faded eyes. ‘Long time since I spent the night on the floor alone.’
Unzipping her jacket, Nikki squeezed down beside the prostrate woman and smiled as she reached for Mavis’s wrist. She hated seeing elderly people in this sort of predicament. It seemed so undignified and lonely somehow. ‘Can you remember what happened?’
‘Got up to go to the bathroom and felt a bit dizzy. Must have blacked out because that’s all I remember. Woke up some time about two.’ When Nikki raised an eyebrow, Mavis added, ‘The radio was on. The talkback show and some silly man complaining about his ingrown toenails and how the doctor wouldn’t fix them.’
Mavis was alert and her speech coherent. All good indicators. Amazing, considering how long she’d been lying there. Nikki counted the steady beats under her fingertip as her watch ticked over a minute. Sixty-three. ‘Normal,’ she assured Mavis.
Fraser took Mavis’s other hand. ‘I’m going to check your blood-sugar level so just a wee prick in your finger, Mrs Everest.’
‘Ooh, dear, don’t go to any fuss. Just help me back into bed and I’ll be good as gold.’
From the doorway Judy said in her exasperated tone, ‘Do what they say, Mum, for goodness’ sake. They know best. The sooner they’ve done with you, the sooner I can get off to work.’
Blimey, show some concern for your mother, why don’t you? Nikki kept her face straight with difficulty.
Fraser deftly took a small sample of blood from the elderly woman’s thumb, speaking softly as he did so. ‘We need to find out why you were dizzy, Mavis. Nikki’s checking all your bones in case you did some damage when you fell.’
Nikki ran her hands over their patient’s head, down her neck, feeling for contusions or abnormalities. Down Mavis’s arms, torso and on down her legs. ‘Looking good.’
‘For an old duck,’ Mavis quipped.
‘You’re only as old as you feel.’ Fraser shoved the glucometer back in its bag. ‘Glucose is four point six. No problems on that front.’
But a few minutes later he told Nikki, ‘Blood pressure’s low.’
Nikki nodded. ‘That could explain how she ended up on the floor.’ Looking up at Judy, she asked, ‘Has Mrs Everest got a history of low blood pressure?’
‘Doesn’t look like it.’ The woman held four pill bottles in her hand. ‘Only arthritis drugs here.’
She doesn’t know? ‘Can you pop them in a bag for us? And some overnight clothes.’ Nikki turned back to Mrs Everest. ‘Mavis, have you ever had any problems with your blood pressure before?’
‘Not that I’m aware of.’
‘Okay. The doctor will do some more tests. We’re going to take you to hospital now.’
‘No, love, I don’t want any fuss. My GP can visit when she’s got time later today.’
‘For pity’s sake, Mum, just do as they tell you. If you weren’t so stubborn about going into the partial-care wing of this place, we wouldn’t be here now.’
Nikki felt her blood beginning to simmer but bit down on the retort itching to escape. This had absolutely nothing to do with her. ‘Your GP would probably send you to hospital anyway, Mavis.’
‘My daughter will be happy with that. Save her having to check up on me.’ The yearning in the old lady’s voice saddened Nikki.
‘I’m sure she’ll find time to visit you.’ Or was that unrealistic? Nikki mightn’t know anything about Judy or her own family commitments but she couldn’t understand people who neglected their parents. Look at Fraser. His parents’ woes had brought him home when nothing else had.
Fraser straightened up. ‘I’ll bring the stretcher inside. Mavis, you’re going for the trip of your lifetime. First-class bed in the ambulance.’ He winked down at the little lady in her winceyette nightgown.
‘Do you serve meals as well?’ Mavis rallied, a tired smile lifting her mouth.
‘This is the drinks run. Saline via drip.’
Nikki gave Fraser a reluctant smile. This was the man she used to know. The man who’d always made people laugh with his light-hearted banter. ‘Keep it up. You’re making her feel better. I’ll get the stretcher.’ Laughter was definitely the best medicine. ‘We need to get Mavis into her dressing gown to keep her warm outside. I’ll also brush her hair to spruce her up a bit.’ Warmth and dignity would be equally important to the elderly lady.
‘Thanks, love. Can’t go out looking like something the cat dragged in.’
Fraser picked up the thick robe and began to gently slip a sleeve up Mavis’s arm. ‘You’re going to wow those doctors in ED by the time I’ve finished with you.’
Nikki strode outside for the stretcher and gasped. She’d been smiling. At Fraser, and how he handled Mavis so well. For a very brief moment she’d forgotten the past. Dang.
Thirty minutes later their patient had been delivered into the kind care of the ED nurses and Nikki pulled away from Wairau Hospital’s ambulance bay. ‘You were good with Mavis.’
Fraser picked up the handset. ‘Why do you sound surprised?’
Gulp. Yeah, why did she? ‘I’m not, really. You were always brilliant with patients.’ She’d observed it first hand when he’d been training and she’d dropped by the hospital to see him. Changing the subject away from anything close and personal, she said quickly, ‘Some old folk are so lonely. I wonder how they get that way. Mavis’s daughter doesn’t exactly seem overly caring and loving.’
‘Maybe they’ve had a bust-up in the past. Life doesn’t always pan out how you expect it to.’ Fraser pressed the button and spoke to the call centre in Christchurch where all 111 calls in the South Island were dealt with.
Was she talking about his father? Or their relationship? Her life had certainly gone off course because of Fraser. But his voice had been harsh with knowledge, with deep understanding of things going wrong. Had he faced something terrible since before he’d left her? Or had it been the prospect of getting married that had distressed him so much? Not for the first time she wondered if he’d got cold feet at the thought of being tied to her for ever. Or had he thought her unattractive? Overweight? Not good in bed? Found another woman? All the insecurities she’d learned to deal with now flashed up in her head, but she quickly shoved them away. She was at work, not the place to be thinking about the past.
‘Blenheim One departing Wairau ED, en route to Base.’ His tone was measured, professional as he relayed details to Coms. It was the voice he used to calm distraught patients before he started gently teasing them and making them smile. The times she’d seen him on the wards he’d been completely at ease with patients and their families, making them feel they’d had his undivided attention for as long as they’d needed it.
‘Did you finish your medical degree?’ The words were out before she could stop them.
‘No.’ His fingers whitened as they pushed the handset back onto its hook.
‘Why
