Ailee
Ailee heard the car pull away and forced herself not to turn around. She wanted to stamp her foot. Looked up at the sky and felt like shaking her fist. ‘Darn it. He should’ve known by now.’ It should all have been out and sorted. The longer she left it the bigger her secret loomed, which was ridiculous. Of all the people in the world to understand, Fergus should.
But there was his daughter. Whom she’d now met. And liked.
Still, she needed to think through the implications of the last hour, of Fergus at least knowing it was the timing of their “connection” not him she was fighting.
She had the weekend to get it right before Monday. Ailee glanced at her watch and her eyes widened. She had only enough time to jump in her car and make it home before her mother’s roast was ruined.
‘So how was work?’ William appeared quite chirpy at the dinner table. He’d only just come in from being out with some friends and looked different to his usual solemn self.
‘Work was fine.’ Ailee glanced at his plate. ‘And since when do you eat bananas?’
Ailee raised her eyebrows at the tiny half-banana William had tucked under his plate and, caught out, her brother shrugged.
‘It’s my once-a-month treat, and I’m having dialysis tomorrow.’
William knew he had to be careful of foods that contained “dangerous salts” like potassium, and his fluid restrictions were the part he hated the most. When he was well enough, he went out with his friends on Friday nights. He couldn’t drink alcohol, mainly because of the fluid amounts involved and the chemicals his body couldn’t get rid of.
Like most dialysis patients, William had established a good rapport with the staff and the mostly older patients who came into the dialysis clinic at the hospital on the same days as he did. Unlike less fortunate end-stage kidney-disease sufferers, William knew it was ending soon. He was guaranteed a kidney. Hers.
Ailee smiled across at her brother. ‘You’re looking stronger.’
‘I’m getting there. The next assessment clinic will be the big test and it’s not far off. I’m pretty nervous about that.’
Ailee put down her knife and fork. Showed her hands. ‘I’ve got my fingers crossed.’
Helen looked across at her son because she knew how much depended on it. ‘William said the man standing in for Mr Harry seems very good. Do you think he’ll be the one who does the surgery if it all goes ahead quickly?’
Ailee hadn’t considered that. It was a disquieting thought and she wasn’t so sure Fergus would be happy either when he found out who the donor was. But she’d get there before then. Though, the way it was going he’d find out in theatre. She almost laughed at that. Because that would not happen!
She concentrated on her mother’s question to avoid thinking about Fergus operating on William. ‘Fergus McVicker has been seconded from Sydney East. It all depends on Mrs Harry and how quickly she recovers from her stroke whether Mr McVicker stays on for two or four weeks.’
Her mother still looked worried at the change of surgeon at this late stage, so Ailee went on, when the last thing she wanted to do – which was talk about Fergus. ‘He’s dedicated and a whiz in theatre. It seems that he’s the best laparoscopic surgeon in Australia.’
‘Then William can’t lose, whoever the surgeon is. We need the best when my only two children depend on the team.’ Helen put her napkin to her lips and closed her eyes. Then she smiled tremulously and stood up. ‘I’ll just get some more vegetables,’ she said brightly, and left the table.
William and Ailee looked at each other and Ailee stood. They both knew their mother would be crying in the kitchen and Ailee touched her brother’s shoulder as she followed her mother.
Helen wiped her eyes as her daughter came in. ‘We’ll be fine,’ Ailee said.
‘I know. I’m being a drama queen.’
Ailee smiled and dropped a kiss on her mother’s cheek. ‘No, you’re not. You’re being a wonderful, caring mother and we wouldn’t have you any other way.’
Later that evening, Ailee searched out William after her mother had gone to bed. She leaned over his chair and ruffled his hair. ‘Hey, Will. How’s it going?’
William smiled crookedly up at her and shrugged. ‘The usual.’
Ailee sat down next to him. ‘Do you mind if I ask you something?’
‘Shoot.’
‘How are you coping with dialysis? I know you hate it and I know you don’t have much choice, but it must be hard, especially when you’re going through a rough patch like the last couple of weeks.’
