Paramedic Partners Read online

  When he’d seen Selina and Josh beside the boat he’d felt that nothing worse could possibly happen, but it had.

  While they’d been trying to decide on a name for it he’d let the pleading in the boy’s eyes make him forget that he was supposed to be keeping a low profile with the Sanderson family, and the outcome of it had been The Joshua.

  For someone who usually had a strong grip on life he was making a total mess of everything at the moment, and all because he didn’t want to rake up the nightmare of Eve Richards’s fabrications.

  He was thrilled with the boat and the job was as rewarding as always, so why did he feel as if he was groping his way through fog?

  * * *

  By the time the fortnight was up Josh was almost clear of the chickenpox. Robert had phoned a couple of times and suggested that they now make the postponed visit but, as Selina had patiently explained, any other leave due to her would have to be saved for a break at Christmas and emergencies.

  On her first morning back at work she had Kane’s car in front of her most of the way through the early morning traffic, and thought soberly that this was how it was going to be, always under each other’s feet when off duty.

  Yet she’d seen nothing of him since the day he’d kissed her into limp submission and then left her to recover while he’d taken Josh back to the boat.

  He had phoned a few times to ask if the boy wanted to go for a sail with him along the narrow waterway and Josh had jumped at the chance.

  There had been no invitations for her, which had been no surprise, and he’d picked Josh up at their front gate and dropped him off in the same place when the outings were over.

  But today it would be different. Hopefully Denise would be back in her old slot and Kane and herself would be together once more on the job.

  They arrived at the ambulance station at the same time, and as she locked her car Selina was aware of Kane doing the same thing only yards away.

  ‘And so how are you today?’ he enquired politely, as if they were distant acquaintances. ‘Glad to be back?’

  ‘Yes. I am, as a matter of fact.’

  ‘Why would that be?’

  Suddenly she’d had enough shilly-shallying.

  ‘I love the job, for one thing. And for another I wanted to be with you again. You’ve gone out of your way to avoid me during the last two weeks.’

  ‘Just a moment,’ he interrupted. ‘My boat is only five minutes’ walk from your house. What was to prevent you from coming to find me?’

  ‘I’m not the one who’s created this situation,’ she parried. ‘But it looks as if I’m the only one who’s bothered about sorting it out.’

  Kane had the remote look about him that she was beginning to dread, but he did oblige with a comment of his own.

  ‘Listen, Selina, one of the reasons I’ve been staying away from you is because I don’t want any of the mud that’s on me to rub off on you.’

  ‘I might go along with that,’ she flung back at him, ‘if I knew where it had come from.’

  ‘I resigned from my last job because the woman I worked with accused me of sexual harassment.’

  ‘We’ve had a similar conversation before,’ she said wearily. ‘This is the moment where I ask you if it was true.’

  ‘Of course it damn well wasn’t! But no one was prepared to believe me until…’

  ‘Until what?’

  His glance had shifted to a silver Corsair pulling up beside them, but Selina wouldn’t have cared if it had been a moon buggy. She was desperate to know and he was about to tell her.

  ‘Hello, there,’ Denise said as she swung her legs out of the car. ‘I see that everybody’s dream girl is back.’

  Selina ignored the sarcastic comment and, looking Kane in the eye, said in a low voice, ‘You were saying?’

  ‘Forget it, Selina,’ he replied. ‘Let’s just leave things as they are.’ And with a tight smile that included Denise, who was hovering like a curious bird of prey, he concluded, ‘Let’s go and do what we’re here for, shall we?’

  Doing what they were there for included a first call-out to a man found in a coma in the local park.

  ‘It looks like hypoglycaemia,’ Kane said, ‘but we’ll need to check the blood-sugar level first. Let’s get him on board.’

  When they used the blood-sugar test kit on the unconscious man it confirmed that there was diabetes present and they gave him an immediate injection of glucagon to bring the sugar level back to normal.

  ‘How long would you expect it to be before it takes effect?’ Kane asked as they headed for the nearest A and E department.

