Page 221 of Feathers in the Wind
He gave a gruff snort. ‘Well, you’re the one footing the bill.’ His face softened. ‘Now, as the child’s doctor, I am ordering you both to go home. You’re more use to me, and him, at home getting some rest.’
He stalked off down the corridor and I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window.
One look at our faces and anyone could have seen we were done in. I bent and kissed Christian’s forehead, gathered up his father and left, knowing the next twenty-four hours would be critical.
Chapter 11- A MAN WITH NO PAST DOES NOT EXIST
Lost amidst the tubes and strange machines that emit odd noises, my little son looks like a toy, a rag doll tossed aside by an angry child. Jessica tries to reassure me and explains in detail what each machine does but her words bounce off me.
If I am adrift and afraid in this strange world, how will Christian manage when he wakes to a reality that no longer includes his brother, his aunt and his grandmother, everything with which he is familiar?
How could I have contemplated sending him here without having the courage to come with him?
* * *
Back at the hospital next day, Nat and I settled ourselves in for the long vigil by the child’s bedside. Christian mostly slept and I exhausted the supply of magazines. I wandered down to the shop to buy some new one, returning with a book for Nat.
He grimaced as he shifted his leg, reaching up to take the book from me.
‘I have sat in more comfortable chairs,’ he said.
I thought of the hard, oaken chairs at the Hall and doubted the truth of that statement.
‘I should have a look at that leg. It needs redressing.’
He clumped along the corridor behind me until I found an empty treatment room. I peeled back the bandages, wincing in sympathy as the dressing adhered to the wound.
‘Let me.’ Lily stood at the door, hands on her hips.
Before I could protest she had elbowed me out of the way.
‘Doctors have no idea how to dress wounds,’ she told Nat, ripping the dressing off with practiced efficiency.
She peered at my handiwork and looked up at me with a frown. ‘Is this a bullet wound?’
I nodded and said, ‘Please say nothing, Lily. It was an accident.’
‘But...’ she began.
‘As my friend?’ I pleaded.
She glanced from one of us to the other. ‘Do you know how much trouble you could be in?’ She whispered in an urgent tone.
I nodded. ‘My problem, not yours,’ I said. ‘You can close the door behind you and pretend you never saw this.’
Lily’s shoulders stiffened and she sniffed. ‘Well you’ve done a good, neat job, Dr. Shepherd. I’ll just have a clean around and put on a fresh dressing.’
She smiled at the patient. ‘It’s only because you’ve such a winning smile, you know.’
Nat laid a hand on her arm. ‘And I recognize a good heart when I see one.’
When Lily had finished, I looked at Nat’s pale face and tight mouth and offered him a mild painkiller. He shook his head.
‘I need my wits, Jessie.’
He gathered up the crutches and we returned to Christian’s bedside, settling ourselves back to her vigil. Nat turned the paperback over in his hands before reverentially opening the first page ofJurassic Park.
‘Dinosaurs?’ he asked. ‘Are those the ancient beasts we saw in London?’
