The Doctor’s Rescue Mission

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

SHE was lying in the sun.

Morag let her eyes open-just a little-and the rays of the early morning sun were playing over her face.

Heaven?

It was unbelievable but for the moment she asked no questions. She was warm and dry and there was sunlight.

Robbie.

The thought jarred her eyes wide. The light hurt and she closed them again, but as she did so, a strong hand caught hers. And held.

‘Morag.’

It was Grady. Grady was holding her.

She risked the sunlight again and there he was, right in front of her.

She was in bed. In a sea of white. White coverlet, white canvas around her…

But Grady was in green. Theatre garb? She gazed up at him, trying to bring him into focus, trying to make him real.

Not a dream. Please…

‘Robbie,’ she whispered, and her voice didn’t seem to belong to her. Her throat hurt.

Her leg. What was wrong with her leg? It seemed heavy. Unbearably heavy.

‘Robbie,’ she croaked again, and then Grady was gathering her into his arms, tenderly so as not to disturb the mass of lines that seemed to be attached to her at every angle.

‘Robbie’s fine,’ he said, and his voice didn’t seem normal either. ‘He’s asleep. Look.’ He moved her gently so she could see across to the next bed. Robbie’s hair was a splash of colour against his pillows, and his freckles stood out on his too-pale face. ‘He was awake in the night, asking for you,’ he told her. ‘But he was content to wait until you woke.’

‘In the night?’ She stared wonderingly out into the sunlight.

She was in the field hospital. She and Robbie seemed to have a ‘room’ to themselves.

Someone-Grady?-had lifted a flap of canvas, hooking it high so she could see the sun rising over the horizon.

Dawn…

‘I’ve been asleep?’

‘For long enough.’ He held her as he’d hold a piece of Dresden china-as if she might crack at any minute. ‘We operated on your leg last night. Compound fracture. Hell, Morag, you might have lost your leg.’

She let that sink in. It was like a story about someone else. ‘So you and Jaqui operated-as you operated on Sam.’

‘Not quite like Sam,’ he told her, and his hold on her tightened. ‘Your leg’s going to be OK. We would have sent you to Sydney but the blood supply was compromised. You’ll need another operation before you’re through, but for now…for now you’re safe.’

That was enough for the moment. He held her in silence while she absorbed what she’d been told.

Safe…

They were good words, she thought dreamily. ‘You’re safe.’ She wasn’t dead. She wasn’t in heaven. She was alive, in Grady’s arms.

And Robbie? She still had questions.

‘You’re sure Robbie’s OK?’ Her voice still seemed to be coming from a long way away.

‘He ate eggs and bacon at midnight. He’s suffered a couple of nasty lacerations and some bruising, and he’s had a huge fright, but as soon as he realised you and Hamish were OK, the whole thing started fading to an adventure.’

Good. That was good.

Why wouldn’t her sluggish mind think?

‘Hamish?’ she managed.

‘He ate eggs and bacon at midnight, toasted sandwiches at five and I think he’s complaining that he’s hungry again now. He was a little dehydrated, but he drank so much lemonade after we dragged him up that we didn’t bother putting a drip up.’

‘Oh, Grady…’

‘And the dogs are fine, too,’ he told her in a voice that was decidedly shaky. ‘The team decided they wouldn’t leave them there overnight, so Doug and Max lowered themselves over the cliff face and brought them up in harnesses. Doug took Mutt home, and William’s decided he’s going to wait a bit before he starts the antidepressants. The first couple of days’ medication can bring drowsiness, and William has too much to do to be drowsy.’

Then, at the look of sheer confusion on her face, he smiled down at her with a gentleness that turned her heart right over. ‘That’s all,’ he told her. ‘You’re barely with me, my heart. But you are with me. That’s all that matters. For now…you need to sleep.’

Sleep.

It seemed a good option to her. Even a great option. Her eyes were so tired.

But still she clung, and still he held. She could feel the beating of his heart, she thought dreamily. Her Grady…

Her heart was beating with his. What more could she ask?

Nothing.

She woke again and Grady wasn’t there. Robbie was gone from the next bed, but Louise was watching. The nurse fussed and clucked and went and heated some soup. She helped Morag drink a little then she adjusted her pillows, checked her drip and told her not to worry.

