The nurse stared wildly with frightened eyes. She clearly had no idea who this strange man was-to be marching into her ward and giving orders.
‘Dr Mountmarche is a qualified doctor,’ Jess said quickly, but the nurse’s unease didn’t diminish.
‘I don’t know…’
Then her face cleared at the sound of footsteps in the hospital corridor.
‘Oh, here comes Dr Hurd now,’ she said in relief. ‘He’ll give me orders.’
‘You will do as I say. Now!’ Niall snapped. ‘There’s no time for argument. If you don’t then this man will be dead within an hour. Jessie, stay here and see she does what I’ve asked. Brain her and do it yourself if necessary.’ His mouth tightened in a grim line.
‘But Dr Hurd won’t let me,’ the nurse sobbed.
‘Leave me to deal with Dr Hurd.’
He hesitated, clearly unsure whether to stop Lionel Hurd in the corridor or stay and risk an altercation in Frank’s room. Jess saw his dilemma. A shouting match by his bedside was the last thing that Frank needed.
‘We’ll be right here,’ she said swiftly, and Niall’s eyes met hers in a fleeting moment of comprehension.
‘You’re in charge then, Dr Harvey. OK?’
‘OK.’
He nodded, a trace of a smile curving the sides of his mouth. ‘Rather medicine than Dr Hurd?’
‘Any day.’
The smile deepened. ‘So you’re sending me to battle. Well, they don’t call me the Ogre of Barega for nothing,’ he told her, and let his hand drop to touch the back of hers in a fleeting gesture of reassurance.
Then he handed the tray of equipment across to Jessie and walked out of the room.
CHAPTER THREE
JESSIE tried hard not to listen. The voices in the corridor were muted. One doctor discussing a case with another?
Not likely.
If Frank wasn’t so desperately ill she’d have no compunction in putting her ear to the door but there was enough to do in the ward for Jessie’s attention to be fully occupied. She worked swiftly with Sarah to set up the drip, trying to dispel the nurse’s doubts as she went but aware all the time that the most important thing was to get the drip going and the fluid and insulin into Frank’s dehydrated body.
Sarah was like a frightened rabbit.
The nurse sobbed as she worked and Jess came close to strangling her. Finally, as Sarah dropped a bag of saline, Jess paused.
‘Sarah, pull yourself together,’ she told her. ‘Immediately.’
The nurse gulped on a sob. ‘I c-can’t. I’m so scared.’
‘Why?’ Jessie lifted the saline bag and hooked it to the stand, then fitted it to the needle in the back of Frank’s hand. She gave Frank’s arm a reassuring squeeze as she did so.
‘You’ll be OK now, Frank,’ she said gently, with more assurance than she was feeling. The elderly farmer seemed beyond hearing but she could hope…‘The insulin’s going in. Just try and relax and let it take over.’
Relax…
She looked across at Sarah. Sarah was a crumpled mess.
‘I should have insisted,’ Sarah said harshly, self-blame starting to show through her fear. ‘I should have stood my ground and insisted Dr Hurd come back. I knew something was wrong-but Dr Hurd made me feel like a fool. I should have…’
‘Trusted your own judgement?’ Jessie bit back irritation, trying to imagine how she’d feel coming back to veterinary medicine after a twenty-year absence. She crossed to take the woman’s hands and gave them a swift squeeze. It was either that or give in to anger-and anger here would help no one.
‘Sarah, you’ve been a fine nurse in the past and you’re a sensible woman,’ she said roundly. ‘Coming back after an absence of twenty years must make you nervous-but technology hasn’t changed so much that you can’t tell when a man’s sick. You have to trust what your common sense tells you.’
‘But Dr Hurd wouldn’t come and I didn’t think past that,’ Sarah gulped. ‘I hardly thought about the diabetes. I just knew Frank’s leg was infected and maybe the poison had spread.’ She took a deep breath.
‘Well, maybe it was my own insecurity working there, too. If I was sure of myself I would have thought things through-thought of the diabetes-instead of blindly waiting for orders.’ She looked doubtfully down at the bed. ‘Oh, Jess, do you think we’re in time?’
‘I certainly hope so.’
The awful heaving had stopped for the moment. Frank was lying back on the pillows, grey with exhaustion, and Jessie’s heart stirred in pity. The fluid was already dripping steadily into his veins-but had they moved fast enough?
She crossed to the bed and lifted Frank’s hand.
‘I have some good news, Frank,’ she gently told the sick man, perching beside him on the bed. She didn’t know whether he could hear her but she could at least try. ‘We’ve found Harry. He’s tired and hungry but he’s asleep in my kitchen right at this minute and as soon as you’re well enough for visitors he’ll be the first one through the door.’
Lionel Hurd would have a pink fit if he could hear her make such a promise, Jessie knew. Dogs in Lionel’s hospital? Never!
That fight was for tomorrow. Jess would cross that bridge when she came to it.
It had been the right thing to say now, though. The old man’s eyes flickered open, bodily ills put aside for an instant. There was relief in the exhausted eyes.
‘He’s…Harry’s safe?’ he whispered.
‘Quite safe,’ Jessie promised in a voice that wasn’t steady. If only she could say the same for Frank.
‘Then I’d best hold on,’ Frank managed, and Jess had to lean down to hear his thready whisper. ‘For Harry…’
‘You do that, Frank,’ Jess whispered back. ‘Please…You do that.’
There was nothing more that Jess could do. It was just a matter of waiting now-and hoping that the insulin would stabilise him and the fluids would save Frank’s life. And hope that not too much damage had been done…
‘I’ll look after him now,’ Sarah whispered, smoothing her apron with grim determination. ‘I’m right. Oh, Jess… What if Dr Hurd says to take the drip out?’
‘He’ll do no such thing,’ Jessie promised, but she wasn’t all that sure. Lionel Hurd had an ego the size of a house…and Niall Mountmarche had just marched straight over it.
And Niall didn’t appear the sort of man to wave peace flags either.
Jessie walked out into the corridor and carefully closed the door behind her-to find the two men still there.
Lionel Hurd was rigid with anger. His florid complexion was almost beet-red and the hands by his side were clenched into fists. As Jess emerged he wheeled to face her and directed his anger straight at her.
‘How dare you, girl?’ he snapped. ‘How dare you…?’
‘How dare I what?’ Jess asked, her eyes moving past him to Niall.
Niall didn’t comment. He stood, a dark, enigmatic stranger. His hands were in the pockets of his riding jodhpurs as he waited.
As if he was waiting with benign interest to see what would happen.
He’d lit a fuse. Now he was waiting for an explosion.
It came.
Lionel Hurd had obviously not been able to berate Niall as he would have liked. Someone claiming to be another doctor…One he didn’t know…
He’d be unsure of his ground.
Jess, though…An insignificant girl vet…
