Tempted by Dr. Morales (6 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

C
ATE
WAS
SO
distracted she didn’t even hear Matthew talking on the radio until he called out to Cate and Juan. ‘We’ve got an eighty-six-year-old in an independent living facility, she’s waiting to be admitted for a chest infection but she’s developed chest pain. Are you guys okay with us accepting?’

‘Sure,’ Juan said. ‘So long as you go fast.’

On went the lights and sirens and Cate felt a flurry in her stomach as the ambulance sped off.

‘You love this part, don’t you?’ Louise smiled.

‘I do.’

‘Are you still thinking about joining us?’

Cate shook her head. ‘It’s not for me. Sometimes I do still think about it, though.’

‘You’ve thought of being a paramedic?’ Juan’s eyes widened in surprise.

‘Cate came on a ride along with us,’ Louise told him. ‘About six months ago, wasn’t it, Cate? I said to try a Saturday night in the city before she made up her mind.’

Cate could feel Juan’s eyes on her.

‘You didn’t like it?’ he asked.

‘I loved it,’ Cate said. ‘It was an amazing experience but...’ She gave a small shake of her head. ‘It made me appreciate even more all the back-up that we have in Emergency, and I decided that it just wasn’t for me.’

They were pulling into the independent living facility—the gate had been opened for them and a staff member directed them to the small unit where the patient was. Matthew and Louise took all the necessary equipment and then the four of them walked into a small house that was crammed full of furniture—huge old bookshelves and old-fashioned sofas—that looked a little out of place in the more modern surroundings.

‘Her name’s Elsie Delaney,’ the on-call nurse explained. ‘We had the doctor in to see Elsie last night for her cough and she was started on antibiotics for a chest infection. When I went to check on her this morning, she didn’t look well and finally admitted she had chest pain. She’s very independent and didn’t want me to call you, of course.’

‘Hi, Elsie!’ Matthew walked in first and greeted the patient.

‘What are all of you doing here?’ came an irritated voice as the room started to fill up.

‘You’re getting the works today, Elsie,’ Louise said. ‘We had a doctor and nurse already with us, so that’s why there are so many of us.’

The bedroom was as full of furniture as the rest of the house and, with Juan walking in front of Cate and his shoulders taking up most of the doorframe, it took a moment before Cate glimpsed Elsie.

She was tiny, sitting up in bed, her straggly white hair held back with a large, jewelled hair clip. She had a pink shawl around her shoulders and was wearing an elaborate necklace, and on her gnarled fingers were several rings.

She looked absolutely gorgeous, but she was wary and disgruntled and complained as Louise and Matthew did obs and attached her to a monitor while Juan slipped in an IV.

‘I’m feeling much better,’ she kept protesting.

Really, they weren’t needed at all. Cate and Juan were completely supernumerary as Louise and Matthew had it all under control. They soon had a heart tracing and were giving Elsie some medication for pain and, despite having said she had little pain, as it took effect she lay back on the pillow. Elsie finally agreed that, yes, they could take her to hospital.

‘Are there any family for us to inform?’

‘She has a daughter, Maria, who lives nearby,’ the nurse said, and spoke then to Elsie, ‘I’ll ring Maria and let her know what’s happening.’

‘She’ll be very disappointed that I’m only sick and not dead,’ Elsie said. ‘It’s the truth!’ Elsie turned to Cate and winked, and Cate found herself smothering a smile. ‘Does Maria even have to know that I’m going to hospital?’ Elsie asked.

‘Of course she does, Elsie!’ the nurse answered. ‘And you’re wrong, Maria will be ever so worried.’

Elsie gave a huff to indicate that she doubted it. ‘I’m not going out on a stretcher,’ Elsie said.

‘Fine.’ Louise smiled. ‘I’ll go and get the chair.’

‘Do you want to leave your jewellery here?’ Cate suggested, knowing that one of the first things that would happen when they got to Emergency was that they would take it all off and lock it up in the safe. But Elsie wasn’t going anywhere without her finery.

‘And I want my photo album too...’ She pointed to a shelf and Juan went over to fetch it.

‘You might only be there a few hours,’ the nurse pointed out.

‘Then I’ll have something to look at while I’m waiting,’ Elsie retorted.

‘Where’s this, Elsie?’ Juan asked, pointing to a picture in a frame where a younger Elsie was smiling into the camera against a stunning backdrop of houses and a glimpse of the ocean behind her.