‘Robbie’s with Hamish. He’s fine. Can you believe that child? He’s scratched to pieces and an adult would be groaning for days, but William’s brought Hamish down.’

She looked confused. Why wouldn’t she look confused?

‘William’s brought Hamish down?’

‘Hamish and May are staying with William because of the dogs, and also because Hazel was so pleased. You know Hazel and May are cousins? After losing Elias, finding Hamish has cheered Hazel up like nothing else could. It’s cheered everyone up. Now the two boys and the dogs are sitting out in the sun, comparing adventures.’

Adventures… There’d been too many adventures. ‘They won’t go back onto the cliff?’

‘Are you kidding? I don’t think they ever want to see that cliff again in their lives. William’s told them if they wander from sight he’ll scalp the pair of them, and they’ve promised. You know they’re kids who keep their promises.’

They were, too. But…

‘Grady.’ She was thinking aloud. ‘Where’s Grady?’

‘He’s at the town meeting. Like everyone else except Irene and me-we’re keeping the hospital running.’ She gave a tight, distracted smile, and her pleasure in talking of the little boys faded a little. ‘Which is just as well. Someone has to.’

‘The meeting.’ Morag’s mind focused sharply. ‘Oh, no, the meeting… Louise, I need to be there.’

‘Right, so you can just pick up your bed and leave? I don’t think so.’ The nurse smiled and started to fit a blood-pressure cuff. ‘Stop your worrying, girl,’ she told her. ‘You’ve been doing too much worrying. About everyone. And now Grady’s worrying about you, and William’s worrying about you, and Marcus and May and Hazel and just about everyone else on the island.’

‘But-’

‘You know you’ve got a really nasty fracture of your leg?’ Louise sounded as if she was scolding. ‘Jaqui and Grady worked like fury to try and re-establish a blood supply, and you’re dead lucky your leg didn’t to go the way of Sam’s. So if you think you can just get up and keep going, you’re gravely mistaken.’

‘I must,’ she said in distress. ‘The island… If I’m out of action they’ll evacuate the island and we’ll never return.’

Louise’s kindly face clouded. ‘I don’t know about that,’ she said stolidly. ‘But there’s nothing you and I can do about it, and worrying won’t help. So how about I call Irene to double-check the drugs, and we’ll give you the injection Dr Reece ordered? That’ll stop the pain and let you settle back to sleep. I’d imagine when you wake up, everything will be decided.’

‘Everything will be over.’

Louise pursed her lips and turned to call Irene. ‘Wait and see.’

Morag did sleep. Her body gave her no choice. She drifted in and out of a drug-induced stupor all through that long afternoon.

When she woke, the flap of the tent was closed. She could no longer see the sea, and the light was starting to fade.

She winced and groaned a little as the pain in her leg caught. But that wasn’t what was worrying her. The effects of the morphine had receded, her mind was clear and she was faced with the overwhelming realisation that she’d missed the meeting.

And she was injured. She understood enough of the injury to her leg to know she’d be off work for many weeks. The island would have no medical officer, and that’d be the death knell to the island. The decision about the island’s future was a foregone conclusion.

‘It’s about time you woke up.’

She twisted and Grady was at the entrance to her makeshift ward.

‘Hi, Morag,’ he told her, and he was smiling. What a smile. It was a smile to make her catch her breath. ‘We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for ages. Welcome to your future.’

Her future. What on earth was he talking about? She tried hard to focus, tried to see…

We’ve been waiting for you to wake up?

Who?

Robbie.

Robbie was beside him, clutching his hand as if he belonged there. Robbie and Grady. The two men in her life. Her love for them both was so intertwined, the fact that they stood hand in hand hardly took any explaining. It felt…right.

But Robbie was looking desperately anxious. He mustn’t be anxious.

‘Robbie,’ she whispered, and the little redhead darted toward her like an arrow to its target. She gathered her to him with her free arm and she held him close.

But over his head she looked at Grady.

‘What…? What…?’

But there was more to understand. We, Grady had said, and he’d meant we. It wasn’t just Grady and Robbie. There were people behind Grady.

Lots of people.

And they were all smiling.

