Page 10 of A Doctor's Promise
Edie leant back down to Anna.
“I’m not sure Dr Cooper knows a lot about teddy bears, so you’ll have to give him a lesson.”
“Thank you,” Mary said, biting her bottom lip.
“I’d better go an introduce myself to the last family,” Edie said, looking at her watch. “You’ve got a tour of the department soon and I want to make sure I’ve met everyone before you all head off.”
“See you soon,” Mary said as Anna and Monty waved shyly.
Edie had given up trying to reach Finn. He was still sitting as far into the corner as the wall would let him, and Edie needed to put the patients and their families needs before Finn’s right now. But she would get to talk to him eventually. The last couple were another husband and wife in the latter years of their lives. The wife was Edie’s patient, yet it was the husband who looked as though he was barely holding it together. He had his wife’s hand gripped so tightly; his own knuckles looked as white as her wide eyed face.
“You must be Georgina?” Edie said, holding out her hand again, in the hope that the husband would relinquish his vice-like grip.
It worked, even though they both looked like they would unravel into a pile if Edie so much as exhaled too hard near them.
“Yes, love. This is my husband, George. Sorry.”
“George and Georgine, how lovely. No need to apologise for anything. You’re invited to be here. It’s incredibly daunting for everyone, and you’ve done brilliantly by just showing up. This was a day for you to see our faces, to meet the team, and be shown around the department. For you to settle in so to speak. There’s no expectation from anyone.”
“Thank you,” Georgina said, gripping Edie’s hand now and shaking it with sweaty palms.
The door to the room opened and a young nurse introduced herself. She rounded up the families as they finished up their conversations and headed them out of the door to give them all a tour of the department. It had been Edie’s idea, to settle them in to their surroundings. The families had enough going on without having to turn up on their first morning of treatment to a strange new place with strange new people.
With the room empty except for Edie and Finn, a curious new tension filled the air. Edie looked over to where Finn was standing, he hadn’t moved since he’d given his ill-fated welcome speech, but his eyes were firmly fixed on Edie now. She felt the air sucked from her lungs. What was wrong?
5
Finn couldn’t tear his eyes away from Edie. It was as though she’d put him under a spell. Yet Finn knew there was no real magic at work here, except the magic of the kindness and empathy of Edie Fletcher. He’d watched as she’d worked her way around the room. He’d watched as everyone had dropped their shoulders and relaxed their taut faces. He’d watched as she’d spoken to each and every person there like it was second nature to get to know them all. And he’d watched feeling like a waste of the air in the room.
All of the years he’d spend hiding away had made Finn afraid of crowds of people. No, not even crowds of people, just people.
Finn sighed and wiped his wrist over his brow, realising as he did so that he had been staring at Edie whilst the thoughts of her were buzzing around his mind. He felt his cheeks heat and tried to hide his face with his raised arm.
“Finn,” she said, not smiling. “Everything okay? Only you were looking at me with daggers for eyes. Have I done something wrong? Was it because I spoke when you were supposed to be speaking? I’m sorry if I’ve offended you in any way, but I needed to keep the energy in the room moving, these people need calm and controlled and organised at this chaotic time in their life.”
There was a bite to her voice that Finn recognised from their first encounter in the Relative’s Room, and their encounter on the beach. In fact, every encounter he’d had with Edie so far.
“No, you haven’t offended me,” he muttered, feeling his cheeks flaming. “I… actually, can we go back to my office and talk?”
The room was so quiet, Finn wouldn’t be surprised if Edie could hear his heart trying to escape out of his chest. But she raised an eyebrow at him and nodded warily.
“Okay,” she said. “But can we make it my office, please? Only, I haven’t been there yet and I’m not entirely sure how to get there!”
“Has nobody shown you?”
Edie shook her head. “It’s my first day today, and I was in a rush this morning because I felt so si… sick with nerves that I was a bit late, so I came straight here. And now all my stuff is bundled over there and I’ve no idea where to go.”
A flush crept overherface now too.
“Sure,” he said, walking over to the pile of bags that Edie must have shoved out of sight under a table at the back of the room. He hefted the largest bag over his shoulder and grabbed the smaller ones in his hand. There was a rather large looking cheese plant on the shelf above the table and Finn nodded at it. “Is this yours too?”
Edie bit her lip and nodded. She had a habit of biting her lip when Finn imagined she was embarrassed or nervous, it had his self-control working at a screaming rate of knots.
“Meet Cliff,” she said, picking up the cheese plant and cradling it defensively.
Finn felt his heart burst with delight. Edie was certainly something special.
“Cliff?”
