Heatherdale′s Shy Nurse
Heatherdale's Shy Nurse
Abigail Gordon
Heartbroken, Leonie Mitchell is throwing herself into her work. Saving her little patients in a new countryside hospital seems like the best way to deal with the loss of her baby and her relationship. But Leonie hasn’t counted on her charismatic new boss, surgeon Callum Warrender. She can’t deny her attraction to Callum, nor can she ignore the comfort she finds in his arms…. Could he be the key to healing this shy nurse’s broken heart?
‘What about you? Have you no longing for a husband and children? You are great with children. I see you all the time with other people’s children and you are so gentle and patient.’
She turned away from him and Callum knew that he’d fallen into a pit of his own making just as they were getting to know each other on an easier footing. Why had he made the conversation so personal when he knew how much Leonie veered away from such things?
‘Yes, I would like a family,’ she said eventually, ‘but I am wary of those sorts of commitments.’
They were seated next to each other on her sofa. Callum got to his feet and stood looking down on her. He held out his hand and when she took it raised her gently to her feet. They were only inches away from each other, but the look in her eyes made him feel as if it was a million miles that separated them, and suddenly he’d had enough of the tactful approach.
He reached out for her, swept her into his arms and kissed her—gently at first, then with rising passion—until he felt the wetness of tears on her face.
As he looked down on her in dismay she pushed him away.
‘Callum, please go. I didn’t ask you here for something like this to happen!’
‘No, of course you didn’t,’ he said tightly. ‘It won’t happen again. You have my promise on that.’
He opened the door, stepped out into the night and was gone.
Dear Reader
If you have read my earlier book, CHRISTMAS MAGIC IN HEATHERDALE, you will be familiar with this charming small market town—and if you haven’t here it is in summer time, when a nurse who loves children but has been denied them and a charismatic doctor who has lost his taste for marriage discover the kind of love that lasts for ever.
I do hope that you will enjoy meeting them!
Yours romantically
Abigail Gordon
ABIGAIL GORDON loves to write about the fascinating combination of medicine and romance from her home in a Cheshire village. She is active in local affairs, and is even called upon to write the script for the annual village pantomime! Her eldest son is a hospital manager, and helps with all her medical research. As part of a close-knit family, she treasures having two of her sons living close by, and the third one not too far away. This also gives her the added pleasure of being able to watch her delightful grandchildren growing up.
Heatherdale’s Shy Nurse
Abigail Gordon
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Recent titles by Abigail Gordon:
CHRISTMAS MAGIC IN HEATHERDALE
SWALLOWBROOK’S WEDDING OF THE YEAR
MARRIAGE MIRACLE IN SWALLOWBROOK** (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) SPRING PROPOSAL IN SWALLOWBROOK** (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) SWALLOWBROOK’S WINTER BRIDE** (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) SUMMER SEASIDE WEDDING• (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) VILLAGE NURSE’S HAPPY-EVER-AFTER• (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) WEDDING BELLS FOR THE VILLAGE NURSE• (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) CHRISTMAS IN BLUEBELL COVE• (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) COUNTRY MIDWIFE, CHRISTMAS BRIDE* (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b)
** (#ulink_3e6048ed-931d-533e-b4f0-7d282ec344fd)The Doctors of Swallowbrook Farm* (#ulink_3e6048ed-931d-533e-b4f0-7d282ec344fd)The Willowmere Village Stories• (#ulink_3e6048ed-931d-533e-b4f0-7d282ec344fd)Bluebell Cove
These books are also available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk
Dedication
For Frances, a very special lady.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE (#uf183a4c9-f1ee-5153-be1c-f7377f035879)
CHAPTER TWO (#uf85d99a3-9c77-5a25-bca0-ffb9e727f5cc)
CHAPTER THREE (#u623b0910-fee0-525f-af5b-72c435c56d87)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE
HE WAS HOME, Callum Warrender thought contentedly as he lay watching spring sunshine light up his bedroom in an apartment by a lazy river that ran through the prestigious small market town of Heatherdale. Back where he belonged in the place he loved the best.
After sleeping for most of a long transatlantic flight from America he had woken to hear a member of the cabin staff asking passengers to fasten their seat belts as they would shortly be landing at one of the biggest airports in the area, and, suddenly wide awake, the pleasure of the moment had washed over him.
He’d spent six months on an exchange arrangement with a large children’s hospital in the States and for the most part had enjoyed the change and the challenge it had presented. Yet he had refused when the chance to become a regular member of its staff had been presented to him.
Work-wise it hadn’t been a joy ride. He’d worked long and hard alongside other experts in his field, with each taking note of the others’ expertise in orthopaedic paediatrics. Yet there had been time to socialise too.
He’d been wined and dined by those he’d come to demonstrate his skills to, and had met more than a few attractive women on those occasions who would have liked to get to know him better, but past experience had shown him that the road to romance could be a rocky one.
So could the path up to the moors above the town that he walked with great enjoyment when he got the chance, but unlike that other road there was no heartache waiting for him at the end of it.
* * *
Once he was up and dressed he went to the small convenience store at the end of the riverside and did a food shop. When he returned he prepared his first English breakfast in months and, while enjoying it totally, began to plan his day.
It was Saturday and he wasn’t due back at the famous Heatherdale Children’s Hospital until Monday. With the day stretching ahead of him, he decided to take that walk up to the moors, the place where he always found the precious peace and tranquillity that his work as an orthopaedic paediatrician sometimes denied him.
He saw himself as a loner who carried past mistakes around with him like a protective shield that no woman was going to break through. Always there were those who tried, but it soon became obvious that he was not in the market for marriage.
And now, with all those thoughts put to the back of his mind, he had a couple of days to himself. Once out in the open with his pack on his back calm always descended upon him.
* * *
Every step took him further along a winding, deserted road that led to higher ground. The magic of the moment was broken when the noise of a motorcycle engine came from somewhere behind him, and in seconds it passed him. It swerved around a bend in the road at a crazy speed then there was the sound of it crashing into rocks at the roadside, followed by startled shouts.
Hurrying to the accident scene, Callum couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The motorcyclist lay twisted and motionless beside his vehicle as a group of dumbfounded teenagers looked on, unsure of what to do.
A woman was on her knees beside the injured rider. He couldn’t see her face because she was bent over him, trying to loosen his leather jacket to feel for his heartbeat, while at the same time frantically urging the teens to keep calm as some of the girls began to react to the moment with screams and tears.
‘I’ll take over. I’m a doctor,’ he barked.
The kneeling woman had managed to open the injured rider’s leather jacket so they could get to his chest and to his relief Callum saw that it was rising and falling. The patient was breathing but without any signs of consciousness.
‘Have you got a phone with you?’ he asked abruptly, as he noted that both the man’s legs were twisted at a worrying angle.
She nodded and reached into her rucksack, but on producing it she shook her head. ‘We probably won’t get a signal up here.’
‘Give it to me,’ he said impatiently, ‘and if I can’t get through, I’ll try mine.’
As she obeyed, observing him unsmilingly, he dialled the emergency medical services for the area and surprisingly got a reply.
‘We are going to need a helicopter,’ he said. ‘An ambulance would not be able to get up here. I can give you our exact position as I know the area well. We need help for the injured driver of the motorcycle as soon as possible. Under these circumstances there is little we can do for him other than keep a firm check on his heartbeat and try to ascertain what other injuries he might have sustained in the crash.’
When he handed the phone back to the woman she got to her feet. ‘I need to speak to my group. They’re very upset by what they’ve witnessed.’
‘May I ask your name?’
‘My name is Leonie Mitchell and I’m a nurse,’ she said, and saw his surprise. ‘I help at the local community centre in Heatherdale in my spare time, along with a friend of mine who is usually in charge of the activities that we arrange for the children, but she isn’t well today and I said I would step in so that they wouldn’t be disappointed.’
‘You can carry on with your walk. There is nothing more you can do here,’ he told her. ‘It’s best if the children get clear of the scene.’
He’d resigned himself to a helicopter trip to a hospital in Manchester. He didn’t have to go with the young man, of course. There would be at least one doctor on board when it arrived, but he’d seen the lad’s twisted legs and if anybody could put them right, he could.
‘And once you get back to Heatherdale can you contact the garage on the riverside? If they can send someone to collect the bike, I will sort out the bill. They can invoice me.’
‘I will need an address to do that,’ Leonie said, anxiously taking up her kneeling position beside the unconscious rider once more.
Callum didn’t answer her; his concern for their patient was increasing.
‘He’s going into heart failure, we are going to have to resuscitate!’ For what seemed like a lifetime, they worked on him together until they could feel his heartbeat once more.
The sound of rotor blades whirring signalled that the helicopter had arrived, and the group grew silent as they watched it land beside them. As the doctor and nurse on board alighted, Callum filled them in.
‘We were able to resuscitate a few moments ago as there was no heartbeat, and there are fractures of both legs.’
‘Are you a doctor?’ the medic asked.
‘I’m Callum Warrender,’ he replied levelly, and the other man’s eyes widened.
‘Not the Warrender from Heatherdale Children’s Hospital?’ he exclaimed as he bent over the injured youth.
‘Let’s just say that I can spot a fracture a mile off and I’m coming along for the ride,’ he replied, and stepped aside as two paramedics appeared with a stretcher.
Oh, no! Not Callum Warrender, thought Leonie. Hospital gossip was that he was in America and wouldn’t be returning for another couple of weeks, but it would seem that it was wrong. And as she was sister-in-charge of the orthopaedic unit it seemed that they would soon be meeting again. She hoped that he wouldn’t recognise her as the same person he’d come across up on the moors, with her hair tucked out of sight beneath the woolly hat that was pulled low down on her head and wearing a shapeless waterproof jacket.
He’d asked who she was and she’d told him her name and that she was a nurse, but he wasn’t to know that she was a member of his staff. Callum Warrender had been in America when she’d joined the team.
Once the patient had been lifted on board, with the medics from the hospital in charge, and the pilot was ready for take-off, Callum reminded her, ‘Please remember to arrange for the motorcycle to be picked up by the garage beside the river, and tell them the guy from the apartments who fills up his tank there will call in to settle it as soon as he gets back from taking the casualty to A and E.’
With that the doors closed and he was gone. What an awful day it was turning out to be, thought Leonie. First Julie had phoned to say she’d picked up a flu bug and wasn’t fit to do the walk. Leonie had been happy to help out her friend, but none of them had been prepared for the shock of witnessing that motorbike accident. It hadn’t helped that the rider had been such a young guy. She couldn’t blame the kids for reacting as they had.
Callum Warrender’s arrival had seemed miraculous. He’d taken charge with brusque authority. That he was used to giving orders had been plain to see, but there was no way was she going to go to a strange garage to ask them to pick up the damaged motorcycle and tell them that someone completely unknown to her would pay the bill. She would settle the account herself.
Her group was getting restless so, putting her concerns for the victim and reservations about the man who had taken charge of the catastrophe to one side, Leonie gathered the group together and they set off on their hike across the moors once again, this time in a less euphoric mood than before.
* * *
When they arrived back at the community centre in the early evening Leonie left them to the delights of a disco that had been arranged for them by other helpers and went to find the garage by the river that the brusque doctor had mentioned. After giving them details of where the motorcycle could be found, and paying what appeared to be a standing charge for that kind of thing, she asked them to keep it on the premises until she could find a name and address for the injured rider.
Then returned to her recently purchased yurt, where she rang the hospital that the young man had been flown to.
On being put through to A and E, she explained to a nurse at the other end of the line that she had been present when the accident had taken place, and was informed that the patient had regained consciousness and was in Theatre, having fractures and other injuries dealt with by Mr Callum Warrender from the Heatherdale Children’s Hospital, who had travelled with him in the helicopter.
