The Surgeon’s Family Miracle

CHAPTER SEVEN

SHE woke up and he was gone. For a moment the remnants of her dream stayed with her, making her smile, making her look expectantly to where Ben had been. But, of course, he wasn’t there.

She glanced at her bedside clock-and found it wasn’t there either. Startled, she checked her wristwatch-and yelped.

It was eight-thirty. There was a ward round to be done and…

And things were different. Benjy was awake. She focused on the rest of her bedroom. Benjy had pulled an ancient suitcase from the bottom of the wardrobe. He had a pile of clothes folded beside him and he was calmly assessing each item.

‘Hi,’ she said cautiously, and he turned and smiled at her. It was a great smile. It was a smile she hadn’t seen for too long.

‘Ben came round a while ago,’ Benjy said. ‘When he thought we were asleep he was going to go away again, but I heard him and we had toast together. He said I should start thinking about what I’ll need to take to the farm.’

The farm idea hadn’t been a dream, then. But it might as well be. The idea was crazy.

‘We’ll talk about it after I’m dressed,’ she told him. ‘Benjy, we need to-’

‘Ben says Sam’s doing house calls this morning,’ Benjy told her. ‘And the nice nurse with the funny-coloured hair. Yellow and green. Debbie. Ben said Sam and Debbie are going to sort out all our problems, no sweat.’

‘Did he say that?’ she said, starting for the bathroom. ‘As if he knows.’

‘He says we’re leaving at ten and if we’re not ready he’s going to pick us up and toss us in the helicopter and take us regardless.’ He stared down at two T-shirts. ‘I don’t know what regardless means. Mama, which one should I pack?’

‘Neither.’

‘Don’t you want us to go?’

‘Benjy, we can’t.’

‘There will be horses,’ Benjy whispered. ‘Ben said there will be horses and I can ride one.’

Drat the man. How dared he upset her son?

‘Horses smell. And they kick. Did Ben take away my alarm clock?’

‘Ben’s horses wouldn’t kick and I don’t like your alarm clock.’

‘Neither do I, sweetheart,’ she told him. ‘But it’s all about who I am.’

‘I want a holiday,’ he said, suddenly stubborn. ‘The children in my picture books have holidays. I want one.’

Lily’s resolve faltered. She hesitated and there was a sharp rap on the outside door. It opened before she could respond, and Ben was there, dressed in his camouflage gear again, looking big and tough and dangerous. And smiling.

‘Why are you wearing those clothes?’ she said, trying to sound cross and not breathless. ‘You look like you’re heading into battle.’

‘Believe it or not, I don’t have anything else,’ he told her. ‘I didn’t pop in an extra bag of casual gear.’

‘I like it,’ Benjy announced. ‘I want to wear a uniform like that when I grow up.’

‘No, you don’t,’ Lily told him, but her son looked suddenly mutinous. Uh-oh.

‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded, thinking maybe this was a dangerous conversation to pursue-though concentrating on Ben rather than Benjy seemed even riskier.

‘I came to wake you up,’ he said cheerfully. ‘I didn’t want you to sleep through your holiday.’

‘You took my alarm clock.’

‘Guilty, but it was an entirely altruistic action on my part, as here I am, replacing it. Wouldn’t you rather wake up to me?’

‘No,’ she snapped, but his grin was making her think he had a point. He definitely had a point. ‘Anyway, you make a lousy substitute. My clock was set for six.’

‘A perfectly ridiculous time,’ he told her. ‘For the first day of your holiday.’

‘Ben, I’m not-’

‘Lily, you are,’ he told her, and his smile faded. ‘I meant what I said last night. If you could afford some other way of doing this-of getting away from the island a bit by yourself-and I thought you would, then maybe I wouldn’t be this bossy. But all the islanders agree.’

‘All…’

‘Every single person I’ve talked to,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Bar none. The women want to pack for you but I figured you only needed spare knickers and togs.’

‘Togs?’

‘Swimsuit,’ he said patiently. ‘Honestly, Lily, you spent six years in Australia.’

‘I know what togs are. Ben, I can’t.’

He’d come to the bedroom door but no further, which was just as well. She’d woken some time in the night and had tugged off her pants and bra. She was now wearing a pair of very scanty knickers and a T-shirt that didn’t come down quite far enough.

This man was the father of her child, she told herself, feeling desperate. He knew her so well that appearing before him in knickers and T-shirt shouldn’t worry her.

It did. She wanted all the barricades she could get, and clothing was just the start of it.

‘Lily, you can.’ Still he didn’t move. He’s holding himself back, she thought. He’s feeling the same as I am.

