The Accidental Romeo

by Carol Marinelli

  He just didn’t know Marnie.

  ‘Could he not have delayed his wedding till Dr Cooper had started?’

  ‘It was a whirlwind romance,’ Harry answered with a wry smile.

  ‘Please!’ She rolled her eyes. ‘There’s no such thing and, even if there was, surely true love could at least wait a month.’

  ‘Apparently not!’ Harry said. ‘Look, Juan is an amazing doctor and believe me when I say such a highly skilled doctor is usually pretty hard to entice to come and work at Bayside Hospital. Once immigration and everything is sorted, Juan’s going to be a huge asset to the place but he only agreed to take the role if I accommodated his annual leave request.’

  ‘You acquire annual leave,’ Marnie said. ‘Juan hasn’t acquired any, from what I can see.’

  Harry tried a different tack. ‘The guy broke his neck a while back, he was barely able to walk when he got to Australia. As well as getting married, he really wants to return home and let his family see how well he’s doing.’

  Oh, but Marnie was having none of it. ‘So Juan breaking his neck means you have to bend over backwards and break yours to accommodate his love life?’

  Harry was sure then that he hadn’t slept with her!

  He’d certainly remember—Harry had never met anyone like her in his life! ‘You’re not a romantic, I take it?’ Harry’s voice was dry.

  ‘There’s not a single romantic bone in my body,’ Marnie said. ‘But so long as you can assure me that the department will be adequately covered with senior medical staff then it’s not my issue.’

  ‘It will be covered.’

  ‘Good.’

  Harry stood up and turned to go, but how well they might have known each other was driving him crazy, so he decided to simply bite the bullet and ask, ‘What year were you at Melbourne Central?’

  ‘You really don’t remember?’ Marnie said. ‘I was blonde then, if that helps.’

  ‘Blonde?’ Harry looked at her very thick black hair. ‘That would have taken some peroxide.’

  ‘It did,’ Marnie said. ‘You still don’t remember me, do you?’

  She loved his discomfort—loved the small swallow in his neck—and she watched as he drew in a breath while attempting to come up with a suitable answer. Then those green eyes met hers and a smile spread on Harry’s lips, lips that had been just a little insolent and teasing in their day, Marnie recalled, and they were becoming that now.

  ‘How could I ever forget you, Marnie?’

  The little game Marnie had been playing had suddenly gone too far because it was Marnie, most unusually, who struggled to calm a blush, and she rapidly decided to put an end to it, while still keeping the upper hand. ‘It’s okay, Harry, I’ve been teasing you. You don’t have to worry—I’m very possibly the only student nurse at Melbourne Central that you didn’t sleep with.’

  ‘Glad to hear it,’ Harry said, still smiling back at her, except the smile sort of wavered, because maybe that wasn’t the right answer to give.

  What was the right answer to a statement like that? Harry wondered as he walked off.

  He couldn’t make Marnie out. She was a strange mix. Forthright yet distant, funny yet stern but, even if he was smiling at the little game she’d played on him, Harry knew as he headed back to the patients that the holiday was over. Not that you could ever call this place a holiday, but there would be no asking Marnie if she could keep an eye out for the twins in the staffroom, even if it was right near her office. There would be no appealing to her feminine side and asking her to grab them from day care, or would she mind if one of the nurses in the obs ward kept an eye on them for an hour.

  Harry just knew it.

  CHAPTER THREE

  YES, MARNIE WAS everywhere.

  As Harry sat having his lunch he found out, if he hadn’t known already, just how forthright she was—the pint-sized Marnie didn’t even try to mince her words when she answered a personal call.

  Marnie didn’t excuse herself from the staffroom to take the call—instead, she tucked the phone between her neck and chin and squirted salad dressing over her home-made salad. As she thanked Dave for returning her call, she stirred in the dressing.

  Oh, her accent was as soft as butter as she spoke but you could almost feel it choking the rather unfortunate Dave’s arteries.

