Going north from the Millers’ the road turned to gravel. Just before the Thomlinsons’ farmhouse there was a track, leading off to a tiny cove nestled deep in the hills. Very few people knew about it. Ryan and Abbey had found it on their bikes as kids, and then they’d seen old man Thomlinson collecting his crays so they’d gone back time and time again to rescue his catch.
‘Ian would know about it,’ Abbey said slowly. ‘He was brought up on the Miller place, and all the Miller kids knew every inch of the coastline around here. Almost as well as we did.’
‘Ian would know the cove is deserted. There’s room down there to turn a car but that’s all And he could sit and look out to sea until… ’ He didn’t go on.
‘Let’s try there,’ Abbey said decisively. She motioned to the mobile phone on her belt. ‘We’re not too far away that we can’t get back in a hurry if he’s found elsewhere, but… Oh, Ryan, may you please be right.’
He was.
Two minutes later Ryan nosed the little car gently off the road and onto the track leading down to the beach. They bumped over three or four sandhills and came to a halt
There was a car in front of them, facing out towards the sea, and in the moonlight they could see the car had a hosepipe leading from the exhaust up to the driver’s window.
Dear heaven…
Ryan was out of the car almost before it stopped. Even hindered by her weak knee, Abbey wasn’t far behind, but by the time she reached him Ryan had the driver’s door open and was dragging the unconscious Ian out of the car.
The stench of exhaust fumes was almost overwhelming. Abbey shoved her hand up to her mouth, coughed and gagged but kept on coming.
‘No.’ Ryan’s voice was clipped and curt, stopping her in her tracks. He kept moving, dragging Ian’s body clear of the car and onto the green verge of seagrass. Away from the fumes.
‘Get your bag, Abbey,’ he ordered swiftly. ‘Fast. Move! I think he’s still alive.’
What followed were several frantic minutes.
By the time Abbey reached him with her bag Ryan had already cleared the airway. Abbey found the mask, positioned the oral airway into Ian’s mouth and started breathing for him. Ryan started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. They worked together as a team, each concentrating fiercely on what they had to do.
And three minutes later they had their reward. Ian’s body heaved, he retched into the mask and then, as Abbey moved to clear his airway, he retched again and his lungs heaved for air.
Had they been in time?
No longer needed for breathing, Abbey helped Ryan swing Ian onto his side to prevent him choking. It was only three or four minutes since they’d arrived. Not very long, but how long hadn’t Ian been breathing before they’d got to him?
It couldn’t have been that long if CPR worked so quickly, Abbey told herself, but maybe that was wishful thinking.
Ian’s eyelids flickered open. His eyes moved uncertainly from Abbey to Ryan in the soft moonlight and he groaned.
‘No!’
‘Ian…’
‘Damn you. No. Put me back. Put me back…’
Well, that was a start. Ryan gave Abbey a half-hearted grin, felt for Ian’s pulse and his grin broadened.
Ian was definitely going to live.
One problem was over, but this was only the first step, Abbey knew. How many would-be suicides had been rescued or revived, only to suicide successfully later? Heaven knew, but the list must be legion.
At least Ian had a chance now. Abbey could try to communicate, even if Ryan hadn’t.
Even if Ryan thought it was none of her business.
‘It’s OK, Ian.’ Abbey’s arm went around Ian’s shoulder and she hugged him in a gesture that had nothing to do with being a doctor but everything to do with the fact that she’d known Ian since childhood and his mum was her friend. ‘We’re here for you. I don’t know what the problem is that’s so awful you had to take this step but, whatever it is, we’re with you and we’ll be here tomorrow for you. Just relax now. Concentrate on getting your strength back. We’ll take you to hospital and talk through your hassles in the morning.’
‘No.’ It was a fierce, fretful whisper. ‘Don’t touch me. Don’t… Leave me alone. You can catch…’
But Ryan was bending over, and he suddenly took Ian’s hand and gripped hard.
‘Ian, have you got AIDS?’ he demanded flatly.
Ian’s eyes widened. He stared from Ryan to Abbey and then back to Ryan. And his face closed in misery.