That the young man was being treated and by the best was all that really mattered. There were going to be parents somewhere who would be most thankful that someone like Callum Warrender had appeared out of the blue at the scene of the crash.
The fact that there had also been a highly qualified nurse there as well had paled into insignificance beside his presence, she reflected wryly.
Of course, she’d heard a lot about Dr Warrender from her colleagues, like how talented a surgeon he was, but she’d never once pictured in her mind what he would be like. To find that she actually liked the look of him was unsettling, but those moments on the road to the moors would stay in her memory for time to come.
His skin was tanned, his hair dark and he had hazel eyes in a face that had purpose and integrity etched upon it. His physique spoke of strength and stamina and, as with his tan, suggested a rugged way of life. There was no denying he was very good looking yet she hadn’t heard any mention of a wife in Callum Warrender’s life.
* * *
Callum travelled back from Manchester by train. He was tired, and looked forward to grabbing a quick bite to eat at the hotel near his apartment. But first he planned to call in at the community centre to let Leonie know how the patient was progressing.
He was aware that he’d been less than civil out there on the road to the moors and felt an apology was required. The reason for his manner was easy enough for him to understand, but a stranger wasn’t going to know how much he cherished time to himself out in the countryside around Heatherdale.
To his surprise he had enjoyed working alongside her to save their patient’s life. He also needed to find her to thank her for her excellent and level-headed assistance.
A disco was in full swing when he got there, but there was no sign of the woman he’d come in search of, and when he asked of the middle-aged disc jockey in charge where she might be found he said, ‘Leonie has gone home to the yurt. She’s had a stressful day from the sound of it. Do you want me to give her a message?’
Callum shook his head. ‘No, I need to speak to her personally. Where is it that you say she’s gone?’
‘She lives on the yurtery on the far side of the river.’
‘You mean she lives in a tent?’
‘Er, yes, I suppose you could say that,’ was the reply. ‘Hers is the third one from the entrance to the site.’ And with a frown he went on to say, ‘I’m not sure if I should be telling you this. I don’t know who you are, do I?’
‘We were both involved in treating an injured motorcyclist up on the road to the moors earlier on today and I’ve come to report on his condition, that’s all. I’m one of the doctors from Heatherdale Hospital,’ he explained, and off he went without further delay as hunger pangs were beginning to make themselves felt.
He’d noticed the development of the latest idea in camping at the other side of the river while he’d been having his breakfast that morning. It was known by some as ‘glamping’. A reference to the attractions of a yurt as against the basics of a tent. He was curious to know how they worked as permanent dwellings.
So when Leonie opened the door of the round, glass-roofed construction to him a short time later his glance went immediately to the décor behind her and he saw that the latest ‘must have’ for those who wanted something small and cheerful to live in was attractively furnished and quite a lot bigger than it had appeared from the outside. Also it made his solidly expensive furnishings in the apartment seem dull and boring by comparison.
But he wasn’t there out of curiosity and was not even sure if he’d got the right place, as the woman observing him anxiously didn’t look like the woman of those moments on the hillside. Gone were the woolly hat and shapeless jacket.
She was wearing a pale blue dress with matching sandals, had thick and curling chestnut hair that framed her face damply from recent washing, and was observing him in a way that told him he hadn’t come to the wrong place after all.
‘Come in,’ she invited, and as she stepped back to let him pass asked anxiously, ‘So how is our patient now?’
Callum was still in his walking clothes and before he could reply she followed one question with another.
‘Have you only just got back?’
He nodded. ‘Yes. I operated on him myself, and the news is that he is in Intensive Care at the moment but may be put on to one of the wards in the morning.’
‘How serious are his injuries?’ she continued.
‘Serious enough, but he’ll recover,’ he told her. ‘What about your group? Did you get them safely back to base?’
‘Er, yes, no casualties amongst them, I’m pleased to say.’
Leonie was conscious that he was mellower now than he’d been out there on the way to the moors. She’d hardly expected him to seek her out in person to report on the motorcyclist, so why was he here, standing before her awkwardly and making stilted comments?
‘I’ve come to apologise for my abruptness when I came upon you and your group at the scene of what was a nasty accident. My excuse, such as it is, may sound trivial, but I was looking forward to some time on my own in the wide-open spaces after six months of hard grind in the States.
‘The thought of having two days to myself before going back to work on Monday morning seemed like precious gold in my busy working life. It isn’t often that I get my priorities wrong, but maybe I did this morning, and I’m sorry.’
‘When you appeared I felt that you were heaven-sent but could hardly be described as angelic.’
He laughed. ‘That is fair comment. I’m known more as a tartar than an angel in my working life.’ In reality work was the only life he had these days since his catastrophe of a marriage. ‘So, do you accept my apology?’
‘Yes, of course,’ she replied.
‘So what about the bike? Did you have time to call in at the garage to have it collected?’
‘They’re picking the bike up but won’t be sending you the bill. I’ve paid it.’
He frowned. ‘That is not what I asked of you.’
‘Maybe, but that is what I’ve done as I felt that I was partly to blame for not insisting that my group walk in single file. It was because they were all over the road that the young guy on the bike lost control.’
‘Even so,’ he protested.
‘Please don’t make an issue of it,’ she told him steadily. ‘I did what I felt was right and don’t want to discuss it any further.’
‘All right, so be it,’ he agreed. ‘Have you eaten since you got back?’
‘I haven’t yet,’ she replied cautiously.
‘I was planning to eat at the restaurant at the hotel by the river in a while. If you won’t let me pay for the removal of the motorcycle, can I take you for a meal to make up for it?’
‘I’m afraid not,’ she told him, imagining the gossip that would spring up at the hospital if word got out she’d been seen dining with her boss.
‘A friend of mine who works full time at the community centre should have taken the kids on the walk today, but I had to take her place as she’d picked up some sort of a flu virus and sounded quite ill when we spoke this morning. So I need to go round to see how she is and look after her. I will have something to eat while I’m there, but thank you for the invitation.’
‘Of course. Maybe we’ll meet again some time and I’ll be able to make amends, as I do like to repay my debts.’
‘You don’t owe me anything, please believe me! It was the least I could do for the poor young guy and compared to what you’ve done for him it was nothing.’
* * *
When Leonie arrived at Julie’s studio flat, she found that her friend was feeling much better. She was sitting up and taking notice as Leonie made them a meal and was wide-eyed with astonishment to hear about Callum Warrender’s invitation.
‘Weren’t you the lucky one!’ she gasped. ‘Was he surprised to know that you are one of the staff on the orthopaedic unit?’
‘No, because I didn’t tell him,’ Leonie told her. ‘I said I was a nurse, but either he wasn’t interested or in fairness to the man he was too tuned in to the injuries of the motorcyclist to get involved in chit-chat.’
‘So on Monday morning all will be revealed between the two of you.’
‘Maybe, maybe not,’ Leonie said. ‘He almost didn’t recognise me earlier this evening, out of my walking gear. The uniform might really throw him off track, and anyway, they say that Warrender isn’t a woman chaser. That he’s had a bad experience that’s put him off relationships.’
‘In what way?’ Julie questioned.
‘I don’t know any details. I haven’t been on the wards all that long. He seems like the kind of doctor who will only see nurses as a pair of hands without their faces registering.
‘Anyway, enough about Callum Warrender. How have you been feeling while I’ve been up on the moors?’
Julie shook her head. ‘I do feel a lot better now.’
‘Is Brendan coming round later?’
‘Yes. We’ve started making wedding plans. I’d be delighted if you’d agree to be my chief bridesmaid, along with my young sister, if that is all right with you, Leonie. It won’t bring back past heartache, will it?’
‘No, of course not. The past is the past,’ she told her evasively. ‘I’m over that and if Brendan is coming to talk about wedding arrangements I’ll be off as soon as I’ve tidied the kitchen. I don’t need to tell you not to go to the centre tomorrow. I know what Sundays are like there with every kid in the neighbourhood turning up, but you aren’t fully recovered yet.’
‘I’ve already phoned in to say that I won’t be there,’ she replied, ‘so don’t worry about me, Leonie, but do let me know what happens on Monday with you know who.’
‘I can give you the answer to that now,’ she said laughingly. ‘Nothing is going to happen. Callum Warrender is not my type.’
* * *
Back at home Leonie felt at a loose end. Julie’s reference to the affair she’d had with one of the senior anaesthetists at the London hospital where she’d been employed before coming to Heatherdale had brought back vivid memories of the pain and heartache she’d felt on discovering that he was married. But that had been nothing compared to the raw agony of losing the baby that she’d been expecting.
Since then she’d been wary of any other relationships as the hurt of being deceived in such a way hadn’t yet healed; it was still new and agonising. Moving to Heatherdale had been about making a fresh start, but that couldn’t erase the memories of the past.
Still, she was genuinely thrilled for Julie and Brendan. They made a strong and devoted couple. However, it was difficult to imagine ever being in that situation herself.
To be asked to be a bridesmaid was a different matter. She was honoured that her friend had asked her and she’d be proud to support her on her big day. She wondered what sort of dress Julie had in mind.
Her reverie was interrupted by the couple from the yurt next door, who were having a few folks round for supper. They asked if she would like to join them. As she accepted the invitation her glance was on the hotel on the opposite side of the river and the memory came back of the one she’d turned down and was now wishing she hadn’t.
It would have given her the chance to tell Callum Warrender what she did for a living, instead of him discovering on Monday morning in front of all the ward staff of the orthopaedic unit of Heatherdale Children’s Hospital that their acquaintance was not going to be a fleeting thing. Now she still had that doubtful pleasure to come.
* * *
Callum sat in the hotel lounge, having a nightcap before returning to his apartment.
He should have been feeling content but he wasn’t. The night before he’d been full of the pleasure of being back home and enjoying the weekend ahead, but the day that would soon be over had been full of uncertainties.
The fear that they would lose the boy on the bike when there’d been no heartbeat had been allayed when he and the woman who had been at the scene of the crash had worked on him and he’d begun to breathe again.
That had been followed by him operating on the young man and he’d had no idea what lay ahead regarding that until he’d seen the X-rays, but as usual he’d been in top form and all was going to be well with the lad.
Then when he’d arrived back in Heatherdale he’d sought the Leonie person out to apologise for being bossy and abrupt and, totally out of character, when he’d discovered that she’d paid the garage for the removal of the motorcycle had invited her to dine with him and been refused, which had turned it into a very short reacquaintance.
He’d made a point of telling her why he wanted to take her for a meal and there’d been no finesse in the way he’d done it, so it was small wonder that she’d refused and come up with an excuse that could have been the result of some quick thinking.
Yet, if he was being honest with himself, hadn’t he issued the invitation because he’d seen her in different clothes, in a pretty blue dress with her chestnut hair down and the merest hint of make-up, so bringing a moment’s brightness to what had been a far from happy day? Or maybe was it because he’d been intrigued by the determination not to be told what to do by him that he’d seen in the green eyes looking into his.
But tomorrow was another day and he was going to let it make up for this one. He finished his drink and headed home. As he glanced towards the bridge that spanned the river between their two residences he heard laughter filtering over on the night air, saw a flash of blue, and wondered what had happened to the sick friend.
When he arrived at the apartment there was an email from his ex-wife, Shelley, to say that she was getting married again to her boss, hoped he would wish her well, and that they were going to live in Australia. He gazed at the screen for a few thoughtful moments and then switched the message off, wondering as he did so why he wasn’t surprised.
* * *
As Callum walked the length of the corridor that led to the orthopaedic unit on Monday morning his step was light. He was back on his own patch. Back amongst the young patients who came to him for treatment for the long-term or shorter illnesses that were blighting their lives.
It was a place where he’d performed miracles and his staff followed them up with excellent nursing, and nowhere was he happier than there.
