A Night to Remember

by Jennifer Taylor

  Seb could feel his stomach churning as he led the way into the office. He beckoned Libby forward and dredged up a smile. ‘For those of you who haven’t met her yet, this is my wife, Libby. I’m afraid we’ll have to leave the rest of the introductions until later, though.’

  He closed the door, ignoring the looks that were being exchanged. Although everyone knew he was married, he guessed that most people had assumed that he and Libby were separated. It must be almost as big a shock for them as it had been for him to have her turn up like this, but there was nothing he could do about it. He could hardly explain why she’d come when he didn’t officially know the reason himself.

  ‘Right, I’ve spoken to the coastguard and the news isn’t good,’ he said briskly, trying not to dwell on how he was going to feel when Libby asked him for a divorce. ‘The tugs have been unable to get a line to the tanker because of the heavy seas. It’s still on course for a collision so they’ve decided to evacuate as many people as possible from the rig.’

  ‘By helicopter?’ Marilyn put in.

  ‘To begin with. However, if the wind speed increases then the helicopters won’t be able to continue flying so they’ve put out a call to all shipping in the area. If the local fishing boats can offload some of the crew, that will cut down the number of flights the air-sea rescue guys will have to make.’ He shrugged. ‘We don’t want to add to the chaos by having a ’copter ditch in the sea.’

  ‘How many crew are there on the tanker?’ Ben Robertson, their senior radiologist, enquired.

  ‘That’s something the coastguard is still trying to establish, along with the exact nature of the cargo the tanker is carrying. Let’s just say that the owners of the vessel are a tad reluctant to answer any questions.’

  ‘So we don’t know how many potential casualties we could end up with,’ Cathy said in dismay.

  ‘That’s the top and bottom of it, I’m afraid.’ Seb glanced around the room, his eyes lingering only a fraction longer on Libby than they did on anyone else but even so, he could have recited from memory every detail of what she was wearing if he’d been asked to do so.

  He’d always loved her in blue, he thought wistfully. It was a colour that suited her perfectly, highlighting her honey-gold hair and fair skin. She’d worn a pale blue suit when they had married in the simple register office ceremony they had decided on. Neither of them had wanted a big wedding with lots of fuss. They’d just wanted each other and the day had been perfect. They had made their vows in front of a handful of family and friends, and they had both cried. It had been the best day of his life and it was almost too painful to have to remember it now.

  He cleared his throat, afraid that his feelings would be all too apparent. ‘We don’t know if we’ll be dealing with six or sixty casualties so we need to be prepared for every eventuality. Ambulance Control has been instructed to send only the most severely injured patients to us during the course of the next twenty-four hours so that should help, but if the numbers are high, we are going to be pushed to our absolute limit. Just do your best. That’s all any of us can do.’

  There was a murmur of agreement before everyone started to leave. Seb didn’t go with them. They knew the drill and he didn’t need to check up on what they were doing. Every single member of the team would do his or her job without him having to badger them. It was what made them work so well together: they trusted each other and had the kind of confidence that came from knowing they were trusted, too.

  His gaze went to Libby again and his heart ached with a searing pain. Libby had also trusted him at one time. She’d trusted him to be there for her and he had let her down. Maybe it had been his dream to work in a job like this, but could he put his hand on his heart and swear that it had been worth doing it when it had added to the demise of his marriage?

  He wished he could, wished with every fibre of his being that he could say that his job had made up for what he’d lost, but he couldn’t. He may have fulfilled his ambitions but he had lost Libby, and nothing could ever make up for that.

  ‘I really think I should leave.’

  Libby edged towards the door. It was obvious that Seb didn’t have the time to talk to her right now so it would be better if she got out of his way. Maybe she could find a hotel in the town and stay there until the crisis was over? Now that she’d come all this way, she would prefer to get everything settled, but it wasn’t fair to expect him to deal with the issue of their divorce when he had so much else going on.

  ‘Nonsense! Of course you can’t leave. You’ve only just got here.’

