NICK knew that probably it shouldn’t have been, but his first thought was for his son. Nick was one of the few men who could guess what Ed had just been through. Who could guess what hurt he must have felt. A gastroenteritis outbreak. The sights, the smell, the sounds, all must have come crashing back on him. Not a lot of men could have stood that.
A small smile of paternal pride touched Nick’s lips as he looked at his obviously weary son. Ed might be weary but he was confident and he was in charge of the situation. He was a Tremayne. Of course, Nick was not going to say anything. But he was proud of his son.
They were now sitting in the captain’s cabin. They were handed coffee and then the captain said, ‘I’ve been in touch with our head office and with Dr Tremayne here. Dr Tremayne, I’d like you to review the situation.’
Nick said, ‘I’ve been phoned by the relevant port authorities, and the ship must remain in quarantine for another forty-eight hours at least. Yesterday, last night and this morning I worked on trying to identify the cause of the disease. Ed was right. It is bacterial in origin, not a virus. But it’s a completely new strain, a very powerful one, there’ll be a lot of people taking an interest in it. Still, this makes no difference to the treatment. Now, I’ve come here in person to look around, help if possible and then accompany my midwife back to shore. The midwife I didn’t know had come out here.’
He looked severely at Ed, who looked serenely back.
Nick went on, ‘The Met Office has said that the gale has almost blown itself out and conditions should rapidly improve. The navy has offered to help. They’ve liaised with the cruise line and later this afternoon one of the navy’s smaller boats will come and take off the new baby and her parents. At the same time they’ll bring out a small team of nurses and another doctor.’
‘Who’s the other doctor?’ asked Ed.
‘A Dr Wyatt. Apparently she’s not long out of medical school, but she gained an excellent pass.’
‘What is her experience of dealing with an epidemic?’
‘As far as I know, none at all,’ Nick said flatly. ‘I didn’t procure the doctor. The cruise line did.’
‘This isn’t work for a new doctor.’ Ed said. ‘I think I should stay in charge for a while longer.’
There was a silence and then the captain said, ‘I would like you to stay. It’d be foolish to change responsibilities in the middle of the situation. As head of the practice, do you agree, Dr Tremayne?’
‘I do,’ Nick said after a short pause. ‘Ed should stay a while longer. You can arrange this with the line?’
‘The line left me without a doctor—and look what happened. They’ll do whatever I say.’
‘Right. In that case, Captain, I’ll go down to see how I can help in the medical centre. I’d really like to take a good look at this new baby.’
‘Keep me informed of everything,’ the captain warned.
As soon as they reached the centre Maddy was called away. Kate was asleep, and Nick decided not to wake her up. For the first time since he’d boarded the ship he was alone with his son. And there were things he wanted to say to him.
‘You should have consulted me before bringing Kate out here in the storm,’ he said reproachfully. ‘Surely you know about her husband being drowned? How do you think she felt?’
‘I thought she might have been terrified but, in fact, I don’t think she was. But terrified or not, I would have wanted her here. She was the best available person for the job so I asked her to come. You’d have made exactly the same decision, wouldn’t you?’
‘I still would have liked to have been consulted,’ Nick said, avoiding the answer he knew he’d have had to give. ‘Couldn’t you have managed without her?’
‘Possibly. Probably. But she made a better job of it than either Maddy or I could have done. It was safer to have her there. Why don’t you ask her what she felt about being called out in a storm?’
‘I don’t need to.’ Nick scowled. ‘I know exactly what she’d say.’ Then he smiled. ‘I like to have good people working for me. Now, how’re you getting on with Maddy?’
‘She’s a brilliant nurse,’ Ed said, turning away for the moment and rummaging through a pile of forms. ‘We’ve worked well together.’
‘Just a brilliant nurse? I thought I saw some attraction there between you.’
‘I like her. But I don’t do attraction. I’ve been married once and that’s enough for me. I doubt I’ll ever see her again when I leave the ship.’
‘I see,’ said Nick.
‘I’ve got a patient I want to look at now,’ Ed went on. ‘Kate’s in the second cabin down the corridor. Why don’t you go and give her a shake? She’ll take you to see Sarah and Marina Flynn. You know she’ll be mad at you if she finds out you’ve been here for a while and not woken her.’
‘Good idea,’ Nick said.
