A Baby to Care for (Mills & Boon Medical) (7 page)

‘On the finger.’ Trapper started to calm down but still kept twitching as he held out the finger in question.

‘A spider bit you on the finger?’ he checked, unable to see any marks.

‘No. Goofy did.’

Dex relaxed a bit and took a look at the finger. ‘Hmm. It looks OK to me.’

‘No. It’s not OK. Goofy bit me. He’s naughty.’

‘You was the one hittin’ him with a stick,’ Smitty pointed out to his son. Iris and Bub were stabilising Diamond by inserting an IV line, administering the antivenene, splinting the area and doing the required observations to ensure the boy’s heart rate remained at a normal pace. The faster his blood was pumping, the faster the poison could spread around his body. Dex returned his attention back to Trapper, quite satisfied that Diamond was receiving the best care this clinic could offer in the form of their new paediatrician.

‘Hey, mate. I’ve got a question for you.’

‘What?’ Trapper looked at him a little sceptically but still kept trembling.

‘What happens when a goanna bites you?’

‘It hurts.’

‘Yep. And then what?’

‘And then your whole body starts to shake and tremble.’ His little brown eyes were growing wide with panic as he spoke the words. ‘And then when you can’t stop shaking, you know all the goanna spit is in your body and it’s like all over the place and like everywhere. And then you die.’ Trapper looked seriously up at Dex. ‘Am I gonna die, Doc Dex?’

‘Not at all.’ Dex made sure his answer was serious, even though he was hard pressed not to laugh at what Trapper had
been saying. ‘I do have another question, mate. Who told you about this reaction to a goanna bite?’

‘Glaston.’

Dex nodded. ‘Your big brother. Right.’ He looked at Smitty. ‘Makes sense now.’

Smitty shook his head. ‘I’m gonna have a little talk with Glast when I get home. Rotten kid. He knows how his little brothers listen to everything he says.’

‘No doubt he said it as a joke.’ Dex kept his words quiet, not wanting to really upset Trapper or embarrass him. Thankfully, the six-year-old had stopped squirming around and was lying quite still. Dex cleaned and bandaged the boy’s finger, pleased to see that Iris and Bub really did have everything under control where poor little Diamond was concerned.

‘Now, Trapper,’ Dex said, ‘I want you to know that your finger isn’t going to fall off. Everything is going to be fine. You’re not sick. In fact, you’re in very good health. What Glaston said was wrong.’

Iris listened with half an ear to what Dex was saying to calm the boy down. She was pleased Trapper was now settled as he’d been causing Diamond some distress. ‘Your brother’s fine,’ Iris told the five-year-old. ‘Dr Dexter is explaining everything to Trapper and soon you’ll both be up and running about the place, causing more havoc. For now, though, you’ve been a very lucky boy.’

She and Bub continued to treat Diamond but Iris couldn’t help sneaking glances at Dex. She’d been so aware of him as they’d looked after their patients and she’d been impressed with the way he hadn’t talked down to the six-year-old but instead had figured out what was wrong and then handled it well. A lot of doctors had difficulty treating children but it appeared Dex was a man of many talents.

She looked back at Diamond, focusing her thoughts on what she was doing rather than on her colleague. It was quite
clear that Dex Crawford needed women to fall at his feet, to be under his thrall, and because she was resisting, he was working harder to ensure he snared her in the end.

It didn’t seem to matter that she was scarred, that her body was a mass of mismatched skin and several grafts. It didn’t seem to matter that she simply wasn’t interested in any sort of relationship other than a purely professional one. He needed her to walk behind him with her tongue dragging on the ground, hanging on his every word. He was a playboy and, as such, he was most definitely not the type of man she was interested in.

So he was good-looking. So he had charm and charisma. So he knew how to make a girl feel special just by giving her his undivided attention. That didn’t mean she had to fall at his feet. It didn’t mean she would be aware of his presence even before she saw him. It wouldn’t happen. She would fight it because she was strong, she was a fighter, and her life would go on long after she’d left the little outback mining town of Didja.

When Diamond was stable, Iris turned to face the boys’ parents. ‘I’d like Diamond to stay in overnight so we can monitor him.’