  Seb’s tone was brisk and her heart sank when she heard it. She didn’t want to cause a scene but she knew it would be better if she left. Deciding to get divorced was a big step for any couple and they needed time to talk about what it entailed. She was just about to tell him that she would book into a hotel when the phone rang and she stopped as he picked up the receiver.

  ‘Seb Bridges.’

  Libby waited in silence while he listened to what the caller was saying. Even though she couldn’t hear what was being said, she could tell it wasn’t good news. He looked extremely troubled when he hung up.

  ‘That was the coastguard again. Apparently, the tanker is carrying some sort of organic compound used to make pesticides. It’s highly toxic and also believed to be carcinogenic even in fairly low doses.’

  ‘Is it water soluble?’ she exclaimed in dismay.

  ‘They’re not sure. However, in the absence of any information to the contrary, we shall have to assume that it isn’t. Which means if any of the containers rupture, the chemicals could be washed ashore.’

  ‘It’s a real nightmare scenario,’ she agreed worriedly. ‘It’s coming up to the weekend and I expect a lot of people still use the beaches around here even at this time of the year.’

  ‘And every single one them will be at risk if they come into contact with any of those chemicals,’ Seb concluded, grimly.

  Libby shivered. It didn’t bear thinking about so she focussed on practicalities instead. ‘Are you going to tell your staff?’

  ‘Of course. They need to be fully informed about all the facts. One of our nurses has just found out that she’s pregnant and I certainly don’t want her coming into contact with a substance like that,’ he said, heading for the door.

  ‘Of course not.’ She quickly stepped aside, shrugging when he paused beside her. ‘I just wish there was something I could do to help.’

  ‘If you mean that, I can easily find you a job. We’re going to be really stretched when things start moving around here. Another pair of experienced hands would come in very useful.’

  ‘Are you sure? You don’t think it would be…well…awkward having me here?’ she said doubtfully. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help, because she did. She just didn’t want to make his life any more difficult if he was involved with Cathy or some other member of the team. Her heart hiccuped painfully at the thought, but the truth had to be faced.

  ‘Awkward?’ He frowned. ‘You’re a first-rate doctor, Libby, and you know your way around an A and E unit better than most. Maybe you haven’t worked in emergency care for a couple of years but you won’t have lost any of your skills. You’d be doing me a favour if you agreed to help.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Libby smiled, deeply touched by the compliment. She’d often wondered if it had been a bone of contention between them that she’d decided to opt out of emergency care and go into general practice. However, there’d been nothing in his tone to indicate that…unless he no longer cared what she did, of course.

  ‘I’ll be happy to help any way I can,’ she said, determined not to let the idea gather momentum. They were heading towards a divorce so what difference did it make if he cared or not?

  ‘Great.’ He opened the door. ‘I’ll give you a quick tour so you can get your bearings. There’s nothing worse than the sticky stuff hitting the fan while you’re still trying to muddle your way around.’

  ‘Like our first day
at the Royal, you mean?’ she said, and he laughed.

  ‘Exactly like our first day at the Royal!’ He grinned down at her, his hazel eyes warm with the memory. ‘Remember when we were told to take that old lady for an X-ray? It took us half an hour to find the radiology unit!’

  ‘And when we got there we discovered there were no radiographers on duty because they’d gone for lunch and we had to take her all the way back to Casualty.’ She shook her head. ‘You’d have thought someone would have warned us the department closed at lunchtime, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Ah, but that would have meant them actually helping us. We were trainees, don’t forget. The lowest of the low. I can’t remember anyone actually talking to us—they just snapped orders.’ He smiled at her. ‘It’s a good job we had each other for support or we’d have gone completely mad!’

  ‘Probably.’

