‘He won’t be happy,’ their patient said in a dead voice.
‘About you staying in bed, or about not losing the baby?’ Molly asked softly.
‘What do you think?’
Both, if she was on the right page. But she kept quiet. Kath was getting wound up again. Better to keep her calm and only mention help was available if she was receptive.
Molly opened the curtains so they could keep an eye on her from the hub.
‘Hey, you can’t come in here without permission,’ Hank said loudly from the other end of the department.
‘Try and stop me,’ came the angry voice of an unknown male.
‘Come here,’ Hank demanded.
‘Where is she?’
Kath gasped, ‘No,’ and curled in on herself.
Molly asked, ‘Someone you know?’
‘My man. He’s been drinking since early afternoon.’
Great. Just what they needed. The sound of curtains being jerked open and sliding doors rammed back made her skin crawl. He was getting closer, and it wouldn’t be long before he found who he was looking for.
‘Stop right there,’ Hank ordered.
‘This is going to be fun,’ Hazel muttered.
‘Stop. You are disturbing our patients.’ Nathan stood at the central counter, hands tense at his sides, his feet planted slightly apart. ‘Tell me who you’ve come to see and I’ll check if you can visit.’
‘You’ve got my wife hiding in here. I’m going to find her. Now,’ the man shouted.
Kath buried her head under the pillow.
Then her husband stormed into the cubicle, the rage in his face terrifying. ‘Get out of my way,’ he yelled at Hazel, raising a fist.
It was instinctive. Molly saw movement out of the corner of her eye. One step closed the gap. Her arm came up, locked with the assailant’s. Using his forward motion she hauled him toward her, dropped her weight forward and swung her upper body around, taking him with her, dropping him to the floor before landing on top of him, her knees pressing into his shoulders, her hand still tight around his lower arm.
Silence fell over the department.
Then the man began swearing. He struggled beneath her, trying to push her off, getting madder by the second.
She was about to be tossed aside by a raging man who had no brakes on his temper. Then Nathan planted a foot firmly in the small of the man’s back. ‘Stay still.’ Under his breath he added, ‘Or, hell, you’re going to regret it.’
She was probably the only person to hear that. Certainly the man underneath her either hadn’t or didn’t believe Nathan because he was still trying to get up.
Then Hank grabbed the man’s flailing arms and slammed them down on the floor. ‘Shut up, buster.’
Nathan tapped her lightly. ‘You can get off now. We’ve got him.’
She did, fast, not taking her eyes off her opponent until she’d stepped away. ‘Has someone called Security?’ Where had they been when this guy had got into the department? Taking a break? At least one security guard had to remain at the main entrance at all times.
‘Right here.’ Two uniformed men raced towards them and took over.
‘You okay?’ Nathan asked, his hand on her elbow.
‘Sure.’ She nodded.
‘Molly, he was going to hit me.’ Hazel nudged Nathan aside to throw her arms around her and hold tight. ‘I froze when I saw his arm come up.’
Molly squeezed back, a trembling starting up in her belly and spreading throughout her body. ‘Glad I didn’t.’
Hazel stepped back and wiped her eyes. ‘Seriously, you saved me. He was aiming for my face.’
‘You reacted so fast, it had to be instinctive. I’m impressed.’ There was something akin to awe in Nathan’s voice as his hand moved from her elbow to her shoulder. ‘Come and sit down. You look like you’ve been hit by a bus.’
Now that the adrenaline was ebbing, that was exactly how she felt. Flattened. Shocked. ‘I can’t believe I did that.’
‘How’d you know what to do?’ Nathan asked after he had her seated and parked his butt on the counter. ‘One second that man was attacking Hazel and the next you threw him on the floor and sat on him.’
‘Not quite. I had my knees on his shoulders.’ She gulped. That had been so close. Not once had she thought about what she was doing. When she’d caught sight of that swinging arm out of the corner of her eye the rest had followed naturally. As she’d been taught to do in her judo classes. If only she’d done martial arts when she’d been with Paul, she might have stopped him in his tracks permanently. ‘I saw a movement and instantly went into defence mode. I’ve got an orange belt in judo,’ she added when she saw the confusion enter Nathan’s eyes.
‘That explains it.’ Maybe, but that confusion remained.
Molly hastened to divert him. ‘I’ve always wondered how I’d react if I needed to. Now I know.’
‘Why did you learn judo?’ Straight to the point.
‘Nathan, not now. I need to get back to Kath. The attack proved what I suspected—she’s being abused. She’ll need reassuring her husband’s not going to get near her while she’s in here. We’ll also have to convince her to stay in hospital for the rest of the night.’
You’re talking too much. He’s going to see right through you.
Molly clamped her mouth shut and tried to stand up to pull away from those warm fingers still on her shoulder, but Nathan only tightened his hold.
‘Sit down. You’re as pale as the walls, and shaking like a leaf in a breeze. I’m getting you a strong coffee.’
Actually, she was damned pleased with herself. Who’d have believed she could take a man down? She opened her mouth to argue, but nothing came out when she locked her eyes with Nathan’s and found compassion there, and something else. Something hinting at him beginning to understand what made her tick. Her bout of verbal diarrhoea might bring unwelcome questions.
Then a shudder ripped through her. Sinking deeper onto the chair, she looked away, fidgeting with the hem of her top as nausea crept up her throat. That had been too close. What if he’d hit Hazel? Or her? The guy had been off the scale with rage. Not cold and calculating but hot and loose. Was that how he treated Kath all the time?
Molly’s heart pounded. She was safe, but Kath wasn’t. Seeing that man come charging through the department as though he had the right to do as he pleased with his wife had turned her blood to ice. And brought
