English Rose in the Outback

by Lucy Clark

  He chuckled then, a nice, warm, rich sound, which she realised she liked. Odd, especially as she didn’t know him all that well. ‘You’re a lot like me. Bellyaching and miserable.’

  ‘I’m not miserable,’ she instantly contradicted. ‘I’m uncomfortable.’

  ‘In the bed? In the room? With me?’

  Daisy felt quite ridiculous arguing with him when she was lying supine and he was all but towering over her as he took her blood pressure. ‘Or all of the above.’

  ‘That’s right. I remember you saying, just before you passed out, that you blamed me for everything.’

  She thought for a moment, trying to recall if she’d actually said that. She’d definitely been blaming him in her mind but she couldn’t remember saying the words out loud. Clearly she had.

  ‘Well…I do.’ With that, she closed her eyes once more, unable to believe how exhausted she was.

  She heard him chuckle once more, the sound relaxing her. ‘Lucky for you, I don’t argue with my patients.’ He pressed a cold cloth to her forehead and she relaxed even more. ‘Rest, Dr Daisy. Everything will be fine.’

  Would it though? She’d travelled to the other side of the world when she probably should have stayed home with her mother. Would her brother support her mother? Help her? Would her father be his charming self, or his dark inner self? Would she be able to recover from this sudden onset of illness or was she going to be unable to work in her new job for the next week or two? Oscar had said that she’d need at least a few days’ rest and clearly he’d dealt with heatstroke patients more than she had so she had no real option but to believe him. Right now, all she could do was to sleep and give her body time to recover.

  The next time she awoke, there was daylight trying to peek around the edges of the blinds. She listened carefully but this time she couldn’t hear sounds of anyone else in the room. Gingerly, she tried to sit up, pleased when her head didn’t instantly pound. As the cotton sheet slipped down Daisy realised she was wearing a hospital gown.

  How had she changed? When had she changed? She couldn’t remember. The door to the room opened and Oscar came into the room.

  ‘You’re awake again. How are you feeling?’ He instantly reached for her wrist and took her pulse before picking up the tympanic thermometer that she hadn’t realised was on the small table next to her and checked her temperature. ‘Still within normal limits. Any pain?’

  ‘My pain is well within normal parameters.’ There was a briskness to her words but she didn’t apologise for them. ‘How did I get into this hospital gown? How long have I been here? Did you undress me?’

  A concerned look crossed Oscar’s face at her questions. ‘Do you remember waking up before? About eight hours ago? It was around three o’clock in the morning. We had a lovely conversation.’

  His words confused her and she lay back down, pulling the cotton sheet up around her chin. ‘I don’t remember.’

  ‘That’s perfectly normal. Your body has been through quite a lot. You’re exhausted.’ He checked her blood pressure and nodded, clearly satisfied with the results. ‘And as to undressing you…’ He slowly shook his head. ‘Tori, our senior nurse, took care of you.’

  ‘Where are my clothes? My suitcase?’ Oscar picked up some more pillows and gently leaned her forward before placing them behind her head. ‘Thank you,’ she murmured, appreciating his thoughtful bedside manner. Now at least she could sit up and talk to him without feeling too achy.

  ‘Your suitcase and hand luggage are at the doctors’ residence. I’ll take you over later today once you’ve been off the drip for a while and I’m satisfied you’re doing better.’

  ‘Or we could go over now,’ she prompted. ‘After all, I can take care of myself.’ She moved in the bed and only then realised she also had a catheter in. Why hadn’t she felt that before? She glared at Oscar once more as though he were solely to blame for her present predicament. It didn’t matter that she’d obviously been quite ill and dehydrated, otherwise she would have neither the drip nor the catheter.

  ‘I know you blame me for your present predicament,’ he said, uncannily echoing her thoughts and sitting down comfortably in the chair that was by the bed. Had her face conveyed her annoyance? ‘However, once you’ve recovered from your jet lag and the heatstroke, I’m sure you’ll see things differently.’

  ‘Perhaps my annoyance has nothing to do with either of those factors and everything to do with being left stranded at an airport, which is nothing more than a tin shed, in the middle of the Australian outback.’ She didn’t raise her voice as she spoke but her words were clipped and controlled.

