‘Nope.’ Sam reached out and gripped Ryan’s arm. The ambulance officers were standing at each end of his trolley, waiting for directions, and Sam knew exactly where he wanted to go. ‘But it’s good to see you still here, Ryan. You’re not married yet, I hope?’
‘I told you we’d wait for you to get back before we tied the knot.’
‘Good. The wedding’s not this afternoon?’
‘No. I’ll bring Felicity in to see you this afternoon and we’ll talk about setting a time.’
‘Good.’ Sam smiled in satisfaction. ‘It’s not organised yet, then. I’m not up to a wedding for a few days at least. But Janet… ’ The hand gripping Ryan’s tightened in anxiety. ‘I need to see her. You said she was fine?’
‘She’s fine. She’s only three days post-op, though, Dad, and she’s pretty sore.’
‘Not up to receiving visitors?’ There was apprehension in Sam’s voice and Ryan frowned down at him.
‘She can have visitors, I guess. If it’s important we’ll take you there now.’
‘That’s what I want.’ Sam fell back on his pillows, folded his arms across his chest and prepared to be wheeled on. ‘Take me away, boys. I’ve got a mended heart here, and I’m raring to go.’
‘Why do you suppose my father wants to see your mother-in-law so badly?’ Ryan demanded. He’d tracked Abbey down in Sister’s station and found her writing medico-legal letters. ‘And just what do you think you’re doing?’
‘Catching up on some paperwork,’ Abbey said mildly.
‘Marcia told me she’d look after Jack until lunchtime and it seemed too good an opportunity to miss.’ She hesitated. ‘I guess as soon as you and Steve leave I’ll go back to chasing my tail again. I don’t want to start from behind.’
‘No.’
There was silence while Ryan thought about Abbey chasing her tail with overwork again.
And thought about leaving her for good.
‘Sam’s back, then?’ Abbey asked lightly, searching Ryan’s face. It seemed set and forbidding.
‘He arrived ten minutes ago. And the first thing he demanded was to see Janet.’ Ryan’s frown deepened. ‘Abbey, am I imagining things here? Do you think there’s anything between the pair of them?’
‘They’ve always been good friends,’ Abbey told him. She hesitated. ‘Like you and me,’ she added, her voice slightly hesitant. ‘They were kids together. That sort of thing.’
‘So there couldn’t be any sort of romantic attachment?’
‘I told you,’ Abbey said heavily. ‘It’s like you and me. Friends. That’s all.’ She searched for some way to change the subject, and her eyes rested on her pile of patient notes. Leith Kinley… as good a topic as any.
‘I saw Leith’s dad this morning,’ she told Ryan, her words sounding stiff and forced. ‘He stopped me outside the hospital as I arrived. He just wanted to tell me how well Leith was going with her swimming. I didn’t know you’d been taking her for more swimming lessons.’
‘Yeah, well…’ Ryan shrugged. ‘She’s a good kid. I’m enjoying teaching her.’
‘I would have thought…’ Abbey bit her lip but the words came out anyway. ‘Ryan, are you spending any time at all with Felicity? She must be bored stupid-with all the help you’ve been giving me, the time you spend with your dad and now Leith…’
‘Felicity’s not bored,’ Ryan said coldly.
‘Well, if it was my honeymoon you’d hijacked I’d be really cross,’ Abbey said frankly. ‘And if she knew you’d been kissing me last night…’ She swallowed and stopped in mid-sentence, the thought of kissing Ryan last night flooding back with dizzying intensity.
But what she had to say must be said. Ryan had been so generous to her. He’d given her his honeymoon, but that honeymoon also belonged to Felicity.
‘Ryan, if you’re not careful you’ll mess up your marriage because of me,’ she said softly. ‘And I don’t think you want to do that.’
‘Abbey…’
‘I need to work now, Ryan,’ Abbey said dully. ‘Please… leave me alone to do that. I think you should go back to Felicity.’
After that, Ryan finished doing his ward round, which had been interrupted by Sam’s arrival, and tried to get his thoughts in order.
Abbey was right. He wasn’t being fair to Felicity.
Hell, he’d thought Felicity would have been bored stupid by now. He’d thought Felicity wouldn’t have stayed.
But Felicity seemed to have an endless supply of work at the end of her modern and was perfectly happy to base herself at Sam’s house while he helped Abbey.
While he helped Abbey…
There was no longer any need for him to help Abbey, he conceded as he changed the dressing on little Peter Harknet’s burned foot. The local farmers were still milking Abbey’s cows, despite her protestations, and they would until Janet was up and around again. Abbey had herself a decent babysitter. Her knee was almost back to normal and for the next two weeks Steve was here to make her workload reasonable.
So…
So Ryan should just slope on back to Felicity.
He was like Steve. He didn’t want to.
‘How come you’re not talking?’ Pete demanded as Ryan cleaned down the burned area of his foot and applied cream. Five-year-old Pete had burned himself by sticking his toes into a box of dry ice which had been keeping his birthday ice-cream cake cold. He’d been in Children’s ward for three days. Normally he chattered like a butcher’s magpie, and Ryan’s silence wasn’t to his taste. ‘Cat got your tongue?’ he demanded.
‘No.’ Ryan managed a smile. ‘Sorry, mate. I’m just thinking. I’m just thinking what a really dumb thing it is to stick your toes in places to see what it feels like.’
‘I was going to taste some,’ Pete informed him. ‘Just lucky I didn’t do that, eh? Mum says I would have burned the tongue right out of my head!’
‘Very lucky,’ Ryan agreed. ‘Pete, if you live till you’re ten it’ll be a miracle.’
‘My mum says you’re getting married real soon,’ Pete went on, unperturbed. Then he winced. ‘Yike. That hurt.’
Ryan winced too. The dead skin was coming away as he gently cleaned it. The procedure was impossible to do without hurting at all. Pete was a really brave little patient.
He deserved to have all his attention.
‘That’s right.’
‘You’re marrying a lady from America?’
‘Yep.’
Pete screwed up his nose. ‘You sound a bit American but you’re really from Sapphire Cove-right?’
‘Well, yes. But that was a long time ago.’
‘Then why don’t you marry someone from here and live here again like we do,’ Pete announced. ‘Why d’ya want to go away for?’
Why, indeed.
Silence.
‘Cat got your tongue?’ Pet demanded, and Ryan could only nod agreement.
Ian Miller didn’t have time to go with him to see where the turtle had laid her eggs. Ryan went back to Ian’s ward when he’d finished his rounds and found him surrounded by family.
Masses of family. Mother, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, brothers-in-law… the whole box and dice. And somewhere in the midst of them was Ian, being absorbed again into the clan.
Ian looked through the crowd and met Ryan’s eyes-and grinned. The greyness in his face was receding by the minute.
‘Out, you lot,’ he ordered his family. ‘Here’s my doctor and I want to ask him if you guys can take me home.’
When the family had receded just outside the door Ian hopped out of bed and closed it firmly against them. And grinned again.
‘You’d think they owned me.’
Ryan smiled back. ‘You’ve told them?’
‘Yep.’
‘And you haven’t been cast out of the family?’
‘No.’ Ian’s smile faded. He sank onto the bed again. The toll of the last few weeks’ emotional turmoil and his brush with death the night before had left him weak, but there was a determination in his eyes which was growing by the minute. ‘Abbey… Dr Wittner was right,’ he said. ‘The family already knew I was gay. They hadn’t talked about it because they’d decided it was my business and I’d talk about it if I wanted it talked about. Typical, really. My family… ’