Healed by the Single Dad Doc

by Annie Claydon

  She looked up and saw Ethan. This time she didn’t stretch her arms out, but her smile was no less broad.

  ‘You made it, then.’

  ‘Yes. We made it.’

  He knew that Kate was perfectly capable of smiling through the most challenging problems. He’d fallen for her cover-up himself, believing that she was coping well with the after-effects of the attack, but he fancied that he was beginning to see a little more clearly now. And this afternoon, she had a lightness about her that convinced him her joy was genuine.

  ‘Looks as if we have a budding dog trainer here.’ She grinned over at Sam who was being introduced to each of the dogs in turn.

  ‘I’m hoping so. We’ll need to commit to some classes when the puppy’s old enough.’

  Ethan smiled across at one of Kate’s companions and Mike strode over to shake his hand.

  ‘Ethan. How are you doing? I haven’t see you in a while.’

  ‘I’m good. I’ve been busy.’ It occurred to Ethan that he’d slowly withdrawn from village life over the last year, intent on proving to himself that he could manage alone. Maybe he was lonely.

  ‘Sam told me all about his puppy when I saw him the other day with your father. Where is George?’ Mike looked around.

  ‘He’ll be along later. He’s taking Mum over to her tailoring class first.’ The tailoring class was actually an excuse to sit around, drink tea and talk. His mother had been attending it for ten years now, which meant she’d probably learned just about all she needed to know about the sewing part of the afternoon.

  ‘Well, I’ll let you have a look around. Kate, you’ve got the leaflets?’

  ‘Yes.’ Kate picked up a pile of leaflets from the table behind her and handed one to Ethan. ‘Here you are.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Ethan knew all about the activities of the mountain rescuers, but he took the leaflet anyway, its value growing in inverse proportion to its usefulness, because Kate had given it to him.

  ‘I’m in there...’ She grinned and pointed out a small figure, standing with a group of others. ‘I’ll mention that because you wouldn’t be able to recognise me otherwise.’

  Maybe not. Maybe it was just his imagination that he’d recognise the way she held herself anywhere. ‘Do you go out with the team?’

  ‘Yes, I’ve completed my training and I’m a fully fledged mountain rescuer now. Even got the T-shirt.’ She pointed at the logo on her shirt, and Ethan tried not to stare. The thin material draped over her curves looked great.

  ‘But you don’t handle any of the dogs?’ Each dog responded only to the commands of one of the men.

  ‘No, the dogs live with their handlers, and I didn’t want to leave an animal alone while I was at work. I decided it was best to just help with them. And be a part of the team when we go out, of course.’

  This meant a lot to Kate. She was all about the challenge, and the more he saw that the more he knew she could challenge her own demons if she just had the right tools to do it with. And, even though he’d decided to leave that to Usha, he couldn’t help wanting to be a part of it.

  ‘Come and say hello.’ She turned to the men, who were now showing Sam the different commands that the dogs would respond to. ‘I’m going to do some leafleting in a moment. That police sniffer-spaniel may be gorgeous, but he’s getting all the attention.’

  * * *

  The afternoon seemed to go well. The sun shone and the old church hadn’t seen so many people pass its doors in years. The mountain rescue team was busy, talking to people and showing them how they worked with the dogs. Sam had been sniffed by the spaniel and had watched a hearing-assistance dog nudge at its owner’s hand when a bell was rung. Then, when Ethan’s father had arrived, keen to see the display, he’d done it all again with him.

  Ethan couldn’t take his eyes off Kate. She was bright, smiling, always in the midst of people. In the end, he gave in to temptation, walked back to the mountain rescue stand and was promptly pressed into handing out leaflets.

  ‘So where’s mine, then?’ His father’s voice sounded behind him.

  ‘Here you are.’ Ethan handed him a leaflet. ‘Make sure you read it carefully. Lots of good information.’

  ‘Will do.’ His father’s eyes twinkled with quiet humour.