  Libby felt a sudden tightness in her chest and turned away, but the damage had been done. Remembering how close they’d been was just too painful when it only served to highlight how far apart they’d grown in recent years. As she followed Seb through the unit, she found it hard to concentrate on what he was saying. What did it matter if the state-of-the-art radiology department came complete with its very own CT scanner? And why should she care if bloods were cross-matched in the unit’s own lab? None of those things had any bearing on what really mattered, which was the state of their marriage.

  When she had made her vows eight years ago she had meant them. She had promised to love Seb until she died and in her heart she had promised to love him long after that, too. Yet here she was, just biding her time until she could tell him that she wanted to renounce those vows, sever the bonds that joined them together. How could anything matter more than that?

  ‘And last but definitely not least we have our very own theatre.’

  Seb stopped so Libby could look through the glass panes set into the top of the doors outside the operating theatre. A wave of tenderness washed over him as he watched her stretch up on tiptoe so that she could see through the glass. He’d forgotten how petite she was and that she would have a struggle to see through the high windows.

  His eyes skimmed over the gentle, womanly curves he knew so well and he felt another reaction occur in his body, one which had been all too predictable at one time. Libby’s beauty and femininity had always affected him and little had changed in that respect, it seemed.

  ‘It all looks very hi-tech in there.’

  ‘It is.’ Seb dredged up a smile as she turned to him. He couldn’t afford to let her see the effect she still had on him. If she’d decided to end their marriage then he wouldn’t try to make the situation more difficult for her. Even though it wasn’t what he wanted, he wouldn’t stand in her way if it was what she’d decided to do.

  It was just too much to deal with that thought right then. He swung round and headed back the way they’d come. ‘So now you know where everything is, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes. Thanks. I can see why you were so keen to take this job. It’s one of the best-equipped trauma units I’ve ever seen.’

  ‘It is.’ He elbowed open the swing doors that separated the theatre suite from the rest of the department and held them while she passed through. ‘There’s no doubt that having the best equipment available really helps, but it would be worthless without the right staff. They’re the ones who make the department what it is, and they’re a great bunch of people.’

  ‘Of course,’ she agreed quietly.

  Seb frowned. He couldn’t help noticing that there had been a definite lack of enthusiasm about her response. It appeared that his comment about the staff had struck a chord, although he wasn’t sure what chord that was. He was just about to ask her what was wrong when he thought better of it. There was no point asking questions when he might not appreciate the answers, was there? It was a relief when Jayne appeared to tell him that Ambulance Control was on the phone.

  He quickly excused himself and went to the office, his heart sinking when the controller informed him that there’d been a massive explosion out at sea when the tanker had struck the gas rig. Despite everyone’s efforts to evacuate the crews from both the rig and the tanker, there were multiple casualties, the first of which were being flown straight to the hospital.

  Seb hung up and checked his watch against the helicopter’s ETA. He had ten minutes to get things moving, ten minutes to get himself moving, too. Somehow he had to set aside this agony he felt about losing Libby and concentrate on what needed to be done.

  He headed straight to Resus, knowing that the team would be in there. Nobody noticed him at first, then Gary spotted him and stopped talking and the others realised the time for action had arrived.

  ‘The first ’copter is on its way in,’ he said crisply. ‘Three men with serious burn injuries. ETA approximately nine minutes now. Marilyn will head up one team, Gary the second and I’ll take charge of the third.’

  ‘Do we know how many casualties we’re going to have to deal with yet?’ Gary asked anxiously.

  ‘No. But we’ll think in double figures and that way it will be easier to move up or down the scale,’ Seb replied, moving to the bed nearest to the doors. Cathy and Jayne would be working with him as usual, although if there was a chance that any of the casualties had come into contact with those chemicals, he would make sure Jayne was well away from the danger area. He didn’t intend to put her unborn child at risk.

  ‘If there’s any sign of chemical contamination, I want you out of here,’ he told her. ‘Understand?’

  He sighed when he saw the relief on her face as she nodded. It had been remiss of him not to have made that clear to her before. He’d been too caught up in his own problems to worry about how his staff were feeling and it was an oversight he wouldn’t make again. Mistakes occurred when people were put under too much pressure so he had to forget about everything else and get on with the job.

