The Australian's Bride

CHAPTER SIX

‘IT’S DANNY!’ Stella had moved with speed on her crutches behind Alex and Susie as they raced up the track towards the cry for help. ‘What’s wrong with him?’

‘He’s having a seizure.’ Alex dropped to a crouch beside Benita, who was holding the young boy on his side. ‘You’re doing a good job keeping the airway open,’ he told the nurse. ‘How long has this been going on for?’

‘Too long,’ Benita answered worriedly. ‘I thought it would stop in a minute or two. I sent Cameron to get help from the medical centre and one of the girls took the younger children back to camp, but it’s just gone on and on. Must be nearly ten minutes now—that’s why I was calling for help.’

‘What’s his history?’

‘He’s a few weeks post an autologous bone-marrow transplant.’

‘For what reason?’ Alex held Danny’s bald head as the boy’s muscles continued to twitch and jerk.

‘Intensive chemo post-surgery. They saved his bone marrow to put back afterwards.’

‘What was the surgery for?’

‘A neuroblastoma.’

‘Any secondaries?’

‘No. Or not that they know about. He had a really good result from the last round of tests.’

‘History of seizures?’

‘No.’

‘He’s very hot.’ Alex’s hands were gently cradling Danny’s head, making sure he wasn’t going to injure himself on the rough surface of the track.

‘I noticed he was looking flushed,’ Benita said. ‘But I thought he was just running around too much in the heat. He got really excited because we were off on a frog hunt.’

‘No flu symptoms? Did he get checked with the other children this morning?’

‘Yes. His temperature was up just a point or two but he seemed fine and it was still within a normal range. He said nothing hurt but, then, it takes a lot to slow Danny down.’

‘He looks awful,’ Stella whispered to Susie in horror. ‘Is he going to die?’

Susie put her arm around the girl. ‘No,’ she said. ‘The seizure makes it hard for him to swallow, which is why he’s got all that saliva on his face. It’s also a lot harder to breathe and that’s why his lips are getting a bit blue. He’ll be OK. He’s got your dad here to look after him now.’

Alex glanced up at her words. ‘Could you intercept whoever’s coming from the clinic? Make sure they’re carrying some oxygen and diazepam? Otherwise we’d better find a way to transport Danny pretty quickly.’

Susie didn’t have to go far before she met Beth coming in their direction in a cart, a large first-aid kit on the seat beside her and Garf riding in the trailer.

‘What’s happening?’ Beth queried. ‘Has the seizure stopped?’

‘No.’ Susie did a U-turn and trotted beside the cart. ‘Do you have oxygen with you? And diazepam?’

‘Yes. Who’s with Danny at the moment?’

‘Benita. And Alex—Stella’s dad. He asked me to check what you were carrying.’

They were back at the scene now and Susie could only stand beside Stella and watch as the two doctors treated little Danny.

‘How old is he?’ Beth asked.

‘Nearly six,’ Benita told her. ‘He’s just very small for his age.’

The nurse held Danny’s small arm as still as possible as Alex slipped a cannula into a vein. Susie could see what a difficult task it had to be, but Alex made it look simple. Beth calculated his weight and drew up the required dose of sedative.

Finally, the seizure stopped. Alex picked up the still unconscious child. ‘I’ll carry him,’ he said. ‘Let’s get him back to the clinic.’

‘Has he got any relatives with him?’ Beth asked Benita.

‘No. He’s one of the unaccompanied ones. My responsibility. I should come with him, shouldn’t I? But I sent the rest of the group back to the camp and I’ll have to make sure someone’s looking after them.’

‘We can do that,’ Susie offered. ‘Can’t we, Star?’

Stella’s nod was surprisingly eager.

‘Cameron went to find Beth,’ Benita continued. ‘But he knows to go back to the younger ones. There should be five of them waiting on the steps by the dining hall.’

‘We’ll find them,’ Stella said. ‘I can take them for a walk to look for frogs.’

The reminder of just how capable she was of doing that made Susie catch Alex’s gaze. He had seated himself in the front of the cart now, with Danny in his arms and the oxygen cylinder between his legs. Beth was putting the first-aid kit into the trailer.

‘Shove over, Garf,’ she instructed. ‘Make room or you’ll have to run behind.’

Alex looked as if he did things like this all the time, Susie thought. As though it was completely normal to be cradling a sick child and caring for him no matter how unusual the circumstances. Her heart twisted with another shaft of the astonishing depth of the new emotion she was feeling for this man, and she knew her smile was wobbly.

