‘Any chance of a glass of water?’
‘Sure. Come up to the house with me.’
Skirting a sundial in the centre of the garden, Hannah could hear the sound of laughter and splashing water. An irresistibly cool, swimming pool sort of sound. The pool was behind a fenced area, screened by bright-flowered shrubs that smelt gorgeous, but Hannah didn’t get time for a proper look because Susie was already half way up a set of steps that led to the wide veranda of a huge old two-storey building. Following her, Hannah found herself in a large kitchen and gratefully drank a large glass of water while Susie dashed off to see who was at home.
‘There’s nobody here,’ she announced on her return. ‘Come on, I’ll bet they’re all in the pool as it’s still lunchtime.’
The air of too much to get done in the available time was contagious and Hannah hurriedly rinsed her glass and left it upside down on the bench amongst plates that held the remains of what looked like some of Mrs Grubb’s legendary chicken salad sandwiches. Susie was a woman on a mission as she sped out of the house and she was only momentarily distracted by the bumbling shape of a large, strangely spotty dog that bounded up the steps to greet her.
‘Rudolf!’ Susie put her arm out as though she intended to pat the dog, and Hannah had no idea what happened. A split second later, Susie was tumbling down the steps with a cry that was far from the delighted recognition of the dog and then—there she was—a crumpled heap at the bottom.
‘Susie! Oh, my God! Are you all right?’
Hannah wasn’t the only one to rush to her sister’s rescue. More than one dripping figure emerged through the open gate in the swimming-pool fence.
Two men were there almost instantly. And one of them was Ryan.
‘What’s happened?’
‘She fell down the steps. There was this dog.’
‘Damn, who left the gate open?’ Another dark-haired man with a towel wrapped around his waist appeared behind the others. ‘CJ, you were supposed to be watching Rudolf.’
‘I was being a shark!’ A small wet boy wriggled past the legs of the adults to stare, wide-eyed, at Susie. ‘I had to be underwater,’ he continued excitedly. ‘With my fin on top—like this.’ He stuck a hand behind his neck but no one was watching.
‘It wasn’t Rudolf’s fault.’ Susie was struggling into a sitting position. ‘It’s all right. I’m all right.’
‘Are you sure?’ A man with black curly hair and a gorgeous smile was squatting in front of Susie. ‘You didn’t hit your head, did you?’
‘No. I don’t know what happened, Mike. I just … Oh-h-h!’
‘What’s wrong?’ Ryan moved closer. ‘What’s hurting?’
‘My ankle,’ Susie groaned. ‘I think it’s broken.’
‘Just as well Luke’s here, then,’ Mike said, turning to another man who had approached the group. ‘And they say you can’t find an orthopaedic surgeon when you need one?’
‘I don’t need a surgeon,’ Susie gulped. ‘I hope.’
‘I’ll just be on standby,’ Luke assured her. ‘I am on babysitting duties after all.’
‘I’m not a baby,’ CJ stated. His hand crept into Luke’s. ‘You said I was your buddy. ’
‘You are, mate. You are …’
‘Let me have a look.’ Ryan’s hands were on Susie’s ankle. He eased off her sandal before palpating it carefully. ‘I can’t feel anything broken.’
‘Ouch!’
‘Sorry. Sore in there, is it? Can you wiggle your toes?’
There was a small movement. ‘Ouch,’ Susie said again. She looked close to tears and Hannah crouched beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. ‘I don’t believe this. How could I have done something this stupid?’
‘Accidents happen,’ Ryan said calmly. He laid his hand on top of Susie’s foot. ‘Can you stop me pushing your foot down?’
‘No. Oh, that really hurts.’
‘It’s starting to swell already.’ Hannah peered anxiously at Susie’s ankle. She might not have been very impressed if this injury was in front of her in the emergency department, but this was no professional environment and this was her sister. And Ryan looked nothing like he did in the ED. Hannah’s gaze swung back to her colleague for a moment. He was practically naked, for heaven’s sake. Tanned and dripping and … gorgeous. And giving Susie that killer smile.
‘I think it’s just a bad sprain but we’ll need an X-ray to be sure. At least you chose the right place. I believe there’s an X-ray department not far away.’
