To the Doctor: A Daughter

‘He’s taken everything on the chin,’ Nate told her. ‘There hasn’t been a tear, even when I’ve done the blood sugars. I think he’s going to be fine.’

‘Brave doesn’t equate with fine.’ She stared down at her toast and pushed it away. ‘Brave just means we feel better-not Cady.’

‘And not being brave means we don’t eat our toast. Which is silly.’ He pushed it gently under her nose again. ‘Not brave means you don’t measure up to Cady’s standards. You look after yourself, Dr Campbell. It’s the least you can do in the face of Cady’s bravery.’

Gemma looked up at him and he smiled at her, and his smile was warm and caressing. And something more. Something she couldn’t put her finger on.

Proprietorial?

Surely not. She was hallucinating here.

‘I’m fine.’ She chomped into her toast and promptly choked. Nate laughed and came around the table to thump her on the back.

‘Not fine enough.’

‘Thank you.’ She spluttered on a mouthful of tea and turned a deep pink. What was it with this man? He had the power to make her act like a schoolgirl with a crush. Which she wasn’t.

Was this a crush? No way.

‘H-how’s Milly?’

‘Better. I think we might risk taking out the intubation tube this morning.’ Taking out the tube was a delicate timing decision. If they took it out too early, they risked having to put it back in. But if they left it too long, it would further diminish the capacity of Milly’s muscles to keep enough oxygen in her lungs.

‘I was waiting to hear what you thought before I made a decision,’ Nate told her, and she coloured again. He’d accepted her training with not a sign of reluctance. She’d worked alongside enough ego-driven young male doctors to know how rare his attitude was.

‘I’ll see her after breakfast.’

‘How do you feel about running a surgery?’

Well, why not? She had to start some time. But there was a slight problem. ‘As long as patients don’t mind me as I am.’ She motioned down to her distinctly grubby jeans and T-shirt. ‘I’ll admit this is hardly a confidence- inspiring uniform.’

‘I think your problem might be solved. The stationmaster dropped a suitcase off this morning. It’s in the hall.’

‘My clothes!’

‘That’d be it.’

‘Great. Now I can feel normal.’

Only Gemma didn’t. She changed into a sensible skirt and blouse with flat shoes, braided her hair into a sensible rope and headed for the surgery feeling stranger than she’d ever felt in her life. And when she met Nate the feeling intensified. He looked down at her clothes and his eyes creased in distaste.

‘Is that the best you can do?’

‘Is that the politest you can be?’ she retorted.

‘They’re awful.’

‘As opposed to, say, what Donna would wear?’

‘As opposed to what anyone who’s not on welfare would wear.’

‘Yeah, well, that’s nearly me.’ She bit her lip. She knew these clothes were bad-her skirt was years old, her blouse was torn across the shoulder and she’d stitched it up, and her shoes-well, in fact, they had come from a welfare shop.

‘You’ve been working as an anaesthetist for how long?’

‘I’ve been fully qualified for three years.’

‘Registrars are well paid even before they’re qualified. That means you’ve been on a decent salary for well over five years. What gives?’

‘It’s none of your business.’

Wasn’t it? Maybe not. But he really wanted to know.

‘Gemma…’

‘Look, my sister left debts,’ she flung at him. ‘My mother spent every penny she had on Fiona-there was nothing left when she died-and I married an absolute skunk who’s cleaned me out for everything I owned and then some. If I work solidly for the next thirty years I may just clear my debts. Maybe.’

That stunned him. She was married?

‘I didn’t know…’

But it was a road she didn’t want to travel with him. ‘No,’ she said in a voice that said any more enquiries were a waste of time. ‘But a white coat hides a multitude of sins. So can we get on with it, please?’

‘I guess…’

How come she’d been married?

Nate wanted to know. Desperately he wanted to know, but the more he saw of her the more she held herself aloof.

Was Gemma divorced?

It didn’t matter. Or it shouldn’t matter. As long as her previous marriage was over, she was available. And this was a good plan. Once he’d thought of marriage the idea wouldn’t go away.

But…was she free? Or was she still married?

Damn, he had to find out. She had him intrigued.

Intrigued as opposed to interested, he told himself hastily. Since when had he ever been interested in drab little females with children in tow? No. He definitely wasn’t interested.

But he was definitely intrigued.

And shabby or not, married or not, the patients loved Gemma. By the end of her first day in clinic Nate was hearing nothing but praise for his new partner. By the end of the week it was a ground swell.

‘They want you to stay,’ he told her as they sat down to dinner on Friday night. Graham was off being the Major-General, Nate had refused an invitation to go out to dinner with friends-Donna would be there and his current plans definitely didn’t include Donna-and they were eating at home. With Cady and Mia asleep, it felt so domestic he could practically hear the theme from The Brady Bunch playing in the background.

‘Who wants me to stay?’

‘Everyone.’ He looked across the table at his intended wife. She was a peaceful woman, he thought. She’d moved into their house and she may as well not have been there for all the trouble she caused. Cady was a quiet kid and she was quieter. She spoke when spoken to, kept herself to herself and at the end of the week he knew little more about her than he had at the start.

But there were things he wanted to know. Like-who was her husband?

But while his mind was flying off on tangents she was still back at thinking of the people who wanted her to stay. ‘Including you?’

‘Including me.’ He smiled at her and wished that she’d smile back. She was too darned serious for his liking. ‘Gemma, this week has been fantastic. We’ve done a full surgical list. We’ve been able to put two more nurses on and that’s two more families with a second income-in this farming community that’s wonderful. The hospital will go from strength to strength if you stay.’

‘Mmm.’ She still sounded noncommittal.

Damn, she had to stay. She must.

‘And Graham’s having the time of his life.’ He pressed on, regardless of her lack of enthusiasm. ‘He’s seeing a few old patients every morning and the rest of the time he’s free. Which is just the way he wants it. You must be able to see that he’s feeling like the weight of the world’s been lifted from his shoulders?’

She did see that. In the week since she’d been here she’d grown to like the old man very much. He was always