All She Wants for Christmas

by Annie Claydon

  It seemed that Beth, too, was getting the best. Although vastly overqualified for the job, Matt cleaned and dressed the grazes on her knees and smoothed antihistamine cream on the nettle rash, which ran halfway up her arm. Dressed in a set of scrubs that Matt had borrowed and a pair of sneakers from her locker, she began to feel almost normal, and the coffee and carrot cake that he fetched from the canteen finished off the job.

  They waited mostly in silence, Matt sprawled next to her, his arm across the back of her chair. People came and went around them, a few of the staff stopped to smile and chat and slowly the time ticked by. One o’ clock. Two. Beth felt herself being gently shaken awake, and opened her eyes to find James sitting opposite them.

  He was smiling. That had to be good. Before she could ask the question, James had answered it.

  ‘He’s okay. Stable. They’re transferring him up to the high-dependency unit now, and they’re finding a bed for Marcie to stay over.’

  ‘That’s great, James.’ Beth sat up, disentangling herself from Matt’s arm, which had slipped at some point to wind itself around her shoulders and didn’t seem to be responding all that well to her efforts to free herself.

  James was rubbing his face with his hand, and Beth suspected that it wasn’t just fatigue that he was trying to conceal. ‘Thanks. Both of you. I don’t know—’

  Matt cut in with a dismissive gesture, and James grinned back. ‘Yeah, right. You save my son’s life and then sit in Casualty half the night and that’s no problem.’ He winked at Beth. ‘This guy knows how to throw his weight around when he likes. I’ve never seen people move so fast as when he swept in here with Josh, issuing orders right, left and centre.’

  Beth heard the smooth, rich rumble of Matt’s laugh. ‘It wasn’t all down to me. There were a few other people involved, you know. Anyway, what matters is that Josh is getting the best of care.’ Matt stretched and stood up. ‘What are you going to do now?’

  ‘I’m going to wait till Josh is settled and then fetch Marcie a change of clothes. I’ll stay here as long as they let me then go back home so that I’m there when Anna wakes up in the morning.’

  Matt shot a look of concern in his direction. The adrenaline that had been keeping James going had obviously subsided and left him exhausted. ‘I’ll drive you.’ He held out his hand for James’s car keys. ‘I can pick up an overnight bag for Marcie and bring it back here.’

  Matt was looking at Beth for confirmation. ‘Matt’s right. You need to go home and spend some time with Anna. We’ll make sure Marcie and Josh are settled.’

  James seemed unwilling to accede to the plan, but he could obviously see the sense of it and didn’t appear to have the energy to argue much. Finally, after hugging Beth so tight that he nearly added a cracked rib to her other injuries, he disappeared for a moment to say goodbye to Marcie then followed Matt out of the reception area.

  It wasn’t long before Marcie appeared, alongside a bed with Josh’s small figure curled up in it. Beth’s hospital scrubs gained her entry to the HDU, and she saw that both Josh and Marcie were settled for the night, before she was shooed away by a pleasant but extremely firm nursing sister.

  She supposed that she should go back down to A and E. She headed for the lift, and as she pressed the call button, the doors slid open.

  ‘Matt! How did you get here?’ He was standing inside the lift, an overnight bag in his hand.

  ‘Marcie’s sister dropped me back, and then went on home.’

  ‘I meant how did you find the ward? It’s a way away from your territory.’

  ‘Ah. You mean it’s not either the cardiology department or the canteen. I do visit other parts of the hospital from time to time, you know. One of my patients is in this ward.’ He looked as fresh as a daisy. How did he do that?

  ‘You’ve got Marcie’s bag?’

  ‘Yeah. I’ll just pop it in now, won’t be a minute. I think it would be okay to take your finger off the lift button now, if you wanted.’

  Beth jerked her hand away from the button, suddenly aware of the muted ding that repeated itself every couple of seconds. A blush rose to her cheeks and Matt laughed, slipping out of the lift as the doors closed.

  ‘Stay there.’ There was definitely a spring in his step that hadn’t been there before. ‘I need to talk to Josh’s nurse for a minute, but I won’t be long.’ The last piece of information was hurled over his shoulder as he disappeared into the short corridor that led to the HDU.

