His Very Special Bride

by Joanna Neil

  He began to wander about the kitchen, and her gaze followed him, absorbing the lithe movements of his body, the relaxed swing of his arms, the long legs encased in dark trousers. He stopped by the wooden table, his hand absently touching the typescript of the article she was preparing to hand over to her editor. The papers shifted, and as he put them neatly back in place his glance must have skimmed over some of what she had written. It was an article about vaccinations for people who were about to go on holiday.

  ‘How is it that you know so much about medical things?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘It just seems to come naturally—although I have to do my research, of course.’ She paused. ‘I did go on a first-aid course two or three months ago. I thought it would be a kind of therapy for me.’

  He nodded. ‘That was probably a wise move. It’s always handy to know what to do in an emergency.’

  She pushed a mug towards him. ‘Be careful, the coffee’s hot.’ She realised as soon as she’d said it that he didn’t need to be told what to do. The fact was, she was used to telling Emily to take care, and it was an automatic observation.

  He made no comment, but accepted the coffee and sipped gratefully. ‘How would you feel about taking on extra work?’ he asked, looking at her over the rim of the cup. ‘Would you want to do that, or would it be a problem because of your need to look after Emily?’

  ‘I’d like to be able to earn enough to do more than just survive,’ she said. Her blue eyes were troubled, and she ran a hand distractedly through her honey curls. His gaze lifted to follow the action.

  Feeling a little self-conscious under that scrutiny, she added, ‘I’m sure that Carol would be only too glad to help out where Emily is concerned, but I’m really not skilled at anything in particular, as far as I know, and the writing doesn’t bring in much of an income at the moment. I don’t know of anyone who would want to take me on right now.’

  ‘I could think of somewhere that you might fit in perfectly,’ he murmured.

  She lifted a brow. ‘Where would that be?’

  ‘With the ambulance service.’ He took another swallow of his coffee. ‘I know that the admin people at the health authority where I work are looking for someone to work with the paramedics—not in any kind of medical capacity but to follow them for a period of time and write a report on their day-today activities. It’s part of a regional initiative to see whether any changes might be made to improve the way we do things.’

  Sarah frowned. ‘Surely the paramedics would object to that? I certainly wouldn’t want someone following me around, noting down everything that I do.’

  He shook his head. ‘You wouldn’t be checking up on them. It’s more that you would keep a record of things such as how many casualties they have to deal with at any one time, the difficulties they have in getting to the patients, how the equipment is used, the way medication is given to patients, and then, when all the information has been gathered, experts can evaluate what might be done to improve the system. Maybe they would suggest extra equipment be provided if it would help to make the job easier.’

  ‘So it’s a kind of survey, taken over several weeks, that might help them to plan future operations?’

  He nodded. ‘In a nutshell, yes, that’s about it. I think you’d be ideal for that. You wouldn’t have to work full time, and you could probably fit it in around Emily being at nursery.’ His gaze skimmed over her. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘I think I need time to mull it over. Do I have to give my answer right away?’

  ‘No, of course not. But don’t leave it too long, because I know they want to take someone on fairly soon, and I could put a word in for you. You would have to go through an interview, but I can’t see that there would be any problems.’

  Sarah had to acknowledge that it would certainly make her life a lot easier if it worked out all right. ‘OK, I’ll give it some thought, and maybe have a word with Carol. I could let you know tomorrow, if that’s all right?’

  ‘That’ll be fine.’ He glanced down at the watch on his wrist. ‘I should go—I have to be at work in half an hour. I’ll see you later on. Thanks for the coffee.’

  After he had gone, Sarah looked about her. Why was it that things seemed so different now, so desolate without his presence in her big, empty kitchen? Her moods seemed to swing from one extreme to another these days. But wasn’t that the whole point of her moving in here? She was an adult, and she had to learn to manage by herself, to cope with everything that life threw at her.

