that’s what I’ll do,’ he snapped back. Unlocking the door, he dropped to the ground and strode towards the hangar.
Ruby lowered herself down, mindful of her now throbbing knee. Sucking in her stomach, she concentrated on walking without limping and trying to force Jack out of her mind.
Except he wouldn’t go away. She’d angered him again. Since when had he had such a short fuse? He’d been the one to tell jokes and tease people, and had happily accepted the same in return. Had something happened to him during the time she’d been away? Had someone hurt him? Apart from her? Another woman? Ruby stumbled. He could be married by now—to Blondie. No wedding ring meant nothing. Not all men wore them. He was very desirable and she hadn’t been the only nurse to set her sights on him in the A and E department. A smug smile tugged at her mouth. She’d been the one to win him, though. Her smile flicked off. That was then. Now was different. He wouldn’t let her close a second time.
The sound of her pager snapped through her thoughts. ‘Here we go again.’ Reading the details coming through, she turned back to the helicopter and clambered inside.
Jack was right behind her, breathing heavily. He slammed the door shut and dropped onto the seat he’d only moments before vacated. ‘What have we got?’
Ruby pushed to the front and read back the details coming through on the electronic screen. ‘“MTV on the Rumataka Road. Female, thirty years, minor injuries but trapped. Stat two. Female, six years, serious facial injuries, possible brain injury. Stat four.”‘
‘Do we pick them both up? Or just the child?’ Jack asked.
‘Just the child at this stage. Being a status four, we can’t afford to wait until the mother is freed. The mother will be transferred to Hutt Hospital by road.’
‘Will we take the child to Hutt Hospital or back to Wellington?’
‘It’s not our call, but most likely Wellington, where they’ve got an excellent neurological department. It’s only a few minutes’ extra flying time.’
‘Every minute can count.’ Jack’s eyes darkened. ‘More than anything else, that mother’s going to want to be with her daughter.’ He twisted around to stare out the window, his hands clenching and unclenching on his thighs, his mouth a white line in his pale face.
‘Jack?’ Ruby leaned closer, put a hand over his. What was wrong? It couldn’t be the flying, he’d been okay on the last trip, and anyway he was training to be a private pilot.
‘I’m fine.’ He slid his hand out from under hers, and continued staring outside.
If she hadn’t been looking so hard she wouldn’t have seen the way his bottom lip quivered ever so slightly. ‘Sure.’ She had no idea how to get him to open up. Once she’d stupidly thought that if Jack had something to say he’d say it, but now she realised he’d never told her anything that involved his feelings.
Minutes ticked by. Then he coughed. ‘I always struggle with seeing kids injured.’ His fingers flexed, fisted, flexed.
‘I think we all do.’ Ruby thought back to when she’d worked alongside Jack in A and E. Had they ever worked together with a seriously sick child? Her mind threw up a memory from her first week in A and E with Dr Forbes.
‘Ruby, for God’s sake, hurry up with that suction. This kid’s going to choke to death.’ Jack whipped the tube out of her hand. ‘Turn it on. Now.’ He whisked the end of the hard plastic around the little boy’s mouth, gentle but firm, sucking up the blood and mucus that filled the cavity. ‘Damn it, kid, don’t you die on me now.’
Nurses worked around them, stemming blood loss from the child’s legs and head, cutting away clothes and ordering X-rays. Ruby smarted as she tossed the boy’s now useless trousers into the rubbish bin. She’d reacted instantly to Jack’s command to suction the boy’s mouth. What was his problem? ‘I was doing just fine,’ she snapped at him. ‘I can take over now.’
‘Press on that leg wound. It’s bleeding again.’ Jack continued suctioning, his fingers unsteady and his mouth a white line in his pale face. He issued orders to the senior nurse about getting the oxygen mask ready, ignoring Ruby.
Later that night, when they knocked off work, Jack said, ‘You’ve got to learn not to answer back in those situations. Whatever I say goes. Understand?’
She’d nodded. ‘Sure.’ But she’d been shocked at the way he’d snatched that tube out of her hand.
‘Ruby, we can always discuss a case afterwards.’ He turned for the door, spun back. ‘You did well in there. If I seemed a little abrupt I have my reasons.’
He’d never told her what those reasons were. That had been before they’d got together so she’d put his reticence down to not knowing her very well. Wrong. It was just how he was. Had something dreadful happened to Jack as a trainee? Had he lost a patient in circumstances he blamed himself for?
In her ear Chris’s voice was an abrupt interruption. ‘ETA one minute. I’ll land on the road above the crash site.’
‘Right.’ Ruby prepared to leave the helicopter the instant it was possible.
As they raced towards the squashed car, their packs banging heavily on their backs, oxygen tank and defib in Jack’s hands, Ruby checked him out. She sighed with relief. Whatever had been disturbing him had gone, replaced with a professional, caring expression and the urgent need to help the little girl they were there for.
A policeman lifted the tape protecting the scene from the crowd of onlookers for Ruby and Jack to duck under. ‘I think you’re wanted at the ambulance.’
Changing direction, they crossed to the paramedics, who were working with a small patient on a stretcher. Ruby’s heart ached when she saw the small, blood-soaked child. A quick look at Jack but, apart from a whitening of his face, he was in full control of himself.
They listened carefully to an ambulance officer’s report. ‘I’ve given her a second bolus of saline as her BP keeps dropping. GCS is nine. She’s got a poor airway and I couldn’t intubate.’
A Glasgow coma score of nine. They didn’t come worse than that and the patient still be alive.
‘Upgrade to stat five.’ Jack immediately opened his pack and reached for a small-sized LMA kit. Ruby took the child’s head and tipped it back slightly to allow Jack easier access to her throat. Together they quickly had the airway open and oxygen flowing. Jack’s expertise was impressive, and Ruby enjoyed working with him. The girl was in excellent hands.
But as Ruby began to relax, the child went into spasms. A seizure was common with her injuries but distressing for everyone observing it. Other than making sure the girl didn’t choke, there was nothing Ruby could do but hold the child’s bloodied hand in her gloved one until she fell still again.
After a fast but thorough examination they transferred the girl to the helicopter. As Jack began taking her vitals again, she had another seizure. Followed minutes later by another. And another.
‘We’ll give her a sedative intra-nasally,’ he instructed Ruby as the rotors began speeding up.
Ruby held the nasal cannula in