  He had seemed almost elated, but this was one occasion when Beth couldn’t share his optimism. There was still another little boy out there who might be very ill and they couldn’t find him. Now that the adrenaline in her system had peaked, dropped and then repeated the process a couple of times, she was heading fast towards an all-time low. She leaned back against the wall and slid downwards until she met the floor. Matt seemed to be taking his time.

  He strode back around the corner and came to a halt in front of her. ‘I’ve got some good news.’ He reached down and grabbed her elbow, helping her to her feet, and for once Beth didn’t have to think twice about leaning on him.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘They’ve found Simon. The police were at Marcie’s when I got there and they got a call to say that they’ve located him and he’s okay. Kat took off with them, and they’re bringing him into the hospital just to make sure. I don’t know all the details but apparently he’s confirmed that they did eat berries from that yew.’

  ‘But he’s all right? Wouldn’t he have had some symptoms by now if he had eaten the berries with Josh?’

  ‘Probably. There are a lot of variables in the equation and we have to be sure. But so far so good, eh?’ He gripped Beth’s elbows and she realised that she was shaking. ‘We’ll go downstairs and see whether they’re there yet.’

  He took her hand and called the lift, and she didn’t pull away from him. She knew that she should, and that every small intimacy now would be paid for in regret later on, but it seemed that tonight’s work wasn’t over just yet. And until it was, the truce still held firm, allowing her to lean on Matt just a little.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  THE reception of the A and E department was almost deserted, and Beth took a seat next to Matt, wondering whether they had missed Kat. A loud commotion at the door told her that they had not. Two policemen were flanking Kat, who was holding Simon’s hand. His parents followed, arguing loudly. Matt took one look at them and was on his feet, making for the little group.

  Simon was looking around cockily, completely ignoring his parents as they argued over his head, one of the policemen vainly trying to calm them. This was not good. The most important thing right now, for both Simon and Josh, was to get information out of the boy, and this was definitely not the way to go about it.

  Matt slid in between the boy and his parents, effectively blocking his view of them and allowing Kat to guide him away. The A and E doctor who had been treating Josh hurried over and Matt spoke quickly to him, then concentrated on Simon’s mother, who was now crying loudly.

  ‘Dr Sutherland says you know the boy.’ The young A and E doctor was at her elbow now. ‘Can you and Kat talk to him, while we try and calm the parents down?’

  She’d try. From the look on Simon’s face it appeared that his parents arguing like this was no particular novelty to him and he was obviously mentally removing himself from a situation he didn’t want to be in. Underneath that cocky exterior he was probably scared stiff and would do his best to try and lie his way out of the situation if he could. Somehow, Beth had to get him to tell the truth.

  Kat was walking Simon over to one of the consultation rooms, and Beth joined her. They took Simon inside and Beth closed the door behind them, while Kat sat Simon down on one of the plastic chairs.

  Beth sat down opposite Simon, summoning up a cheerful smile for the boy. ‘Hey, Simon, how are you doing?’

  ‘Okay.’ The one word was a start. She had to get Simon talking and then she cou
ld work her way around to asking him about the yew berries. Beth introduced Kat and as the two of them chatted cheerfully, she saw the pinched look on Simon’s face begin to relax and he began to follow their conversation.

  ‘You know, Josh and Simon have this great place in the woods—it’s just like the one that Robin Hood and his men had.’

  Kat looked suitably impressed. ‘Wow. Wish I had something like that.’

  ‘Me, too. I don’t know what I’d do for food, though.’ There was silence as Beth and Kat both pondered the question.

  ‘You could shoot a deer and roast it on a fire,’ Simon piped up.

  ‘Ooh yes. Do you have bows and arrows, then? Proper ones, I mean. I heard that the best ones were made out of yew branches but I don’t expect you can find those around much these days.’

  ‘We made them. Proper ones out of the branches from a yew tree.’ Simon was anxious to impress.

  ‘That was pretty clever. How did you know it was a yew tree?’

  Simon rolled his eyes. ‘We looked it up on the internet. The yew tree has dark pointy leaves and red berries.’

