from beside her, which was heating up by the moment, cried, ‘Do you mind? I’m in charge of this vehicle. You may be the boy’s mother, but I’m the paramedic and I have everything under control. At least I would have if you could resist trying to take over. I understand your great anxiety but do, please, leave it to me.’
As if realising for the first time that he was in charge, Selina just sat and blinked at him.
‘As you can see,’ he continued, ‘we have your son on a backboard to prevent further spinal injury, should there be any, and we’ve tied his legs together as the left one is almost certainly fractured. The cuts on his head and arms are mostly superficial, except for the gash on the temple…and I will be monitoring his heart all the time we’re in transit. Does that satisfy you?’
The younger man, who had taken over the driving, turned his head at that moment. He could have been invisible for all the notice Selina had taken of him so far, but now he was registering, and when he spoke she recognised the voice and the face.
‘She’s one of us, Kane,’ Mike Thompson explained.
In his second year of training, and referred to by those in the know as an ambulance technician, he was a reserved sort of young man who never had much to say, but it was obvious that he felt some sort of explanation was due, and towards that end he went on to explain awkwardly, ‘Selina’s on the unit.’
The other man groaned, and said to Selina, ‘So that’s why you’re trying to take over. I get the picture.’
At that moment Josh opened his eyes, and as he did so both men were once more blurred figures on the edge of her nightmare.
‘Mum, I hurt all over,’ he said tearfully. ‘I was hit by a car. Where’s Dad?’ He’ll make it better.’
‘I know what’s happened, my darling,’ she said softly. ‘You’re in an ambulance on the way to hospital. They’ll make you better there.’
‘I want my dad,’ he wailed. ‘It’s not fair.’
Selina swallowed hard. In the shock of the accident Josh was trying to put the clock back and, aware of the man hovering watchfully beside her, she said soothingly, ‘I know. But you do know that he would have been here if he could, don’t you?’
Josh nodded glumly and turned his head into the flat pillow beneath it.
‘So he can move his neck,’ the strange paramedic said. ‘That’s good. And apart from the fractured limb, the rest of him seems to be flexible enough. They said at the school that the car driver wasn’t going very fast and that your son bounced sideways off the bonnet, which probably saved his life.’
Selina nodded bleakly. It was something to be thankful for, but there would be questions she would be asking about supervision in the playground. Though at the moment all that mattered was Josh.
The ambulance was turning into the hospital car park and as she raised herself from her kneeling position beside her son, the old coat that she’d flung on swung open and an expanse of bare midriff was briefly on view.
She must look like nothing on earth, she thought raggedly as she clutched it to her. Trainers, the briefest of bikinis…and a raincoat that didn’t button properly. A far cry from the neat navy trousers and crisp white blouse that would have been her normal attire had she been taking a call-out such as this while on duty.
As the bossy paramedic wheeled Josh into Casualty, Selina was beside him, holding his hand and hoping that Gavin would be on duty.
He was. He’d just come out of one of the cubicles, and as he swished the curtains together behind him he saw them.
His glance went first to Selina’s white face and then flicked to Josh.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked as he hurried across to them.
‘Josh has been knocked down by a car,’ she choked out. ‘The paramedic says he has a fractured leg and there might be other injuries.’
Light blue eyes in a tired face met hers. ‘And what’s your opinion?’
‘I’m so worked up I can’t even think straight.’
He patted her shoulder briefly. ‘Let’s get him sorted then, shall we?’
The moment Josh was rolled off the backboard onto the bed in an empty cubicle, Mike Thompson and his unknown colleague stepped back, their job done, and at that point Selina began to calm down a little.
Now that Josh was in hospital, with Gavin there to take over and with a nurse hovering, she was able to take stock of the man who must obviously be Charlie’s replacement.
Selina had worked with Charlie Vaughan ever since joining the ambulance unit, and now, at the end of her second year of training, she was having to part company with the man who had been with the ambulance service for thirty years and was about to retire.
If it hadn’t been for Charlie’s never-failing good humour and infinite patience during that time, both with herself and those he served, Selina knew she might have given up.
The hours were long, and there was always trauma of one kind or another awaiting them when a call came through, but there was job satisfaction, too…lots of it.
Charlie had said the other day that a paramedic from another area was to replace him and Selina had a feeling that the man eyeing her unsmilingly from the other side of Josh’s bed could be he.
He was tall and loose-limbed, with a shock of dark hair above a face that might have been described as hawk-like if it hadn’t been so arresting. His eyes were deep brown and very cool, his mouth a straight line, and she had a sudden sinking feeling that partnering this man was going to be a different ball game to working with Charlie.
‘Kane’s replacing Charlie,’ the monosyllabic Mike said, as if reading her mind, and Selina nodded, while the man in question continued to eye her silently.
What was the matter with him? she thought irritably. He’d had enough to say in the ambulance. Maybe he was waiting for some comment from her? Meeting his glance, she said stiffly, ‘I see. I thought that might be it, but I’ll have to ask you to excuse me. All I can think of at the moment is that my son is hurt.’ Her voice broke.
‘I took him to school myself,’ she croaked to no one in particular. ‘Saw him safely into the playground and watched his class file in and now…now I’m told that he’s been knocked down by a car.’
‘I’m sending Josh for X-rays on his leg and spine,’ Gavin said gently. ‘Buck up, Selina. He’ll be frightened if he sees you upset.’
She blinked back the tears that were threatening.
‘Yes, you’re right. Let’s go, then.’
The man in the white coat, who was as familiar to her as her own face, nodded. ‘I’ll be waiting when you get back,’ he promised.
When she looked up, Mike and the new man had gone. Back to base, no doubt, to await the next red alert or whatever else came through that needed their attention.
As they set off down the corridor, with the nurse pushing the bed and Selina holding tightly onto Josh’s hand, Gavin called after them. ‘By the way, I like the outfit, Selina.’
She managed a smile.
‘I was sunbathing.’
‘I’d never have guessed,’ he said with a smile of his own.
* * *
Josh had been lucky. The X-rays showed no spinal injuries, but he had sustained a fracture of the tibia of his right leg. The break was across the shaft, for which Selina was thankful as fractures of the lower part of the tibia often resulted in a fragmented ankle bone that had to be repaired by surgery, whereas in Josh’s case, a plaster cast on the leg for approximately six weeks should see the bone healed.
‘I’m keeping him in for a couple