‘He does have a right,’ Mary said softly. ‘I’m here as back-up. I’m here to tell you we all agree. You were exhausted before this happened. All of us knew it. We just chose to ignore it because…well, maybe we needed you too much. But we don’t need you now. You’re to go, child. Take your Benjy and do what the good doctor says. You’re not to come back before you’ve gained ten pounds and you’ve lost those dark shadows under yours eyes.’
‘Mary-’
‘Don’t argue,’ she said severely, and then rounded on Ben. ‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded. ‘Lily needs to shower and pack and there’s no room in that for you. Shoo.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Ben said, and he grinned and blew a kiss to Lily-and shooed.
An hour and a half later, Lily and her son were in the great army helicopter, heading for the mainland. She had to work during the journey. That was how Ben had squared it with the authorities-indeed, it suited them all well. A corporal with shrapnel in her knee and a supply sergeant who’d smashed a hip in the chaos of the night of the helicopters both needed constant medical attention, but they wanted to go home to Sydney.
So Benjy sat up front with the pilot, one half of him overjoyed to be right where he was and the other half of him thinking holiday, holiday, holiday, horses, horses, horses. Lily worked on in the rear. One part of her was still a doctor, checking her patients were comfortable, making sure there was no deterioration, talking to them about their condition and how they were looking forward to being reunited with their families. One tiny part of Lily was thinking holiday. But the biggest part was thinking Ben, Ben, Ben, and there was no way she could get the refrain from her head.
Ben watched the chopper disappear from view and it was as if he’d cut out a part from himself and sent it with them.
Lily and his son.
‘You should be with them, mate.’ It was Sam, coming up behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder. The sensation made Ben start and Sam grinned.
‘You’re not very awake, are you, lad? I could be the enemy.’
‘There’s no enemy here. Not any more.’
‘No.’ Sam eyed the retreating helicopter thoughtfully. ‘So tell me again-why didn’t you go with them?’
‘I need to work here.’
‘I’m working here.’
‘So that makes two of us. Plus the nurses. It’s what we need.’
‘So let’s see if I’m right,’ Sam said thoughtfully. ‘You’ve sent the lady to your family farm. You’ve also volunteered to take leave because you know the powers that be won’t approve two doctors staying here, and the lady wouldn’t have gone if she didn’t know there were two of us to take over her work.’
‘That’s-’
‘The truth,’ Sam said. ‘You’ve got it bad, mate.’
‘I haven’t got anything.’
‘You’re still in love with her.’
‘She’s gorgeous,’ Ben snapped. ‘Anyone would love her.’
‘She used to be gorgeous,’ Sam said bluntly. ‘Now she’s skinny. She’s got too many freckles, her hair needs a decent cut and she looks like she hasn’t slept for a month.’
‘That’s why she needs a holiday.’
‘Yeah, but it doesn’t say she’s gorgeous.’ He hesitated. ‘You planning on following this through?’
‘Like how?’
‘The kid’s yours,’ Sam said. ‘You marry her and you have an instant family. How does that seem?’
‘It won’t happen.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t do family.’
‘No,’ Sam said thoughtfully. ‘Of course you don’t.’
‘Look, can we leave this?’ Ben said, exasperated. ‘You’re planning on operating on Larry Arnoo this afternoon?’
‘Yeah,’ Sam said, and grimaced. ‘Larry should be on his way to Sydney, too. There’s shrapnel too close to the spine to leave it there. If it hits a nerve he’s stuffed. But there’s no way he’s going to Sydney. He’s only agreed to have the operation here because he assumed Lily would do it.’
‘As if she could.’
‘Have you seen some of the work she’s done on this island?’ Sam demanded. ‘She and Pieter-a nurse with no formal training whatsoever-have done operations in the past that would have made me quake. Because there’s no one else to do them.’
‘She’s out of it now,’ Ben growled. ‘She has a month off, or more if I can manage it.’
‘But you’re not interested in marrying her?’
‘Hell, Sam, I don’t do marriage. And do you think she’d follow me where I go for the rest of her life? Or stay happily a home body while I’m away?’
‘No chance.’
‘Well, then,’ Ben said heavily. ‘That’s it. We’re back where we started. Long-term friends. But at least I won’t leave her pregnant this time.’
‘Not if you stay here and she stays there,’ Sam agreed, and grinned. ‘But that’s not likely to be a long-term arrangement, now, is it?’
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE chopper crew set their patients down at Sydney Central. Benjy watched open-mouthed as Sydney appeared and disappeared underneath them. He didn’t say another word until they reached Ben’s property.
Neither did Lily. It had been seven years since she’d seen anything but the island, and there was a lot to see. They followed the coast north, until they came to a mountainous region where farms seemed few and far between.
‘Here we are,’ the pilot called cheerfully, and set the big machine down to land.
A woman seemed to be waiting. They saw her first, a dot beside a house set on coastal farmland. The dot grew bigger until it became the woman.
It must be one of Ben’s managers.
In the tiny part of her mind that had dared to think ahead to what waited for them, Lily had imagined some sort of elderly family retainer, a plump and cuddly lady who made sponge cakes and beamed.
No such thing. Sure, Rosa was an older woman-in her sixties maybe?-but there the resemblance to her image stopped. She was thin and wiry, dressed in tight-fitting jeans, glossy boots and a crimson shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows. A defiant redhead, with auburn curls twisted into an elegant knot, she looked like some sort of retired Spanish dancer, Lily thought, tugging Benjy out from under the blades while the pilot tossed out their bags. She turned to say goodbye, but the chopper was already rising.
Her escape route was cut.
Benjy was right behind her, clinging as if the woman might bite. Lily took her son’s small hand and propelled him forward, and then thought she was almost using her small son as a shield. She had that light-headed feeling of being out of control again.
Oh, for heaven’s sake… This was nothing to worry about.
‘Hi,’ the woman called without a trace of a Spanish accent, and there was the second illusion dispelled. ‘Welcome to Nurrumbeen.’
Nurrumbeen. All she knew of this place was what she’d seen as they’d circled before landing. It was a farm seemingly carved into the wilderness, rich grazing land encircled by sea on one side and rainforest on the other.
