The Doctor & the Runaway Heiress

by Marion Lennox

  It felt excellent.

  Her body felt new, like she’d done one of those crazy rebirth things she’d heard about. She smiled a little at that, thinking rebirth. Yes, she could have lain in a foetal position and pretended to be pushed, with a birth coach telling her exactly what to do. Or she could have taken Riley to her. She could have allowed him to take her. She could have woken feeling this…

  Excellent.

  Though maybe a bit sore. They’d woken during the night and made love again. And again.

  She stirred and stretched and smiled. The tangerine of the desert sunrise was calling. Life was calling.

  She flung off her bedclothes, headed for the shower, and went to find Riley.

  Gerry had passed an excellent night. His leg was looking good and he wanted to leave, but the exceedingly large brace fastened from thigh to ankle was stopping him. Riley wasn’t about to remove it any time soon. Gerry’s wound was large and penetrating, there was access for infection everywhere, and he needed to stay right where he was.

  ‘The nerves were millimetres away from being severed,’ he told him. ‘And you’re not out of the woods yet.’ No need to mention the two dangers were unrelated. ‘I haven’t saved your leg only to have you come back with gangrene or worse. You’re staying in this bed for a week and we’ll hear no more about it.’

  He left the room grinning, and made his way to Amy’s room. His grin faded.

  Amy was cradling Baby Riley and she was crying.

  ‘She won’t feed,’ she said. ‘My boobs hurt, they’re that full, but she won’t feed. I fed her at midnight and she hardly drank anything and now she just wants to sleep.’

  ‘Hi.’ Pippa was suddenly in the room with them. She was a colleague, Riley told himself, trying hard to greet her as a colleague. But… How could she look so… neat? The last time he’d seen her…

  Let’s not go there.

  ‘Problem?’ Pippa asked, heading for the bed, professional even if he wasn’t. Amy was cradling her baby against her breast. ‘Hey, Baby Riley, who’s a sweetheart?’ She looked at Amy’s swollen breasts, glanced at Amy’s face, and Riley thought she had an instant appreciation of the situation.

  ‘Who’s a sleepyhead?’ she asked. She stroked the baby’s cheek, the one closest to Amy’s breast, and kept on stroking. The baby turned instinctively in the direction of the stroking. Pippa’s fingers moved slightly, steering the baby’s rosebud mouth. The little lips caught the taste of milk, caught Amy’s nipple and started sucking. Though not with gusto.

  ‘Keep stroking her cheek,’ Pippa told her. ‘No going to sleep, Baby Riley. You have growing to do.’

  ‘She wouldn’t… for me,’ Amy said, choking back tears.

  ‘I suspect she’s a bit jaundiced,’ Riley said, watching her suck. ‘Not badly, but it’s enough to make her sleepy.’

  ‘What’s jaundice?’

  Pippa crossed to the basin and moistened a facecloth. She washed Amy’s face as Riley checked out his namesake. The baby was feeding but not with any energy. He checked her palms, then the soles of her tiny feet. Yesterday they’d been pink. Today there were faint traces of yellow.

  Mild jaundice. Early days.

  Watch and see, he thought. There wasn’t any need for intervention yet.

  But watch and see here?

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Amy asked, breathless with fear, and Riley uncurled the baby’s fist and showed her.

  ‘See her palm? The faint yellow tinge is the first sign of jaundice. It’s common in babies. As our body’s red blood cells outlive their purpose, our liver gets rid of them. If they can’t, then we get a build-up of these old cells-the build-up’s called bilirubin. Because Baby Riley’s liver is so small, it’s not doing its job properly. It might take a week or so to adjust.’

  ‘But she’ll be okay?’

  ‘She’ll definitely be okay. Sunlight helps. We’ll pop her by the window with just a nappy on-that’s often enough to fix it. The way you’re feeding her now is great. It’ll take a little more encouraging on your part and we need to make sure she’s not getting dehydrated. If she gets any sleepier than she is, we’ll pop her under lights like a sunlamp.’

  ‘Sister Joyce will?’

  ‘That’s a problem,’ Riley said evenly, as Pippa rinsed the facecloth and bathed her face again. ‘Amy, jaundice usually shows up before this. If I’d thought Baby Riley might develop it, I’d have asked you to stay on in Whale Cove.’ He met Amy’s gaze square on. ‘I’m sorry, Amy, but you need to come back with us.’

