Christmas in the Outback Read online

  ‘Yes.’ Liam’s voice was clipped. ‘And an anaesthetic at his advanced age won’t make it a walk in the park either.’

  ‘You’ll medivac him out?’

  ‘What else can I do?’ Liam swore under his breath, clamping his hands to the sides of his head. ‘I wish I had more skills!’

  ‘For heaven’s sake, don’t start beating yourself up,’ Nikki reproved softly. ‘You do the work of ten doctors already.’

  His smile was grim but at least it was there. ‘It’s good to have you in my corner, Nik.’

  He’d actually noticed? Nikki lifted her eyes briefly to the ceiling then followed him out. ‘It’ll be all right. Tom has family. And from what little I observed, they love him to bits, even if he drives them to drink sometimes.’

  Liam sent her a cock-eyed grin. ‘Well, that covers most of us, doesn’t it?’

  CHAPTER TEN

  NIKKI made her way slowly back to the surgery. Grace had locked up securely and gone home. Nikki thought she’d do the same. And she had yet to meet this friend of Liam’s who was staying with them.

  She sighed as she revved the Jeep and reversed out of the carport. Somehow she’d have to drag out her social skills for the evening when all she felt like doing was to have a shower and crawl into bed.

  Fergal Kennedy was in the courtyard, admiring her herb spiral, when Nikki arrived home. She blinked. He was nothing like she’d imagined: tall and thin with a noticeably calm face and his fairish hair so thoroughly mixed with grey, it looked as though someone had swirled it about with a paintbrush. He was very informally dressed in jeans and an open-necked shirt.

  ‘Hello.’ His smile showed straight white teeth. ‘You must be Nikki.’ He held out his hand in greeting. ‘I’ve made myself at home. I hope that’s all right?’

  ‘Of course it is.’ Nikki warmed to him at once. ‘It’s nice to meet you, Reverend.’

  ‘Oh, no!’ Fergal spun a desperate look over his shoulder. ‘He’s not here, too, is he?’

  Nikki chuckled. ‘Fergal it is, then. Are you admiring my herbs?’

  ‘Mmm. Did something like this myself once. They never looked as good as yours, though.’ They walked companionably up the steps to the deck. Fergal sent her a brief smile. ‘Where’s that man of yours? I’ve his favourite beer on ice.’

  Nikki’s heart gave a little flutter. ‘Emergency call. He’s at the hospital.’ She put her case down and ran her hand across the back of her neck, absently finger-combing the short strands of hair at her nape. ‘And Liam’s not my man, Fergal.’

  ‘Ah!’ Fergal gave her a shrewd look, bracing his hands on the back of one of the outdoor chairs. ‘I would’ve thought very differently, Nikki. But, then…’ he spread his hands philosophically ‘…what do I know about anything?’

  ‘Quite a lot, I would’ve thought.’ Nikki’s dry little smile activated the dimple in her cheek. ‘Now, I’m going to excuse myself for a few minutes and have a shower. Keep making yourself at home. I won’t be long.’

  It was almost an hour later when Liam got home. By then Nikki had liberally sampled the fine wine Fergal had brought and, as the captive audience for his endless supply of silly jokes, she’d managed to cheer up. Now they were in the kitchen, bickering gently over the preparations for dinner.

  ‘Our food’s on the way, I see.’ Parked against the doorframe, Liam looked on amusedly.

  ‘Oh!’ Nikki spun round and looked at him, her eyes over-bright. ‘Hello, Liam.’

  His mouth pleated in an uncertain smile. ‘Hello, Nikki.’

  ‘We’re having pepper steaks and Fergal’s warm ham salad,’ she told him knowledgably.

  ‘Warm yam salad!’ Fergal mock-swiped her with the kitchen sponge. ‘Sweet potatoes when they’re at home.’

  ‘Oops!’ Nikki placed the tips of her fingers over her lips. ‘Silly me.’

  Fergal’s grin was indulgent as he ground a final spray of pepper over the steaks and placed them under the grill. ‘I expect you could kill for one of these, mate.’ Opening the fridge door, he hauled out a couple of ice-cold lagers and passed one to Liam. ‘Nikki said you had an emergency.’

  Liam relaxed against the bench top and related the story of Tom Manderson’s accident.

  ‘Poor old chap.’ Fergal ripped the top off his beer and took a mouthful. ‘Where did you send him?’

