A Night to Remember

by Jennifer Taylor

  ‘It sounds easy enough in theory,’ Seb said, guardedly.

  ‘It is. It might be a bit hairy but console yourselves with the thought that we’ve not lost anyone yet,’ the coxswain told them cheerfully. ‘Now, if you and Libby could stand, facing one another, we’ll get you kitted up.’

  Seb waited while the harness was slipped over their heads and secured under their arms. Various buckles and straps were fastened then checked. He breathed in deeply to settle his nerves because this was a first for him, too. Tension suddenly gripped him as he inhaled the familiar scent of Libby’s perfume. It shouldn’t have been possible to distinguish it from the smell of brine and diesel, yet even at such a fraught moment he was aware of anything that had to do with her.

  ‘It might make it easier if you two wrap your arms around each other,’ the coxswain advised them. ‘There’s bound to be a lot of buffeting about from that wind and it will help to stabilise you.’

  Seb felt heat suffuse him as he put his arms around Libby. ‘Like this?’ he said, hoping that nobody would suspect the effect it was having on him to hold her that way. It had been far too long since they’d been this close and his body was revelling in the feel of hers.

  ‘Yep, that’s fine. Now, if you could grab hold of the doc’s waist, Libby…That’s better.’

  The coxswain moved away and for a moment they were alone together. Seb looked down into her face and forced himself to smile. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘Fine.’

  Her tone was clipped but it didn’t fool him. She was just as aware of his nearness and the thought made his heart run wild for a moment until sanity prevailed. He had no way of knowing if she was aware of him in a good way, did he? Maybe she hated being this close to him, loathed the feel of his arms around her? Where once he would have known instinctively how she was feeling, he was no longer sure.

  Did his touch arouse her to passion or fill her with disgust? Did it do neither because she was indifferent to him? Seb swallowed his sigh of regret. He would have dearly loved to know the answers to those questions but he wasn’t privy to that kind of information any more. Whatever Libby felt, she was keeping it to herself!

  Libby could feel her heart pounding. She knew it was partly from fear of what was about to happen, but mainly because of Seb’s nearness. Feeling his strong arms around her was sheer torture, even though she had lain awake far too many nights, wishing he was holding her. When the coxswain shouted to tell them that they were ready to start, she sucked in her breath. She just wanted to get this over!

  The harness tightened around them and the next moment they were lifted off their feet. Libby cried out when she saw the deck being replaced by swirling black water. The wind was incredibly strong, battering them about as they swayed on the end of the line, and she whimpered in terror.

  ‘Hang onto me,’ Seb shouted in her ear. ‘You’ll be fine.’

  She didn’t need to be told twice; she clung to him as they bounced and swayed across the gap between the boats. The whole trip could have lasted only a couple of minutes at most but it felt like an eon had passed before she felt the deck under her feet. Seb quickly undid the harness and helped her out of it then followed the captain below decks.

  ‘The youngster’s in here with his mum,’ the captain told them, leading them through a tiny galley into the crew’s sleeping quarters. Libby could see a young boy lying on one of the bunks and just one glance was enough to tell her that he was in a very bad way. His mother was kneeling beside him and she immediately stood up when they appeared.

  ‘I’m a doctor,’ Seb told her as they hurried forward. ‘I need to examine your son.’

  ‘Yes, yes, please, hurry,’ she replied in heavily accented English.

  Libby smiled her thanks as she knelt down beside Seb. The boy was barely conscious and he was burning up with fever. When Seb folded back the blanket and gently examined him, he moaned in pain.

  ‘It looks as though peritonitis has set in,’ Seb said quietly, moving out of the way so she could examine the child herself.

  Libby frowned as she gently palpated the boy’s abdomen. ‘The muscles in the abdominal wall are in spasm and there’s definite signs of bloating, isn’t there? I wouldn’t have expected to find symptoms like these after such a short space of time has elapsed, though.’