  ‘To… to the hospital?’

  ‘That would be best.’

  ‘But I don’t want to.’ It was a wail.

  ‘Then we can organise for you to stay in a hotel near the hospital. Amy, if you were living in Whale Cove I’d be saying keep doing what you’re doing, give her a little sunbathe each day, call me if you need me. But I’m a long way away to call.’

  Amy’s bottom lip trembled. She really was very young, Riley thought. A child herself.

  ‘Jason’s out mustering,’ she whispered. ‘He’s due back tomorrow. Can I wait until then?’

  ‘I’m sorry. We need to leave this morning.’

  ‘I don’t want to go back to hospital. I hate hospital.’ She was crying again, fat tears slipping down her face. She was afraid and alone, Riley thought, and he sent silent invective toward her mother. She hadn’t even been in to see her daughter.

  ‘Could one of your sisters come with you?’ Pippa asked, diffidently, and he knew Pippa was thinking exactly what he was.

  ‘Mum won’t let ’em.’

  ‘Could I talk to your mum?’

  She would. He looked at Pippa, in her jeans and her Flight-Aid shirt, her hair bunched back into a loose braid, her face devoid of make-up, and he thought she was just as alone as Amy.

  But she had courage in spades. Last night… she’d known what she needed and she’d taken it. She’d taken him.

  ‘She’d throw something at you,’ Amy was saying, and Pippa blinked.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yeah. Or set the dogs on you.’

  ‘Uh-oh,’ Pippa said, and Riley smiled at her expression. A dog-setting, missile-throwing mother… Pippa had the sense to back away. ‘Okay, that was option one,’ she conceded. ‘Option two is that you come back to Whale Cove and stay in the house beside the hospital where I’m staying. Where Doc Riley stays. They tell me it’s okay to invite guests so I’m inviting you. Do you want to come and stay with me and Riley?’

  She was… What the…?

  Riley practically gaped.

  ‘Close your mouth, Doctor,’ Pippa said kindly. ‘After all, it’s not like Amy’s a patient any more. This baby’s called Riley Pippa, and that makes her our family. So will you come and stay with us?’

  ‘But Jason…’ Amy seemed bemused. She’d stopped crying.

  ‘We’ll leave him a note,’ Pippa said grandly. ‘If he can get to the coast then he can stay, too.’

  ‘He probably won’t want to.’

  ‘That’s up to him. Will you come and stay with us?’

  ‘Yes,’ Amy said, looking down at her drowsy baby, knowing she had no choice. ‘Yes, I will.’

  ‘Are you out of your mind?’ Riley barely got the door shut behind them before he exploded. ‘What sort of crazy idea is this?’

  ‘What?’ Pippa asked, turning to face him. She looked innocent and puzzled, as if she had no idea what he was talking about.

  ‘Inviting Amy to live with me.’

  ‘With us,’ she said kindly. ‘And not live. Stay.’

  ‘You don’t live in that house.’

  ‘I do. Coral says I do. She says I’m to make it my home, so I am.’

  ‘You’re not due to move there until Sunday.’

  ‘I’ll need to move in straight away,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘That’s a pity. Roger might even get a refund on his honeymoon suite.’

  ‘She’s a patient!’

  ‘She’s your patient. I me
t her in hospital when I was in the next bed. She’s my friend.’

  ‘You’re a nurse.’

  ‘Nurses have friends.’

  ‘It’s not ethical.’

  ‘Why isn’t it ethical?’

  ‘You don’t get involved.’

  ‘You don’t need to. Coral says you have a big bedroom and you barely use the rest of the house. I know your daughter’s coming but Coral says we have four bedrooms. So how does having Amy staying get you involved?’

  ‘You’ll need to be involved.’

  ‘I want to be involved.’

  ‘Pippa…’

  ‘Mmm?’ She tilted her chin and met his gaze full on. Her eyes were direct and luminous.

  He needed to keep building his anger, he thought. He needed to hold to his knowledge that she’d just overstepped professional boundaries, because suddenly all he could think of was how she’d felt last night.

  How he’d held her.

  How she’d slept, tucked into the curve of his body.

