I can sort out a place of my own.’
She started to look through the patients’ charts that were neatly stacked on the desk. Her whole world was changing. She loved this job; she’d thought long and hard before giving in her notice, but how could she go on working here as long as Matt was going to be married to her cousin? And, worse, Jenny was going to take up a job here too.
She shuddered inwardly. It was still alien to her to think of him as her ex. They’d been together for eighteen months and it had been a terrible jolt to discover that he’d fallen out of love with her and gone off with another woman.
‘I shall have to look for another job, of course, but there are a couple of hospitals in the area. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find something. I hope not, anyway.’ She straightened up and made an effort to pull herself together. No matter how much she was hurting, she knew instinctively that it was important from now on to make plans and try to look on the positive side. She had to get over this and move on. She glanced at Molly. ‘Perhaps we could meet up from time to time—we could go for a coffee together, or a meal, maybe?’
‘Yeah, that’ll be good.’ Molly cheered up and began to glance through the list of young patients who were waiting to be seen. ‘The test results are back on the little boy with the painful knee,’ she pointed out helpfully. ‘From the looks of things it’s an infection.’
‘Hmm.’ Caitlin quickly scanned the laboratory form. ‘It’s what we thought. I’ll arrange for the orthopaedic surgeon to drain the fluid from the joint and we’ll start him on the specific antibiotic right away.’ She wrote out a prescription and handed it to Molly.
‘Thanks. I’ll see to it.’
‘Good.’ Caitlin frowned. ‘I’d like to follow up on him to see how he’s doing, but I expect Matt will take over my patients when I leave here. I’ll miss my little charges.’
Caitlin phoned the surgeon to set things in motion and then went to check up on a four-year-old patient who’d been admitted with breathing problems the previous day. The small child was sleeping, his breathing coming in short gasps, his cheeks chalky-pale against the white of the hospital pillows. He’d been so poorly when he’d been brought in yesterday and she’d been desperately concerned for him. But now, after she had listened to his chest and checked the monitors, she felt reassured.
‘He seems to be doing much better,’ she told his parents, who were sitting by his bedside, waiting anxiously. ‘The intravenous steroids and nebuliser treatments have opened up his airways and made it easier for him to breathe. We’ll keep him on those and on the oxygen for another day or so and you should gradually begin to see a great improvement. The chest X-ray didn’t show anything untoward, so we can assume it was just flare-up of the asthma. I’ll ask the nurse to talk to you to see if we can find ways of avoiding too many of those in the future.’
‘Thank you, doctor.’ They looked relieved, and after talking with them for a little while longer Caitlin left them, taking one last glance at the child before going back to the central desk to see if any more test results had come in.
‘There’s a phone call for you, Caitlin.’ The clerk at the nurses’ station held the receiver aloft as she approached the desk. ‘Sounds urgent.’
‘Okay, thanks.’ Caitlin took the receiver from her and said in an even tone, ‘Hello, this is Dr Braemar. How may I help?’
‘Hi, Caitlin.’ The deep male voice was warm and compelling in a way that was oddly, bone-meltingly familiar. ‘I don’t know if you remember me—it’s been quite a while. I’m Brodie Driscoll. We used to live near one another in Ashley Vale?’
She drew in a quick breath. Brodie Driscoll! How could she possibly forget him? He was the young man who had haunted her teenage dreams and sent hot thrills rocketing through her bloodstream. Just hearing his name had been enough to fire up all her senses. He had been constantly in her thoughts back then—and to be scrupulously honest even now the sound of his voice brought prickles of awareness shooting from the tips of her toes right up to her temples.
Not that she’d ever let on that he had the power to affect her like this—not then and certainly not now! Heaven forbid she should ever fall for the village bad boy, let alone become involved in any way with him. He was a rebel, through and through, trouble with a capital T … But who could resist him? His roguish smile and his easy charm made him utterly irresistible.
‘Oh, I remember,’ she said softly. She couldn’t imagine why he was calling her like this, out of the blue. Not to talk about old times, surely? Her pulse quickened. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea, after all …?
‘That’s good, I’m glad you haven’t forgotten me.’ There was a smile in his voice but his next words brought her out of her wistful reverie and swiftly back to the here and now. ‘I’m sorry to ring you at work, Caitlin, but something’s happened that I think you need to know about.’
‘Oh? That’s okay … what is it?’ She’d no idea how or why he’d tracked her down, but he sounded serious, and all at once she was anxious to hear what he had to say.
‘It’s about your mother. I’m not sure if you know, but I moved into the house next door to hers a couple of weeks ago, so I see her quite often when she’s out and about on the smallholding.’
She hadn’t known that. Her mother was always busy with the animals and the orchard; knowing how friendly she was with everyone it was easy to see how she and Brodie would pass the time of day with one another. Her mouth curved. It was good that she had someone nearby to take an interest in her.
‘What’s happened?’ she asked. ‘Are the animals escaping on to your property?’ Her mother could never resist taking in strays and wounded creatures and nursing them back to health. ‘I know the fence was looking a bit rickety last time I was there. I made a few running repairs, but if there’s a problem I’ll make sure it’s sorted.’
‘No, it isn’t that.’ There was a sombre edge to his tone and Caitlin tensed, suddenly alert. ‘I’m afraid it’s much more serious,’ he said. ‘Your mother has had an accident, Caitlin. She had a fall and I’m pretty sure she’s broken her hip. I called the ambulance a few minutes ago and the paramedics are transferring her into it right now. I’ll go with her to the hospital, but I thought you should know what’s happening.’
Caitlin’s face paled rapidly. ‘I— Yes, of course. I … Thank you, Brodie. I’ll get over there … I need to be with her.’ She frowned. ‘What makes you think she’s broken her hip?’ She added tentatively, ‘Perhaps it’s not quite as serious as that.’
‘That’s what I was hoping, but she can’t move her leg and it’s at an odd angle—it looks as though it’s become shorter than the other one. I’m afraid she’s in a lot of pain.’
‘Oh, dear.’ Those were typical signs of a broken hip. The day was just going rapidly from bad to worse. ‘Will they be taking her to Thame Valley Hospital?’
‘That’s right. She’ll go straight to A&E for assessment.’ He paused as someone at the other end of the line spoke to him. She guessed the paramedic had approached him to say they were ready to leave.
‘I’m sorry, I have to go,’ he said.
‘All right … and thanks again for ringing me, Brodie.’ She hesitated then said quickly, ‘Give her my love, will you, and tell her I’ll be with her as soon as I can?’
‘I will.’ He cut the call and Caitlin stood for a moment, staring into space, trying to absorb what he’d told her.
‘Are you all right?’ Emerging from one of the patients’ bays, the senior registrar came over to the desk and looked her over briefly. ‘You’re as white as a sheet,’ he commented. ‘What’s happened? Is it something to do with one of the patients?’
She shook her head. ‘My mother’s had an accident—a fall. A neighbour’s going with her