  ‘Fifteen to twenty minutes,’ she answered promptly.

  He nodded approvingly.

  ‘Go to the top of the class. You are going to take your paramedics exams, I hope?’

  ‘Yes. I am,’ Selina said firmly. ‘Lots of the trainees don’t bother to go any further as the difference in pay is so small.’

  ‘But you don’t see it like that?’

  ‘No. If a person is really dedicated they’ll want to be a paramedic. It’s as simple as that.’

  ‘Everything is always clear cut where you’re concerned, isn’t it, Selina?’ he said wryly. ‘Black or white. No greys.’

  ‘I suppose it is,’ she agreed, ‘and not so long ago it was all black…until you came along.’

  He glanced quickly over his shoulder from the driving seat.

  ‘And what is it now?’

  ‘Black once more…because you’ve shut me out.’

  She was monitoring the patient carefully and at that moment his eyelids lifted slightly.

  ‘He’s coming round, Kane,’ she said.

  ‘Good. We’ll be there in a matter of seconds and then the emergency guys can take over. Will your brother be on duty this morning?’

  ‘I’m not sure. He might be. Gavin and Jill have got their hands full at the moment. Both the girls have got chickenpox and, unlike Josh, they’re quite poorly with it.’

  His face softened.

  ‘Poor little things.’

  She cast a quick sideways glance at the face that haunted her dreams.

  ‘You love children, don’t you?’

  ‘Mmm. I suppose I do.’

  ‘Wouldn’t you like some of your own?’

  ‘Some day, maybe.’

  Yes, she thought, and if we carry on the way we’re doing, it won’t be with me.

  Another message was coming up on the computer screen. ‘Entrapment in the city centre opposite Woolworths,’ it said. ‘Two teenagers trapped in car. Elderly pedestrian underneath the vehicle. Fast-response person at scene requests ambulance.’

  ‘We’re about to deliver a patient in a diabetic coma to A and E,’ Kane told control when he radioed in. ‘As soon as we’ve handed him over we’ll be on our way.’

  ‘Fine,’ was the reply. ‘You’re the nearest.’

  They eyed the scene sombrely as Kane stopped the ambulance a few minutes later outside the department store. They were all there—police, firefighters and John Everett, the fast-response paramedic who had been on the scene from the ambulance services.

  A forty-five-year-old with a jaundiced view on life since his wife had left him, he was efficient and kept calm under stress. But Selina didn’t like him all that much as he’d been one of those who’d thought that because she was a widow she would be an easy catch.

  His clumsy attempt at seduction had made her very wary of him, but that was the last thing on her mind as she looked around her.

  One of the teenage boys had been freed from the wreckage of the car by the firemen, and John was bending over him while the other lad was being slowly eased out.

  From the man half under the car there was an ominous silence, and as they took in the situation the fire chief said, ‘We can’t lift the car until the other lad is free, then it will be all systems go.’

  Leaving him to his problems, Kane and Selina hurried to theirs.

  ‘Massive head and
chest injuries,’ John said. ‘He’d swallowed his tongue, but I was just in time to deal with it. You’re going to have to get him to hospital faster than fast. I hope there’re more ambulances on the way.’

  ‘Yes, there are,’ Selina told him. ‘We were the nearest.’

  Within moments they were stretchering the first casualty into the ambulance, and as they carefully laid him on the bed Kane said, ‘He’s arrested, Selina! No pulse. No heartbeat. We’re going to have to jump-start him!’

  She was at his side with the equipment before the words had left his mouth. There’d been accident victims before who’d died before they could get them to hospital, and she accepted it happened sometimes. They couldn’t work miracles, but when it was a young person in a life-threatening state it was like a knife turning inside her.

  The youth was breathing again and as they looked at each other triumphantly. Kane’s glance was warm. He’d felt her anguish and with the incredible tenderness that she aroused in him he’d wanted the lad to come back to life, if only for Selina’s sake.

  While they’d been treating him two more ambulances had arrived and the other teenager was being carried into one of them, while the third vehicle was waiting to take on board the body of the pedestrian who had died in the accident.