  He thought on this for a moment, then rubbed his jaw. ‘Fair enough.’ He smiled at her and leaned forward in his chair. ‘But I reserve the right to argue my corner…when you’re fully recovered, of course.’ Then before she could say another word, he stood and headed towards the door. ‘I’ll get one of the nurses to come and remove your drip and catheter. Once I’ve done my rounds, I’ll take you home where you’ll be prescribed lots of fluids and bed rest for the next few days.’

  ‘I’m not one hundred per cent sure I agree with your diagnosis.’

  ‘You can disagree all you like, so long as you do as you’re told.’

  ‘And if I don’t?’ She couldn’t help it. His dictatorial nature was starting to grate on her nerves. She knew it was only because her father was an arrogant, high-handed man and that tone, that ‘I’m better than you’ tone, made her jaw clench and her insides bristle.

  ‘Then I’ll organise a roster of our retirees to stand guard over you so don’t fight me on this.’

  It didn’t matter that she knew he was right, that she needed to rest, that it was the most sensible thing to do—her stubbornness, the one thing her father had always disliked, came to the fore. ‘I’m a fast healer so I’ll be fine to start work tomorrow. One good night’s sleep and I’ll be as right as rain.’

  ‘I don’t care. What I do care about is the smooth running of this hospital and, as hospital director, as well as your admitting doctor, my prescription is fluids and bed rest for the next two days. If you’re stubborn and come to work before then, I will fire you.’

  ‘What?’ Daisy spluttered. ‘You’ll fire me if I recover faster than you presume?’

  Oscar fixed her with a firm stare before shaking his head. ‘You seem intent on arguing with me, Dr Daisy, and that is definitely not going to aid your recovery.’ With an indulgent smile, as though he were humouring a child, he opened his office door. ‘I’ll send one of the nurses to help you.’ Oscar closed the door behind him, then sighed. He made his way to the nurses’ station where Tori was sitting writing up notes.

  ‘How’s the VIP patient?’

  ‘Annoyed with me for some reason.’ He sat on the edge of the desk. ‘I think she blames me for leaving her at the airstrip yesterday.’

  ‘But she wasn’t due to arrive until today.’

  ‘Dates have clearly been mixed up.’ He shrugged. ‘Can you remove her drip and catheter, and I’ll take her over to the residence once I’ve finished doing a ward round?’

  ‘Does she need a change of clothes? She might feel more comfortable heading out of the hospital in her own clothing.’

  ‘Good thinking.’

  ‘I’m almost done with my shift here so why don’t I pop over and get her something to wear? Did you want me to stay and help get her settled in? After all, you do still have a clinic to get through this afternoon.’

  ‘If you don’t mind, Tori, that would be great.’ For some reason, Oscar was a little concerned at leaving Daisy on her own. He knew she was a doctor and that she was more than capable of looking after herself, but it was because she was a doctor that he didn’t want to leave her by herself. She would push herself too far, too fast and that was the last thing any of them needed. ‘Hang on. Weren’t you and Scotty supposed to be going out on a date tonight?’

  Tori grimaced, then shrugged.

  ‘Oh, no. Ha
ve you two broken up again?’

  Tori looked as though she was going to cry but she quickly pulled herself together. ‘I’ll go get Daisy sorted out.’

  ‘Scotty will come around. He’s crazy about you.’

  ‘He’s crazy all right,’ she snorted before walking down the corridor. Oscar shook his head, glad he wasn’t involved with anyone. He’d had his fair share of relationship failures and he certainly didn’t want any more. One busted marriage, one aborted engagement. Yep. He was more than happy to devote himself to his career for a while. Sure, he wanted to have a family one day but there were more than enough children in the district regularly visiting him and the midwives in the clinics to help keep that paternal instinct at bay.

  ‘Life doesn’t always turn out the way you expect it to,’ he murmured to himself, remembering how his sister, Lucinda, used to say that to him all the time. She was the reason he’d first come to live in Meeraji Lake. She’d looked after him when their parents had passed away in a car accident and he’d looked after her as she’d wasted away from cancer. It had been almost a year since her death and there wasn’t a day when he didn’t think of her.