‘Oh, God… ’
. ‘Is that why you did this?’
‘What do you think?’ Ian whispered. ‘HIV positive… Oh, God… ’
‘Hey, Ian, AIDS isn’t the end of the world,’ Ryan said strongly. ‘It’s not even a death sentence. I’ve just come from New York and the latest breakthroughs are amazing.’ His grip tightened. Ian was firmly held by the pair of them.
This was no clinical approach. This was two humans comforting another in any way they could, and Abbey could only wonder at the concern in Ryan’s voice. She hadn’t thought him capable of such concern for someone he hardly knew.
This was the old Ryan, then. Not Felicity’s Ryan.
‘Ian, let me talk to you about this in the morning,’ Ryan said. ‘But for now… rest and know that when you wake up you won’t be by yourself. Abbey and I are here to help. Your mum’s worried sick and the old prejudices about your illness are disappearing fast. I promise you, what’s in front of you isn’t worm dying over now. I promise you, mate.’
And he stayed with his hand gripping Ian’s until the ambulance arrived. Then Ian closed his eyes with exhaustion and let the medical world do its will with him.
‘How did you guess he has AIDS?’
‘Intelligence,’ Ryan said promptly-so promptly that Abbey burst out laughing. They were back in the car again, travelling south. Steve had been telephoned and was waiting for Ian at the hospital. Mrs Miller would be there too. There was no urgency for their return, and the night seemed suddenly light and free and lovely.
Tragedy averted.
‘So, tell me how your mighty intelligence worked it out?’ Abbey demanded, and Ryan grinned.
‘How about intuition?’
‘That’s worse.’
‘It’s partly what it was, though,’ Ryan told her. ‘I knew Ian at school-remember? I remember him being a loner, and thinking maybe he was gay. That’s not enough on its own, and he was still a teenager, but the look of him… the fear… the worry that you might be infected if you touched him… At a guess, he’s HIV positive, he’s working on out-of-date information and he’s terrified.’
‘I see.’
Abbey nodded, thinking it through. It made sense. Ian had done law at Sydney university and very rarely came home. All the other Miller kids were married and settled by now, but Abbey had never heard any hint of a romantic attachment for Ian.
Oh, dear. This was some end to her dinner party. At least, though, they’d been in time.
‘I think you mean trouble, Ryan Henry,’ Abbey said as they turned out of the cove. ‘Things have gone haywire since you arrived. To use CPR twice in ten days… Believe it or not, it’s been six months since I’ve tried to resuscitate anyone, and then I failed. It hardly seems fair that you’ve done it twice successfully in this short a time. You’ll be thinking I go from one drama to another.’
‘Don’t you?’ Ryan demanded wryly, and Abbey shook her head.
‘Nope. But… as you can see, when I’m needed I’m really needed,’ she added thoughtfully. ‘That’s why I’ll never leave here. If I left… Well, if Sapphire Cove had doctors at all it’d be overseas doctors who think a tropical resort sounds wonderful. I’ve seen them come and go from other places around here. They stay through our winter and think it’s magic and then comes summer and they can’t wait to leave! February here tries anyone’s temper.’
‘I remember summer in Sapphire Cove,’ Ryan said, thinking back to a time it had been so hot
even shorts and thongs had seemed too much trouble to wear. ‘Though I have to say I kind of like summer here. All the rain and frogs and insects-and the odd cyclone thrown in for good measure.’ He hesitated. ‘At least it must get quieter for you. When the wet hits your population must fall.’
‘Mmm, but the ones that stay get sicker,’ Abbey told him. ‘I get so many tropical infections. The water gets warmer, with particles of coral floating everywhere. People go swimming with a tiny scratch and it turns into a major infected wound.’ She sighed. ‘Well, that’s my business. You’ll be long gone by February.’
Then she hesitated. She needed Ryan’s help before he left. ‘You will have a really long talk to Ian tomorrow, though, won’t you, Ryan? I don’t know the up-to-date treatments for AIDS. In fact, I’ve never treated an AIDS patient. I can’t reassure him as he needs to be reassured.’
