To the Doctor: A Daughter

‘I can guess.’

‘Nate…’ She shook her head-a desolate little gesture that made him want to wrap her in his arms and hold her. But when he moved toward her she shrank back against the pillows.

‘No, Nate, I can’t.’

‘You can’t…what?’

‘I can’t go any further with you. I’m leaving here in the morning. Me and Cady. We’ve done what we set out to do. You’ve given us-me and Cady-two weeks which we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. And that’s it.’

‘It’s not it.’

‘There’s nothing else to do about it.’

‘Maybe there is,’ he growled. He stared at her in baffled anger, his frustration growing by the moment.

‘There isn’t.’

‘There is,’ he said savagely. ‘I just haven’t thought what it is yet.’

CHAPTER TEN

IT WAS a tough night for sleeping.

It was a tough night for doing anything at all. Gemma lay awake and stared into the darkness and she’d never felt so bleak in all her life.

This had been a dream. These two weeks…

A dream was how she’d have to remember it, she decided. A wonderful, magical fantasy where people cared and Cady was happy and loved and she…

And she herself was loved.

So of course it was a dream. People didn’t love Gemma. Had she learned nothing over the years?

Nate loved her.

No, she corrected herself. Nate felt sorry for her. She’d leave and he’d go back to Donna or someone like her.

But it had felt so right. So wonderfully right. Like two halves of a whole, they fitted together. Man and woman.

They didn’t fit together any more. As of tomorrow she’d be gone. Back to the city to find another high-powered job to keep Alan happy. To keep Cady safe.

But at such a cost?

‘You’re letting her go?’

‘What else can I do?’ Nate had explained the situation to his uncle and Graham was as appalled as he was.

‘I don’t know. Pistols at dawn seems a good option. With only one pistol loaded.’

‘I won’t be much good to Gemma in jail.’

‘And he’s definitely the boy’s father? He does have legal rights?’

‘You know the custody laws. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the natural parents will always win. Gemma’s had legal advice. She’s stuck.’

‘We can’t pay him off?’

‘Are you kidding?’ Nate looked at his uncle with affectionate exasperation. ‘With what? Hell, the one thing we don’t do here is make money. We might-if you ever agreed to charge people what you’re worth.’

Graham bristled. ‘I suppose you do? What about the time you spent with Olive today? I’ll bet that’s not been charged. You might charge Ian for the time you spent sewing him up, but did you charge for the hours you spent in the paddock? I don’t think so. Country doctors don’t make any money, boy. Not if they have hearts.’

That was just the trouble. Nate had a brief flash of what could be-him moving to the city-making megabucks- getting rid of Alan-but that was all it was. A brief flash of hopeless imagining.

He’d come down here six years ago to help Graham out, and his heart had been well and truly caught. Now being a country doctor was who he was. It was his identity. Surgical practice in the city would mean walking away from Graham-and, more, walking away from a community who depended on him. He knew what the odds were of finding someone to take his place.

Doctors didn’t like moving to the country.

He stared bleakly across the table at Graham and thought, I’m as trapped as Gemma.

‘I suppose he really is the boy’s father?’ Graham was still thinking things through.

‘Fiona put him down on the birth certificate. Just like she named me. There’s no possibility that I’m not Mia’s father.’

‘You can’t fight that one. Not with that hair. So…does Cady look like this guy?’

‘I guess.’ He frowned. ‘A bit. But there doesn’t seem to be any doubt. Gemma said they were even living together for a while. What the pair of them wouldn’t do to hurt her…’

‘That’s what I mean.’ Graham shook his head. ‘It’s a long shot-but I guess it’s a stupid suggestion. Whoever the father is, it’s definitely not you. Which is all that matters.’

‘Hell, I wish I was.’

‘Do you really?’ Graham asked curiously. ‘Two weeks ago the thought of marriage was giving you the collywobbles. Now you have a daughter. Do you want a son as well?’

There was no hesitation. ‘Yes. And a wife.’ He groaned and slammed his fist down on the table so hard that it hurt. ‘More than anything else in the world.’

Nate lay awake far into the night, his trapped mind examining every possibility he could think of. Twisting this way and that. Trying to see a way out of this mess.

And at three in the morning he sat up and turned the light on. A conversation was playing over and over in his head.

It was his brief conversation with Jeff, his pathologist friend from Sydney Central, when he’d been checking on Gemma’s credentials. He hadn’t understood the conversation then and he didn’t understand it now.

What had he said?

He got up and made himself a cup of coffee, thinking back to the conversation. He’d thought it odd at the time, which was why he remembered it

Did he have it right?

‘Margot couldn’t stand the sister. Come to think of it, no one could-once you got to see past that beautiful face. She was as mad as a cut snake and what she and that husband of hers did to Gemma…’

And…

‘They fed her a pack of lies. And she believed it. Hell, as far as I know, she still believes it. She won’t talk about Fiona to anyone.’

Hell.

He let his coffee get cold and paced a bit while he thought about it some more.

It was a long shot-a crazy shot.

He’d never get anything out of Jeff.

Would he?

Damn, it was three in the morning.

No matter. He picked up the phone and dialled Sydney Central.

‘Can you put me through to Jeff Sandhurst, please? Yes, I realise he’s not on duty and I know it’s three in the morning. Yes, I realise… But it’s urgent. Tell him it’s Dr Nate Ethan from Terama and I need to speak to him- now.’