‘They just give her sleeping pills,’ Doreen retorted, gulping back more tears. ‘Sleeping pills and those other blue things that stop it hurting for a little bit but then her stomach gets upset and she won’t keep taking them. And the sleeping pills don’t work. She can’t go on like this. Neither of us can.’ She touched her chest, a fleeting gesture that spoke volumes. ‘It hurts us both. Please help us.’

‘We have no right to ask,’ Glenda said, sounding angry and distressed.

Glenda was right, Tori thought. They had no right to ask for professional help from this man. He wasn’t even qualified to practise in Australia.

But then, Tori thought of the way he’d worked with Manya, of the skills he’d shown. And he was an anaesthetist, she thought. He’d know about pain management.

Maybe he could help.

And despite her absolute certainty that she should stay out of this, Tori found herself inexorably caught up in Doreen’s plea.

‘Glenda, Jake’s my friend,’ she said softly, ignoring Jake for the moment and concentrating on Glenda. ‘He helped me try and save my koala. Doreen’s right. You knew Jake’s dad so you know him. Will you let him help? Jake, can you see if there’s anything you can do?’

She caught the flare of shock on Jake’s face-but she’d started now. There was no way she could back off.

‘Jake’s also an anaesthetist,’ she told Glenda, firmly but softly. ‘Pain relief is what he does. Isn’t that right, Jake?’

‘Yes.’ He had no choice but to agree.

‘We know you don’t practise medicine in Australia,’ she continued, inexorably hooking him and keeping him hooked. ‘But if all Glenda’s been offered is sleeping pills and little blue pills… Morphine?’

‘Yes,’ Glenda said hopelessly. ‘But my arm’s better. They put a plate in it, and screws. It’s as good as they can get it.’

And then…

‘Can I see?’ Jake said, and it was as if the whole world held its breath. Can I see. Those three little words had the capacity to turn this desperate little scene around.

Glenda stared at him, wide-eyed, and Jake gazed right back, not speaking, giving her time to make up her mind. The room held its collective breath.

And then, very slowly, Glenda held out her arm, and Tori wondered if Jake knew just how much trust went into that gesture.

Glenda had been postmistress in the valley forever, and her independence was legendary. When her postboys called in sick Glenda had been known to get on a bike and deliver herself, often two or three mail runs in the one day. For her to accept help…

But it seemed she was. Jake was pulling his chair round the table so he could sit facing her. Gently he took her hand in his, and while Glenda submitted her arm for inspection, while Tori watched Glenda place her trust in him, the warmth around Tori’s heart grew and grew.

She should be concentrating on Glenda. She was-sort of. But when he’d taken Glenda’s hand in his, it was as if he’d taken her own.

I could be in huge trouble here, she told herself, feeling dazed. I need to leave, right now. If I stay longer…

But she couldn’t leave now.

Jake was holding Glenda’s hand lightly in his, watching Glenda’s face intently. The tension in the elderly woman’s body was palpable. Was she expecting Jake to hurt her?

‘I’m not probing,’ Jake said softly. ‘I’m just touching.’ He rested her hand in his left hand, and touched her damaged wrist with his right, running his forefinger gently up and down her arm, along her fingers, not pressing, smooth as silk.

‘Stop me the minute I make you feel uncomfortable or I hurt you,’ he told her. ‘Stop me the moment I make anything worse.’

She didn’t stop him. He ran his fingers over the back of her palm, over and over, and then cupped her hand and felt that, too. Around her Tori felt the tension ease. Everyone, it seemed, had been holding their breaths. Even Mrs. Matheson, who’d been clearing coffee cups, had paused, riveted.

‘Press my hand,’ Jake was saying. ‘Here. One finger at a time. Can you clench? No? Don’t try, then. What does that feel like?’

‘Like my hand doesn’t belong to me,’ Glenda whispered. ‘Like it’s not there-only it is. I can feel it but not like I want to feel it. Sometimes it hurts so much I just want to chop it off. It’s not mine any more. It’s not real.’

‘It is real.’

‘I’m being stupid,’ Glenda said, as finally Jake rested her hand in his again and let it lie.

‘No.’ It was such a flat response that Glenda stared. ‘You’re not being stupid. How long have you been putting up with pain like this?’

‘A while.’

‘Months,’ Doreen said dully. ‘And it’s getting worse.’

‘But at the beginning it did seem to get better?’

‘Yes,’ Glenda whispered. ‘That’s why it’s stupid. It got better and all the scans are good and the doctors say I’m cured. Only then the pain started…’

‘I’ve seen this before,’ Jake said. He was still holding her hand in his, so gently he couldn’t possibly be hurting.

