‘He’s pulling in favours all over the place,’ Steve told Abbey as they left Ryan, sorting equipment, and went together to don theatre gowns. ‘Ryan Henry’s one slick operator.’
‘Now this I don’t understand,’ Abbey complained. ‘How come Ryan can ask favours in a country he has no contacts in?’
‘If you think he has no contacts, how do you think he got me?’ Steve demanded. He shoved a theatre cap over his receding hairline and gave her a sheepish smile. ‘Favours owed.’ Then, at Abbey’s look of surprise, he explained.
‘Ryan’s a world expert in the orthopaedic management of brittle bone disease. He’s the best, bar none. And he’s generous. Unlike most researchers, he shares his knowledge all over the world. I’ve been using him as a source for my doctorate in medicine.’
‘You’re doing a doctorate?’
‘Well, at the moment. I spent a bit of time trying to figure out what I wanted to do career-wise. I tried general practice, then anaesthetics and then orthopaedic surgery, but I’m heading more and more for a research-based career. My home base is Cairns but I spent last year in New York, working with Ryan. And Ryan… well, he’s been so darned good to me that I can’t refuse. That’s why I’m here. And there are plenty more like me. He only has to ask.’
He only has to ask…
Abbey tied her gown and scrubbed while she thought this through. It was true enough. More than true. Ryan only had to smile… and then he hardly had to ask at all.
What followed was the slickest piece of surgery that Abbey had ever had the privilege to witness.
Abbey abandoned her crutches-her leg was weightbearing again anyway-refused Ryan’s offer of a stool and stood by to assist in any way she could.
Ryan hardly needed her help. He hardly needed anyone.
This surgery normally took a theatre full of staff. Here there was Eileen, Ryan, Steve and herself, and no one could doubt that Janet was in the best of hands.
From the moment Janet was wheeled into Theatre Ryan concentrated totally on the job in hand, to the exclusion of everything else, and Abbey could only marvel at the speed at which he worked.
He made a swift incision-tiny compared to the incisions Abbey had seen for this procedure before. He dislocated the joint with an ease that left Steve and Abbey exchanging wondering glances. Just as easily, the acetabulum-the cup of the pelvis-was cut away and the prosthetic cup inserted in its place. Then the femur was sliced neatly and the damaged sphere of bone removed. The stern of the prosthesis was wedged skilfully into the shaft of the femur, and the new joint enlocated.
Easy. Fast and simple.
It was just that Ryan made it seem so. It looked easy enough that anyone could do it. Only Steve and Abbey, watching in wonder, knew that the ease Ryan was showing was a skill they could never match with a lifetime of practice.
The last time Abbey had seen this piece of surgery performed it had taken close on three hours. Steve would be able to reverse the anaesthetic in less than one.
Finally Abbey watched as Ryan inserted layers of neat stitching. All Abbey had had to do had been to watch that the tools Ryan needed had been on hand, hold the flaps apart so Ryan could work and supervise as Eileen kept the site free of blood. Now Janet had a new hip and, by the look of Steve’s monitors, she’d come through the operation with flying colours.
A new hip… For Janet, that meant almost a new life. She’d been in constant pain for years.
She never would have done it if Ryan hadn’t come.
Abbey send a thousand tiny prayers of gratitude upward for this small miracle. She glanced down at her still swollen knee, the bulky dressing barely discernible under her surgical trousers. If it only cost one bruised knee to have Ryan here… well, the bruising was worth it.
How much more would she pay to have him stay? She couldn’t begin to consider.
The procedure over, Steve followed his patient out to Recovery. Eileen gathered the stained linen and took herself off to the sluice room, and Abbey was left alone with Ryan.
‘Tired?’ Ryan asked sympathetically, and immediately Abbey decided she wasn’t.
‘No.’
‘Liar.’
‘Well, I shouldn’t be tired,’ she said. ‘Less than an hour for a procedure such as this… I don’t know how you did it. Besides, I’m rested and raring to go. There’s no excuse for me not to be. I’ve just pinched your holiday.’
‘You needed it. I shouldn’t have asked you to assist today. ’
‘I wanted to,’ Abbey said warmly. ‘Ryan…’ She looked up and met his dark, concerned eyes. ‘I just want to thank you,’ she said simply. ‘If you knew how much I wanted Janet to have this done… The other hip’s not nearly as bad but now, even when it finally gives… Well, so far she’s come through this brilliantly. As long as her rehabilitation goes well, I shouldn’t have any trouble convincing her to do the other hip.’
‘I’ll fly back and do it for you,’ Ryan offered lightly, and Abbey found herself feeling suddenly less bleak.
Maybe when Ryan left here he wouldn’t be gone for good. Maybe he would come back in a year or so…
Yeah. In your dreams, Abbey Wittner. Or, if he came back, he’d come back with a wife.
‘Where’s Felicity?’ she said with difficulty, and watched Ryan’s face close.
‘She’s out at my father’s farm, working. I asked her to come in for lunch but she hasn’t time.’
‘I see.’ But Abbey didn’t. If this was supposed to be a honeymoon, Felicity was surely a trifle offhand about her husband.
‘You’ve not organised the wedding yet?’ she asked, and for the life of her she couldn’t keep her voice steady.
‘No. We’ll do that as soon as Dad gets back from Cairns.’ It sounded like changing a pair of socks. ‘We’ll do that.’ Just as unimportant.
‘Oh.’
This was inane. Abbey crossed to the sink and peeled off her gloves. Then Ryan was behind her, untying the tapes of her theatre garb, and Abbey started feeling really strange.
Really strange.
‘You… you can let Steve go back to his research now,’ she managed, and it was a real effort to keep her voice light. ‘I… You can see my leg’s almost back to normal. The lass who’s helping to babysit can keep caring for Jack, and I can take over work again.’
‘Not yet you can’t.’
‘Ryan, I must.’
‘Monday,’ he said. ‘You can start again next Monday, but you’ll take the rest of the week off, Abbey, and that’s an order.’
‘No.’
‘Yes.’
‘Ryan…’
‘Don’t baulk me here, Abbey,’ Ryan said heavily, and his hands suddenly fell to her waist. And gripped hard. ‘I want to do this. In three weeks I’m having to walk away from here, and I want to do it with a clear conscience. Allow me to give you a decent break. Then maybe-’
He broke off. His hands fell away and he stepped back as Eileen re-entered the room. Eileen looked curiously from Ryan to Abbey. And she smiled.
‘Am I interrupting something?’ she said brightly. ‘Would you like me to leave clearing this mess until later? And pull the curtains closed?’
Abbey gasped and moved away from Ryan. She hauled her theatre gear from her shoulders and shoved it in the laundry basket with unnecessary force.
‘No. No!’ The feel of Ryan’s hands on her waist was still with her. ‘We were just discussing Dr Henry’s wedding,’ she managed. She took a deep breath. ‘If you’ll excuse me, R-Dr Henry, I’ll go out to Janet. I want to be with her when she wakes.’ She took another deep breath. ‘And… I accept your offer to work until next Monday, though, if you change your mind…’ She faltered, knowing that Eileen’s interest was growing by the minute. Probably because of the mounting colour of Abbey’s cheeks.
She made a swift, desperate decision.
‘If you’re free… maybe before Sam comes back… how about on Thursday? Maybe you and Felicity could come to dinner out at the farm. Jack and I would enjoy having you.’