by Amy Ruttan
“Oh,” she said. “Okay.”
“Let’s go. I’ll walk you home.” He took her by the arm and practically dragged her from the beach. Someone really didn’t like water and she wondered why.
That’s not your concern.
She was out of breath by the time they reached her rental and he wouldn’t look her in the eye as he opened the gate into her yard.
“Thanks for taking me out. I’ll see you Thursday.”
He nodded curtly. “Thursday. Tomorrow.”
And before she could say anything else to him, he walked quickly to his SUV and left. Betty was too tired to figure out what had happened and it really wasn’t her problem. She was here to work, not make friends, and that was all there was to it.
CHAPTER THREE
BETTY SIPPED HER COFFEE, her body still not used to the time-zone change, even after having had a couple of days to adjust. She was glad that she’d got proper coffee before her first day of work. No matter what she tried she still couldn’t brew as good a cup of coffee as Axel had.
Axel.
That had been a good second day. He’d helped her get groceries, made her feel somewhat welcome, even if her suggestion to walk on the beach had gone a bit awry.
She took another sip of the coffee, wishing she could go back to bed so she could feel more rested for this important day.
It was currently midnight in New York City, usually the time when she’d be thinking about going to bed.
And the bed in the rental was comfortable. It had a thick, down duvet and two feather pillows.
Stop thinking about bed.
She set down her travel mug and picked up the parka she’d bought, pulling it on and glancing out of the window just in time to see Axel’s SUV pull up.
He’s punctual.
She didn’t know why in this moment that thought surprised her. He didn’t strike her as the kind of man who was usually late. Granted, he’d been late picking her up the other day at the airport, but he had been annoyed and grumpy, so being late had probably irked him.
Why are you dissecting this?
She shook her head. Man, she was tired.
Betty grabbed her bag, her travel mug and her keys. She was ready to face the day, meet the elder Dr. Sturlusson and discuss her lecture series for his surgical residents later in the week. Not only was she working in the emergency room as a trauma surgeon, but she’d been hired to teach the first-year surgical residents. She was terrified because she’d never done this before.
You’ve got this.
Though there was a part of her that wasn’t quite sure that she did, indeed, have this.
* * *
“You can’t go to Iceland,” Thomas had said as he’d followed her from the scrub room.
He hadn’t taken the hint that she wanted to be alone. She’d wanted to cry, to weep, because he was getting married to someone else. He had used her.
“I can and I am.”
Thomas had stood in front of her. “Where can I reach you, then?”
“For what?”
Thomas touched her cheek. “You’re my rock.”
“I’m going,” she’d said, her voice shaking.
“You’ll come back,” he’d snapped. “You can’t possibly handle it.”
* * *
She locked her door and headed down the steps toward Axel’s SUV. He got out and pulled open the gate for her.
“I’ve come to check that you’re wearing appropriate footwear.”
Betty stuck out her leg. “Happy? You saw these the other day.”
He looked her up and down, then nodded. “Yes. Quite. I won’t have to carry you into the hospital.”
Betty ground her teeth. “And I won’t have to slug you now.”
“Slug me?” he asked, as he shut and latched the gate behind her.
Betty held up her fist, but the effect was lost, buried under a thick, wool mitten.
Axel raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I see.”
And then he chuckled as he opened the passenger door.
“Why are you laughing?” she asked as she slid into the warmth of the SUV’s interior.
He shut the door and then walked around to the driver’s side, still chuckling as he buckled up.
“What is so funny?” she asked again.
“Slugging. I find it humorous that you think you can harm me.”
“I’m tougher than I look, partner. Or, I’ve been told I am.”
Truth be told, it had been a long time since anyone had told her that. She used to be a tougher woman and she hated herself for burying that part of her, for letting Thomas bury that part of her.
Let it go.
“I don’t doubt it,” Axel said, a hint of humor in his voice. She glanced at him and even in the dark of the car she could see a glint of a humorous twinkle in his eye.
She snorted and took a sip of her coffee.
Axel turned around at the end of the dead-end street where her rental was and sped toward the hospital a couple of blocks away. As they drove through the darkened streets, she could see a green hint in the distance, above the city.
“What is that?” she asked.
“What?” Axel asked.
“The green light on the horizon. What is that?” Something was gnawing away at her that she should know.
“It’s the Norðurljós, the northern lights. Have you never seen them?”
“No,” Betty said, excitedly craning her neck to look at them. “I live in New York City and there are so many lights there. You can barely see the stars. I also grew up in southern Tennessee. Not exactly close to the sixtieth parallel, but they’ve always been on my bucket list.”
She smiled as she watched the green lights just beyond the horizon. They flickered, but just barely and the light was fading.
“It’s hard to see them here. They’re stronger around midnight and you can see them much more clearly outside the city. They must be really strong tonight for us to see a glimpse of them here.”
