‘Trust me, I’m on it.’ Callum blocked out the panic in Tess’s eyes, blocked out the screaming monitors, the stunned gazes of the nursing staff and did what he did best. With the finesse of the finest craftsman he sealed the bleeding ulcer with the clip.
Exhilaration thundered through him at the save, the buzz making him feel alive in a way no other event or situation ever could. ‘I’m done. The bleeder is plugged and he’s all yours.’ He removed the ’scope from Vince’s gut.
‘Thank you.’ Tess smiled at him with open admiration tinged with school marm disapproval. She immediately busied herself, aspirating the blood Vince had inhaled into his lungs. ‘You’ve done a fabulous job despite giving us all heart failure there for a minute.’ Her eyes held slight censure. ‘Just one more thing. You need to explain it all to Vince’s sister.’
His gut dropped. James had been the ‘touchy-feely’ Halroyd, the people person. Cal didn’t want to have to deal with hysterical relatives, especially when he knew Tess would do it so much better. ‘I can wait for you and we can do it together.’
She shook her head. ‘I’m going to be tied up here for a bit longer getting him stable. The family will be stressing and you need to put them out of their misery.’ Her face was hidden behind her mask but her eyes said it all. ‘I’ll be there as soon as I can.’ She turned back to Esther and issued instructions about commencing antibiotics.
Stunned, he stared at the back of her head. It wasn’t supposed to work like this. He did the life-on-the-edge stuff, not the routine hack work. But Callum Halroyd, the feted Frontline surgeon, had clearly just been organised and dismissed by a country GP.
He didn’t like it at all.
* * *
Callum ran his hand through his hair. Clipping the ulcer had been a walk in the park compared with the conversation he’d just endured with Vince’s sister. Tess had eventually rescued him from the emotional woman and ushered him into the tiny lounge off Theatre.
Glancing over the top of his cup of steaming coffee, he noticed black smudges under Tess’s eyes, marring her clear skin. She pressed one hand to the small of her back while she sipped her tea. She really should be tucked up in bed.
An image of her face relaxed in sleep and her lush body sprawled across a bed thudded through him. Despite fatigue, despite his grief, his groin tightened. Hell. He downed his coffee, almost welcoming the quick scald against his mouth and throat.
‘Sorry about your shoes.’ Tess’s apologetic gaze dropped to his bare feet. ‘I’ve never seen anyone bleed like that before, not even during my residency in Sydney.’
He gave a wry grin. ‘Oh, they can bleed all right. So now you know that you always tube anyone with a belly full of blood and save the surgeon’s shoes.’
‘Not to mention the patient’s life.’ Chuckling softly, she lifted her legs up onto a chair and rotated her ankles. ‘You did brilliantly tonight, action man. Thank you very much. We’d have been in strife without you, and on the plus side you got a bit of excitement tonight after all, so it was a win-win situation all round.’ She smiled smugly.
He knew he’d pushed her out of her comfort zone back in Theatre. ‘Sorry it got a bit hairy in there and that I overrode you, but I knew I could get the clip on.’
She shot him a knowing look. ‘See, general practice isn’t as mind-numbing as you seem to think.’
He snorted, unable to help himself. ‘And the last time you had to open Theatre for an emergency was?’
She had the grace to look like a kid caught with her hand in the lolly jar. ‘We do small procedures here and elective surgery cases go to Mildura or Wagga.’
He nodded, happy in the knowledge that he had Narranbool pegged. ‘And really serious cases would go to Melbourne to state-of-the-art equipment and experienced staff. It’s how the system works.’ He stood up, rinsed his cup and placed it on the drainer. ‘It’s midnight. I’ll take you home.’
Her brows pulled together as she swung her feet down onto the floor. ‘I should stay a bit longer.’
‘Vince is stable and in good hands with Esther and Ken. They’ve got my mobile number and if his condition deteriorates they’ll ring. I’ll visit him in the morning before the service, and check the results for Helicobacter pylori. I imagine that’s the culprit causing the ulcer, and if so I’ll start him on combined antibiotics.’
He gently took her empty cup from her hands. ‘So now all you have to do is go home and crash.’
Luminous eyes stared up at him, clear and penetrating. He expected her to object, and decided to pre-empt her and not wait for the words of refusal to pour from her amazing mouth. A mouth that could go from a pout to a wide smile in a heartbeat. ‘Tomorrow is going to be a long day and—’
‘That sounds like a good idea.’
Amazement rocked him. ‘Pardon?’
She smiled against a closed mouth, her lips compressing and her chest rocking as she stifled laughter. ‘You’re right. I’m exhausted and tomorrow will be huge.’
Relief trickled through him. Earlier this evening when they’d discussed going to Melbourne, he’d decided that Tess had a stubborn streak that ran long and deep. He hadn’t expected her to readily agree with him about taking over Vince’s care. She’d obviously come around on all fronts.
‘So we’re in agreement—excellent.’ He quickly calculated their estimated time of departure. ‘I’ll pick you up at ten-thirty in the morning. I think it’s best to wait until after the funeral to tell my parents—they sure don’t need that sort of distraction before the service.’ He shoved his hands deep in his pockets. ‘There’ll be hours in the car on the way to Melbourne to discuss everything and sort out the details.’
Her jaw tilted slightly and her shoulders straightened. ‘I’ll go to Melbourne on one condition.’
His hand automatically rubbed his forehead as he rested his bottom on the table and looked down at her. ‘And what would that be?’ The words rolled out on a sigh.
‘That you stay here and work in Narranbool.’
He heard the words but his brain refused to believe them. ‘That’s a ridiculous request. Narranbool doesn’t need me as part of its medical personnel.’
‘Yes, it does.’ Her sombre tone hung between them.
The serious light in her eyes, along with the tension clinging to her face, sent unease swirling through him. Slowly, through the fog that was his mind, realization dawned.
He absently rubbed the palm of his left hand with his right thumb. Tess was thirty-seven weeks pregnant and on call. There had been no reference by any of the staff of a registrar. Narranbool is very fortunate to have you on board now James has gone. He closed his eyes against the truth that bore down on him, hard and unyielding, like an avalanche. Forcing his eyes open, he met her gaze. Not even bothering to ask it as a question, he spoke slowly. ‘You’re the only doctor in town now.’
She nodded. ‘That’s right.’
The
