by Joanna Neil
Sam said gently, ‘I expect your mum was really worried about you. Things could have been much worse if Megan hadn’t got to you in time.’
‘I know.’ Jack gave a weak smile. ‘Thanks, Meg.’
She returned the smile. ‘You’re welcome.’
‘Is your mum able to be here with you?’ Sam asked, and Jack nodded.
‘She’s staying here. She just went to get some lunch but she’ll be back in a bit. She says she’s going to get me a computer game so that I won’t be bored.’
‘That’s good. What’s happening to Jamie while you’re in here?’ Megan asked. ‘Is he staying with your grandmother?’
Jack nodded again. ‘How long do you think I’ll have to stay in here?’
Sam said lightly, ‘I had a word with your doctor, and it looks as though you might be here for another couple of weeks. They need to make sure that your leg is healing properly.’
Jack pulled a face. ‘It’s boring in here.’
‘That’s probably why your mother’s getting you a computer game,’ Sam said with a smile. ‘I brought you something that might help to keep you occupied. Do you want to see it?’
Jack’s eyes widened. ‘You brought me something? What is it?’
Sam pushed a parcel towards him. ‘Open it. See for yourself.’
Jack pulled excitedly at the wrapping paper and revealed a box of puzzles, an activity book, pencils and a jigsaw. ‘Oh, wicked! Did Mum tell you I like puzzles?’
‘I think she did mention it.’ Sam smiled.
They left Jack shortly after his mother came to join him, and went back to work, following up on patients who had been previously admitted.
‘We’ll go and have a chat with Mollie,’ Sam said. ‘Perhaps you would like to do most of the talking this time? She might respond better to a woman.’
‘All right,’ Megan agreed. ‘I’ll give it a try.’
Mollie was quieter this afternoon than she had been before. She was in a small side ward, sitting on her bed, looking out of the window.
She turned as they walked in.
‘Hello, Mollie,’ Megan greeted her. ‘How are you feeling today?’
Mollie shrugged, but said nothing.
‘Do you feel like telling me a little more about your father’s accident? It’s obviously something that was very upsetting for everyone, but I’m still not too sure what happened.’
‘He had a dizzy spell and lost his balance at the top of the stairs,’ Mollie said flatly. ‘He fell awkwardly and fractured his spine. He’s been in hospital for a few months now, and they’re not sure whether he’ll ever get better.’
‘I’m so sorry, Mollie,’ Megan said softly. ‘That must have been terrible for your father, as well as for you and your mother. Have you been able to go and visit him?’
Mollie shook her head. ‘Not for a while. I went to see him after it happened, but he looked so dreadfully ill, and my mother was devastated. It upset me too much to go and see him again.’
‘Have you talked to your mother about what happened to him?’
‘I can’t.’ She looked distressed. ‘I don’t like to say too much to her because it upsets her.’
‘Was that at the beginning, when it first happened?’
Mollie nodded, and Megan asked, ‘If it has been a few months since it happened, do you think you could try to talk to her about it again? Perhaps she doesn’t realise that you need to share your feelings with her.’
‘I don’t know if I can do that.’
‘It’s all right.’ Mollie was beginning to shake a little, and Megan tried to soothe her. ‘I understand that. It was just a suggestion.’ Megan smiled gently at the young girl and said, ‘Are you finding things to keep you occupied while you’re here? Do you have magazines to look at, or do you listen to the radio?’
‘The radio mostly. I can’t concentrate on magazines.’
‘That’s understandable,’ Sam put in. ‘It will take a while for your mind to settle. A lot has happened to you in the last few months.’
‘The hospital has its own radio station, you know,’ Megan said. ‘Patients can put in requests for music that they like.’
‘I know.’ Mollie was listless. ‘There’s no one to talk to here of my own age. It makes the days seem long.’
‘I know. It must be hard for you,’ Sam said sympathetically. ‘We’re hoping to have a new unit set up soon. If things work out all right, you might be moved there, along with some other young people. If not, we’ll try and put you in a ward where there are a few youngsters with problems similar to your own.’
‘I was hoping I would be feeling well enough to go home, but everything’s muddled up in my head.’
‘Try not to fight it, Mollie. It will come right in the end, believe me.’ Sam smiled at her, adding, ‘You’ve a lot of things to think about, but perhaps you should concentrate on why your father’s accident has thrown your life out of kilter. It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t do anything to prevent it, and he wouldn’t want you to be upsetting yourself this way.’
They left Mollie a few minutes later and walked back towards Sam’s office. He glanced sideways at Megan and said, ‘I’ve had a word with Chloe, the therapist, and she’s planning a workshop session with Ben in about an hour’s time at Jenny’s house. I spoke to your sister about it on the phone and she said that she had arranged for a friend to look after Josh. Do you want to come along? I know that you’re especially interested because he’s your nephew, and it could be useful to you to see how autistic children might be helped. We come across cases more and more these days.’
‘Thank you. Yes, I would, very much.’
She lapsed into silence, and as they reached his room he asked thoughtfully, ‘Is something wrong? You’re very quiet. What’s on your mind?’