Diamond’s mother was still standing in the corner and at this news she started to shake her head from side to side. Smitty went to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘He’ll be OK. He’s got Doc Dex and the new sheila to look after him. He’ll be as right as rain.’ Smitty looked around the room. ‘And there’s Bub. You trust Bub. She won’t let anything happen to our Diamond.’

‘No way in the world. Come along, darl,’ Bub said, taking the woman by the hand. ‘Let’s go outside and get some fresh air and I’ll explain everything. Diamond’ll be apples.’ Bub took Diamond’s mother out of the hospital and Iris turned to face Dex.

‘How’s Trapper?’

‘Trapper’s been beaut. What a hero. Survived a goanna bite
and lives to tell the tale. The kids at school are going to be rapt to hear the story on Monday.’

‘And my story, too,’ Diamond said weakly.

‘And yours, too, mate.’ Dex walked over to where Diamond lay on the hospital bed and smiled down at the boy. ‘Two brave heroes in the one family. Smitty, you should be right proud of your boys.’

They continued chatting, keeping the two boys at ease, while Iris found the necessary forms and filled them in. Even though this place didn’t have a lot of red tape, there were still rules and procedures to be followed, and Iris was the type of doctor who liked her
i
’s dotted and her
t
’s crossed.

Dex continued to watch her out the corner of his eye as he joked with Smitty and the boys. He knew he’d been lying to himself about only wanting to have a professional friendship with Iris. The woman was enchanting.

He wanted to know more about her, wanted to talk to her, to find out about her past, about her scars, to help her in any way he could. He was having difficulty controlling his thoughts where she was concerned. A woman, so vibrant, so beautiful, and yet when he’d looked deeply into her eyes before he’d left last night, he’d seen the tortured soul beneath the exterior.

He wanted to know her, to be able to look at her scars, to touch them, to kiss them. He wanted to pull her hair from the plait, to see how it looked floating about her face, her shoulders, down her back. He wanted to caress the smattering of freckles across her nose and he wanted the opportunity to really taste those lips.

Never before had a woman consumed his thoughts as much as Iris. She’d been married. She’d lost her husband and that would have changed her. He wondered what she’d been like before her tragedy. Whether she’d viewed the world through rose-coloured glasses or if she’d been as closed off then as she was now.

Dex also knew he was moving into uncharted territory as far as women were concerned. He’d always held himself aloof, friends with everyone, serious with no one. Yet the way he was constantly thinking about Iris had come completely out of left field and he wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. However, the need, the intensity of the way he thought about her, it was there and he couldn’t deny the attraction, the gravitational pull towards his new colleague.

It didn’t even matter that she appeared to want to have nothing to do with him, except in a professional capacity. She’d opened up to him, shared a part of herself with him, had sobbed in his arms and allowed him to comfort her. She’d touched a part of him deep down in his soul that he’d kept hidden from everyone, especially during the past couple of years when he’d been so estranged from his adoptive family.

In fact, being with Iris last night, supporting her, being there for her, had made Dex think about his siblings. He’d been so hurt, so angry when he’d found out he was adopted that he’d just cut himself off from all of them. It hadn’t been Alexandria’s and Mason’s fault and he wouldn’t blame them if they never spoke to him again…although he hoped they would. Having Melissa in his life had made him miss the twins even more than before. They’d grown up with him as their older brother. They hadn’t known the truth either and he knew they weren’t to blame.

His parents, however…No. It was too soon to think about his parents. They’d lied to him and that was something he just couldn’t forgive. Not yet, at any rate.

Looking back at Trapper and Diamond and the way they interacted, the younger of the two drowsing due to the sedative Iris had administered whilst his brother recounted again— with actions—how Goofy had bitten his finger, Dex still wasn’t sure where the snake had come into it but given there were quite a few brown snakes around in the outback, and
knowing that Smitty’s back yard was wildly overgrown, he could sort of see how in the mix of goannas, spider cages and two boys playing outside, Diamond could have been bitten by a snake. They were brothers. Brothers who had just been being brothers. Having fun. Being naughty. Making mischief.

