‘You promised,’ Stefanos pointed out. ‘A bargain’s a bargain. I’ve saved your turtles. Twice.’
He had, too. The second hatching, twenty-five days after the first, had been orchestrated so that, as far as they knew, every single hatchling had made it to the water. It was a fraught journey the turtles had before them, the sea was full of dangers, but Stefanos had done everything humanly possible to see they had every chance.
And the price? A snip. An agreement to buy a dress.
‘Athens or nothing,’ he said. ‘It has to be special.’
‘All right,’ she said grudgingly.
‘You’re very gracious,’ Stefanos said and he was laughing at her. Laughing!
At least the bleakness had lifted for the moment.
That conversation had taken place last night. And now…
Stefanos was waiting in the hall. A car was waiting to take them down to the harbour, to the seaplane.
In minutes she’d be climbing aboard an aeroplane with a prince…
‘Are you coming or do I have to come up and carry you down?’ he called from below in the entrance hall.
She went.
There was something about this day that made her feel…dizzy. Sitting in the seaplane across from Stefanos, she stared straight ahead.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked gently, fifteen minutes into the flight, and she nodded but couldn’t even find the courage to answer.
This was one day out. A shopping expedition for a dress, followed by a meal.
Why did it feel so overwhelmingly scary?
Stefanos smiled at her and retired to a medical journal. Medicine, she thought. He missed it so much. Or…he missed his own niche of medicine.
He was already busy helping the elderly doctor on the island with his workload. It wasn’t the medicine he was trained for, but that was the medicine he was reading up on.
Finally they were there. Athens! It was all she could do not to sit with her nose squashed against the car window.
Athens. The world.
‘Not a seasoned traveller?’ Stefanos teased, and she flushed.
‘Sure I am. I just like looking.’ And then, as they swung off the road into a huge car park, she frowned. ‘Where are we?’
‘It’s a hospital,’ he said. ‘I’ve arranged an appointment for your hip.’
‘Stefanos…’ She was almost rigid with shock. ‘You’ve interfered enough.’
‘No,’ he said. ‘Not enough. I know I handled this badly. I know I should have gained your permission before I accessed your records, but what’s done is done. I’m sorry but if I’d told you about this appointment I was afraid you’d refuse to come.’
‘You’d be right.’
‘Then I’m justified.’ He hesitated, but his look was stern. ‘Elsa, this is only a doctor’s appointment. I’m not chaining you to a bed and operating regardless.’ He gave a rueful smile. ‘Actually, that might be beyond even my level of intrusion. But I am one of only two doctors on Khryseis and before I go back to New York I need to know you’re not doing permanent damage. This man’s an orthopaedic surgeon. The best in Athens. You need to see him.’
‘You still should have asked me.’
‘I’m asking you now. This is my honour, Elsa, and it’s also sense,’ he said, stern again. ‘I know I upset you- obtaining your medical history without permission-but it doesn’t stop the need. I need you to do this-for you. It would be childish for you to refuse-no?’
‘No.’
‘Elsa…You
She had no choice. He was right-she was being childish but it didn’t make it any easier to swallow her temper. She followed him into the hospital, fuming.
He was recognised. Doors opened for him. The receptionist of this best-in-Athens-orthopaedic-surgeon practically genuflected.
‘You can go right in, Your Highness. The doctor’s expecting you.’
But, to her surprise, Stefanos didn’t go in. He simply smiled at her, gave her a gentle push towards the door and settled his long frame into a waiting room chair as if he had all the time in the world.
She stared down at him, stunned.
‘What?’ he said, looking up. And then, ‘He won’t bite, Elsa. I thought, as he might want to examine you, I should stay out here. But if you’re scared…’
The door was opening behind her. She wheeled round and an elderly doctor was smiling a greeting.
‘Dr Murdoch. Come on in.’ And then he smiled across at Stefanos. ‘Steve. Welcome home. When are you coming home for good, my boy?’
‘By Christmas.’
‘But not to work in neurosurgery?’ the older man said, looking suddenly concerned. ‘I’ve heard you’ll let that go. I had this young man working with me for a while as he was training and I was in the States,’ he told Elsa. ‘It was an honour and a pleasure to work with one so talented.’ He turned back to Stefanos. ‘But now…to abandon your neurosurgery…There must be some way you can fit that into your new life.’
‘There’s not,’ Stefanos said. ‘The island’s far too small.’
‘Could you work in Athens? There’s a need here.’
‘No,’ Stefanos said abruptly. ‘Please…leave it. It’s Elsa we’re concerned about here. Not me.’
‘But what a waste,’ he said softly. And then he turned back to Elsa. ‘Well, then. What has to be has to be. Meanwhile, come with me, young lady, and let’s see what needs to be done about that hip.’
He was, as Stefanos had promised, very good.
He examined her with care and with skill. He already had the X-rays from Brisbane-a fact that made Elsa gasp again with indignation but that shouldn’t reflect on this kindly doctor. She let him take his time, carefully assess and then tell her what she wanted to hear.
‘You’re doing no real harm to the hip itself, but it does need to be repaired and it will give you pain until that happens.’
‘So I can wait,’ she said thankfully. ‘Can you tell that to Stefanos?’
‘You want me to call him in?’
‘Yes, please,’ she said, tugging on her shoes. ‘Tell him and let me get on with my life.’
So Stefanos came in. He listened while the doctor outlined exactly what he thought.
‘But you know this,’ the doctor told Stefanos. ‘You’ve seen the scans.’
‘I’m too close to treat Elsa myself.’
‘You are,’ the doctor said gently. ‘And you’d need first rate surgical facilities on that island of yours to be able to do it. You know, that’s what you really need. A state-of-the-art suite of operating theatres. Cutting-edge techniques. All the things I hear you’re doing in New York.’
‘And an island like Khryseis would support that how?’
‘I have no idea,’ the doctor said sadly, and he turned to Elsa and smiled. ‘This man tries to save the world and I wish I could help him. But of course he’s right. We can only do what we can do. So let’s do that, young lady. We need to get your surgery scheduled. When?’
‘But you just said…’
‘I said the operation’s not urgent. That means it doesn’t have to be done as soon as possible. The only way to keep you pain-free is to give you so much opiate as to risk addiction, and I suspect you made the decision some time ago to live with the pain. But, because it’s hurting, you’re not weight-bearing evenly. That will cause long-term back problems. There’s tenderness already in the lower spine and I’m concerned there’ll be too much pressure on the muscles around the lower vertebrae. So when can we schedule surgery?’
‘We can’t,’ Elsa gasped.
