William Forrest’s voice became more serious. ‘How are they going in town? What have you been doing?’
‘I’m fine. I went to SES this morning to help fill sandbags before work. The town is gearing up for the water to top the levees.’
‘Well, let’s hope it doesn’t. That will be hardship for a lot of people.’ His voice held the memories of previous floods.
She could hear the sound of a calf lowing in the background and tried to imagine the cattle all around the house. Cate wished she could transport herself home just to see that they were all OK. To use her parents’ expression, it could be worse. At least she had the phone. She glanced at her watch. ‘I’d better go. Love to all. Bye, Dad.’
‘One thing before you go, love. I’ve forgotten his name. The CEO at the hospital. How’re things going with him?’
Cate felt the heat flood up her cheeks. What had her mother said? Her brain froze and she said the first thing that came into her head. ‘His name’s Noah Masters and he’s a bit infuriating at times. But we’re getting on fine, Dad.’
‘That’s not the name. Fellow by the name of Beamish. That’s who I meant. How’s his leg?’
Cate cringed and felt like an idiot. ‘Oh. He’s comfortable, Dad. Mr Beamish will be in for a few more weeks yet but he’s on the mend.’
‘Right. That’s good. Bye, love,’ he said, and hung up.
Cate put the receiver down slowly. She was fixated on Noah Masters and it had to stop. Cate stared out of the window and wished she were home. Surrounded by water, it would be even safer. She tried to picture how the farm must look to drive the image of Noah out of her brain. The sun was shining outside the hospital today, maybe that was what was making it all the harder to imagine her home.
When Cate entered the supervisor’s office, Amber and Noah were standing beside the radio for the two o’clock news. For some weird reason, she didn’t like seeing the two of them so close together. She closed her eyes for a moment and promised to beat herself up about that later. She moved over to stand beside them to listen.
A moderate flood warning had now been issued for Riverbank township with a peak at four p.m. Schools and preschools were being evacuated and the water would soon creep over the highway between Seven Oaks and Frederickton.
After switching the radio off, Cate and Noah listened as Amber gave an abbreviated report of the status of the hospital.
‘I won’t be able to come into work on Monday if the schools are still closed,’ Amber said.
Cate shrugged. She couldn’t get home anyway, she thought and handed Amber her umbrella. ‘Try for childcare on Tuesday, maybe.’ Unconsciously she copied Noah’s dictum. ‘We’ll worry about it if it happens.’
Amber turned for the door. ‘By the way, Brett arrived to be with his mother. I had lunch with him and he’s very upset.’
Cate looked up with a questioning look but Amber was halfway out of the door to pick up her daughter.
Noah allowed himself to enjoy just seeing Cate again. The frown that she’d worn earlier had gone and she seemed renewed by the exercise of the morning. Most people would be still in their beds—but not Cate. ‘You look better’ was all he said.
‘Clothes maketh the woman,’ she quipped as she moved around the desk to answer the phone.
‘I didn’t mean the clothes.’ He waved and left the room. Cate stared after him. So what had he meant? She picked up the receiver—the call was from Emergency. It was Stella Moore.
‘What are you doing back at work already, Stella?’
‘Well, I can’t get home so I may as well do what I came to do.’
Cate could hear a baby crying in the background. ‘How’s the head?’
‘Fine. You brought in Ida this morning, is that right?’
‘Yes. I was wondering what happened with her. How is she?’
‘Starting to show signs of tetanus poisoning,’ she answered bluntly. ‘She’s on antibiotics but we need to send her to Sydney for possible hyperbariac oxygen treatment at North Shore. We’re up to our eyes with patients out here. Could you do me a favour and arrange it all and let Ida’s family know? She’ll have to go by helicopter.’
‘No problem. Look after yourself and ring me if you need a break.’ Cate finished writing down the information and pulled out the phone book.
‘Thanks,’ Stella said, and hung up.
It took Cate an hour to sort out the transfer of Ida Matthews, photocopy her admission notes and get her family in with some belongings for Ida to take with her.
