In His Loving Care

by Jennifer Taylor

  Lewis sighed when he heard the warmth in her voice. ‘You really love them, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes, I do. They may not be my biological children but I care about them just as much as if they were.’

  ‘I can tell that. They were very lucky to have you. I only hope I can be half as good a father to Kristy.’

  ‘You are a good father! It’s obvious how much you care about her. I can hear it in your voice whenever you speak to her.’

  ‘Can you?’

  He wasn’t sure why that comment made him feel so uneasy. Perhaps it was the thought that she seemed able to read him better than most people could. In his former life—pre-Kristy—he’d made it a rule to keep his emotions under wraps. It had been a bone of contention with several girlfriends, in fact. They’d accused him of shutting them out, but it was how he’d preferred to live his life—without any complications.

  Kristy’s advent into his life had changed all that, and he was no longer capable of hiding his feelings to such an extent. Take what had happened recently, for example. Normally, he wouldn’t have given any thought to the amount of work Helen was doing. He would have considered it to be none of his business. However, he couldn’t do that now. He cared what she did, but he had to be sensible and accept that he didn’t have the right to interfere when he had nothing to offer her.

  It was a salutary thought and it made him see how dangerous it would be to get any more deeply involved with her. It was especially dangerous when he was feeling so emotional and it was high time he got himself back on track. He stood up and reached for the coffee-pot.

  ‘Shall I make some more coffee?’ he asked with a deliberate lack of enthusiasm. Just a short while ago he’d been eager for her to stay but now he was just as eager for her to leave. It was only tempting fate to have her in his home and it was the last thing he should do when finally he’d made some progress with his daughter.

  ‘Not for me, thanks. It really is time I went home.’ Helen smiled politely as she stood up, but he could tell that she knew he wanted her to leave.

  ‘At least it’s Saturday tomorrow so you’ll have some time to yourself,’ he replied, trying to ignore the pangs of guilt. He knew that he had to put Kristy’s interests before everything else but it wasn’t easy to send Helen away. If he’d made some headway that night towards forging a closer bond with his daughter, then he’d also managed to get that bit closer to Helen as well. It was difficult to deal with the thought that he might not get another chance.

  ‘Unfortunately, I need to work on the latest budget cuts the trust is demanding so my weekend will be spent in the surgery.’

  Lewis winced when he heard the challenge in her voice. She was daring him to say something but there was no way he could do so now. He had to stop worrying about Helen so he could concentrate on Kristy.

  ‘There’s always something that needs doing, isn’t there?’ he observed as he followed her along the hall.

  ‘Indeed.’ She gave him a cool little smile and held out her hand. ‘Thanks again for supper. You and Kristy must have supper with me one night.’

  ‘That would be great.’

  He shook her hand, knowing that the invitation would never amount to anything. It had been the polite thing to do and she didn’t expect him to take her up on the offer. He opened the door and waited while she got into her car. She beeped the horn then drove away without a backward glance.

  Lewis went back inside and set about all the jobs that needed to be done, trying not to notice how empty the house felt. He’d lived on his own out of choice for years, yet despite the fact that his daughter was asleep upstairs he was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of loneliness. Having Helen in his home had given him a glimpse of how his life might be if he had someone like her to share it, but there was no point thinking along those lines when he had Kristy to consider. He wouldn’t be sharing his life with Helen or any other woman in the foreseeable future.

  CHAPTER SIX

  ‘CAN you check how many patients there are booked in to see me this morning, Eve? I still haven’t made much headway with this year’s budget and I need to get it sorted out.’

  Helen waited while the receptionist checked the appointment book. It was Monday morning and the weekend had been a complete waste of time. She’d spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday wrestling with the figures, but she hadn’t achieved very much. Maybe it was because her mind had kept wandering, she mused, then quickly blanked out the thought. She didn’t need any more distractions that day!

