out of the car. ‘I’ve turned off the ignition, but I’m frightened it might ignite.’
Without a word the officer pulled a fire extinguisher out of his car and started to douse the back of the crashed vehicle with foam, then he shouted to the onlookers, ‘Can you clear this area please? This car’s not safe to be near and we need room for the ambulance.’
Two paramedics jumped out of the ambulance, one with a medical bag, and the doctor went up to them and explained in his concise and brisk manner the circumstances of the accident. Terry kept up a comforting commentary to Maisie until they came over, noting how she had begun to relax slightly now she was out of the vehicle and her baby was safe.
The paramedics swiftly assessed Maisie’s condition, then put a brace round her neck and lifted her onto a board to support her back before placing her on a carrying stretcher. Then she was put in the ambulance with Amy, and Terry and the biker watched as it disappeared up the hill.
Terry sat down on the bench and leaned back, closing her eyes, a mixture of relief and tiredness flooding through her.
The doctor chuckled. ‘What you need is a wee dram—that’ll put new life in you!’
She opened her eyes to see the doctor bending down beside her, a grin on his mud-bespattered face, blood still oozing from his chin.
Terry shook her head and smiled. ‘I’m fine, thanks. In fact, it’s quite exhilarating when you get a good result after a bit of drama.’ She felt in the front pocket of her knapsack and pulled out a compact, grimacing at her reflection in the mirror. ‘What a wreck I look,’ she murmured to herself.
‘Just a bit mud-spattered,’ he said. ‘Nothing a good wash won’t remove!’
Terry watched as the man picked up his helmet and searched in his pockets for the key to his bike. She realised just what she owed to this stranger, and reflected that her little flicker of attraction to him a few seconds before was probably because of the emotional rebound that often happened after a traumatic event.
‘I have such a lot to thank you for. If you hadn’t had such lightning reactions I wouldn’t be here now,’ she said to him. ‘I was paralysed when I saw the car coming towards me—I couldn’t move. You saved my life, no doubt.’
‘Think nothing of it. You didn’t do so badly yourself, getting that baby out. The whole thing could have gone up in flames any second.’
Terry shivered. ‘It was the same for you getting Maisie out—a nightmare scenario,’ she murmured. She looked at the cut on his chin. ‘You know, you ought to have that graze cleaned—it’s quite deep and got a lot of dirt in it.’
‘Oh, I’ll see to it when I get back,’ he said carelessly, then looked at her with interest. ‘Is this your first visit to Scuola?’
‘Yes…not quite the start I wanted,’ admitted Terry. She glanced at the smashed car. ‘I did promise Maisie that I’d get the papers in her car delivered to that newsagent’s over the road.’
‘No problem. I’ll do that afterwards.’
‘Thank you.’ She started to take off the leather jacket he’d put over her in the car park. ‘You’d better have this back.’
He looked at his watch. ‘No, you hang onto it for a while, it’s getting very cold. Perhaps I could give you a lift now,’ he offered. ‘I can’t hang around here any longer and it seems as if your chap’s forgotten to come and mine must have missed some connection.’
Terry looked nervously at the large machine he was proposing to give her a lift on—not her favourite form of transport. ‘Er…that’s very kind of you. The trouble is, I’ve got no helmet.’
Amused eyes twinkled at her as if he guessed her anxiety. ‘Don’t worry—I bought a spare with me. Where are you going?’
‘Not very far. A place called The Sycamores—it’s the medical centre on the island, and I believe it’s off the main street.’
The man straightened up suddenly from getting out the spare helmet from the bike’s holdall and stared at her in surprise. ‘You’re going to the medical centre?’
‘I’m going to start a new job there,’ explained Terry simply.
The man pushed his fingers through his hair so that it stood up in ruffled spikes round his forehead. ‘So you’re not on holiday, then? I thought you were a tourist.’
Terry shook her head. ‘Far from it.’
‘Who were you expecting to meet you?’ he said slowly.
‘Dr Euan Brodie. Do you know him?’
He gave a short laugh. ‘I ought to—he’s my uncle. I’m Atholl Brodie and I’ve come to meet a Terry Younger who’s taking over from a locum at our practice. Unfortunately my uncle had a major heart attack three days ago and is in hospital on the mainland. I’m sorry I didn’t get round to telling the agency that it would be me meeting you and not Uncle Euan. I’m his partner in the practice.’
Terry felt a funny thrill of excitement—could this really be the guy she was going to work with? ‘We…we’ve found each other, then. I’m Terry Younger.’ She held out her hand and he shook it rather abstractedly.
‘So I gather,’ he replied with a wry smile. ‘I have to admit this is, er…rather a surprise.’
‘Oh? Why is that?’
‘Because I thought you’d be a man,’ he said simply. ‘It didn’t occur to me that Terry could be a girl’s name as well.’
‘Well, I hope it’s not too much of a let-down,’ Terry said.
‘No…no, of course not. But do you know that on top of GP duties to cover the two islands here, we at the practice help a friend of mine doing an outward bound course for four deprived teenagers from Glasgow for a few weeks? I was hoping that the new doctor—’
‘Would be six foot four and sixteen stone,’ finished Terry impishly. ‘As a matter of fact, I did know your requirements,’ she added, smiling. ‘The agency told me you wanted help with the course.’
Atholl’s eyes swept over her slight five-foot-four-inch frame and he shook his head dismissively. ‘These lads are large, rough and aggressive. I need someone who’s physically tough and can abseil down cliffs, lead hikes on mountain trails, keep discipline—ideally someone who’s had a course in Outward Bound activities…’
‘And why shouldn’t I be able to fulfil all those criteria?’ demanded Terry. Suddenly his looks seemed to diminish—he was a more unreasonable man than she’d thought, obviously dismissing females as pathetic creatures who couldn’t do anything physically demanding.
She added firmly, ‘It so happens I have done a threeday course in hiking and kayaking—the only thing I’ve not done is abseiling. Anyway, if you think I’m getting back on that ferry today you’ve got another think coming. I’ve been offered a job here and I’ve accepted it, and it’s taken since the crack of dawn to get here.’
A cold wind had blown up suddenly and a stinging rain was starting to drive in from the hills. Terry pulled