Megan shrugged lightly. ‘It’s been a difficult day, one way and another. It was upsetting seeing Jack in pain, and I suppose I’m not sure how Ben will react to meeting the therapist in a workshop situation. He’s not very good at coping with anything new, and I’m worried in case Jenny gets her hopes up. I don’t want her to be disappointed.’
Sam pushed open the door to his office, and ushered her inside. ‘You’ve always put your sister first, haven’t you? You’re very concerned about what happens to her and to her children.’
‘She’s younger than me, and I’ve looked out for her ever since I can remember. There was a time, when my parents’ marriage broke up, that she almost fell apart. We were both very young when it happened. I was just starting my teens. It hit Jenny hard when my dad left us, and my mother wasn’t really in any state to help her. I suppose we comforted each other.’
‘What about having a life of your own? Don’t you ever think about that? You moved over here to be near to her when you could probably have got a job more in keeping with your own specialities where you were. Do you always put others first?’
‘I put my family first,’ she said. ‘I’ve always made a special effort to do that. I don’t think I would be very happy if I was to leave them to get on with it and let them struggle on their own.’ She lifted her head, her blue eyes challenging him. ‘Aren’t you the same? Perhaps you don’t have an immediate family to worry about, but I’ve seen you put yourself out to help other people. You do it every day when you stay late to help patients, when you buy things to keep the children amused.’
He gave a wry smile. ‘I don’t let it take over. I don’t let it get in the way of my own priorities.’ He reached out and laid his hands lightly on her shoulders, drawing her close. ‘I don’t like to see you unhappy, Megan. It can’t be good for you to carry everyone else’s burdens. I’ve seen you get upset over your family, and over the patients when you think you can’t help them. You do the best you can, we all do, but you can’t live their lives for them. You owe it to yourself to stand back sometimes.’
The gentle way he was massaging her shoulders with his thumbs was almost her undoing. She wanted to accept the unsp
oken invitation and melt into his arms and forget all her cares and worries, but she couldn’t put aside her concerns so easily.
‘I can’t stand back,’ she said softly. ‘Not right now. Jenny is going through a bad time, and I have to do what I can to help her.’
He let his hands fall to his side. ‘All right. Have it your way. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.’
He reached for the letters in the tray on his desk and glanced through them. ‘I need to deal with these before we can see Chloe. We’ve arranged to meet here in the restaurant at the hospital. Do you want to go and see if she’s arrived yet? I’ll be down in a few minutes.’
‘All right. I’ll go and check.’
Megan didn’t think Ben would take kindly to the workshop situation, and it turned out that she was right. He started to protest as soon as Jenny had told him what was to happen, and by the time Chloe, Megan and Sam arrived at the house he was in full flow.
His tantrum continued for the next half-hour and she and Jenny looked on in dismay.
Chloe had put out a number of toys on a table in the living room, and she was trying to encourage Ben to come and look at them. He resolutely ignored her and sat on the floor in a corner of the room, circling.
Megan could see Jenny’s anxiety growing by the minute as Ben rebelled against everything the therapist tried to do. Biting her lip, she watched as Ben flung himself flat on the floor and stamped his feet in protest.
Chloe Montgomery wasn’t easily thwarted, though. She was a determined young woman, very confident in her own abilities, and she didn’t appear at all fazed by Ben’s lack of co-operation.
‘Sit on the chair, Ben,’ she said. He ignored her.
‘Sit on the chair, Ben,’ she said again. He got up and pushed the chair over.
Chloe picked up the chair and held onto Ben at the same time. He howled and screamed and did his best to get away, but she thrust him down into the seat and held on to him for a few seconds. ‘Good, sitting on the chair, Ben,’ she said, and popped a chocolate drop into his mouth.
Perhaps he was too stunned to make any more objections, but when Chloe asked him to pick up a felt puppet he did what she asked.
‘Good, picking up the puppet,’ Chloe said, and gave him a tiny piece of apple.
Megan and Jenny watched in amazement as she rewarded him for each concession, sometimes with a minute portion of food, sometimes with the opportunity to play with a particular toy.
At the end of the workshop session, Ben was given a treat, being allowed to take out his sketchbook and use some special pastel crayons that Chloe had brought with her.
Chloe left a little while later, after making plans with Jenny for the next session. Megan and Sam stayed on, talking to Jenny and trying to bolster her confidence. It had taken a knock, seeing how difficult the sessions were going to be.
‘It will take time,’ Sam said, ‘but if anyone can make any headway with Ben, I’m sure Chloe can.’
After an hour or so, they judged it was time to leave. ‘Shall we stop by the flat and see if any progress is being made?’ Sam said. ‘The carpenters have been in for a few days now so things should be improving.’
‘I’ve missed the flat,’ Megan told him. ‘I’d just about got myself settled there when the fire happened, and it was a bit of a blow to find that I couldn’t stay there any more.’
‘I know. It must have been difficult for you. That’s why I wanted to make sure that you were comfortable at my place while the work was going on.’
‘It can’t be easy for you, having me there under your feet.’
‘I told you before,’ he said with a rasp, ‘it isn’t a problem.’
