by Joanna Neil
‘There’s a side door from the garage around the back,’ Emma said, remembering. ‘I don’t think many people know about it. The garage door has never been particularly secure—maybe we should try to go in that way. The side door was kept locked, but I remember that we were having trouble with the key at the time. I don’t know whether it was ever made good.’
Rhys climbed over the wooden fence that led into the garden of the old restaurant, and then stopped to help Emma to find a way over. He managed to free the garage door, and then he inspected the lock on the entrance to the main building.
‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘It hasn’t been closed properly. We should be able to get inside easily enough.’
Emma took a tentative step inside the building. She hadn’t been sure how she would feel, coming back to this place, but already the breath was catching in her lungs, and it was as though she could smell the soot from the fire. It seemed to hang in the air. She realised that her heart was hammering.
Rhys must have guessed how she was feeling. He put an arm around her, supporting her, holding her close, so that his warmth gave her strength, and all at once she found her courage starting to seep back. He looked at her. ‘Are you ready to go on?’
She nodded. They began to walk through what was left of the kitchen, picking their way over fallen masonry, and suddenly she came to a halt and looked around, her glance going over the damaged cooking range and the dented metal cabinets.
‘What is it?’ Rhys asked.
‘There was no gas cylinder in here,’ she said. ‘It’s just occurred to me. I’d been talking to Amy and the chef in the restaurant, and someone came up with a great idea for a fruit starter, and we were all adding silly notions to the recipe. We were laughing, and I went into the kitchen, looking for my dad. I wanted to tell him about it, but he was chatting with somebody at a table outside in the garden, near the barbecue. I stayed out there with him for a few minutes, and it was then that we heard the explosion.’ She pressed her lips together as the enormity of her recovered memory came back to her. ‘My father never set foot in the kitchen in that time. He certainly didn’t get the cylinder out or ask anyone else to do it.’
‘You’re saying that someone came in and set up the cylinder during those few minutes when the kitchen was empty?’
‘Yes, that’s what I’m saying. I’ve only just thought about it, but I remember looking around, because I wanted to see if any of the lower cabinets were open. We kept some of the desserts in there because they were cool.’ She looked at him. ‘How could I have forgotten that?’
‘Memory is a strange thing,’ he said. ‘I imagine the horror of the day must have blotted it out.’
They made their way over rubble and broken beams into the restaurant. Emma stared around her and drew in a quick, sharp breath. Rhys gave her a hug, and glanced at her as though asking if she would be all right.
‘I’m OK,’ she said, and then he left her, his gaze following the direction of her transfixed stare. He walked over to a figure that was huddled in a corner of the room.
‘Amy,’ he said softly, kneeling down beside his sister, ‘I thought we’d lost you, but you’re safe now. I’ve got you.’
Amy looked up at him. Her face was streaked with dirt and dried tears, but beneath the dust she was pale and cold. He took off his jacket and covered her with it, and then he sat down next to her and held her in his arms. He stroked her hair, cradling her head against his chest.
She started to cry, and he said softly, ‘It’s all right. It’s going to be all right from now on.’
He glanced up at Emma, and she drew out her mobile phone and looked at him questioningly. ‘Call my parents,’ he said in a low tone, giving her the number.
She went outside and made the call, and then she went back to the restaurant to see if there was anything she could do to help. It looked as though Amy might have been there all night. She was shivering now, and Rhys gently rubbed her arms, trying to get warmth back into his sister’s limbs.
‘I think she’s dehydrated,’ Rhys said. ‘There’s probably a bottle of something in my car—juice or a glucose drink, or some such.’ He tossed the keys to Emma. ‘Would you mind getting it for me? There should be a blanket in the boot as well.’
She hurried away to fetch what was needed. When she went back into the restaurant, Rhys covered his sister with the blanket and then helped her to sip the drink, holding the bottle steady for her.