‘Menton,’ Elsie said. The medication wasn’t stopping her from talking! ‘They call it the pearl of France. Have you been?’

‘To France, yes,’ Juan said. ‘To Menton, no, but I want to now!’ They chatted about it even as she was loaded into the ambulance and transferred from the chair to the stretcher. She was in a seated position for comfort and she and Juan chatted all the way to Bayside.

‘I was there for six months,’ Elsie said. ‘Then I went back, oh, ten years ago now and it’s still just as lovely.’ She looked at Juan. ‘Are you Spanish?’

‘I’m from Argentina.’

‘Well, I’ll try not to hold it against you,’ she said, and Juan laughed. Elsie peered at him for a while, slowly looking at his hair and then down to his boots before looking at Cate.

‘He’s a good-looking one, isn’t he?’ Elsie said.

‘You just caught him at a good time,’ Cate answered back.

‘That’s what I’m here for,’ Juan responded, and Cate felt her cheeks burn a little, because a good time was
all
that he was here for—and she would do very well to remember that fact.

‘So you don’t live in Australia?’ Elsie asked him.

‘No,’ Juan said. ‘I am here for a working holiday.’

Elsie frowned for a while before speaking. ‘You’re a bit old for all that, aren’t you?’ And for the second time since meeting Elsie, Cate found herself suppressing a smile. Elsie was funny and wise and old enough to say what she liked and not care what others thought.

‘Never too old, Elsie,’ Juan said. ‘Surely you know that?’

For the first time since their arrival it was Elsie smiling—at Juan. ‘You’re a charmer, aren’t you?’

‘Am I charming you, Elsie?’ Juan smiled back.

Of course he was.

Christine didn’t seem too impressed when they arrived back at the department. ‘Finally, the wanderers return!’ And she wasn’t too pleased to have been forced out of her office during Cate’s absence. ‘I’m going to go and do some work now,’ Christine said. ‘There are incident forms to fill in. I don’t want to leave them for you.’

‘Sure,’ Cate said, as Christine handed over the drug keys to her.

‘She’s a sour one!’ Elsie muttered, as she was moved over onto a gurney.

Cate made no comment. ‘I’m just going to go find you a gown,’ she said to Elsie when she realised that there wasn’t one. Now, that was one thing that
was
going to change when she was in charge. Cate really hated it when the cubicles were not properly tidied and stocked.

‘Can’t I just wear my nightdress?’ Elsie grumbled, but Cate explained that she would need to take off her bra and necklace as the doctor would probably order a chest X-ray.

First, though, Cate did a routine set of obs and then headed off in search of the elusive gown. The linen trolley was void of them—the staff from the wards were always coming down and pinching linen from the emergency trolley and so Cate often hid a few pieces as soon as they were delivered. She went to her secret stash in the storeroom, where she kept a few gowns hidden behind the burn packs.

The phone was ringing as she made her way back and, with the ward clerk not around, Cate took the call—it was Maria, Elsie’s daughter.

‘She only just arrived in the department,’ Cate explained. ‘The doctor should be in with her soon.’

‘She’s talking?’ Maria checked.

‘Oh, yes!’ Cate smiled, because Elsie hadn’t stopped talking since she had laid eyes on her. ‘Should I tell her that you’re coming in?’

‘No, no,’ Maria said. ‘I’ll call back later this afternoon to see what’s happening. It doesn’t sound as if it is anything too serious. I don’t know why they called an ambulance.’

‘She developed chest pain,’ Cate said. ‘I’m quite sure it was more severe than even Elsie was letting on, though she’s very comfortable now.’

‘Still, I think an ambulance is taking things a bit far. We don’t want any heroics.’

Cate blinked for a moment at the matter-of-fact way Maria addressed a rather sensitive issue. ‘Is that something that has already been discussed?’ Cate asked carefully. ‘Does your mother have a DNR order?’

‘No, but at her age surely we should just let nature take its course?’

Cate continued the difficult conversation, explaining that Elsie was lucid and comfortable and that it was something Elsie could discuss with the doctor if she saw fit. ‘Is there any message that you’d like me to pass on to your mother?’ Cate asked.

‘Just tell her that I’ll call back later,’ Maria said, and then rang off.

Cate let out a breath, and when the phone rang again, on instinct she answered it, though she soon wished that she hadn’t.

‘Can I please speak with Dr Morales?’