  The doors suddenly opened and he swung round, expecting to see the paramedics bringing in their first patient, but instead he saw Libby come in. All of a sudden he was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of what was happening. Libby wanted to end their marriage. She no longer wanted to be his wife—she wanted a divorce. Maybe he was guilty of burying his head in the sand, but he had never expected it would come to this!

  ‘So what do you want me to do?’

  She stopped in front of him and his heart suddenly lifted in sheer relief when he heard what she’d said. Was she actually offering to reconsider her decision to leave?

  ‘What would you like to do?’ he murmured huskily.

  ‘I don’t mind. Whatever’s the most useful, basically.’ She glanced round the room and shrugged. ‘I don’t mind acting as gofer. You’ll need someone to take blood samples to the lab for cross-matching, and fetch drugs—things like that. I’m happy to do it if it will help.’

  ‘Right, thanks. I’ll bear that in mind.’

  Seb dredged up a smile but he could feel it inching its way out of his boots. He knew that all they were doing was putting off the inevitable. She wanted a divorce and all she had to do now was to tell him that.

  The doors crashed open again and this time it was the paramedics with their first patient. Seb told them to bring the trolley over to him. It took just a few seconds to transfer the man onto the bed and a couple more to set things in motion. This was the easy bit, of course, doing the job he’d been trained to do. The hard bit would come later, after his work here was finished.

  Pain lanced through him once again. Nothing he’d ever learned had prepared him for the agony of losing Libby.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Friday: 7 p.m.

  ‘I NEED another line putting in, stat! Libby…?’

  ‘Got it.’

  Libby reached for a fresh cannula and ripped open the package. She swabbed the patient’s arm then swiftly inserted the needle into a vein. His whole system was closing down as shock from the injuries he’d suffered took its toll, but the needle sl
id into place at her first attempt. She smiled to herself. It was good to know that she hadn’t lost her touch in a crisis.

  ‘Thanks. Now squeeze that fluid through as fast as you can go. We’re going to lose him if we’re not careful.’

  Seb barely glanced at her as he carried on removing a sliver of metal from the injured man’s throat, but she didn’t need mollycoddling. Far from delegating her to the role of helper, he had involved her at every stage and she had to admit that it felt good to be able to use her old skills again. She began rhythmically squeezing the bag of saline, knowing how important it was to get the life-giving fluid into the man’s system so that it would help to compensate for all the blood he was losing.

  ‘Damn!’ Seb cursed softly as the razor-sharp sliver of metal slid through the forceps he was using. She could see the frustration on his face when he looked up ‘There’s so much blood about that I can’t get a grip on it.’

  She saw him take a deep breath before he returned to the task, and smiled to herself. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d seen that happen. Seb was incredibly tenacious when presented with a seemingly hopeless situation. He never gave up and would fight, tooth and nail, if he thought there was a chance of saving a patient’s life. If anyone could save this man’s life, it would be Seb.

  ‘Got it!’

  He let out a little whoop as the lethal sliver came free. Cathy quickly swabbed the area before he set to work again—sewing up the severed artery with a skill that many surgeons would have envied. He’d had his choice of specialities after he’d qualified and could have gone into any number of disciplines, including surgery, but he’d always loved the pace and uncertainty of trauma care. Seb thrived on the unknown and the risky, whereas she preferred the familiar and the routine. It was another area in which they differed greatly.

  Libby hurriedly pushed that thought to the back of her mind because she didn’t want to think about things like that at the moment. The bag of fluid had almost run through but before she could change it, Sarah, their haematologist, arrived with a supply of whole blood. Libby had to admit that she was impressed by the speed with which things moved in the unit—bloods were cross-matched seemingly in minutes, X-rays ready to be viewed in seconds. Compared to the last A and E department she’d worked in, it was another world and she could understand why Seb had been so enthusiastic when he’d been offered the post as consultant here.