  He completed his ward round, managing to discharge several patients from yesterday’s emergency, and then headed back to his office, pleasantly surprised to find Daisy sitting up in the chair, dressed in her own clothes. The dress was cornflower blue with small yellow daisies on it. Her hair was still up but not in the harsh chignon she’d worn yesterday but, instead, a simple high ponytail. She looked seventy per cent better than before and her statement at being a fast healer flitted through his mind. Perhaps she was.

  ‘Where’s Tori?’ he asked.

  ‘She said she was going over to the doctors’ residence to make sure the air conditioner was on and the fans were whirring.’

  ‘Good.’ He handed her a cold bottle of iced tea. ‘I snagged this from the fridge on my way here. You need to keep your fluids up.’

  Daisy thanked him and accepted the drink, then read the ingredient label on the side. ‘There’s no tea in this.’ She sighed. ‘What I wouldn’t give for a nice, proper cup of English tea.’

  ‘No hot drinks for you at the moment,’ he added as he lifted one of her wrists and checked her pulse. ‘Normal. Good.’ He pointed to the drink. ‘Besides, this variety has electrolytes in it and we need to keep you hydrated as best we can.’ He picked up the thermometer and took her temperature. ‘Normal. Good,’ he repeated.

  ‘But having a cup of tea will cool me down,’ she protested.

  ‘You’re a feisty little thing, aren’t you?’ he stated and she raised one eyebrow in his direction.

  ‘I’m hardly “little”.’

  ‘Anyone shorter than me is little.’

  ‘And that’s not at all an arrogant comment,’ she retorted, unable to keep the dryness from her tone. She was tired, annoyed and frustrated but she still braced herself for his retort, knowing she was being completely rude but seemingly unable to stop herself. Then, much to her utter surprise, Oscar started to laugh.

  The sound was deep, rich and washed over her like a cool breeze on a hot Australian summer’s day. It caused a mass of tingles to flood her entire body and her shoulders to relax a little. When he looked her way, she could see the mirth in his eyes.

  ‘Are you laughing at me or with me?’ she asked, which, for a moment, just made him laugh a little harder.

  ‘Definitely with you. This whole situation, you arriving a day early, the explosion and the hospital being inundated yesterday, you getting sick—everything—there’s no way any of it could have been planned. It’s just one of those things and all we can do is to shrug our shoulders and get on with things.’

  Before she could reply, he jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the door. ‘I’ll just go get a wheelchair and then we can leave.’

  ‘I don’t need a wheelchair to walk out to the car. I can cope.’

  ‘And that’s great. I like this independent spirit of yours. However, we’re not going to be driving the car because it’s much easier to walk, hence the wheelchair because, for you at the moment, I don’t even want you walking that far in the heat.’

  ‘Walking? Where is it?’

  ‘Two doors up from the hospital. The GP clinic rooms are in the middle.’

  ‘So it goes hospital, GP clinics and then doctors’ residence?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Where do you live? In the next house or across the street?’

  ‘I live in the doctors’ residence,’ he stated.

  ‘There are two of them, I get that, but where is your place situated?’

  ‘In the doctors’ residence,’ he said again. ‘I’ll just go get you that wheelchair.’ He opened the door then stopped. ‘Oh, and you look good. Comfortable.’ He winked at her. ‘We’ll make an honorary Aussie out of you yet.’

  Why had he winked at her? She wished he hadn’t because it had certainly caused a flood of excited confusion to spread throughout her body. She wasn’t used to men winking at her. Wasn’t used to the relaxed manner of these Aussies. Besides, she’d probably only responded to him in the way she had because she was exhausted. Her usual defences were down but by the time he returned with the wheelchair, she had herself under better control. ‘Are you sure I can’t walk?’

  ‘You don’t need to exert yourself at the moment,’ he said before wheeling her out of the hospital. As they went several people called out to let her know they’d all been concerned for her.