  ‘What do you think happened?’ Selina said as they drove to the hospital with sirens blaring.

  ‘Possibly a stolen car that they couldn’t control and the old guy stepped out in front of them. After they’d hit him they swerved into the bollards and then ran into the low wall around the store.’

  She sighed. ‘Youthful stupidity. Will they never learn? Much as I love the job, I wish something good could happen once in a while. It’s all the down side of life, isn’t it?’

  ‘I’ve told you before, Selina, you’re too gentle for this job…too soft-hearted to be involved in the kind of things we have to deal with.’

  ‘Rubbish!’ she scoffed laughingly. ‘I’m tougher than you think. Is that why you’re so anxious to keep your past under wraps? Because you think I’d be horrified if I knew what you’d been up to?’

  He didn’t join in the laughter. ‘I haven’t been up to anything.’

  She was serious now and snappy with it. ‘Then why all the ridiculous secrecy?’

  ‘Ever since my teens I’ve been answerable to nobody,’ he told her bleakly. ‘That’s what it does to you when you’ve been part of a large family where there’s no privacy, no feeling of identity. And from there, as I’ve already explained, I was catapulted into care, where there was even less opportunity to be one’s own person. So, you see, Selina, I treasure my privacy and when someone butts into it I back off.’

  She was observing him with hurt eyes.

  ‘So I’m butting in, am I? That’s how you see me in your life. As an inquisitive hanger-on?’

  Kane groaned softly. He’d been referring to Eve Richards’s obsessive behaviour and consequent falsehoods. Selina could ‘butt’ into his life as much as she liked, if only he wasn’t seen by some as tarnished goods.

  Before he could explain, another urgent message came through to go to 34 Bentinck Street where a woman was in advanced labour.

  Selina’s expression lightened. Thank goodness, this time it wasn’t anyone hurt and suffering. Just a member of her own sex doing what came naturally.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THE woman who opened the door to them was gasping with pain. At a glance they could both see that the baby was very low, and as she was gripped by another contraction almost immediately it was clear that there was no time to be lost.

  ‘How long is it since your waters broke?’ Selina asked as she swayed in front of them into a back sitting room.

  ‘A couple of hours ago. I’ve been hanging on, hoping I could get in touch with my husband before I called you, but I can’t contact him and as I had a fast labour with my first child I thought I’d better not wait any longer.’

  ‘Good thinking,’ Kane said briskly. ‘Have you got a bag packed?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Right. Let’s be off, then.’

  As Selina helped her carefully into the ambulance, he said in a low voice. ‘Have you ever delivered a baby?’

  ‘Er…no. Have you?’

  ‘Yes. A couple of times. It’s an experience one doesn’t forget.’

  ‘I’ll bet,’ she agreed with an anxious glance at the mother-to-be.

  When the expectant mother had been helped onto the bed Kane said, ‘I’ll drive, Selina. The lady will feel more comfortable with you in attendance.’

  She could barely hear him as another of the frequent contractions was starting and this time the woman was screaming out loud.

  ‘Keep doing the breathing exercises you’ve been practising,’ Selina told her gently, ‘and try to keep calm. You’re going to be just fine. I’m going to see how far you are.’ As the woman began to cry out again while Selina was examining her, she took her hand and squeezed it gently.

  ‘Whatever you do, don’t push until we tell you,’ she advised. ‘You’re fully dilated. It shouldn’t be long. Keep doing the breathing exercises. What’s your name?’ she went on with a smile.

  ‘Sarah,’ the sufferer told her weakly.

  ‘Well, Sarah, you’re soon going to be a mother for the second time.’

  ‘Agh!’ she cried. ‘Let it be soon!’

  ‘It will be,’ Selina said. ‘I can see the baby’s head. Now, wait until I tell you, then push.’

  ‘There’s a layby straight ahead,’ Kane said. ‘I’m going to pull in there.’

  Selina nodded.

  ‘It’s coming,’ she told Sarah. ‘Any moment now we’re going to be in business.’

