English Rose in the Outback

by Lucy Clark

  When she didn’t immediately respond, he looked more closely at her. ‘Daisy?’

  ‘I’m awake,’ she said. ‘I was just thinking. It sounds as though this house has been set up like one of the boarding houses that were around after the war.’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Do only doctors stay here?’

  ‘No. Several nurses and midwives have stayed here when they first came to town but people either only stay for a short period of time—like yourself—or they like the district so much, they buy their own residence and move out.’

  ‘When you arrived, was there anyone else living here?’

  ‘Er…yes.’ He hadn’t been prepared for that question and he most certainly wasn’t going to go into details about the other emergency specialist who had been here when he’d arrived at Meeraji Lake. Deidre was a closed book and one he still wasn’t quite ready to open again. ‘One other doctor lived here and Tori.’

  Daisy opened her eyes at this news. There was a touch of hesitancy in his tone and she idly wondered what had caused it. ‘But Tori doesn’t live here any more?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘And your bedroom is…where?’

  ‘To the left of this room. Your room is on the right.’

  ‘So we live on either side of the house with the lounge room between us.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Do we share the household chores?’

  ‘One of the residents at the retirement village cleans the house but if you want to share the cooking, I’m more than happy to do that.’

  She sighed heavily again and took another sip of her drink before closing her eyes and resting her head back against the comfortable chair. The next time she opened her eyes it was to the sound of two people whispering. She couldn’t see them but could hear them. The room was a lot darker than before and she realised that the sun had set. How long had she been sleeping?

  ‘Are you sure you’ll be all right with her this evening? I could stay if you thought she needed nursing.’

  ‘She’ll be fine, Tori. The fact that she’s slept most of the day away is good, plus her temperature is cool and you’ve managed to get some fluids into her.’

  Daisy looked down at the glass on the little table beside her, surprised to see her iced tea was finished and so was half a jug of iced water. She didn’t remember drinking, or did she? She frowned, recalling hazy memories of a soft voice urging her to drink, or sponging her down, or taking her temperature.

  ‘Thanks for staying with her, especially while I managed to get through my clinic and finish treating the patients from yesterday’s disaster who weren’t so urgent.’

  ‘I’m awake.’ Daisy had to clear her throat, surprised when her voice caught due to dryness. Oscar was immediately at her side, lifting the glass of water to her lips.

  ‘I can do it,’ she told him, but he clearly wasn’t going to listen to her as he continued to hold it until she drank.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ Tori asked, putting the tympanic thermometer into Daisy’s ear.

  ‘Will the two of you stop fussing?’ she growled and, instead of them being annoyed with her snappiness, the two Australians just grinned at each other. Honestly, they were so different from her other colleagues, who probably would have scolded her for being such an impatient patient.

  ‘Let me help you to the bathroom before I go,’ Tori said after showing Oscar the reading on the thermometer. ‘Unless you’d rather Oscar helps you?’

  Before Daisy could even answer, going to state that she would much prefer the nurse’s assistance, Tori was already in position to help Daisy out of the chair. It was only then she realised the question was rhetorical and that Tori had simply been teasing. These Australians, with their easy humour, were very different from the people she’d worked with in the past. Within the British hierarchy in the hospital, she’d always understood her position, and even in the army, where she’d been required to fulfil a variety of duties on the spur of the moment, there had still been a strict command structure.

  The natives she’d worked with in the combat zone; the patients in Britain; the way she’d been raised—it had always been clear and defined what people expected of her and yet, even though she’d only been in this country for a short time, she found everyone incredibly relaxed and jovial. And even though they worked extremely hard and offered first-class treatment to their patients, they all seemed to be very happy to do so.

  Even as Tori assisted her, and helped her to get changed into lightweight cotton pyjamas, Daisy was surprised at how much the nurse seemed to talk about her own life, telling Daisy about her boyfriend, Scott, who had just called their relationship off for the second time.