The time in America had been rewarding and well spent, but on thinking of the persuasion that had been used to encourage him to join them he only needed to look around him at the familiar sights of Heatherdale Children’s Hospital to know that the Americans had never stood a chance.
Here he was and here he was going to stay. He hoped that there wouldn’t be any changes in the staff that he had left behind when he’d gone to the States, as they were a well-organised team.
He heard his name called and turned to see his friend Ryan Ferguson, head of the neuro unit, approaching from behind.
‘Welcome back, Callum. It’s great to have you on board again.’
It’s great to be back,’ Callum told him. ‘They wanted me to stay but this is where I belong.’
‘Me too,’ Ryan agreed, and followed it up by saying, ‘Melissa and I are having a belated garden party next Saturday afternoon and we would be really pleased if you could come. You remember how we had our two houses made into one? Well, it’s to celebrate that. So how are you fixed? Will you be able to join us?’
He smiled. ‘Yes, of course. Since Shelley left for a more interesting life my diary has been empty, just as when she was here it was always full. We never did find a happy medium.’
‘Do you ever hear from her?’ Ryan asked.
‘Yes, as a matter of fact. There was a message from her on Saturday night. She’s getting married again, to her boss, and going to live in Australia.
‘I don’t think there could be two people anywhere as incompatible as we were. I won’t make that mistake again, Ryan. Marriage is not for me, but I’m delighted that you and Melissa are so happy,’
Callum checked his watch. ‘I’d better get on. I’ll see you both on Saturday.’
CHAPTER TWO
LEONIE DIDN’T HAVE a car. She cycled to work each day through the centre of the beautiful old market town with its gracious Victorian buildings and famous spa that people came to from far and wide to take of its healing waters.
Once the town was left behind she pedalled into open country for a short distance until she came to the hospital, built from the same local stone as the rest of the buildings in Heatherdale.
It was Monday morning and she had arrived earlier than usual with a feeling that was a mixture of expectation and unease. She was worried about Callum’s reaction when he realised that they would be close colleagues.
She’d often heard his name spoken since coming to join the staff at the hospital as ward sister in the orthopaedic unit, but had taken little notice as she hadn’t known the man. He’d gone to America before she’d started there and therefore was of little interest, but after Saturday’s happenings all that had changed. He’d probably think her crazy for not mentioning at some time that she was a nurse at the Heatherdale Children’s Hospital, where he was head of Orthopaedics.
Yet there’d been nothing to stop him asking what branch of nursing she was involved in when she’d told him what her occupation was as they’d knelt beside the injured youth, but he’d been too high and mighty to ask such questions and probably wouldn’t have been interested if she’d told him, which meant that today he might have cause to regret asking her out in the evening when he’d arrived back from Manchester.
Prodded by a sense of duty, he had sought her out and amazed her by asking her to join him for a meal, an invitation that she’d refused with little graciousness.
Soon, very soon, when she’d fastened her bike up securely and taken off her outdoor clothes, they were going to be in each other’s company again, and considering that he’d been in her thoughts ever since Saturday night she supposed she ought to be relieved that the uncomfortable meeting would soon be over and then the less she saw of Callum Warrender the better. Though how she was going to manage that when they’d be required to work closely together, she didn’t know.
* * *
‘Good morning everyone,’ Callum announced as he strolled into the two-ward complex that was the hospital’s orthopaedic centre. He was greeted by happy voices while Leonie, in a uniform that was a darker blue than the rest, bent over the bed of a fretful toddler and kept her head down.
As his keen gaze swept over those present, Callum asked crisply, ‘Where’s Janet?’
‘She’s taken early retirement to look after her mother,’ one of the nurses told him with a glance in Leonie’s direction.
Well, there was no avoiding it now. Leonie straightened up and looked Callum in the eye.
‘I have been appointed ward sister in her place, Dr Warrender. I’m afraid that the opportunity to mention that didn’t present itself on Saturday when we met unexpectedly.’
Callum was dumbstruck. She had told him she was a nurse but he’d been too busy running the show to ask anything further. Two surprises on his first morning back he could do without.
Used to working with Janet Fairfax as sister-in-charge, he was sorry he hadn’t been there when she’d left. She’d been totally reliable, even though she had family commitments that had kept her on the go. Leonie had a lot to live up to.
He gave a grim smile. He had actually thought he wasn’t likely to meet up with her again. So much for forward thinking.
‘Carry on, everyone,’ he said briskly He turned to address Leonie directly.
‘In a moment, Sister, can you spare a few moments to update me about our current patients?’
She was still soothing the fractious infant but nodded her agreement.
‘Then I will see you in my office in ten minutes, Sister...er, I’m afraid I don’t know your surname.’
‘It is Mitchell,’ she said levelly. Returning to her work, she placed the now pacified infant back in his cot and went to speak to parents. They’d been there all night beside their baby, who had been born with a deformation of one of its feet and been operated on the previous day to correct the problem.
All had gone satisfactorily and the relief surgeon who had been filling in for Callum had been pleased with the result of what had been his last task before moving to a Manchester hospital for a spell.
‘We are so relieved that our baby’s feet are now normal,’ the mother said. ‘We were going to wait for Dr Warrender to come back, but the chance came and we couldn’t let it pass by. We have an older child who was born with the same problem and he operated on her, so it would seem that the fault might be genetic.’
‘And if it is, we aren’t having any more,’ the baby’s father said grimly.
When Leonie finished her chat, Callum was at the door of the ward office, waiting for her, and after saying goodbye to the parents she moved towards him and was watched with interest by other staff members.
‘Take a seat, please, Sister,’ he said, pointing to a nearby chair as she closed the office door behind her. He sat down behind his desk. ‘Why on earth didn’t you tell me that you were a nurse employed in my unit when we were involved in the catastrophe up on the moors road?’
‘It was hardly the moment to start giving you my life history,’ she replied. ‘I told you I was a nurse to reassure you that I was capable of assisting you, which I did. I wouldn’t have expected you to want to know anything else at that moment, and in any case there was nothing to stop you from asking me in which area of nursing I was employed. I came to this hospital a couple of months after you went to America when my predecessor left at short notice because of her mother’s health.’
‘Where did you work before?’
‘At a large hospital in London. This position became vacant just as I’d decided that I needed a change And so I made the move up here.’
‘Right,’ he said, getting to his feet. ‘Now that’s cleared up, we’ll do a ward round so I can familiarise myself with our patients.’
‘Yes, of course,’ she said, and led the way to the first bed, where a ten-year-old boy was engrossed in the tablet that he was holding.
‘This is Daniel,’ she said. ‘He ran across the road when the lights were red, was knocked down by a car and has two broken legs. He is due to go home tomorrow on crutches.’
‘So maybe next time he will wait for the green man,’ Callum said as he read the notes that were clipped to the end of the bed. When he’d done that he lifted the bed covers to observe heavy bruising in parts that were not covered by a plaster cast. He turned to Leonie. ‘I shall want to see X-rays of his fractures, and when he is discharged make sure he’s given an early appointment to attend my clinic in Outpatients.’
As they went from bed to bed Leonie described in detail the problems of each young patient and as he listened Callum was aware that Janet Fairfax had been good but she was even better. One thing was very plain to see. Leonie Mitchell was a natural with children, which was more than he had ever been able to say about his ex-wife. Shelley had held no yearnings to bring children into the world, which was something she’d kept quiet about until she’d had his wedding ring on her finger.
It had been the first of many things that they hadn’t agreed on as they’d discovered that sexual chemistry alone wasn’t enough to make a good marriage.
As they moved from bed to bed it was obvious that Leonie knew exactly what upset each child and, equally, what comforted them, and the only thing that was spoiling his return to base was the fact that he hadn’t known that the yurt dweller with the glinting chestnut hair and wide green eyes was a member of his staff. He supposed it should have been a pleasant surprise, but he felt a bit as if he’d been made a fool of.
Their round was interrupted when Callum was paged to attend A and E.
Leonie breathed a sigh of relief as he left the ward, before remembering that she hadn’t asked Callum for an update on the young biker they’d treated. She’d make a point of asking him later that day.
* * *
It was hours before Callum came back to the ward, looking grimly preoccupied. Leonie hoped that it wasn’t anything to do with her appearance in his working life. It seemed that it wasn’t. A child had been badly injured when an ancient stone stump in one of the town’s parks had fallen over onto her.
‘Her name is Carys and she’s seven years old,’ he told the staff. ‘She has a fractured shoulder and two broken arms, which I’ve dealt with. She will shortly be coming up here to be nursed. Needless to say, she is very weepy and traumatised, and being so young doesn’t realise that she missed death by inches. Luckily her father saw the stump toppling and pulled her away, but not fast enough to prevent some injuries.’ He glanced at Leonie. ‘So work your magic on this little girl, please.’
‘Yes, of course,’ she replied. ‘We all will, won’t we?’
On his way back from the operating theatre Callum had thought about his childlessness in a brief moment of sadness, and pondered, as he’d done many times, how Shelley could be so lacking in maternal feelings. Yet he was aware that it was the woman who inherited the pains and problems of pregnancy and giving birth, and for any who were not prepared to go along that road there had to be understanding.
But in the case of his ex-wife it had been more of not wanting to be bothered with what she called the shackles of motherhood. She had wanted parties and expensive clothes, holidays abroad, what to her was the good life, and when the demands of his calling had sometimes come first and he’d had to refuse, she would go with friends or relations, not prepared to be denied her pleasures.
The marriage had lasted three years, with them growing further apart all the time, and when it had ended with a huge fall-out about that very thing, his only feelings had been of relief and a firm intent to steer clear of marriage in the future.
After telling the ward staff about the injured small girl who’d been hit by the falling stump, Callum went into the office and Leonie followed him to ask about the motorcyclist of two days ago.
‘I spoke with his parents last night,’ he informed her. ‘They wanted to thank us for what we did for their son. He has been moved from Intensive Care and is now in a side ward, so it seems as if he is progressing as I thought he would.’
‘How about his mobility and the heart stoppage that we brought him out of?’ she asked anxiously.
‘His heartbeat is now regular, but regarding any movement, with two fractured legs it will be slow progress, whatever the doctors over there decide to do.
‘By the way, I called at the garage on my way here this morning and they’d picked up the motorcycle as soon as you’d been in to ask them to do so.
‘When his parents phoned I told them where it was and they’ve asked the garage to repair it for him. They are insisting on reimbursing you for the money you paid the garage to collect it.’
Before she could reply their patient arrived from Recovery and without further discussion she went to supervise the little girl’s transfer to the ward with her traumatised parents by her side.
* * *
The day had run its course and the staff of the orthopaedic unit were homeward bound. As Leonie pedalled out of the main gates of the hospital Callum passed her in a smart car and pulled up a few yards ahead.
He wound the window down. ‘It’s good to have you on the unit, Leonie. You have the right touch with the children and having read your application form from when you applied for the position you also have all the necessary medical knowledge and experience for the position.’
The colour rose in her cheeks and he groaned inwardly at the way he’d sounded so patronising when that was the last thing he’d wanted to be. If he had any doubts as to that was how he’d come across, her reply confirmed it.
‘I would have thought that the opinion of the person who interviewed me when I applied for the job would have been enough to reassure you with regard to my abilities,’ she said coolly, ‘unless, of course, I was proving unsatisfactory.’
‘Certainly not that,’ he said. ‘Surely a word of praise can’t be unwelcome?’
‘No, of course not,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘There’s no need to be,’ he assured her. He was about to drive off but had one last thing to say that he feared would also not please her.
‘You are going to let the biker’s parents pay you for having the bike brought to the garage, I hope? If it had been the child of either of us that had been hurt and strangers had shown them such kindness, I think that we would want to do the same, don’t you?’
Her reaction surprised him. ‘Yes. I suppose so,’ she agreed, almost choking on the words, and as she started to pedal away from him he saw tears on her lashes and wondered what that was all about.