When they arrived at the flat, Megan moved apprehensively around the place, not sure what she expected to find. ‘They must have worked quickly,’ she said, looking around in amazement. ‘All the mess has been cleared away, and they’ve put in new windows, new French doors. I wouldn’t have thought they were that far off finishing.’
‘They have to paint the frames and the rest of the woodwork, and then the walls will have to be decorated. After that, we’ll get a new carpet down and bring in some new furniture. You can help choose that, if you want.’
Megan smiled at him. ‘I’d like that. It will seem more like home to me if I have a part in it.’
Sam didn’t return her smile and she wondered what he was thinking. He said carefully, ‘Do you think you might be staying on when your six-month stint at the hospital is finished?’
‘I haven’t really thought much further ahead than this job,’ she admitted. ‘Though I expect I shall want to stay near to Jenny and the children to make sure that everything is going all right.’
She sent him an anxious look. ‘I know the tenancy agreement was for six months, but I didn’t think there would be any problem in renewing it.’
‘There isn’t any problem,’ he said, and she tried to relax. He had sown a seed of doubt in her mind. Had he been expecting her to move on?
She thought about that prospect. When her job came to an end, she wouldn’t see him any more on a day-today basis. Her life would suddenly seem much emptier without him.
They had dinner back at his house, and then went for a walk on the beach in the early evening. Megan watched the sunlight glittering on the sea and listened to the waves lapping at the shore.
‘It’s so peaceful and lovely out here,’ she murmured.
‘I love it,’ he agreed. ‘As soon as I saw the house and the beach, I knew that I had to have it.’
The promontory broke up into a cliff face with tiny inlets, and there were rugged falls of rock scattered around the little sheltered cove. They explored the pools that formed there and saw little crabs hiding in crevices and found mussels clinging at the water’s edge.
They sat for a while on a flat outcrop, looking out to sea. A faint breeze started up and Megan shivered a little. It had started off as a warm evening, and she was wearing a simple sleeveless cotton top and a skirt that billowed softly around her bare legs.
‘Here, put this around you,’ Sam murmured, taking off his sweater and placing it around her shoulders. He kept his arm around her, warming her as they sat side by side, watching the boats in the distance.
It felt good to be this close to him, and they talked quietly for a while about this and that. ‘Tell me about your life at home when you were young,’ he said. ‘How did you manage after your father left? Did your mother already have her bookshop then?’
Megan shook her head. ‘She rented a small unit at the time, but I think my father leaving us was what made her decide to branch out and put everything she had into it. She wanted to do something that would earn her living and enable her to go on looking after us girls. She had some savings, and my grandparents helped her out, and she bought a shop with a property attached to it. That way we lived at the back of the shop, and Mum was always there for us.’
‘Do you have any contact with your father?’
‘Not a lot. He was always more interested in his work than he was in his family. He put in a lot of hours, and he needed to travel to troubleshoot problems in the various branches of the company he worked for. In the end, I think he preferred to stay away.’
‘What made you become interested in medicine?’
‘My grandmother was ill for a number of years. She had problems with her kidneys, and I suppose I grew up being interested in all things medical. I wanted to know what I could do to help people stay healthy, and when I did my training I realised that I was especially interested in treating young children.’
‘I’ve seen the way you work with them,’ he said quietly. ‘You’re a good doctor, Megan. I think you could go far if you set your mind to it.’
She looked at him quizzically. ‘Did I hear a trace of doubt in that?’
Sam’s mouth twisted a little. ‘Women tend to get married and have families, and that has a way of putting a stop to careers.’ He drew his arm away from her, and she felt su
ddenly alone, as though something was missing. ‘The tide is coming in,’ he said. ‘We should be getting back to the house.’
He got to his feet and held out hand to help her up, and they walked back up the steps from the beach to the house.
* * *
Megan didn’t see much of Sam at work the next day. She worked with patients on the wards while he was taking a morning clinic, and in the afternoon he had meetings with management. She was looking forward to seeing him at the house in the evening, and wondered whether they might spend more time together on the beach.
She was disappointed. ‘I have to go out this evening,’ he said after dinner. ‘The hospital management have given me authority to go ahead with setting up a unit for young patients with OCD on a trial basis, and I’ve arranged to meet Julie to go over some of the details. She’ll be working there from the outset.’
Megan remembered that he had said obsessive-compulsive disorder was a particular interest of Julie’s. It was only natural that they should get together to talk things through. She was surprised, though, that he had already given Julie a job to follow on from her six-month contract as a house officer.
‘Do you mean that she’ll be working there until her six months is finished?’ Megan asked.
Sam shook his head. ‘No, this is Julie’s last term as a house officer. She will be given a post as senior house officer after this one, and I’ve agreed with management that she will be part of the team working in the new unit, along with Will Sanderson.’
She supposed it made sense, but she watched with misgivings as Sam left for his meeting.
He was late getting back that night, and Megan had already gone to bed when she heard his car pull up on the drive outside. It was only when she knew that he had gone to his own room that she began to relax.
Next morning, Megan worked with him, seeing patients with follow-up appointments. There was also a surprise visit from Mrs Hadleigh, the mother of the little boy with temporal lobe epilepsy.