  ‘Hello. Welcome!’ Kate appeared, holding her hand out towards his father. This was the routine they’d fallen into. Leaflet first and then a greeting from Kate, who introduced visitors to the other members of the team so they could talk and ask questions.

  ‘Hello. I’m George.’ His father grinned, shaking her hand. ‘I know your friend here.’

  Ethan rolled his eyes. ‘He’s my father. Dad, this is Kate... Where’s Sam?’

  ‘Over there.’ His father pointed to the next stand, which was taking kids in groups of six to show them how guide dogs negotiated a busy road. Ethan looked and counted only five heads.

  He looked around but couldn’t see Sam. Suddenly the safety of the village crumbled and panic tore at his heart. Sam had to be here somewhere. His father and Kate were looking too, Kate climbing up on a chair so that she could see over the heads of the people.

  ‘There!’ Ethan felt Kate’s hand nudge his shoulder. ‘There he is.’

  Sam was walking towards them around the perimeter of the church hall. He seemed a little distracted, as if he didn’t quite know where he was going. Then Ethan heard Kate catch her breath and she jumped down from the chair and started to run towards Sam. He’d just wiped his hands down the front of his white T-shirt, leaving a trail of blood.

  Ethan reached Sam first, coming to a halt in front of his son and kneeling down. ‘Sam? Show me your hands, mate.’

  Sam held out his hands palms upwards. ‘There’s a man, Dad.’

  ‘Did he hurt you?’ The fear was like nothing he’d ever felt before.

  ‘It’s not his blood, Ethan.’ Kate’s voice beside him was calm and quiet. She was right. Sam’s hands were smeared with blood, but there was no injury.

  He had to get the T-shirt off him. If he pulled it over Sam’s head it would smear blood all over his face, and Ethan had no idea where the blood had come from. He pulled his keys from his pocket, pushing them into the material to make a hole, then tearing the T-shirt all the way up the front so that Kate could slip it from his shoulders.

  His own shirt was open over a T-shirt, and Ethan pulled it off his shoulders and wrapped it around Sam. The boy snuggled into it.

  ‘There’s a man, Dad.’

  ‘What man? Is he bleeding?’ Ethan had quickly examined Sam’s chest and arms and there wasn’t a mark on him. Just the blood on his hands, most of which had been smeared on the front of his T-shirt.

  ‘He’s over there...’ Sam pointed behind him to the corner of the church hall. Then he wound his arms around Ethan’s neck, clinging to him. His only two options were leaving Sam here on his own, or taking him with him to go and see, and both tore at him.

  ‘I’ll go.’ Kate must have seen his hesitation and was already on her feet, jogging towards the spot that Sam had indicated. Fearless as always. Ethan hugged Sam tight, watching her go.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  THE CORNER OF the church hall was shaded by trees and the strip of land which lay beyond that, between the back of the building and the fence, felt secluded from the noise and bustle around the stands. Three feet in front of her, a man’s body lay motionless, blood pooling around his shoulders onto the hard-baked ground.

  Ethan obviously carried a great deal of guilt over not having been there when his wife needed him and he couldn’t bring himself to leave Sam now. But he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t tend to the injured man. She ran back to them.

  ‘Ethan. Let your father take Sam. You have to come.’

  He hesitated for one more agonising moment. ‘Now, Ethan!’ Kate issued the command, hoping t
hat it gave him no choice. If she was wrong, then he could challenge her over it later.

  Ethan shouted for his father, then transferred Sam into George’s arms, telling him quickly to make sure all the blood was cleaned off him. As Ethan ran back towards her, she called to Mike, asking him to send someone from the police stand over with a first-aid kit, and then followed Ethan.

  He dropped to his knees next to the man, all his attention now focussed on him. ‘He’s alive. I have a pulse.’ Ethan’s voice was quiet, concentrated, as he examined the man for injuries.

  Kate looked up, trying to see what might have happened, in case that could help. ‘He must have fallen from the roof. The gutter’s broken and the fence has been smashed.’

  Ethan nodded, his face grave. ‘Call an ambulance. Tell them that a doctor’s in attendance and we need them as soon as possible.’