  At all costs, she would have to avoid getting used to having Ben around. He was going out of his way to help, but it wouldn’t do to rely on him because she knew, more than anyone, how the rug could be pulled out from under your feet and a person’s whole, cosy existence could be annihilated in one swoop of fate.

  She turned her attention back to the cooker, and set about cleaning it with renewed vigour. The action helped to rid her of some of her frustrations.

  It was around a fortnight later that Sarah was due to start work with the ambulance service. She had been asked to report to the ambulance station next to the hospital to meet the man who would be acting as her manager initially, but Ben forestalled her by turning up at her front door with the fast-response car.

  ‘I’ll take you into work, and drop you off back here,’ he told her. ‘You’ll be riding with me.’

  She frowned. ‘I don’t think I follow,’ she said. ‘I’d assumed that I would be going with the paramedics in the ambulance.’

  ‘You’ll do that, eventually,’ he said, holding open the car door for her and indicating that she should slide into the passenger seat, ‘but I’ll be working with you for the first few weeks to show you the ropes and help ease you into the job.’

  She narrowed her eyes, watching him as he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. This wasn’t at all what she had been expecting. Had he engineered this whole thing? Was this just another way of keeping an eye on her? Why was everyone so certain that she wouldn’t be able to manage her own affairs? How could she ever be independent if no one was going to leave her to work things out for herself?

  ‘Did you plan all this?’ she enquired once they were on their way, heading towards their first call. Her tone was edged with a hint of steel, and if he noticed her annoyance, he wasn’t letting on.

  ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ he said, throwing her a sidelong glance. ‘It was suggested that I liaise with you initially. I’m simply following instructions.’

  She would believe that in a month of Sundays. Why hadn’t he mentioned it before now? Her eyes glittered as she watched him drive. If the suggestion had been made, it had most likely come from him in the first place. He was totally in control, supremely confident in everything that he did.

  ‘I thought you were supposed to be based in A and E?’

  ‘I am usually, but we have a rota system in place so I’ll be with the ambulance team for a month, and then another doctor will take over. Anyway, it’ll help you to have someone medically trained to guide you through the initial stages.’

  She could hardly argue with that, but it seemed to her that everything that was happening had his imprint on it.

  ‘Where are we going?’ she asked in a taut voice. ‘You do realise, I hope, that I’m not just along for the ride? I have a job to do, so some input would come in handy.’

  ‘Of course it would,’ he said smoothly. ‘We’re heading to the outskirts of town, some ten miles from here. A bus was in collision with a car, and it looks as though there are a number of casualties. We’ll have back-up from police and fire crews.’

  ‘Has there been a fire?’

  ‘No, but they’ll use cutting equipment to free people if necessary.’ He glanced at her. ‘Are you OK with that?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ she said, already busying herself with making notes.

  When she had finished with that, she was content to sit back and watch the scenery go by. Ben wasn
’t making conversation, and she was glad of that, because anything she had to say to him would probably come out wrong just now. It wouldn’t surprise her at all to discover that he had told Admin exactly how her job needed to be set out.

  The landscape, at least, was soothing to her battered nerves. They were passing through a green valley, where the river cut its way through beds of millstone grit and shale, and graceful trees of silver birch, larch and beech marked its course. In the far distance she could see a gorge, carved out of the limestone, where water tumbled over rocks and birds flitted across the blue sky to nest in sheltered crags.

  ‘We should be there in another minute or so,’ Ben said at last. ‘You might want to take a note of the type of equipment that the paramedics use, and see if they have any particular difficulties with any of the procedures.’

  ‘I imagine any problems they have would be centred on the number of casualties,’ she remarked in a stiff voice.

  ‘Yes, that too.’

  When she climbed out of the car a short time later, the first thing she noted was that the bus was slightly tipped on its side, prevented from toppling over completely by a sturdy tree on a bend in the road. Without the tree the damage would probably have been much worse but, as far as she could see, there was shattered glass around, and she hoped fervently that no one had been seriously hurt by it.