He waited until his son had left and then went into the corridor. There was Maddy taking something from a store cupboard. ‘You need something, Nick?’ she asked. He thought she looked flushed. Tired? Or upset?
‘Ed’s gone to see to a patient,’ Nick said. ‘We were having a chat when I saw you pass outside. He didn’t see or hear you. It just struck me that you might have heard something of our conversation.’
‘Nick, I do not eaves drop! I heard a mumble, that was all.’
He lifted his hands placatingly. ‘Of course not.’ But he was an experienced doctor and he knew when people weren’t telling the entire truth.
‘In fact, I was telling him that I thought I’d seen an attraction between the two of you. He said he didn’t do attraction, that he’d been married once. He doubts he’ll ever see you again after he leaves this ship.’
‘I’m sure that’s true,’ Maddy said, turning away. ‘As for attraction, well, we work well together, that’s all. Like I worked well with you.’
Whatever feelings she had seemed to be under control, Nick thought. And he had always tried to make it a rule never to interfere with the personal lives of his children. Whenever he had broken that rule and interfered, it had never worked out. But… ‘Ed and I have been apart a lot,’ he said. ‘We’ve never been really close, which is a pity. But he is my son. Perhaps I know how he feels, and I think you mean a bit more to him than he realises.’
There, that was it, he had said it. He could do no more.
‘I doubt that’s true,’ Maddy said in an offhand voice. ‘He’s off relationships and I certainly am.’
But Nick could tell that she was pleased—or at least intrigued.
Nick was alone in the medical centre now. He wandered around, admiring the fittings, peering into the ward where the mother and new baby were peacefully sleeping. He wanted a closer look at them—but not until he was with Kate. And then he went into the cabin where he had been told Kate was asleep.
There was a low light left on by the head of the bed, partly illuminating Kate’s face, making it a thing of planes and shadows. She was a handsome woman. He had known her since his youth, so many years ago. And now he was having difficulty in reconciling the mature woman he was looking at with the teenager he had once known.
It wasn’t like him. Usually he was certain, knew what to do, what to think. But now he wasn’t sure. Possibly it was the storm outside but it brought back memories of that evil night when the Penhally lifeboat had been launched and Kate’s husband, James, and Nick’s own brother and father had all died during the rescue of a party of school children. So much had happened that night, so many emotions, of grief and fear and despair. Intense emotions that had over whelmed Kate and himself that fateful night. Leading to something that had never been acknowledged by either of them since.
Kate and he went back a long time. They had been teenagers together, with that fizzing off-on relationship that was so common in the young. But then life had come between them. He went to university and married Annabel, she had married James. Both Annabel and James were now dead.
Was Kate happy? he wondered. She seemed serene enough as she went about her work. Was he happy? That was a question he, a busy GP, shouldn’t even try to answer. In fact, he shouldn’t even ask it.
He and Kate were colleagues—friends, he supposed. But they were wary of each other. Sometimes he caught her looking at him and he wondered what she thought.
He slipped into the cabin, sat on a chair and looked at her. It had been years since the storm. He had fought against thinking of that night, had tried to push it out of his mind, certainly never mentioned it. But now he did think of it. And the memory was as vivid as if it had all happened yesterday.
For a while he didn’t want to do anything. He was content just to sit there, to gaze at her sleeping face. But it didn’t last long. Perhaps the very intensity of his gaze was felt by her. He saw her eyes twitch open and then focus.
‘Nick! What are you doing here?’
‘I had to see the captain, sort out a few things. And I wondered about you. I wanted to see if one of my staff was all right.’
It was important to emphasise that he was concerned because she was a member of his staff. Safer that way.
‘I would have liked to have been more involved last night,’ he went on. ‘I should have been told.’
Kate was as practical as ever. ‘I left you a note explaining things and details of who would handle my work today. There was no need for you to go without sleep.’
‘Perhaps not.’
Unlike Ed and Maddy, Kate had not bothered to undress when she’d lain down on the bunk. Now she sat up, waved at Nick. ‘Wait outside for me. I need a couple of minutes to freshen up. I take it you’ve come to look at Marina and Sarah Flynn?’
‘Just a quick check.’ Then he remembered that Kate was always particular about the relative functions of a doctor and midwife, so he added, ‘If that’s all right with you.’
‘It is.’
‘The storm seems to be dying down a bit. This afternoon we’ve got a navy boat coming along side, bringing nurses and another doctor. They’ve offered to ship you, the baby and her mother back to Penhally Bay. What do you think?’