  ‘I make it twenty-five.’ Eve looked guilty as she finished totting up the list. ‘There were a couple of calls this morning and I added them to your list because they said it was urgent.’

  Helen bit back a sigh. The maximum number of patients everyone was supposed to see each morning was twenty, although she couldn’t remember the last time her list had been that short. There was an antenatal clinic that afternoon so it looked as though she would have to work on the budget after evening surgery.

  ‘I could try postponing some of the less urgent appointments,’ Eve offered. ‘Mrs Hill only wants a repeat prescription so she doesn’t really need to see you. And I know that Jenny Prescot just has a cold because her mum told me that when she phoned up.’

  ‘No. I’d better see everyone if they’ve made an appointment,’ Helen told her. ‘But can you not add anyone else to my list today? And tell Janet not to do so either.’

  ‘Of course,’ Eve agreed hurriedly as the phone started to ring.

  Helen moved away from the desk, wondering if she could snatch a few minutes after the antenatal clinic finished. If there weren’t too many mums booked in, she might be able to squeeze in some paperwork before evening surgery started…

  ‘Oh, no! How awful! Yes, yes, of course I’ll tell her. She’s here now…Right. Yes. I understand.’

  Helen turned round and hurried back to the desk when she heard what Eve was saying. She could tell it was bad news because the receptionist looked very shaken as she put down the phone.

  ‘That was Mrs Humphreys from the junior school,’ Eve explained tremulously. ‘A lorry has crashed into the playground and several children have been hurt. She’s phoned the emergency services but she needs help until the ambulances get there.’

  ‘I’ll get straight over there,’ Helen told her immediately. She was just about to run back to her room to fetch her case when the door opened, and her heart sank when she saw that Lewis had arrived. He always took Kristy to school before he came into work and she could only pray that the little girl hadn’t been involved in the accident.

  She hurried straight over to him, knowing there was no easy way to break the news. ‘There’s been an accident at the school—a lorry has crashed into the playground.’

  All the colour drained from his face. ‘Are any of the children hurt?’

  ‘Yes. But I don’t know how many or who they are. I’m going over there to help.’

  ‘I’m coming with you.’

  He didn’t wait for her to reply as he ran back out to the car park. Helen fetched her bag and followed him. He didn’t say a word as she jumped into the car but she understood. He must be worried sick at the thought of Kristy being one of the injured children and the last thing he would feel like doing was talking.

  It took them just a few minutes to reach the school. News of the accident had obviously spread because there were dozens of parents milling about. The police had arrived as well and they were cordoning off the area around the lorry. Helen could see that the cab was embedded in the wall that surrounded the playground. The trailer it had been pulling had sheared off and there was a crowd of people clustered around it. It looked as though there was someone trapped underneath so she came to a swift decision.

  ‘You go and find Kristy while I check what’s going on over there.’

  ‘Fine.’

  Lewis didn’t waste any time as he raced towards the school. She saw him speak to one of the policemen before he disappear
ed into the playground. There was nothing she could do to help him so she hurried over to the trailer.

  ‘Oh, am I glad to see you, Dr Daniels!’ a woman exclaimed.

  ‘Is there someone under there?’ Helen asked, kneeling down so she could see beneath the trailer. Fortunately, the front end had become wedged on some of the rubble from the wall and had been partly raised off the ground otherwise the person underneath would have been crushed. She could just make out a pair of jeans-clad legs but it was impossible to tell if they belonged to a man or a woman.

  ‘It’s Lucy Maguire…you know, that young girl with the two little boys.’

  ‘Lucy? But I didn’t think her children were old enough to go to school,’ Helen exclaimed.

  ‘The oldest boy…Ben…has just started at the nursery.’

  ‘Ben isn’t under there as well, is he?’ she said in dismay, peering under the lorry again.

  ‘No, no! Lucy had already taken him into school. She was on her way home when the accident happened. One of the other mums had just been speaking to her and Lucy had told her that she’d left the other little mite with a neighbour.’ The woman sighed. ‘Thank heavens for small mercies is all I can say.’