“I would love to see them properly one night.” The words slipped out of her mouth before she had a chance to stop them.
“Would you? Well, I can drive you to a great spot I know if you want.”
Warmth flushed her cheeks. She hadn’t meant to fish for a date from him.
“You don’t have to.”
“Do you have a car?” he asked.
“No.”
“Then I’ll take you. I don’t mind.” He parked his SUV. “You are my responsibility.”
“I’m not a child. I’m going to rent a car to get around. You took me out to get food. I think your job is done. I’ve settled in.”
“I will drive you.”
Betty got out of the SUV and shut the door. “I’m a grown woman, a talented surgeon and I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time.”
“Why are you so defensive?” Axel asked.
“I don’t need anyone to help me.” She was being defensive, but she didn’t want help. Iceland was her chance to prove herself.
To whom? Thomas? He doesn’t care.
She shook that thought away. No, she wasn’t going to let all these self-doubts take over. She wasn’t going to let Thomas ruin this.
She would use the distance. She needed to get over him.
To get over the hold he had on her.
“I’m sorry,” she said, wincing as she gripped her travel mug. “I’m just used to doing things on my own.”
“I get that,” he said. “Same with me.”
“Good.” She stared up at him. He really was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. It was almost classical. As if he were a Viking hero.
Like Beowulf.
And right now, she felt like a complete Grendel.
“Let’s go,” he said.
“Or we’ll be late and I don’t like being late.”
She nodded and followed him into the hospital.
Great way to alienate yourself from your coworkers, Betty.
This was going to be a long, long first day.
* * *
Axel glanced up from where he was charting to see Betty bending over a patient with her stethoscope and listening to the patient’s chest. Her blonde hair was tied back and the aquamarine of her scrubs suited her.
Look away.
Only he couldn’t tear his gaze from her.
She had spirit. Even if that spirit grated on his nerves, Axel couldn’t help but admire her for that. The day he’d spent with her had made him forget all the stress he usually bore on his shoulders.
He’d enjoyed the simplicity of buying groceries and sharing a laugh, the adult companionship aspect of it.
That was, until she’d suggested walking along the beach. That was when it had all gone sideways and he was still angry at himself for the way he’d treated her. This was why he didn’t get involved with anyone and why he kept to himself.
“She seems to be fitting in well.”
Axel tore his gaze from Betty and glanced at his father, who was suddenly standing across from him, looking formidable in his white lab coat and expensive suit. He didn’t see eye to eye with his father on many things, including the expensive tastes his father had.
His father had never understood Axel and Calder’s need to go to sea. He saw it as them wasting their medical training by serving in the tactical navy. Patrolling the coast of Iceland and providing emergency medical services at sea.
After the accident, his father had taken the opportunity to point out that if Calder and Axel had listened to him in the first place and pursued “proper” medical positions, Calder wouldn’t be dead.
“First Eira’s mother dies of cancer when she’s an infant and now her father is lost at sea. Now Eira is an orphan. Calder never should have died.”
His father’s pained words still haunted him and he knew that Eira thought the same things too. He could see it in her eyes when she was mourning Calder. Or when she thought about the mother she never knew.
Axel was all Eira had now. An uncle who knew nothing about raising a teenaged girl.
“Yes,” Axel replied. He was hoping that would be the end of the conversation, because, even though it had been two years since Calder died, it was still hard. To know that his father had loved Calder more and wished that Calder had been the one to survive.
I wish that too. It would be easier than bearing this burden.
“Did you give her my apologies about not being able to pick her up at Keflavik?” his father asked.
“I did. I told her that you were busy.”
His father was always busy.
“Thank you,” his father said stiffly. “I would’ve gone, but...”
“I know you were too busy, Father. Eira and I both know how busy you are.”
It was a dig. His father barely came to see Eira.
His father’s eyes narrowed. “I take my work very seriously, which is why I’m Chief of Surgery here.”
Axel shut the chart and set it down on the counter of the nursing station where he’d been working. He took a step closer to his father. “I take my work seriously too. I’m saving lives!”
“Except for one.” The words his father spoke stung Axel, because he couldn’t save Calder and his father could never forgive him for that. His father took a step back and straightened his lab coat. “I should go and make my introductions. She seems to be done with the patient for now.”
“Yes. Do that,” Axel said, annoyed with his father’s stubbornness as he watched him cross the triage area and introduce himself to Betty.
Axel’s head pounded and he turned on his heel, walking away.
His father was so stubborn. If his mother were still alive... He let that thought trail off because he knew his mother would never have survived losing Calder, the favored son.
Calder was the favorite, whereas Axel had always been the screw-up.
Calder had been the only one to love and support him when he was growing up and then messing up his life. It was why Axel had wanted to go into the tactical navy. It was why he’d wanted to be a naval surgeon like his brother. His plan had never been to work in a hospital.