  ‘I want to get married and I know he does, too, but then he says that once we’re married I’ll stop him from doing all the things he loves and I won’t. He can still go out shooting or go away for a few weeks to Darwin and go fishing or whatever he wants.’ Tori helped her into bed and Daisy listened to her chatter, most of it going in one ear and out the other. She was still so incredibly tired, she just couldn’t help it, her eyelids growing heavier with each passing moment.

  ‘What do you think?’ Tori asked.

  Daisy smothered a yawn. ‘It sounds as though the two of you are perfect together.’

  ‘Do you think so?’

  ‘Well, I don’t actually know this Scott person you’re talking about. However, from the way you’ve described him, he does sound like a nice, honest man.’ Daisy wasn’t sure whether her words were slurring or not, whether she was making any sense or not, but whatever she was saying seemed to be well received by Tori.

  There was a knock at her open door before Oscar came further into the room. ‘How’s everything going in here? All settled?’

  Daisy wanted to tell him she was fine, that she was healing nicely and that she didn’t need him fussing over her all night long, but the words didn’t seem to come out and she closed her heavy eyelids and listened to the muted conversation between Tori and Oscar.

  Again Daisy drifted off to sleep and the next time she woke the clock by her bed indicated it was four o’clock in the morning. She listened for other sounds in the house but couldn’t hear any. Gingerly she managed to get out of bed and go to the bathroom before lying back down in the bed. She’d done her research on Meeraji Lake and knew that sometimes, it could get very cold at night even though it was scorching during the day. Pulling the light blanket over her, she noticed a jug of cool water by the bed with a glass and a straw, along with a sticky note that urged her to ‘drink up’.

  She did as it suggested and then settled back down, surprised once more at how tired she was. It was then that she started to dream, to see herself floating through the sky, gazing down at the patchwork-like ground below, wondering what adventures were waiting for her. Daisy saw a face forming in the clouds and she stopped herself from moving and peered more closely. It took her a while to figure out whose face it was and when she realised it was Oscar’s, she smiled.

  There was something about the man that she liked, even though she didn’t know him at all well. They hadn’t had the greatest beginning to a working relationship but, as soon as she recovered from this illness, she intended to do her job to the best of her ability. She told him that. Told him that she liked his relaxed nature and she was happy to be here.

  Annoyingly, he only chuckled softly then urged her to drink a little more. When she asked him if he was going to reply, if he was going to say something nice about her, he had the gall to shush her and tell her to go back to sleep.

  Closing her eyes with annoyance, she felt a breeze start to swirl around her, lifting her loose hair from her nape and brushing it from her face. It felt nice and comfortable and once again she smiled at the fluffy Oscar cloud face before drifting back into a deeper sleep.

  *

  ‘How did Daisy cope last night? No problems?’ Tori asked Oscar when he arrived at the hospital the next day.

  ‘She sle
pt well. I checked on her every two hours and managed to get her to drink a bit more, which was good.’

  ‘She’s very exhausted because she doesn’t seem to completely wake up when you ask her to drink.’

  Oscar crossed his arms and leaned against the desk, straightening his legs out before him. ‘She sort of did—wake up, I mean. Around four o’clock. I heard her go to the bathroom so thought I’d check on her then, save me waking her up, but although she spoke to me she was sort of delirious, too.’ He shook his head, a slow smile crossing his face. ‘I doubt she’ll remember it.’

  She’d looked so relaxed, so at peace, especially when she’d told him she was glad she’d come to the outback. For a woman who liked to argue, she’d also looked incredibly beautiful lying back on the light-coloured pillow, her dark hair fanned out around her face. It was an image he wouldn’t be forgetting in a hurry. Daisy Forsythe-York was become more and more interesting the longer he spent with her.

  When he arrived home that evening, it was to find her sitting up in the wing-back chair, talking on the telephone. He waved to her, pleased to see she was looking even better than when he’d checked on her earlier that morning.