  Helen silently agreed. However, her main concern was to find out how badly injured Lucy was. She got up and walked around the lorry but there was no easier way to get to the girl. She would have to crawl underneath and just hope it was securely lodged on those stones.

  Shrugging off her coat, she knelt down and slithered into the gap, trying to blot out the thought of what could happen if the trailer shifted. There was just enough room for her to crawl over to Lucy. The girl was lying on her front and there was blood trickling out of her ear. Helen knew it could be the result of a serious head trauma and that she needed to get her out of there as quickly as possible.

  She hurriedly checked Lucy for any other signs of injury but she couldn’t find anything. As for spinal damage, that was something she couldn’t rule out. It meant that not only would they have to get Lucy out as quickly as possible, but they would need to do so in a way which wouldn’t exacerbate any existing injury. As she crawled out from under the trailer, she realised how difficult it was going to be.

  ‘How is she?’

  She looked up in surprise when she heard Lewis’s voice. ‘You were quick. Is Kristy all right?’

  ‘She’s fine. She was in the classroom when the accident happened.’

  ‘That’s great!’ she declared, then suddenly sobered. ‘What about the other children? Do you know how many have been injured?’

  ‘Just three, and they’ve only got a few minor cuts and bruises. I checked them over while I was there and they’re going to be fine. One of the mums has a broken leg as well, but that’s it.’

  And the driver?’

  ‘Dead.’ His tone was sombre. ‘It looks as though he might have suffered a heart attack. It would explain why this happened, wouldn’t it? The poor chap probably couldn’t do anything to prevent it.’

  ‘It sounds likely,’ she agreed sadly. ‘Still, it could have been a lot worse if most of the children hadn’t been in school.’

  ‘It certainly could.’ He glanced at the trailer. ‘What have we got here?’

  ‘One of the mums is trapped underneath. It’s Lucy Maguire, little Josh’s mum—remember?’

  ‘Of course I remember her. How is she?’

  ‘It’s difficult to tell how badly injured she is because there’s very little room under there. She’s bleeding from her ears, though, so I’m assuming she’s suffered a head injury. I can’t find any obvious signs of fractures to her limbs, but I can’t rule out spinal damage.’

  ‘Which means we’re going to have to handle her with kid gloves.’ He crouched down and peered under the trailer. ‘Would it be possible to get a cervical collar on her? It would help if we could stabilise her neck before we tried to move her.’

  ‘She’s lying on her front and I honestly don’t think it’s possible. There isn’t enough room to roll her over so we’d have to lift her head to fit a collar and we can’t take that risk.’

  ‘Then we need to ensure that she doesn’t try to move. I take it that she’s unconscious?’

  ‘At the moment, yes.’

  ‘Then we’d better sedate her before we do anything else.’

  He stripped off his jacket and dropped it on the ground then removed his tie. Helen hastily averted her eyes as he undid the top button of his shirt. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t seen a man undressing before so why did she feel all tingly because Lewis had undone a single shirt button? It was impossible to answer that question so she decided to err on the side of caution and look the other way.

  ‘Helen?’

  Helen flushed when she heard the quizzical note in his voice. However, there was no way that she was prepared to explain why she’d been staring into space so she ignored it. ‘You won’t have much room to manoeuvre once you’re under there,’ she told him briskly, crouching down. ‘And the worst bit is trying to get under the front axle—there’s barely enough room to slither through the gap.’

  ‘So long as I can get a needle into her. That’s all I’m aiming for.’

  His tone was bland so she couldn’t blame it for the shiver that raced through her. When he crouched down beside her, she carefully moved out of his way so there’d be less risk of them touching. He shot her a wry look and her heartbeat quickened when she realised that he’d noticed what she’d done.

