envied Amber her beautiful daughter but not Amber’s marriage to the domineering man she’d divorced.
Cate dreamed of a home and family more than anything, and she’d thought she’d found the answer with Brett. But her great love affair hadn’t worked out either. Cate didn’t waste any sympathy on herself—she should have known better. Brett had ruled by emotional blackmail and she’d been lucky they hadn’t married. She thought of Brett’s mother and sighed. Poor Iris.
She painfully rolled her shoulder. She’d pulled a muscle yesterday trying to straighten the top paddock gate. Served her right for being too stubborn to call her mother for help.
And now it looked like Noah Masters had moved into Mr Beamish’s office indefinitely. Life was suddenly too much.
She didn’t feel like being cooped up in the office. She needed to be busy and if they were short-staffed, there would be plenty of work to do.
By late afternoon, Cate had secured relief for extra-busy wards from the less frantic ones, helped with the birth of a baby in Maternity, arranged casual staff who lived in town to replace those flooded in for the next shift, and updated the computer with the latest staffing statistics. She’d briefly spoken to every patient and a host of their relatives, and everything was under control. This was what she loved—having her finger on the pulse of the hospital.
By five o’clock she’d made several visits to Mrs Dwyer in her darkened room, and she decided to pop in for a moment before tea. When Cate entered the room the old lady lay so still and quiet that for a moment Cate thought Brett had left it too late. Then she noticed the gentle rise and fall of the sheet covering the frail body and she bit her lip. Iris had only been deeply asleep. The old lady stirred and opened her eyes.
Brett’s mother looked frail and it was as if the light had been turned out in her usually sparkling blue eyes. Cate could see that time was short and she felt useless as she stared down at the woman she’d grown to love. ‘Can I get you anything, Iris?’
Iris smiled. ‘No, darling.’ The skin on the older woman’s hand was callused from hard work and yellow-tinged with jaundice. But her grip was still strong. ‘I’m quite comfortable. Even the dawn chorus of coughing and urinals is different to the birds at home but quite amusing.’
Cate couldn’t help smiling, which was what Iris wanted. ‘Would you like some music to drown out the ward clatter? I could bring my CD player in.’
Iris shook her head. ‘You do too much as it is and I don’t need to add to your load. There’ll be plenty of time for music in heaven.’ Cate winced and Iris frowned. ‘Stop it. I’ve had a good life and at the moment I’m enjoying the sound of humanity. It’s like a radio show and guess-the-secret-sound as I try to recognise a noise. Don’t worry about me.’
Iris closed her eyes but she was still smiling and Cate wondered if she’d fallen asleep again. Cate could see from whom Brett had inherited his eyebrows and nose. A shame he hadn’t inherited his mother’s determined chin. Almost as if she’d caught Cate’s thoughts, Iris opened her eyes.
‘I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you and Brett, for his sake.’ Her eyes twinkled briefly. ‘As much as I love him, I know he probably would have driven you mad. I’ve come to think he needs someone to lean on him to bring out his best. But I would have known he was OK with you.’ The frail hand tightened in Cate’s. ‘Look after yourself, Cate. You need to find a strong man to depend on. Sharing the load brings its own strength so if the chance comes, don’t fight it too much.’
Cate dropped a kiss on the wrinkled cheek. ‘How like you to try and tie up my loose ends as well. Think about yourself for a change. I’d better get on with my work. You rest and mind you tell Sister if the pain gets worse.’ Iris shut her eyes and she was asleep before Cate turned away.
Cate tried to regain her composure. Sometimes life was very unfair. She couldn’t believe Brett hadn’t arrived yet. She’d kill him if he didn’t get here in time. She pushed herself off the wall she’d leant her head on and hurried out of the room with her emotions a jumble, and pushed her sore shoulder straight into a solid wall of muscle. Two strong hands steadied her until she regained her physical balance and her traitorous body relaxed for a moment against the man. Her emotional equilibrium was harder to recapture.
‘Sister Forrest. We meet again.’ Noah’s hands loosened as she stepped away a pace but he could still feel the aftershock of her surprisingly luscious body against him.
Noah redirected his gaze from the vulnerable line of Cate’s neck to her face as she straightened herself to look at him.
‘I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking.’ The slight catch in her voice sounded strange, coming from the tough cookie of yesterday. In fact, she looked like she was in some pain.
‘Did I hurt you?’ Noah tilted his head and then reached out to touch her shoulder. She winced and his brows drew together.
She brushed his hand away. ‘It’s an old bruise and I’ve just given it a reminder. I’m fine. Was there something I can do for you?’
She didn’t look as together today, but she certainly wasn’t any friendlier. It had been amazing how many little things he’d remembered about her. Like the way her blue eyes narrowed and then seemed to glow like flashing blue sirens when she was annoyed with him. And how the expressions on her face seemed to shift and change like the sea.
Enough. Noah compressed his lips. He’d spent too much time thinking about her last night and he wasn’t going to get bogged down today. But she was a challenge. He refocused on her question.
‘I’ve come up to see how the medical resident went with discharging non-critical patients. I assumed there would have been more clients able to go than we’ve managed to discharge.’
He watched her close her eyes for a minute to marshal her thoughts. When she opened them he was staring quite openly at her and she glared at him. He’d bet she couldn’t help herself. She’d be a dreadful poker player, he thought as he watched more emotions flash across her face when she spoke. ‘Those that are still here would be at risk if they were discharged. Until the rain stops we can’t guarantee that the community nurses will be able to take them on or that relatives will be able to get to them if they’re needed.’
There was that fire and passion for the patients again. He had to harden his heart. ‘So what you’re saying is that if it wasn’t raining you’d be happy to send them home?’ She would fight him all the way, but that wasn’t a problem. He felt more alive than he had for years—perhaps it was the country air he hadn’t looked forward to.
She did look determined, though. ‘What I’m saying, Dr Masters, is that an early discharge for these clients would most probably result in readmissions—which cost more money by the way—so nothing would be gained by putting them at risk.’ She folded her arms across her chest.
‘What about the risk here if you have an influx of sick patients and minimum staff to care for everybody? I’ll have a list of other possibles anyway, please, Sister Forrest.’
He watched her shrug and realised she probably thought he hadn’t heard a word she’d said.
Cate tilted her chin. ‘Then it’s on your head.’
‘That’s what my head is here for.’ His attempt at humour failed to draw a smile and she stared stonily back at him. He shrugged. He had other things to worry about.
