Healed by the Single Dad Doc

by Annie Claydon

  ‘Is Sam still here?’

  ‘No, his grandfather’s taken him home. He had a bit of a shock but once he was cleaned up he seemed all right. We gave him one of the kids’ T-shirts.’

  ‘That’s nice.’ They only had a few of those, and they’d been saving them. But Sam deserved one.

  ‘One of the police dog handlers came over with a children’s activity pack as well. We all made a bit of a fuss of him and he cheered up.’

  Kate knew that the guys would have done their best to lift Sam’s spirits. They all had children of their own, and knew that Ethan couldn’t be there for his son. She wondered how he was going to feel about that, when this was all over.

  ‘Is Ethan going to the hospital?’ Mike broke into her thoughts.

  ‘I don’t know. Do you have another T-shirt? Ethan got the worst of the blood spillage.’

  ‘Yep, no problem. Wait here, I’ll bring it to you.’

  She waited for five minutes, knowing that Ethan would come as soon as he could. He would want to know that Sam was all right. When he finally appeared, he made straight for her.

  ‘He’s still in a bad way, but you helped give him a chance, Kate.’

  It took five seconds to say it. But it was five seconds in which Ethan could have asked about Sam, and he’d chosen to tell her what she needed to hear. She proffered the T-shirt with trembling hands.

  ‘Sam’s okay. Your dad cleaned him up and everyone made a big fuss of him. They’ve gone home.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Ethan stripped off his T-shirt, dropping it onto the ground.

  Wow. The way Ethan filled a shirt, it had been impossible to conclude that he didn’t have a good body. The reality of it exceeded Kate’s expectations. And she shouldn’t be thinking that, because there were much more important things to concentrate on.

  ‘You’re going to the hospital?’

  ‘Yes.’ He pulled his phone from his jeans pocket and handed it to her. ‘Would you be able to take my dad’s number and call him, let him know? Tell him I’ll be there as soon as I can and ask him to text me and let me know how Sam is.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ He was trusting her with this, too.

  ‘He’s under “d”—for Dad.’ One corner of Ethan’s mouth twitched and Kate realised that she was staring at him. He took the clean T-shirt from her and pulled it over his head. Too late. Ethan wasn’t someone you could un-see in a hurry.

  He was looking over his shoulder, back to where John and the ambulance crew were carefully transferring the young man onto a stretcher. Kate found the number, transferring it into her own phone and checking it.

  ‘Got to go...’ For a moment, Ethan was still, his gaze locked onto her face. Then he turned and was gone.

  * * *

  The ambulance left, and she called George, letting him know where Ethan was, and receiving assurances that Sam was fine and that he’d text Ethan and let him know. And then there was nothing more for Kate to do. Mike shooed her away from the mountain rescue stand, which was rapidly being packed up and dismantled, telling her to go and get a cup of tea.

  ‘You want a decent cup. Not a couple of mouthfuls.’ The middle-aged woman who had been busy wrapping uneaten biscuits in cling-film ignored the cups and saucers that were still laid out on the tea table and reached underneath it, producing a mug.

  ‘Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.’

  ‘From what I hear, you and Ethan Conway are lifesavers.’ The woman smiled at her and Kate shivered. Hearing herself and Ethan mentioned in the same sentence was new, and oddly exciting. ‘How is the young man?’

  ‘I don’t really know. He’s on his way to hospital and Ethan’s gone with him. He says that he has a chance.’

  ‘Good.’ The woman produced a hip flask from her pocket. ‘Would you like some of this to go with it, love?’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Nice drop of brandy. Only, don’t tell the vicar. Church premises...’

  There was no particular reason why she should find it incongruous that the tea ladies were surreptitiously downing brandy in the church kitchen, but it made Kate smile all the same.

  ‘I bet you can do with a drink after serving this many cups of tea.’

  ‘That’s for sure.’ The woman reached for two teacups and poured a splash into the bottom of each, handing Kate one. ‘I’m Pat. Here’s to a happy ending.’

  Kate grinned. ‘Kate. To happy endings.’