  ‘It’s possible the appendix ruptured earlier than we thought it had. There’s that honeymoon period after it perforates when the patient is free from pain and that’s when a lot of people think the problem has righted itself.’ He shook his head. ‘Sadly, that doesn’t happen. It’s imperative that we get him to hospital. The longer we delay, the greater the danger he’s in.’

  ‘We need to get some antibiotics into him. Maybe we can set up a drip as soon as we get him back to the lifeboat. I don’t want to waste a second more than we have to, do you?’

  ‘No, I don’t.’ He stood up and turned to the captain. ‘The coxswain is sending over a stretcher—can you get it down here? The child desperately needs to be in hospital so we’ll take him back with us.’

  Libby turned to the boy’s mother as Seb finished speaking. ‘We’re going to take your son to hospital,’ she explained gently, seeing the fear on the other woman’s face. ‘He’s a very sick little boy and he needs urgent medical treatment. Do you understand what I’m saying?’

  ‘Da! Yes.’ The woman nodded. ‘Yuri said he had pain but I did not listen. It is all my fault…’

  She broke into a storm of anguished weeping. Libby patted her arm. ‘It’s not your fault. It’s just one of those awful things that happen and now we have to make sure that Yuri gets the best possible care.’

  The poor soul didn’t look convinced but Libby couldn’t spare any more time to reassure her. The captain had fetched the stretcher now so she and Seb got the child ready then a couple of the crew carried him on deck. Fortunately the rain had stopped but the sea was still very rough, huge waves tossing both the boats around. It wouldn’t make the transfer any easier so it was decided that she would go first and Seb would follow with the stretcher.

  Her stomach was churning with nerves as he helped her into the harness. It was one thing to make the journey with Seb and another thing entirely to do it by herself. She was trembling by the time he had finished checking that everything was securely fastened and couldn’t hide her trepidation from him.

  ‘You’ll be fine, Libby. You’ve done it once and you can do it again,’ he told her firmly.

  ‘I hope so…’ She trailed off, not needing to hear the quaver in her voice to prove just how scared she was.

  Seb pulled her to him and there was a look in his eyes that made her heart race even faster, although not from fear this time. ‘You will be fine,’ he repeated, his deep voice grating. ‘I won’t let anything happen to you. That’s a promise.’

  Before she realised what he intended, he bent and kissed her on the mouth. She just had a moment to savour the salty coldness of his lips before he stepped back. The next thing she knew, she was flying up into the air and Seb was staring up at her…

  Libby closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see the angry waves beneath her or the hunger in Seb’s eyes. She wasn’t sure which scared her most. If she fell into that water, she would drown. If she went back on her decision to ask him for a divorce, the strain of continuing their sham of a marriage would slowly suck the life out of her. The only way she would survive was by standing firm, but it wasn’t easy when her heart was telling her that she shouldn’t go through with it. Surely it would be better to have just a bit of Seb’s love instead of having none at all?

  CHAPTER NINE

  Friday: 11 p.m.

  ‘HOW’S he doing?’

  Seb crouched down beside the stretcher and checked that the cannula was still securely taped to Yuri’s arm. The lifeboat was bouncing around so much that it was difficult to maintain his balance. He gritted his teeth when they hit another huge wave. The sooner they were back on dry land, the happier he’d be, alth
ough it wouldn’t do a lot to address his own problems.

  ‘He seems a bit more comfortable now.’

  He steeled himself when Libby glanced up and their eyes meshed. What was she thinking? he wondered as he searched her face. Had he upset her by that kiss, or didn’t she care?

  She’d always been so open with him in the past, yet she seemed to have put up an invisible barrier between them now. It scared him to know that she was distancing herself from him this way when it would make it that much harder to win her back.

  ‘Amen to that,’ he said, determined not to let her know how worried he was. He looked round when the coxswain tapped him on the shoulder, doing his best to behave as though this was just an average night in his week. It was, in fact, the worst night of his entire life, but if he gave in to this panic that was churning inside him, he might never recover.

  ‘The coastguard has just radioed to say that there’s an ambulance standing by at the harbour,’ the coxswain informed him. ‘We should reach port in just under five minutes’ time.’