  ‘Absolutely, I signed the contract but let me ask you this, Dave—was one month’s rent really worth it? I certainly shan’t be staying on when my lease is up.’ Harry listened as she made it very clear that she wouldn’t be using him in the future and hopefully, if the hospital grapevine served her well, neither would anybody else from Bayside. ‘So, to be clear,’ Marnie concluded, ‘you have my notice and I have photos of before and after so I’ll be expecting to receive my deposit in full—the place was nothing but a filthy swamp before I set to work.’

  ‘Ripped off?’ Kelly asked, and Marnie nodded.

  ‘It’s my own fault for signing a lease on a place that I hadn’t seen. He only showed me the first half of Beach Road...’ She didn’t elaborate and she didn’t sit around for much longer—after finishing her salad, Marnie stood and left the staffroom.

  ‘I can’t make up my mind whether or not I like her,’ Kelly grumbled.

  ‘Well, I’ve made up my mind and I don’t.’ Abby, another of the nurses, sighed. ‘I was given a ten-minute lesson on the correct way to wash my hands, as if I didn’t already know. I think that she’s got OCD!’

  ‘She’s got ADHD,’ Kelly grumbled. ‘She just never stops.’

  ‘Ladies!’ Dr Vermont said, and didn’t even look up from his newspaper as he delivered a warning for the nurses to stop gossiping.

  Though, a few hours later, he indulged in a little gossip of his own as he put on his jacket to head for home. ‘What do you think of Marnie?’ Dr Vermont asked Harry.

  ‘I don’t know what to think,’ Harry admitted. ‘She’s not exactly here to make friends, is she? Marnie doesn’t seem to care who she offends.’

  ‘I like that about her,’ Dr Vermont said. ‘The trouble with Christine was that she was either your best friend or your worst enemy.’ He thought about it for a long moment. ‘I know that it’s very early days but so far I’m impressed.’

  Dr Vermont was more than a colleague to Harry. He was a friend and mentor and Harry admired him greatly. If Dr Vermont liked Marnie, that was high praise indeed and almost as good as a reference.

  ‘Well, so far so good,’ Harry conceded. ‘But enough about this place—hadn’t you better get going?’

  ‘Sorry that I have to dash off.’ Dr Vermont didn’t elaborate. They both knew that it was his wedding anniversary today and Dr Vermont was kind enough to realise that milestones such as the one he and Marjorie had just reached might cause a twinge of pain for Harry.

  ‘You go and enjoy yourself,’ Harry smiled. ‘Forty years is quite an achievement.’

  ‘I know that it is,’ Dr Vermont agreed. ‘We’ve got all the family coming over tonight...’ He paused as Harry took a beautifully wrapped bottle from his desk and handed it to him.

  ‘Well, you’d better hide this from them, then.’

  Dr Vermont thanked Harry and after he had gone to celebrate with his wife and family Harry sat for a long moment.

  Jill had been dead now for more than a year and a half. Birthdays and two Christmases had passed. Two wedding anniversaries had been and gone as well—and still it hurt. Some days more, some days less, but the pain was always there. Not just for Jill and all that she was missing out on, but for himself and more pointedly for the twins. Harry twisted the ring on his finger—he still couldn’t bring himself to take it off. It wasn’t just the hurt, there was also guilt—perpetual, constant guilt about whether or not he was doing a good job with the children. Certainly they weren’t being brought up
as Jill would have wanted. She had wanted to stay home at least until the twins had started school.

  Yes, he was doing his best—he was just all too aware that it wasn’t quite enough.

  Harry headed back out to the department, which was, for once, quiet. The late staff were all trying to pretend to be busy as Marnie sat at the nurses’ station and went through the policy manual, and of course she was making notes and had several questions for Harry.

  ‘Sheldon just brought back a puncture wound of the hand for review in the hand clinic tomorrow.’ Marnie had been surprised; it was a very small injury that could easily have been followed up by a GP. ‘When I questioned him he said it was policy. Now I’ve checked and it says here that all hand injuries, regardless of how small, are to be brought back the next day for review in the hand clinic.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘All?’