* * *
Leonie called at Julie’s flat on the way home to make sure that she really was over the bug that she’d picked up and found her on the point of returning from a busy day at the community centre looking fully recovered.
They were good friends and noticing Leonie’s red-rimmed eyes Julie was concerned. ‘Have you been crying?’
Leonie managed a smile. ‘Just a moment’s blub, that’s all.’
‘A sick child twisted your heartstrings?’
‘Yes, that was it.’ No way was she going to go into details about a momentary return to the past. She quickly changed the subject. ‘So how are wedding plans progressing?’
‘We’ve decided on a date in June. I’d like to be a June bride, and guess what?’
‘Go on, tell me. What?’
‘We were going to have the reception at a nice hotel but have had a better offer. The council is having the community centre remodelled and have invited us to have our wedding reception there after a service in the church because we are both staff. What do you think?’
‘That would be lovely.’ No way was she going to let the mention of weddings and children turn the day into an even more painful occasion.
* * *
It was Saturday after what Leonie felt had been a strange week on the unit, getting used to Callum’s presence. But she’d adjusted and admitted to herself that, whatever their original meeting had been like, working with him was a pleasure.
To her surprise, the young biker’s parents had called at the yurt one evening to repay what they insisted they owed her, and remembering what Callum had said she’d graciously accepted it. They had stayed for a while and had told her over coffee how much they felt indebted to Dr Warrender, who had given of his time and expertise to make sure that their son would walk again without difficulty in the future.
‘He spoke very highly of you,’ the young guy’s mother had said. ‘Of the assistance you gave him and of how you had given up your Saturday to take those kids out into the countryside in place of someone who was sick.’
‘And we believe that you also work in the orthopaedic section of the hospital?’ his father commented.
‘Er, yes, that is so, although Dr Warrender and I have only recently started working together,’ she told him, though it seemed like for ever.
* * *
That afternoon Leonie took care in getting ready to attend the garden party that Melissa and Ryan Ferguson were having to celebrate the joining of their two houses and, even more delightful, the wonderful entwining of their lives.
She’d got to know Melissa, who was a part-time doctor alongside her husband in the neuro unit of the hospital, when between them they had jointly brought back to health a young patient with a cerebral problem who had spinal problems from a fall. They had been firm friends ever since.
* * *
Callum had spent the morning up on his beloved moors, but had returned before lunch to get ready for the garden party. If the invitation had come from anyone other than Melissa and Ryan he wouldn’t be going.
He’d gone to enough parties to last him a lifetime to please Shelley when she’d been around, and ever since the divorce he had toned down his social life until it was almost non-existent, which was going to the other extreme, he told himself sometimes. Today he was going to go through the ritual to please his friends and then would slope off somewhere.
* * *
As he parked outside the crescent of elegant town houses where Ryan and Melissa had joined theirs together on the occasion of their marriage, he could hear music and voices coming from the large garden at the back and hoped that his arrival was going to go unnoticed.
Yet he could hardly shuffle in amongst those there without greeting his host and hostess and presenting their two children with the presents he’d brought them from America. Rhianna and Martha were special and he couldn’t help but envy Ryan and Melissa their family.
A taxi pulled up at the kerb edge behind him and when he turned his eyes widened. Leonie Mitchell got out, looking fresh and relaxed in a pretty floral dress that matched her colouring exactly. When she straightened up and saw him standing there her face reddened.
‘Hello,’ she said uncomfortably. ‘I didn’t know that you would be here.’
‘Ryan and Melissa are friends of mine,’ he explained, and as two small voices from not far away called his name, ‘and Rhianna and Martha are delightful. They will be here in a moment, eager to see what I’ve brought them from America. Being around them makes up for a lot of things.’
Leonie didn’t know what he meant by that but maybe she wasn’t supposed to. Just as he’d said they would, the two daughters of their hosts came rushing from the garden and threw themselves into his arms.
‘So how are my girls?’ he said laughingly. ‘Ready to see what I’ve brought you back from America?’
‘Yes!’ they chorused.
As they delved into the gift bags he’d handed to them he told Leonie, ‘I’ve brought them both mini-cheerleader outfits, complete with pompoms.’
Leonie observed him in surprise.
He laughed. ‘I may not have any kids of my own but I see enough of them to know what to buy them.’
‘Yes, I can see that,’ she said.
‘We’d better go and say hello to our hosts, don’t you think?’ he suggested.
* * *
It looked as if they had come together, and as they followed the two girls to the garden, where there was a good smattering of hospital folk amongst the guests, he said to Ryan, ‘Why didn’t you tell me that my ward sister was coming so that I could have given her a lift?’
‘Sorry about that, Leonie,’ Ryan told her, and turning back to Callum said in laughing retaliation, ‘Why didn’t you warn us that we were going to have to provide loud music all the time for our two cheerleaders?’
As they wandered around the gathering together Leonie was conscious of eyes upon her. She hoped their colleagues weren’t speculating too much about them.
The more she saw of Callum the more she was beginning to like him, but past experiences had made her cautious, aware of the hurts that others could dish out to the unwary, and no way was she travelling down that road again.
She knew Callum was divorced. For what reasons she didn’t know and didn’t want to, but it was pleasant to spend this sort of time with him in an easy atmosphere, away from the hospital, with no strings attached.
To his surprise, Callum found that he was enjoying himself amongst the mixed gathering which was the only kind of socialising he’d involved himself in since Shelley’s departure.
Whether the same applied to his companion was another matter.
Leonie had seemed happy enough when they’d first arrived and later when she’d chatted to her friend Melissa, but as time passed he sensed an atmosphere of withdrawal about her that hadn’t been there before, and wondered where it was coming from.
The party was due to finish around seven o’clock and he offered to drive her home.
‘It’s kind of you to offer,’ she told him, ‘but I don’t want to break into your evening. A taxi will be fine, thanks just the same.’
She left the party soon after saying her goodbyes to Melissa and Ryan, and when she looked across at Callum he was on a small putting green with Rhianna and Martha.
He was good with children, both inside and outside the hospital, but hadn’t any of his own, as far as she knew, which brought to mind one of the nursing staff saying that his wife had not been motherly-minded.
So they had one thing in common—they’d both been deprived of one of the great joys of life, but under different circumstances. On that bleak thought she left the party and decided to walk home as the sun was still high in the sky.
As she unlocked the door of the yurt Leonie glanced across to the other side of the river to where the luxury apartment complex where Callum lived was bathed in the last rays of the sun. A part of her wished that she’d let him bring her home instead of being so unsociable.
But deep down inside she knew that to refuse had been the right thing to do. Gone were the days when she’d been like putty in the hands of a man, and she was being drawn towards Callum Warrender like he was a magnet as the days went by. It hadn’t been that long since she’d been drawn to another man with disastrous results and she was wasn’t going to fall into that pit of misery ever again.
Her mouth softened at the memory of Callum’s rapport with Rhianna and Martha. He would make some child a loving father one day if he ever married again.
As she slid beneath the bed covers at a time when most of the adult population were setting out to enjoy themselves on a Saturday night, Leonie’s last mind picture of the day before sleep claimed her was of Callum playing with Rhianna and Martha at the garden party.
* * *
When the party was over Callum drove around the small market town that held so much attraction for so many and faced up to the fact that Leonie was not yearning for his company, as other women were.
She’d refused his invitation to dinner, taken a dim view of the praise he’d bestowed upon her in the hospital car park, and lastly had turned down his offer to drive her home. There would be no more gestures of friendship on his part. He had no intention of changing what he had vowed to stick with in life after Shelley. He was content in his solitary state and wouldn’t have given Leonie a second glance if it hadn’t been for the traumatic circumstances of their first meeting.
CHAPTER THREE
AS THE DAYS passed Leonie felt that her refusal of a lift home from the garden party had set the pattern for her relationship with Callum away from the hospital. But inside it could not be faulted with each of them extremely aware of the other’s dedication to their calling.
Leonie was so incredible with their young patients, Callum thought, both in her efficient nursing of them and insistence that her staff show them the same degree of care. For her own part she was so gentle with the children that he thought if Shelley hadn’t had any inclination towards motherhood Leonie Mitchell certainly did. It seemed incredible that she wasn’t already married with a family.
If it had been fear that was behind his ex-wife’s determination never to have children he could have understood it, but it was the thought of losing her fantastic figure, and what she saw as the ghastly performance of breastfeeding, which he’d pointed out was optional, plus the loss of sleep when it was teething time.
* * *
When Easter came and Heatherdale was full of sightseers over the holiday weekend, the magic of the moors and the dales would be pulling him outdoors and Callum had put himself down as on call for emergencies and was hoping he wouldn’t be needed.
He’d noted that Leonie’s name was top of the staff list for Good Friday. Her social life didn’t seem very hectic. He wondered what she did in her spare time.
Reminding himself that he had been shown quite clearly that she was a very private person away from the hospital, he put the concern out of his mind and switched his thoughts to something just as basic but more pleasant—remembering to get Rhianna and Martha the Easter eggs that he always bought at this time.
* * *
There was a brass band playing in one of the parks as Leonie cycled home after work at the end of Good Friday, and propping the bike against a nearby hedge she stopped to listen. There were lots of folk about. The café not far away was doing a brisk trade and she realised she was tired and hungry.
Eating there would save having to cook when she got home. She almost walked straight out again, though, when the first thing that registered was Callum and the Ferguson family seated at a table nearby.
Before she could depart they’d seen her. Melissa called for her to join them and there was no way she could refuse. There was an empty seat next to Callum, which she had no choice but to take.
He started the conversation.
‘What sort of a day have you had?’
‘Busy as usual,’ she replied.
‘But no emergencies or I would have heard from you,’ he commented. ‘I had my phone with me all the time.’
Leonie smiled. What was he expecting her to say to that? He didn’t have to explain himself. No one worked harder than he did.
A waitress was hovering and when she’d ordered her meal Melissa asked, ‘So what have you planned for tonight, Leonie?’
‘They’re having a disco at the community centre and I said I’d go along to help,’ she explained, aware of Callum’s nearness.
She wasn’t expecting any comment from him. He’d got the message that her life away from the hospital was a private thing, if life was the right description of lonely evenings, brightened only by an occasional visit from Julie either going or returning from the centre.
She wondered sometimes why she’d opted to continue her nursing career with children after what had happened to her own baby, but there was comfort in being able to do something for the children of others, as there had been no opportunity to help her baby. It had been too late from the start.
When they’d all finished eating they went outside to listen to the band again. Callum hadn’t left her side.
‘I know you don’t like me behaving as if we have any relationship apart from the hospital, but you need have no concerns about that. My life is mapped out how I want it to be and I presume that yours is the same, so do we have an understanding?’ he said in a low voice.
She nodded bleakly, thinking that his lifestyle might be from choice, but hers had been thrust upon her, and for evermore she would be wary of giving herself to another man, whoever they might be.
‘So how about I come along to that disco too tonight? I can give you a lift there and back to save your legs,’ he suggested. ‘I’ve nothing planned for tonight and I’d like to help.’
‘Yes, all right,’ she agreed weakly, with the thought that he might have cleared the air, as he described it, but she hadn’t, and wasn’t likely to in the near future because it would hurt too much to talk about her past.
Still, Callum had made a kind gesture and she didn’t want to make a fuss and draw even more attention to her unhappiness. She bid her farewells to the group and headed back to get ready for the evening ahead.
* * *
When Callum pulled up outside the yurt at seven o’clock Leonie was ready and waiting, dressed in jeans and a smart sweater and looking revitalised after a shower.
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Abigail Gordon
Heartbroken, Leonie Mitchell is throwing herself into her work. Saving her little patients in a new countryside hospital seems like the best way to deal with the loss of her baby and her relationship. But Leonie hasn’t counted on her charismatic new boss, surgeon Callum Warrender. She can’t deny her attraction to Callum, nor can she ignore the comfort she finds in his arms…. Could he be the key to healing this shy nurse’s broken heart?