  ‘Thanks. And thanks again for everything that you and the rest of the guys have done tonight. I know what a hectic time you must have had and I really appreciate what you did by ferrying us out there.’

  ‘All part of the service, Doc. Anyway, talking about busy nights, I don’t imagine your night’s been a picnic.’

  ‘It certainly hasn’t,’ Seb replied with a touch more fervour than he’d intended. He cleared his throat when he saw Libby glance at him in surprise. ‘We’ll get the boy ready for transfer to shore.’

  ‘If you need a hand, just say the word.’

  The coxswain returned to his post. Seb helped Libby check that the straps on the stretcher were all securely fastened. They entered the harbour basin and he breathed a sigh of relief. Just a few more minutes and they would be on their way to the hospital. The rescue mission had gone a lot more smoothly than he’d dared hope it would, although what was going happen during the rest of the night was anyone’s guess.

  He glanced at Libby and felt panic grip him again. Could he persuade her to give their marriage another chance? It all depended on whether or not she thought it was worth saving and that was something he couldn’t foretell. The thought of how this night could end was almost more than he could bear, but he had to stay strong if he hoped to win her back. He had to fight for the woman he loved and the life they could have together. Maybe it was a battle he wouldn’t win but it wouldn’t be for want of trying, so help him!

  ‘Careful!’

  Libby grabbed the end of the stretcher as it dipped dangerously close to the water. Even though they were back in port, there was a heavy swell running and transferring the boy from the boat to dry land was a difficult manoeuvre. She looked round in relief when Seb took the end of the stretcher from her.

  ‘You jump ashore. It’s too much for you to try and lift this stretcher out of here.’

  Libby did as she was told because it was simpler than arguing and causing a delay. Anyway, it wasn’t as though he was casting aspersions on her ability to do the job—he was merely looking out for her, as he always did.

  Heat rushed up her face at the thought and she quickly made her way to the ambulance. She’d met the crew earlier that night when they had delivered several patients to the trauma unit and they greeted her like an old friend.

  ‘So this is what you lot in Trauma get up to, is it?’ the younger of the two male paramedics said with a grin. ‘While we’re slaving away at the sharp end, you get to go on a nice little boat trip?’

  ‘I don’t know about a nice little boat trip,’ she retorted. ‘How would you fancy being pegged onto a line like a piece of wet washing and getting hauled across between two boats with your feet dangling in the water?’

  ‘Sounds like a doddle compared to what we have to put up with, doesn’t it, Jim?’ the paramedic said, winking at his partner. He sighed gustily. ‘Some people have all the luck. They get the treats while the rest of us end up doing all the hard graft.’

  ‘And I don’t think!’ Libby replied, laughing. She glanced round when she heard footsteps on the gravel and realised that Seb had arrived with the stretcher. She moved out of the way while the paramedics lifted it into the back of the ambulance. The stretcher belonged to the lifeboat so they moved the child onto the trolley and handed it back to one of the crew then Seb climbed into the ambulance to check how their patient was doing.

  ‘How is he?’ she asked anxiously.

  ‘Much the same.’

  His tone was clipped and she frowned because she had no idea why he sounded so up-tight all of a sudden. Now that the really dangerous part of the exercise was over, he should be feeling pleased about how well it had gone, yet there was a definite edge in his voice when he addressed the paramedics.

  ‘Take him straight to hospital. I’ll meet you back there.’

  ‘Right you are.’ The younger paramedic glanced at Libby. ‘Do you want a lift back…?’

  ‘My wife will be travelling back with me,’ Seb said curtly, cutting him off in mid-sentence.

  The paramedic didn’t say anything else, but Libby could tell how awkward he felt as he hurriedly closed the ambulance doors. Seb didn’t say another word as he strode over to his car but she was fuming as she followed him. He had—quite deliberately—made sure the other man knew that she was his wife and that he should stay well away from her!