  ‘I’ll get my phone.’ She’d left it in her jacket pocket, back on the stand.

  ‘Take mine.’ Ethan handed her his phone and continued his examination, moving the man as little as possible so as not to further injure him.

  ‘He’s unconscious, probably fallen from a height of thirty feet. One of the fence palings has gone almost all the way through his leg below the knee. His airways are clear, pulse is very weak. His chest seems uninjured but...stomach’s hard and distended.’

  Kate knew that wasn’t good. She relayed the details on to the ambulance controller. ‘Anything else?’

  ‘Can you pass me the phone, please?’

  Ethan was very calm, very cool. That was more worrying than anything, because Kate knew full well that this was his reaction to the seriousness of the situation. He spoke quickly into the phone and she stared at the man’s face. He was young, maybe not even twenty. Kate hoped that Ethan was receiving the assurances that he needed and that help would come soon.

  She bent, laying her fingers gently on the man’s brow, murmuring into his ear. ‘Hold on. We’re here for you.’

  ‘That’s right.’ Ethan’s voice beside her. ‘Keep talking to him.’

  The realisation that this was all she could do hit Kate and she blinked back her tears. If the man seemed unresponsive then maybe something she said might register. If that was the case, then she had to choose her words carefully.

  She spoke as clearly as she could, telling the man that he was loved. That a doctor was here, and he had to hold on. Then again, there was no way of knowing when and if he might drift back into consciousness.

  ‘Give me your hand.’ She stretched her hand out, and Ethan guided it to a spot on the man’s leg just above the knee. ‘Press hard...harder. Good. That’s right. Keep that up, you’re doing just fine.’

  She was so frightened of making a mistake that could cost a life. But Ethan would tell her what to do. The police dog-handler arrived back with the first-aid kit, kneeling down next to them and opening it, following Ethan’s calm, quiet instructions.

  Scissors, to cut the leg of the man’s jeans. Dressings. The policeman handed over what Ethan needed and he started to pack around the wound, taping it tightly to stop the bleeding.

  ‘Okay, I think we have it. Kate, release the pressure...good. Clean your hands and put a pair of gloves on.’

  There was no blood on her hands but she cleaned them anyway. She heard Ethan ask if there was a cervical collar in the first-aid kit, and the policeman looked helplessly through its contents.

  ‘There.’ She picked up the collar, tearing the wrappings, and gave it to Ethan.

  ‘Thanks. Can you find his pulse?’

  ‘Yes.’ She felt the man’s wrist, feeling the faint rhythm of his heart under her fingers. ‘Got it.’

  ‘Okay, tell me if it weakens.’

  She couldn’t. She didn’t know enough. But Ethan had no one else here to help him, and she had to. She knew how to do this, even if she’d only done it with animals before.

  Ethan was working quickly and carefully, his attention now centred on the man’s stomach and chest. ‘Go round to the front and make sure the ambulance knows where we are. There’s another doctor on his way too.’

  Kate looked up, wondering if he was sending her away, but he was talking to the policeman, who got to his feet, leaving quickly. They were on their own now, and Ethan was trusting her to help him.

  It was quiet here. She watched as Ethan carefully probed the man’s stomach, causing a weak moan to escape his lips.

  ‘It’s all right. Just hold on, the doctor’s here...’ She started to talk again, taking care to keep her fingers over the man’s pulse. She saw Ethan nod, but the man seemed not to have heard her and was unresponsive again. All the same, she kept talking.

  Then, sudden activity. One of the policemen was ushering a man in a high-visibility jacket towards them.

  ‘Ethan.’ The man set his bag down on the ground. He obviously knew Ethan, and Ethan’s tight smile told Kate that this was the help that they so needed.

  ‘John, thanks for coming. You have the REBOA kit?’

  ‘Yes.’ John knelt down next to Ethan, and Kate saw the identification flash on his jacket: ‘Doctor’.

  Ethan was quickly updating John about the man’s condition and John was nodding. They seemed to be coming to a quick, unspoken agreement about what should happen next. ‘You’ve done this more times than me, Ethan. You lead.’

