Why hadn’t she noticed something? Evie accused herself. She was a doctor, for goodness’ sake.
She knew she’d been distracted by the tension between Lexi and Bella but she still should have known something was wrong. Bella’s behaviour should have alerted her. She wasn’t normally so insistent or stubborn.
But that didn’t explain why she hadn’t told them she was feeling unwell. Evie could only assume it was because she didn’t want to make a fuss. That was typical of Bella. She’d been unwell more frequently than usual over the past few months and Evie knew she would be trying to pretend everything was normal. But they all knew it wasn’t. They all knew Bella’s health was going downhill and Evie was furious with herself for not noticing the signs tonight. But there was no time to berate herself now. They needed to get Bella treated, she needed to be in hospital.
‘Lexi, ring Sam and tell him to meet us at the hospital,’ Evie instructed. ‘I’ll call an ambulance and then see if you can get a drink into Bella. She needs fluids.’
CHAPTER ONE
BELLA lay on the stretcher in the rear of the ambulance. She was vaguely aware of her surroundings but the activity felt like it was going on around her, independent of her, even though she knew it all related to her. The emergency lights were flashing, it was dark outside and the lights were reflecting back into the interior of the ambulance, bouncing off the walls. The siren was silent, the traffic a constant background noise. Evie was with her in the ambulance, she could hear her talking with the paramedic. Bella could feel the pressure of the oxygen mask on her face, the grip of the oximeter on her finger, the sting of the IV drip in her elbow. She saw Evie take out her phone and heard her leaving a message for their father.
She was hot and sweaty, flushed with a fever and tired, so tired. She wondered what it would be like just to close her eyes and drift off. To never wake again. But she wasn’t ready. There were still things she wanted to do and things she wanted to see.
She felt the ambulance come to a halt and the flashing red and blue lights were replaced by harsh fluorescent strip lighting. She knew where they were—in the emergency drop-off zone at Sydney Harbour Hospital. This was where she had spent countless days and nights over the past twenty-six years. It was the closest hospital to the Lockheart family home in the north shore suburb of Mosman and the cardiothoracic ward had become as familiar to Bella as her own bedroom.
But her connection to the hospital went beyond that of a patient. Her great-grandfather had been one of the original founders of the hospital and it was also where Evie worked. Bella couldn’t fault the medical care she received here, she just wished she hadn’t had to spend so much of her life within these walls.
The rear doors swung open and Bella felt the stretcher moving as she was pulled from the ambulance. A familiar face loomed over her. Sam Bailey, the hospital’s newest cardiothoracic surgeon and next big thing, was smiling down at her.
‘There you are,’ he said. ‘I’ve been stalking the ambulances, waiting for you.’
Sam was her new specialist, but again the connection didn’t end there. He was engaged to Lexi, which also made him her future brother-in-law.
Bella tried to smile then realised it wasn’t worth the effort as the oxygen mask was hiding her face and she was sure her smile would look more like a grimace. Sam squeezed her hand before he began talking to Evie and the paramedics, getting an update on her condition. Bella lay silently and concentrated on breathing in lungfuls of oxygen. She wasn’t required to contribute. She wasn’t required to do anything except keep breathing. ‘I’ve notified Cardiothoracics, we’ll take her straight up there,’ Sam was saying, and Bella closed her eyes against the glare of the fluorescent lights as they began to wheel her inside.
‘Evie? Is everything okay?’
Bella heard a familiar voice. She recognised it but her brain was sluggish and she was unable to put a face to the voice. If she opened her eyes she’d solve the mystery but that was too much effort.
‘Charlie!’
Evie’s reply jogged her memory and Bella was glad she’d kept her eyes closed.
Dr Charlie Maxwell was one of Evie’s closest friends and definitely one of her cutest! Bella idolised him. But she kept her eyes closed, not wanting him to see her like this. She pretended that if she couldn’t see him, he wouldn’t be able to see her.
Charlie was too gorgeous for his own good and she knew she wasn’t the only one who thought so. He had a reputation as a charmer and he’d cut a swathe through the female nurses and doctors at Sydney Harbour Hospital and most probably further afield too. Bella had long worshipped him from afar, knowing he’d never look twice at her, certain he saw her just as his friend’s little sister. This wasn’t a fairy-tale where the handsome prince would suddenly fall in love with the plain girl and sweep her off her feet. This was real life and the safest thing for her to do was to keep her eyes closed and wait for him to go away. That way there was less chance of her embarrassing herself.
‘Is everything all right?’ he repeated.
‘No, not really. It’s Bella.’
That was the last thing Bella heard before the paramedics pushed her into the hospital and Evie’s voice faded.
Stay with me, Bella wanted to say. She didn’t want to be alone even though she knew Evie wouldn’t be far behind her.
Bella? Charlie took a second look at the figure on the stretcher. Her face was obscured by the oxygen mask but her hair was distinctive. It could only be Bella, but he hadn’t recognised her at first. She had the same curly, dark auburn hair, the same pale, almost translucent skin, but she was thin, painfully thin. What had happened to her?
Charlie knew Bella had a rough time with her cystic fibrosis. She’d had a higher than average number of hospital admissions, but he’d never seen her looking as sick as she looked now.
‘What’s going on?’
‘She’s got a high temperature and she’s badly dehydrated. I suspect she has another chest infection,’ Evie replied.
‘Is there anything I can do?’ He knew it was unlikely but he wanted to at least offer his help.
Evie shook her head and he could see tears in her eyes. He and Evie had been friends for almost ten years and she was normally so strong, so resilient. Things must be grim.
‘You’d better catch up with her but call me if there’s anything I can do.’ He leant down and gave Evie a quick kiss on the cheek. ‘I’ll drop into the ward in the morning.’
He watched Evie as she hurried after Bella’s stretcher and wished he could offer more than just support. He viewed all three of the Lockheart sisters as his surrogate family. He knew they had a lack of family support and he knew how much of the burden of worry Evie carried on her slim shoulders. He would do what he could to help but he wished there was something more proactive that he could do for Bella too. But he was an orthopaedic surgeon. He was not what she needed.
Evie caught up to Sam and Bella as they waited for the lift. The next half-hour was frantic as Sam ordered a battery of tests and examined Bella. Lexi had driven to the hospital and she joined Evie on the cardiothoracic ward to wait. Together they tried to stay out of Sam’s way. Evie had to remind herself she was Bella’s sister now, not her doctor.
Sam appeared from Bella’s room and motioned for them to join him. ‘I’m admitting Bella. She has a temp of thirty-nine point five, which I suspect is the result of another chest infection, and she’s lost three kilograms since her last admission. She was supposed to be putting on weight but her BMI is down to seventeen.’
Evie knew Bella was thin. Too thin. Her body mass index should be at