William’s eyes slid away. ‘Dialysis sucks but death is worse. I guess that keeps me going.’
Such basic equations from an eighteen-year-old made Ailee wince. He shrugged and began to scroll through his phone. Not looking at her. Ailee thanked God that her brother still felt it was worth it.
After talking to Lawrence — had it only been today? — she’d been worried William was becoming morbid, too. She’d noticed a few deviations from his usual happy self and even wondered if they’d lost a little closeness since she’d come home.
‘Come on, Will. Talk to me. What’s going on in that clever head of yours?’
William fiddled with his phone. Gave a heavy sigh. ‘Dialysis keeps me alive. But it’s a pain. Three days a week, at least, tied to a machine for half the day. Watching everything you eat. Can’t go out with my mates and have a few drinks. This horrible fistula—’ he shook his wrist where his veins stood out, scarred and bulging where a grafted artery had strengthened his vein for needle access to his bloodstream ‘—would scare any self-respecting girl away. They’d probably think I’m a drug addict anyway because of the needle marks up my arm.’
‘Oh, Will.’
He held up a hand. Pushing her sympathy away. Curled his mouth up. ‘The day before I go for dialysis, I feel sick because my blood’s filling up with toxins. The day after treatment I need to recover from the strain of the procedure and the cramps ‘cos they have to take extra fluid off. I can’t remember when I last felt really well.’ He sniffed. ‘They tell me all that will change after the op, but the drug regime to stop your kidney being rejected seems pretty heavy. I’m not hanging out for that either.’
Poor Will. ‘I can’t imagine from your side. It must feel never ending.’ Ailee nodded. ‘We’re here for you. I think you’re incredibly brave.’
He shrugged and then looked away. ‘We all know you’re the brave one.’
She couldn’t see his eyes or his expression. For a moment Ailee thought there was a bitter note to her brother’s voice, but then he smiled up at her and she pushed the feeling away. But a tendril of disquiet made her belly hurt.
On Saturday morning Ailee woke in her lonely bed, and as her dreams faded, she thought of Fergus and the way he’d kissed her yesterday. In the dream his arms had been around her, the warmth and scent and feel of him so close, and she thought back to the way he’d looked with his fingers stroking her body, and she wanted those things again.
But if she wanted those things, she would have to include him in her plans, and her reasons for not doing so remained the same.
Ailee rolled over and pulled the pillow over her head to block out the bright light. She’d slept late because it had taken her so long to get to sleep after that worrying conversation with her brother.
Her phone rang and Ailee scrambled out of bed to disconnect it from the charger before it woke William. She wasn’t on call as co-ordinator so it wouldn’t be work. ‘Hello?’
‘Ailee?’ She recognised Fergus’s voice immediately and her grip tightened.
‘Fergus.’ She glanced to the bedroom door and checked it was shut.
‘Did I wake you?’
There was amusement in Fergus’s voice and she couldn’t help the curve of her own lips. ‘Yes. For some reason it took me ages to get to sleep.’
‘Neither could I. But it’s Saturday.’
‘So?’
‘Simone likes tennis and we have a court here. I suggested she have some friends around and she asked if you would come, too. Any chance?’
‘I’m not very good with a tennis racket.’ It was a lame excuse and nowhere near the definite no she’d meant to say.
‘There’s three other pre-adolescent females coming. I’ll be outnumbered. Help.’
‘I’m sure you’ll manage,’ she responded, but she couldn’t keep the smile from her voice. Imagining big, fearless Fergus brought undone by a gaggle of adolescent females.
‘They’re already here. And I’m not. How about I pick you up in an hour?’
He was railroading her again. She really needed to put a stop to that. But, on the other hand, this might provide a new opportunity to finish her interrupted explanation of why she couldn’t start a relationship with him. ‘You don’t know where I live.’
‘My next question.’
‘No. I’ll drive myself.’ And then I can bring myself home when I want to, she thought. Especially after I tell him about William, I might need that escape.
‘If you insist.’ There was a small pause. ‘See you soon, then.’