‘What about you? Have you no longing for a husband and children? You are great with children. I see you all the time with other people’s children and you are so gentle and patient.’
She turned away from him and Callum knew that he’d fallen into a pit of his own making just as they were getting to know each other on an easier footing. Why had he made the conversation so personal when he knew how much Leonie veered away from such things?
‘Yes, I would like a family,’ she said eventually, ‘but I am wary of those sorts of commitments.’
They were seated next to each other on her sofa. Callum got to his feet and stood looking down on her. He held out his hand and when she took it raised her gently to her feet. They were only inches away from each other, but the look in her eyes made him feel as if it was a million miles that separated them, and suddenly he’d had enough of the tactful approach.
He reached out for her, swept her into his arms and kissed her—gently at first, then with rising passion—until he felt the wetness of tears on her face.
As he looked down on her in dismay she pushed him away.
‘Callum, please go. I didn’t ask you here for something like this to happen!’
‘No, of course you didn’t,’ he said tightly. ‘It won’t happen again. You have my promise on that.’
He opened the door, stepped out into the night and was gone.
Dear Reader
If you have read my earlier book, CHRISTMAS MAGIC IN HEATHERDALE, you will be familiar with this charming small market town—and if you haven’t here it is in summer time, when a nurse who loves children but has been denied them and a charismatic doctor who has lost his taste for marriage discover the kind of love that lasts for ever.
I do hope that you will enjoy meeting them!
Yours romantically
Abigail Gordon
ABIGAIL GORDON loves to write about the fascinating combination of medicine and romance from her home in a Cheshire village. She is active in local affairs, and is even called upon to write the script for the annual village pantomime! Her eldest son is a hospital manager, and helps with all her medical research. As part of a close-knit family, she treasures having two of her sons living close by, and the third one not too far away. This also gives her the added pleasure of being able to watch her delightful grandchildren growing up.
Heatherdale’s Shy Nurse
Abigail Gordon
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Recent titles by Abigail Gordon:
CHRISTMAS MAGIC IN HEATHERDALE
SWALLOWBROOK’S WEDDING OF THE YEAR
MARRIAGE MIRACLE IN SWALLOWBROOK** (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) SPRING PROPOSAL IN SWALLOWBROOK** (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) SWALLOWBROOK’S WINTER BRIDE** (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) SUMMER SEASIDE WEDDING• (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) VILLAGE NURSE’S HAPPY-EVER-AFTER• (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) WEDDING BELLS FOR THE VILLAGE NURSE• (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) CHRISTMAS IN BLUEBELL COVE• (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b) COUNTRY MIDWIFE, CHRISTMAS BRIDE* (#ulink_3df34ca9-4f3b-5894-b5ea-1c4234721c0b)
** (#ulink_3e6048ed-931d-533e-b4f0-7d282ec344fd)The Doctors of Swallowbrook Farm* (#ulink_3e6048ed-931d-533e-b4f0-7d282ec344fd)The Willowmere Village Stories• (#ulink_3e6048ed-931d-533e-b4f0-7d282ec344fd)Bluebell Cove
These books are also available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk
Dedication
For Frances, a very special lady.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE (#uf183a4c9-f1ee-5153-be1c-f7377f035879)
CHAPTER TWO (#uf85d99a3-9c77-5a25-bca0-ffb9e727f5cc)
CHAPTER THREE (#u623b0910-fee0-525f-af5b-72c435c56d87)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE
HE WAS HOME, Callum Warrender thought contentedly as he lay watching spring sunshine light up his bedroom in an apartment by a lazy river that ran through the prestigious small market town of Heatherdale. Back where he belonged in the place he loved the best.
After sleeping for most of a long transatlantic flight from America he had woken to hear a member of the cabin staff asking passengers to fasten their seat belts as they would shortly be landing at one of the biggest airports in the area, and, suddenly wide awake, the pleasure of the moment had washed over him.
He’d spent six months on an exchange arrangement with a large children’s hospital in the States and for the most part had enjoyed the change and the challenge it had presented. Yet he had refused when the chance to become a regular member of its staff had been presented to him.
Work-wise it hadn’t been a joy ride. He’d worked long and hard alongside other experts in his field, with each taking note of the others’ expertise in orthopaedic paediatrics. Yet there had been time to socialise too.
He’d been wined and dined by those he’d come to demonstrate his skills to, and had met more than a few attractive women on those occasions who would have liked to get to know him better, but past experience had shown him that the road to romance could be a rocky one.
So could the path up to the moors above the town that he walked with great enjoyment when he got the chance, but unlike that other road there was no heartache waiting for him at the end of it.
* * *
Once he was up and dressed he went to the small convenience store at the end of the riverside and did a food shop. When he returned he prepared his first English breakfast in months and, while enjoying it totally, began to plan his day.
It was Saturday and he wasn’t due back at the famous Heatherdale Children’s Hospital until Monday. With the day stretching ahead of him, he decided to take that walk up to the moors, the place where he always found the precious peace and tranquillity that his work as an orthopaedic paediatrician sometimes denied him.
He saw himself as a loner who carried past mistakes around with him like a protective shield that no woman was going to break through. Always there were those who tried, but it soon became obvious that he was not in the market for marriage.
And now, with all those thoughts put to the back of his mind, he had a couple of days to himself. Once out in the open with his pack on his back calm always descended upon him.
* * *
Every step took him further along a winding, deserted road that led to higher ground. The magic of the moment was broken when the noise of a motorcycle engine came from somewhere behind him, and in seconds it passed him. It swerved around a bend in the road at a crazy speed then there was the sound of it crashing into rocks at the roadside, followed by startled shouts.
Hurrying to the accident scene, Callum couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The motorcyclist lay twisted and motionless beside his vehicle as a group of dumbfounded teenagers looked on, unsure of what to do.
A woman was on her knees beside the injured rider. He couldn’t see her face because she was bent over him, trying to loosen his leather jacket to feel for his heartbeat, while at the same time frantically urging the teens to keep calm as some of the girls began to react to the moment with screams and tears.
‘I’ll take over. I’m a doctor,’ he barked.
The kneeling woman had managed to open the injured rider’s leather jacket so they could get to his chest and to his relief Callum saw that it was rising and falling. The patient was breathing but without any signs of consciousness.
‘Have you got a phone with you?’ he asked abruptly, as he noted that both the man’s legs were twisted at a worrying angle.
She nodded and reached into her rucksack, but on producing it she shook her head. ‘We probably won’t get a signal up here.’
‘Give it to me,’ he said impatiently, ‘and if I can’t get through, I’ll try mine.’
As she obeyed, observing him unsmilingly, he dialled the emergency medical services for the area and surprisingly got a reply.
‘We are going to need a helicopter,’ he said. ‘An ambulance would not be able to get up here. I can give you our exact position as I know the area well. We need help for the injured driver of the motorcycle as soon as possible. Under these circumstances there is little we can do for him other than keep a firm check on his heartbeat and try to ascertain what other injuries he might have sustained in the crash.’
When he handed the phone back to the woman she got to her feet. ‘I need to speak to my group. They’re very upset by what they’ve witnessed.’
‘May I ask your name?’
‘My name is Leonie Mitchell and I’m a nurse,’ she said, and saw his surprise. ‘I help at the local community centre in Heatherdale in my spare time, along with a friend of mine who is usually in charge of the activities that we arrange for the children, but she isn’t well today and I said I would step in so that they wouldn’t be disappointed.’
‘You can carry on with your walk. There is nothing more you can do here,’ he told her. ‘It’s best if the children get clear of the scene.’
He’d resigned himself to a helicopter trip to a hospital in Manchester. He didn’t have to go with the young man, of course. There would be at least one doctor on board when it arrived, but he’d seen the lad’s twisted legs and if anybody could put them right, he could.
‘And once you get back to Heatherdale can you contact the garage on the riverside? If they can send someone to collect the bike, I will sort out the bill. They can invoice me.’
‘I will need an address to do that,’ Leonie said, anxiously taking up her kneeling position beside the unconscious rider once more.
Callum didn’t answer her; his concern for their patient was increasing.
‘He’s going into heart failure, we are going to have to resuscitate!’ For what seemed like a lifetime, they worked on him together until they could feel his heartbeat once more.
The sound of rotor blades whirring signalled that the helicopter had arrived, and the group grew silent as they watched it land beside them. As the doctor and nurse on board alighted, Callum filled them in.
‘We were able to resuscitate a few moments ago as there was no heartbeat, and there are fractures of both legs.’
‘Are you a doctor?’ the medic asked.
‘I’m Callum Warrender,’ he replied levelly, and the other man’s eyes widened.
‘Not the Warrender from Heatherdale Children’s Hospital?’ he exclaimed as he bent over the injured youth.
‘Let’s just say that I can spot a fracture a mile off and I’m coming along for the ride,’ he replied, and stepped aside as two paramedics appeared with a stretcher.
Oh, no! Not Callum Warrender, thought Leonie. Hospital gossip was that he was in America and wouldn’t be returning for another couple of weeks, but it would seem that it was wrong. And as she was sister-in-charge of the orthopaedic unit it seemed that they would soon be meeting again. She hoped that he wouldn’t recognise her as the same person he’d come across up on the moors, with her hair tucked out of sight beneath the woolly hat that was pulled low down on her head and wearing a shapeless waterproof jacket.
He’d asked who she was and she’d told him her name and that she was a nurse, but he wasn’t to know that she was a member of his staff. Callum Warrender had been in America when she’d joined the team.
Once the patient had been lifted on board, with the medics from the hospital in charge, and the pilot was ready for take-off, Callum reminded her, ‘Please remember to arrange for the motorcycle to be picked up by the garage beside the river, and tell them the guy from the apartments who fills up his tank there will call in to settle it as soon as he gets back from taking the casualty to A and E.’
With that the doors closed and he was gone. What an awful day it was turning out to be, thought Leonie. First Julie had phoned to say she’d picked up a flu bug and wasn’t fit to do the walk. Leonie had been happy to help out her friend, but none of them had been prepared for the shock of witnessing that motorbike accident. It hadn’t helped that the rider had been such a young guy. She couldn’t blame the kids for reacting as they had.
Callum Warrender’s arrival had seemed miraculous. He’d taken charge with brusque authority. That he was used to giving orders had been plain to see, but there was no way was she going to go to a strange garage to ask them to pick up the damaged motorcycle and tell them that someone completely unknown to her would pay the bill. She would settle the account herself.
Her group was getting restless so, putting her concerns for the victim and reservations about the man who had taken charge of the catastrophe to one side, Leonie gathered the group together and they set off on their hike across the moors once again, this time in a less euphoric mood than before.
* * *
When they arrived back at the community centre in the early evening Leonie left them to the delights of a disco that had been arranged for them by other helpers and went to find the garage by the river that the brusque doctor had mentioned. After giving them details of where the motorcycle could be found, and paying what appeared to be a standing charge for that kind of thing, she asked them to keep it on the premises until she could find a name and address for the injured rider.
Then returned to her recently purchased yurt, where she rang the hospital that the young man had been flown to.
On being put through to A and E, she explained to a nurse at the other end of the line that she had been present when the accident had taken place, and was informed that the patient had regained consciousness and was in Theatre, having fractures and other injuries dealt with by Mr Callum Warrender from the Heatherdale Children’s Hospital, who had travelled with him in the helicopter.
That the young man was being treated and by the best was all that really mattered. There were going to be parents somewhere who would be most thankful that someone like Callum Warrender had appeared out of the blue at the scene of the crash.
The fact that there had also been a highly qualified nurse there as well had paled into insignificance beside his presence, she reflected wryly.