  She acknowledged his presence with a brisk nod of her head before she returned her attention to her conversation. Oscar headed to the kitchen to make them both a cool drink and couldn’t help but overhear the end of her conversation.

  ‘I am so glad that you’re feeling better, Mother,’ she stated. ‘Promise me you’re not just saying that because I’m on the other side of the world.’ There was a pause before Daisy sighed, a deep and heavy sound that seemed to be filled with anguish. ‘Mother, please call John. Tell him you want to go and stay with him for a few nights, that way you won’t be…’ Daisy paused and sighed again. ‘All right. I will stop fussing so long as you promise to call John. He’s your son. He’s supposed to be taking care of you.’

  Oscar smiled, liking that Daisy cared so much about her mother. He finished making their drinks and took them into the lounge room as she disconnected the call. ‘It must be difficult being so far away from your family,’ he said as he handed her the cool glass.

  ‘It is.’

  ‘I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,’ he added as he sat down opposite her, pleased with the way she accepted the drink without making a fuss. ‘How is your mother?’

  ‘Doing all right, at the moment.’ She added the last bit in a softer tone and he could clearly see the concern on her face.

  ‘You obviously care about her a lot. Have you spoken to her much since you arrived?’

  ‘Not really. That was the first real chat we’ve had.’ Daisy sipped her drink but didn’t make any effort at conversation. Oscar had the feeling Dr Daisy thought she could come here to Meeraji Lake, do her job for six months and then leave, but that wasn’t how they did things here in the outback. They became embroiled in each other’s lives, they supported each other through thick and thin, through drought and floods, through life and death. He eased back in his chair, settling in for a good old-fashioned conversation with his new colleague.

  ‘You’re fortunate your mother is still with you. My parents passed away when I was seven years old. Car accident.’

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

  ‘Thank you. I was lucky, though. My sister, Lucinda, was fifteen years older than me so she took me in and raised me. I loved her so much.’

  Daisy nodded and took another sip of her drink. Was she going to ask him questions? Was she just going to accept his words, surmising that, as he’d spoken in the past tense, Lucinda had passed away? Come on, Daisy, he silently encouraged. Engage. Converse. Loosen up.

  ‘She’s passed on?’ she finally asked and he was pleased to see she was willing to make the effort to chat with him. Many of her patients would want to chat and all that chatting was usually a very important part of general health care, especially with their more senior patients. Even though they were a tight community, many people did still suffer from loneliness. Knowing that Daisy was willing to ask questions, even if she didn’t feel like it, decreased his concern about her fitting in. Many people had been put off by the snobby tourists that occasionally came through their town, with their airs and graces, and Daisy hadn’t exactly made the best first impression with her haughty attitude. Now, at least, it was good to see she was starting to loosen up…even if it was just a bit.

  ‘Almost twelve months ago. Breast cancer. I moved to Meeraji Lake to be with her, to help her through until the end.’

  ‘That’s a difficult thing to do, to watch a loved one deteriorate.’ She sipped her drink.

  ‘Have you had to do that, too? Your father?’

  Daisy almost choked on her iced tea. ‘No. No.’ She cleared her throat and shook her head. ‘My father is most definitely alive.’ She clenched her jaw and he received the distinct impression that she wasn’t too fond of her father. ‘No doubt he’ll outlive us all.’

  Oscar couldn’t help but smile at the way she muttered the last part. ‘He can’t be as bad as all that.’

  ‘Huh,’ was her only answer, which indicated that she clearly did not agree with him. ‘How was your day at the hospital?’

  ‘It was…far more relaxed than the past two days. Clinic is still overflowing with patients but they’ve all been seen and I get to be rewarded with a coldie.’ He raised his glass in the air, then took a long drink, noting the way she’d changed the subject. Clearly she didn’t want to discuss her father any more.

  ‘You don’t go to the pub?’ she asked.

  ‘The pub?’

