The Doctor's Surprise Bride

by Fiona McArthur

  ‘It could.’ Jack stood up and handed Mrs Rowe the prescription he’d just printed out on his computer. ‘Take one or two of these tablets at night until we sort Jem out.’

  Jack came around from behind the polished desk and opened the door for his patient. He suppressed a yawn. Jem wasn’t the only one who wasn’t sleeping well.

  Since Eliza May had come to Bellbrook he was doing some tossing and turning of his own. It seemed a long time until six o’clock tonight and he could go home. Maybe he needed some fairy dust to get to sleep. The thought brought a fleeting smile to his lips until he realised he was grinning like an idiot.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  IN THE early hours of the morning, Keith’s temperature soared. The night sister, Rhonda, concerned and unsure of what to do, rang Eliza to come until the doctor arrived. Jack had been called out to a croupy child.

  When Eliza arrived Keith was flushed and muttering as he pulled his sheet over his shoulders and shifted in the bed.

  Eliza turned his pillow and tucked the cotton in around the old man’s thin shoulders. ‘How are you, Keith?’ He looked dreadful to her.

  Keith squinted one eye open and tried a smile. ‘Been better. Thought I saw the Grim Reaper standing beside the bed before.’ He was only half joking. His eyes narrowed as he tried to concentrate. ‘You’re early. Is it morning already?’

  ‘Not quite. Rest and I’m here if you want anything. I’m going to sit beside you until Dr Jack gets back from his callout and can come and see you.’

  Keith turned his face fully towards Eliza and weak tears formed at the edges. He grabbed her fingers. ‘Don’t let him send me away to one of them city hospitals. I don’t want to die away from home.’

  Eliza squeezed his shoulder with her other hand. ‘You’re not going to die, Keith, we won’t let you. As for being transferred, you know Dr Jack won’t transfer you out unless he absolutely has to.’

  ‘If anything happens to me, will you look after my dog, Matron?’ The old man’s grip tightened on her fingers and she soothed him.

  ‘Nothing is going to happen to you, Keith, but I’ll look out for Ben. Now, you rest quietly until these antibiotics can work.’

  She eased her fingers out of his grip and wiped the sweat from his weathered face, then increased the intravenous infusion rate to compensate for the fluid loss. Eliza calmed him with her voice. ‘Close your eyes and just drift off when you can. I’ll natter on in the background so you know I’m here.’

  She began to talk softly about her years growing up on her father’s farm and the animals she’d had. When he fell into an uneasy sleep her voice fell silent.

  As she watched, the old man twitched and turned, and the sweat trickled down his neck onto the pillow. She sponged him and changed his linen as necessary.

  Tension mounted in the next hour for Eliza as the old man worsened. The sight of his fevered face brought back the last painful memories of her father.

  Eliza had been eighteen and left in charge of the house while her father had fought a fire caused by a lightning strike at the bottom of the paddock. It had been weather similar to what they’d had the last few days and Eliza could still remember the smell of burnt eucalyptus in the air and the crackle of the fire in the undergrowth.

  She’d blocked the house gutters and filled them with water and had been hosing the flower-beds around the house when the wind had suddenly picked up. She’d lost sight of her father when the treetop-high wall of fire had jumped the waterhole and engulfed her father, before racing up the hill through the whiskey grass towards her.

  She remembered the spurt of water from the hose in her hand as it slowed to a dribble when the pump house was engulfed and killed her water supply.

  Fear for her father froze her steps as she watched in horror as the fire came closer, easily devouring everything in its path. Before she had a chance to turn and run for the house she saw the vegetable garden and then the outside toilet catch light, and that was when she was sure she was going to die.

  She thought the noise of her heart thumping was deafening even above the sound of the flames, until she realised the noise and vibration was coming closer and louder from above her head.

  Suddenly a deluge of cascading water hit the ground in front of her and an inexplicable waterfall slid down the hill, extinguishing the fire front. The water helicopter soared away for a fresh load and Eliza could only stand there amidst the smoke and charred grass and sob towards the spot where she’d last seen her dad. Then she broke into a run.

