Beth couldn’t believe for a split second she had actually thought that the head of A and E would bring her flowers. She had bought into her own daydreams. How stupid could she be? She had only started at the hospital the day before and after one kind gesture of driving her home she’d gone and stupidly thought her boss was interested. Really, Beth, she berated herself, you have just made a complete fool of yourself.
Realising Matthew must have seen through her pitiful cover-up, she turned away. She had to hide the mortification she knew would be written all over her face. She reached for the handle to close the door, but Matthew’s leather-clad foot stopped her.
* * *
To be honest, Matthew didn’t know why he had gone out of his way to deliver the flowers. There would have been somewhere to store them but something about this woman made him want to see her outside work. He hadn’t felt this way in years and now he was close to her he was struggling with his feelings. It was unnerving and he decided quickly that he shouldn’t be there. He couldn’t afford to be there. He was relieved when his head took control over his heart and forced him to be brutal. He had been shut down emotionally for years and he had no intention of ever opening up.
‘Listen, Beth, I think we should get something straight right here and now. I’m still not convinced about this whole exchange programme. If I have anything to do with it, you will be the last. There is nothing personal in this decision but if I had been successful with the board you would not have made it out here. I stopped the exchange programme at the Western Hills Hospital in Sydney a few years back and I intend to do the same here at Eastern.’
Beth opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by the not-too-distant noise of screeching brakes, followed by the unmistakable and sickening sound of metal buckling and glass splintering.
‘Looks like we’ve started work early this morning,’ he said, heading down the path and looking in the direction of the accident. ‘We can finish this talk later if I haven’t made myself clear enough.’
Pushing her humiliation aside, Beth hurriedly reached for her keys and locked the front door while Matthew grabbed his mobile phone from the car. Together they ran down to the end of the street to where two cars had collided. It was a mess, with debris strewn all over the intersection and no sign of movement from within the compacted sedans. Beth feared the worst. Even though she had trained in A and E in London, and she had requested the same when she’d transferred, she still hadn’t quite learnt to handle the feeling of dread in her stomach at times like this.
‘I’ll check the silver car. You do the blue,’ he said as he raced to the car wedged between a lamp post and a large eucalyptus gum tree.
Beth looked both ways, and crossed the road to the blue hatchback. She peered inside to find the single occupant lying back against the driver’s seat.
‘What have you got over there, Beth?’ she heard Matthew call out.
‘Single female occupant, unconscious.’
‘Ditto,’ he called back. ‘I’ll call for two ambulances.’
Beth tugged at the driver’s door in vain. In desperation she ran to the passenger side, to find it locked also. She tore off her cardigan and looked around on the ground for something hard. Half a discarded brick from a house under construction lay nearby. Reaching for it, Beth covered the window with the knitted top then smashed the glass. Thankfully it was an older model car with manual door locks so she reached inside carefully and unlocked the door.
The woman, who Beth guessed to be in her early twenties, was unconscious and bleeding profusely from a head wound. There was no time to be lost.
Sweeping away the broken glass from the seat with her cardigan, Beth struggled with the restrictions of her tight skirt as she climbed across to find a pulse. Albeit faint, to her relief it was present and, as far as she could ascertain, regular. Untucking her own blouse, Beth used the hem to put pressure on the gash across the woman’s forehead and continued at intervals to check her vital signs until the sirens of the ambulances became audible.
She wondered what Matthew had met with in the other car. As the paramedics neared the car she reached over and unlocked the driver’s side door and undid the woman’s seat belt.
‘Suspected neck or spinal injures so we need a neck brace in place before the victim can be moved,’ Beth informed the men. One paramedic retrieved a brace from the ambulance while the other released the woman’s feet from the twisted pedals.
‘Head injuries only?’ he asked.
‘As far as I can make out... Hell!’ she cursed as she noticed the woman’s skin become clammy and her pulse begin to race. She felt down to the woman’s abdomen. It was now rigid.
‘What’s wrong?’ the paramedic demanded.
‘Where’s the brace?’ she called out, but it was already on hand. Carefully she slipped it around the victim’s neck. ‘We may not have a lot of time. I suspect internal bleeding.’
Expeditiously the patient was lifted from the mangled vehicle and placed on the raised stretcher. Beth climbed from the car and raced over to the ambulance.
‘I want her on oxygen, and saline IV.’
‘I can travel with her to the Eastern,’ came a low voice from behind them.
Beth turned around to see her solemn-faced consultant.
‘Mine was not so lucky. She didn’t make it.’ He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and took a deep breath. ‘I’ve seen my share of death but it never gets any easier.’
‘It makes you realise how precious life is. You should grab it with both hands,’ Beth said solemnly.
Matthew looked at the woman standing before him. She could be forthright in her opinion, yet still vulnerable and caring. She was getting under his skin very quickly and that was causing him grief. But he didn’t want to care about what she thought or felt. He just didn’t want to care.
‘We have one alive, so let’s act on that,’ he said hurriedly as he climbed into the ambulance. ‘What’s the call here?’
‘At best shock, head abrasions and possible neck injury. At worst, add internal bleeding.’
‘Right, let’s go. I’ll take blood now for a cross-match and we can have her typed in half an hour. Call ahead and let them know I want O-neg ready in case of emergency,’ he directed the paramedics, then reached into his pocket, pulled out his car keys and turned his attention back to Beth. ‘Would you mind taking my car to the hospital?’
‘No, but I haven’t driven a manual shift for a long time,’ she said as she watched him insert the IV line.
‘Like riding a bike,’ he said. ‘But considering what I paid for that little imported job, please don’t forget to change your clothes before you do.’ Beth glanced down at her blood-stained blouse and skirt. It was going to be another day in slacks and a sensible cotton shirt, she mused.
In a wail of sirens the two ambulances took off into the traffic, leaving Beth with a prayer for the woman inside and the keys to a midnight-blue BMW that she hoped was well insured.
CHAPTER THREE
‘YOU DID IT!’ Beth congratulated herself as she pulled the car into the Eastern Memorial car park.
Despite thinking more than once that she had left the entire gearbox on the road during the shift from first to second, Beth managed to drive the expensive vehicle without a single incident. With a sigh of relief, she pulled the key from the ignition and took a deep breath.
Her mind raced back to the embarrassing start