to see a doctor right away so that we can get your medication sorted out. You can’t go on like this. I won’t let you.’
He didn’t answer and she suspected his strength was failing fast. She wrapped an arm around him, supporting him as she led him to a chair in the waiting room. The emergency department was busy at this time of the day, just after lunchtime, but she hoped they wouldn’t have too long to wait. Her father’s breathing was becoming worse by the minute, and it was worrying her.
She paused awkwardly, scanning his features. ‘You have your tablets with you, don’t you…and your inhaler?’
‘Yes.’ He eased himself down on to the padded seat, dragging in a few difficult breaths and giving himself a minute or two to recover.
‘Perhaps you should have a few puffs on the inhaler now. It might help a bit.’ She watched as he fumbled in his pocket for the medication. ‘Will you be all right for a minute or two while I go and have a word with the clerk on duty?’
He nodded. ‘I’ll be fine. I don’t need to be here.’
She made a wry face and turned to walk over to the reception desk. He was stubborn and independent, but she wasn’t going to let him get away with trying to bamboozle her. He was in a bad way, and he needed help…maybe even to be admitted to hospital.
She gave the clerk her father’s details. ‘He’s gasping for breath and I believe he needs urgent treatment. His medication doesn’t seem to be working properly.’
The clerk glanced over to where Katie’s father was sitting. ‘I’ll see if we can have him looked at fairly quickly, Dr Logan. If you’d like to take a seat, I’ll have a word with the triage nurse.’
‘Thanks.’ Katie went back to her father and sat down. ‘We shouldn’t have to wait too long,’ she told him. ‘Just try to relax.’
In fact, it was only a matter of minutes before they were called to go into the doctor’s room, and Katie was startled to see Nick coming along the corridor to greet them. He looked immaculate, as ever, with dark trousers that moulded his long legs, a crisp linen shirt in a deep shade of blue, and a tie that gave him a businesslike, professional appearance.
She hadn’t expected to run into him so soon after their meeting at the hotel. It threw her, coming across him this way, and for a moment or two she wasn’t sure how to respond.
‘I didn’t realise that you worked here,’ she said, frowning. ‘I’d somehow imagined that you worked at one of the bigger city hospitals.’
He smiled. ‘I prefer this one. It has all the up-to-date-facilities, and I’ve been familiar with it since childhood. It’s become like a second home to me.’
He lent her father a supporting shoulder. ‘I’m sorry to see that you’re having problems, Jack,’ he murmured. ‘We’ll go along to my office where we can be more private.’ He turned and called for a nurse. ‘Can we get some oxygen here, please?’
‘Of course.’ The nurse hurried away to find a trolley, while Nick led the way to his office.
Nick waved Katie to a leather-backed chair by the desk, and then turned his attention to Jack.
‘Let me help you onto the examination couch,’ he said quietly, pumping the bed to an accessible height and assisting Jack into a sitting position, propped up by pillows. ‘I see you have your inhaler with you. Is it helping?’
Jack shook his head. ‘Not much.’ He leaned back against the pillows and tried to gather his breath. His features were drawn, his lips taking on a bluish tinge.
Nick handed him the oxygen mask and carefully fitted it over his nose and mouth. ‘Take a few deep breaths,’ he said. ‘We’ll soon have you feeling better, don’t worry.’
Katie watched as Nick examined her father. He was very thorough, listening to his chest, taking his blood pressure and pulse and asking questions about the medication he was taking. All the time he was efficient, yet gentle, and she could see that he was a doctor who would put a patient’s mind at ease whatever the circumstances. He set up a monitor so that he could check Jack’s heart rate and blood oxygen levels. Katie saw that the results were way out of line with what they should be.
‘Excuse me for a moment,’ Nick murmured. ‘I’m going to ask the nurse to bring a nebuliser in here. We’ll add a bronchodilator and a steroid to the mix to reduce the inflammation in your airways, and that should soon make you feel a lot more comfortable.’
He went to the door and spoke to the nurse then returned a minute or two later, coming to stand beside the couch once more. ‘Your blood pressure is raised,’ he said, ‘so I think we need to adjust your tablets to bring that down… and also perhaps we should question what’s happening to bring that about.’
‘I dare say I can give you an answer on that one,’ Katie remarked under her breath. Her tone was cynical, and that must have alerted Nick, because he began to walk towards her, obviously conscious that she wouldn’t want her father to hear.
‘You know what’s causing it?’ he asked.
‘I think so. You and your father have been pushing him to sell the vineyard, and he’s worried about making the right decision. It’s tearing him apart, thinking about giving up the one thing that has kept him going all these years.’
Nick raised dark brows. ‘You’re blaming my father and me?’ He, too, spoke in a lowered voice.
‘I am. Who else would I blame?’ She returned his gaze steadily. ‘His health is failing, yet you bombarded him with paperwork and tried to persuade him to hand it over. He was looking at the papers this morning when he was taken ill. The vineyard means everything to him, and you’ve set him a huge dilemma. I don’t believe he’s in any state to be dealing with matters such as this.’
‘I hardly think you can lay the blame at our feet. Jack has been ill for a number of years, and his lung function is way below par. As to causing him any distress, all I can say is that if he didn’t want to consider our offer, he only had to say so.’ His eyes darkened. ‘He’s perfectly capable of making his own decisions.’
Katie stiffened. He hadn’t added ‘without his daughter’s interference’, but the implication was there, all the same.
The nurse appeared just then with a trolley, and Nick broke off to go and set up the nebuliser. ‘Just try to relax and breathe deeply,’ he told her father, his manner soothing. ‘It’ll take a few minutes, but your blood oxygen levels should gradually start to rise. In the meantime, I’m going to go and glance through your medical notes and see where we can make changes to your medication.’ He halted as a thought had occurred to him. ‘Katie’s obviously concerned about you. Do you mind if I discuss your medical history with her, or is it something you would rather I kept private?’
Jack shook his head. ‘That’s fine. Go ahead. There’s nothing to hide.’
‘Okay.’ Nick checked the monitor once more, before saying quietly, ‘I’ll also arrange an urgent appointment for you with your respiratory specialist.’
‘Thanks,’ Jack said. He looked exhausted and seemed relieved to be able to just lie back and let the drugs do their work.
Nick came back to the desk and glanced towards Katie