  They clinked their cups together, and Pat downed the contents of hers in one. Kate followed suit, almost choking as the astringent heat hit the back of her throat.

  ‘Oh...!’ Pat’s eyes had filled with tears, and she blinked them away. ‘I’m not used to this. But it’s a bit of a tradition here, once we get the dishwasher stacked.’

  Kate sat down with a bump on one of the chairs next to the tea table, her head swimming. ‘Maybe I should have sipped it.’

  ‘Me too. So much for bravado.’ Pat reached for another mug and filled both with tea, pushing Kate’s towards her.

  ‘Here’s to bravado, then.’ Kate grinned, taking a welcome mouthful of tea.

  ‘Yes, that’s much better.’ Pat sat down, looking at Kate speculatively. ‘You know Ethan, then?’

  ‘Yes. I’m a vet. I looked after his dog, Jeff.’

  Pat nodded. ‘Poor old Jeff. Great big thing but as gentle as they come. When Sam was little he used to sit himself down next to his pushchair, nudging anyone he didn’t know away if they got too close. Jenna used to have to lean on him, to get him to move.’

  ‘You knew Ethan’s wife?’ It seemed somehow presumptuous to use her name.

  ‘Oh, yes, she came from around here. And she was often in the village. She used to bring Sam to see his grandparents. Such a shame. If there were ever two people that belonged together...’

  Kate took a swallow of her tea. For a short time it had seemed that she and Ethan belonged together. But she knew so little about Ethan, and if the people he’d grown up with said he belonged with someone else then it must be true.

  ‘Sam seems... He’s got a great relationship with his dad.’

  ‘Yes, he has. And Ethan’s devoted to him. Chocolate biscuit?’

  ‘Yes, please. Can I take it with me? I should get back to our stand. I’m sure there’s something I can help with.’ Kate managed a smile as Pat stripped the cling-film off one of the plates and wrapped three biscuits, putting them into her hand.

  ‘There you go, my love.’

  She wandered outside, sitting down on the steps outside the front of the hall. Her car was still in the garage, and Mike had said he’d drop her home, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  Ethan had trusted her. It made her feel good...no, better than good. It had made her feel strong, as if his belief in her was worth more than anyone else’s. But he’d gone now.

  Of course he had. If he hadn’t needed to go to the hospital, then he would have gone straight to Sam. They were priorities, and it would be unthinkable to expect anything different. And if she allowed herself to rely on him too much, then she would be just setting herself up for heartbreak.

  She picked up her tea, wandering over to the empty mountain rescue tent. Sitting around drinking tea was all very well, but taking the tent down was the kind of problem she needed to distract her right now. At least that involved some possibility of success.

  * * *

  In the cramped space inside the ambulance, Ethan and John had managed to prevent their patient from bleeding out, or having a seizure, or a heart attack, or any one of a number of things that could have killed him before they reached the hospital.

  Time had become an irrelevance, something that might be counted on a clock somewhere, but which didn’t matter. An hour or a minute. It didn’t make any difference as long as his patient was still alive and there was one more thing that he could do to k
eep him that way.

  He’d made it to the resuscitation room. Then he’d made it past the concentrated activity which assessed his injuries and vital signs. He’d been stabilised, and Ethan had made the decision that he was ready for surgery. And then Ethan had finally looked at his watch.

  He checked his phone and saw the text from his father, saying that Sam was all right. Then he spent ten minutes under the shower, knowing that he couldn’t speak to Sam just yet. In a moment he’d be able to be a father again, instead of a doctor whose one aim was to keep the patient under his care alive.

  ‘Hey, Sam. How are you doing?’

  ‘You made the man better, Dad?’

  ‘Yes, we did.’ Surely he was allowed this one little lie, to reassure Sam?

  ‘He had lots of blood on him.’

  ‘Yes, I know. Were you frightened?’

  ‘Yes.’ Sam suddenly sounded subdued.

  ‘I’ll bet you were. It was a frightening thing to happen to you, and you were very brave to come and find us the way you did.’

  ‘Did he have some blood left?’

