the other end of the phone.
Hurriedly, he reverted to an earlier question.
‘Yes, Moggy, I freely admit that I’m absolutely delighted that you brought the AR vacancy to my attention. It has the makings of an excellent department.’
‘The makings? You mean, once you’ve done your new-broom bit and completely reorganised it?’ she teased, but he knew there was more than a hint of the truth in her words. He did like to put his own stamp on the way his department was run, but he certainly didn’t want to start off by alienating the existing staff.
He wondered just how well his sister knew Leah. Maggie and Jake hadn’t needed the assistance of his new department to start her pregnancy, but she might have met his new colleague when they’d had to call for someone to take a look at a potential admission down in A and E. She might also have met her when she’d accompanied an emergency patient up to the department at some time.
Had she also noticed the chaotic disarray in his predecessor’s office, with files on every available surface? It certainly wasn’t the way he liked to run a department and he’d been amazed that Leah had apparently had no trouble putting her hand on everything he’d requested.
And there she was, back inside his head again, no matter how hard he tried to keep her out. He had far more important things to think about than a pair of serious grey eyes and a wealth of honey-blonde hair tied tightly back to reveal the delicate bone structure of her face.
He shook his head, glad that Maggie couldn’t see him. What did it matter that his new colleague was tall and slender and filled with almost incandescent nervous energy? It certainly hadn’t helped her to keep on top of a simple job like keeping the office straight. Come Monday, he dreaded discovering that her attention to other things, like the important details that should have been recorded in each of those case notes since her superior died, was equally slap-dash. In the short time she’d had free, he hadn’t been able to do much more than get an idea of the scope of patients currently under investigation and treatment, and the general routine of the department on a daily and weekly basis.
‘Would Jake be happy working in a disorganised department?’ he challenged gently. ‘I bet the first thing he did when he got his consultancy was go over every tiny detail in person.’
‘And you’d win, you rat!’ Maggie grumbled. ‘Just promise me something—don’t ruffle too many feathers on your first day. Take it gently until you’ve had a chance to get to know the people you’ll be working with. They’re a good tight-knit team.’
‘Yes, Mother,’ he said in a singsong voice. ‘I’ll play nicely with the other boys and girls.’
‘Oh, you’re impossible!’ she spluttered. ‘Sometimes I don’t know why I bother.’
‘Because I’m your lovable big brother?’ he suggested, tongue in cheek.
‘Exactly,’ she said, heaving a theatrical put-upon sigh. ‘But, seriously, David…’
‘Uh-oh! When she uses those dreaded words…!’ he teased. ‘It’s OK, Moggy. You can stop worrying about me, I’m a big boy now.’
‘I know that, but I don’t just want you to be successful, I want you to be happy, too,’ she said plaintively.
The words hung in the air between them for several seconds.
David knew exactly what she meant. Since she’d found happiness with Jake, she wanted everyone to be equally happy, but he knew that wasn’t possible for him. He’d had his chance and it had all gone horribly wrong.
‘It wasn’t your fault, David,’ she said softly in his ear, and he shivered at the accuracy of the way she’d followed his thoughts. Was he really that transparent?
‘That didn’t make any difference to the pain,’ he said gruffly, startled that he’d even admitted that much. In fact, it was probably the most he’d said to anyone about the loss that would haunt him for ever, and it would be the last. ‘So, if you don’t mind, little sister, I’ll concentrate on my new job and making the department second to none. That’ll make me happy.’
‘But you can’t take the department to bed for a cuddle,’ she retorted stubbornly. ‘David, you can’t cut yourself off from people like that. If you don’t want to talk to me, you could phone Mum and Dad. Calls to New Zealand may be expensive, but on your salary—’
‘No way!’ he exploded a second before he could put a guard on his tongue.
‘What?’ Maggie sounded startled. ‘But, David, you’ve always been so close to them—they moved halfway round the world to be near you, for heaven’s sake. Surely they’d be willing to listen if you wanted to talk?’
‘Too damn close!’ he muttered under his breath, then realised that he needed to make some sort of explanation.
‘Mum and Dad—at least, Mum—is one of the reasons why I left New Zealand. I had to get away, Maggie. She was still trying to smother me, the way she did when I was a kid. I’m thirty-four, for heaven’s sake! I don’t need my mother to bandage my grazed knees and kiss them better!’
Maggie giggled. ‘That’s an image to conjure with!’
‘Well, it’s not so funny when you’re on the receiving end of it,’ he pointed out grimly.
‘But, David—’ she began persuasively, but he’d had enough.
‘And you’d better watch your step,’ he warned. ‘If you’re going to start nagging, I’ll set Jake on you. I’ll tell him that he needs to keep a closer eye on you.’
‘Don’t you dare!’ she squealed in dismay. ‘I can hardly breathe as it is. If somebody from Obs and Gyn told him I needed watching he’d never let me out of his sight.’
‘That’s because you and the baby mean that much to him,’ he pointed out softly, the pain of memories tightening its grip around his throat and his heart. ‘Enjoy every precious minute of it, Moggy. Sleep tight.’
‘This isn’t working,’ Leah muttered as she stepped back from her little workbench in disgust.
Usually she could lose herself in the timeless art of repotting, trimming and training her precious bonsai trees, the cares of the day simply melting away as she put her concentration to each measured task. Tonight it just wasn’t happening and it was all his fault.
‘I might just as well be doing something useful, rather than risking spoiling one of you,’ she muttered as she collected and cleaned her tools and put them away. ‘And I know just the job.’
Decision made, it took mere moments before her hands were washed and she was reaching for her keys with a wry grimace. It would always seem wasteful to drive such a short distance, but it would be a very foolish woman who would wander about in the deep shadows between her flat and the hospital buildings in the dark.
Not long after that, she’d shut herself in the nighttime seclusion of the untidy office and was rolling up her sleeves in preparation for the final stage in her reorganisation of Donald’s filing system. The audit of all his files had been long overdue and a surprising number should already have been sent to the hospital archives. The remaining stacks were a far more manageable number for the available space in