  ‘You don’t have to worry about getting muck all over me. I’ll be in the same state as you after I’ve been under there. The things we do for fun, eh?’

  He looked pointedly at her and she gasped when she realised that her once pristine blouse was filthy from crawling under the lorry. Lifting the hem of the blouse, she sniffed at the sticky gunk that was spattered all over its front and grimaced. ‘Oh, that is so disgusting! What on earth is it?’

  Lewis leant forward until his nose was no more than a scant inch away from her right breast. ‘Essence of farm manure with just a soupçon of diesel…. That’s a point—I wonder if the fuel tank has ruptured?’

  Helen held herself rigid. Even if she tried to back away, there was always a chance that his face and her breast would come into contact. ‘I didn’t notice any diesel leaking from it,’ she said in a tight little voice.

  ‘Maybe it didn’t come from the lorry, then. It could be a patch of oil that’s been spilt on the road at some time.’ He straightened abruptly and she saw a rim of colour run along his cheekbones. ‘I’ll try to avoid it.’

  With that, he slid under the trailer, inching his way forward until only his feet were visible. Helen bit her lip as a dozen emotions hit her all at once. Dealing with this awareness she felt whenever he was around was one thing. However, knowing that he was just as aware of her was something entirely different.

  Her own sexuality was something she’d thought very little about in the past twelve years. Once she’d married Ian, her role in life had been secure, but she was no longer that person now. She was a woman in her own right, who—she’d discovered—had needs that couldn’t be satisfied by her work. She wanted more than just her job, so much more that her head started buzzing as the enormity of what she wanted hit her.

  She wanted to be thought of as a woman again.

  She wanted to find out if those bells and whistles she’d dreamed about once upon a time were only to be found in fiction.

  She also yearned for a child of her own, although maybe that was a dream too far, one which would always elude her. However, the fact that she had admitted her deepest longings showed how much she had changed, and it was all because of Lewis. He’d made her confront her feelings instead of burying them, as she had been doing. It scared her to know how great an influence he had on her.

  ‘I think I can manage to give her the shot if you could pass it to me once I’m in position.’

  Lewis was trying his best to behave as though nothing had happened but he coul
dn’t believe how stupid he’d been. Bending down to sniff Helen’s blouse had been an act of madness! His blood heated as he recalled how his face had been poised above her breast and he groaned. That memory was going to haunt him for many nights to come!

  ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to do it?’

  ‘No, it’s OK.’ He blanked out the thought and made himself focus on what needed to be done. ‘My arms are longer than yours so it will be easier for me to reach her.’

  ‘Fine.’

  Helen didn’t argue as she drew up a shot of morphine and he breathed a sigh of relief. From this point on he would be far more careful what he did. ‘I’m going back under there while you sort that out. I’ll need to cut through her clothing before I can give it to her so I may as well get it done now.’

  He took a pair of scissors out of his case and crawled under the lorry again, wincing when he felt something sticking into his ribs. There was a lot of debris about and it wasn’t easy to find a clear route to get to Lucy. He’d almost reached her when her eyes suddenly opened, so he hurriedly stretched out his arm and grasped her hand.

  ‘Lie still! It’s absolutely vital that you don’t try to move.’

  ‘What’s happened? Where am I?’

  She attempted to turn her head and he quickly placed his free hand on the back of her neck to stop her moving. ‘You’ve been in an accident, Lucy, and you need to keep very, very still.’

  ‘An accident?’ she repeated uncertainly.

  Lewis inched himself forward until he was in a better position to control the situation if she started to panic. ‘A lorry ran off the road and knocked you over. You’re trapped under the trailer. The fire brigade is on its way and they’ll soon get you out. In the meantime, I’m going to give you an injection—’

  ‘No! I don’t want any injections. I hate needles!’

  There was real terror in her voice now and he frowned. The last thing he wanted was for her to get so agitated. Until they knew for certain whether she’d damaged her spine, they had to take every precaution possible.