Dex exhaled harshly as he admitted to himself that he missed Mason and he missed Alexandria. Joss was like a brother to him but that was also more of an equal type of relationship. With the twins, he was their big brother. He always had been and he always would be. The pain within his heart, the pain at accepting the fact that he truly missed them, started to become overwhelming. He felt as though the walls were closing in on him. He needed time. He needed space. He needed a rocket ship to get him out of here.

‘Are you all right, Dex?’ Iris looked at him, a little concerned.

‘Huh?’ He hadn’t realised she was standing near him. He looked down at the papers she held out to him, not really seeing them. His thoughts came jolting back to the present with a thud. He looked around the room, at Smitty and his boys. Then he looked at Iris. The beautiful, emotionally traumatised Iris who was being so brave. She’d been through such turmoil and yet she stood strong and sure, getting on with her life, moving forward.

His world had come crumbling down around him, though not in such a violent way as Iris had experienced, and what had he done? He’d left. He’d told his family to leave him alone, then he’d wrapped his car around a tree. If it hadn’t been for Joss offering him the job in Didja…Dex shook his head, not wanting to think about what might have happened. He’d been in a bad place back then and since arriving in the outback town he’d shut himself off to all deep and meaningful relationships.

Now, though, there was Iris. Making him feel. Making him want to know more about her. He wanted to spend time
just talking to her, being with her, helping her. She made him
want
to invest his time, his effort in really helping. It was so strange because he’d never felt such a strong desire like this before. Oh, sure, he helped his patients. He chatted with people at the pub. He dated women, but none of that provided a lasting connection, a blending of hearts, minds and souls. Yet with Iris…

‘Dex?’ She said his name again and this time there was a slight hint of concern in her voice.

Dex shook his head. ‘Sorry.’ He took the proffered papers. ‘You need me to sign these? Sure.’ He scribbled his signature where it needed to be and handed the papers back to Iris. ‘Well…now that the crisis has been averted, I might head off.’ Dex jerked his thumb at the door. Too many thoughts. Too many emotions. Too many desires to fight when all he wanted to do was to release her hair from its bonds and then run his fingers through her glorious locks.

This wasn’t right. The way she was making him feel was everything he’d vowed never to enter into again.

Iris watched him withdraw, almost stumbling over his own feet as he walked backwards towards the door. What was wrong? Had
she
done something wrong? Had he not wanted to get the paperwork out of the way? All of a sudden he seemed as jittery as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, wanting to be anywhere else but here. She tried to think back. Had she said something to upset him? Had she annoyed him in some way?

Whilst she wasn’t interested in him in a romantic way at all, it didn’t mean she wanted to offend him in a professional capacity. They would be required to work together for the next six months and it would be best for everyone concerned if that was a happy relationship. Still, the fact remained. Dex wasn’t behaving at all like the Dex she’d known over the past week.

‘You don’t need me any more, do you, Iris?’

She raised her eyebrows at his question. What? He wasn’t going to reiterate his dinner invitation? He wasn’t going to try and cajole her into going out with him to Stiggie’s tonight? Wasn’t going to turn on the charm? ‘Er…no.’

‘OK. Have a good rest of the day.’ He waved to their patients. ‘See you around, Smitty. Take care, boys.’ With that, he was gone. Out of the doors and far away.

It was probably just as well, Iris thought as she put the signed papers back on Bub’s desk at the nurses’ station. Having Dex around made her mind go funny, and when he wasn’t near her she could think more clearly. Get more done.

‘Yeah,’ she whispered softly to herself. ‘You’re not affected by him at all.’ She shook her head. ‘Liar.’

T
HROUGHOUT
the following week, Iris did her level best to be professional where her dealings with Dexter were concerned. Keeping her distance wasn’t too difficult, although there were a few occasions where they were required to work side by side.

Iris had to admit that he really was good at what he did. His mind moved like lightning and his bedside manner with all his patients was perfect. He kept them relaxed and at ease, even in some terrible situations.

On Wednesday, Areva knocked on her consulting room door, alerting Iris to the fact that Dex needed her in the hospital emergency room.