Of course, she’d heard a lot about Dr Warrender from her colleagues, like how talented a surgeon he was, but she’d never once pictured in her mind what he would be like. To find that she actually liked the look of him was unsettling, but those moments on the road to the moors would stay in her memory for time to come.
His skin was tanned, his hair dark and he had hazel eyes in a face that had purpose and integrity etched upon it. His physique spoke of strength and stamina and, as with his tan, suggested a rugged way of life. There was no denying he was very good looking yet she hadn’t heard any mention of a wife in Callum Warrender’s life.
* * *
Callum travelled back from Manchester by train. He was tired, and looked forward to grabbing a quick bite to eat at the hotel near his apartment. But first he planned to call in at the community centre to let Leonie know how the patient was progressing.
He was aware that he’d been less than civil out there on the road to the moors and felt an apology was required. The reason for his manner was easy enough for him to understand, but a stranger wasn’t going to know how much he cherished time to himself out in the countryside around Heatherdale.
To his surprise he had enjoyed working alongside her to save their patient’s life. He also needed to find her to thank her for her excellent and level-headed assistance.
A disco was in full swing when he got there, but there was no sign of the woman he’d come in search of, and when he asked of the middle-aged disc jockey in charge where she might be found he said, ‘Leonie has gone home to the yurt. She’s had a stressful day from the sound of it. Do you want me to give her a message?’
Callum shook his head. ‘No, I need to speak to her personally. Where is it that you say she’s gone?’
‘She lives on the yurtery on the far side of the river.’
‘You mean she lives in a tent?’
‘Er, yes, I suppose you could say that,’ was the reply. ‘Hers is the third one from the entrance to the site.’ And with a frown he went on to say, ‘I’m not sure if I should be telling you this. I don’t know who you are, do I?’
‘We were both involved in treating an injured motorcyclist up on the road to the moors earlier on today and I’ve come to report on his condition, that’s all. I’m one of the doctors from Heatherdale Hospital,’ he explained, and off he went without further delay as hunger pangs were beginning to make themselves felt.
He’d noticed the development of the latest idea in camping at the other side of the river while he’d been having his breakfast that morning. It was known by some as ‘glamping’. A reference to the attractions of a yurt as against the basics of a tent. He was curious to know how they worked as permanent dwellings.
So when Leonie opened the door of the round, glass-roofed construction to him a short time later his glance went immediately to the décor behind her and he saw that the latest ‘must have’ for those who wanted something small and cheerful to live in was attractively furnished and quite a lot bigger than it had appeared from the outside. Also it made his solidly expensive furnishings in the apartment seem dull and boring by comparison.
But he wasn’t there out of curiosity and was not even sure if he’d got the right place, as the woman observing him anxiously didn’t look like the woman of those moments on the hillside. Gone were the woolly hat and shapeless jacket.
She was wearing a pale blue dress with matching sandals, had thick and curling chestnut hair that framed her face damply from recent washing, and was observing him in a way that told him he hadn’t come to the wrong place after all.
‘Come in,’ she invited, and as she stepped back to let him pass asked anxiously, ‘So how is our patient now?’
Callum was still in his walking clothes and before he could reply she followed one question with another.
‘Have you only just got back?’
He nodded. ‘Yes. I operated on him myself, and the news is that he is in Intensive Care at the moment but may be put on to one of the wards in the morning.’
‘How serious are his injuries?’ she continued.
‘Serious enough, but he’ll recover,’ he told her. ‘What about your group? Did you get them safely back to base?’
‘Er, yes, no casualties amongst them, I’m pleased to say.’
Leonie was conscious that he was mellower now than he’d been out there on the way to the moors. She’d hardly expected him to seek her out in person to report on the motorcyclist, so why was he here, standing before her awkwardly and making stilted comments?
‘I’ve come to apologise for my abruptness when I came upon you and your group at the scene of what was a nasty accident. My excuse, such as it is, may sound trivial, but I was looking forward to some time on my own in the wide-open spaces after six months of hard grind in the States.
‘The thought of having two days to myself before going back to work on Monday morning seemed like precious gold in my busy working life. It isn’t often that I get my priorities wrong, but maybe I did this morning, and I’m sorry.’
‘When you appeared I felt that you were heaven-sent but could hardly be described as angelic.’
He laughed. ‘That is fair comment. I’m known more as a tartar than an angel in my working life.’ In reality work was the only life he had these days since his catastrophe of a marriage. ‘So, do you accept my apology?’
‘Yes, of course,’ she replied.
‘So what about the bike? Did you have time to call in at the garage to have it collected?’
‘They’re picking the bike up but won’t be sending you the bill. I’ve paid it.’
He frowned. ‘That is not what I asked of you.’
‘Maybe, but that is what I’ve done as I felt that I was partly to blame for not insisting that my group walk in single file. It was because they were all over the road that the young guy on the bike lost control.’
‘Even so,’ he protested.
‘Please don’t make an issue of it,’ she told him steadily. ‘I did what I felt was right and don’t want to discuss it any further.’
‘All right, so be it,’ he agreed. ‘Have you eaten since you got back?’
‘I haven’t yet,’ she replied cautiously.
‘I was planning to eat at the restaurant at the hotel by the river in a while. If you won’t let me pay for the removal of the motorcycle, can I take you for a meal to make up for it?’
‘I’m afraid not,’ she told him, imagining the gossip that would spring up at the hospital if word got out she’d been seen dining with her boss.
‘A friend of mine who works full time at the community centre should have taken the kids on the walk today, but I had to take her place as she’d picked up some sort of a flu virus and sounded quite ill when we spoke this morning. So I need to go round to see how she is and look after her. I will have something to eat while I’m there, but thank you for the invitation.’
‘Of course. Maybe we’ll meet again some time and I’ll be able to make amends, as I do like to repay my debts.’
‘You don’t owe me anything, please believe me! It was the least I could do for the poor young guy and compared to what you’ve done for him it was nothing.’
* * *
When Leonie arrived at Julie’s studio flat, she found that her friend was feeling much better. She was sitting up and taking notice as Leonie made them a meal and was wide-eyed with astonishment to hear about Callum Warrender’s invitation.
‘Weren’t you the lucky one!’ she gasped. ‘Was he surprised to know that you are one of the staff on the orthopaedic unit?’
‘No, because I didn’t tell him,’ Leonie told her. ‘I said I was a nurse, but either he wasn’t interested or in fairness to the man he was too tuned in to the injuries of the motorcyclist to get involved in chit-chat.’
‘So on Monday morning all will be revealed between the two of you.’
‘Maybe, maybe not,’ Leonie said. ‘He almost didn’t recognise me earlier this evening, out of my walking gear. The uniform might really throw him off track, and anyway, they say that Warrender isn’t a woman chaser. That he’s had a bad experience that’s put him off relationships.’
‘In what way?’ Julie questioned.
‘I don’t know any details. I haven’t been on the wards all that long. He seems like the kind of doctor who will only see nurses as a pair of hands without their faces registering.
‘Anyway, enough about Callum Warrender. How have you been feeling while I’ve been up on the moors?’
Julie shook her head. ‘I do feel a lot better now.’
‘Is Brendan coming round later?’
‘Yes. We’ve started making wedding plans. I’d be delighted if you’d agree to be my chief bridesmaid, along with my young sister, if that is all right with you, Leonie. It won’t bring back past heartache, will it?’
‘No, of course not. The past is the past,’ she told her evasively. ‘I’m over that and if Brendan is coming to talk about wedding arrangements I’ll be off as soon as I’ve tidied the kitchen. I don’t need to tell you not to go to the centre tomorrow. I know what Sundays are like there with every kid in the neighbourhood turning up, but you aren’t fully recovered yet.’
‘I’ve already phoned in to say that I won’t be there,’ she replied, ‘so don’t worry about me, Leonie, but do let me know what happens on Monday with you know who.’
‘I can give you the answer to that now,’ she said laughingly. ‘Nothing is going to happen. Callum Warrender is not my type.’
* * *
Back at home Leonie felt at a loose end. Julie’s reference to the affair she’d had with one of the senior anaesthetists at the London hospital where she’d been employed before coming to Heatherdale had brought back vivid memories of the pain and heartache she’d felt on discovering that he was married. But that had been nothing compared to the raw agony of losing the baby that she’d been expecting.
Since then she’d been wary of any other relationships as the hurt of being deceived in such a way hadn’t yet healed; it was still new and agonising. Moving to Heatherdale had been about making a fresh start, but that couldn’t erase the memories of the past.
Still, she was genuinely thrilled for Julie and Brendan. They made a strong and devoted couple. However, it was difficult to imagine ever being in that situation herself.
To be asked to be a bridesmaid was a different matter. She was honoured that her friend had asked her and she’d be proud to support her on her big day. She wondered what sort of dress Julie had in mind.
Her reverie was interrupted by the couple from the yurt next door, who were having a few folks round for supper. They asked if she would like to join them. As she accepted the invitation her glance was on the hotel on the opposite side of the river and the memory came back of the one she’d turned down and was now wishing she hadn’t.
It would have given her the chance to tell Callum Warrender what she did for a living, instead of him discovering on Monday morning in front of all the ward staff of the orthopaedic unit of Heatherdale Children’s Hospital that their acquaintance was not going to be a fleeting thing. Now she still had that doubtful pleasure to come.
* * *
Callum sat in the hotel lounge, having a nightcap before returning to his apartment.
He should have been feeling content but he wasn’t. The night before he’d been full of the pleasure of being back home and enjoying the weekend ahead, but the day that would soon be over had been full of uncertainties.
The fear that they would lose the boy on the bike when there’d been no heartbeat had been allayed when he and the woman who had been at the scene of the crash had worked on him and he’d begun to breathe again.
That had been followed by him operating on the young man and he’d had no idea what lay ahead regarding that until he’d seen the X-rays, but as usual he’d been in top form and all was going to be well with the lad.
Then when he’d arrived back in Heatherdale he’d sought the Leonie person out to apologise for being bossy and abrupt and, totally out of character, when he’d discovered that she’d paid the garage for the removal of the motorcycle had invited her to dine with him and been refused, which had turned it into a very short reacquaintance.
He’d made a point of telling her why he wanted to take her for a meal and there’d been no finesse in the way he’d done it, so it was small wonder that she’d refused and come up with an excuse that could have been the result of some quick thinking.
Yet, if he was being honest with himself, hadn’t he issued the invitation because he’d seen her in different clothes, in a pretty blue dress with her chestnut hair down and the merest hint of make-up, so bringing a moment’s brightness to what had been a far from happy day? Or maybe was it because he’d been intrigued by the determination not to be told what to do by him that he’d seen in the green eyes looking into his.
But tomorrow was another day and he was going to let it make up for this one. He finished his drink and headed home. As he glanced towards the bridge that spanned the river between their two residences he heard laughter filtering over on the night air, saw a flash of blue, and wondered what had happened to the sick friend.
When he arrived at the apartment there was an email from his ex-wife, Shelley, to say that she was getting married again to her boss, hoped he would wish her well, and that they were going to live in Australia. He gazed at the screen for a few thoughtful moments and then switched the message off, wondering as he did so why he wasn’t surprised.
* * *
As Callum walked the length of the corridor that led to the orthopaedic unit on Monday morning his step was light. He was back on his own patch. Back amongst the young patients who came to him for treatment for the long-term or shorter illnesses that were blighting their lives.
It was a place where he’d performed miracles and his staff followed them up with excellent nursing, and nowhere was he happier than there.
The time in America had been rewarding and well spent, but on thinking of the persuasion that had been used to encourage him to join them he only needed to look around him at the familiar sights of Heatherdale Children’s Hospital to know that the Americans had never stood a chance.