  She found him in the waterhole. At first she thought he’d escaped injury, and externally he had. But the flames and heat had seared his lungs and Eliza clung to his hand while they watched the helicopter douse the last of the runaway flames before coming to land beside them on the paddock.

  He was airlifted out of their country town to the city and he never came back. For the two days it took him to die she always assumed he’d return, and never quite forgave herself for surviving when he hadn’t.

  Usually she avoided thinking about that time because it brought back memories of her own helplessness the last time she’d seen him. Her lack of first-aid knowledge had been one of the main reasons she’d gone into nursing.

  Isaac’s funeral had also been the last time she’d seen her mother. Their meeting had wounded Eliza for years. Even now she didn’t want to think about the bitter words that had flown between them—mostly from Eliza.

  That was enough reminiscing for the night, she admonished herself and straightened in the chair. When she looked up, Jack was standing beside her.

  He looked so solid and dependable and kind. She was glad to see him. ‘You’re back?’

  He nodded at her obvious question and Eliza sighed with relief.

  ‘How’s Keith?’ Jack’s voice was soft in the dim light and she realised again what a caring man he was.

  Eliza rotated her neck to release the kinks and consciously dropped her shoulders to ease the tension. Jack was here now, and it felt good to share the load. ‘I’m hoping he’s on the mend. He’s a little more restful than he was half an hour ago.’

  Jack stared and looked at the man shifting deliriously beneath the covers. ‘That must have been exciting.’

  ‘Just the sort I don’t need,’ she said dryly, and even she could hear the underlying tension she’d been making light of. Keith was a worry and she had a sudden urge to seek comfort in some physical way from Jack. Maybe lean her head down onto his chest or let him drape his arm around her shoulder for support.

  Thankfully—of course she was thankful—Jack did none of those things and she steered her thoughts away with a report on Keith’s condition. Jack stood beside her with his hands jammed into his pockets.

  ‘Keith’s temperature has come down a little and the last time I looked at his wound I thought he might benefit from probing to release the pressure.’

  Jack nodded. ‘Let’s have a look, then.’

  The next hour saw a slim improvement in Keith’s condition and the antibiotics were added to again.

  When they’d finished making Keith as comfortable as possible, Rhonda, who’d been hovering nearby, suggested they leave Keith with her while they revived themselves with coffee.

  Eliza watched Jack stifle a yawn. She shook her head. ‘I’ll stay another half an hour but I think he’s over the worst now. You should go home. I could ring you if he worsens.’

  Jack glanced at his watch. ‘You have to work in a few hours, too. We’ll both stay and keep each other awake for just a little longer. It’s been a busy night,’ Jack said quietly, as he and Eliza settled in the tearoom.

  ‘You must be exhausted if you’ve been out since midnight.’

  Jack shrugged and glanced at his watch. ‘No more than usual. I find I only need a couple of hours sleep.’ He perched on the edge of the table and swung one muscular leg back and forth. Eliza busied herself with the kettle and tried to ignore the way her eyes kept straying towards him.

  Jac
k smiled a blinding I-want-something smile and Eliza stiffened her resolve. She must not become entangled with this man. She could feel the hairs rise on her arms as goose-flesh covered her when her body ignored her sensible thoughts.

  He spoke quietly but his voice came out deep and rumbling with interest. ‘Tell me about yourself. How are you enjoying Bellbrook so far, Matron May?’

  She felt the barriers go up this time. ‘I’d prefer it if you didn’t call me Matron. It’s hard enough getting used to the patients calling me that. I know it’s how they addressed Mary so I can’t change it. But I get the feeling you’re mocking me when you use that form of address.’

  He raised his eyebrows. ‘I’m far from mocking you.’ He paused, and then did as she asked. ‘Eliza.’ A shiver ran down her neck and suddenly she wished he’d call her Matron again.

  ‘Now you call me Jack.’ The odd inflection in his voice made her look up at him.

  She didn’t answer and he smiled mockingly. ‘Coward.’ Then he said, ‘Eliza is a lovely name. Is it a family name?’