‘Your island’s safe,’ Grady told her.

‘Safe?’

Grady opened his mouth to continue, but he was interrupted.

‘We’ve got a plan.’ Jaqui was pushing her way past Grady, elbowing him aside as if he were an annoying obstacle. She was dressed in her yellow overalls-so was Grady. And there was Doug in his overalls and…more…

‘Grady wanted to tell you by himself,’ Jaqui was saying, ‘but I said no way. He said you’re not ready for any more than one visitor at a time, but what would he know? He’s too close to be your treating physician, so I’ve elected myself. And joy’s not going to kill you, girl. Now, is it?’

‘Joy?’

‘The meeting,’ she said in some satisfaction. ‘We knew you’d want to be there. But we couldn’t wait. It was far too soon for anyone to be level-headed. Only two days after something as massive as a tsunami, there’s been so little time to think. But decisions had to be made immediately. Either everyone needs to work like crazy and get some sort of drainage and water system in place, or we all get out of here now. The infrastructure’s so damaged there’s a real health risk.’

‘She knows that. Don’t waffle,’ Grady said darkly, trying to edge her aside again, but Jaqui refused to be edged.

‘Who’s waffling? Who had the best idea?’

‘Grady did.’ It was Marcus, pushing in past Jaqui. The burly fisherman was in front now, and likely to stay that way. After all, he was the biggest. ‘It seems Grady’s brother’s a politician in Sydney, with more clout than we know what to do with. So he’s pulled strings like you wouldn’t believe.’

‘But it’s my husband who clinched it,’ Jaqui retorted. ‘My Craig is the head of a big public works department on the mainland and he’s bored. We’re both bored. And we have four adult sons living with us who are driving us crazy. Craig’s been talking of retirement, but who wants to retire and do nothing? Anyway, we’ve been thinking about getting away-doing something completely different-and now I’ve met the island goats…’

‘What are you talking about?’ It was as much as Morag could do to whisper, and Robbie pulled away from her to stare into her face in concern. Like he was worried she might have bumped her head.

Like she was being adult-obtuse.

‘It’s easy,’ the little boy told her. ‘Hubert explained it to me and Grady told me again. Dr Jaqui’s husband is an engineer and he’s going to come over and start digging drains so we can stay on the island. And Dr Jaqui wants to help with the goats.’

‘Craig doesn’t exactly dig,’ Jaqui conceded. ‘But he’s really good at organising. And Robbie’s right about the goats. Anyway, with Grady’s politician brother pulling strings to keep the army lads over here to help, and William’s friends moving mountains…’

‘William’s friends?’ Maybe Robbie was right. Maybe she had been hit on her head. Her head was certainly spinning.

William was there, too, she saw, stunned. He was standing at the back, grinning like he’d won the lottery.

‘William has the arts community in the palm of his hand,’ Grady told her. He was one of ten or so people crowding around her bed now, but suddenly they may as well have been alone. He was smiling and smiling at her, his eyes locked on hers. Promising the world.

But still talking practicalities.

‘From the time William got Mutt back, he’s been on the end of a phone, contacting every land council-every human rights group-every arts board-to the end that if we take anything away from the Koori people that’s been given to them already-like twenty-four-hour medical support-there’ll be a national uproar.’ Grady turned to smile at William-who was blushing, for heaven’s sake. ‘It seems the Koori artwork here is known worldwide, and that’s given us even more leverage. The elders worked with William on this, Morag, and Yndilla and Nargal even consented to use our radio to confirm their needs with the mainland Koori organisations. You’ve gained the Koori people’s trust, Morag. They want you.’

‘But…’ She was too dazed to take it in but it wasn’t making sense. ‘They can’t… I have to leave…’

‘That’s the best bit.’ It was Hubert, piping up from the other side of the canvas, and Morag’s flimsy side wall was twitched aside to reveal the old man lying in the next cubicle. Like Morag, he was attached to IV lines, but his colour had returned and his voice had a strength that said he might well be good for a few years yet. ‘Tell her the best. Tell her.’

‘I’m trying to,’ Grady said, half laughing.

‘He’s trying to tell you we’re staying,’ Jaqui told her. ‘Craig and I are staying. I just looked at this place and I knew…’

‘You and Craig are staying?’