Here he was and here he was going to stay. He hoped that there wouldn’t be any changes in the staff that he had left behind when he’d gone to the States, as they were a well-organised team.
He heard his name called and turned to see his friend Ryan Ferguson, head of the neuro unit, approaching from behind.
‘Welcome back, Callum. It’s great to have you on board again.’
It’s great to be back,’ Callum told him. ‘They wanted me to stay but this is where I belong.’
‘Me too,’ Ryan agreed, and followed it up by saying, ‘Melissa and I are having a belated garden party next Saturday afternoon and we would be really pleased if you could come. You remember how we had our two houses made into one? Well, it’s to celebrate that. So how are you fixed? Will you be able to join us?’
He smiled. ‘Yes, of course. Since Shelley left for a more interesting life my diary has been empty, just as when she was here it was always full. We never did find a happy medium.’
‘Do you ever hear from her?’ Ryan asked.
‘Yes, as a matter of fact. There was a message from her on Saturday night. She’s getting married again, to her boss, and going to live in Australia.
‘I don’t think there could be two people anywhere as incompatible as we were. I won’t make that mistake again, Ryan. Marriage is not for me, but I’m delighted that you and Melissa are so happy,’
Callum checked his watch. ‘I’d better get on. I’ll see you both on Saturday.’
CHAPTER TWO
LEONIE DIDN’T HAVE a car. She cycled to work each day through the centre of the beautiful old market town with its gracious Victorian buildings and famous spa that people came to from far and wide to take of its healing waters.
Once the town was left behind she pedalled into open country for a short distance until she came to the hospital, built from the same local stone as the rest of the buildings in Heatherdale.
It was Monday morning and she had arrived earlier than usual with a feeling that was a mixture of expectation and unease. She was worried about Callum’s reaction when he realised that they would be close colleagues.
She’d often heard his name spoken since coming to join the staff at the hospital as ward sister in the orthopaedic unit, but had taken little notice as she hadn’t known the man. He’d gone to America before she’d started there and therefore was of little interest, but after Saturday’s happenings all that had changed. He’d probably think her crazy for not mentioning at some time that she was a nurse at the Heatherdale Children’s Hospital, where he was head of Orthopaedics.
Yet there’d been nothing to stop him asking what branch of nursing she was involved in when she’d told him what her occupation was as they’d knelt beside the injured youth, but he’d been too high and mighty to ask such questions and probably wouldn’t have been interested if she’d told him, which meant that today he might have cause to regret asking her out in the evening when he’d arrived back from Manchester.
Prodded by a sense of duty, he had sought her out and amazed her by asking her to join him for a meal, an invitation that she’d refused with little graciousness.
Soon, very soon, when she’d fastened her bike up securely and taken off her outdoor clothes, they were going to be in each other’s company again, and considering that he’d been in her thoughts ever since Saturday night she supposed she ought to be relieved that the uncomfortable meeting would soon be over and then the less she saw of Callum Warrender the better. Though how she was going to manage that when they’d be required to work closely together, she didn’t know.
* * *
‘Good morning everyone,’ Callum announced as he strolled into the two-ward complex that was the hospital’s orthopaedic centre. He was greeted by happy voices while Leonie, in a uniform that was a darker blue than the rest, bent over the bed of a fretful toddler and kept her head down.
As his keen gaze swept over those present, Callum asked crisply, ‘Where’s Janet?’
‘She’s taken early retirement to look after her mother,’ one of the nurses told him with a glance in Leonie’s direction.
Well, there was no avoiding it now. Leonie straightened up and looked Callum in the eye.
‘I have been appointed ward sister in her place, Dr Warrender. I’m afraid that the opportunity to mention that didn’t present itself on Saturday when we met unexpectedly.’
Callum was dumbstruck. She had told him she was a nurse but he’d been too busy running the show to ask anything further. Two surprises on his first morning back he could do without.
Used to working with Janet Fairfax as sister-in-charge, he was sorry he hadn’t been there when she’d left. She’d been totally reliable, even though she had family commitments that had kept her on the go. Leonie had a lot to live up to.
He gave a grim smile. He had actually thought he wasn’t likely to meet up with her again. So much for forward thinking.
‘Carry on, everyone,’ he said briskly He turned to address Leonie directly.
‘In a moment, Sister, can you spare a few moments to update me about our current patients?’
She was still soothing the fractious infant but nodded her agreement.
‘Then I will see you in my office in ten minutes, Sister...er, I’m afraid I don’t know your surname.’
‘It is Mitchell,’ she said levelly. Returning to her work, she placed the now pacified infant back in his cot and went to speak to parents. They’d been there all night beside their baby, who had been born with a deformation of one of its feet and been operated on the previous day to correct the problem.
All had gone satisfactorily and the relief surgeon who had been filling in for Callum had been pleased with the result of what had been his last task before moving to a Manchester hospital for a spell.
‘We are so relieved that our baby’s feet are now normal,’ the mother said. ‘We were going to wait for Dr Warrender to come back, but the chance came and we couldn’t let it pass by. We have an older child who was born with the same problem and he operated on her, so it would seem that the fault might be genetic.’
‘And if it is, we aren’t having any more,’ the baby’s father said grimly.
When Leonie finished her chat, Callum was at the door of the ward office, waiting for her, and after saying goodbye to the parents she moved towards him and was watched with interest by other staff members.
‘Take a seat, please, Sister,’ he said, pointing to a nearby chair as she closed the office door behind her. He sat down behind his desk. ‘Why on earth didn’t you tell me that you were a nurse employed in my unit when we were involved in the catastrophe up on the moors road?’
‘It was hardly the moment to start giving you my life history,’ she replied. ‘I told you I was a nurse to reassure you that I was capable of assisting you, which I did. I wouldn’t have expected you to want to know anything else at that moment, and in any case there was nothing to stop you from asking me in which area of nursing I was employed. I came to this hospital a couple of months after you went to America when my predecessor left at short notice because of her mother’s health.’
‘Where did you work before?’
‘At a large hospital in London. This position became vacant just as I’d decided that I needed a change And so I made the move up here.’
‘Right,’ he said, getting to his feet. ‘Now that’s cleared up, we’ll do a ward round so I can familiarise myself with our patients.’
‘Yes, of course,’ she said, and led the way to the first bed, where a ten-year-old boy was engrossed in the tablet that he was holding.
‘This is Daniel,’ she said. ‘He ran across the road when the lights were red, was knocked down by a car and has two broken legs. He is due to go home tomorrow on crutches.’
‘So maybe next time he will wait for the green man,’ Callum said as he read the notes that were clipped to the end of the bed. When he’d done that he lifted the bed covers to observe heavy bruising in parts that were not covered by a plaster cast. He turned to Leonie. ‘I shall want to see X-rays of his fractures, and when he is discharged make sure he’s given an early appointment to attend my clinic in Outpatients.’
As they went from bed to bed Leonie described in detail the problems of each young patient and as he listened Callum was aware that Janet Fairfax had been good but she was even better. One thing was very plain to see. Leonie Mitchell was a natural with children, which was more than he had ever been able to say about his ex-wife. Shelley had held no yearnings to bring children into the world, which was something she’d kept quiet about until she’d had his wedding ring on her finger.
It had been the first of many things that they hadn’t agreed on as they’d discovered that sexual chemistry alone wasn’t enough to make a good marriage.
As they moved from bed to bed it was obvious that Leonie knew exactly what upset each child and, equally, what comforted them, and the only thing that was spoiling his return to base was the fact that he hadn’t known that the yurt dweller with the glinting chestnut hair and wide green eyes was a member of his staff. He supposed it should have been a pleasant surprise, but he felt a bit as if he’d been made a fool of.
Their round was interrupted when Callum was paged to attend A and E.
Leonie breathed a sigh of relief as he left the ward, before remembering that she hadn’t asked Callum for an update on the young biker they’d treated. She’d make a point of asking him later that day.
* * *
It was hours before Callum came back to the ward, looking grimly preoccupied. Leonie hoped that it wasn’t anything to do with her appearance in his working life. It seemed that it wasn’t. A child had been badly injured when an ancient stone stump in one of the town’s parks had fallen over onto her.
‘Her name is Carys and she’s seven years old,’ he told the staff. ‘She has a fractured shoulder and two broken arms, which I’ve dealt with. She will shortly be coming up here to be nursed. Needless to say, she is very weepy and traumatised, and being so young doesn’t realise that she missed death by inches. Luckily her father saw the stump toppling and pulled her away, but not fast enough to prevent some injuries.’ He glanced at Leonie. ‘So work your magic on this little girl, please.’
‘Yes, of course,’ she replied. ‘We all will, won’t we?’
On his way back from the operating theatre Callum had thought about his childlessness in a brief moment of sadness, and pondered, as he’d done many times, how Shelley could be so lacking in maternal feelings. Yet he was aware that it was the woman who inherited the pains and problems of pregnancy and giving birth, and for any who were not prepared to go along that road there had to be understanding.
But in the case of his ex-wife it had been more of not wanting to be bothered with what she called the shackles of motherhood. She had wanted parties and expensive clothes, holidays abroad, what to her was the good life, and when the demands of his calling had sometimes come first and he’d had to refuse, she would go with friends or relations, not prepared to be denied her pleasures.
The marriage had lasted three years, with them growing further apart all the time, and when it had ended with a huge fall-out about that very thing, his only feelings had been of relief and a firm intent to steer clear of marriage in the future.
After telling the ward staff about the injured small girl who’d been hit by the falling stump, Callum went into the office and Leonie followed him to ask about the motorcyclist of two days ago.
‘I spoke with his parents last night,’ he informed her. ‘They wanted to thank us for what we did for their son. He has been moved from Intensive Care and is now in a side ward, so it seems as if he is progressing as I thought he would.’
‘How about his mobility and the heart stoppage that we brought him out of?’ she asked anxiously.
‘His heartbeat is now regular, but regarding any movement, with two fractured legs it will be slow progress, whatever the doctors over there decide to do.
‘By the way, I called at the garage on my way here this morning and they’d picked up the motorcycle as soon as you’d been in to ask them to do so.
‘When his parents phoned I told them where it was and they’ve asked the garage to repair it for him. They are insisting on reimbursing you for the money you paid the garage to collect it.’
Before she could reply their patient arrived from Recovery and without further discussion she went to supervise the little girl’s transfer to the ward with her traumatised parents by her side.
* * *
The day had run its course and the staff of the orthopaedic unit were homeward bound. As Leonie pedalled out of the main gates of the hospital Callum passed her in a smart car and pulled up a few yards ahead.
He wound the window down. ‘It’s good to have you on the unit, Leonie. You have the right touch with the children and having read your application form from when you applied for the position you also have all the necessary medical knowledge and experience for the position.’
The colour rose in her cheeks and he groaned inwardly at the way he’d sounded so patronising when that was the last thing he’d wanted to be. If he had any doubts as to that was how he’d come across, her reply confirmed it.
‘I would have thought that the opinion of the person who interviewed me when I applied for the job would have been enough to reassure you with regard to my abilities,’ she said coolly, ‘unless, of course, I was proving unsatisfactory.’
‘Certainly not that,’ he said. ‘Surely a word of praise can’t be unwelcome?’
‘No, of course not,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘There’s no need to be,’ he assured her. He was about to drive off but had one last thing to say that he feared would also not please her.
‘You are going to let the biker’s parents pay you for having the bike brought to the garage, I hope? If it had been the child of either of us that had been hurt and strangers had shown them such kindness, I think that we would want to do the same, don’t you?’
Her reaction surprised him. ‘Yes. I suppose so,’ she agreed, almost choking on the words, and as she started to pedal away from him he saw tears on her lashes and wondered what that was all about.
* * *
Leonie called at Julie’s flat on the way home to make sure that she really was over the bug that she’d picked up and found her on the point of returning from a busy day at the community centre looking fully recovered.