  She was touched by the genuine emotion from people she didn’t even know yet. She’d been wondering whether or not she’d made the right decision to come here but perhaps everything would turn out well in the end. There was one issue, however, that she wanted to get cleared up right now, as it sounded to her as though Oscar was being evasive.

  ‘So which house is yours?’ she asked as both blinding light and heat from the sun swamped her. Flies instantly buzzed around them and she swatted them away as best she could.

  ‘That’s the GP clinic.’ Oscar pointed as he wheeled her past the weatherboard building that had been newly painted. ‘And the doctors’ residence is just…there.’ When the residence, a brick house with a corrugated iron roof, came into view, he turned the wheelchair towards it and started up the driveway. ‘I’ll wheel you around the back so we don’t have to navigate the stairs at the front.’

  ‘I’m not that much of an invalid. I can manage a few—’ She stopped, shaking her head as he just continued up the driveway to the rear of the property. He locked the wheels on the chair before opening a gate that had a large wooden fence around it.

  Oscar unlocked the wheels, then pushed the chair around to the rear door, which was being held open by Tori.

  ‘Welcome,’ the nurse said. Oscar wheeled Daisy right through the laundry, kitchen and into the lounge room. Although the house had probably been built sixty or so years ago, it had been lovingly restored. The walls were freshly painted, the flooring had been recently replaced and the furniture was quaint and looked comfortable.

  ‘This house is lovely. It’ll be perfect for the duration of my stay.’ Daisy nodded her approval.

  ‘I’m glad you like it.’ He parked the wheelchair beside a large wing-back chair and held out a hand to her. She was too preoccupied with looking around to refuse his help. Tori was on the other side of her and together they helped her into the chair.

  ‘It is a nice house. It’s been the doctors’ residence for quite a few decades. All the doctors who have worked here in the town have lived here at one time or another.’

  She settled herself thankfully into the chair and then opened the bottle of iced tea he’d given her earlier. She took a long drink, delighted at the way the cool liquid seemed to flood throughout her body. ‘So…’ She rested her head against the back of the chair. ‘Where do you live now?’

  Oscar raised one eyebrow. ‘I live in the doctors’ residence.’

  ‘You’ve said that before, but what does
that mean if I’m living in the doctors’ residence?’

  It was then that he smiled at her. One of those slow smiles that, for some reason, made her heart skip a beat.

  ‘It means we share.’

  ‘We share!’ She sat up straight, deep brown eyes glaring at him.

  He nodded. ‘Howdy, neighbour.’

  CHAPTER THREE

  ‘I AM NOT living with you.’ Daisy’s tone was completely indignant.

  ‘You’re not living with me, you just happen to be living in a house that I live in also.’

  ‘I’ll get you some ice chips,’ Tori stated and quickly headed back into the kitchen. Oscar walked over to the blinds and adjusted them so the light wasn’t in Daisy’s eyes.

  ‘Better?’

  ‘Yes. Thank you. Now will you explain to me what’s going on?’ She’d never had heat exhaustion before, but it was exhausting and she settled back into the chair again and took another sip of her iced tea.

  ‘I’ll just adjust the vents for the air conditioner. I don’t want it blowing directly onto you.’ He reached up and changed the direction of the vents. ‘Better?’

  ‘Yes.’ She yawned. ‘Now will you please just tell me what’s going on?’ There was exhaustion in her tone and she closed her eyes.

  ‘Of course.’ Oscar picked up the tympanic thermometer Tori had brought over from the hospital and took Daisy’s temperature. ‘Still normal. Good.’

  Tori brought the ice chips in and put them on a small table beside Daisy’s chair. ‘I’ll just go make up the bed in Daisy’s quarters.’

  ‘Thanks,’ he remarked and sat in the other wing-back chair opposite his exhausted new colleague. ‘This house was originally built for the doctor of the town and his family and, believe me, back then, the doctors who worked here often had at least five or six children. Then, years later when times had changed, the doctors who came here were single and devoted to their careers. The town council decided to convert this house into smaller apartments but, instead of making them into fully self-contained apartments, they extended all the bedrooms so they included walk-in robes and en-suites as well as a small study area but left the rest of the house as it was. This way, there are four full bedrooms here and then the occupants share the living areas.’