‘I’m thinking this is something called complex regional pain syndrome,’ he said, and it was as if he was alone with Glenda-everyone else had disappeared. ‘Everything fits. You’ve had major trauma. So many of the bones and blood vessels and nerves were damaged that often a physical recovery masks more complex nerve problems. The symptoms often occur months after the injury itself. Your hand feels cold and there are areas of sensory blunting. It feels strange and stiff, like it doesn’t quite belong to you. And then there’s the pain. You protect it to stop it hurting, and the more you protect it, the worse it gets. Your fingers are already starting to curl. It’s hard to make them move.’

‘I don’t want to move them,’ Glenda whispered. ‘But it’s only my hand. I was so lucky… I’m better.’

‘You’re not better. You have nerve damage that needs to be addressed,’ Jake said sternly, and Glenda blinked and looked at him with something akin to hope.

‘The doctors say there’s nothing they can do.’

‘That might be because you’ve been talking to surgeons,’ Jake said. ‘And no, there’s nothing more surgeons can do. Now it’s time to move to another specialty.’

‘Like you?’

‘Someone like me. I can’t prescribe in this country-I’m not registered. But I’m happy to write a note for you to take to your family doctor, asking that you be sent to a pain specialist.’

‘More morphine?’

‘Morphine’s not great for this type of pain,’ Jake said. ‘What you need is a drug specifically targeting nerve pain, and there are good ones. My guess is that we can give you immediate relief the moment we get you a nerve-specific drug. If you agree, first thing tomorrow we can find out who knows who in this valley and get you on something that will help.’

‘I know people,’ Tori offered, and Jake sent her a smile that made her feel even more dazed.

‘There you go, then. First cab off the rank is our local vet. They say there are six levels of connection between you and anyone else in the world. I’m thinking Tori will do it in two.’ And then, as Glenda looked at him in disbelief, he touched her cheek, a huge gesture, Tori thought, for someone who seemed to hold himself so aloof.

‘It’s okay,’ he told her. ‘The nerve-specific pain relievers are easy on the tummy, and it’s not like you’ll need them forever. You also need a hand therapist, and you need her urgently as well, if that hand isn’t to turn into a claw. You think you might be able to find us one of those, Tori?’

‘Dad’s old vet nurse has a daughter who’s a hand therapist,’ Tori said, absurdly pleased. ‘She works in the same clinic as the doctor I use.’

‘There you are, then,’ Jake said. ‘But first…let’s pack that hand in heat before you go to bed. We’ll pack it in hot-water bottles, or heat packs if Rob’s got them. We’ll give you some of that morphine-yes, it has side effects, but I’m thinking this is the last time you’ll take it-and then you’ll sleep. That’s an order.’

And he said it so sternly that, to Tori’s astonishment, Glenda giggled.

‘Yes, Doctor,’ she said.

‘That’s what I like,’ he said. ‘An obedient patient.’

‘Thank you,’ Doreen breathed, and Tori looked from Jake to Glenda and then back to Jake and she thought, I am in such trouble.

Do not trust?

How could she not?

She didn’t have a choice. Concentrate on work, she thought suddenly, fiercely. Jake was being kind because he was a doctor. Maybe she should think of a way she could be useful, too.

‘Rob, tomorrow you and I need to talk about your pet policy,’ she ventured, as Glenda glowed at her and then glowed back at Jake. She looked as if she might be as smitten as Tori was feeling. ‘If you’re giving fire victims time out, what they most need is the people and pets they love. Are you allergic to cats, Jake?’

‘No, but…’

‘But what?’

‘But nothing,’ he told her and shrugged and smiled. ‘There don’t seem to be many buts right now.’

Where was the aloof man she’d met at five-minute dating? He was unbending by the minute.

‘You organise it,’ he said. ‘Tell Rob what he needs to do and he’ll do it. What you’re capable of…are you sure you’re just a vet?’

‘I’m just a vet,’ she said, a trifle unsteadily, but Jake’s smile was making her feel as if she didn’t know what she was any more.

Do not trust.

‘If you’ll excuse me,’ she said unsteadily, ‘I’m really very tired and Rusty will be waiting. Goodnight, all.’

And because the night really was getting blurry-because she didn’t understand how the expression on Jake’s face was making her feel-she rose and fled, just as fast as her dignity allowed her.

CHAPTER FIVE

EXHAUSTION took care of the first part of the night. It almost always did. But despite the wonderful meal, the fabulous bed and the feeling of being nurtured, the demons were never far away. Tori woke as she’d done for the past six months, at three in the morning, to stare wide-eyed into the dark. Remembering a darkness she’d never forget.