  His boundaries were slipping. He felt them shift, and he didn’t know what to do about it. Revert to anger?

  ‘She’ll have to go to hospital.’

  ‘I’ve invited her to stay with us. She’s stopped crying. You want me to go and tell her you’ve changed your mind?’

  ‘I haven’t changed my mind,’ he said explosively. ‘It’s you…’

  ‘Maybe you could stay in the honeymoon suite,’ she said, thoughtfully. ‘Though I’m not sure how I’d explain that to Roger. And then there’s Lucy…’

  ‘Of all the…’

  ‘You don’t want a honeymoon?’

  ‘No! Neither do I want people staying in my house.’

  ‘Coral said it’s the hospital’s house. And you already have Lucy.’ She sighed, suddenly repentant. ‘I’m sorry. I know I should have talked to you before I offered, but I couldn’t bear it. She’s so alone. I know what it’s like to be alone, Riley, and I suspect you do, too, but I’ve never been as alone as Amy is right now. I can fix that. I’ll take care of her.’

  ‘You’ll be working.’

  ‘I will be,’ she said, her tone suddenly severe as his objections grew weaker. ‘You think Amy wants me there twenty-four seven? She’ll take what I can give, but that’s a whole lot more than she has now. So… are we heading back to Whale Cove or not?’

  ‘Pippa…’

  ‘Yes?’ Her eyes were now expressionless. She was waiting for more anger, he thought. She was expecting more anger.

  He didn’t have it in him. Not when he looked at her.

  ‘Last night…’ he said.

  ‘Was wonderful,’ she said, quickly, before he could go any further. ‘But you needn’t worry. Yes, I used you to escape from my nightmares and, yes, it was fabulous, but I’m not about to step over the boundaries there either.’

  ‘That’s not what I was about to say.’

  ‘Then what were you about to say?’

  ‘That I thought it was wonderful, too,’ he said, and her face lit in response, softening, her eyes lighting with laughter. She hadn’t expected him to say it. She loved it that he had, he thought, and that felt… excellent.

  ‘Snap,’ she said, and she stood on tiptoe and kissed him, on the lips but lightly, fleetingly. ‘It was indeed wonderful,’ she said. ‘But it doesn’t mean I’m pushing past your boundaries. I needed you last night and you were there. I’ll always be grateful. And now I intend to be there for Amy. See, we’re both soft touches in our own way.’

  ‘I didn’t… Last night was more…’

  ‘I know it was,’ she said, firmly and surely. ‘Like I said, it was fabulous. I’ll remember it for ever. But we both know it was for one night only. We both know we need to love that it happened, and now we need to move on.’

  They couldn’t move on, not for a couple of hours. Joyce was waiting for them and cornered them before they reached the veranda.

  ‘Ear infection,’ she said. ‘Coming in within half an hour. I’ll make you breakfast. And while you’re waiting, I’m concerned about John Thalderson’s feet. He’s cracked his heel,’ she explained to Pippa. ‘He’s diabetic-lousy circulation. I’m dressing it every day but he came in ten minutes ago… Have a look, Riley, while I cook you breakfast.’

  They both looked. John Thalderson’s feet were truly appalling. He should be headed for Sydney, Pippa thought, or Whale Cove at the very least, but once again neither he nor Riley seemed to think it was an option.

  Riley injected local so he could do a thorough debridement, cleaning up the messy edges. He dressed the wound with care, while Pippa assisted.

  ‘You’ll stay on the veranda for the week,’ Riley told him. ‘No argument. Look after Gerry for me.’

  ‘Sure thing, Doc,’ John said, and limped out, leaning heavily on his stick.

  ‘Why not Whale Cove?’ Pippa asked. ‘He’s not about to go into cardiac arrest and surely he needs intensive, long-term treatment.’

  ‘I told you,’ Riley growled. ‘I can’t risk it. He’ll lie in a clean white hospital bed, he won’t eat the food, he’ll turn his face to the wall and he’ll get worse, not better. Yes, here his feet may well not heal. He may even face amputation, but even if he does we’ll take him down to Whale Cove, we’ll get it done as fast as we can and we’ll get him back on this veranda. He’ll certainly die faster than he would if he had optimum treatment but that’s his choice.’