  ‘There was absolutely no call for that,’ she said, getting into the passenger seat. ‘You had no right to make that guy feel so uncomfortable. He was only trying to be helpful.’

  ‘He was hitting on you, Libby. You know that as well as I do so please, don’t act the innocent because it won’t wash.’

  ‘He wasn’t hitting on me! He was just being…pleasant.’

  ‘Then I apologise.’ Seb swung the car round and his expression was grim. ‘Obviously, I was mistaken.’

  ‘Yes, you were,’ she said firmly, although she wasn’t so sure any more. It had been a long time since she’d flirted with a man and she couldn’t be certain of reading the signs correctly. Since she’d met Seb, she had never looked at anyone else and had never wanted to, but after they were divorced, everything would have to change. If she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life on her own then she would have to start dating again. A couple of her friends from med school had got divorced and remarried in the past few years, yet she simply couldn’t imagine doing the same thing herself.

  She sighed softly. The trouble was that she couldn’t picture herself with any man other than Seb. She couldn’t imagine sharing the same kind of closeness they’d enjoyed with anyone else. Seb had always been her soul mate, the person who had understood her best. Could she ever find that kind of intimacy again?

  She didn’t think so, yet the alternative—a life lived on her own—wasn’t a prospect she relished. Somehow she was going to have to pick up the pieces after the divorce and learn to live without him. After all, she’d got through this past year so now it was just a case of hanging on until the pain passed. One day, in the hopefully not-too-distant future, she would find someone else to love, although deep down she knew that she would never love anyone as much as she’d loved Seb.

  ‘Thanks. I really appreciate this.’

  Seb dropped the phone onto its rest and stood up. He had just persuaded the surgical team to squeeze Yuri into their very long list. He made sure one of the nurses would tell Yuri’s mother when she arrived, that her son would be undergoing an appendicectomy and that afterwards he would be admitted to the paediatric unit. With a bit of luck the boy would make a full recovery so that could be classed as one positive result at least. Heaven knew, he needed some good news tonight.

  After he briefed the nurse he then went to check how his team were faring. Marilyn greeted him with a smile when he went into Resus.

  ‘Aha! The wanderer returns. So how did it go?’

  ‘Not too badly, all things considered.’ Seb looked around, his brows risin
g when he saw that all the beds were empty. ‘What have you done to all the patients? I thought you’d be snowed under by the time I got back.’

  ‘In other words, you thought we couldn’t manage without you?’ Marilyn laughed as she stripped off her apron and rolled it into a ball. ‘Sorry to disappoint you, boss, but you aren’t indispensable.’

  ‘So I gather.’ Seb tried to keep any inflection out of his voice but the comment had touched an already raw nerve. He wasn’t indispensable when it came to his job or his marriage, apparently.

  He gave himself a quick mental shake. Sinking into an abyss of self-pity certainly wouldn’t achieve anything. ‘What’s the tally so far, then?’

  ‘Fifty-three and counting,’ Gary chipped in from the sinks, where he was scrubbing his hands. ‘One of the paramedics reckons this is merely the lull before the storm and that we’ll get a lot more customers before the night is over.’

  ‘Then I reckon you two should grab a few minutes to yourselves while you can. I’ll take over in here while you have a break.’

  ‘I’d do the noble thing and argue, only my feet are killing me,’ Marilyn observed wryly, making for the door. ‘I’ll be in the rest room so just shout if you need me.’

  ‘I will,’ Seb promised, as she and Gary disappeared.

  He took a deep breath after they’d gone, relieved to have some time on his own at last. It had been non-stop since the coastguard had first contacted them and he could do with a breather, too, although he would stay in Resus where it was quiet. If he went to the rest room then he would have to talk to people and it was the last thing he felt like doing.

  He decided to check through the case notes to get an overview of how the night had gone so far and switched on the computer. A lot of the cases had been fairly routine—burns, abrasions, lacerations—but he took the time to read through each case. Everything hinged on statistics nowadays and if he hoped to get extra funding, he needed the right ammunition to back up his demands. He had just closed down the system when the door opened and Libby appeared.