‘I told you,’ Jaqui said with exaggerated patience. ‘I’ve fallen for the goats. One licked me on the face when I was trying to sleep in the sun and I was hooked. Craig will oversee rebuilding and I’ll be a medical partner. With goats on the side.’

‘Me, too,’ Grady told her, and the whole world seemed to hold its breath.

‘You…you, too?’

‘You haven’t asked her,’ Jaqui told him. ‘Bill and Louise can’t share their goats with everyone-and Morag might not want a medical partner.’

‘That cuts you out, then,’ he retorted.

‘Well…’

‘Jaqui, shut up.’

‘Only if you tell her, stupid.’

‘Jaqui and I have been talking,’ he said a little bit desperately, and she gazed up at him in disbelief.

She was still cuddling Robbie. The little boy was curled against her, but he was gazing up at the crowd around his aunt’s bed as if this were a theatre spectacular. And he had the best seat in the house.

‘You and Jaqui have been talking?’ Morag prodded, and Grady cast a despairing glance around at his audience.

‘I don’t suppose there’s any chance you lot will go away,’ he said, and got unanimous grins.

‘Not a snowball’s chance in a bushfire,’ Marcus said calmly. ‘Tell her.’

‘OK.’ He took a deep breath, obviously a man caught between a rock and a hard place. ‘Um…I thought I might stay here, too,’ he told her.

She thought about it. Her leg should be hurting, she thought dazedly, but she couldn’t feel her leg. She couldn’t feel anything. Was she floating?

Who needed morphine when this was happening?

But… ‘What on earth would you do here? she managed.

‘I wouldn’t mind a bit of privacy,’ Grady tried again.

‘It’s not going to happen,’ Jaqui told him. ‘Tell the lady.’

‘Yeah, well, Jaqui and I have been talking. And we think-’

‘We think this makes a really fantastic base for Air-Sea Rescue, from here to New Zealand,’ Jaqui said. ‘There’s so much sea traffic…’

‘You have to be kidding,’ Morag whispered. ‘You’re crazy.’

‘We are a bit,’ Grady admitted. ‘But we have the government interested in setting up a medical base to service all the remote islands north and east of here. Individually each has tiny populations but when you put them together-’

‘It makes economic sense to service them from here rather than send everyone to the mainland.’ Jaqui’s voice was triumphant.

‘And when you add the indigenous populations…’ Grady managed.

‘The education needs,’ William added. ‘Health education for the Kooris has to be a priority.’

‘Then there’s the fact that the lighthouse needs protecting from marauding sea eagles,’ Marcus added. ‘So we need you and Jaqui and Grady. Plus, I’m going to teach Grady to fish.’

‘Me, too,’ said Jaqui.

‘I can fish already,’ Robbie told her. ‘I’ll help teach you.’

‘But-’

‘And we’re going to run remote training sessions,’ Grady added with a flourish, as if it was his trump card. ‘Jaqui and William and Marcus and I started work at dawn, planning this. After Jaqui and I sorted your leg out we were too high to sleep, and no one else was sleeping either. There’s such potential. We have everything here. We have such expertise.’

‘We’re the best,’ Jaqui said modestly, and everyone laughed.

And then the laughter died.

They were all looking at her, Morag realised. They were all waiting for her reaction.

She couldn’t react. She didn’t know how to. There was so much to take in…

‘The island must remain viable for everyone,’ Grady said softly. ‘And it can. You know, Angie Salmon stood up at the public meeting today and told everyone that Orlando would be buried here because this was where he belonged. It was where everyone belonged. She said she was staying here and so were her family, and if they took the doctor away then the world would be inflicting another disaster on the island as big as the tidal wave. The cameraman who helped Hubert has resurrected a damaged photograph of Orlando, and the world’s press is splashing his picture all over the world’s newspapers right now. We’re safe, Morag. We’re all safe. We’re home.’

‘You’re home? You?’ She could hardly take it in.