Of course, his plan hadn’t included losing his brother and almost drowning.
Axel stepped inside an on-call room that was empty and took a couple of deep calming breaths as the post-traumatic stress disorder began to take control of him.
You can control this wave.
The therapist working with him on his PTSD had taught him the deep-breathing technique. He kept his eyes closed and kept breathing in and out, trying to drown out the sounds of the helicopter crashing into the water, of Calder’s last words or the howling of the stormy seas.
Instead he saw Betty’s face in his mind’s eye. That saucy, feisty pixie-like face. It startled him to see her there.
He scrubbed a hand over his head. Angry that he saw Betty’s face in his mind, mixed in with his torment.
He already knew that he had to be careful when it came to dealing with Betty Jacinth. This only reinforced his conviction to keep things strictly professional between them.
His phone buzzed and he frowned when he saw that it was Eira and that Eira was headed to the emergency room.
What in the world?
Axel pocketed his phone and rolled his shoulders, making sure that he had regained his composure before leaving the on-call room.
Axel headed to the emergency room, hoping his father hadn’t gotten word that Eira was in the hospital. No doubt Axel would be blamed for whatever had gone wrong.
He was always the one to be blamed.
It was always his fault, because Axel wasn’t Calder.
“Where is my niece?” Axel asked the head triage nurse.
“She’s in pod four with Dr. Jacinth. Bed three.”
“Thank you.” Axel headed over to pod four, which contained six beds. Bed three had the curtains drawn and he could see Betty’s shoes under the curtain.
He hesitated, then cleared his throat. “Is it okay if I come in?”
Betty peeked through the curtain. “Dr. Sturlusson, can I help you?”
“Your patient is my niece. I’m her guardian.”
Betty’s eyes widened.
“Is that my uncle?” Eira’s sweet voice came from inside the curtained bed in almost perfect English.
“Yes, if Dr. Sturlusson is your uncle,” Betty answered Eira.
“Yes. Or it could be my grandfather.”
“No, I don’t think it’s your grandfather,” Betty teased as she stepped to the side to let him by.
Eira looked so small against the bed. Her arm was wrapped up and he could see blood on her shirt and seeping through the wrapping.
“What happened?” he asked, instantly feeling guilty that he hadn’t been there for her.
He was never going to get the hang of balancing working and being a guardian to a teenage girl.
How had his brother ever managed?
“I slipped in a puddle of water in the bathroom at school.”
Axel gently pulled away the gauze and could see the angry, ragged wound on her arm. It didn’t look as if she’d just fallen on the floor. It looked as if she’d hit something metal and sharp.
“I’ll help you. It’ll be okay.”
“Uh, I don’t think so,” Betty said, stepping in. “You’re her family. You can hold her hand, but I’m the doctor here.”
Axel wanted to argue with Betty, but she was right in this case and he didn’t want to upset Eira.
Axel stepped away and then took a seat on the opposite side of the bed.
Eira looked uncomfortable
. As if she didn’t want him to be here.
“Uncle, if it’s all the same to you I would like to talk to Dr. Jacinth, privately.” A pink blush crept up her cheeks and Eira couldn’t even look him in the eye.
“Okay. I will just be outside the pod doing some charting. If you need me I can be back here right away.”
Eira nodded and he left.
Betty closed the curtain and his stomach sank.
Eira and he used to be close, back when he was fun Uncle Axel and not her parental figure.
Just another way his life had changed since the accident.
He missed the way it used to be.
* * *
Betty could tell that Axel was sad that he was asked to leave but she could tell that Eira was uncomfortable. She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to the girl’s parents. Axel hadn’t even mentioned that he had a niece, but then again Axel wasn’t terribly forthcoming about anything except for the fact he disapproved of her winter footwear and didn’t think that she was capable of walking anywhere safely.
“So, what did you need to speak to me about? Or was that just a ruse to get rid of your uncle?” she asked as she pulled a chair over and began to gently clean the wound.
Eira winced. “Well, a bit of both, I suppose.”
“Well, you can talk to me. There is a doctor-patient confidentiality that I can’t violate.”
Eira sighed. “I didn’t slip. I fainted.”
“Fainted?”
Eira nodded. “I started...there was...blood.” A blush crept up the girl’s neck and bloomed in her cheeks. Betty completely understood.
“How old are you, Eira?”
“Fourteen, but I will be fifteen soon. I know it’s late for... I’m the last of my friends to get it.”
“It’s not late. If you were over sixteen and hadn’t had the onset of menarche I’d be worried then. I was fourteen too when it happened for me.”
“You were?” Eira seemed relieved. “My mom died when I was little so there’s no one to talk to about these things.”
“I get it. Your uncle or your grandfather aren’t exactly people you feel comfortable talking with about it.”
“Right.” Eira blushed.
