Jacob had accepted it without question, or he had done before the other children in his class had started teasing him. Although a lot of them came from single-parent families too, at least they had some contact with their absent parent. Jacob, however, had never met his father and that was all down to her.
Nicolaus Leonides had made his feelings abundantly clear nine years ago. He hadn’t been interested in the child Amy had been carrying and there was no reason to imagine that he had changed his mind. Not after everything she had read about him. Nico had achieved everything he had set out to do, establishing himself as one of the world’s foremost cosmetic surgeons. The name Nicolaus Leonides had become a byword for perfection and the fact that only those with a great deal of money could afford to be treated at his clinic in California was immaterial.
No, Nico wouldn’t be interested in Jacob’s problems even if she was prepared to contact him, which she had no intention of doing. Staying on the island where Nico had spent so much time when he was growing up had been the best way Amy could think of to give Jacob an idea of his paternal heritage. So why did she feel so unsure all of a sudden, so afraid that she might be opening up a whole new can of worms? She hung back, the weight of the suitcase dragging painfully on her arm as she debated the pros and cons of carrying on with her plan. Jacob had already skipped up the gangplank but he stopped when he realised that she wasn’t following him.
‘Come on, Mum! You’re going to miss the ferry if you don’t hurry up!’
Amy sighed when she heard the excitement in his voice. Coming on this trip had given Jacob a much-needed boost and it was good to hear him sounding so upbeat for a change. He would be bitterly disappointed if she announced that they were no longer going to the island. She worked such long hours in her job as senior sister on the acute assessment unit at Dalverston General Hospital and saw far too little of him. This trip had been a chance to redress the balance as much as anything else.
Amy took a deep breath then hefted their suitcase up the gangplank. She couldn’t give up now that they had come this far. And as for creating problems, well, there was no basis for thinking that. After all, there was no danger of them running into Nico. He was thousands of miles away, adding even more dollars to his bulging coffers!
* * *
Nico broke into a run. The last passengers had already boarded the ferry and the crew were preparing to cast off. If he missed this boat there wouldn’t be another one until the following day and he couldn’t afford to stay on the mainland overnight. There was an open surgery in the morning which was always packed full of people requiring his attention and he couldn’t let them down.
He put on a final spurt and just managed to leap aboard as the crew cast off the final rope. He nodded apologetically when one of the older men remonstrated with him. Maybe he shouldn’t have taken such a risk but it felt good to know that he was fit enough to push himself like that. When he’d had that heart attack three years ago, he had honestly thought that was it, that all he could expect from then on was a sedentary existence. It had taken him a while to adjust to the idea of his own mortality but once he had done so, he had realised that he could still enjoy life so long as he was sensible about it.
He had set about making changes to the way he had lived, starting with the biggest issue of all, the amount of stress he was under. Setting up the practice in California and making it a success had been his raison d’être. He had worked eighteen-hour days and then spent any free time networking; however his cardiologist had made it clear that he couldn’t do that any longer. Not if he wanted to avoid another heart attack.
He had sold the practice and moved back to Greece, taken a year out while he worked out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. It had been hard to imagine doing anything other than what he had devoted himself to for the best part of twenty years and he had struggled to find a new direction. And then one day he had taken a trip to Constantis, the tiny island where he and his sister had enjoyed so many holidays with their grandparents, and he had realised in amazement that he had wanted to live there.
There had been no medical facilities on the island at the time. If anyone was taken ill, they had to be ferried to the mainland for treatment. Nico had contacted the IKA, the body which ran the Greek health service, and they had been cautiously enthusiastic about his proposal to build a clinic providing primary health care as well as a ten-bed hospital unit. It had taken a lot of negotiation but in the end he had been given the go-ahead, mainly, he suspected, because he had been willing to fund the building costs himself. The Ariana Leonides Clinic had been open for twelve months now and it was thriving.
Nico moved further along the deck, smiling as he passed several people he knew. Although he had a staff of ten working with him at the clinic, he was well known to the islanders and he had to admit that he enjoyed that aspect of the job too. Although he had led a busy social life in California, he had been aware that the invitations had been extended because of his status more than anything else. His name on a guest list had been seen as real kudos by the hostess, something to brag about. He was rich, successful and that was what had mattered most of all.
A sudden commotion made him glance round and he frowned when he saw a crowd starting to gather near the railings. Forcing his way through it, he spotted a girl lying on the deck. She was obviously a tourist from her clothing—tiny denim shorts and an equally skimpy top—and she appeared to be unconscious. There was a young man kneeling beside her and he looked up in panic when Nico approached.
‘I don’t know what happened. One minute she was taking photos with her phone and the next second she just collapsed!’
‘Does she have a history of fainting?’ Nico asked, crouching down beside the girl.
‘I don’t know! We only met a couple of days ago so I have no idea if this is something she does regularly,’ the young man explained.
‘I see. What’s her name?’ Nico asked, checking the girl’s pulse which was extremely rapid.
‘Jane.’ The boy gulped. ‘She’s from Australia although I don’t know where exactly. As I said, I only met her a couple of days ago and we’ve spent most of the time since then partying.’
Nico sighed. Partying implied that the young couple had been drinking and maybe even taking drugs. He had dealt with several such cases recently and the most difficult task of all was getting the youngsters to admit what they had taken so they could receive the appropriate treatment. He stood up and drew the boy aside so they could speak in private.
‘Has she taken something? I’m a doctor and you need to tell me if she has taken any drugs or I can’t help her.’
‘No, no! It’s nothing like that,’ the young man protested but Nico could tell he was lying.
His tone hardened. ‘This isn’t the time to worry about your own skin. If Jane has taken drugs then I need to know what I’m dealing with. To put it bluntly, she could die if she doesn’t receive the appropriate treatment.’
‘I don’t know anything about any drugs!’ the young man claimed. He suddenly spun round, forcing his way through the crowd and disappearing from sight.
Nico cursed under his breath as he knelt down beside the girl again. He couldn’t afford to go after him when he needed to stay here. He rolled her onto her side, working on the assumption that she had taken some kind of narcotic and could start vomiting. She was burning hot and her breathing was shallow which all supported his theory that an overdose of drugs was to blame for her collapse. The problem was finding out exactly what she had taken.
‘My mummy’s a nurse,’ piped up a small voice. ‘She can help make the lady better—shall
