have to transport an eight-year-old patient back home to Scotland. He was brought down here to Northumberland for specialist treatment after he was badly injured in a road accident, but now he’s well enough to be transferred back to his local hospital. He was supposed to have gone yesterday by ambulance, but we were concerned about his condition and so we delayed things for a while.’
‘So it wasn’t necessary for you to wait to go with him? You could have left it to someone else to escort him?’
She made a face. ‘I suppose that’s true, but I’ve been looking after him for a while now, overseeing his care, and he wanted me to stay with him. It’s been a difficult time for Connor, because his parents were injured in the crash as well and they had to stay behind in Scotland. I think that’s why he took to depending on me, because he was so vulnerable. The poor child had no one and he was lost and alone.’
‘Then I expect you must feel that you made the right choice.’ He sent her an oblique glance. ‘So, what do you do at the hospital? Are you a nurse, or a doctor perhaps?’
‘A doctor. I specialised in paediatrics, and mostly I work with seriously ill children on the surgical ward.’
‘That must be rewarding.’ His blue-grey gaze moved over her fleetingly.
‘It can be. There are times when it’s difficult to handle, though, like when the child has a serious heart condition or worse. You want so much to help them, but sometimes there’s a limit to what you can do. I find that heartbreaking.’
He nodded. ‘I can see how that might affect you. For myself, I tend to think that children are resilient for the most part. They cope with problems in a way that puts adults to shame.’
Rebecca smiled. ‘Yes, they do.’ She sent him a thoughtful glance. She knew next to nothing about this man, and yet he already had the lowdown on her lifestyle, her work and her plans for the future. Well, maybe not all of them, but a good part. How had he managed to glean so much about her in such a short space of time?
‘Here we are already,’ he said as the glass doors to the main entrance of the hospital swished open before them. ‘That was quick. You certainly landed a prime position, with your flat being just a hop and a skip away from here.’
‘I suppose I did.’ Rebecca hesitated, and then started to move away from him in the direction of the stairs. ‘I have to go to the surgical ward to collect my patient,’ she told him. ‘Do you know your way about, or do you need directions?’
‘I’ll manage,’ he murmured. ‘I’ll take the lift.’
‘OK.’
He inclined his head towards her and she returned the gesture with a brief ‘Goodbye,’ before going on her way.
She didn’t turn back to watch him take the lift. She wouldn’t be seeing him again and that was perhaps just as well, because he seemed to have a very strange effect on her. In the few hours she had known him, he had managed somehow to put her on the defensive and caused her to examine her reasons for doing things, and she was tired of all that uncertainty.
What she needed now was a fresh start, a chance to go home to her island roots and find peace within herself once again.
Pushing all thoughts of him out of her mind, she tapped in the security code at the door of the children’s ward and then made her way over to the nurses’ station.
‘How’s everybody doing?’ she asked, looking at the women who had been her colleagues over the last couple of years. ‘Has everything been peaceful overnight?’
‘More peaceful than your going-away party.’ Connie laughed. ‘Have you heard any news about James?’
Rebecca nodded. ‘I checked up on him by phone before I came here. He’s doing all right… He had several deep cuts that needed stitching, but he’s recovering well, and they’re thinking of sending him home later today.’
‘That’s a relief.’ Connie smiled. ‘As to your little patient, he’s just about ready for the journey home. He’s a bit pale and anxious-looking, but his temperature is OK and his heart rate and oxygen levels are satisfactory, so he should be clear to travel.’
‘That’s good news. I’ll go and have a word with him and get him ready for the journey. Do we have any idea what time the ambulance will be arriving?’
Connie glanced at the nurse who was standing by the phone. ‘Do we?’
‘I’m not sure. I think we have to check with the transport services. There was a query over what was happening, and I was told to ring again in a few minutes to check.’
‘That’s all right. I’ll go and talk to Connor while you do that.’
Eight-year-old Connor was overjoyed to see her. ‘Becca, you came back!’ Her young patient’s face lit up. ‘I know you said you were going to stay with me, but they told me you weren’t going to work at the hospital any more. I didn’t think I would see you again.’
‘Well, there you are, you see,’ she said on a cheerful note. ‘I’m here, and I’m going with you all the way back to Scotland. I shan’t leave you until I hand you over, safe and sound, to your mum and dad.’
He gave her a blissful smile. ‘I can’t wait to see them again.’ He sank back against his pillows as though the effort of talking had taken a lot out of him. Even so, he shot her a troubled glance. ‘Do you think they’re all right? Are they still in hospital?’
She nodded. ‘They’re both still in hospital, but they’re getting better every day.’ His mother had leg and arm injuries, and his father was suffering from whiplash and a dislocated knee, but Connor was the one who had come close to death because of internal injuries.
She looked at him now, noting the dark shadows beneath his eyes, made all the more noticeable by his pale features and the contrasting colour of his brown hair. He had lost a lot of blood in the car accident, and had almost died from injuries to his chest and abdomen. It was only because of the skill of the surgeons who had operated on him within the golden hour, from the time of the accident to admission to hospital, that he stood a good chance of recovery without suffering too many after-effects. In fact, all going well, he would probably be released from hospital in a few days.
‘We need to concentrate on you right now,’ she murmured. ‘We have to make sure that you’re well enough to manage the journey, and that you stay on good form. That means you need to get some rest and allow your body to heal. We still need to keep an eye on you to make sure that everything gets back to normal.’
‘I’m better than I was yesterday.’ Connor gave her a wide-eyed glance. ‘And I ate all my breakfast, even the yucky porridge the nurse gave me.’
Rebecca laughed. ‘That’s good. It’s a start, at any rate.’ She surreptitiously checked the readings on the monitors by his bedside. ‘I’ll have a quick listen to your chest, and then perhaps we can get ready to go on our way.’
She gently laid her stethoscope over his rib cage and listened to the sounds coming from his lungs. There was a slight wheeziness, but all in all things appeared to be good. Since the drainage tubes had been removed from his chest a couple of days ago with no ill-effects, it looked as though she could give the all-clear for the transport to go ahead.
