‘Try me, Dr Russell. Maybe we’d both enjoy it.’
Nikki glared. Luke’s smile didn’t slip. She placed one foot tentatively forward and Luke’s smile deepened even further. He would enjoy it, Nikki realised. He’d enjoy carrying her past her patients and receptionist with no thought at all for her dignity…with no thought for the fact that she was here forever in this town and had her reputation to consider.
‘I’m going back to Whispering Palms for lunch,’ she said half-heartedly, but he simply shook his head and took her hand.
‘Beattie packed me enough lunch for three,’ he told her. ‘I want sea, sun, sandwiches and swim in that order. Let’s go, Dr Russell.’
‘I don’t-’
‘If you’re worried about your precious virtue, you needn’t worry,’ he smiled. ‘We’re taking Karen.’
‘Karen?’ Nikki said blankly. ‘But she’s in hospital.’
‘For the next three minutes,’ he agreed. ‘We’re taking her to the beach for lunch and then you’re taking her home to Whispering Palms.’
‘Luke Marriott, do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?’ Regardless of listening ears on the other side of the door, Nikki’s voice rose hysterically. ‘I have exams in two and a half weeks. My house is filling with strangers. I never allow my work to impinge on my private life. To take a child home…’
‘So what would you do, Dr Russell?’ The hand holding Nikki’s suddenly tightened, and Luke’s smile slipped. ‘Would you send Karen home to her mother before Sandra’s been given a chance to sort her life out? Or would you put her on a plane to Cairns to be put into a foster home there? She knows you and she trusts you. Sandra can pop in and see her when she feels like it…’
‘More people in my home!’
‘Yes.’ The smile crept back. ‘With any luck, by the time I leave that place will start feeling like a home. Let’s go, Dr Russell.’
Karen was still in bed when they reached the hospital, propped up by so many pillows that her wan little face all but disappeared. She didn’t smile as they approached-just watched them gravely.
‘How’s my girl?’ Luke smiled as he reached his small patient. His hand came down and ruffled the short, cropped hair. ‘Feeling better?’
‘Can I go home?’ Karen’s voice was lifeless and uninterested. Her eyes flicked over to the door as though she was expecting someone else to come.
‘Karen, we’re going to hold on to you a while longer.’ Luke sank down to sit on the bed. He took Karen’s small hand in his and his body blocked her view of the door. He looked down, silent until he was sure he had her full attention. ‘Karen, your mum broke your arm, didn’t she?’
The child stared up, silent, and Luke nodded.
‘You don’t have to tell us,’ he said. ‘But it’s not you who needs the treatment-it’s your mum.’
‘You’re taking her away…’
‘No.’ Luke’s hands came up to grip Karen’s slight shoulders. ‘Karen, you’ve seen a balloon burst, haven’t you? What’s happening to your mother at the moment is very much like what happens when you blow a balloon up too far. She has so many worries-and each one is like a puff into a balloon. The worries build up and build up, until the last little puff makes her explode. That little puff might be just a child coughing at the wrong moment-or tea burning-or even just a draught from an open door. It’s not the person who caused the tiny puff who’s at fault, but the explosion comes just the same.’
‘You mean…you mean when she gets angry…’
‘I mean that’s what happens when your mum hurts you.’ Luke’s eyes didn’t leave the child. ‘Your dad isn’t giving your mum the money she needs to support you. She can’t afford to buy the food you need. The littlies are causing her too much work. She’s lonely and she’s worried and all these things are just building up and building up to the point where she hurts you. She feels dreadful about it, Karen.’
‘But…’
‘I know. She doesn’t come. It’s because she’s ashamed, Karen. Can you understand that?’
Karen’s big eyes filled with tears. She looked wildly up at Nikki, the doctor she knew and trusted. ‘She doesn’t have to be ashamed. And she shouldn’t be worried. I can look after her. I try…’
‘I know you do.’ Nikki moved swiftly to give the little girl a hard hug. ‘But you’ve been trying on your own for long enough. Now it’s time for Dr Marriott and me to take a turn. What your mum needs now is a rest and a chance to sort herself out. So while she does that she’s agreed to let you come to stay with us for a holiday.’
‘Us?’ Karen looked through her tears from Nikki to Luke and then back again.
‘Yes.’ Nikki’s voice firmed. She didn’t look at Luke. OK. He was right. This little girl needed Whispering Palms more than Nikki needed her privacy. ‘You know Amy-my little girl-and Mrs Gilchrist. We’ve a swimming-pool and lots of toys and books. Your arm can heal while your mum finds a new place for you to live.’
‘A new place…?’
‘Yes.’ Luke grinned and pulled back Karen’s covers. ‘A perfectly splendid new home where you and your mum and brothers and sister can all live happily ever after. Now, Miss Mears, we have a picnic lunch to eat and a quick swim before Dr Russell takes you to your temporary accommodation.’
‘But-’ Karen looked up wildly ‘-I won’t be able to swim. I haven’t got my bathers and…and you said I mustn’t get my plaster wet.’
Luke shook his head solemnly. ‘No problem.’ He glanced around to the ward nurse. ‘Sister here will provide us with a large plastic bag and a rubber band for your arm, and as for the rest-well, if you’re wearing a plastic bag you can’t be accused of skinnydipping, can you?’
Karen looked from one doctor to another. Her tear-drenched eyes widened. And then, very softly, she giggled.
So what was happening to her nice, quiet study period? Nikki sat in her study and gazed out over the pool. Amy and Karen were sitting under the vast grape-vine discussing the merits of alternative ways of dressing Barbie dolls. It was evidently a very solemn topic-both little girls were taking the matter very seriously. Despite herself, Nikki smiled. It hadn’t occurred to her to have children here to play with Amy, and now-now she saw how much pleasure Amy could get from it.
And Karen too. Karen had enjoyed her picnic to the full, laughing at Luke’s silly jokes and thoroughly enjoying frolicking in the shallows with him. Later, though, as Nikki had tucked her into bed for an afternoon sleep, the shadows had come back over her face. ‘I want to go home,’ she’d whispered.
‘Not yet, sweetheart,’ Nikki had told her. How to tell a child that her mother was still so tense that she might strike her again? They couldn’t risk it. Then, as tired tears had welled in Karen’s eyes, Amy had appeared clutching her teddy and a battered stuffed monkey.
‘I have to have an afternoon sleep too,’ she’d announced. ‘And I thought I could sleep with Karen if…if I let her use Monkey.’
It was the perfect solution. Karen had moved over in the big bed and the two little girls cuddled down together. They were asleep in minutes.
So Luke was right. Luke Marriott was always right, Nikki had thought bitterly. He could organise everyone’s life except his own.
She had picked up her-abandoned text and stared at it uselessly. She’d still been staring two hours later when the sounds through the house had announced that the girls were awake and ready for fun.
The exam was starting to seem irrelevant. So what if I fail it? she’d asked herself, and then blinked. What had she just said? She looked out of the window as the two little girls emerged to the poolside. As she watched, Beattie brought out a tray of lemonade and biscuits. Nikki saw her glance doubtfully across to Nikki’s window. She’d be wondering whether to disturb her, Nikki knew, and suddenly Nikki threw her text aside. It was time for a few minutes with the children, she decided. Some things were more important than exams.