  ‘Actually, we were pretty lucky there.’ Liam lifted a hand and rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Sending Tom through to Brisbane would have meant an enormous upset for the whole family but it so happened the surgeon attached to the Flying Doctor Service was operating in Longreach today. He agreed to stay over and do Tom first thing in the morning.’

  ‘Excellent.’ Fergal nodded. ‘Problem solved for everyone it would seem.’

  ‘A much better outcome,’ Nikki agreed quietly.

  ‘You guys realise it’s only a bit over five weeks until Christmas?’ Fergal posed the question as he refilled the kettle and put it back on the gas to boil for their third pot of tea.

  Nikki glanced at her watch, surprised to see it was almost midnight. At this rate they’d be talking the night away. But she hadn’t enjoyed herself so much in ages. Fergal Kennedy was much travelled and such an interesting person. No wonder the locals looked forward to his visits.

  ‘I wasn’t actually counting.’ Liam’s mouth turned down. ‘Not much Christmas spirit about with the drought lasting so long.’

  ‘All the more reason we should think of ways to make it a Christmas the town will remember.’ Fergal filled the teapot and brought it across to the table. ‘Dion wants to form a committee to organise something. She’d like both of you on board.’

  ‘Do you plan to be here?’ Liam passed his mug across for a refill.

  ‘You bet.’ Fergal took his time pouring the tea. ‘All going well, I plan to arrive on Christmas Eve. I’ll look forward to seeing you both.’

  Nikki swallowed some of her tea. ‘I mightn’t be here,’ she hedged. ‘But I think it’s a lovely idea, Fergal—to do something special for the local community. Do you have something in mind? You probably do—you’ve been in lots of places, under lots of different circumstances…’ She drew to an awkward stop.

  ‘Actually, Nikki, I thought you might.’ Deftly, Fergal filled the uncomfortable silence that followed. ‘Your experience with MSF should have turned up a few possibilities, surely?’

  Her gaze faltered. ‘I’ll…give it some thought. Perhaps we can talk about it tomorrow…’

  ‘I think it’s tomorrow already.’ Fergal raised his arms to half-mast and stretched, then pulled himself upright. ‘I’m away to my bed, folks, so I’ll wish you both goodnight.’

  ‘Goodnight,’ they echoed.

  After Fergal had gone, there seemed a breathlessness in the air, a silence that was almost painful. Then, almost too calmly, Liam asked, ‘What did you mean, you might not be here at Christmas?’

  Nikki swallowed uncomfortably. ‘My contract finishes early in December.’

  Liam’s heart began beating like a tom-tom. Had he hesitated too long? Found her only to lose her again? ‘So what are you saying, Nikki?’

  ‘You said we’d see what shape we were in after three months, Liam.’ Her voice had lowered and tightened. ‘And, frankly, I don’t think we’re in very good shape at all.’

  ‘How can you say that?’

  He sent her a smouldering look and she pressed her lips together, fighting off the avalanche of emotions at the recollection of those frenzied minutes in each other’s arms so recently.

  ‘I thought we were doing pretty well…’ After a pause, he went on, ‘Your involvement with the practice has meant the world to me. And I thought sharing a home was adding another dimension.’

  Nikki gave a humourless little laugh. ‘Co-existing but not really connecting.’

  Liam ground out a harsh expletive. ‘Do you think I haven’t wanted to?’

  ‘Then why haven’t you, Liam? Heaven knows, you could have found an opportuni
ty if you’d really wanted to.’ Nikki’s heart was pounding, and she could hardly breathe.

  ‘There’s no easy answer to that, Nikki.’

  ‘For heaven’s sake! I’m not hanging out for another marriage certificate. But I wanted us to be part of one another’s lives again. In every way that counts. And if that’s too far or too fast for you, then perhaps we’d better finish things. Perhaps I shouldn’t even wait around until the three months are up…’

  Liam felt the tightening in his throat. So tight he could barely swallow. ‘Is this an ultimatum, Nikki?’ His question was harshly muted. ‘Either we become lovers again or you’re out of here? Hell…’ He pressed his fingers across his eyes in a weary gesture. ‘Why don’t you just put me up against the wall and shoot me for not performing?’

  ‘Now who’s being childish?’ Nikki could feel her control slipping by the second. Suddenly she had the strong impression of the two of them floating away, like passengers in separate trains, side by side with no meeting point. ‘Perhaps the notion to come here was a fantasy on my part. After all, it’s not as though you kept in touch.’