A further hour later, Cate hugged the woman as she was transferred to the helicopter that waited at the hospital helipad.
‘We’ll be thinking of you, Ida. See you when you get back.’ Cate helped the wardsman pull the stretcher away from the helicopter door.
Ida nodded forlornly, too sick to speak, and then the door was shut.
Cate and the wardsman stood for a moment with their hands over their ears as they watched the rotors start. At least the rain had stayed away but the cloud cover was thick and seemingly impenetrable. Cate was glad she wasn’t the one flying. After her father’s accident her mother had gone with him in the helicopter and Cate had spent the next few hours positive the helicopter would crash. She hated flying.
Back inside the hospital, Cate made her way to Iris Dwyer’s room. A once-familiar figure stood beside her bed and Cate hesitated in the doorway. But it was too late—he’d seen her.
Brett came swiftly towards her and enveloped her in a smothering hug. ‘Hello, Catie-pie.’ For a moment it was hauntingly familiar but then it irked her.
How had she ever thought that pet name was sweet? ‘Hello, Brett.’ Cate untangled his arms from around her neck and, as he leaned forward to kiss her, she turned her cheek in the nick of time. Cate studied his angular features and couldn’t help but compare him to Noah. It was no contest. Poor Brett.
She stepped to the side and around him into the room. Thank goodness she wasn’t as flustered as she’d thought she’d be. Time eased a lot of awkwardness.
‘When did you get here, Brett? How’s your mother?’ Cate’s voice was almost a whisper as she moved to stroke Iris’s hand.
Brett frowned at Cate’s avoidance of him and followed her to the bed. Iris appeared to be sleeping. ‘I had a rough trip up in the car. The highway’s almost covered in water, and I just managed to get through.’ He looked at his mother and sadness welled in his eyes as he answered the second half of Cate’s question. ‘How do you think she is? She’s dying!’
Cate winced at his lack of tact at his mother’s bedside. She didn’t say that hearing was the last sense to go because they both knew it. She sighed. ‘Have you been to the farm yet?’
He looked aghast. ‘Why would I go to the farm?’
Cate shook her head. ‘The animals? To see how it’s faring with the rain? To reassure your mother that everything is all right maybe?’
He shrugged. ‘Mum will have arranged for people to do that. I want to stay with her.’
Cate did believe that. He loved his mother and was a kind man at heart. He didn’t see that he could be incredibly selfish because his mother had always arranged everything for him. ‘So how have you been? I know they’ve had a problem trying to contact you about your mother’s illness.’
‘That wasn’t my fault.’ He sounded petulant and Cate sighed again. How had she ever considered marrying this man?
But he’d been different when he’d first come back from Sydney. Perhaps being several years older than her had helped. She’d never had time for men before Brett and it had been head-turning stuff to be treated like a precious woman for once. She’d never actually figured out what it had been he’d wanted from her, unless it had been to have something that no one else in town had had—herself. But he hadn’t even got that.
She’d had this vision of herself and Iris on the farm, caring for Brett and hopefully their children. For a while there it had looked like working. Brett had been loving and had s
eemed happy for Cate to organise their wedding. Then, out of the blue, he’d mentioned he’d applied for a position at a Sydney practice and what a good doctor’s wife Cate would make. What he’d really wanted had been Cate’s undivided attention in a role she hadn’t been interested in. Cate’s world had come crashing down and she’d realised that she’d fallen in love with the dream more than the man.
After Cate’s brother had left home and she’d said she’d stay to help on her parents’ farm, Brett had realised that she wasn’t going to totally devote herself to him. So he’d broken off the engagement and had gone to Sydney without her.
Cate had been left with a guilty relief. She should never have agreed to marry him when she hadn’t truly loved him. And here he was back, at his mother’s deathbed, treating Cate as if he’d never been away. How typical.
Cate needed some space from Brett and her own guilt. She looked down at Iris as she slept. ‘I have to get back to work, Brett. Give my love to Iris when she wakes.’
He nodded. ‘I’ll come and find you after six o’clock. We’ll have tea together in the cafeteria. Just like old times.’