  Sarah went to see if she could help in any way, and was directed by the man in charge to where the paramedics were tending to people with cuts and bruises. She helped to give oxygen to a girl who was in shock, while Matt went to tend to the driver of the car, who was trapped by the metalwork of the door.

  They could definitely do with more people on hand to deal with patients, she noted, but the paramedics coped brilliantly, reassuring the wounded and despatching them to the ambulances with care and efficiency.

  When the girl she was tending was transferred to the waiting vehicle, Sarah went to see what Ben was doing. She found him treating one of the bus passengers, a man who was lying by the roadside. He didn’t appear to be breathing, and Ben was giving him chest compressions.

  ‘Is there anything I can do?’ she asked.

  He nodded. ‘Take over here with the compressions while I get the defibrillator ready. I suspect he’s having a heart attack and I need to bring his heart rhythm back to normal.’

  He showed her where to place her hands, and she continued with the compressions while he set up the machine.

  ‘OK, I’m going to place the electrode pads on his chest.’ He worked quickly, and then said, ‘Stand clear.’

  Sarah did as she was told, and was immediately impressed by the automated action of the machine. It appeared to analyse the patient’s rhythm as ventricular fibrillation, and then delivered a shock that was designed to send the heart back into a normal rhythm. After a couple of shocks had been administered, the man suddenly made a gasping sound, and Sarah could see from the monitor that his heart rhythm had changed.

  Having asked his name, Ben set about reassuring his patient as the man started to come round. ‘I’m going to give you oxygen, Steven, to help you with your breathing.’ While he put the mask in place, he asked, ‘Do you remember anything of what happened to you?’

  ‘There was an accident,’ Steven said hesitantly. ‘A car came out of nowhere and cut across the bus.’ He paused to suck air into his lungs. ‘We took the corner too wide, and I felt the bus start to tip over.’ Sarah noticed that he was beginning to shake a little, but after a moment he went on, ‘I thought I was done for.’

  ‘You’re going to be all right,’ Ben told him. ‘You had a bit of a scare and it sent your heart into an abnormal rhythm, but things are looking much better now. We’re going to put you in the ambulance and take you to hospital so that you can be checked out properly.’

  ‘OK…thanks.’

  After he had made sure that Steven was settled comfortably in the vehicle, Ben left him with the paramedics and came back to Sarah.

  ‘You might want to make a note of the patient’s response to the defibrillator,’ he suggested. ‘We’ll do a follow-up to show how he progressed after treatment at the hospital, and then again in several months’ time.’

  ‘I’ve already done that,’ she said. ‘They told me about the survey at the interview. One of the biggest parts of the job is noting down how the defibrillator is used and the results it produces.’ Perhaps he had thought she might not be focused, but she would show him that she was on board with everything.

  ‘That’s great.’ He gave her a swift grin. ‘You should try to relax a bit. I’m not on your case. I’m actually on your side and, in fact, this job could have gone to anyone of a number of people, but I’m glad that you were the one who landed it.’

  She absorbed that snippet of information with a faint sense of resignation. Perhaps it was true that she had been a fraction uptight that morning. He had helped her out by suggesting that she apply for the job, and he had done everything to smooth her path, and not made one comment about her truculent attitude. She was an ungrateful wretch.

  The rest of the day passed in a relatively smooth manner, or maybe it was just that Ben made it seem that way. Whatever type of callout they had to attend, he did his job in a skilled, efficient way, and his manner with his patients was unfailingly kind and reassuring.

  By the end of the afternoon, Sarah felt a growing respect for him. ‘You seem like someone who enjoys his work,’ she commented when they were on their way home. ‘Perhaps “enjoy” is the wrong word, given what you have to deal with, but you never seem to put a foot wrong.’

  He sent her an oblique glance before giving his attention to the road ahead once more. ‘I have to say that you’ve surprised me, too. You don’t seem at all fazed by the situations we’ve come across. Some people just wouldn’t be able to cope.’