‘Your parents are coming over,’ Emma said. ‘I tried to tell them that we would bring her to them, but they didn’t want to wait. They felt that they had to come to her right now. I’ll see if I can get the front door open for them. It shouldn’t be too difficult to pull the boards away.’
He nodded, and Emma went to try to free up the door. By the time she had finished, Rhys had managed to coax a few words out of his sister.
‘I let Elliot down,’ Amy said, her voice still a little croaky from the dust. ‘He wanted a family so much. I thought we were going to be so happy together, and it all went wrong when I lost the baby.’
Emma was afraid that if she said anything Amy would retreat back into her shell, but it bothered her that Amy should feel that there was no hope.
‘You managed to conceive once,’ she murmured. ‘That means that there is always a chance that you’ll do so again. It might even happen without medical intervention, because once the body has been turned on to pregnancy, it sometimes happens that things proceed normally.’
Amy looked at her. ‘It’s not going to happen for us,’ she said in a broken voice. ‘Elliot doesn’t want me any more. He doesn’t find me attractive. He didn’t want to touch me once I got home from the hospital. I can’t blame him for that. I can’t really blame him for looking elsewhere.’
‘He didn’t look elsewhere,’ Emma said. ‘I’m sure that he loves you very much. Perhaps he was simply afraid that you were hurting so much after your operation. You just need to be able to talk things through with him. I mean, talk to him properly. You have to tell him how you’ve been feeling, about all the things that bother you.’
She wanted to say more, but Amy’s parents arrived just then, and she showed them through to where Amy was still huddled in a corner with Rhys.
‘She’s all right. It’s just that she’s been here all night, and she’s cold and dehydrated. She’s upset, of course.’
Amy’s mother looked at her. ‘She’s been upset for a long time.’ She hurried over to her daughter.
Her husband stopped to glance back at Emma. ‘This place should have been pulled down long ago,’ he said.
‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ Emma said, going over to the small group.
She saw that Amy’s hands were cut and streaked with dried blood, and she guessed that she had tried to break down the fence in order to get in. It would have been awkward for her to climb, given that her hip was somewhat stiff. Her problems weren’t going to be easily resolved. Rhys’s sister would need expert counselling.
‘Do you want me to arrange for her to be seen by someone at the hospital?’
‘I think we’ll leave that,’ Rhys said. ‘Perhaps her own doctor can take a look at her later.’
‘We’ll manage,’ Amy’s mother said. ‘She’ll be all right with us.’
‘We should probably get Elliot to come over to our place,’ her father said. ‘Maybe it would help if he was to talk to her.’
Emma looked at the family gathered around Amy. They had turned away from Emma, and seemed to be excluding her. They were giving all of their attention to Amy, and that was to be expected. It was perfectly natural and it was good, but Emma suddenly felt as though they had put up a defensive wall around her, and Emma was on the other side of that wall. She was an outsider and the family group was forbidden territory.
She took a step backwards. She wanted to say something, but the words stuck in her throat. Rhys had his back to her, and he was busy tending to his sister.
Emma quietly moved away. She
went out of the front door, and gently pulled it closed behind her. She didn’t belong here. She had no part to play in Rhys’s life. It was surely time she became used to that idea.
CHAPTER NINE
‘IT’S good to see you looking so much better, Lindsey,’ Emma said with a smile. ‘Are you sure all the arrangements have been made for getting you home? Is there anything you need me to do?’
‘No, thanks, everything’s sorted. My parents are back from their holiday and they’re coming to fetch me and take me to their place so that I can recuperate. We’ll pick up Kayla from nursery school on the way…and Samson from the vet, all being well. Apparently he’s very nearly back to normal, and he’s beginning to demand lots of attention. He wants the nurses to play with him all the time.’
Emma’s mouth curved. ‘I can imagine. He obviously misses you and Kayla. She always manages to keep him occupied.’
‘That’s very true.’
‘Actually, I called in at the vet’s on the way here, to see how Samson was doing, and I could see for myself that he was absolutely fine. They said he’d definitely be able to come home with you today. And that he was in very good form, completely back to normal.’