‘It’s not funny,’ Susie wailed. ‘I’ve got to wear high heels tomorrow. Little white ones with a rose on the toe. My dress is nowhere long enough to cover an ankle the size of an elephant’s. I need some ice. Fast.’ Susie leaned down to poke at the side of her ankle. ‘What if it’s broken and I need a cast? Oh, Mike, I’m so sorry! This is a disaster!’
‘Forget it,’ the curly haired man told her. ‘The only thing that matters right now is making sure you’re all right. Let’s get you over to A and E.’
‘I’ll take her,’ Ryan offered. ‘Isn’t Emily expecting you back at the Athina?’
Mike glanced at his watch and groaned. ‘Ten minutes ago. And I’m supposed to have all the latest printouts from the met bureau. The women are all petrified that Willie’s going to turn back and ruin the wedding.’
‘As if!’ Luke was grinning. ‘There’s no way Sophia’s going to let a bit of weather undermine a Poulos wedding.’
Hannah could feel an increasing level of tension curling inside her. This was no time to be discussing the weather. Or a wedding. Susie needed attention. Her sister’s face was crumpling ominously.
‘I’m ruining the wedding,’ she wailed forlornly. ‘How could I have been so stupid?’
Hannah glared at Ryan. If he made even one crack about anything blonde, he would have to die!
Ryan’s eyebrows shot up as he caught the force of the warning. Then he looked away from Hannah with a tiny, bemused shake of his head.
‘Nothing else hurting?’ he asked Susie. ‘Like your neck?’
She shook her head.
‘Right. Let’s get this sorted, then.’
With an ease that took Hannah’s breath away, Ryan took charge. He scooped Susie into his arms as though she weighed no more than the little boy, CJ. ‘Emergency’s that way, yes?’
‘Yes,’ Luke confirmed. ‘Through the memorial garden.’
‘Can I go, too?’ CJ begged. ‘I want to watch.’
‘No,’ Luke said. ‘We told Mom we’d be waiting here when she got back.’
Mike was grinning broadly. ‘You sure you want to go in like that, mate?’
‘No time to waste.’ Ryan was already moving in the direction Hannah had approached earlier. ‘We need ice. And an X-ray.’
Hannah was only too pleased to trot behind Ryan. This was exactly the action that was required and there was no way she could have carried Susie herself.
‘I’ll bring your clothes over,’ Mike called after them. ‘I’ll just call Emily and let her know what’s happening.’
What was happening was a badly sprained ankle.
Despite ice and elevation and firm bandaging, Susie’s ankle was continuing to swell impressively and was far too painful to put any weight on at all.
‘Crutches.’ An older and clearly senior nurse appeared in the cubicle Susie was occupying nearly an hour later. ‘At least I won’t need to give you a rundown on how to use them, Susie.’
‘Thanks, Jill.’ But Susie took one look at the sturdy, wooden, underarm crutches and then covered her face with her hands as though struggling not to burst into tears.
There was a moment’s heavy silence. The cubicle was quite crowded what with Hannah standing by the head of Susie’s bed, Ryan—now dressed, thankfully—and Mike leaning on the wall and Jill at the foot of the bed, holding the horrible accessories Susie was not going to be able to manage without.
Then the silence was broken.
‘What are y
ou saying?’ came a loud, horrified, female voice. ‘She can’t walk? How can we have a bridesmaid who can’t walk?’
‘Oh, no!’ Susie groaned. ‘Sophia!’
‘I was wondering how she’d take the news,’ Mike said gloomily. ‘Em didn’t sound too thrilled either.’
A young woman with honey-blonde hair and rather serious grey-blue eyes rushed into the cubicle.
‘Susie, are you all right? Is it broken?’ She leaned over the bed to hug her friend. ‘You poor thing!’
Hannah’s eyes widened as the curtain was flicked back decisively. It wasn’t just Mike’s mother who had accompanied Emily. There were at least half a dozen women and they were all talking at once. Loudly. Anxiously.
‘Susie! Darling!’ The small, plump woman at the forefront of the small crowd sailed into the cubicle and stared at Hannah. ‘What have you done to your hair?’
‘I’m not Susie,’ Hannah said weakly, as her sister emerged from Emily’s hug. ‘I’m her twin, Hannah.’
‘Oh, my God!’ The young, dark-haired woman beside Sophia was also staring. ‘You are identical. Look at that, Ma! You wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.’