‘Hope Bundabirra was brought in by her parents with a large stick in her abdomen,’ Areva said as they walked quickly towards the hospital section of the clinic.

Iris fired off questions. ‘How old is she?’ The more information she had, the better she’d be able to treat Hope.

‘Thirteen.’

‘Siblings?’

‘Two younger brothers.’

‘And the stick is
in
her abdomen? Impaled?’

‘I’m not sure. Juanita—uh, she’s the nurse who’s rostered on today for any emergencies—just gave me the basic details when Dex told her to call through for you.’

‘Do you know if Hope has any allergies?’

‘I don’t know about medicines but she is allergic to shellfish. Does that help?’

Iris paused at the door to the hospital and smiled at Areva. ‘It does. Thanks.’ Iris left the receptionist and headed through to the emergency room.

‘Hi, there,’ Dex greeted her cheerfully, his smile playing havoc with her senses. She wished he wouldn’t. Iris pulled herself together and forced a polite smile, more for the patient’s sake than for her colleagues.

‘What’s up?’

‘Ta-dah!’ Dex waved his hands magically and pointed to Hope’s abdomen. Iris tried not to blink too hard at what she saw. A stick, about one centimetre in diameter, was protruding out of Hope’s left side, near her hip. There was dried blood around the wound site and the girl’s white top, which wasn’t that white any more, had been cut to allow greater access to the area.

‘Wow. Impressive.’ She smiled at the teenager. ‘Hi, Hope. I’m Iris.’

‘Hey.’

‘How did this happen?’ Iris continued to look the girl over, noting red patches where bruises would later form on her arms, legs and face. There were also several scratches and quite a lot of grazing, especially around the heels of her hands.

‘I’ve already told Doc Dex,’ she said, her tone a little sullen.

‘You answer the doctor, Hope,’ her mother said sternly, and the teenager rolled her eyes.

‘Fine. I was running home from school with my friend Nancy and I tripped.’

‘That’s it?’

‘I fell.’

‘And the stick just went into your abdomen?’

‘I fell at a strange angle.’

Iris glanced quickly at Dex and could see that he wasn’t buying the story either. At the moment, though, the real reason why Hope hadn’t told the truth didn’t matter. They needed to treat her wound and stabilise her. ‘You seem very calm about it all.’

Hope shrugged. ‘No sense in fussing.’

‘She had some paracetamol when she came home,’ her mother announced. ‘I cleaned her up as best I could but when I saw that thing sticking out of her belly…’ Hope’s mother shuddered.

‘You were right to bring her straight here,’ Dex said placatingly. ‘However, if you’d like to wait outside, we’ll get to work with removing the obstruction. Go and chat with Bub. I’m sure she’d love to see you.’

Hope’s mother nodded before leaving Dex, Iris and Juanita to care for her daughter.

‘I’ve already set up an IV and started antibiotics,’ Dex told Iris as he handed her the patient’s medical notes. Iris read quickly, noting no allergies, except the shellfish Areva had already mentioned.

‘Are you going to, like, knock me out?’ Hope asked.

Iris smiled and nodded. ‘It’ll be easier for you to have a general anaesthetic.’

‘You won’t feel a thing,’ Dex told the girl. Juanita continued to prepare the instruments the two doctors would require for removal and debridement of the wound. Iris walked over to the sink to wash her hands and to pull on gloves. She
felt
rather than heard Dex approach, and warmth from his body as he stood quite close to her was enough to make her skin break out in excited goose bumps.

‘Ever done anything like this before?’ he asked, standing beside her and washing his own hands, whilst Juanita continued to monitor Hope.

‘A few times.’

‘Good.’

Iris glanced at him. ‘You don’t believe her story, do you? About what happened?’

Dex scoffed and rolled his eyes. ‘Not likely,’ he said quietly. ‘Don’t push it with her. She’ll tell us before too long.’

‘How do you know? Dex, something the size of that stick doesn’t get lodged in a person’s body because they “tripped” over.’

Dex edged a little closer and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper, the earthly scent she equated with him settling over her delightfully. ‘I know that. You know that, but Hope doesn’t know that we know. You know?’