  ‘Well, that’s very clever of you both. And I bet that you and Josh had some adventures together, didn’t you.’

  ‘Yes, I saved Josh from being ambushed.’

  ‘And did you find some things to eat in the forest?’

  Simon nodded. ‘Yes, we looked up all the berries and things that we could eat. Lots of them are poisonous, you know.’

  ‘Are they? Which ones?’

  ‘Lots. But the yew berries are all right, we read it on the internet. It wasn’t them that made Josh ill.’ Simon yawned, shifting in his seat. ‘It said on the internet that the leaves and the seeds are poisonous, but the berries aren’t, so we tried some.’

  Beth shot a glance at Kat, whose smile had frozen on her face. Simon was quite right. Yew berries themselves were not poisonous. The seeds they had inside them were deadly, though.

  ‘What did they taste like?’ Simon didn’t answer, and Beth tried again. ‘I wouldn’t have wanted to eat them, they probably tasted horrible.’

  ‘That’s what Josh said, so I didn’t have any. So he dared me to eat something else.’

  ‘I’ll bet that was nasty. If I know Josh, he wouldn’t have dared you to eat anything nice. What was it?’

  Simon leaned forward. ‘Peanut butter and mustard.’

  Beth almost choked with relief and Kat came to the rescue. ‘Ew. That’s horrible. Did you eat any?’

  ‘No. Josh’s Mum wouldn’t let us in the kitchen and then we had to go inside with the others and play a stupid game.’

  Beth reckoned she had enough of the story to risk a few straight questions. ‘So did you eat any berries at all, Simon?’

  He shook his head. ‘No, that was Josh’s dare.’

  ‘And how many berries did Josh eat for his dare?’

  ‘Only two. I dared him to eat three but he wouldn’t.’

  Kat rose quietly from her seat and slipped out of the room, leaving Beth to continue talking to Simon, sleepy, inconsequential talk, just to comfort a small boy in a strange place. Before long, the A and E doctor returned with Simon’s mother, who looked as if she had been crying. She flew to the boy’s side and hugged him, choosing to ignore Beth completely.

  Whatever. Beth didn’t much care, she’d done what she set out to do. She slipped out of the room, leaving them alone with the doctor.

  Matt wasn’t in the waiting room and she found him outside, leaning against the wall, staring up at the sky. The night was clear and cold, stars winking down at them. As the swing doors flapped shut behind her, he roused himself from his reverie.

  ‘You were amazing tonight, Beth.’

  His hand reached out for her, and she took a step back. Not now. Not any more. Now that the only thing left to do with the night was to go home, she’d be lost if she let him touch her. The delicate threads of their truce snapped.

  ‘It was a team effort. Everyone played their part.’

  He nodded. ‘Yeah, they did. But you did something special. You made the link, found the source of the poison.’

  ‘Thank goodness it’s over, Matt. That everyone’s all right.’

  He nodded, his eyes glinting in the darkness. ‘Yeah. It’s over.’

  That was the problem. Now that the emergency was over, the kiss hung in the air between them, refusing to be ignored. She’d told Matt that she wouldn’t think about it any more, but now she couldn’t help it.

  ‘What happened, Matt. Tonight at the party. The, um…you know.’

  ‘You mean when I kissed you.’ He’d obviously been thinking about it, too.

  ‘Yes.’ Why couldn’t she have just come out and said it, instead of beating around the bush like a teenager? ‘It was just…well, these things happen at parties. They don’t necessarily mean that there’s…anything.’

  ‘Yes. I’m sorry. Shall we put it down to the heat of the moment?’

  ‘That’s right. It was the heat of the moment. Thanks, Matt—for understanding.’ She wrapped her arms around her body, trying not to think about the almost unbearable sense of loss that was pushing down on her. But this was how it had to be. She couldn’t let her heart rule her head, not any more. She had to be strong.

  ‘Come inside now, Beth, it’s cold out here.’ He pushed himself away from the wall, keeping his distance as they walked, as if he, too, knew the danger of a touch right now. He swung the doors into the building open and ushered her through, and the familiar, slightly antiseptic smell of the hospital hit her.