‘I’ll phone a friend in New York tonight for information,’ Ryan agreed. ‘He’s working in the field and he has the disease himself. If anyone can give me the latest, Marcus can. And then I’ll talk to Ian in the morning.’
Abbey bit her lip. ‘You… you promise?’
Silence.
‘You really do think I’ve changed, don’t you, Abbey?’ Ryan said softly, but his knuckles on the steering-wheel were white. ‘Hell, Abbey, I said I would.’
‘I’m sorry. It’s just… well, it’s Ian’s life. And… and I’m already blaming myself for tonight. If I hadn’t depended on you-’
‘Yeah.’ Ryan’s voice was curt and angry. ‘Let’s all blame Ryan.’ He cast a swift glance at her. ‘Why not? I do myself.’ He shrugged. ‘And I’m sorry. Believe me, Abbey, you can’t blame me any more than I do myself.
‘I guess-doing what I do-well, my job’s mostly research and teaching, and when I am called in for hands-on work the patient’s been counselled and assessed already. Often they’re already unconscious on the operating table. You get used to thinking of problems as a pelvis or a femur or a combination of problems-not as Mr Jones whose life depends on what you’re doing.’
He sighed. ‘I guess I hadn’t realised until tonight-or maybe I once knew but had forgotten-that what I do has a wider impact It certainly did tonight-or, rather, what I didn’t do. It damn near caused a tragedy.’
He stared straight ahead again and kept on driving, and Abbey bit her lip as she watched his drawn face. She should have shut up. Ryan hadn’t changed so much that she had to kick him when he was already feeling so guilty.
She turned away and glanced out of the car. They were travelling along the beach road towards the town, and the moon was glimmering over the sea in a brilliant band of gold. The beach stretched away on either side-a broad ribbon of sand, smooth and washed clean in the moonlight. It was low tide and Sapphire Cove was at its most beautiful. Not a tourist in sight. Nothing.
Except…
‘Ryan, stop!’
Abbey’s voice was urgent, and Ryan acted instinctively. He shoved his foot on the brake so hard that if they hadn’t been wearing seat belts both would have been catapulted through the windscreen.
‘What on earth…?’
‘Pull over, Ryan.’ Abbey’s voice was excited rather than fearful. She was staring down at the beach in wonder. ‘Oh, Ryan…’
And Ryan looked. And saw…
A vast turtle was lumbering up the beach, causing a swathe in the wet sand like a bulldozer ploughing a channel. The turtle was heading in a straight line up the beach, and that could only mean one thing. As far as Ryan knew, turtles came out of the sea for one purpose. To lay eggs.
‘Oh, Ryan…’ Abbey was scarcely breathing. ‘After all this time… ’
She hauled open the car door and was out, heading across the sandy verge to the beach beyond. Like it or not, Ryan was left to follow.
Abbey and Ryan watched the turtle for almost two hours, and they hardly spoke for the entire time.
What they were seeing was a miracle. The huge green turtles were increasingly rare in these waters. They came up onto the beach to lay their eggs, but there were thousands of miles of coastline for them to choose and for one to choose this place… and this time…
All Abbey’s life she had wanted to see one lay her eggs. And, back in the time when he’d been her friend, so had Ryan. So Abbey assumed he was as spellbound as she. As eager to see.
And, miraculously, for once in her busy life Abbey could take the time to watch. Abbey had a babysitter who wasn’t expecting them home soon. Steve was in charge at the hospital. For once in her life Abbey was free.
She crouched low in the seagrass and was silent as the big turtle lumbered up almost within touching distance and started to dig.
The turtle was almost two feet wide and three feet long-massive-and nothing was getting in her way. Whether or not she was aware of Ryan and Abbey’s presence, she kept on digging, but Abbey wouldn’t have distracted her for the world. She didn’t have to warn Ryan to stay still or be silent. Ryan sank on the sand beside her and watched by her side.
And watched.
And watched.
And, in a way, this time was a healing for them both. For Abbey the last years had moved like a fast-paced nightmare. John’s death. The birth of Jack. Financial disaster and the constant pressures of far too much work.
And Ryan?