Alex smiled back. Calm and confident but apologetic as he shifted his gaze to his daughter.

‘Sorry about this, chicken. I’d better help Beth get Danny settled and assessed, but I shouldn’t be too long. We’ll do something special together later, yes?’

‘Sure.’

It wasn’t Susie’s imagination. Stella was standing taller. Looking somehow older and far more mature. Where was that slightly sullen teen she had spoken to just an hour or so ago? The one who had been muttering about getting less attention than her father’s patients?

‘It’s OK, Dad,’ Stella added. ‘Danny needs you more than I do right now.’

Susie wasn’t the only one to notice the change. A flash of the pride Alex had shown earlier returned, and Stella was clearly soaking it up. Her smile was almost smug as she turned to Susie.

‘Let’s go,’ she said.

Susie followed, still amazed at the change she could feel. That moment of victory she had engineered for Stella had opened new doors within relationships, it seemed.

For all of them.

An hour or so later, Alex was trying to find his daughter.

The camp seemed deserted but in the dining hall he found staff setting tables in preparation for the evening meal.

‘Try the pool,’ a young woman who was arranging trays on a table suggested. ‘Or the beach. It’s so hot, I think everyone wanted to swim. Which one’s your daughter?’

‘Stella. Wears a baseball cap and she’s got crutches.’

Maybe not for much longer, though, on both counts. Her hair was growing back and the prospect of seeing his girl walking confidently—even running or dancing—without her crutches was now a real possibility in the near future.

Thanks to Susie.

‘I know her,’ the camp worker nodded. ‘She’s not sick?’

‘No.’

Not any more. The aggressive therapy and even the amputation had been the right thing to do. As far as they were able to tell, Stella was cured of her cancer. She could go on and be free of the dreadful disease for the rest of a long lifetime, thank God.

‘That’s good. Only there’s a bunch of them in one of the dormitories. It’s been turned into a giant sick bay and we’re doing special meals that they’ll have in bed.’ She pointed at the trays she was setting. ‘Shame, isn’t it? Having a bug like this going around when these kids are supposed to be having such a good time.’

‘It is,’ Alex agreed. ‘Thank you. I’ll go and find Stella.’

He cast a glance towards the dormitories as he headed for the swimming pool. Hopefully, Stella was finally robust enough to ward off a dose of flu but even if she didn’t, it was highly unlikely that this viral illness was really dangerous and the camp had still been worthwhile.

And thank goodness he had made the effort to get here himself. To have the opportunity to witness those early—unaided—steps that Stella had taken.

Now that arrangements were in place to cover his extended absence from Sydney, Alex could see the bonus this quarantine represented, even though he still considered it to be an overreaction.

Unexpectedly, he was being given time to get to know the young woman his daughter had suddenly morphed into. He could get used to the idea that she was no longer a little girl and actually appreciate the glimpses he was getting of the adult she would become.

Like the way she had put someone else’s needs ahead of her own and accepted that Alex had to look after Danny. More than that, the way she had been prepared to take responsibility for the care of other children in Benita’s absence.

It should be easy to find her because she would be with Susie and a group of younger children. Alex could see Benita near the pool, sitting in the shade of a fig tree, a child wrapped in a fluffy towel on her lap. He scanned the whole area but, disappointingly, neither Stella nor Susie could be seen.

‘I got back here a while ago,’ Benita told Alex when he approached her. ‘I left the medical centre while you were off talking to Dr Wetherby. Stella was doing a great job with this lot but she looked a bit tired. I told her and Susie they should go and chill out on the beach.’

Alex nodded his thanks. ‘I’ll catch up with you later and give you an update on Danny. I said I’d go and check him again in a couple of hours.’ He tapped the pocket of his shorts. ‘I’ve got my mobile on and Beth knows to call me if she’s worried.’

Halfway down the track leading to the beach, Alex figured out why this search seemed an odd thing to be doing. He never went looking for women. They were always just there—waiting for him. Following him even. Nurses, nannies, housekeepers. Even Stella.

Susie was different, wasn’t she?

And, maybe thanks to her influence, Stella was becoming different.

Alex liked that.

He liked it a lot.

He thought back to those first minutes of meeting Susie. To what he had perceived as an unprofessional- looking, difficult woman who had seemed intent on telling him how he should be bringing up his daughter. Ready to stand there and fight on Stella’s behalf, no less. Prepared to antagonise him right from the start. No hint of using Stella as a means to get closer to him. Quite the opposite.

