Tags:
Fiction,
Romance,
Contemporary,
Medical,
Adult,
Family Life,
Marriage,
Healing,
doctor,
Past,
pregnant,
widower,
trauma,
Deceased,
Painful,
Baby Boy,
E.R. Doctor,
Miracle Baby,
Heartbroken
their kisses were deep and tender but whatever they were finding was invaded, whatever the moment had meant it was gone.
‘Ayuda!’
No, Cat didn’t know Spanish, but a cry for help she was familiar with and she swung around.
‘Necesito ayuda...’
Dominic was already swimming over to an elderly man who was waving his arms. Beside him on a pedalo there was a woman who was sitting up but even from here Cat could see she was in trouble. She was clutching her chest and leaning forward.
Others were coming over to assist and Dominic was calling out to a woman standing on the beach to call for an ambulance.
He called for Cat to go to shore. ‘In my backpack!’ he shouted. ‘There’s a pack...’
At least someone was organised today.
Cat raced up the beach as a group of men steered the pedalo in and then carried the woman to the shore.
She was still sitting up, Cat noted as she shook the contents of his backpack out.
There it was, a small pack, but as she went to stuff the contents she had tipped out back inside, her hand closed on a small bump in his wallet.
A circular bump.
She shook her head and ran back towards the gathered crowd.
‘Thanks...’
She opened the pack. There were gloves, a mouthguard and airway... There was even a small kit for IV access and she watched his very steady hands slip a needle in, all the while reassuring the woman, who was clammy and sweaty, that she would be okay.
It should feel very different to be out in the middle of nowhere rather than in the calm efficiency of the emergency department, yet he had everything under control—a few beachgoers were holding their towels to shade the woman from the fierce afternoon sun and Dominic wiped her face with a cloth soaked in bottled water and spoke calming words in Spanish.
Cat noticed he was holding the woman’s wrist as he spoke, keeping a constant watch on her pulse. As she glanced down at Dominic’s hand Cat wondered if she had been blind or simply not looked, because now she could see the slight pinkness of a ring mark on his suntanned skin.
She felt a bit sick.
In the distance she could hear sirens and, even if the worst happened now and the lady went into cardiac arrest, assistance and equipment were just a few moments away.
The paramedics were just as efficient as they were back home and rather more used to retrieving heavy patients from a sun-drenched sandy beach than they would be in London.
They spoke at length with Dominic as they did the ECG tracing and administered analgesia and generally made the woman more comfortable before transferring her onto the stretcher.
The men all carried the stretcher up the beach until they let the legs down on the stony ground.
Her heart was racing, not from the mild drama but from what she had thought she had felt.
A wedding ring?
Surely not, Cat thought.
But why not? another voice in her head asked.
Why the hell not?
‘Let’s grab our things and head back,’ Dominic said, and she nodded and tried not to shrug him off as his arm went around her waist.
She didn’t know what to say to him. She just didn’t know how to speak.
‘You’ve caught the sun,’ he commented as they drove back to the hotel.
‘I know,’ she said. Her shoulders were stinging but not as much as her thoughts.
‘Are you okay?’ Dominic checked.
‘Of course.’ She cleared her throat. ‘It was just a bit upsetting.’
‘What?’ He glanced over. ‘She had chest pain.’
Oh, that’s right.
Cat remembered the man she had disliked before she had completely fallen under his spell. He was arrogant, dismissive and rather mean.
‘It’s different without all the equipment...’
He didn’t comment. Chest pain was such a routine part of his day and he’d assumed it was the same for her.
‘She’ll be fine,’ he said, but she couldn’t answer.
They were back in the elevators and she went to push the button for her floor but his hand stopped her and he pushed his.
Arrogant bastard, Cat