The Family She Needs. Sue MacKay

spray of muddy water Mickey sent his way. What was it with small boys and puddles? The rain might have stopped hours ago, but the water swamping the lawns hadn’t drained away and didn’t look as if it would any time soon. Another problem that needed looking into. Like that hole in the driveway, which definitely had to be sorted.

      ‘I want to see Karina.’ Mickey stood before him, staring up with those eyes that reminded him so much of James.

      James. His older brother. Logan’s heart squeezed tight. They hadn’t been close, but they’d always known the other was there if needed. Hence the guardianship thing. He’d been touched when James had asked him, yet he’d thought he should have asked Mum and Dad. Apparently they’d believed Mickey needed younger guardians. They also hadn’t been comfortable at the prospect of living on remote Stewart Island with Mickey.

      If he ever needed urgent medical attention, getting off the island wasn’t as simple as getting on board a boat and starting the engine. Weather ruled down there. It was a place his parents had fallen in love with, and they’d moved there the moment he’d finished school. It wasn’t a place he’d ever thought of as home.

      Logan sure as hell hadn’t expected to take up the role of guardian so soon, if ever. It was only supposed to be insurance—the kind you took out but never used. If he’d known what would happen only weeks later he’d have told James to find someone better suited. Not that his brother would have listened.

      A small hand wrapped around his fingers. ‘Karina’s at work.’

      ‘Yeah, buddy, I know. So we’ll have to wait to see her.’

      Mickey shook his head. ‘No. I want to see her now. I need to go pee-pee.’

      ‘I’ll take you inside.’

      Mickey’s head turned from side to side. ‘No. Got to go to work.’ He began tugging at Logan’s hand. ‘Come on.’

      A cheerful-looking man glanced up from the counter as they walked in the front door of the medical centre. ‘Hi, Mickey. Sounds like you’ve been having fun.’ Then his gaze swooped to Logan. ‘You must be Logan. I’m David Maxwell, the current locum. Sorry I missed you earlier.’

      ‘Hey, good to meet you. I never had any intention of dragging you from your patients when I dropped by. I was just eyeing the set-up.’ Logan held out his hand. ‘This little guy wants the bathroom. Apparently you’ve got a better one than what’s at home.’

      David chuckled. ‘What we’ve got is Karina.’

      So Mickey and Karina had bonded completely. That was good for the little fellow. He was very lovable. Even after a few hours Logan knew leaving him again wouldn’t be as easy as he’d expected.

      ‘How does he cope when he’s at kindergarten?’

      Karina answered from another room. ‘There are good days and there are not-so-good ones. His teacher’s quite strict, but sometimes I go and get him and then he sits in here with me and his colouring-in book.’

      ‘I need pee-pee, Karina!’ the subject of their conversation yelled.

      In the waiting area people laughed.

      David grinned. ‘You’d better hurry, Karina. It’s looking a bit urgent out here.’

      She appeared in an instant. ‘Come on, Mickey.’ Then over her shoulder she muttered to Logan in a very cheeky tone, ‘Think you dodged a bullet?’

      He shuddered. Karina’s bullets would be comparatively harmless compared to the real thing. ‘Apparently you’re a dab hand at this.’

      ‘You’ll keep.’ She flapped a hand at him before following Mickey down the hall.

      ‘Keep?’ David asked in a hopeful tone. ‘You’re not looking to hang around permanently, by any chance?’

      Hating to disappoint another person already, he shrugged, but finally had to be honest. ‘No, my contract’s still running with the organisation I work for.’

      ‘Motueka isn’t just a quiet town in the back of beyond. There’s always lots going on.’

      That hope was fading.

      ‘After the places I’ve been, it’s fair heaving. If I ever did come back permanently I think I’d prefer living and working in a place like this. Big cities don’t hold any attraction for me.’

      If he ever came back? Why would he? What was here for him?

      A little boy who had yet to call him Uncle? A boy who needed a man in his life?

      A feminine laugh floated down the hall from the direction in which Karina had disappeared. Okay, there might be another attraction, but he couldn’t change his life plan for a woman.

      ‘Life plan? More of a total stuff-up.’

      ‘Sorry?’

      He’d forgotten David was still standing there, looking hopeful and resigned all at once. ‘Talking to myself. Not a good look.’

      ‘I guess you’ve got a lot to sort out at the moment, without me dumping the surgery problems on your shoulders. We can have a chat in a few days.’ Then he looked worried. ‘You will be here for a while, right?’

      ‘Right.’

      Exactly how long was ‘a while’? This was another round of questions he wasn’t dealing with very well. Harmless enquiries and yet they ratcheted up the tightness in his arm muscles, in his chest.

      Glancing around, he saw people in the office, the waiting room, the hall: all innocent of anything but normality. Normality he struggled to fit into. By the toy box in the waiting room a toddler lunged for a wooden truck and shrieked at the top of his lungs.

      Logan knew that the ear-piercing, gut-tearing sound came from the little boy. Knew it. But somewhere in his head he was hearing one of his fellow hostages as she was beaten, screaming her fear and rage and pain.

      That same fear, rage and pain thumped at his temples.

      Suddenly he was so tired he could barely stay upright. Exhaustion gripped him, drained his body of every drop of energy. Exhaustion that sleep would not fix. Only exercise might.

      It was happening again. He couldn’t blame jet lag. That might be compounding the debilitated state he found himself in, but it wasn’t the cause. That remained back in Africa. In the form of dangerous men armed with machine guns and the inability to listen to reason. Men who thought the quickest way to riches was holding innocent people to ransom.

      ‘Are you all right?’

      David was staring at him with that same wary look he’d seen in his colleagues’ eyes all too often since he’d been freed.

      ‘I’m fine.’ His voice rasped with tension. ‘I need some fresh air. Tell Karina I’ve gone for a walk, will you?’

       Tell her I’m sorry I’m leaving Mickey with her while she has to work. Tell her I apologise for coming here before I’d managed to quash the demons lurking in my skull.

      He ran for the door.