‘Just in case you do want to take more than knickers and togs, Pieter’s wife’s here to help you pack,’ he told her. He turned back and Mary was behind him. She came in now, cautiously, as if she was afraid what she might find, but when she saw Lily in her knickers and T-shirt she smiled, her broad islander face a tonic all on its own.

‘You dress well to greet your visitors,’ she said, and Lily glared at both of them.

‘Mary, tell Ben he has no right ordering me around.’

‘He does have a right,’ Mary said softly. ‘I’m here as back-up. I’m here to tell you we all agree. You were exhausted before this happened. All of us knew it. We just chose to ignore it because…well, maybe we needed you too much. But we don’t need you now. You’re to go, child. Take your Benjy and do what the good doctor says. You’re not to come back before you’ve gained ten pounds and you’ve lost those dark shadows under yours eyes.’

‘Mary-’

‘Don’t argue,’ she said severely, and then rounded on Ben. ‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded. ‘Lily needs to shower and pack and there’s no room in that for you. Shoo.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ Ben said, and he grinned and blew a kiss to Lily-and shooed.

An hour and a half later, Lily and her son were in the great army helicopter, heading for the mainland. She had to work during the journey. That was how Ben had squared it with the authorities-indeed, it suited them all well. A corporal with shrapnel in her knee and a supply sergeant who’d smashed a hip in the chaos of the night of the helicopters both needed constant medical attention, but they wanted to go home to Sydney.

So Benjy sat up front with the pilot, one half of him overjoyed to be right where he was and the other half of him thinking holiday, holiday, holiday, horses, horses, horses. Lily worked on in the rear. One part of her was still a doctor, checking her patients were comfortable, making sure there was no deterioration, talking to them about their condition and how they were looking forward to being reunited with their families. One tiny part of Lily was thinking holiday. But the biggest part was thinking Ben, Ben, Ben, and there was no way she could get the refrain from her head.

Ben watched the chopper disappear from view and it was as if he’d cut out a part from himself and sent it with them.

Lily and his son.

‘You should be with them, mate.’ It was Sam, coming up behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder. The sensation made Ben start and Sam grinned.

‘You’re not very awake, are you, lad? I could be the enemy.’

‘There’s no enemy here. Not any more.’

‘No.’ Sam eyed the retreating helicopter thoughtfully. ‘So tell me again-why didn’t you go with them?’

‘I need to work here.’

‘I’m working here.’

‘So that makes two of us. Plus the nurses. It’s what we need.’

‘So let’s see if I’m right,’ Sam said thoughtfully. ‘You’ve sent the lady to your family farm. You’ve also volunteered to take leave because you know the powers that be won’t approve two doctors staying here, and the lady wouldn’t have gone if she didn’t know there were two of us to take over her work.’

‘That’s-’

‘The truth,’ Sam said. ‘You’ve got it bad, mate.’

‘I haven’t got anything.’

‘You’re still in love with her.’

‘She’s gorgeous,’ Ben snapped. ‘Anyone would love her.’

‘She used to be gorgeous,’ Sam said bluntly. ‘Now she’s skinny. She’s got too many freckles, her hair needs a decent cut and she looks like she hasn’t slept for a month.’

‘That’s why she needs a holiday.’

‘Yeah, but it doesn’t say she’s gorgeous.’ He hesitated. ‘You planning on following this through?’

‘Like how?’

‘The kid’s yours,’ Sam said. ‘You marry her and you have an instant family. How does that seem?’

‘It won’t happen.’

‘Why not?’

‘I don’t do family.’

‘No,’ Sam said thoughtfully. ‘Of course you don’t.’

‘Look, can we leave this?’ Ben said, exasperated. ‘You’re planning on operating on Larry Arnoo this afternoon?’

‘Yeah,’ Sam said, and grimaced. ‘Larry should be on his way to Sydney, too. There’s shrapnel too close to the spine to leave it there. If it hits a nerve he’s stuffed. But there’s no way he’s going to Sydney. He’s only agreed to have the operation here because he assumed Lily would do it.’

‘As if she could.’

‘Have you seen some of the work she’s done on this island?’ Sam demanded. ‘She and Pieter-a nurse with no formal training whatsoever-have done operations in the past that would have made me quake. Because there’s no one else to do them.’

‘She’s out of it now,’ Ben growled. ‘She has a month off, or more if I can manage it.’

‘But you’re not interested in marrying her?’

‘Hell, Sam, I don’t do marriage. And do you think she’d follow me where I go for the rest of her life? Or stay happily a home body while I’m away?’

‘No chance.’

‘Well, then,’ Ben said heavily. ‘That’s it. We’re back where we started. Long-term friends. But at least I won’t leave her pregnant this time.’

‘Not if you stay here and she stays there,’ Sam agreed, and grinned. ‘But that’s not likely to be a long-term arrangement, now, is it?’