  Liam scrubbed a hand across his eyes. ‘Nikki, this is doing my head in. I can’t think any more. Just know I need you here.’

  She gave a bitter laugh and got to her feet. ‘You don’t need me, Liam. You need my medical skills. But I care about the people here, so I’ll stay until Christmas, help out where I can. After that…’

  His jaw tightened. But he let her go without further comment.

  A week later, Jade Murphy called at the surgery to see Nikki.

  ‘Come in, Jade.’ Nikki was a little surprised to see her. ‘If it’s about the result of your pap smear, there’s no problem.’

  ‘That’s good.’ Jade seemed to have trouble dredging up a smile. ‘I know I said I’d phone for the result, Nikki, but I wanted to talk to you in person.’

  ‘Was there something else?’ Nikki waved her to a chair. ‘Something we didn’t cover last time?’

  Jade made a small face. ‘Indirectly. But I wanted to tell you in person that I won’t be showing up for any of the blood tests and so on.’

  Nikki made a steeple of her fingers and propped them under her chin. It was obvious that whatever Jade had come about it was troubling her deeply.

  ‘About having a baby…’ Jade’s mouth trembled slightly. ‘Damien doesn’t want us to go ahead and try.’

  ‘And you’re terribly disappointed,’ Nikki said gently.

  ‘Yes.’ Jade blinked several times. ‘Damien’s excuse is that my job is so uncertain just now. He wants to wait until things come good again, until our financial future is secure. But that mightn’t happen for ages.’

  ‘Jade, you’re only twenty-eight,’ Nikki pointed out practically. ‘You’ve oceans of time.’

  ‘I know all that.’ She shook her head. ‘It was really Damien’s attitude that threw me. He was just so inflexible—as though it was his decision and nothing to do with me…’

  Jade’s shoulders sagged and suddenly, without warning, she burst into tears. Nikki let her cry, then when she sniffed and hauled in a huge controlling breath, Nikki pushed a box of tissues towards her.

  ‘Thanks…’ Jade’s voice was muffled as she mopped up. ‘You think you know someone and then you find out you really don’t know them at all.’

  Well, she could identify with that, Nikki silently agreed. But Jade was the patient here and it was clear she and her husband were terribly out of sync. And where they should have been on a high about the possibility of starting a family, because of circumstances beyond their control, their hopes had been dashed.

  ‘Perhaps it was a knee-jerk reaction from Damien.’ Nikki sought to rationalise the situation. ‘Because of the drought, many of the menfolk are suddenly finding themselves vulnerable, their feelings of self-worth crushed when they see themselves as unable to provide properly for their families. Perhaps Damien is being influenced by what he sees amongst his male workmates and friends.’

  Jade sighed and shook her head. ‘Do you think it could be as simple as that? That he’s in some kind of panic mode?’

  Nikki lifted a shoulder. ‘It’s a powerful emotion. And then self-doubt starts creeping in. And having a baby, as you said yourself, is a huge responsibility.’

  ‘We depend on my job quite a lot.’ Jade began to slowly make sense of things. ‘It’s not like in our grandmother’s day when the woman’s role was solely that of a home-maker.’ She managed a watery smile. ‘Although that would drive me nuts, I think.’

  ‘They were the social mores of the time, I guess.’ Nikki spread her hands in a shrug. ‘But it would be lovely if women actually had the choice to work or not.’

  ‘But not a real world,’ Jade came back wryly. ‘Thanks for letting me talk this through, Nikki.’ She gave an upside-down smile. ‘I probably made a mountain out of a molehill. I think I can understand where Damien is coming from now. He’s all stiff and uncommunicative presently but I know of a way to thaw him out.’ She blushed prettily. ‘And who knows?’ She got to her feet. ‘Perhaps the school will recoup the funding and my job will be safe again.’

  As she said goodbye to Jade, Nikki turned to see Liam just coming out of his consulting room. He had a small, dark-haired woman with him and it was obvious she’d been crying. It must be the day for it, Nikki thought sadly, and slipped quietly back to her own room.

  Several minutes later Liam rapped and came in. ‘Grace said you’d finished and I’d like a word, please.’

  ‘Well, that makes a change.’

  He stared at her in silence for a moment, his jaw clenched, a muscle jumping. ‘Look, can we call a truce?’ he asked without preamble. ‘Things are difficult enough without this kind of cold war that seems to have sprung out of nowhere.’