Iris couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of her. She turned, wiping her hands dry before pulling on a sterile gown to protect her clothes and a pair of gloves, needing some sort of distance between herself and Dex. He was fun. She had to give him that. The only problem was, it only made it more difficult to keep her distance from him.

‘Right, Hope. How are you feeling?’ Dex walked back to their patient’s bedside, ready to get the proceedings under way.

‘Drowsy.’ Her words were spoken slowly and Dex did a skin-prick test on the area around the protruding stick.

‘Feel anything?’

‘Feel just fine,’ she drawled, lying back on the pillows, before succumbing to the anaesthetic.

‘I’d say we’re ready.’ Dex nodded to Iris.

Dex monitored Hope, whilst marvelling at Iris’s clever and stable fingers, never wavering, always sure of the next move. That was how he was with women, wasn’t it? Always sure of the next move? Yet with Iris that didn’t seem to be the case. Was that what he was doing at the moment? Planning his next move? Or was the distance he’d also been attempting to maintain between them part of that next move? Was his next move to ensure he stayed as far away from her as possible?

Too many questions.

When Iris finally managed to remove the stick, Juanita was at the ready with gauze to pack the wound the instant the obstruction was removed. They debrided the area and had a good look around.

‘She’s been very lucky,’ Iris said softly. ‘No major organ damage. She’ll be fine.’ Dex reversed the anaesthetic and together they monitored Hope’s recovery.

‘How are you feeling?’ Dex asked.

‘Fine, fine, fine.’ The words were mumbled one over the other as she started to regain proper consciousness. Hope was lying back on the white pillows, her dark hair and skin stark in contrast.

‘You don’t need to protect whoever did this to you.’

‘Yep. I do.’

‘No.’ Dex was adamant. He looked at Iris, almost as though he was silently seeking some sort of approval. Iris nodded, encouraging him on in whatever he had in mind. If he had some sort of hunch as to what had really happened to their patient, he needed to play those cards in order for the truth to come out.

‘You know…’ His voice was calm, as smooth as silk, reassuring. Iris liked hearing those deep tones of his. So soothing. ‘Nancy’s brother has been in trouble with the law before and if you don’t say anything, he’s going to think he can do to other people what he’s done to you.’

‘But Nancy. He’ll hurt Nancy.’ Hope closed her eyes and shook her head.

‘We can protect Nancy. We can protect you, Hope. You need to speak up about this.’

Iris looked at the girl, who was wavering on the edge of sleep, seeing worried lines mar her brow, and her heart went out to the child. She was only thirteen and yet her life didn’t seem at all simple right now.

‘She’s asleep,’ Juanita announced.

‘Monitor her,’ he said as he headed for the door.

‘Where are you going?’ Juanita asked, but Dex didn’t reply.

‘He’s going to call the police,’ Iris answered, knowing he was a man who not only cared about his patient but cared far too intensely about this entire community. Despite what she thought of him, despite the attraction she felt for him, there was one thing she knew for certain. Dex Crawford was a good man and they were definitely hard to find.

*

Two and a half weeks after the emergency with Hope, Iris went into her apartment and sank down on the lounge, pulling her hair from its plaited bond. Hope had stayed in hospital for over a week, Bub and Dex coaxing the teenager to own up to the truth. Finally Hope had been brave and done the right thing, pressing charges against Nancy’s older brother.

Iris had taken to counselling both girls on a regular basis as a social worker only came to Didja once a month. It was something that had drawn her right into the heart of the community. She’d assisted with Nancy being temporarily taken from her home where her apathetic father couldn’t care less about her, and had placed her with her aunt, who’d been trying to get guardianship of the teenager for quite some time.

‘What a day!’ Iris had now been in Didja for a whole month and she doubted she’d ever get used to the heat, the constant need to swat flies and the overly chatty patients. Not that she minded. She liked people. She’d always classified herself as a people person but today, for some reason, everyone who’d come to see her in the clinic had wanted to tell her their life stories, and in return they had wanted to know hers.

