Marion Lennox - The Doctor & the Runaway Heiress

‘You’ll stay on the veranda for the week,’ Riley told him. ‘No argument. Look after Gerry for me.’

‘Sure thing, Doc,’ John said, and limped out, leaning heavily on his stick.

‘Why not Whale Cove?’ Pippa asked. ‘He’s not about to go into cardiac arrest and surely he needs intensive, long-term treatment.’

‘I told you,’ Riley growled. ‘I can’t risk it. He’ll lie in a clean white hospital bed, he won’t eat the food, he’ll turn his face to the wall and he’ll get worse, not better. Yes, here his feet may well not heal. He may even face amputation, but even if he does we’ll take him down to Whale Cove, we’ll get it done as fast as we can and we’ll get him back on this veranda. He’ll certainly die faster than he would if he had optimum treatment but that’s his choice.’

‘So what Joyce is doing…’

‘She’s saving lives,’ Riley said. ‘By running this place and by turning her back on government regulations, she’s keeping these guys alive, and I’m doing all in my power to help her. And now… she’s even cooking bacon and eggs for us, so we’re not keeping her waiting.’

Breakfast was massive.

Pippa ate and thought. Ate and watched. Then watched and listened, while hunger grew for something that had nothing to do with food.

Harry and Riley and Joyce chatted like the old friends they obviously were. They were doing such good, she thought. The three of them.

She wanted to be a part of it. Fiercely. More fiercely every moment.

Had she messed with that by sleeping with Riley?

Maybe she had. He was terse with her this morning, like he wasn’t quite sure how to react. That was fair. She wasn’t sure how to react to him either. And she’d foisted Amy onto him.

He was laughing at a story Joyce was telling him. The dour nurse thought the world of him. She could see it in the way Joyce smiled at him, the way she ladled more and more bacon onto his plate.

A team…

She wanted to be a part of it so much it hurt. She set down her knife and fork and pushed her plate away. Joyce looked at her in concern. ‘Had enough?’

‘I’m feeling disoriented,’ she confessed. ‘Like it’s taking some time for my head to catch up with my body.’

‘You’re doing too much,’ Riley said. ‘We’ll get you back to Whale Cove and you and Amy can lie on the veranda and let your heads catch up all they want.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘We should all be moving. One ear infection and then home.’

‘Sydney,’ Harry said. He demolished the last of his bacon and stood up. ‘In case you’d forgotten, your daughter’s due to arrive at lunchtime. And the plane’s due for a service. Yesterday’s plan was to return to Whale Beach, then take the plane to Sydney this morning. We’ve run out of time. Today’s plan is therefore straight to Sydney.’

‘We’ll have Amy and the baby,’ Pippa said blankly.

‘Riley’ll have to hire a car to take you all home,’ Harry said cheerfully. ‘I’m having a weekend off. Staying in Sydney until the plane’s done. Home Monday.’

‘Hell,’ Riley said.

‘Yeah, I thought you’d forgotten the time,’ Harry said, and grinned. ‘Now, what can you have been thinking of to make you forget you have a daughter arriving?’

Riley said nothing.

That was pretty much the last Riley spoke for the morning. He retreated into some place no one was allowed to enter. Pippa and Joyce helped Amy and her sleepy baby back onto the plane. Once again Pippa sat in the back with Amy.

Amy was subdued. Pippa tried to keep up happy chat but she didn’t succeed.

Even with the headsets turned off, she knew that Riley was deep in silence, too.

There were so many emotions swirling around she couldn’t make sense of any of them.

Inviting Amy to stay had problems. It meant she’d have to stay in Riley’s house-in the hospital house, she corrected herself-as well, and she was starting to think her wisest path was for her to retreat to her honeymoon hotel and close the door.

Or retreat back to England?

That wasn’t going to happen. Not! For she’d fallen head over heels in love with this job. With what Riley was doing. With what Joyce was doing. She wanted to help with a hunger that was deeper than anything she’d ever known.

As a child, on television in some long-forgotten luxury hotel, watched over by some anonymous hotel sitter, she’d seen a documentary. A doctor in South America, treating children’s eyes. She’d watched in fascination as bandages were removed and sight was restored, and something had resonated with her at a level she hardly understood. She wanted to work like that, and the desire had never left her.

Nursing in England had been great. She loved her work, and there was always need. But the last twenty-four hours was causing the emotions she’d felt after the documentary to come crowding back.

