves.
The one person she hadn’t got a handle on, at all, was Travis. Others were constantly mentioning the SMO and how he’d popped in during night shift, or done one of the general clinics, but she’d hardly set eyes on him. If she didn’t know better, she might think he was actually avoiding her. But he couldn’t be, could he?
She definitely hadn’t imagined things. There had been a glint in his eye, a bit of teasing at the initial meeting. She’d half expected to hear from him—at least by text, if nothing else. But it seemed ridiculous that the guy who had taken up space in her head for the last few weeks, and taken the job she wanted, was now in a confined space with her, and there had been no contact at all for the past two days. She’d frantically texted Liz, asking a million hypothetical questions, and it was clear that Liz had eventually grown tired of her.
For goodness’ sake, what’s wrong with you, girl? Get some backbone. Go and chase that man down and ask him what the deal is!
That had exasperated Ivy beyond belief. She’d thrown herself back on her bed and sighed. Liz just didn’t get it. Ivy had plenty of backbone. But this was the navy and this was her job. She could hardly chase down her commanding officer and ask him what the deal was.
Ivy sighed and sat back up on the bed. It was the middle of the night but she was still wide awake. There wasn’t exactly much for her to do. There were some reports she could look at. The boring kind of stuff that she always left for last—environmental duties, or writing up the actual reports of the investigations that she’d done. The investigation part was interesting but the report? Not so much.
She pulled on a pair of scrubs she kept in her quarters—they sometimes doubled as pyjamas for her—and wandered down the corridor to the med bay.
The nurse on duty gave her a nod and a smile. ‘Nothing to worry about, Ivy,’ she whispered.
Ivy nodded. ‘Can’t sleep. I’m going to do some paperwork.’
‘You must be desperate.’
Ivy rolled her eyes. ‘I am.’
The nurse looked as if she might say something else but just gave a nod of her head as Ivy filled up her coffee mug and headed through to the back office.
She picked up the files and computer she needed and bumped the office door open with her bum, balancing on top her coffee and a cookie she’d found as she backed inside.
She turned around, licking her lips at the iced cookie. She hadn’t realised she was hungry, and someone had clearly bribed one of the chefs on board.
As she turned she let out a yelp. The office wasn’t exactly big and there was someone sitting in her chair. As she yelped her coffee spilled and her cookie started the ominous slide to the floor. But the figure jumped up and grabbed both.
Travis. It was Travis. And he was now wearing a soft white cotton T-shirt splattered with coffee.
The only light in the room was from a small reading lamp on the table. It cast shadows around the room. ‘Travis, what are you doing here?’
He gave an indignant grin. ‘No, what are you doing in here?’
‘I couldn’t sleep.’ She shrugged, looking at his T-shirt and pulling a face. ‘Sorry.’
He shrugged too. ‘No problem, and since you asked, I’m hiding.’
‘What?’ She thudded down into the other small chair next to the desk. ‘Why on earth are you hiding?’
‘The person in the cabin next to me is clearly having a fight on the phone with their other half. Doesn’t look like it’ll be stopping any time soon. Sleep was not an option.’
Ivy wrinkled her brow. ‘Wait, who is in the cabin next to you?’ It had to be another enlisted officer.
But Travis held up his hand. ‘Don’t even go there.’ He pointed to her cookie. ‘Do you plan on splitting that cookie?’
‘Do you plan on giving me the best chair?’
He looked around the tiny office, the corner of his lip turning upwards. ‘Let me think about it while I grab a coffee and a knife,’ he said.
He came back two minutes later with his coffee and she noticed that along with his white T-shirt he was wearing grey running shorts and a pair of trainers. It was a far cry from his usual uniform. Of course, he was a normal guy who wore normal clothes, but working in a place like this it became totally normal to only ever see people in a variety of their uniforms. She kind of liked it.
He held up the knife.
‘Is this a murder mystery?’ she asked, cupping her hands around the cookie. ‘You need to know that I actually sneaked this out of a container in the ward. It’s stolen property, so if we get caught, you have to take the heat with me.’
He nodded solemnly as he sat down. ‘Somehow I think it mig
ht be worth it.’
His eyes connected with hers and she could swear a tiny fairy ran along the length of her spine. She couldn’t help but smile. ‘Okay, but I have rules about sharing.’
He laughed. ‘As a guy with three sisters and a brother, I know I’m going to regret this question, but what kind of rules?’
She pointed at him. ‘You cut, and I choose.’
He waved his knife in the air. ‘You forget. I am a surgeon. I can cut precisely.’
She folded her arms across her chest. ‘Oh, I don’t doubt you can cut precisely. But can you cut fairly?’ She emphasised the word.
Travis raised his eyebrows. ‘Let’s see,’ he said as he leaned over the cookie. She liked this. It was totally unexpected, but from the second he’d seen her the atmosphere between them had been relaxed. Maybe she’d just been imagining that he’d been avoiding her?
‘Done.’ Travis sat back proudly, looking at the two halves of the cookie.
Ivy held up the plate and rotated it slowly, examining both halves before she chose. After a few seconds Travis groaned. ‘Come on, my coffee is getting cold.’
Ivy kept him waiting, carefully deciding which half of the cookie she was going to select, before picking it up and taking her first bite.
She closed her eyes. ‘Mmm, lovely. We’re going to have to try blackmail to find out where these came from.’
Travis nodded in agreement, although his cookie lasted two bites. ‘What brings you here in the middle of the night?’
She glanced at the stack of folders on the desk. ‘Couldn’t sleep. There’s no bar about, no movies. I’ve already reached level one hundred and forty-four on PlaySurgeon so I decided the only thing to do is work.’
He let out a laugh. ‘Level one hundred and forty-four?’
His Blind Date Bride Page 6