‘They’re both doing fine. I’d certainly like to get them off this ship.’
‘Your decision.’
She seemed short with him, and he now realised why. He had seen her asleep, almost defenceless. And Kate always had her defences in place. ‘I’ll organise you a drink,’ he said. And then, wanting to say something pleasant, something that might bring them a little closer together, he added, ‘You’ve done brilliantly, Kate.’
‘I know,’ she said.
He was a doctor. He was a scientist who believed in empirical proofs, who disdained what he called the mumbo-jumbo of astrology, of sixth senses, of the super-natural. But for a moment he wondered if what he had been remembering had somehow communicated itself to Kate. He would really like to know.
A quick inspection and it was obvious that mother and baby were doing fine. In fact, they were thriving. So what was now most important was to get them away from the ship. Kate agreed that they should move out with the navy boat. ‘Now you can go and help Ed,’ she told Nick. ‘I can cope here very well.’ He thought that Kate could always cope. On her own.
Ed, glad of Nick’s help, handed him a list. ‘I’ve given you these fifteen people to check over,’ he said. ‘It’s just a case of making sure that the right drugs are given, the right IVs set up. The stewards are pretty good now but it’s as well to keep an eye on them. You know where everything is?’
‘I’ll manage,’ said Nick.
It felt just a little unusual, taking orders from his son, but he knew that in a case like this there could only be one leader. And he had to admit that Ed was good at it. He looked as tough as ever—but his eyes were getting blood shot. Maddy, too, was showing signs of fatigue. But Nick could tell that there was no way she would ask for respite. Not while Ed was still working.
The disease on ship was peaking. There were now forty-eight people on board infected with it. That was forty-eight people falling ill, being ill or recovering from illness. They needed constant care and attention. But they should all survive.
Then the news came down from the captain. The pinnace was on its way. And the storm had nearly blown itself out. Ed said, ‘Dad, why don’t you go and scrub up and then get ready to help Kate move the Flynns?’
‘Good idea,’ said Nick. ‘When will I see you on shore again?’
A short answer. ‘When I think my job’s done.’
A good answer, too, Nick thought.
They all look clean, energetic and above all awake, Maddy thought. Whereas she felt weary, crumpled and apathetic. She had watched as the new medical team had come aboard, each carrying a small bag. She had watched as one of them had helped Kate and Nick transfer the Flynn family to the pinnace. She was glad the family had gone.
Now they were sitting, crammed into the medical centre, listening to Ed. Three nurses in uniforms. They were all about her own age but for some reason she felt older than them. And there was the young doctor, Dr Ellen Wyatt. Slim, pretty, vivacious. Maddy suspected she was just out of medical school. She was also suspicious of the way the young doctor looked approvingly at Ed. It was more than just professional curiosity. She had moved her seat deliberately to sit next to him.
And Maddy had to admit that Ed still looked good. So long without sleep didn’t appear to have affected him too much. There were lines round his eyes—now blood shot eyes. And his mouth was more grim than before. But he looked better than she felt.
She was sitting at the side of the room while Ed briefed the nurses and the doctor. He had arranged things with the captain and herself, organised cabins to sleep in, meals, treatments, the nurses’ roster. She had been consulted but it was obvious that this was something that Ed was expert at. Even the captain had listened. Ed was a superb organiser. And he made it clear that he was in charge.
‘If there are any nursing problems, first buzz Maddy. I’ll not give her any cases, she will be on call here for the next few hours. If you need a doctor, buzz Dr Wyatt first. If necessary, she’ll liaise with me. Now, there are times when you’ll have to work fast. But, remember, you don’t cut corners. And records are all-important! Don’t let them slip.’
Then he smiled, and Maddy could feel the stirring of interest. ‘Last thing, everyone. Thank you for coming at such short notice. Now! We have work to do!’
Maddy realised that in a weird way Ed was enjoying himself. He was forcing himself to the limit, losing himself in work. She now knew why. He was causing himself so much present pain to try to push past pain out of his mind.
Just for a moment she wondered what life would be like when this was all over. Would they ever see each other again—even casually? Would he move out of her life, forget her? As he had told his father he would do?
Or would she forget him? She had to be honest and admit it. She didn’t think she would forget him. In fact, a life in which she didn’t see something of Ed—it would be hard.