She had to be allowed to be a part of it.

She might have messed with that, she conceded, by allowing last night to happen. And by pushing Amy onto Riley?

Riley was stuck with her and with Amy and her baby as he went to meet his daughter for the first time. This for a man who walked alone? It was a wonder his head wasn’t exploding.

What had she been thinking, making love to him last night?

She knew what she’d been thinking. She’d watched Joyce smile at him this morning and she’d thought, Yes, that’s how he should be smiled at.

Like he was loved.

And her heart twisted. Love…

Wouldn’t it be stupid if it caught her now? Engaged-on and off-for years. Almost married.

What was she thinking? Her engagement had been broken off a little more than a week ago, and here she was thinking of the possibility of falling for another man?

Not just another man.

Riley.

‘What’s wrong?’ Amy asked, and the girl put her hand out and caught Pippa’s. ‘You look like it’s the end of the world.’

She caught herself and managed a smile. The boundaries of friendship and professionalism were certainly blurring. She was a Flight-Aid nurse and she was supposed to be caring for Amy.

‘Nothing. Just… dumb thoughts.’

‘You didn’t really want to drown yourself last week?’

‘I… No!’

‘I didn’t think you did. But you’re missing your boyfriend?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘No, I’m not.’

‘You’re missing someone,’ Amy said wisely. ‘I can tell.’

FLIGHT-AID had arrangements in place in Sydney so transferring patients, with any delays that involved, could be achieved in privacy and comfort. Collecting patients who’d needed complex medical care and taking them home-back to Whale Cove but more usually back to their Outback homes-was part of Flight-Aid’s charter. When they reached Sydney, therefore, Riley was able to take Amy and baby-and Pippa-into a reserved medical lounge and leave them there.

Harry was busy with the plane. Pippa was happy to take care of Amy.

Riley was about to meet his daughter and he was feeling like his head didn’t belong to his body.

Pippa. Lucy.

A week ago he didn’t have a complication in the world. He wanted, quite badly, to turn back the clock. To head back to Whale Cove, grab his surfboard and ride some waves.

He’d gone to bed last night planning a dawn start. They’d get back to Whale Cove, drop Pippa off and keep going to Sydney. He’d figure what to say on the way down. How to meet your daughter for the first time?

But he’d figure it. He’d collect Lucy, put her in a hire car and drive her back to Whale Cove. He’d be calm, collected, a guy in charge of his world. A man worthy of being a father?

He’d woken this morning, diagnosed jaundice, knew the early getaway wasn’t possible. Then Pippa was suddenly filling his house with people. Acting as if what she’d offered was reasonable.

Pippa.

She was messing with his head. More than it was already messed.

Pippa.

He didn’t do relationships. He’d learned it as a kid, maybe even earlier. Keep yourself to yourself and you don’t get hurt. For one crazy summer he’d forgotten, and the knife had twisted so hard he’d thought he’d go crazy.

Relationships were for other people. They caused pain.

They’d caused… a daughter.

His eighteen-year-old daughter was about to walk through the arrivals gate.

Three months back, when first contact had been made, he’d written saying he wanted to meet her. If there was any way she wanted him in her life, if there was anything she ever needed, she just had to ask. No reply. That email seemed to have gone through but his next had bounced-the email address had seemingly been cancelled. He’d gone to England to find her, only to be told she’d gone away, she didn’t want anything to do with him. He was her father in name only.

Relationships caused pain.

He couldn’t avoid this one.

She was a tourist, he told himself. Curious about a father she’d never met. Checking out Australia and her unknown biological father as an aside.

The huge metal gates were opening and closing as each passenger cleared customs. Reunions were happening everywhere. Families were clinging, sobbing, laughing.

There was a couple beside him. They were in their seventies, and their anticipation was palpable.

The doors opened and a family emerged, mum and dad and three littlies. The elderly lady gasped and clutched her husband’s hand. The little family reached them and was immersed in joy.

He did not do this.

When Lucy emerged… She’d be a kid on an adventure, nothing more, he told himself as he’d told himself over and over. Though why her grandparents weren’t funding her to luxury…

Like Pippa was funded to luxury?

Pippa.

It was the sight of the elderly couple holding hands. It made him think he wanted…

He didn’t want. He’d spent his life ensuring he didn’t want.