  ‘Yes, he had plenty of blood left. We gave him some extra as well. He’s all right now.’

  ‘Okay...’

  Sam chattered on to him, and Ethan sat in the doctor’s rest room, letting the tightly coiled spring in his chest loosen a little. Reminding himself that he’d made sure that Sam was well looked after.

  He promised Sam that he’d be back soon, and then spoken briefly to his father. Then he called Kate.

  ‘Ethan.’ She sounded pleased that he’d called.

  ‘Hi. I just wanted you to know that...he’s made it into surgery.’

  A puffed-out breath of relief. ‘Thank you. That’s really great. I suppose you don’t know anything else yet?’

  ‘No, but he’s a fighter. That helps.’ Kate would understand that. She was a fighter too.

  ‘Well, that’s good to know. Where are you?’

  ‘At the hospital still. My dad’s coming to pick me up and I’ll fetch my car and then go and get Sam.’

  ‘I’d better let you go. Thanks so much for taking the time to call.’ She seemed about to hang up, now.

  ‘Wait.’ There was something more he had to say. And even if there hadn’t been he could still spare these few moments, just to talk to her. ‘I wanted to say that I’m sorry. For rushing off like that.’

  He heard her expel a sharp breath. ‘Right. Because there was nowhere you needed to go. Don’t be crazy, Ethan.’

  ‘How about, sorry that I left you to find him.’

  ‘No, that one doesn’t wash either. You were making sure that Sam wasn’t hurt. That’s your first priority, Ethan.’

  He’d been clinging to Sam, blinded to everything other than the fact that he needed his son to be all right. Kate had jerked him back out of that, and made him see what he needed to do.

  ‘I’m glad you think that I thought about it so rationally.’

  ‘You’re allowed to be irrational. Goes with the territory.’

  Ethan chuckled. Just the sound of her voice was making him feel that somehow he’d managed to cover all the bases. Look after Sam, be a doctor... Maybe even look after Kate a little.

  ‘Sam tells me he wants to be a mountain rescue volunteer when he grows up.’

  ‘Does he? That’s nice.’

  ‘Yeah. And he wants to train his dog to shake hands.’

  ‘That can be arranged. I’m an expert at getting dogs to shake hands.’ She caught her breath suddenly, as if she’d said something she shouldn’t. ‘If you can’t find anyone else, that is...’

  The thought that maybe he should find someone else, someone who Sam wouldn’t be tempted to accept as a mother figure, had occurred to Ethan. But right now he just wanted to feel life pumping in his veins, and Kate made him feel alive.

  ‘Since you’re the expert, it would be very bad manners to even think there was anyone else.’

  She laughed and Ethan began to wish that he could touch her. Just to hold her for a moment and celebrate the warmth of life.

  ‘You took a chance on me. When you asked me to help.’ Her voice took on a note of tension, as if this was something that she’d been waiting to say.

  ‘No, I didn’t. You were as steady as a rock. I had no worries on that score. You know, don’t you, that if I’d had any doubts I would have had no choice but to ask someone else to help.’

  ‘Yes, I know. The patient’s needs come first.’ Her voice lightened a little, as if she half-believed what he’d just said.

  ‘You’re stronger than you think, Kate.’

  ‘And how strong do you think I think I am? Or do you think that I think that you think—?’

  Ethan’s laugh cut her short. ‘Stop. You lost me on the second “think”. I’m going to go now, before you reduce my brain to mush.’

  ‘Yes, you’d better. Give Sam a hug from me.’

  Maybe he would. Just maybe...

  * * *

  Ethan went to check on the young man on Monday morning before he started work and then visited him every day after that. For the first three days he was in the intensive care ward. His mother had told Ethan that he was only nineteen, and that his name was Christopher but that his friends called him CK, because those were his initials.

  On the fourth day, CK opened his eyes and focussed blearily on Ethan’s face. Then, on day six, he told him that he’d climbed up on the roof for a bet, but that he’d learned his lesson. He remembered nothing of the incident or the minutes before it.