  ‘Agh,’ Sarah groaned. ‘Can I push?’

  ‘Yes! Now!’ Kane’s voice said from beside her, and as they eased the head out it was followed by the baby’s shoulders, then the trunk and finally two tiny wrinkled legs.

  ‘You have a daughter, Sarah,’ Selina cried. ‘A beautiful baby daughter!’

  ‘Why isn’t she crying?’ the new mother cried anxiously.

  Kane had picked the baby up, having clamped and cut the umbilicus, and was carefully patting it on the back, and as he did so a lusty yell issued forth. As the mother’s sigh of relief echoed around the ambulance he passed the baby to her.

  ‘Here, take your daughter, Sarah. The next thing we have to do is get you to hospital so that they can make sure the placenta comes away.’

  His glance went to Selina. ‘Are you all right?’

  She nodded and he saw tears on her lashes.

  ‘Yes,’ she gulped. ‘That was the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen, watching the little one make its way out.’

  His eyes were warm. ‘Yes. Watching a child being born is incredible.’

  Having seen the mother and child safely into the maternity unit a little later, they were about to leave when Sarah called them back.

  ‘Can I ask you something?’ she said with rising colour.

  Her glance was on Selina who said immediately, ‘Yes, of course. What is it?’

  ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘My name?’ she said.

  ‘Yes. I’d like to call the baby after you, and I know that my husband will agree when he hears what’s happened.’

  ‘Er…it’s Selina.’

  Sarah smiled.

  ‘That’s a nice name. I’m glad it’s not Maud or Matilda.’ Amid shared laughter she went on, ‘I’d thought of Joy if it was a girl. So that’s what it will be—Selina Joy.’

  ‘I really don’t know what to say,’ Selina breathed as pleasure washed over her. ‘May I ask you to let us know when the christening is?’

  ‘Yes, indeed,’ Sarah said. ‘I’d like you both as godparents. After all, you were the ones who brought her into the world. I’ll ring the ambulance depot when we’ve set a date.’

  A doctor with a midwife in attendance was looming up, and after a brief farewell Selina and Kane left.
/>   When they reached the ambulance Selina said ecstatically, ‘Wasn’t that marvellous? My first birth and she’s going to be called after me. We’re going to be godparents, Kane!’

  He was smiling across at her and, carried away by the moment, she put her arms around him and hugged him.

  Accepting the gesture in the same light-hearted manner, he wasn’t going to make anything out of it until he felt the curving softness of her up against him. He groaned.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, her arms still around him.

  ‘You are what’s the matter,’ he said flatly. ‘I only need to touch you and I’m lost.’

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, Kane!’ she cried. ‘Why do you have to make everything so difficult? We’re both free agents. Well, you are anyway. I’ve got a child, who incidentally thinks you’re great. We both do.’

  ‘You’ve also got a band of protectors who won’t want you to replace Dave with a stranger who has a seedy past.’

  Selina was angry now.

  ‘Rubbish! I’m quite capable of looking after my own affairs. Don’t use Dave as an excuse to keep me on the edge of your life. You say that when you touch me you’re lost. Well, see if you can find your way back from this.’ And before he could move she was kissing him with a fierce tenderness that took his breath away, but only momentarily. His arms tightened around her, but Selina was stepping back.

  ‘I’m sick of going round in circles, Kane,’ she said flatly. ‘Until you start treating me like an intelligent adult, that’s it. And it’s almost seven o’clock. Our shift finishes in a couple of minutes.’

  He got into the ambulance and switched the engine on. As she slid into the seat beside him he said, ‘I might surprise you one of these days and tell you all about it.’

  ‘Really? Well, don’t leave it too long—I might have found someone else by then.’

  The closed expression was back again. ‘That’s up to you.’

  And off they went back to the ambulance station and their separate ways.

  As Selina drove back home, after picking Josh up, she was wishing she hadn’t said such a stupid thing. It was childish and untrue to let Kane think her feelings for him were so shallow that she would be looking round for someone else if he didn’t make things right between them.