  REBOA... REBOA...? Kate had heard those initials before, although they weren’t a part of animal medicine. It was a last resort, something only available for treating people.

  John opened his bag and Ethan turned to Kate. ‘We’ll need your help with this.’

  ‘Yes. Just tell me what to do.’

  There were plenty of people here who had basic medical training with the police and the mountain rescue team. Ethan must have anticipated this course of action, and he could have sent her away and chosen someone else. Kate had no doubt that he would have done, if it had been in his patient’s best interests.

  But, despite all her weakness, he’d chosen her. She wouldn’t let him down, and she wouldn’t let their patient down either.

  Ethan was disinfecting his hands as best he could with wipes from the medical kit. John was laying out what they needed. Kate waited.

  ‘Can you cut a little further across the leg of his jeans?’ Ethan had already undone the waistband and zip to examine the man’s stomach. ‘I need access to the femoral artery—you know where that is?

  ‘Yes, I know.’ She could do this. Animal patients tended to wriggle a great deal more than human ones, and Kate could cut a dressing off almost anything. A pair of jeans was a piece of cake, but when Ethan handed her a pair of surgical scissors she cut as carefully as if she were doing this for the first time.

  ‘That’s great.’ Ethan didn’t look at her—he and John were both busy with their own preparations—but his voice imputed that she really had done well. Kate breathed a sigh of relief.

  She remembered what REBOA was now. A line was inserted into the femoral artery and a small balloon manoeuvred into place along the artery. When it was inflated, it would stem internal bleeding, in either the chest or the abdomen.

  It was demanding work, and a technique of last resort even in controlled surroundings. Here it could only be contemplated if both doctors believed that their patient couldn’t survive the ten-mile journey to the hospital without it.

  Ethan was carefully inserting the catheter, the first part of the delicate process. His posture was relaxed, but his concentration was so focussed and intense that he probably wouldn’t have noticed if the weather turned suddenly and it began to snow.

  Ethan and John worked together, exchanging quiet instructions and updates. Kate kept her eyes on the blood-pressure monitor, praying that the falling stats might soon change. She held sterile lines clear of the ground, took pieces of equipment and then gave them back again exactly as instructed. If Ethan
had told her to stop breathing, she would have done it.

  ‘Nice.’ John’s one word as Ethan sat back on his heels was the only indicator of hope but Kate would take it.

  Ethan was busying himself with the patient, and John shot her a smile. ‘You did well. We can manage now if you want to go and change your T-shirt...’

  Her T-shirt was spattered with blood. But Ethan had given her a job to do, and Kate wanted to see it through. ‘May I just hold his hand, until the ambulance gets here? I won’t get in the way.’

  Ethan looked up suddenly. ‘You’ve earned that.’

  Kate took the young man’s hand with trembling fingers. She’d earned her place here, and he was going to allow her to stay.

  CHAPTER NINE

  WHEN THE TWO-MAN ambulance crew arrived, she was in the way, and she had to go. Not waiting for John or Ethan to tell her so, she stepped back, walking towards the policeman who was stationed at the corner of the hall, stopping anyone from approaching.

  ‘Kate. Kate!’ Mike was standing as close as he was allowed, holding a blanket and her zip-up sweatshirt. Kate ignored the blanket, zipping the sweatshirt around her and wriggling out of her T-shirt.

  ‘Nice trick.’ Mike grinned as she pulled the T-shirt over her head and threaded her arms into the sweatshirt. ‘You’re going to have to tell me how you do that.’

  Kate smirked at him. ‘Women’s secrets.’

  ‘Yeah. I’d figured that one out. How is he?’

  ‘I don’t really know, but it seems pretty bad. Ethan and the other doctor have done a surgical procedure.’

  ‘Really.’ Mike nodded. He’d been Kate’s mentor when she’d first joined the mountain rescue team two years ago. He knew better than anyone that doctors waited to do surgery at hospital if it was at all possible. ‘We’ll just have to hope for the best then.’