She’d had to field questions and speculations and to top it all off, she’d ended up finishing far later than she would have liked. Joss and Melissa had been away all day, doing house calls, which had left a busier clinic than usual for herself and Dex.

Iris closed her eyes and rested her head back on a cushion.
Dexter Crawford. The man was an enigma and one she’d been trying to stop thinking about for the past month. He was definitely turning out to be…more than she’d bargained for.

Ever since that Saturday when little Diamond and Trapper had presented for treatment, Dex had been different. Throughout her first week in Didja Dex had been the playboy she’d pegged him for. She’d noticed the way other women looked at him and she’d watched as he’d charmed them all. He also seemed to hold himself so apart from them that she couldn’t help but wonder whether he’d been burned in love in the past.

He hadn’t, however, held himself aloof on the night she’d broken down. Iris shook her head at the memory, embarrassment still tingeing her cheeks. She’d cried and he’d held her. The memory was a difficult one to wipe away, especially when she remembered the sensation of being encircled within his strong, firm arms. She’d felt so…protected and she hadn’t felt that way in a very long time. He’d also made her feel precious, as though she really was important to him, to Didja, to the world.

Too many times in those first few years after Tim’s death Iris had wished she’d died too. Yet for the first time, whilst she’d been in Dex’s arms, she’d honestly started to believe that she still had a lot to offer this great big world, and it was because of him that she’d felt that way.

Then Dex had touched her back. He’d felt the scars. He’d guessed she’d been a victim of a fire, that she was scarred in more places than just her back. He’d been repulsed and for the past few weeks he’d maintained a professional distance. Iris eyes closed tighter as she tried to ignore the pain of Dex’s rejection. She didn’t blame him, she knew her body wasn’t something any man wanted to look at, let alone touch.

Dex, like every other red-blooded male on the planet, liked women who were gorgeous, who were complete—not freaks.
She didn’t want to be so attracted to him and she was pleased he’d stayed as far away from her as she had from him. The more distance they could maintain, the easier it would be to continue with her work here in the Didja community.

Still the thoughts twirled around and around in her head. Dex didn’t want her. No man wanted her. Focusing on her work was all she was good for. Dex hadn’t really meant to offer such heart-warming compassion that night. He’d no doubt been trying to keep his distance but then she’d burst into tears and he’d felt compelled to comfort her. She wasn’t attractive. She was scarred and as her breathing started to increase, she rocked slowly back and forth.

Tears started to bite at the back of her eyes but it was too late. Her mind had gone to the place she never usually allowed it to go. ‘No.’ The word was an agonised whisper as she started to feel, to smell, to panic.

The flames. The heat. The terror. She’d woken. Sat up with a start, instinct telling her something was wrong. She’d immediately reached out to shake Tim, to wake him up.

‘Tim. Tim!’

‘What? Did the hospital call?’

She’d always marvelled that for an obstetrician who was used to delivering babies at all hours, Tim was able to sleep so deeply and sometimes didn’t hear the phone ring unless it was right beside his ear.

‘Something’s wrong.’ She’d listened carefully and then she’d breathed in deeply. ‘Smoke! Tim. I can smell smoke.’

He’d turned over, still half-groggy. ‘Why are you whispering? If the house is on fire, whispering isn’t going to make it go away.’ He’d grinned at her, that stupid silly grin that had made her fall in love with him in the first place.

‘Tim!’ The seriousness in her voice had stopped him from teasing and he’d sat up, sniffing the air. Then his eyes had widened and he’d sat up straighter. He’d breathed deeper.

‘I do smell smoke. It’s very acrid.’ He cautiously climbed from the bed and walked to their bedroom door. Iris swallowed over the lump in her throat as she watched him, her hands clenched tightly around the bedsheets. She was usually a woman of action, a woman who liked to take charge, to be in control, but at that moment she was gripped with such overpowering terror and fear that movement was impossible.

‘Be careful.’ The words had no sound as they came from her lips but when he opened the door and padded into the hallway, she heard him start to cough. A moment later the smoke alarms started blaring, beeping their warning signal. It was enough of a shock to break her from her trance and Iris sprang out of bed, pulled on the first set of clothes she found and started shoving as much as she could into a bag.