Emma smiled, seeing Lindsey’s obvious relief. ‘You’ll have to go on giving him medication for a little while longer, but that’s only as a precaution, to prevent any possibility of a relapse. They always recommend that there’s follow-up treatment for a week or so after this kind of illness, because it ensures that he won’t suffer any ongoing effects. They told me he’s back to his former good health, as if this had never happened.’
‘I’m so pleased.’ Lindsey reached for Emma’s hand and squeezed it gently. ‘Thanks for taking care of everything for me while I’ve been stuck in here, Emma. You’ve been a good friend, the best.’
‘I’m just glad to see you on the mend.’ Emma glanced at the clock on the wall. ‘I must go. I’m still on duty, and I just grabbed a few minutes to come and see you while James refuels the helicopter. He’ll be back any time now.’
She hurried to the air ambulance headquarters, and readied herself for work once more, psyching herself up to face Rhys. So far, the atmosphere between them had been somewhat strained and she had a feeling of treading on eggshells around him.
For herself, she was still coming to terms with the finality of never again being welcomed into his family, while he had been in an odd sort of mood all day, hardly saying a word to anyone. So far, she hadn’t been able to completely fathom his mind-set, but she guessed that he must be very worried about his sister.
He was sorting out his medical kit when she walked into the base, and she went to do likewise with her own, refreshing supplies.
‘I’ve just been to see Lindsey,’ she told him. ‘She’s being discharged from hospital today.’
‘I guessed that she might be any time now. I suppose you’ll still be keeping an eye on her for the time being,’ he said, tucking a set of dressings into his bag.
‘When she’s home, for a while, yes, I dare say, but her husband is on his way back to the UK, and she’ll be staying with her parents tonight.’ She glanced at him. ‘It’s good when the family gathers around, isn’t it? I noticed that with Amy. She was vulnerable, but she was drawn into a protective circle by you and your parents, and that was something very precious to see.’
‘Was it? I wasn’t aware that you stayed around for long enough to see what was going on.’ His gaze flitted over her. ‘I looked for you, and you had disappeared…but, then, I expect you had other things to do. You had to get back home for Kayla, didn’t you?’
‘That’s right.’ She wasn’t going to tell him the real reason that she had left so suddenly. ‘You were all busy and I thought it best to slip away. There wasn’t anything more I could do.’
‘No, probably not.’ He stopped what he was doing and studied her for a long moment. He said on a cautious note, as though it was difficult for him to put it into words, ‘I should have said this before now, but we owe you far more than we can say for helping us to find Amy. I don’t think we would have thought to go back to the restaurant to look for her.’
‘I think you would have, given time. It’s just that it’s often uppermost in my mind, for obvious reasons.’ She wondered why it had been hard for him to say that, but she covered her misgivings by rummaging around for fresh syringes.
She wondered how Amy was coping now. ‘You said earlier that Amy was a lot better in herself once she was home and cosseted. Did she get to see Elliot? I can’t help thinking that he’s somehow at the root of all her troubles. I know the accident was the spark that set things off, but I’m wondering if he is the key to everything.’
‘I’m not sure of his role in all this, but he said he was going to spend some time with her today. She’s staying at my parents’ house for the time being, but they’ll make room for Elliot, too, if need be.’
‘That’s good.’
At least Rhys was a bit more forthcoming now, but he was still faintly reserved in his manner towards her and she would have liked to know what was on his mind. Perhaps he had expected her to lend more support. He was clearly alarmed by the way Amy had taken off, and it might be that he was afraid she was heading for a complete breakdown.
She didn’t get the chance to ask him about that, though, because they were interrupted by a sudden callout to a road traffic accident.
‘It isn’t the usual thing,’ Rhys said, coming back to Emma and Martin with the details. ‘Apparently a woman was bringing in her little girl to the hospital, but she’s stuck in traffic because of an accident further along the road. She called the emergency services to say that she’s worried about the little girl’s condition and it appears that we need to get to her as fast as we can. The ambulance crew can’t get to her, but they sent a paramedic.’