Ryan watched the turtle, preparing a safe place for her brood, and he felt his foundations shift. Or what he’d thought of as his foundations.
He hadn’t known until this moment that he’d left a part of him here when he’d left this place. At fifteen his mother had dragged him half a world away and had set about systematically destroying every memory he’d had of his childhood. His father hadn’t really cared, she’d said. Why else hadn’t he fought her for custody? Sapphire Cove had nothing except a bunch of country hicks and no culture at all.
Close on twenty years of her poisoned tongue had had their effect. He’d almost started believing her.
But now in this time of absolute stillness and wonder-crouching side by side with Abbey in the sand-their bodies touching and yet not speaking at all-letting the moonlight play on their faces as it lit up the wonder of new life before them-Ryan knew that his mother was wrong.
Sure, in New York he had a life that his mother was proud of. But was it his life?
He sat and he watched and he thought. Two hours was nothing-and yet two hours had the power to change people’s lives.
They stayed where they were as a miracle happened before their eyes. The moonlight cast a soft glow over the whole beach, lighting the scene almost like day.
The turtle knew exactly what she was doing. She scraped a vast hole behind her, using her paddles to shove the sand aside. Occasionally a spray of fine sand flew up over Abbey and Ryan and it was as much as Abbey could do not to laugh in delight.
And then came the eggs…
Slowly they came, one after another. Eggs, eggs and more eggs. Soft white balls, plopping moistly into their bed of sand. A huge mound of new life, just waiting to happen.
And finally the last egg was laid and the turtle’s job was almost complete. Once more those massive paddles shifted the sand, but this time they calmly coated her eggs-slowly, carefully-leaving no egg uncovered. And then, magically, as though receiving final acclaim for a job well done, the great turtle turned and looked straight at Ryan and Abbey.
Straight in the eye. Eyeball to eyeball. As if challenging them to keep her eggs safe.
And then she calmly turned towards the ocean and made her way majestically back to sea. The waves washed over her as she reached the shallows, the sea took her back into its warmth and all there was left to tell them she’d really been here was a tract of furrowed sand leading down to the sea. And Abbey and Ryan were left staring after her in wonder.
‘She knew,’ Abbey breathed. ‘Did you see? She knew we were here all the time. She let us watch.’
‘Yeah, well, she must have known we were doctors.’ Ryan smiled but he felt a bit emotional
all the same. In truth, he felt very emotional.
It was all too much. This place. This woman. His friend…
It was bringing his childhood back again fast. How many October and November nights had he and Abbey hunted along this beach, searching for just what they had seen tonight? They’d never found a breeding turtle, but they’d always been sure they would.
‘Just one more night,’ Abbey had pleaded over and over again when Ryan had tried palming her off with homework commitments or somesuch. But the breeding season was short and Ryan had never tried hard to think of reasons he shouldn’t come. He’d longed to find one as much as Abbey had. They’d crept out when their respective mothers had thought they’d been long in bed, and if Abbey’s mother had suspected the reason her daughter wore dark shadows under her eyes for most of the turtle-breeding months she’d never let on she knew.
And then Ryan had gone.
‘But we’ve never even found a turtle yet,’ Abbey had wailed when Ryan had told her he was going.
She’d put the pain aside with her heartache for Ryan, and she’d stopped searching. Somehow it hadn’t seemed important to find a turtle when Ryan hadn’t been here to share it with her.
But now Ryan was back-and they’d found their turtle.
Abbey turned to face him, and found him watching her, and the wonder in her heart was reflected in his eyes.
‘Abbey…’
‘Did you ever see anything so beautiful?’ she breathed, and Ryan’s hands came out to take hers.
‘No, Abbey, I never have.’
And suddenly he wasn’t talking about the turtle.
And Abbey wasn’t thinking about the turtle.
There was only the linking of their hands.
There was only what was between them.
Ryan.
Her friend.
Her love.
And then there was nothing between them any more. Nothing. Not even distance. Somehow the length of their arms which had been there was gone. Somehow Ryan’s head was bending and Abbey’s was tilting upwards to meet him. To welcome him. To taste him and to know this man who was a part of her already. Whom she already knew in every way but this.
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