  At his question, Daisy looked a little confused. ‘When I was doing my research about Australia, I was led to understand that the main hub of any outback town is the local pub and that at the end of the week people would often celebrate with what was called a “knock-off beer”. Is that correct?’

  Oscar was utterly delighted she’d taken the time to do a bit of research on their culture. ‘That is one hundred per cent correct, but as it isn’t yet Friday it’s just a knock-off iced tea for me tonight.’

  ‘Knock-off? As in it isn’t real? I wasn’t quite sure what it meant.’

  ‘It means you’ve finished work for the week. Clocked off. Knocked off. Time for weekend fun…or in our case weekend sport.’

  ‘Oh? What type of sport?’

  ‘Rugby. Australian Rules football. Cricket. You name it, they play it and we get to deal with the injuries from it.’

  And then it happened. Daisy smiled at him. Not a polite smile but a genuine one. Her perfectly straight white teeth, her twinkling brown eyes, her head angled slightly to the side, her low ponytail sliding off her shoulder. The whole picture was one of pure beauty and he was by no means unaffected by it. His gut tightened and his breath caught momentarily in his throat. Did she have any idea just how stunning she was?

  ‘Oscar?’ She was looking at him with confusion now and he belatedly realised she’d asked him a question.

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘I asked which sport you prefer.’

  He couldn’t think straight, couldn’t get his brain to function properly so he merely shrugged one shoulder and said, ‘I like them all but I’m always on call so can never really commit to be a part of the team.’

  ‘Have you always been the only doctor here? Presumably before you came there was another doctor here.’

  He looked into the bottom of his empty glass and nodded. ‘There was. Deidre.’ He cleared his throat, not really wanting to talk about his ex-fiancée, but he knew that, as nothing was kept secret in this town, Daisy would soon find out about his past.

  ‘Where is she now?’

  Oscar placed his glass on the table, then stood and walked to the window. ‘She’s in Canada, I think.’

  ‘Were the two of you close?’

  He turned to look at her over his shoulder. ‘What makes you ask that?’

  ‘You seem a little on edge, therefore it was an obvious question. However, if you don’t wis
h to discuss it, that’s quite all right.’

  ‘Hmm.’ He returned his gaze to the window, watching as some of the young children rode their bikes up and down the main street, calling to each other and laughing without a care in the world. ‘We live in a small town, Daisy, and as such everyone knows everything so you may as well hear it from me.’

  ‘OK.’

  He paused for a moment, pleased when she didn’t prompt him but instead waited patiently for him to speak.

  ‘Deidre and I were engaged.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘In the end, however, she decided she didn’t want to get married and left.’

  ‘Just like that?’

  ‘She’d spent twelve months here, her contract was up and I didn’t want to go with her.’

  ‘Especially not if you were here for your sister.’

  ‘Yes. Thank you. So she left and I stayed.’

  ‘And will you continue to stay?’

  ‘Yes. This was Lucinda’s home for at least ten years. When she first came to nurse here, they hadn’t even built the hospital. Even before she’d had cancer, I’d come for visits every now and then when my schedule would allow. I would have moved sooner if I’d been able. It’s quite…serene here.’

  He seemed slightly preoccupied by what was going on outside the window as he spoke, his words almost as though he’d said them all before. Daisy sat up a little higher in her chair and looked out of the window through the open blinds.

  ‘Do the children often ride around on their bikes of an evening?’

  ‘It’s just after six o’clock. No doubt they’ll all be called in for their dinner soon.’

  ‘It’s six o’clock and it’s still light?’ She shook her head, bemused by the difference between this sunshine and the dark, winter climate she’d left behind in England.

  ‘And stinking hot. Summer is probably the worst time for newcomers to arrive from the northern hemisphere. Scorching here and freezing there.’ He sat back down in his chair and unsuccessfully smothered a yawn. ‘How was your day? Did you rest as per your doctor’s instructions?’