  Nikki bristled. For the past week he’d avoided her whenever possible, being scrupulously polite but remote whenever they’d been forced to interact. ‘You chose to crawl back into your shell, Liam,’ she challenged him.

  His mouth twisted in the parody of a smile. ‘What kind of shell are we talking about here? Clam, tortoise, crab? I doubt I’d fit in any of those.’

  Just the mental picture he’d created made her smile reluctantly. ‘OK…’ She exhaled a long breath. ‘Truce.’ She waved him to a chair. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘We have our first case of drought-related domestic violence.’

  ‘Oh, lord.’ Nikki looked appalled. ‘The little woman you were seeing out earlier?’

  ‘Yes.’ His mouth compressed for a second. ‘Leila Drummond. And it’s the same old story—argument over money. Her husband lost his job some time back, self-esteem down the gurgler. Leila had given him the responsibility of buying something for the kids’ tea.’ Liam lifted his hands in a Gallic shrug. ‘He detoured to the pub.’

  ‘Brilliant. What’s the damage to Mrs Drummond?’

  ‘Bruising to her ribs. She said it was one wild swipe in frustration and she got in the way of it. Barry had never done anything like that before.’

  Nikki’s eyebrows rose. ‘Do you believe that?’

  ‘I’ve no reason not to.’ Liam’s mouth twisted into a thoughtful moue. ‘I’ve had a few dealings with Barry Drummond and he’s seemed an OK guy. But obviously they won’t want any of this to leak out. In a small community like ours, facts can rapidly become distorted and Barry could be labelled a wife-beater. The result would be horrendous for the whole family. Leila only came to me because she needed a certificate for work. She can barely lift her arm on the injured side.’

  Nikki winced. ‘I don’t imagine she came right out and said her husband had struck her—accidentally or not.’

  ‘Said she fell.’ Liam rubbed behind his neck wearily. ‘She crumpled when I began asking for more details. And then the whole sorry tale came out.’

  ‘Hmm.’ Nikki looked thoughtful. Picking up her pen, she spun it back and forth between her fingers. ‘So, as medical officers, what practical help can we offe
r this family?’

  Liam looked taken aback.

  ‘Come on, Liam, think!’ Nikki swung off her chair and went to the window, tapping her fingertips on the sill and looking out. Suddenly she turned. ‘What kind of work does Leila do?’

  ‘Ah, cleaner at the hospital.’

  ‘And I presume Barry will know you know about his misdemeanour?’

  ‘He drove Leila to the surgery, so I imagine so. Just what are you getting at here, Nikki?’ Liam studied his fingertips for a moment and then brought his gaze up in query. ‘That he’ll want to prove it was a one-off and won’t happen again?’

  ‘Something like that. So why don’t we think creatively here? The hospital is going to be a cleaner down until Leila is fit for work. What’s to stop Barry getting his butt over there and offering to substitute?’

  Liam sat back, stunned. ‘Nothing, I suppose. I’d have to have a confidential word with Anna—and she’d have to be prepared to take him on. But as long as Barry was prepared to do it…’

  Nikki dimpled. ‘I’m sure you could liaise beautifully, Dr Donovan.’

  ‘Could I just?’ Liam flashed a dry grin across at her. ‘Why don’t we go the whole hog and suggest the Drummonds job-share?’

  ‘Oh, my goodness!’ Nikki stopped as if struck. ‘That’s a brilliant idea! And it could work. Instead of collecting the dole, Barry would be back in the paid workforce, feeling useful, and Leila would be less pressured and able to have more time for herself and the children.’

  ‘And they all lived happily ever after.’ Liam got to his feet and pushed his chair in, his fingers curled across the back. He shook his head. ‘You’re still the most outrageous fixer-upper I know.’

  Was that a compliment or not? She blinked at him and for a split second the world seemed to telescope. And then he was holding out his arms, wide and welcoming.

  Nikki’s feet suddenly had wings.

  Liam’s arms wrapped round her, strong and tender. One large hand cradled the back of her head as he held her, rocking her like a child.

  Nikki felt her body relax against him. It felt so absolutely right to be holding one another like this. After the longest time she drew back, looking at him. ‘I hate it when we’re not friends.’ The words trembled on her lips. ‘Is there still a chance for us, Liam?’