‘I’ll see if he’s available,’ Cate said. ‘May I ask who’s calling?’ As soon as the words were out she regretted them; she had made it clear that Juan was here but her mind had been so full of Elsie and her daughter that she had forgotten Juan’s little lecture from last week.

‘Tell him it is Martina.’

She found Juan in with Elsie, taking bloods.

‘Sorry I took so long, Elsie,’ Cate said. ‘Your daughter just called...’

Elsie rolled her eyes and dismissed the information with a flick of her hand. ‘You can ring her when I’m dead,’ Elsie huffed. ‘That will cheer her up.’

‘She’s going to call back later,’ Cate said, making a mental note to speak to whichever doctor Elsie was referred to, so that Elsie’s wishes could be discussed properly. ‘Juan, you’ve got a call too—Martina is on the phone for you, I’m very sorry, I forgot and I—’

He interrupted her excuses. ‘Tell her that I am with a patient,’ Juan answered, labelling the vials of blood he had taken.

‘Just to have her call back in ten minutes?’ Cate checked, because Martina called fairly frequently. ‘Why doesn’t she ring your mobile?’

‘Because I’ve blocked her.’ He muttered something under his breath in Spanish but then winked at Elsie. ‘Excuse me, I need to take a phone call.’

‘Be nice when you do,’ Elsie warned, and Juan smiled and gave a small shake of his head.

‘It gets you into more trouble sometimes.’

It did.

Juan had tried being nice, had tried being firm, had been downright rude a couple of times and the calls had stopped for a while. But as the date of what would have been their first wedding anniversary approached, Martina was more determined than ever to change history.

‘Juan, I was hoping to speak to you.’

‘I’m at work.’

‘Then call me from home.’

‘Martina—’

‘You won’t let me properly explain,’ Martina interrupted. ‘And I’m hearing from everyone the ridiculous things you are doing—that you are going to do a season of skiing. Why would you take such risks?’

‘I’m not your concern, Martina. You made that very clear.’

‘I would have come round. Juan, please, we need to speak.’

‘Stop calling me at work,’ Juan said, and hung up and sat for a moment, thinking of the man he had once been, compared with the man he was now.

Martina didn’t know him at all.

She couldn’t.

Not even
he
knew yet who the new Juan was.

‘Poor Martina,’ Elsie had said as Juan had left the cubicle to take the call and Cate had laughed. She loved old people, they knew about a thousand times more than the whole of the staff put together. It had taken Elsie about two seconds to work out what a heartbreaker Juan was.

‘I had one like that once,’ Elsie said, nodding to the curtains Juan had just walked through, as Cate helped her undress and get into a gown.

‘What, a six-foot-three Argentinian?’ Cate quipped.

‘No, a five-foot-eight Frenchman!’ Cate wanted to put Elsie in her handbag and take her home. ‘I was in my fifties and I’d been widowed for two years.’

‘That’s young to be a widow.’

‘Don’t waste any sympathy, I had a terrible marriage,’ Elsie said. ‘You can call me the merry widow if you must, but I was just sick of feeling like I was in my daughter’s way and being told what to do. I took myself off to France—I’d always wanted to go and I was so glad I did. We had one week together and I had the best time of my whole life!’ She pointed to a large silver bezel-set amethyst ring on her finger. ‘No regrets from me,’ Elsie said. ‘We had completely different lives, it would never have worked long term but we kept in touch a little bit. He sent me a card now and then, and when he died ten years ago I went back and visited his grave and thanked him.’

She opened the album and showed Cate a picture of the love of her life, a love that had lasted just a few days.

‘Have you ever been adored?’ Elsie asked, and Cate frowned as she met Elsie’s pale blue eyes.

‘I don’t think so,’ Cate admitted, as the reason for her break-up was delivered to her, as the word she had needed was revealed.

‘I highly recommend it,’ Elsie said. ‘Have you ever adored anyone?’

And Cate faltered. ‘Adored?’

‘It’s a rare kind of love,’ Elsie said, ‘and I got to taste it.’

‘Was it worth it, though, Elsie?’ Cate asked. ‘Lugging a broken heart around for the rest of your life.’

‘My heart wasn’t broken.’ Elsie smiled. ‘It soars every time I think of him.’

Cate’s heart wasn’t soaring, though, as Juan pulled her aside a while later and warned ‘for the third time’ that she had to have a word with the nursing staff and receptionist and remind them about privacy on the phone. They were not to reveal any of the staff rosters.

It was the closest she had come to seeing him angry or, rather, very disgruntled.