Ailee climbed out of bed and wandered down the hallway. ‘Was that you on the phone, darling?’ Helen was on her way to the kitchen.
‘Someone from work, inviting me for a game of tennis.’
‘I hope you said yes.’
Ailee looked at her mother and then she laughed. ‘Yes, Mother. I will go out and play.’
Helen smiled sheepishly. ‘Well, since you got home from Scotland you haven’t left our sides except to go to work. You need to have your own life, especially while you’re well enough.’
Ailee hugged her mother. ‘I’ll be well after this operation, too, so stop worrying.’
When she arrived at the McVicker house, there was a red sports car and a long saloon parked outside the front door. Two curvy blonde women sailed down the front stairs past Ailee and shook their heads.
‘Better him than us,’ one of them said. She looked Ailee up and down and then smiled. ‘If you’re looking for a wild time, it’s happening in there.’
Ailee smiled bemusedly at the women and climbed
the stairs.
A slightly fazed Martha opened the door and ushered her in warmly. ‘Now, you might be able to sort this, Dr Green. I fear Fergus is out of his depth. In the library.’
Loud music pounded from speakers shaking the windows. She couldn’t remember speakers in the book-lined room.
She walked across and opened the library door, and the music assaulted her ears, along with the visual impact of four short-skirted pre-teens in crop tops, short shorts and tennis shoes gyrating to the rhythm.
At first, she couldn’t see Fergus but then spotted him peering at a mobile phone, obviously searching for the volume control. Simone grinned and waved as Ailee dodged past the dancers with a little gyration of her own until she came up behind Fergus.
‘It’s here,’ Ailee shouted, but it was her finger, not her voice, that drew his attention, as she slid the volume control down to barely painful.
As she did so, she turned to catch Simone’s eye and tapped her ears to explain the change in volume. Simone shrugged and nodded but seemed happy enough.
Ailee pointed to the connecting door to the observatory and Fergus agreed with fervour.
The door shut out almost half of the sound but obviously that wasn’t enough for him. He took Ailee’s hand and steered her to the outside terrace, and when that door was shut as well it was almost peaceful in the warm outside air.
‘Good grief. Thank you for coming.’ He gestured to a white wrought-iron table and chairs and waited until she was seated under the shade of an open umbrella before he sat.
As if by magic, Martha appeared as with orange juice and ice cubes in tall glasses for them and a jug and smaller glasses for the invaders when they came.
‘Much more sensible outside, I agree, Dr Green.’
‘Please, call me Ailee, Martha, and thank you for this.’ She gestured to her glass.
‘I see it’s a little quieter now,’ Martha teased Fergus. He took it good-naturedly as his housekeeper left them.
Ailee laughed. ‘You shouldn’t have bought Simone such big speakers.’
Fergus held up his hands and waved then. ‘Not my fault. One of the little darlings brought it with her this morning.’
‘What an enterprising female. Why so deafening?’
‘Apparently that was Simone’s all-time favourite song and it needs to be “Immersive Sound” to be really appreciated.’
‘I was immersed. You were drowning.’
‘Thank you, dear life raft.’ His admiring gaze ran over her T-shirt and long shorts then back to her face. ‘You look gorgeous.’
‘Thank you, kind sir. I don’t own a tennis skirt. You don’t look bad yourself.’ Fergus lounged in cargo shorts and an open-necked white shirt and they smiled at each other in mutual admiration and a sigh into their quiet space.
It didn’t last long. The peace shattered as the girls poured through the conservatory door and circled their table.
‘Hello, Ailee.’ Simone grinned. ‘Have you come to save Dad from us?’
‘How did you guess?’ Ailee grinned right back. ‘So, who have we here?’
‘Demi, Peyton, and Ava.’ Simone pointed out each girl — one with braces, one with bright red nail polish, and one with the sweetest face and smile.
Mentally, Ailee dubbed them dentist, polish, and angel so that she would remember their names.
‘Demi, Peyton and Ava.’ The names matched the prompts and she had them in her memory now. ‘How do you do?’