They scrambled to the helicopter, and set down a few minutes later on a grassed area close to where the traffic was gridlocked. Emma hurried over to the little girl, and she could see straight away that she was in a pitiful condition. The child wasn’t much more than three years old. She was lethargic in her mother’s arms, and her lips had a bluish tinge. The paramedic was checking her vital signs.
‘She’s feverish,’ Emma told Rhys, after she had made a quick examination. ‘Her breathing is fast, and she has a tachycardia—the heart rate is way faster than it should be. Her blood pressure is very low and she’s going into shock.’
‘Please, do something for her,’ the child’s mother begged. ‘I’ve never seen Molly like this before. Please help her.’
‘I promise you, we’ll do everything that we can,’ Rhys murmured, checking the little girl’s blood oxygen levels with a pulse oximeter. ‘It’s clear that she’s very ill. Has she has any infections lately, any sign that she was unwell before this?’
Emma could see that he was concerned for the child. His grey eyes darkened as he looked down at her, and she sensed that Molly’s vulnerability touched him and affected him deeply.
Watching him, it occurred to her that he would make a good and very caring father, and her heart gave an odd little lurch. It was almost painful to know that she would never have the chance to be the mother of his children.
‘She had a cough,’ the woman said. ‘My GP didn’t think there was too much wrong with her. He said it was a virus, and it should resolve itself. I tried giving her some cough medicine, but it didn’t seem to do any good, and she just started to get worse. I was going to take her back to the doctor, but the surgery was closed and everyone was out on call. She seemed to be going downhill very fast. I thought if I drove her to the hospital…’
‘You did everything you could,’ Rhys said. ‘You couldn’t have done any more.’
Martin was already giving the little girl oxygen through a mask, but Emma said, ‘I think we need to intubate her to secure her airway.’
Rhys nodded. ‘You do that, while I try to gain intravenous access.’ He turned to the mother. ‘I’m going to
take a sample of Molly’s blood for testing. We’ll need to do blood cultures to see if we’re dealing with some kind of bacterial infection but, rather than wait for the results, I’m going to start her on antibiotic therapy straight away.’
They took the child and her mother into the helicopter and soon they were on their way to the hospital. ‘It looks like sepsis,’ Rhys said, glancing at Emma. ‘Her body is overloaded with toxins. With the lung involvement, it’s probably pneumonia, but the tests will give us the answer.’
Emma was desperately worried about the little girl. She supervised the child’s transfer to the medical team at the hospital, and had to accept that now Molly was in their hands.
Then she realised with a sense of anticlimax that her shift had come to an end, and her spirits went into a downwards spiral. That was the trouble with this job. One minute her adrenaline was running high, and then she was tossed down to ground level with a bump. She wanted to know what was happening with the little girl, but she knew there would be no news for some time.
Rhys was busy going over the day’s events with James, carefully logging everything onto the computer. Emma slipped away, leaving them to it, but she didn’t go straight home. Instead, she went to call in on Sarah, the woman with the newly diagnosed brain tumour. She wanted to know if there had been any developments. This, at least, was one case where she could follow up.
‘They say that they’ll do the operation tomorrow,’ Sarah told her. She looked more comfortable now that the healing process was beginning. ‘They’ve done more tests, and it’s looking as though it should be fairly easy to remove the tumour. It’s not attached to any other vital structures, as far as they can see, so the only worry is whether it’s malignant or not. If they can remove it all, they seem to think that I’ll be fine from then on.’
‘That’s really good news,’ Emma said. ‘I believe most of these kinds of tumours are benign, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed for you.’
‘Thanks.’
Sarah looked more positive than she had done for some time, and Emma left her, telling her that she would come back and see her after the operation. By then they would have done the biopsy and she would know whether the news was good or bad.