  ‘All.’ Harry nodded. ‘A lot of things get picked up in the hand clinic and for the most part the patients are in and out in less than a minute. It’s worth it, though, because something that seemed minor at the time is often picked up. I’ve found it works better to just bring everyone with a hand injury, no matter how small, back the next day for review.’

  ‘Fair enough.’ Marnie turned the page and then glanced up at the clock. ‘What time do you finish?’

  ‘Now,’ Harry said. ‘Day care closes at six.’

  ‘Dr Morales comes on at nine?’ Marnie checked.

  ‘That’s right. Though you can call me for anything you’re concerned about—all of the staff know that.’

  ‘They do,’ Marnie said. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, then.’

  ‘You shall.’ Harry smiled. ‘It’s nice to meet you, Marnie, and I’m very glad that we never...’ He halted. He wished he could take that back and wondered what had possessed him to even go there in the first place.

  ‘New girl’s tease.’ Marnie smiled. ‘I couldn’t help myself.’

  ‘I thought it was supposed to be the other way around, that we were supposed to be teasing you.’

  ‘I make my own fun,’ Marnie said.

  She really was the oddest mix and, if there was any doubt as to that, she proved it when she continued talking. ‘I should be offended really that you’re so relieved nothing ever happened.’ Marnie winked. ‘’Night, Harry.’

  He turned to go but as he did so the alert phone rang and Miriam, one of the late staff, took the call. ‘There’s a multi-trauma coming in, they’ve just diverted and are bringing him here,’ Miriam said. ‘ETA ten minutes. Harry, would you like me to run over and grab the twins for you?’

  ‘That would be great,’ Harry said, taking off his jacket but pausing midway as Marnie’s soft voice carried the length of the nurses’ station and promptly halted everyone.

  ‘Instead of running over to day care, Miriam, shouldn’t you be setting up for the multi-trauma?’

  Miriam hesitated and when Harry gave her a nod, instead of racing to get the twins, Miriam headed into Resus.

  ‘You’d better get going,’ Marnie said to Harry. ‘You don’t want to get caught up in this.’

  No, he didn’t want to get caught up but if it was serious he would call for the trauma team to come down and if it wasn’t serious Sheldon could deal with it, except Marnie was already speaking into the phone.

  ‘Could you fast-page the trauma team to come to Emergency?’ she said, but as she replaced the receiver Harry was waiting for her.

  ‘They might not be needed.’

  ‘Hopefully not,’ Marnie said, ‘but if they are then surely it’s better for the patient to have them waiting here.’

  Harry heard the overhead intercom crackle into life to summon the team.

  ‘’Night, Harry,’ Marnie said again.

  For Harry it was the strangest feeling to be leaving the department knowing full well there was an emergency on its way in.

  He was always running towards an emergency; instead, this evening, he was walking away.

  It just didn’t feel right.

  And however assured Marnie was, he couldn’t help but wonder how she’d deal with a less-than-impressed trauma team if she’d called them at five to six for something minor, just when they were due to go home...

  Harry paused as he reached day care, dropped one ball from the many he was juggling as he heard the sound of his colleagues’ footsteps racing down the corridor to greet whatever was being brought in.

  Harry let out a breath and walked into day care. No, he wasn’t the first parent to get there but at least he wasn’t the last.

  ‘Daddy! We thought you’d have to help with the emergency!’ Charlotte squealed, and flung herself at him. Her brown curls were bobbing and her green eyes, the same as her dad’s, were smiling with excitement as she realised it was home time. And she remembered the promises made.

  ‘Can I make the frosting?’

  ‘You can.’

  Even though the trauma team was arriving, the blasted intercom was summoning the team for the second time as Harry signed the twins out.

  As he walked down the corridor, carrying Charlotte and holding Adam’s hand, he felt Adam still as the stretcher was raced in. He looked down and saw Adam blinking. ‘He’ll be okay,’ Harry assured him.