‘I will need to go to Sydney from time to time,’ Grady told her, as if he needed to lay all his cards out on the table right now. ‘So will Jaqui. We’ll still be part of the emergency services network, which is run from the mainland. But we thought-’

‘We thought we could go, too.’ Robbie was almost gleeful. ‘Grady talked about it to me like I was a grown-up. He said you really liked shopping and he bet me that I’d like it, too. He said Sydney has cool stuff. And he said that when I go to school in Sydney, you guys could all come over a lot to visit me. He said you’ll have three doctors on the island, so you’ll all be able to take turns.’

‘You have it all worked out.’

‘Yup,’ said Grady. ‘And this way I get to be assistant lighthouse-keeper. How cool is that?’

‘You’ve already talked Robbie into it.’

‘Yup,’ said Jaqui. ‘And I’m going to be assistant to the assistant of the lighthouse-keeper.’

‘Is there anything you haven’t planned?’

‘The wedding,’ Grady said, and the whole world stilled.

‘The…’

‘Right.’ Enough was enough. Grady squared his shoulders. He turned to face the assembled congregation.

‘I’m doing this by myself,’ he decreed.

‘Hey, don’t mind us,’ Hubert said.

‘You can’t keep all the good bits for yourself,’ Jaqui added.

‘Out,’ said Grady. He plucked Robbie from Morag’s arms and swung him round to William. ‘Find the kid a dog,’ he said. ‘Robbie, I need to organise your future.’

‘It’s already organised,’ Robbie told him.

‘No, it’s not. Your Aunty Morag hasn’t agreed to marry me.’

‘You will, though,’ Robbie said. ‘Won’t you, Morag?’

Morag was laughing. Joy was bubbling up so fast it threatened to overwhelm her. They were all looking at her now-seemingly the whole island. This was a proposal from Grady, but it was also a proposal from all of them.

They’d taken Grady to their hearts. He was part of them. Part of this community.

Part of her heart.

Why should she wait until the room was clear? she thought, dazed beyond belief. Why should she wait another moment?

‘Of course I’ll marry you,’ she told Grady. ‘Of course I will, my love. That is…’ She grinned with pure mischief. ‘That is, if you ever get around to asking me.’

Grady groaned. But he was smiling down at her, and suddenly he realised that this wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. With a despairing glance around the room at his unmoving audience, he finally shrugged and dropped to his knees next to the bed.

‘Morag-’

‘That’s better,’ Hubert said approvingly.

‘Ooh, I like this,’ said Louise.

‘Shut up,’ said Grady. ‘Morag-’

‘Have you got a ring?’ Robbie said anxiously from William’s arms. ‘He has to have a ring.’

‘Have one of mine.’ It was Hazel, who’d been squishing in at the back between May and Hamish. Now she held out a ring-one of many that adorned her work-worn hands. ‘Elias gave me a ring every wedding anniversary so I have sixty-two rings. I can’t think of a better way to recycle one of them.’

‘Thank you,’ Grady said with as much dignity as he could muster. ‘Until I have time to buy my own…’

‘Diamond solitaire,’ Hubert advised. ‘Girls like diamond solitaires.’

‘Will you all shut up?’ It was a roar that almost lifted the tent.

It shut them up.

‘Well!’ Louise ventured, inclined to be indignant. ‘In a sickroom.’

‘Louise…’

‘Just joking.’ She held up her hands as if to ward off his anger. ‘Don’t mind me. Everyone, hush.’

Everyone hushed.

‘Morag Lacy,’ Grady said finally, catching her hands and holding them-and holding her eyes with his, with all the love in his heart. ‘Morag, I’ve loved you for four long years and I love you now more than I ever believed possible. You’re the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I love you and I need you, Morag, now and for ever. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?’

‘Ooh,’ said Hazel, and sniffed.

‘Is that how it’s supposed to be done?’ Robbie asked, and William hugged him.

‘Yes, my boy, that’s exactly how it should be done.’

But Morag wasn’t listening. Her hands were holding Grady. He was looking up at her and he…he looked anxious. Anxious? How could he possibly doubt her reply?

He was waiting.

The whole island was waiting.

And there was only one answer to give.

‘Of course I’ll marry you,’ she whispered, and then, as he gathered her into his arms and held her, she repeated herself. ‘Of course I’ll marry you, my heart.’

And with those words, fractured leg or not, Morag Lacy stepped forward into her future.

With love.