  ‘So what Joyce is doing…’

  ‘She’s saving lives,’ Riley said. ‘By running this place and by turning her back on government regulations, she’s keeping these guys alive, and I’m doing all in my power to help her. And now… she’s even cooking bacon and eggs for us, so we’re not keeping her waiting.’

  Breakfast was massive.

  Pippa ate and thought. Ate and watched. Then watched and listened, while hunger grew for something that had nothing to do with food.

  Harry and Riley and Joyce chatted like the old friends they obviously were. They were doing such good, she thought. The three of them.

  She wanted to be a part of it. Fiercely. More fiercely every moment.

  Had she messed with that by sleeping with Riley?

  Maybe she had. He was terse with her this morning, like he wasn’t quite sure how to react. That was fair. She wasn’t sure how to react to him either. And she’d foisted Amy onto him.

  He was laughing at a story Joyce was telling him. The dour nurse thought the world of him. She could see it in the way Joyce smiled at him, the way she ladled more and more bacon onto his plate.

  A team…

  She wanted to be a part of it so much it hurt. She set down her knife and fork and pushed her plate away. Joyce looked at her in concern. ‘Had enough?’

  ‘I’m feeling disoriented,’ she confessed. ‘Like it’s taking some time for my head to catch up with my body.’

  ‘You’re doing too much,’ Riley said. ‘We’ll get you back to Whale Cove and you and Amy can lie on the veranda and let your heads catch up all they want.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘We should all be moving. One ear infection and then home.’

  ‘Sydney,’ Harry said. He demolished the last of his bacon and stood up. ‘In case you’d forgotten, your daughter’s due to arrive at lunchtime. And the plane’s due for a service. Yesterday’s plan was to return to Whale Beach, then take the plane to Sydney this morning. We’ve run out of time. Today’s plan is therefore straight to Sydney.’

  ‘We’ll have Amy and the baby,’ Pippa said blankly.

  ‘Riley’ll have to hire a car to take you all home,’ Harry said cheerfully. ‘I’m having a weekend off. Staying in Sydney until the plane’s done. Home Monday.’

  ‘Hell,’ Riley said.

  ‘Yeah, I thought you’d forgotten the time,’ Harry said, and grinned. ‘Now, what can you have been thinking of to make you forget you have a daughter arriving?’

  Riley said nothing.

  That was pretty much the last Riley spoke for the morning. He retreat
ed into some place no one was allowed to enter. Pippa and Joyce helped Amy and her sleepy baby back onto the plane. Once again Pippa sat in the back with Amy.

  Amy was subdued. Pippa tried to keep up happy chat but she didn’t succeed.

  Even with the headsets turned off, she knew that Riley was deep in silence, too.

  There were so many emotions swirling around she couldn’t make sense of any of them.

  Inviting Amy to stay had problems. It meant she’d have to stay in Riley’s house-in the hospital house, she corrected herself-as well, and she was starting to think her wisest path was for her to retreat to her honeymoon hotel and close the door.

  Or retreat back to England?

  That wasn’t going to happen. Not! For she’d fallen head over heels in love with this job. With what Riley was doing. With what Joyce was doing. She wanted to help with a hunger that was deeper than anything she’d ever known.

  As a child, on television in some long-forgotten luxury hotel, watched over by some anonymous hotel sitter, she’d seen a documentary. A doctor in South America, treating children’s eyes. She’d watched in fascination as bandages were removed and sight was restored, and something had resonated with her at a level she hardly understood. She wanted to work like that, and the desire had never left her.

  Nursing in England had been great. She loved her work, and there was always need. But the last twenty-four hours was causing the emotions she’d felt after the documentary to come crowding back.

  She had to be allowed to be a part of it.

  She might have messed with that, she conceded, by allowing last night to happen. And by pushing Amy onto Riley?

  Riley was stuck with her and with Amy and her baby as he went to meet his daughter for the first time. This for a man who walked alone? It was a wonder his head wasn’t exploding.

  What had she been thinking, making love to him last night?

  She knew what she’d been thinking. She’d watched Joyce smile at him this morning and she’d thought, Yes, that’s how he should be smiled at.

  Like he was loved.

  And her heart twisted. Love…

  Wouldn’t it be stupid if it caught her now? Engaged-on and off-for years. Almost married.