They were good friends and noticing Leonie’s red-rimmed eyes Julie was concerned. ‘Have you been crying?’
Leonie managed a smile. ‘Just a moment’s blub, that’s all.’
‘A sick child twisted your heartstrings?’
‘Yes, that was it.’ No way was she going to go into details about a momentary return to the past. She quickly changed the subject. ‘So how are wedding plans progressing?’
‘We’ve decided on a date in June. I’d like to be a June bride, and guess what?’
‘Go on, tell me. What?’
‘We were going to have the reception at a nice hotel but have had a better offer. The council is having the community centre remodelled and have invited us to have our wedding reception there after a service in the church because we are both staff. What do you think?’
‘That would be lovely.’ No way was she going to let the mention of weddings and children turn the day into an even more painful occasion.
* * *
It was Saturday after what Leonie felt had been a strange week on the unit, getting used to Callum’s presence. But she’d adjusted and admitted to herself that, whatever their original meeting had been like, working with him was a pleasure.
To her surprise, the young biker’s parents had called at the yurt one evening to repay what they insisted they owed her, and remembering what Callum had said she’d graciously accepted it. They had stayed for a while and had told her over coffee how much they felt indebted to Dr Warrender, who had given of his time and expertise to make sure that their son would walk again without difficulty in the future.
‘He spoke very highly of you,’ the young guy’s mother had said. ‘Of the assistance you gave him and of how you had given up your Saturday to take those kids out into the countryside in place of someone who was sick.’
‘And we believe that you also work in the orthopaedic section of the hospital?’ his father commented.
‘Er, yes, that is so, although Dr Warrender and I have only recently started working together,’ she told him, though it seemed like for ever.
* * *
That afternoon Leonie took care in getting ready to attend the garden party that Melissa and Ryan Ferguson were having to celebrate the joining of their two houses and, even more delightful, the wonderful entwining of their lives.
She’d got to know Melissa, who was a part-time doctor alongside her husband in the neuro unit of the hospital, when between them they had jointly brought back to health a young patient with a cerebral problem who had spinal problems from a fall. They had been firm friends ever since.
* * *
Callum had spent the morning up on his beloved moors, but had returned before lunch to get ready for the garden party. If the invitation had come from anyone other than Melissa and Ryan he wouldn’t be going.
He’d gone to enough parties to last him a lifetime to please Shelley when she’d been around, and ever since the divorce he had toned down his social life until it was almost non-existent, which was going to the other extreme, he told himself sometimes. Today he was going to go through the ritual to please his friends and then would slope off somewhere.
* * *
As he parked outside the crescent of elegant town houses where Ryan and Melissa had joined theirs together on the occasion of their marriage, he could hear music and voices coming from the large garden at the back and hoped that his arrival was going to go unnoticed.
Yet he could hardly shuffle in amongst those there without greeting his host and hostess and presenting their two children with the presents he’d brought them from America. Rhianna and Martha were special and he couldn’t help but envy Ryan and Melissa their family.
A taxi pulled up at the kerb edge behind him and when he turned his eyes widened. Leonie Mitchell got out, looking fresh and relaxed in a pretty floral dress that matched her colouring exactly. When she straightened up and saw him standing there her face reddened.
‘Hello,’ she said uncomfortably. ‘I didn’t know that you would be here.’
‘Ryan and Melissa are friends of mine,’ he explained, and as two small voices from not far away called his name, ‘and Rhianna and Martha are delightful. They will be here in a moment, eager to see what I’ve brought them from America. Being around them makes up for a lot of things.’
Leonie didn’t know what he meant by that but maybe she wasn’t supposed to. Just as he’d said they would, the two daughters of their hosts came rushing from the garden and threw themselves into his arms.
‘So how are my girls?’ he said laughingly. ‘Ready to see what I’ve brought you back from America?’
‘Yes!’ they chorused.
As they delved into the gift bags he’d handed to them he told Leonie, ‘I’ve brought them both mini-cheerleader outfits, complete with pompoms.’
Leonie observed him in surprise.
He laughed. ‘I may not have any kids of my own but I see enough of them to know what to buy them.’
‘Yes, I can see that,’ she said.
‘We’d better go and say hello to our hosts, don’t you think?’ he suggested.
* * *
It looked as if they had come together, and as they followed the two girls to the garden, where there was a good smattering of hospital folk amongst the guests, he said to Ryan, ‘Why didn’t you tell me that my ward sister was coming so that I could have given her a lift?’
‘Sorry about that, Leonie,’ Ryan told her, and turning back to Callum said in laughing retaliation, ‘Why didn’t you warn us that we were going to have to provide loud music all the time for our two cheerleaders?’
As they wandered around the gathering together Leonie was conscious of eyes upon her. She hoped their colleagues weren’t speculating too much about them.
The more she saw of Callum the more she was beginning to like him, but past experiences had made her cautious, aware of the hurts that others could dish out to the unwary, and no way was she travelling down that road again.
She knew Callum was divorced. For what reasons she didn’t know and didn’t want to, but it was pleasant to spend this sort of time with him in an easy atmosphere, away from the hospital, with no strings attached.
To his surprise, Callum found that he was enjoying himself amongst the mixed gathering which was the only kind of socialising he’d involved himself in since Shelley’s departure.
Whether the same applied to his companion was another matter.
Leonie had seemed happy enough when they’d first arrived and later when she’d chatted to her friend Melissa, but as time passed he sensed an atmosphere of withdrawal about her that hadn’t been there before, and wondered where it was coming from.
The party was due to finish around seven o’clock and he offered to drive her home.
‘It’s kind of you to offer,’ she told him, ‘but I don’t want to break into your evening. A taxi will be fine, thanks just the same.’
She left the party soon after saying her goodbyes to Melissa and Ryan, and when she looked across at Callum he was on a small putting green with Rhianna and Martha.
He was good with children, both inside and outside the hospital, but hadn’t any of his own, as far as she knew, which brought to mind one of the nursing staff saying that his wife had not been motherly-minded.
So they had one thing in common—they’d both been deprived of one of the great joys of life, but under different circumstances. On that bleak thought she left the party and decided to walk home as the sun was still high in the sky.
As she unlocked the door of the yurt Leonie glanced across to the other side of the river to where the luxury apartment complex where Callum lived was bathed in the last rays of the sun. A part of her wished that she’d let him bring her home instead of being so unsociable.
But deep down inside she knew that to refuse had been the right thing to do. Gone were the days when she’d been like putty in the hands of a man, and she was being drawn towards Callum Warrender like he was a magnet as the days went by. It hadn’t been that long since she’d been drawn to another man with disastrous results and she was wasn’t going to fall into that pit of misery ever again.
Her mouth softened at the memory of Callum’s rapport with Rhianna and Martha. He would make some child a loving father one day if he ever married again.
As she slid beneath the bed covers at a time when most of the adult population were setting out to enjoy themselves on a Saturday night, Leonie’s last mind picture of the day before sleep claimed her was of Callum playing with Rhianna and Martha at the garden party.
* * *
When the party was over Callum drove around the small market town that held so much attraction for so many and faced up to the fact that Leonie was not yearning for his company, as other women were.
She’d refused his invitation to dinner, taken a dim view of the praise he’d bestowed upon her in the hospital car park, and lastly had turned down his offer to drive her home. There would be no more gestures of friendship on his part. He had no intention of changing what he had vowed to stick with in life after Shelley. He was content in his solitary state and wouldn’t have given Leonie a second glance if it hadn’t been for the traumatic circumstances of their first meeting.
CHAPTER THREE
AS THE DAYS passed Leonie felt that her refusal of a lift home from the garden party had set the pattern for her relationship with Callum away from the hospital. But inside it could not be faulted with each of them extremely aware of the other’s dedication to their calling.
Leonie was so incredible with their young patients, Callum thought, both in her efficient nursing of them and insistence that her staff show them the same degree of care. For her own part she was so gentle with the children that he thought if Shelley hadn’t had any inclination towards motherhood Leonie Mitchell certainly did. It seemed incredible that she wasn’t already married with a family.
If it had been fear that was behind his ex-wife’s determination never to have children he could have understood it, but it was the thought of losing her fantastic figure, and what she saw as the ghastly performance of breastfeeding, which he’d pointed out was optional, plus the loss of sleep when it was teething time.
* * *
When Easter came and Heatherdale was full of sightseers over the holiday weekend, the magic of the moors and the dales would be pulling him outdoors and Callum had put himself down as on call for emergencies and was hoping he wouldn’t be needed.
He’d noted that Leonie’s name was top of the staff list for Good Friday. Her social life didn’t seem very hectic. He wondered what she did in her spare time.
Reminding himself that he had been shown quite clearly that she was a very private person away from the hospital, he put the concern out of his mind and switched his thoughts to something just as basic but more pleasant—remembering to get Rhianna and Martha the Easter eggs that he always bought at this time.
* * *
There was a brass band playing in one of the parks as Leonie cycled home after work at the end of Good Friday, and propping the bike against a nearby hedge she stopped to listen. There were lots of folk about. The café not far away was doing a brisk trade and she realised she was tired and hungry.
Eating there would save having to cook when she got home. She almost walked straight out again, though, when the first thing that registered was Callum and the Ferguson family seated at a table nearby.
Before she could depart they’d seen her. Melissa called for her to join them and there was no way she could refuse. There was an empty seat next to Callum, which she had no choice but to take.
He started the conversation.
‘What sort of a day have you had?’
‘Busy as usual,’ she replied.
‘But no emergencies or I would have heard from you,’ he commented. ‘I had my phone with me all the time.’
Leonie smiled. What was he expecting her to say to that? He didn’t have to explain himself. No one worked harder than he did.
A waitress was hovering and when she’d ordered her meal Melissa asked, ‘So what have you planned for tonight, Leonie?’
‘They’re having a disco at the community centre and I said I’d go along to help,’ she explained, aware of Callum’s nearness.
She wasn’t expecting any comment from him. He’d got the message that her life away from the hospital was a private thing, if life was the right description of lonely evenings, brightened only by an occasional visit from Julie either going or returning from the centre.
She wondered sometimes why she’d opted to continue her nursing career with children after what had happened to her own baby, but there was comfort in being able to do something for the children of others, as there had been no opportunity to help her baby. It had been too late from the start.
When they’d all finished eating they went outside to listen to the band again. Callum hadn’t left her side.
‘I know you don’t like me behaving as if we have any relationship apart from the hospital, but you need have no concerns about that. My life is mapped out how I want it to be and I presume that yours is the same, so do we have an understanding?’ he said in a low voice.
She nodded bleakly, thinking that his lifestyle might be from choice, but hers had been thrust upon her, and for evermore she would be wary of giving herself to another man, whoever they might be.
‘So how about I come along to that disco too tonight? I can give you a lift there and back to save your legs,’ he suggested. ‘I’ve nothing planned for tonight and I’d like to help.’
‘Yes, all right,’ she agreed weakly, with the thought that he might have cleared the air, as he described it, but she hadn’t, and wasn’t likely to in the near future because it would hurt too much to talk about her past.
Still, Callum had made a kind gesture and she didn’t want to make a fuss and draw even more attention to her unhappiness. She bid her farewells to the group and headed back to get ready for the evening ahead.
* * *
When Callum pulled up outside the yurt at seven o’clock Leonie was ready and waiting, dressed in jeans and a smart sweater and looking revitalised after a shower.
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Abigail Gordon
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: Heartbroken, Leonie Mitchell is throwing herself into her work. Saving her little patients in a new countryside hospital seems like the best way to deal with the loss of her baby and her relationship. But Leonie hasn’t counted on her charismatic new boss, surgeon Callum Warrender. She can’t deny her attraction to Callum, nor can she ignore the comfort she finds in his arms…. Could he be the key to healing this shy nurse’s broken heart?