‘Pull me out, Sam,’ she called. ‘I need to stand up for a bit.’
She caught a glimpse of Matt bent over a baby’s car seat—his stethoscope in his ears—through the gap between the front seats, but standing up was a mistake. The sudden change in posture after being upside down for so long made her feel extremely unwell. Her vision went completely black and she could feel her legs crumpling. An ungainly collapse to the ground was prevented only by the strong grip on her arms.
‘Are you all right?’
‘Bit…dizzy…’ Tori managed.
‘Sit down. Put your head between your knees and take a few deep breaths.’
The buzzing sound receded and Tori blinked to find it was Matt’s hand circling her wrist as he took her pulse.
‘I’m OK,’ she told him. ‘I’m just not used to working upside down.’
‘You’ve done brilliantly,’ Matt told her. He smiled. ‘Thanks.’
‘How are the other children?’
‘The toddler seems to be OK. He was conscious— just too frightened to move. The baby’s had a bump on her head, which may be more serious. They’re both being transported, priority one. We’re going to break the windscreen and do a dash roll to get the mother out now.’
‘And the others?’
‘They’re being loaded now. The driver’s OK—badly shaken but no more than a few bumps and bruises, thanks to the airbag. Her husband regained consciousness but had to be sedated. He was very combative due to his head injury.’
Matt glanced up as a fire officer stepped over Tori’s legs. ‘I need you to move a bit so we can get on with this extrication. You feel OK to stand up?’
‘Sure.’ But Tori was grateful for the assistance Matt gave her and she staggered slightly before stopping to lean against the side of the closest fire engine from where she could watch as they cut open the front of the van and used a backboard to secure and move the unconscious woman.
A new ambulance crew was ready to transport the patient and Tori wondered just how many vehicles had been deployed to this scene. The closest emergency department would be that of the Royal, where Tori worked, and that thought made her glance at her watch and groan. They would be hard-pressed to deal with the influx of casualties and she should have been at work over an hour ago.
‘Excuse me,’ she called to the ambulance officer on the end of the woman’s stretcher. ‘Are you going to the Royal?’
‘It’s the closest hospital.’ The female paramedic nodded. ‘They’re working under a disaster management code for this.’
‘I’m Victoria Preston,’ Tori told her. ‘I’m supposed to be on duty in the ED. If you get a chance, can you let someone know why I’m held up?’
‘Sure.’
‘Do you want to go with them?’ Matt had overheard the interchange. ‘The police can arrange for your car to be sorted later.’
‘Are you leaving now?’
Matt shook his head. ‘We’re on standby for the moment in case anyone gets injured, trying to clear this scene. The crane’s arriving now, too, so we’ll wait until we can check the truck driver. Not that I hold out much hope for him.’
‘No.’ Tori looked at the slumped figure in the truck’s cab, still dangling over the side of the bridge. The carnage of the other vehicles, now even more deformed by the extrication efforts of the fire service, were a reminder of how many people had been seriously injured here, and the enormity of it all really hit home. Tori suddenly felt exhausted. ‘I’ll stay for a while, too,’ she said. ‘I’m not sure I’m up to starting a shift in ED just yet.’ Taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly. ‘I don’t know how you cope with this sort of thing on a daily basis.’
‘Big incidents like this are few and far between,’ Matt responded. He grinned. ‘And you know what we’re like in the ambulance service. Being able to do what we’re trained for on a scale like this is a highlight of the job.’
That adrenaline buzz might only be a memory now but it was strong enough to make Tori nod slowly.
‘It’s a very different ball game compared to hospital work, isn’t it? You have to be far more self-reliant. Yelling for help isn’t necessarily going to get someone who’s going to be any more able to deal with the situation.’
‘And every challenge is that little bit different. It never gets boring, that’s for sure.’
Matt’s partner, Joe, was packing away their gear but Matt seemed content to take a break. He leaned against the side of the fire engine beside Tori. ‘So, how are you?’ he queried. ‘It must be nearly six months since I’ve seen you.’
‘That’d be right. You talked me into coming to that USAR introduction course you ran last year, remember?’
‘Of course I do. You were hopping around on crutches. How’s the leg now?’
‘Good as new.’
‘Did you find the course at all useful?’
‘Absolutely.’ Tori smiled at Matt. ‘That session on triage started flashing like a neon sign in my head as soon as I found I was the first on the scene here.’
‘Really?’ Matt looked so delighted that Tori found her smile widening.
‘Really,’ she confirmed. ‘It was a great course.’
‘You should come and do some more advanced USAR training, then. We could do with some more medically qualified people on the teams.’
‘Hmm.’ Tori was enjoying the look of genuine interest on Matt’s face. His encouraging smile seemed to reach all the way to a pair of equally warm hazel eyes. ‘I might just do that.’
For a fraction of a second Matt held her gaze and Tori was reminded of a connection that had been completely buried over the last six months. A base for a friendship that had just been strengthened by what had happened this morning. A friendship she would be more than happy to build on.
Not that she’d want Matt to think she’d changed her mind about anything else, though. Tori broke the eye contact hurriedly.
‘How are all the kids?’ The reminder of just what had put Matthew Buchanan firmly off any agenda other than friendship was definitely timely.
‘Settling in finally, I think. That’s why I kind of disappeared for a while. I took a desk job, thinking that the more regular hours would help.’
‘And did it?’
Matt shrugged. ‘Maybe. Trouble was I missed being on the road too much. In the end I decided that making myself miserable wasn’t going to help any of us in the long run. It was rubbing off on the family, no matter how much I tried to hide it.’
Tori found her gaze caught again. He would have tried to hide it, wouldn’t he? Anyone who’d been prepared to turn his life upside down and even sacrifice a long-term relationship for the sake of four orphaned nieces and nephews had to be some kind of saint. Or, at the very least, an awfully nice guy.
‘So you haven’t found anyone to help run the orphanage yet?’
Matt laughed. ‘As if! Any sensible woman is going to run screaming into the middle distance at the mention of four kids.’
‘True,’ Tori grinned. ‘You’ll just have to find someone who isn’t sensible, then.’
‘Totally mad, you mean?’
‘It might help.’ The humour was a thinner veneer than Tori felt comfortable with, however, because she knew better than most the implications of the undercurrents here.