one…’
‘Little one?’
‘Paige.’ Geraldine’s face softened. ‘Oh, Jess, isn’t she a poppet? Her dad’s been explaining about her legs. He’s going to take Dr Hurd’s clinic at one-there are seven patients booked and he’s going through their records now-and I’ll massage Paige’s legs then and look after her till he’s finished.’
‘No.’ Jess shook her head. Running Geraldine into the ground wasn’t in her master plan at all. ‘You’re off duty. Do Paige’s legs now if it’s OK with Paige and her dad and then I’ll take charge of Paige while Dr Mountmarche does the clinic.’
‘But you’ve your vet clinic as well…’ ‘Small animal clinic,’ Jess smiled. ‘I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Paige loves it.’
Paige did.
The child endured Geraldine’s gentle massage with stoic indifference to the pain. ‘It’s enough to make you cry to see her,’ Geraldine whispered as the nurse finally took herself off duty. ‘Now, you’re sure you’ll be right with her?’
‘I’m sure.’
Jess had to reiterate her assurances to Niall. He’d done what Jess suggested and stayed out of the way while Geraldine massaged Paige’s legs, and then returned to comfort his small daughter and take her to the kitchen for lunch. Surrounded by welcoming kitchen staff, Paige ate more than she’d eaten for a week.
‘I don’t believe it,’ Niall told Jess as lunch drew to a close. ‘At the vineyard it’s a battle to get her to eat anything.’
‘Maybe this is what she’s used to,’ Jess said thoughtfully. ‘If her mother’s taken her from one group of friends to another-one commune to another, or whatever-then noise and laughter and general chaos won’t be strange. A formal meal with just one or two people-and both of them male-will be something she’s not used to.’
‘Maybe…’ Niall looked at Jess strangely as if he was trying to figure out whether she was being impertinent, pushy or just plain sensible. In the end, his expression said, he hadn’t decided. And he didn’t much like the sensation.
‘I don’t like leaving her again this afternoon,’ he told Jess bitterly. ‘This is some mess you’ve got me into, Dr Harvey.’
‘Mess?’ Jess watched Paige drain the last of a huge glass of milk and smiled reassuringly across the table at the child. ‘What sort of mess?’
‘I mean the medical treatment in this island has been a shambles from the time this so-called Dr Hurd arrived. Nothing’s been done. Regular tests have been missed. Every patient booked this afternoon shows some sign of mismanagement on their record. I suppose I have to be grateful that he has at least documented his pseudo- treatments.
‘The worst…Well, it seems your Dr Hurd has been giving pethidine injections almost on demand. There are three people booked in for what’s written up as a regular injection. That alone is just about grounds for having the man struck off-if he was ever on any medical register in the first place. It looks like I’ll have to instigate withdrawal treatment for people who never should have been allowed to become addicted.’
Jess flinched. ‘I’m…I’m sorry.’ She shook her head. ‘1 didn’t realise how bad…Well, Lionel never let me know what he was doing. I wasn’t welcome…’
‘To stick your nose into his affairs.’ Niall gave a bitter smile. ‘You seem content enough to stick the same appendage into mine.’
It was a rebuke and Jess’s eyes flew up to his. There was a softness there, though, that said that maybe judgement was being suspended. A faint easing of the bitterness…
His daughter was at least eating…and smiling…
‘There’s a mess to sort out this afternoon if I’m to do any good.’ Niall told her. ‘Are you sure you have time for Paige?’
For answer, Jess smiled across at the little girl.
‘Paige, this afternoon I have to see a cocker spaniel who was hit by a car last week. I put twelve stitches in his rump ten days ago. Would you like to come and see Harry and then help me take the cocker spaniel’s stitches out?’
The empty glass was put down with a thump. Paige grabbed her crutches.
‘I’m ready,’ she said.
It was after seven by the time Niall finished and Jess was starting to feel incredibly guilty.
She and Paige had worked their way through the ills of the island’s small animals and Paige had helped to feed Jessie’s orphaned wallaby and wombat Afterwards Jess had made Paige an omelette. As Paige had finished her tea Harry had stirred in his cage by the fire and decided to show some interest in proceedings. To Paige’s wide-eyed astonishment, Jess had made another omelette.
‘I thought dogs were supposed to eat dog food.’
‘They are,’ Jess had smiled. ‘But Harry’s special. Just like Paige.’ She’d eyed the dog thoughtfully as he’d wolfed the omelette and headed for his water bowl. ‘Though I think we might take out his intravenous line. That’s the tube running into his leg, Paige. When Harry was too weak to eat or drink that’s how he got his fluids-but it’s starting to seem a bit unnecessary.’
Finally, as Harry had settled down again before the fire and the little girl’s eyes had drooped after such a big day Jess had pulled her onto her lap and told her stories until her eyes had closed completely.
There they’d stayed. Paige was as relaxed as Jess had seen her. She’d loved the animals and in her concern for their plight had put aside her own.
As she’d drifted into sleep Paige had put her hand up again to the V of Jessie’s blouse and clutched.
‘Nice,’ she’d said.
Niall arrived soon after.
Sarah must have directed him to Jessie’s flat. He knocked once and entered, his eyes lighting up at the sight of his sleeping daughter.
‘I thought she might be fretting…’
Jess didn’t stir. She sat by the fire, Harry at her feet, her arms holding Paige close and her face in the child’s hair. She felt strange-as if she had somehow found her rightful place.
Silly. To feel like this about someone else’s child…
She looked up at Niall and that weird current flashed like lightning from one to the other. It was almost a physical jolt…
‘I’ll…I’ll put Paige down.’ Jess had to fight to get the words out, forcing herself to look away from those eyes. She stood and carried the sleeping child over to the day bed in the corner of the room. Paige seemed dead to the world. There was no chance of waking her.
‘How’s Harry?’
Niall seemed to be suffering the same trouble. His voice sounded stiff and unsure. The dog stirred and opened one eye in token investigation. Niall walked over, stooped and started gently scratching one ear.
The dog almost purred.
‘He’s fine.’
‘He seems it.’ It was as if Niall was searching for something to say. Something to break the link…‘This kitchen’s huge,’ was all he could manage.
‘The house was a mansion with this kitchen as the hub.’ Jess bent over the sleeping child, her back to Niall, gently adjusting pillows and covering her with a rug. ‘When we divided it the hospital cook wanted electric ranges and stainless-steel cook-tops but I loved this kitchen. So we decided this kitchen would be part of my flat and we’d build a new kitchen for the hospital.’
‘We?’
‘My cousin’s the permanent island doctor. He’s on the mainland doing obstetrics while his wife finishes her training as a physician. Quinn and I planned this centre.’
‘I see.’ There was still that physical current and it took a huge effort for Jess to turn round and face him. ‘There’s a massive amount of money gone into this.’
‘Yes.’ Jess shrugged. ‘Quinn and I put our savings into it-and the island board helped out. On the mainland if you ask for a donation you’re looked at as if you’re asking for money for someone else. Here if you ask for money