An excited babble and an inward flow of women made Hannah back into the corner a little further. Alarmed, she looked for an escape route, only to catch the highly amused faces of both Mike and Ryan. There was nothing for it but to hold her breath and submit to the squash of people both wanting to pat and comfort Susie and to touch Hannah and see if she was actually real.
Jill looked as though she knew even her seniority would be no help in trying to evict this unruly mob from her emergency department and was taking the crutches out of the way for the moment, but the movement attracted Sophia’s attention.
‘What are those?’
‘Susie’s crutches.’ Jill picked up speed as she backed away.
‘She needs crutches?’ Sophia crossed herself, an action that was instantly copied by all the other relatives. ‘But we can’t have crutches! The photographs!’
‘It’s all right, Ma.’ The woman who had to be Mike’s sister, Maria, was grinning. ‘It doesn’t matter if Susie can’t walk.’
‘It doesn’t matter? Of course it matters!’ Sophia’s arms were waving wildly and Hannah pressed herself further into the corner. ‘There are six dresses. We have to have six bridesmaids and Susie is Emily’s best friend. She has to be in the photographs. In the ceremony.’ A lacy handkerchief appeared from someone’s hand and Sophia dabbed it to her eyes. ‘But with crutches? Oh, no, no, no …’ The sympathetic headshakes from all directions confirmed that this event was cataclysmic.
‘Never mind Willie,’ Mike murmured audibly to Ryan. ‘This is going to be worse than any cyclone, believe me.’
‘Ma, listen!’ Sophia’s shoulders were firmly grasped by Maria. ‘We can use Hannah instead.’
‘What?’ The word was wrenched from Hannah and everybody was listening now. And staring. And then talking, all at once.
‘No, her hair’s all wrong.’
‘She’s the same size. She’ll fit the dress.’
‘Nothing that curling tongs couldn’t fix.’
‘No crutches!’
‘Nobody will know the difference.’
‘I’ll know,’ Emily said emphatically. ‘And so will Susie.’ She still had her arms protectively around her friend.
‘Would it matter?’ Susie spoke only to Emily. ‘I’d rather it was Hannah than me in the photos, Em. I’d just spoil them.’
‘No, you wouldn’t.’
‘Yes, I would. It would be the first thing anyone would notice when they looked at the pictures. Or when they’re sitting in the church. Instead of saying, “Look at that gorgeous bride,” they’d be saying, “Why is that girl on crutches? What’s wrong with her?”’
The chorus of assent from the avid audience was unanimous. Emily looked appealingly at Mike but he just shrugged sympathetically and then grinned.
‘Up to you, babe,’ he said, ‘but it does seem fortuitous that you chose a chief bridesmaid that’s got a spare copy of herself available.’
Hannah looked at Ryan. If this crazy solution was going to make everybody happy then of course she would have to go along with it. But would Ryan?
Clearly, it was going to make everybody happy. Especially Susie.
‘I’ll still be there,’ she was telling Emily. ‘And Hannah’s like part of me anyway.’
‘Hannah? Are you OK with this?’
‘Sure.’ Hannah smiled warmly at Emily. ‘I’d be honoured.’
‘Hannah! Darling!’ Sophia was reaching to squeeze Hannah’s cheeks between her hands. ‘Thank you! Thank you!’
Nobody asked Ryan if he was OK with the plan. Hannah caught his gaze and for a moment they just stared at each other. Another moment of connection. They were the two outsiders. Caught up in a circus over which they had no hope of exerting the slightest control.
It was a bit like dealing with the turbulence on that plane trip really. Had that been only this morning? Fate seemed determined to hurl them together. As closely as possible.
Ryan’s expression probably mirrored her own. There was nothing they could do about it so they may as well just go with the flow.
There was something else mixed in with the resignation. Maybe it was due to the almost joyous atmosphere in the cubicle at having solved a potentially impossible hitch to the perfect wedding. Or maybe, for Hannah, it was due to something she didn’t want to analyse.
It was more than satisfaction.
Curiously, it felt more like excitement.
CHAPTER FIVE
CLOUDS were rolling in towards the North Queensland coast by 5 p.m.
Stained-glass windows in the small, Greek Orthodox church in the main township of Crocodile Creek were rattled with increasing force by the sharp wind gusts.
‘Did you hear that?’ Emily tugged on Mike’s arm. ‘It’s getting worse.’