  But the injured man on the stretcher didn’t upset Adam, he’d seen way more than most children had already. No, he was bracing himself for his father to return them to day care, Harry realised, or to pop them around to the staffroom; instead, they headed to the car.

  ‘Who’s looking after him?’ Adam checked, because normally his father was needed.

  ‘He’s going to be fine,’ Harry said, wishing for the hundredth time his children didn’t know or see so much, but the hospital day-care centre was his only choice if he was going to work here. ‘There is a team of specialists waiting for him.’

  Harry strapped the twins into their car seats and drove the short distance home as Charlotte filled him in on her day, talking non-stop till they were turning into their street.

  ‘How about your day, Adam?’ Harry asked, trying to encourage Adam to speak.

  ‘We did paintings.’ Adam looked at his father as if Harry must have briefly lost his mind. ‘Charlotte just told you.’

  ‘I know.’ Harry smiled. They were just so different. Charlotte liked every gap in the conversation filled with her voice, whereas Adam was only too happy to sit back and listen.

  Evelyn came out to help him with the twins as they pulled into the driveway, but as she ushered them in, knowing he wouldn’t be able to relax till he knew things were okay at work, Harry told Evelyn he’d join them soon. He stood in the hallway, took out his phone and called Emergency. It was Marnie who answered.

  ‘How’s the multi-trauma?’ Harry asked.

  ‘All good,’ Marnie replied. ‘Well, not so good if you’re the patient, but it’s all under control. He’s just heading round for an MRI.’

  ‘I can come back if you need me,’ Harry said. ‘My babysitter’s here.’

  ‘There’s really no point,’ Marnie said. ‘As I said, it’s all under control. The team have been fantastic.’

  ‘Shouldn’t you be at home?’ Harry asked, glancing at his watch. She’d been there since long before nine after all.

  ‘Shouldn’t you be?’ Marnie asked, and Harry gave a thin smile as he heard the chatter coming from the kitchen.

  Marnie had made a very good point.

  Happy that the patient was being well looked after, Harry headed into the kitchen and to the delicious scent of dinner. ‘Smells good,’ Harry said.

  ‘I’m trying something different.’ Evelyn smiled at the twins. ‘Tonight we’re eating Russian!’

  ‘Ooh!’ Charlotte was delighted, Adam not so sure, and Harry was simply grinning because E
velyn was so Australian she thought beef stroganoff was exotic.

  Having Evelyn look after the children had, absolutely, been the best idea Harry had had.

  Actually, it had been Juan’s idea that he get an older carer for the children.

  Yep, mea culpa, Harry had slept with the last nanny and the one before that.

  It was exhausting being a widower at times!

  Seriously.

  Harry didn’t want a wife—he’d had Jill. Sex, though, that was another matter entirely. Why did women always have to complicate things by falling in love?

  At least Evelyn didn’t read a single thing into it when Harry suggested that instead of dashing off she join them for dinner.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Evelyn checked, but she was already pulling out a chair. ‘How was work?’

  ‘Good,’ Harry said, because, given he was home on time, it must have been a good day. ‘We’ve got a new nurse manager just started,’ Harry said. ‘She seems very efficient.’

  ‘She’s rude,’ Charlotte said.

  ‘Rude?’ Harry looked at his daughter, who was spooning sour cream onto her dinner, and tried to recall them meeting her. ‘How can you say Marnie’s rude? You barely even met her.’

  ‘She didn’t say hello to us,’ Charlotte said.

  ‘It was her first day,’ Harry commented. ‘I’m sure she had other things to think of.’ Though, as Harry wrestled the sour cream from Charlotte, he did dwell on it for just a second. Charlotte was right, well, not the rude part but usually people did comment on the twins, especially when they realised that they were twins. Charlotte, Harry decided, was just far too used to having people drop to their knees and tell her how cute she was.

  Dinner was nice and Harry refused Evelyn’s offer to stay and do the dishes. ‘I can stack a dishwasher!’ Harry said, as he saw her to the door.

  ‘If you need me tonight,’ Evelyn offered, ‘you just have to call.’