And if he’d harboured any doubts about her sincerity, they had blown away when he’d seen those tears this afternoon. Her sheer joy in sharing Stella’s victory. Joy that spoke of a real understanding of what his daughter had been through in the last couple of years.

What he’d been through.

That moment had touched something very deep within Alex. Deep enough to have been hidden even from himself. For the first time he had realised what he’d missed in not having someone close enough to share those dark times. Someone he could trust enough to lean on. He’d been so sure he hadn’t needed that. He’d proved he hadn’t needed it.

Catching Susie’s gaze at that poignant moment of triumph had shown him how much easier it would have been to have had someone like Susie by his side.

No, not someone like Susie.

Only Susie.

The idea that there could be some way to keep her in his life was new. Startling enough to make Alex pause as he reached the beach. To stand and watch the gentle surf rolling in instead of searching the shoreline for the people he was trying to find.

What the hell did he think he was doing? He’d sworn off ever thinking like this again. He needed a moment to remind himself why. To remember the betrayal that had been intolerable because it had involved someone more important than himself.

Stella.

Strangely, the bitterness associated with summoning Greta’s image into his head had lessened. So much that it was difficult to find it and, by association, hard to resurrect the mistrust for any woman that automatically precluded the idea of a meaningful relationship.

He had loved Greta. Stella had loved her. Perhaps it had been the girl’s conviction that she had finally found the mother she’d been desperate for since she was old enough to notice what was missing in her life that had persuaded Alex to take that relationship to the next level.

To—almost—propose marriage.

Thank God he hadn’t. The pretence of her love for Stella had been unmasked with astonishing ease. From the moment the cancer had been diagnosed, Greta had backed away from hospital visits, unable to disguise her distaste for hair that had come out in handfuls and the inevitable vomiting from the chemo.

Susie wouldn’t have been like that. She would have been there, holding a distressed girl’s head. Finding something prettier than a baseball cap to hide the hair loss. Ready for when Stella felt well enough to show her how to use make-up to help her feel better about the way she looked.

Alex had seen more than the tears of joy at Stella’s success today. He had seen where they had come from. Not simply the comprehension of the struggle to get to that point. The depth of Susie’s involvement in that moment could only have come from the way she felt about Stella.

The bond she had already demonstrated when she had so willingly and effectively dealt with the bathroom crisis the other night.

Real caring.

Love.

Yes. Alex took a long, deliberate inward breath and let it out very slowly. It might take time to get used to feeling this way but new determination was being born. Determination to continue this journey with Susie Jackson and to see where it might lead them all.

It wasn’t because of the way Susie felt about his daughter. That had simply opened a door he had considered locked. Made it a possibility that he could trust again. Allowed him the undeniable thrill at the prospect of more of what he had shared with Susie last night.

He wanted her.

He wanted her more than he had ever wanted any woman and allowing himself to consider the possibility that it could work was fuelling a spark of passion that felt as if it could become…huge.

Big enough to last a lifetime?

He would be stupid not to make sure he found the answer to that question.

Susie had been for a swim. A gloriously refreshing, cooling swim out beyond the breakers. The stresses of the day were pushed to one side for the moment and now, blissfully, she lay on her towel, letting the warmth of the afternoon sun dry her body. So relaxed she was half-asleep.

When she saw Alex approaching, the image misted by the lashes of her almost closed eyes, Susie thought she was slipping into that delicious, pre-sleep state where you could trick your mind into making fantasy seem real. Then desire kicked in and she pushed herself up onto her elbows. Her body knew this was no fantasy. Alex was walking towards her.

Smiling.

With an expression that made her feel as though she was the only person he was interested in.

As though the only thing on his mind was taking her into his arms and kissing her senseless.

Susie twisted into a sitting position, reaching for her T-shirt with the intention of shaking out the sand and putting it on, despite the fact her bikini was still wet. Funny how she felt so exposed when Alex had seen far more of her body last night.

Seen it. Touched it. Tasted it.

Oh, Lord! The T-shirt was caught under Stella’s crutches and Susie’s tug made them rattle. Glancing up, she found the sound had diverted Alex’s attention.

‘Where’s Stella?’

‘Walking.’

‘On sand? Without her crutches?’

‘She’s got some help.’ The T-shirt was forgotten as Susie pointed down the beach to where Stella was walking, slowly, on the damp sand left by the receding tide.

‘It’s that boy again.’ Alex’s stare was intent. ‘Theos! They’re holding hands!’

