every minute of the ceremony, which is when I realised how wrong it all was. But I put that aside, and gave the marriage all I had, Caro. Moral compass stuff again. We were friends as well as lovers and I didn’t want to hurt her.’
Now Caroline was sorry she’d asked the question, sorry about so much, but the pain in her heart remained and she knew she had to get away—think about this, work out why now, when it was all over, it was hurting her.
Why his being married was so ridiculously hurtful, especially as he wasn’t really married at all …
And shouldn’t he have told her all this before they’d kissed—the first time, not the last time?
Even if he wasn’t married married, shouldn’t it have been mentioned in passing?
She touched his shoulder as she stood up, then made her way up to the house, her mind so full of conjecture it felt too heavy for her neck.
Vaguely recalling, through a foggy haze of lust and shock, that Keanu had mentioned something about her being on duty at six, Caroline got herself out of bed, dressed, ate a lamington Bessie had apparently baked the previous day, drank a glass of milk and headed down to the hospital.
This time of the year, it was light by five in the morning, but half an hour later than that the morning still had a pearly glow and the sound of the birds waking up, the calm sea beyond the rainforest, and a sense of the world coming alive with a fresh new morning filled her with unexpected happiness.
True, there were problems but right now nothing, but nothing, seemed insurmountable.
Inevitably, Hettie was already there, in spite of Caroline being twenty minutes early.
‘Anahera’s off duty today and will be helping her mother with preparations for Alkiri’s funeral. In fact, the fire’s already been started in the fire pit.’
Fire? Fire pit?
The words seemed hard to understand in a hospital, until Carolyn remembered where she was and what was happening today—a funeral and funeral feast.
‘Keanu’s also gone down to the research station to help set everything up,’ Hettie added. ‘I’ll take a look at the young lad with the ulcer before I hand over. I don’t think the medication is working. I’ll talk to Sam about changing the combination, but watch him carefully and if there’s any sign of fever get Sam or Keanu here immediately.’
The diabetic patient was up and dressed.
‘Doesn’t want to miss the funeral feast,’ Hettie said dryly. ‘I’ll sign her out later.’
She turned to Caroline.
‘Okay, so you’ll only have one patient, but that’s largely because everyone knows we’re short-staffed and puts off coming to see us, either here or at the island clinics. But our one patient needs all the care we can give him, never forget that, and if you don’t get one or two coming up from the feast with burnt toes or cut fingers I’d be very surprised. Apparently, the festivities kick off at ten—well, the funeral part, anyway.’
She paused, then added, ‘I understand Alkiri was a friend of yours and you’d really like to be there, but the foreman wants to show Sam and me the laboratories—showing off, I suppose—and Keanu’s doing the oration so he has to be there. Our second aide will be here with you. Her shift doesn’t begin until eight, but if there’s any problem at all, phone me or Sam—our cell numbers are by the phone in the main office.’
Caroline took it all in, and much as her heart longed to be there to say goodbye to Alkiri, she knew being left here was a sign of her acceptance. Lockhart or not, Hettie was trusting her.
What Caroline hadn’t realised was that the statement—‘Anahera is helping her mother with the celebration feast’—meant Vailea was not in the kitchen. Apparently, nurses here made and served breakfast to their patients when called upon to do so.
Vailea—bless her heart, or perhaps her organisational skills—had a list of all meals up on a corkboard near the door. Not only were the meal menus there, but they had the requisite ‘GF’ for gluten free, and a little heart beside ones suggested for heart patients.
Back to her patients—checking their notes: no dietary restrictions for either of them.
According to—
‘How are you doing?’
Keanu was there, right behind her.
‘I thought you were busy with the hangi,’ she said, needing to say something as an almost overwhelming rush of what could only be lust weakened her knees.
She was still feeling that lust thing?
He was married!
And he hadn’t told her.
Anyway, might he not be right about the dangers of attraction, which was just a weaker word for lust?
And shouldn’t she show some reaction to this information?
But what?
‘Too many cooks,’ he said lightly, and she had to grapple her way back through her thoughts to where the conversation had started. ‘I’m not needed until a lot later. I’m doing the oration.’
The lightness vanished from his voice with the last sentence, and yet again Caroline’s first instinct was to hug him.
But hugs led to—
Well, trouble.
Change the subject.
‘You’ve been down to check? They’ve got the fire going?’
He nodded, so close now she could see the smooth golden skin of his face—the strong chin he must have shaved extra-carefully this morning.
And being that close, he must be able to see she was having difficulty breathing.
She ducked behind a table, and he stood opposite her.
‘And?’
‘The women are hanging flower leis and putting huge baskets of leaves all around the place. It’s really beautiful, Caro.’
‘Sounds lovely but I’ve got to get breakfasts,’ she managed, although her mind was on the kiss they’d shared the previous evening, not bacon and eggs.
‘I know,’ he said, his voice husky, his eyes unreadable. ‘I really wanted to tell you I went down to see Reuben this morning just to confirm the order to close the mine.’
The broad shoulders that had felt so solid beneath her hands lifted in a shrug.
‘I said it was a health and safety issue and, as a doctor overseeing that, I had the authority to issue the shutdown notice.’
Caroline sighed.
‘That was silly. You’ve put yourself into the firing line of the workers’ anger now. They already hate the Lockhart name, so what harm