  Eliza felt like she was slipping down a hill backwards with this conversation. She couldn’t find purchase in her descent into confusion. ‘It’s my middle name.’ Eliza shook her head. ‘I was named after my mother, Gwendolyn, but I dislike the name and changed to Eliza when I was eighteen.’

  ‘Does that mean you don’t get on with your mother?’

  Eliza raised her eyebrows. ‘I wouldn’t know. I’ve only seen her once since I was seven.’

  There was silence for a few minutes while Jack drank his coffee and digested her comments.

  Good, she’d shocked him, thought Eliza as she pulled Keith’s patient notes towards her to write up her latest observations.

  Maybe Jack would stop asking such personal questions because he was doing dreadful things to her stomach when he looked at her like that.

  It seemed not. ‘If I’ve been insensitive, Eliza, it’s because I find myself unexpectedly at ease with you, considering our rocky start.’

  Eliza’s pen skidded across the page in an untidy zigzag as she looked at him in shock. ‘Well, you fooled me.’

  ‘Don’t worry.’ He grinned wryly. ‘You’re safe from propositions. I learnt my lesson a long time ago and I’m not looking to find a soulmate this century.’

  She couldn’t help smiling. ‘Well, seeing as it’s only early in the century, I doubt you’ll live for the next one.’

  Jack acknowledged her wall of reserve. He could see the hurt reflection of himself, and it wasn’t his job to rescue Eliza from her ghosts. He carried his own burden of loss and he had never forgiven himself for not being there for Lydia. The shell around Eliza rang bells of recognition and he wondered what had happened to make her so wary of opening herself to others.

  Maybe he could make the reluctant Eliza laugh.

  He persisted. ‘So let’s be friends. I could do with a Nice Safe Female Friend.’

  ‘Sounds delightful. NSFF. What makes you think I’m safe?’ Eliza looked less than impressed with the prospect.

  ‘You told Mary you’re off men. I think you’re even less likely to be on the lookout for a marriage proposal than I am.’

  He had that right, judging by the vehement nod of her head. ‘Correct. The next man who wants to marry me had better fly me to Gretna Green because I’ll be kicking and screaming all the way to the altar.’

  He felt the same. ‘So now that we have that out of the way, tell me what you want to do after you leave Bellbrook. What’s your goal in life?’

  It was four in the morning and Eliza suppressed a yawn. She probably thought that humouring him would keep her awake.

  He watched her frown as she gathered her thoughts. ‘I’ve almost paid off my flat in Randwick. Originally I bought there to be close to my training hospital, and when I’m clear on that I want to buy a mountain hide-away with a few acres and a creek. Somewhere not too far, so I can escape from Sydney on weekends.’

  She’d surprised him. ‘So you’re not a dyed-in-the-wool Sydneysider?’

  He wanted more information but she was reluctant. He wondered why she wasn’t used to talking about herself. ‘We need to get back to Rhonda,’ she said.

  ‘Soon,’ he said, and didn’t move.

  ‘You’re persistent,’ she said dryly, and he suppressed a smile. He could see her wavering.

  Jack lowered his voice, and tried for persuasion. ‘Tell me about the man who let you down.’ Maybe the softness of his request was a factor, but she answered him.

  ‘Which one?’ She looked surprised at herself when she answered.

  Jack blinked. ‘There’s been more than one?’

  Eliza shrugged. ‘After my father died in a bushfire…’ She looked up and he connected that with what she’d spoken earlier, then she went on.

  ‘I had to go to Sydney to live and trained to be a nurse. At uni I met and fell in love with an older man with a tortured past and we seemed to be good for each other.’

  ‘We—mostly he, but I didn’t mind—decided to quietly slip away and get married without telling anyone. Strangely, I thought, he became more distant as the wedding approached. Until the day before the wedding when he called, thanked me for waking him up to life again and said he had fallen for another woman. He became the first of a pattern.’

  Jack screwed his face up and shook his head. ‘How could you make a pattern out of that? The guy was obviously a jerk.’