  It would be a long journey for CK. He had significant internal injuries, and he would have to learn to walk again, after his leg had been shattered by the fence paling. But against all the odds he’d survived and was making a recovery. Ethan always tried to follow up on his patients and often the outcome wasn’t such a good one. But somehow CK’s hold on life seemed like a miracle.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE PART OF the week that Kate had occupied wasn’t all that significant time-wise. Short phone calls to update her on CK’s progress, and an hour one evening with Sam, taking him to see his puppy. But for all that, when his mind wasn’t concentrated on work, Kate had occupied the greater part of Ethan’s attention.

  He had little enough to offer her—a scarred heart that still didn’t know whether it was strong enough to love any more than it already had. Limited time and a schedule of early mornings that didn’t fit in all that well with Kate’s schedule at the veterinary surgery. He should keep in contact, try to be there for her if she needed him, but leave it at that.

  Then, on Friday afternoon, he got a call. His father put Sam on the line, who explained that he had an important project on hand with Grandpa, and that he wanted to stay the night there. As soon as Ethan put his phone back down on his desk, he changed his mind and picked it up again, dialling Kate’s number.

  ‘I’ve got a free evening, as Sam’s staying at my parents. I thought I might catch a film and wondered if you’d like to keep me company?’ In other words, this wasn’t a date.

  ‘Yes, that sounds great. Do you know what’s on?’

  He’d forgotten to look. ‘No.’

  ‘Hang on a minute, let me get to my desk.’ He heard the sound of Kate’s footsteps, and then the chime as a computer was nudged into life. ‘Here we are. There’s a romance, but it’s only got one star on the reviews. Gritty story of cops on the beat... Superheroes... Um...oh, and there’s one in Chinese, with subtitles.’

  None of that sounded particularly promising, but that wasn’t really the point. ‘What do you fancy?’

  ‘I don’t really know. What do you think?’

  There was a short silence and they both laughed together. ‘All right. I’ll go first. I’m quite partial to superheroes, actually.’

  Ethan chuckled. Why did that not sur
prise him? ‘Me too. I heard that one was pretty good.’

  ‘Yes it’s got four-and-a-half stars. Unless you want to go and see it with Sam?’

  ‘I think the one that’s currently out is a bit grown up for Sam.’

  ‘Oh, yes, so it is. What do you think, then? There are showings at eight, nine and half-past nine.’

  ‘I’ll pick you up at half-eight, then?’

  * * *

  The smell of popcorn and a woman standing next to him in the queue for tickets. Ethan hadn’t done this for a while. But Kate was just a friend. They were two people, neither of whom had anyone to go to the cinema with, and who didn’t want to go alone.

  As they got to the head of the queue, her phone buzzed. Ethan selected the seats and was about to pay for them when suddenly Kate slammed her hand onto the debit-card reader.

  ‘I’ll get them.’

  ‘No.’ When he glanced across at her, Kate was frowning. This didn’t seem like the usual squabble over who paid for tickets. She grabbed his arm, pulling him to one side, apologising to the woman behind the desk, who rolled her eyes.

  ‘I’ve got a call out. Mountain rescue. Ethan, I’m sorry.’

  That was usually his line—called away for an emergency somewhere. He knew just how bad Kate must be feeling at the moment, and was surprised to find that he wasn’t angry in the least. He’d always assumed that other people’s protestations, that it was all right and that he really must go, were just good manners.

  ‘What’s happened?’ Ethan began to walk towards the exit doors.

  ‘It’s an old couple. Apparently they went to visit their daughter in the next village this afternoon and she saw them onto the bus home. But they never arrived. They searched everywhere and, when it began to get late, they called for help. The bus goes through...’ She consulted her phone. ‘How do you say that?’

  ‘Coleswittam. The double “t” is sounded as “th”.’

  Kate raised her eyebrows. ‘Right. That’s sure to help a poor, confused Londoner find it. Do you know it?’

  ‘Yes, it’s to the west of here. Quite a tourist spot in the summer—hill-walking country with caves and a few waterfalls. It’s very beautiful, but not the kind of place an elderly couple should be at night.’