Page 41 of Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc

And a traitorous part of her brain was registering something like...happiness?

No. It was probably simply relief that people even more qualified than she was were here to help manage this critical situation where a small boy’s life was at stake.

‘Thank goodness you’re here.’ A male bystander who might be Toby’s teacher was watching Matteo as he moved the disc of the stethoscope over the boy’s chest and he seemed to share Georgia’s relief. ‘You’ll know what to do.’

A flick of a glance from Matteo told Georgia that she’d been doing exactly the right thing to keep Toby safe until she had the backup she needed.

‘Can you pull it out?’ Oneof the female bystanders, perhaps a parent helper, sounded terrified. ‘It’s going to kill him, isn’t it?’

‘Pulling it out would be the worst thing to do,’ Georgia responded quietly. ‘It might even be saving his life at the moment.’

‘What?’The man was incredulous now. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

Matteo glanced up as he reached to open his pack. ‘If a foreign object has penetrated somethingimportant, like a major blood vessel, it can be the pressure of the object that’s stopping uncontrollable bleeding.’ He turned back to meet Georgia’s gaze.

‘I need you to keep the stick really still while I do as best as I can with an ultrasound. I need to know if this is a cardiac tamponade or a haemothorax. We’ll need to cope with either of those scenarios before we can move him.’

‘We’ll alsoneed to shorten this before we can get him in the chopper.’ Matteo’s crew partner was examining the length of the branch. ‘I’ll check that we’ve got a saw on board.’

Matteo’s eased the small transducer of the portable ultrasound amongst the shreds of fabric where Georgia had already cut Toby’s clothing clear. He was very gentle as he edged around the gauze padding that Georgia was holding firmlyin place around the entry point of the stick. His hands brushed hers and, at one point, the back of his hand pressed directly onto hers as he took a closer look at the image on the screen.

‘Look at that. You can see that the ventricle wall is functioning. There’s no blood loss with the contractions that’s going into the pericardium.’

Georgia skirted the awareness of the touch of his skin againsther own. Except that it was actually helping her own concentration on this emergency. Making her feel as if she wasn’t alone in trying to save this young life. That, together, the chance of success had somehow more than doubled.

‘So it’s a haemothorax?’

‘Haemopneumothorax, probably. Same effect. I can see that air movement has decreased on this side even in the time it took to do the ultrasound.’

‘Are you going to do a needle decompression?’

‘Yes. I’d rather put in a drain but getting him to Theatre is the priority. It’s only ten minutes’ flying time and a needle decompression should be enough.’

For the next few minutes, Georgia watched both members of the helicopter crew working but she could do nothing to help except keep her position and keep this stick as stable as possible, especiallywhen Matteo’s partner, Shane, was carefully sawing the branch to leave a length that would be manageable as they transported him.

Matteo was working remarkably swiftly. As soon as he noted that Toby was not unconscious enough to be feeling no pain from the vibration of the stick as it was carefully sawn through, he drew up drugs and administered them into the IV line Georgia had already established.When the needle inserted between the small ribs failed to release enough pressure to improve breathing, he and Shame worked as a team to perform the surgical procedure to insert a proper drain and remove some of the blood that was preventing a lung from functioning.

It was impressive.

And then they were ready for the delicate task of moving their young patient to the stretcher and into the helicopter.

‘Can you come with us?’ Matteo asked Georgia. ‘I know we can trust you to keep that stick stable.’

She still hadn’t let go of the padding around this object and she didn’t want to until she knew that Toby was safe.

‘We can get your vehicle back to base,’ one of the original paramedics on scene said.

Georgia nodded. But the next few seconds were anxious ones. She had to get up off her kneesas they lifted the stretcher without moving her hands and changing the pressure that was keeping the stick steady. Normally that wouldn’t have been a problem but she had a huge belly that was affecting her balance now and couldn’t know whether it was going to be a problem.

Matteo’s sharp glance as she began to move told her that he was thinking along the same lines. He jerked his head at oneof the ambulance crew to take his place at the head of the stretcher to lift it and he stepped behind Georgia, putting his hands under her arms to grip her body and help her to her feet.

The strength in those hands and arms was astonishing.

It was entirely inappropriate to even notice that they were in contact with more than her ribs but her body overrode her focus for just a heartbeat. Later—probablyin the middle of the night—it would remind her that her breasts remembered that fleeting touch. And that would remind her of so much more...

It was just as well that there were too many other things to focus on right now. It was Georgia’s job to keep the foreign object stable as the others worked around her. To keep her gaze on the monitor at all times and warn of any changes to vital signs likeheart rhythm, oxygen saturation and blood pressure.

And part of her was savouring every moment of this adrenaline-filled mission. Her peripheral vision showed the mountain park scene fall away beneath them as the helicopter took off, and Georgia knew this might be the last challenge like this that she would have for a very long time. She knew her baby bump could have interfered with her doingher job if Matteo and Shane hadn’t been there.

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