  She smiled. ‘That’s one advantage I have, then. I’ve no idea where it came from, but it has to be good, doesn’t it?’

  ‘That’s true enough.’ He turned the car onto the country lane leading to the village where Sarah had lived for a while with Carol and Tom. ‘Would you mind if I looked in on my mother before we go back to the hospital?’ he asked. ‘She hasn’t been feeling well of late, and I want to find out how she got on when the doctor called today. We could stop by and pick up Emily first, if you like, and then I could drop you off at home later. There’s no need for you to go back to the hospital.’

  Sarah nodded. ‘That’s fine by me.’ She sent him a quick glance. ‘Has someone being looking after your mother? It must be a worry for you if she lives on her own.’

  ‘I made sure that someone would be with her off and on throughout the last couple of weeks. She ought to have been in hospital really but, being stubborn as usual, she wouldn’t agree to it.’

  Sarah frowned. ‘I’m sorry. What’s wrong with her, if you don’t mind me asking?’

  ‘She had flu earlier in the year, and it left her feeling really groggy for a while. Then she developed pleurisy. She’s been finding it difficult to breathe easily, and she gets tired very quickly. I keep telling her that she has to rest, but she insists on trying to do things.’

  ‘That must be difficult for you. I think I would worry if something happened to Carol or Tom, and I’ve only known them for a few months.’ It troubled her greatly that she couldn’t remember her own parents, and it seemed as though Carol and Tom had taken their place.

  Emily was in a joyful mood when Sarah stopped to collect her from Carol’s house. ‘We been to park,’ she said. ‘I played on the swings, and we threw bread for the ducks. They was so greedy.’ Sheopened her eyes wide, recalling the day’s events.

  ‘It sounds as though you’ve had a lovely time,’ Sarah said, giving her a hug before thanking Carol for collecting her from nursery. She introduced Carol to Ben, and the two of them seemed to hit it off right away.

  ‘I hear that you’re sorting out the damp problem for Sarah,’ Carol said. ‘She told me that the men came alon
g to inject the damp course with sealant, and it looks as though it’s doing the trick. I only hope that the landlord is going to reimburse you for the work.’

  ‘He will,’ Ben said. ‘We managed to hammer out an agreement between us.’

  Sarah wondered what kind of agreement that would have been, but as she was about to delve deeper, Carol asked, ‘So how did the new job go?’

  ‘It was all right,’ Sarah said. ‘As it turned out, Ben was working with me, so if there was anything I didn’t understand I just had to ask. I think I’m getting the hang of everything.’

  ‘She’s doing fine,’ Ben said.

  ‘That’s good to hear.’ Carol glanced at Sarah once more. ‘It will perk you up to get out and about,’ she said. ‘Perhaps you were right, after all, about needing to get back into the outside world—all this going out and about might help to prod your memory into coming back.’

  ‘Let’s hope so.’

  They chatted for a little while longer then went out to Ben’s car. Carol produced a child’s seat from the garage loft and, once Emily was safely strapped in, they set off once more.

  Ben’s mother lived just a short distance away, on the far side of the village. Her house was stone built, with a low sloping roof and rambling clematis growing around the front door. There were window-boxes beneath each casement window, blooming with brightly coloured nemesia and a pretty assortment of surfinias.

  She answered the door to them, and Sarah could see straight away that she was an open and friendly woman. She was much more frail than Sarah had expected, with a slender frame and chestnut hair that was fading to grey around the temples. Her eyes were the same deep grey as Ben’s, though, and she clearly adored her son.

  ‘I told you that you didn’t need to visit every day,’ she said, greeting him with a kiss, and ushering them all into the house. ‘It’s lovely to see you, but I know how busy you are.’

  She turned to look at Sarah and Emily, giving them both a smile. Her gaze shifted down to Emily, her eyes widening. ‘And who are these people, I wonder? Here’s a beautiful little girl, and from that lovely blonde hair that you both have, I imagine that you must be mother and daughter. Am I right?’