‘To help her keep her balance,’ Susie said serenely. ‘That’s all.’

Alex made a growling sound and Susie’s lips twitched. ‘It’s OK,’ she said. ‘They like each other, Alex. Stella’s going to do more to impress Jamie than she would for me. Or even you, I suspect.’

‘She’s far too young for that sort of carry-on.’

‘She’s nearly fourteen. How old were you when you thought you were in love for the first time?’

‘Oh, God!’ Alex groaned, folding his long frame to sit on the edge of Susie’s towel. ‘I was fourteen.’

‘There you go, then.’ Susie wrapped her arms around her legs and grinned at Alex. ‘Runs in the family. Memorable, isn’t it, that first love?’

‘Yes.’

‘You wouldn’t have been too impressed if your father had told you you weren’t old enough. Or, worse, forbidden it.’

‘He tried to.’

‘And what happened?’

Alex shook his head but he was smiling. ‘I married her a few years later. When I was eighteen.’

‘Oh…’ The answer had been unexpected. It was hardly the adolescence of someone who had all the hallmarks of being a skilled player. ‘Was that…Stella’s mother?’

‘Yes. Helena. The girl next door. Or from the next village, anyway.’ Alex was still staring at the slowly receding figures of the teenagers. ‘Where does that boy live?’

‘I don’t know.’ Not that it would make much difference these days, anyway, with the way mobile phones and the Internet made it so easy to stay in touch. ‘But right now he’s here and Stella thinks he’s wonderful and…life has suddenly become rather different for her. Better.’

‘Yes…’ The words were almost a sigh. ‘For me, too.’

And me, Susie thought. Big time. She couldn’t say it out loud, though, could she? She barely knew Alex. If she confessed she thought she was in love with him, she probably wouldn’t see him for dust.

On top of that, she needed a little time to get her head around the fact that he’d married his childhood sweetheart. To push aside the ridiculous jealousy she felt towards someone who had captured his heart so completely.

Stella had told her she couldn’t remember her mother, who had died when she’d been a baby, but Alex obviously remembered. Was some of the poignancy she could hear in his voice now because Stella was maturing virtually before his eyes? Did she look like her mother had at the same age? When Alex had fallen in love with her? Was he thinking about finding—and losing—the love of his life?

Changing the subject seemed like a very good idea.

‘How’s Danny?’

‘Still very drowsy, but that’s hardly unexpected.’ Alex clearly had the ability to put aside anything personal and focus immediately on a professional matter. ‘He’s post-ictal after the seizure and he’s had a sedative. I’ll go and check him in an hour or so and will try a more comprehensive neurological examination then.’

‘Has he got flu?’

‘Seems likely. He’s running a temperature of just over forty degrees centigrade, which is quite high enough to explain a febrile seizure.’ Alex paused, and then continued as though thinking out loud. ‘I’m not that happy about him.’

‘How come?’

‘It’s very rare for a six-year-old to have a febrile seizure and there are other, worrying possibilities.’

‘Like his history of cancer? Could he have secondary involvement of his brain?’

‘It’s possible. Meningitis or encephalitis is also on the list. I don’t want to do a lumbar puncture on him until I’m satisfied his ICP isn’t raised.’

‘ICP?’

‘Intracranial pressure. It goes up if there’s swelling of the brain or extra fluid or something happening inside the skull. It’s like a box and there’s no room for too much of anything like that. A rise in pressure could be another explanation for the seizure.’

‘Why can’t you do a lumbar puncture?’

‘If the pressure’s high enough, removing spinal fluid can precipitate movement of the brain. Coning.’

‘Oh…’ Susie knew that wasn’t good.

‘Mmm.’ Alex echoed her tone. ‘It could be catastrophic. It’s why I don’t feel happy being this far away from the kind of diagnostic and monitoring facilities I’m used to. Like CT or MRI scanning. The nearest paediatric ICU is in Brisbane and Charles says we can’t transfer him unless he’s critical.’

‘You disagree?’

‘No, I wouldn’t say that. Charles is quite right. Danny could well be exhibiting the symptoms of the viral infection that is the precise reason this island had been put under quarantine. We could be endangering a lot more people than young Danny if we evacuate him.’

‘Do you think this flu is really dangerous?’

‘Influenza should never be taken lightly. Especially in people who have other health problems. Or with the very old or young.’

Susie shivered, despite the warmth of the sun. ‘Not what you expected when you came for a weekend at a tropical resort, is it?’