Cate closed her eyes for a second. ‘Not quite like old times, Brett,’ she said dryly, ‘but if I’m not busy I’ll have tea with you.’ She straightened the cover on Iris’s bed and stroked her arm. ‘Bye, Iris,’ she said softly, and nodded at Brett as she left.
‘Later,’ she heard him say as she walked away. Cate rubbed her temples and glanced at her watch. She needed to check that everyone had tea relief organised and she wondered where Noah was.
Now, there was a totally different scenario. Imagine being married to Noah! That would be a different marriage to one with Brett. The woman who married Noah would have to submit to him being the boss. There was no way Cate would tolerate submission to any man. A sudden vision of a home with Noah and a tribe of strong-willed little children curved her lips before she realised what she was thinking.
Blimey. What was she thinking? Cate started to walk even faster than her usual pace as if to get away from the startling picture she’d painted.
Her pager beeped and she headed for Emergency. Diversion was at hand. Hopefully the place would be wall to wall with people.
When Cate entered the department, Stella looked calm as usual amidst the chaos. ‘I need to clear some of these patients. A heavy vehicle was swept off the causeway. We’ve got the three passengers, who clung to trees in the middle of the river for an hour. Two have broken bones and all of them have hypothermia. Which ward can we put them in? I can’t see any free beds on my admission sheet.’
Cate picked up the phone. ‘I’ll try to send them to Maternity. Two more mothers were discharged today from there. We have a three-bed room over there that’s empty and we’ll just have to hope the storms don’t bring on the babies.’
She spoke quickly to the maternity staff and hung up. ‘That’s fine. They’ll come over and transfer them to save you the work. What else have you got?’
‘I’ve a resident with a migraine who’s trying to work, two men with chest pain and a waiting room full of cuts and bruises, plus the first few cases of gastro.’
Cate picked up the phone again. ‘Noah?’ She didn’t realise it was the first time she’d called him Noah without thinking. ‘It’s Cate here. We need another resident. One of the ones in Emergency has a migraine and the place is snowed under. OK. Ring me back, I’m in Emergency.’
Stella raised her eyebrows. ‘Good luck,’ she mouthed, and moved away to attend to a small child who had lost his mother in the mêlée.
Cate turned back to the desk while she waited, and checked the notes of the new admissions. They could go straight to Maternity when the staff arrived to take them.
She chewed her lip. The gastroenteritis was a worry. If the water kept coming up, the risk of an outbreak would increase. She shrugged. That was Noah’s worry.
When she turned around, the subject of her thoughts was standing there with a stethoscope around his neck.
CHAPTER SIX
NOAH looked so solid and reassuring, but Cate was surprised to see him. ‘I thought you weren’t going to work in Emergency ever again?’
Noah didn’t smile. ‘One last time and not for long. I’ve already arranged for two medical residents to arrive from Newcastle. They’ll be here in an hour and I’ll work out here until they arrive.’ His eyes pierced her. ‘Do you want me to get extra nursing staff from another hospital before the highway is cut off?’
‘No.’ She couldn’t provide doctors but the nurses all knew their responsibilities. ‘Our own staff are capable of managing a local problem, thank you. I’ve had calls from staff making themselves available if I need them.’
He looked around at the ordered chaos. ‘Well, use them. Get extra staff when you need them.’
Cate’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘Hallelujah. What about the budget?’ She shot a startled look at him. ‘Who are you? What have you done with Dr Masters?’
‘Very funny.’ He bared his teeth and Cate smiled.
‘I thought it was.’ She watched his eyes darken. Then she realised it offended him that she thought so little of him. What a joke. She thought too damn much of him. That was the problem. Still, it was safer for her own peace of mind if he didn’t see she was fighting a burning attraction.
Cate held up her hands. ‘Fine. Thank you. Stella will be pleased to have extra staff.’
‘Since when have you waited for permission?’
She became serious. ‘To my distress, sometimes I do. The happy medium is hard to find. But I don’t have to worry about that today. I’ll just say I did what I was told.’