‘Last report was that Willie’s heading further out to sea. Stop fretting, babe. Spit for luck instead.’
‘I’ve given up spitting, I told you that.’ The smile Emily shared with her fiancé spoke of a private joke and Hannah found herself smiling as well. Emily and Mike had the kind of bond she had only ever found with her sister. One where an unspoken language said so much and just a look or a touch could convey a lot more than words.
If she was ever going to get married herself, Hannah would want that kind of a bond with the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. She had known it wouldn’t be easy to find a man she could trust to that extent. No, that wasn’t quite true. Trevor had been as reliable and trustworthy as it was possible to be—perhaps because he was so hard working and scientific and couldn’t tolerate anything that required imagination or spontaneity.
The relationship had gone from one of comfort to one of predictability. And then boredom had set in. In the end, Hannah had been quietly suffocating. The opportunity that moving to Auckland to take up her first registrar position had afforded had been too good to miss. Much to poor Trevor’s unhappy bewilderment, she had also moved on from their relationship.
She hadn’t been in another relationship since. Hurting another nice, kind, trustworthy man was not on the agenda. Risking personal disaster by trying the kind of man who was fascinating was also a place Hannah had no intention of going. Of course Susie was right. That ‘bad boy’ edge was attractive. It would be all too easy to think like most women—that they would be the one to make the difference—but it never happened like that. Not in real life.
Emily tore her eyes away from Mike to smile apologetically at Hannah. ‘I must sound like a real worry wart,’ she said, ‘but I’ve got a long veil. Can you imagine what it’s going to be like in gale-force winds?’
‘There are six of us.’ Hannah glanced at the lively group of young women milling behind her that included Mike’s sister, Maria. ‘I’m sure we’ll be able to keep your veil under control.’
Sophia put the f
inishing touches to yet another of the large, alternating peach and white bows she was tying to the ends of the pews and then clapped her hands.
‘Another practice!’ she ordered. ‘Michael! What are you doing? Go back up to the front with the others. Ryan! You’re supposed to be making my son behave.’
‘That’ll be the day,’ Ryan muttered. ‘Come on, mate. Let’s get this over with and then we can hit the bright lights of Crocodile Creek for a stag party, yes?’
‘That really would be the day,’ Mike responded with a grimace. ‘There’s a lamb on a spit turning as we speak and every member of the family has about six jobs to do later. I think you’re down for potato-peeling duties. Or possibly painting the last of the damn chicken bones.’
‘Chicken bones?’
‘Quickly!’ Sophia’s tone suggested that there would be trouble if co-operation did not take place forthwith.
The two men shared a grin and then ambled up the red carpet of the aisle, and the rear view made Hannah realise how similar they were. Both tall and dark and handsome. They were wearing shorts and T-shirts at the moment but Hannah could well imagine what they’d look like tomorrow in their dark suits, crisp white shirts and bow ties. Just … irresistible.
Emily was watching the men as well and she sighed happily. ‘I can’t believe this is really going to happen,’ she whispered. ‘It’s just too good to be true.’
Her eyes were shining and Hannah could feel the glow. What would it be like, she wondered, to be that happy? To be so sure you’d chosen the right person and that that kind of love had a good chance of lasting for ever? Mike looked like Ryan in more than an outward physical sense. They both had that laid-back, mischievous gleam that advertised the ability to get the most enjoyment possible out of life. And that did not generally include settling down with one woman and raising a family. Had Emily been the one to change Mike? Did being Greek make the difference? Or was she heading for unimaginable heartbreak?
No. Hannah didn’t believe that for a moment. She had seen the way Mike and Emily had looked at each other. They had found the real thing, all right. Standing in this pretty church, about to rehearse the steps for a ceremony to join two lovers in matrimony, Hannah couldn’t help a flash of envy. It was a bit like winning the lottery, wasn’t it? Only it was a human lottery and you couldn’t buy tickets. And even if you were lucky enough to find one, you might forget to read the small print and think you’d won, only to have the prize snatched away. It had happened to both her mother and to Susie, and Hannah knew why. Because ‘the Richards’ had had that hint of a ‘bad boy’ edge. They had been playboys. Fun-seekers. Like Ryan.
The Australian's Proposal (Mills & Boon By Request): The Doctor's Marriage Wish / The Playboy Doctor's Proposal / The Nurse He's Been Waiting For Page 24