  ‘Who did you get, then?’ Perhaps if she talked about something else, her legs might regain a little of their strength.

  ‘Eh?’

  ‘Who did you get? Simon’s mother or his father?’ It was standard practice to separate people involved in arguments in A and E, so as to get them calmed down as quickly as possible.

  ‘The mother.’ Matt opened the doors to Casualty and scanned the waiting room. ‘I think Kat’s around somewhere, I’m sure she could do with a lift home.’

  Beth nodded in assent, following Matt to the corridor that led to his office, while he flipped open his phone and briefly spoke to Kat. ‘So what happened? Why did it take so long to find them?’

  Matt rolled his eyes. ‘Oh, apparently the parents had a row on the way home and she insisted he drop her and Simon at her mother’s place. He went on home, but didn’t answer the phone because he reckoned it was his wife calling and thought he’d let her stew for the night. Of course, Kat ringing repeatedly only made him more determined not to answer and so he pulled the jack out of the socket and went to bed to get some sleep.’

  ‘No! So what about the mother?’

  ‘Same thing. Only she’d already switched her mobile off so he couldn’t call her. Anyway, Kat called the police, and they sent a car over to Marcie’s and she went with them to the house, woke the father up and he told them where Simon was. And as you saw, the parents decided that this was a good time to start screaming at each other all over again. Kat said they were at it hammer and tongs in the police car.’

  ‘Poor Simon. He’s a good kid, but Marcie was saying he’s been a bit naughty lately. Now I see why.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Matt pulled his office keys from his pocket and opened the door. ‘The mother was in floods of tears, telling me it was all her husband’s fault and that he was having an affair but he wouldn’t admit it. Tomorrow she’ll probably be telling all her friends what a terrible time she had when her son nearly poisoned himself.’ Matt shook his head, catching his jacket up from the back of his chair. ‘It tries my patience.’

  ‘Well, I’m glad I got Simon. I probably would have punched her. I don’t know them all that well, but she and her husband always seemed so nice.’

  Matt shrugged. ‘Well, you never really know what goes on behind closed doors. Plenty of people are just playing at happy families.’ There was a flat tone to his voice. ‘Anyway, you got Simon to talk.’

  ‘
Yes. Kat told you?’

  ‘Yeah. You know what worries me the most about it all?’ Matt’s face suddenly became drawn.

  ‘That they looked the yew tree up on the internet, and read that it was okay to eat the berries?’ Beth wrapped James’s duffel coat around herself, before Matt had a chance to offer her his own jacket.

  ‘Exactly. It’s true enough, but it’s misleading. And kids take things on face value. They don’t necessarily think that the seeds are poisonous and they’re inside the berries.’

  Beth knew what he must be thinking. ‘The statistics are in Jack’s favour, you know. Despite all their efforts to the contrary, most healthy six-year-olds survive until they’re old enough to know better.’

  Matt’s face broke into a broad grin. ‘Yeah, I’m hoping to survive until I’m old enough to know better, too. All the same, I might just take a hammer to the internet box with the twinkly lights when I get home, though.’

  ‘It’s called a router, Matt. And he’ll only go round to a friend’s house and get onto the internet there.’

  ‘I suppose so.’ Matt scraped his hand across his head. ‘Come on, let’s get you and Kat home.’

  They drove almost in silence, exchanging sleepy good-nights with Kat as they drew up outside her flat and then out of the city towards Beth’s cottage. Her head was spinning. The party, Josh, Simon, Marcie and James. Matt. The kiss that they’d both decided meant nothing and they would forget about. What would have happened if they hadn’t been interrupted?

  The car drew up outside her cottage, and before Matt had time to switch off the ignition, she had gathered up the bag containing her things, was out of her seat belt and had the passenger door open. ‘Well, thanks for the lift. I’ll see you…’ There was no arrangement to see him again. No reason to. Josh was out of danger, and Marcie and James were both tucked up and hopefully getting some sleep.

  ‘Tomorrow. I’ll call for you at twelve.’ He twisted his body across the passenger seat that she had recently vacated. ‘If you’d like to pop in to the hospital with me, and see how Josh is doing.’