‘Things are looking good here, Doctor,’ she said primly. Louise was that sort of nurse. Primness was her forte. ‘Mr Westcott’s awake.’
‘Are you, then, Henry?’ Mike smiled and walked over to the bed. Henry’s old face was gaunt and shrunken on the whiteness of the pillows but, in the dim night light, Mike could see his old eyes looking up with sharp intelligence.
‘Mike…’
Mike gripped his hand and held on.
‘Welcome back to the land of the living, sir,’ he said softly.
‘It was thanks to you…’
Henry’s voice was amazingly strong, considering. Mike gave an inward sigh of relief. Hell, after all he’d gone through, the man must be as tough as old boots.
‘Your rescue was thanks to your granddaughter,’ he told him. ‘Tessa’s one determined lady.’
‘She is that. My Tess…’ The old man closed his eyes for a long moment, and Mike thought he was drifting back to sleep, but the hand gripping his was still strong.
Tomorrow they’d run a few tests. They’d see then what the damage was. He wasn’t moving his left arm, Mike noticed. Still, if the speech was only slightly affected…
‘Tess says she intends staying,’ Henry said, and Mike shook himself. God, he was tired. If he didn’t watch himself he’d be asleep before Henry.
‘Does she?’
‘She can’t stay long term,’ Henry whispered fretfully.
‘I guess she’ll stay until you’re back on your feet.’
‘Yeah, but…I’ve only got one foot.’ Henry managed a twisted smile. ‘Can’t feel the other.’
‘That’ll come back. I promise you, Henry. You’ll need physiotherapy but we’ll get movement back.’ If Henry was speaking already, it was a safe enough promise.
‘But not tomorrow.’
‘No, sir,’ Mike agreed gravely. ‘Not tomorrow.’
‘Tess says she’s quit her job in the States.’
‘She told me that.’
‘Will you take her on here?’
Silence.
‘Mike?’ Henry prodded.
‘This is all a bit sudden,’ Mike said at last. ‘I think we need to talk about it, but not yet. There’s time, sir, to be making decisions about the future when you’re on the road to recovery.’
‘But I want to know now,’ Henry fretted, and under Mike’s hand his pulse rate went up. ‘I’ve been lying here thinking. I should have died in that damned cave. There’s nothing left for me, and my body’s failing. But if Tess came back…’
‘Tess has her own life in the States.’
‘She says she wants to stay,’ Henry told him, and Louise cast an urgent look at Mike. The old man was getting agitated, and agitation was the last thing he needed.
He knew that, but to make such a promise just to calm him…
‘You’ll check…’ The old man’s voice was failing him now. Each word was getting more and more slurred. ‘You’ll check her training. I wouldn’t ask you to have her if she wasn’t any good, but…she’s a good girl, my Tess. I ought to know. Will you check her credentials?’
‘I’ll check,’ he said heavily, and this time Louise’s glance was curious. His reluctance must be obvious.
‘And if she’s any good, you’ll employ her?’
‘I’m making no promises,’ Mike told him. ‘I’m not sure we need another doctor.’
‘Oh, Dr Llewellyn.’ Louise could no longer keep silent. The nurse was practically agog. ‘Not need…? Oh, of course we need another doctor. If Dr Westcott would agree to work here…’
‘Just say you’ll try,’ Henry begged. ‘Mike… What do you say?’
He gripped Mike’s hand hard, pleading-and there was nowhere left for Mike to go.
‘Very well, then,’ he said at last. ‘If that’s what Tessa wants-and she hasn’t told me it is, by the way. But if that’s what Tessa wants, then we’ll try.’
Mike was starving.
He walked out of Henry’s room with all sorts of emotions tumbling disjointedly around in his head, but hunger won out. The Misses Frasers’ biscuits had been his only meal since breakfast. It was eleven at night now, and he really needed to go to sleep. He also really needed time to get his mind in order over Tess, but even more he needed a feed first.
The kitchen was dark and deserted. He flicked on the lights and headed for the fridge. In ten minutes he had a vast mound of eggs and bacon and fried bread in front of him. This was standard fare. Bother cholesterol. Without eggs and bacon, he’d starve.
He sank down at the table and ate two mouthfuls-and then the door swung open to admit Tessa.
Once again, this was a different Tess.
She was dressed all in crimson but this time it was a bathrobe. The thick red towelling wrapped her from neck to toes. Her hair swung free in a riotous flaming mass, and her toes were bare. Her toenails peeped out from under her robe and Mike blinked as his gaze reached them. Her nails were painted blue, and each toenail had a tiny gold star painted over the blue lacquer.
She followed his astounded gaze, and she grinned. She flopped down in a chair beside him, put a toe up on the table for inspection and wriggled it.
‘Do you like my toes?’
‘I don’t think…’ He stopped. For the life of him, he couldn’t think of a single sensible thing to say.
‘You don’t like,’ she said sadly. She put both feet up before her and wiggled all ten bare toes. ‘I do. They cheer me up. It took me ages to do them.’
‘I can imagine,’ he said faintly.
She grinned and shook her head, her magnificent hair flying.
‘You know, I’d almost be willing to bet my boot-laces that you can’t imagine.’ She chuckled. ‘One of my patients taught me how to do it.’ Her face clouded a little. ‘She was a sixteen-year-old with cancer. This is my legacy from a brave kid. Star toes.’ Then she brightened again. ‘Want to let me paint yours? Then you’ll really see how long it takes.’
He shoved his safely booted feet further under the table and managed a smile. Hell, this girl took his breath away.
‘No. Thank you very much, but no.’
‘Politely said. Cowardly but polite. Where’s your dog?’
‘Asleep.’
‘Where you should be,’ she said wisely. ‘Grandpa says you’re offering me a job.’
He sucked in his breath. If his breathing got any harder here, it’d stop entirely.
‘Keep eating your eggs,’ she told him. ‘Don’t let me interrupt. I just woke so I popped in to see Grandpa. He’s nearly asleep but he told me you were job-offering. Louise says it’s true and she told me to find you here and take you up on it before you have the chance to change your mind.’
‘That was big of Louise.’ He took a mouthful of bacon and glowered.
‘She’s a lovely girl. Repressed, though,’ Tess said thoughtfully. ‘Did you know she’s an only child and her mother has an asthma attack every time any boy asks Louise out? It’s ruining her love life. Louise is thirty-two and if her mom doesn’t shuffle off this mortal coil soon, she’ll dwindle into reluctant spinsterhood.’
‘How the hell do you know that?’
‘She told me.’
‘Why?’
‘I asked,’ Tess said kindly. ‘I can see I’m needed around here, Dr Llewellyn, if only to do something about Mrs Havelock’s asthma.’
‘Mrs Havelock’s asthma is fine.’
