been done.
Donald, the charge nurse, came to greet him, his face wreathed in smiles. ‘Well, well, if it’s not Captain Snooze. Our Dr McKenzie told us you were having a wee sleep in and we could hardly believe it.’
‘Your Dr McKenzie?’
‘She’s been here for two hours,’ Donald told him. ‘She had breakfast with the staff and we feel we’ve really got to know her. She’s a great kid.’ Donald was fifty. Anyone forty-nine or under was a kid to him—Blake included. Now he beamed like a Scottish patriarch, solving the problems of the world.
‘And she’s very, very competent,’ Donald told him, ignoring the look on Blake’s face and sounding as pleased as Punch. ‘Louise couldn’t get Elmer Jefferson’s drip back in last night and she did it first go. Louise says she has fingers like you wouldn’t believe.’
‘You’ve let her near the patients?’ Blake’s voice rose to incredulous and Donald took a step back—but he wasn’t a nurse to be intimidated by a mere doctor. They worked on equal footing, these two.
‘Now, why wouldn’t I have done that?’ he demanded. ‘Don’t be a fool, man. She’s a registered doctor, she’s approved and paid by our hospital board, and Jonas and Emily from Bay Beach both rang me up personally to vouch for her training. I knew her when she was a kid, so I was tickled pink to hear she was coming back.’
Tickled pink hardly described how he was feeling. Blake stared at his charge nurse through narrowed eyes. ‘You knew she was coming?’
‘We all did,’ Donald said smugly. ‘Happy Christmas, Dr Sutherland.’
Great. The world had gone mad.
‘Where is she now?’
‘She’s done a full ward round, sorted out any problems—not that there were any—only Elmer at five a.m.’
‘Elmer’s drip packed up at five and you didn’t ring me? You know he—’
‘Yeah, we know it’s important. That septicaemia isn’t going to go away without a few more days of antibiotics. It was some spider bite he got.’ He grinned, enjoying Blake’s annoyance. ‘So Louise rang Nell—just like she told us to.’
‘When did she tell you to?’
‘Last night, of course.’ Donald grinned again. ‘A couple of the nurses stopped by to lend her a hand with the furniture moving when they finished late shift. Me included. She got us hanging pictures and said you were taking turns with calls, starting last night, so when the drip packed up at five Louise rang her.’
‘Rang my phone? I would have heard.’
‘Louise rang Nell’s cellphone,’ Donald said patiently. ‘She gave us the number. Easy.’
Easy…
His life had been turned upside down. By a nutcase.
‘Is she wearing her purple patchwork pants?’ he couldn’t help asking, and this time it was Donald’s turn to look astonished.
‘Now, why should she wear purple patchwork to work? She’s a professional. No. She’s wearing a white coat over some sort of floral skirt. Very demure. See for yourself. She’s in with Harriet.’
‘Harriet?’
‘Harriet’s been busy planning how you could perform open-heart surgery here,’ Donald told him, grinning. ‘She wouldn’t take no for an answer. I told Nell what the problem was and Nell left her until last. So she’s still there. Want to see how she’s doing?’
Blake did. He cast one more glare at his charge nurse—heck, Donald almost sounded as if he’d been bewitched—and then he stalked off down the corridor to Intensive Care. To see what damage had been done, and how best he could undo it.
Only, of course, no damage had been done at all. Harriet was lying back on her pillows, smiling up at the woman beside her bed, and Nell was holding her hand.
The night and the chest pain had taken their toll on Harriet. Her bravado of the night before had slipped, and fear was showing through. She was gripping Nell’s hand like she was drawing strength from human contact.
She looked up as Blake entered—they both did—and he received two smiles of welcome. Nell’s was warm and open. Harriet’s was a bit wobbly.
‘Dr Sutherland…’
He had the sense to focus on Harriet first. Nell and her damned managerial ways could wait.
‘Hey there.’ He walked across, took the old lady’s hand away from Nell and held it himself. ‘Well done,’ he told her. ‘You’ve had the night without any more trouble.’ And then he frowned and looked sideways at Nell. ‘At least, I assume there was no more trouble.’
‘I would have woken you if there was,’ Nell said blithely, and he almost choked.
Focus on Harriet…
‘No more palpitations?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Great.’ He hesitated. ‘Harriet, we’re going to have to get specialist opinion on this. I’m afraid that means a trip…’
‘To Sydney.’ Harriet managed a brave smile. ‘I know. Nell…Dr McKenzie’s just been explaining it to me.’
‘Call me Nell,’ Nell said promptly. ‘Please. You used to call me Nell when I was a little girl. I don’t see why you should change now.’ She smiled fondly down at the old lady. ‘Harriet used to run the general store and sometimes she gave me free sweets,’ she explained to Blake, and Harriet’s smile died.
‘It was the least I could do. No one else ever did. Those dreadful—’
‘That’s enough,’ Nell told her. ‘The bad old days are over. Forgotten. And now aren’t I lucky? Being a doctor, I can buy all the sweets I want.’
‘Oh, my dear…’
But Nell was refusing sympathy. ‘I’ve just been telling Harriet about my friend Matt who’s the head of Coronary Care at Sydney Central.’ She turned to Blake. ‘Matt’s a real sweetheart. He has a gorgeous wife and he has two sets of twins and a dog just like Ernest. In fact, he’s Ernest’s brother.’
Despite himself, Blake grinned at that one. ‘Matt’s Ernest’s brother?’ he asked incredulously. ‘Don’t go near him with a bargepole, Harriet. Ernest is the dopiest—’
‘Matt’s dog is Ernest’s brother,’ Nell said with dignity, but her green eyes twinkled. ‘And haven’t you made it up with my dog yet?’
‘Two dogs like Ernest…’ Blake said, raising his eyes to the ceiling, and Nell’s twinkle deepened.
‘Yep. Aren’t they just wonderful?’
‘Wonderful!’
Nell gazed at him thoughtfully for a long moment—and