As she turned towards her office, she heard him mutter, ‘I wish.’
It was six o’clock before Cate had the staffing as she wanted it. When she looked up, Brett was lounging at the door to her office.
‘Ready for tea?’ he queried, and she could tell he expected her to come right away.
He struck a pose and handed her a rose, probably stolen from the hospital garden, she thought. She closed her eyes as she sniffed it. The scent reminded her of other times that he’d brought her flowers.
She dropped the rose on the desk and stood up. ‘OK. Let’s go. But my pager will probably ring half a dozen times so there’s no use getting cranky with it.’
‘I never get cranky,’ he said. Brett slipped his arm through hers and clamped it to his side before she could pull away.
Petulant, not cranky, she corrected herself, and he could be very sweet. But she still thanked her stars she hadn’t tied herself to this man-child for the rest of her life.
When they entered the cafeteria, Noah was there. Not sure why she should feel so relieved to have already disentangled her arm before they’d gone in, she still felt strange, with Brett by her side and Noah looking on. Which was ridiculous. Especially when Noah didn’t appear at all interested.
Cate chose a table by themselves and deliberately she directed Brett into a chair so that she had her back to Noah. Unfortunately her neck itched the whole time she sat there.
Brett talked enthusiastically about his junior partnership in the Sydney practice but half of Cate’s concentration wondered if Noah had left.
When Noah appeared at her shoulder she jumped, and Brett looked surprised at the intrusion. Reluctantly Cate introduced them.
‘Brett, this is Mr Masters. He’s the area CEO. Mr Masters, Dr Brett Dwyer.’
Brett held out his hand. ‘Mr Masters.’ They shook hands and Brett winced at the pressure. He flexed his fingers and then looked fondly at Cate. ‘What Cate didn’t say is that I’m her fiancé.’
Someone dropped a tray of crockery at the same time as Cate said, ‘Was. Past tense, Brett.’ Hell. Cate doubted if Noah heard her as he was looking at Brett, but she couldn’t justify repeating it. She didn’t know why it bothered her what Noah thought, but she felt better when she kicked Brett under the table. Cate directed her voice at Noah. ‘Brett’s mother is terminally i
ll in Medical.’
Noah nodded. ‘I remember. Mrs Dwyer. I’m sorry about your mother’s illness, Dr Dwyer.’ He nodded at them both. ‘I’ll leave you to your conversation. Good evening.’
Brett stared after him. ‘Seems OK for a CEO. Not a bad job, that. Maybe I should look into it.’
Cate couldn’t help but laugh and that was the sound Noah heard as he left the cafeteria.
Noah needed to breathe the outside air. Urgently. It had been a long day and he was tired. He’d been hoping to catch Cate at teatime but the last thing he’d expected had been for her to be with another man, let alone her fiancé.
Though she had said, ‘Past tense.’
Still, she must like the guy if she was eating with him. And Dwyer must want her back if he was willing to say they were still engaged. Noah pushed open the door to the garden.
Funny, she’d never mentioned a fiancé before. She’d always struck Noah as brutally honest. Obviously he hadn’t asked the right questions.
So what was that news to him? Noah ducked under a tree branch and slapped the trunk as he walked past.
At the very least it was disconcerting to find himself upset by it. She had crept under his skin. What Noah had seen in Cate had amazed him. A woman as smart and determined as he was and someone who understood that sometimes hard decisions had to be made. As long as it wasn’t to do with her hospital, of course!
True, she was totally different to the type of woman he’d usually been attracted to, but much more exciting. He’d been enjoying the challenge. The more he came to know her, the more he liked what he saw, and appreciated that she could be the perfect partner for him.
Which was probably what Dwyer thought, too!
Later that evening, before she went to bed, Cate listened to the latest radio bulletin. The meteorological bureau had issued a projected peak height for Riverbank at six-point-five metres at noon on Saturday. Which meant the highway would be cut off on both sides of town and there would be a flood of water in the main street and through the business district some time during the next morning.
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