  Eliza half smiled at his championing. ‘My last fiancé, Alex, had been let down by his previous lover and again I thought we suited each other. We became engaged, again he didn’t want people at work to know, so it was just between the two of us. Our plans were so much a secret that before we set a date for the wedding he ran off with my unit manager.’

  She stared down at her ringless finger. ‘I’d actually thought I’d finally found a man who didn’t need to work out his psychological problems on me, but Alex capped off a less than inspiring love life. If I tie that to my parents’ marriage failure and growing up with my recluse of a father, I have to agree with my psychologist.’

  Jack tucked his chin into his chest and stared at her from under his brows incredulously. ‘You have a psychologist?’

  ‘Wouldn’t you?’

  Jack did his wide-eyed goldfish impersonation as he struggled for air, and Eliza swallowed a bubble of satirical laughter. Well, he’d asked for it, Eliza thought grimly. It may as well be all out on the table so he doesn’t get any ideas.

  ‘My psychologist says I suffer from disconnection because of my mother’s abandonment, which leaves me with diminished self-worth. That’s why I fall victim to the needs of others and for men who are emotionally scarred, and can’t return unconditional love.’

  ‘Good grief!’ A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and Eliza glimpsed the humour in the telling. It was surprisingly therapeutic to laugh at herself.

  Maybe saying this out loud wasn’t too bad after all. ‘My new goal is to skim through life without love or the danger of wasting energy on another useless man.’ She sat back and actually felt lighter than she had for weeks.

  Jack scratched his ear. ‘Let me get this straight. Your parents broke up and you stayed with your father, so where did you actually grow up?’

  ‘On a farm near Macksville.’

  ‘That’s not all that far from here.’

  Eliza smiled but didn’t comment. ‘Dad home schooled me until I was twelve. When I went to high school I found it hard to make friends. The only people who would talk to me were the ones who nobody else would listen to. I became a good listener.’ She grimaced and stood up. ‘Except when I’m around you, it seems.’

  ‘I’m not bored.’

  ‘Well, I am.’ She couldn’t believe she’d told him so much. Eliza picked up the chart from the table. ‘Let’s relieve Rhonda.’

  Jack had been pleased with their new rapport, and found himself even more intrigued by the screwed-up life of Eliza May. She’d left him with a lo
t to ponder.

  When they returned to the bedside, Keith seemed more settled and Rhonda was happier with his condition. She promised to check on him every fifteen minutes for the rest of the night.

  Eliza heaved a sigh of relief. ‘I’m glad we can manage Keith here, though his wound will keep him in for another two weeks at least. He was worried you’d transfer him out.’

  Jack nodded. ‘I think he’ll improve now. Just dress the wound as often as it’s needed and we’ll keep him on the IV antibiotics for another week. The sensitivities should be back tomorrow so we’ll know if it’s the right antibiotics.’

  Eliza glanced at the closed curtains across the room. ‘It’s lucky Joe is going home tomorrow. If we are careful, do you think Joe can still visit Keith without endangering his own wounds?’

  ‘I think he’ll be fine.’

  She nodded and led the way back to the nurses’ station. ‘I’ll see you in the morning, then.’

  ‘Goodnight, Eliza.’

  There was a note in Jack’s voice that she hadn’t heard before, and it kept her awake longer than she wished when she finally crawled into bed. She’d have to be very careful to maintain her distance.

  By the time Eliza had been in Bellbrook for two weeks she’d begun to socialise more. She filled in for the night social tennis with Carla and a group of younger women, but both times she appeared on the court, the next day on the round, Jack had been able to recite the scores and what time she’d gone to bed after the game.

  ‘Do you seek this knowledge or is it forced on you?’ Eliza shook her head at the things people told Jack.

  Jack grinned. ‘You’re big news around here.’

  ‘Only because everyone wants to match-make me with you.’ Eliza shook her head in mock-disgust. It was fun to spar with Jack, maybe too much so, and they had to remember the whole town watched them and she at least didn’t want them to get the wrong idea.