the coming weeks and it wasn’t going to be easy, but he had to forget about their past relationship and concentrate on the demands of this job. Gaining back some of the ground he’d lost was important to him and he wasn’t going to let anything stop him. He glanced at Holly and his mouth compressed. If Holly could handle this situation then, by heaven, so could he.
‘I can’t find a pulse.’ Holly frowned as she pressed her fingers against the artery in the driver’s right ankle. She waited a moment then shook her head. ‘No, still nothing.’
‘We’re going to have to get him out of there,’ Ben replied curtly. ‘He’ll lose that leg if we can’t restore the circulation pretty soon.’
‘See if you can get one of the fire crew to cut him out,’ she suggested, pushing the hair out of her eyes with a grubby forearm. Her hands, encased in a double layer of gloves, were covered in blood and there was more blood soaking through the knees of her uniform. The driver had been trapped in his seat by the steering column, which had buckled during the impact. He’d suffered a serious injury to his right thigh and had lost a lot of blood. They had rigged up a drip but as fast as they were pumping fluid into him, more blood was gushing out. Holly reapplied pressure to stem the flow but she knew the driver wouldn’t survive if he wasn’t freed soon.
‘I’ll see what I can do.’
Ben got up and scrambled over the tangle of metal that had once comprised the first few rows of seats. One of the firemen was using an oxyacetylene torch to free a young woman who was trapped in the third row and the noise was deafening. They had managed to get most of the injured out now so there was just the driver and the girl left. She looked up when Ben came back and her heart sank when he shook his head.
‘No go. They daren’t use any more cutting gear in here because of the risk of fire. Apparently, the fuel tank is full and the build-up of heat could ignite it.’
‘Great! We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that they get that girl out soon so they can start on the driver next.’
Holly looked round when she saw Nicky Brunswick making her way towards them. Nicky had been monitoring the young woman and Holly grimaced when she saw the worried expression on the paramedic’s face. ‘Don’t tell me—more problems?’
‘Looks like it.’ Nicky rolled her eyes. ‘It only turns out that she’s seven months pregnant and her waters have just broken.’
‘Oh, that’s just what we need!’ Holly exclaimed. ‘How long will it be before they manage to free her, d’you know?’
‘Another five minutes or so,’ Nicky began, then groaned when a scream rang around the coach. ‘Oh, please, don’t let that be the baby arriving already!’
‘You take over here while I go and see what’s happening,’ Holly instructed. ‘You’ll need to maintain pressure to control the bleeding.’
‘It doesn’t look as though he’s got that much blood left to lose,’ Nicky observed darkly. ‘It’s like an abattoir round here.’
‘And how would you know what an abattoir looks like?’ Holly demanded as they swopped places. She and Nicky had become good friends during the training sessions. They’d got on so well, in fact, that they’d decided to share a flat. Now she grinned at her friend. ‘I don’t know who you’ve been dating recently but a visit to the local abattoir certainly isn’t my idea of a fun night out.’
‘Depends on who you go with,’ Nicky replied archly.
‘The man hasn’t been born who could get me to a place like that,’ Holly retorted. ‘I expect a lot more than that from anyone who hopes to take me out on a date.’
‘So that’s your secret, is it? Treat ’em mean and keep ’em keen?’ Nicky laughed. ‘It certainly seems to work if Josh is anything to go by. The poor guy is totally besotted. I’ve heard nothing but Holly this and Holly that ever since you two met. It will be wedding bells soon if I’m not mistaken.’
‘Rubbish! Josh is just a friend,’ Holly replied tartly. It was complete nonsense, of course, although she couldn’t stop herself glancing at Ben to see how he’d reacted to the comment before it struck her what she was doing.
She turned away, praying that he hadn’t noticed. It was none of Ben’s business what she did! She was a free agent and could go out with a dozen different men if that was what she chose to do. She didn’t need his permission or his blessing. Ben had made his choice two years ago and he hadn’t chosen her.
It was sobering to realise the effect that decision had had on her life. As she made her way down the coach, Holly found herself thinking that Nicky was right in a way. Her attitude towards men had hardened in the past two years. When she’d been with Ben she’d been perfectly happy to fall in with his wishes and had tailored her life to fit in with his, but she didn’t make that mistake nowadays. This was her life and she intended to live it her way, and if that sounded selfish, she wasn’t going to apologise for it…
But was she really happy? a small voice whispered. Could she honestly claim that she didn’t feel as though she was missing out by adopting such a hard-nosed attitude? Didn’t she sometimes long to be in a relationship again where the other person’s needs were more important than her own?
Holly took a deep breath. She’d made up her mind how she intended to live her life and she was going to stick to it. She went straight to the young woman and crouched down beside her. The noise from the oxyacetylene cutter was tremendous and Holly could well appreciate why the poor soul looked so scared.
‘I’m Holly Daniels and I’m a doctor at Dalverston General Hospital,’ she shouted above the roaring. ‘Can you tell me your name?’
‘Charity Adams.’
‘So, Charity, Nicky tells me that your waters have broken. Is that right?’
‘Yes. I’m only seven months pregnant, too, so the baby shouldn’t be born for ages…’ Charity stopped talking and groaned. ‘Oh, that hurts!’
Holly grimaced. ‘It sounds as though you’re in labour but I’ll need to take a look at you before I can be sure.’
She stood up and quickly explained to the firemen that she needed to examine the girl. They turned off the torch and tactfully moved aside while she removed the protective blanket that had been placed over Charity and helped her out of her underwear. Her heart sank when she saw that the woman’s cervix was fully dilated because it meant the birth was imminent.
‘How long will it take to free her?’ Holly asked one of the firemen.
‘Just a couple more minutes.’
‘Then let’s get on with it. We need to get her out of here as fast as we can.’
Holly looked round when Ben came to join her. She drew him aside so that Charity couldn’t hear what she was saying. ‘The baby’s on its way. I’m hoping we have time to get her out of here before it arrives but it’s going to be a close call from the look of her. She’s fully dilated.’
‘I’ll tell the ambulance to stand by. I’m just going to organise a stretcher, ready for when they cut the driver free. We don’t want any more hold-ups.’
‘Good idea,’ Holly agreed. She frowned as he moved
