The Doctors' Christmas Reunion Read online

  And life underground settled into a strange kind of normality, with everyone taking turns to sleep in the two rigged hammocks, Ellie listening to stories of other hair-raising events in the miners’ lives, playing cards, telling jokes. Kane Grant, his anxiety abated, revealed a wonderful supply of limericks and short poems, some of which, Ellie was sure, he cleaned up for her benefit.

  The breakthrough came earlier than they’d expected, and once one man came through others followed, helping the trapped man over the still-existing mound of rubble, and out to waiting health professionals on the other side.

  Ellie waited until they’d all been taken up, then one of the engineers insisted she go topside herself.

  As she rode up for what seemed like for ever, the tiredness she’d managed to keep at bay crept over her, and though she obediently trudged through the shower rooms and out through the clean room, she wondered how she’d have the strength to get home.

  Until familiar arms folded about her, and Andy drew her close, his body shaking with emotion as he held her, whispering her name like a prayer.

  ‘Oh, Andy, thank you for coming,’ she said, as she disentangled herself.

  ‘You don’t have to thank me for anything,’ he said gruffly. ‘I’ve been going out of my mind with worry about you, about something happening to you before I could talk to you and make things right between us. I came because I needed to see you, and hold you, and say I’m sorry I’ve been such an idiot and caused you so much pain.’

  He paused before adding, ‘Not that you haven’t caused me the torment of the damned these last few days. I do understand you felt you had to go, but the agony of not knowing what was happening down there... Perhaps I deserved it for being an ass.’

  He was leading her towards the outer fence where he’d obviously parked the car, and although his conversation was confusing she was so grateful for his supporting arms, she didn’t try to make sense of it.

  It was enormously comforting and that was enough.

  ‘It was the baby—our baby!’ he said, as he settled her into the car and then got into the driver’s side himself and continued without losing a beat.

  ‘I was devastated. I’d never felt pain like it, but I knew I had to be strong for you, so I just kept going. I know now—I’ve been talking to people on help-lines—that I should have dealt with it instead of just shoving it aside until it became such a big thing in my subconscious mind. The very thought of another baby—another possible loss—brought back all that stuff so strongly...’

  ‘You couldn’t bear the thought of it happening again?’ Ellie said softly.

  ‘Exactly! I thought I couldn’t handle it or look after you when I knew it would paralyse me.’

  She reached out a hand and held it against the strong column of his neck.

  ‘And it took me being down in a big hole with a lot of very dirty miners for you to figure it out?’

  He turned with a slightly shamefaced grin.

  ‘I did worry about you being down there, but I’d been on to the helplines before that. I contacted them when I had that stupid reaction to something you’d said with so much love and happiness, about a miracle chance of a pregnancy. I went to pieces and knew I needed help, so I went looking for it.’

  ‘And got it?’

  He smiled and nodded.

  ‘I’ll keep having counselling sessions with the person they’ve found for me—there’s a lot of ugly stuff to get through, but never doubt my love for you, my Ellie.’

  He’d drawn over to the side of the road and halted the car, sliding the gear stick into Park so he could take her in his arms again and kiss her, gently at first, then with increasing passion.

  ‘I should have known how you were feeling,’ she said quietly, but he shook his head against her neck.

  ‘I should have shared,’ he said. ‘Stupid macho posturing, that’s all it was, and it caused us both so much pain and wasted so many months of our lives together.’

  Ellie held him tightly, feeling the tension drain from his body as he talked.

  But how could she not have known?

  Whatever, it must never happen again, and now he’d spoken of the depths of his grief and despair when they’d lost the baby, she could understand him never wanting to go through something like that again.

  Could she understand and accept?

  In her head, she shrugged.

  Of course she’d accept. She loved Andy more than life itself and to know she’d caused him pain...

  ‘We’d better get home,’ he said, slowly disentangling himself from her arms and the bits of car that had been sticking into him. ‘You’ve no idea what a circus we’ve got there, but Jill and Harry have been wonderful. They not only fed me, but they’ve been sending boxes of sandwiches up to the mine for people waiting for news. Is this it now—everyone out?’

  Ellie smiled at him. Her body was still tight with emotions she’d have to sort out one day, but ordinary chat was just what she needed right now.

  ‘Everyone, and only two a bit the worse for wear. Logan’s dad, Kane Grant, is emotionally fragile. I’ve asked him to bring the kids and come to us for Christmas dinner.’

  Andy nodded, and Ellie continued, ‘And I thought I’d ask Jill and Harry to stay on for Christmas, rather than driving back to Sydney in all the Christmas holiday traffic. It’d be a two-day drive for them, so why not stay and we can all celebrate together?’

  Andy laughed.

  ‘I daren’t even begin to count how many that will give us. It will be Jill and Harry and Chelsea. But after Christmas Jill wants Chelsea home, and will home-school her if Chels decides she can’t face school.’

  ‘That’s not so bad, just add the four Grants and us—that’s nine, which is a great number for a real family kind of Christmas.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  EXPECTING CHAOS, ELLIE was pleasantly surprised to arrive home to a quiet house that welcomed her not only because it was home but because someone—Jill most probably—had arranged fresh flowers from the garden in every room in the house.

  And everyone was out.

  A note on the kitchen table explained that.

  Thought you might like the house to yourself, so we’ve all gone off to the Thai and then to a movie. Join us if you like, but I’m thinking you’ll be tired.

  I’m sorry my family seems to have taken over your life, but we can pack up and go to a motel if you would prefer.

  Love, Chelsea

  Bless the girl! Ellie thought, walking around the spotless house, smelling the faint fragrance of the flowers, and wondering why it was taking Andy so long to put the car away.

  She heard him coming before she saw him, huffing and puffing up the back steps.

  ‘What is Christmas without a tree?’ he gasped, plonking a decent-sized cypress pine down on the floor of the veranda.

  ‘Oh, Andy, it’s beautiful. I had no idea we could get a live tree out here.’

  ‘I’ll have you know that they grow out here, my girl,’ he said. ‘One of the porters at the hospital has a small stand of them on his property and he brought it in for me—well, for us!’

  ‘Let’s decorate it now!’ Ellie said, and Andy groaned.

  ‘They must have been feeding you down in that hole in the ground, but I’m starving and unless I was mistaken, Jill was going to leave a casserole in the fridge. We need only bung it in the microwave and perhaps have a glass of something while we wait for it to heat.’

  ‘But—’ she began, but Andy cut her off.

  ‘But nothing. Come and sit on the veranda with me while it heats. I’ve a very nice bottle of bubbly in the cooler out there.’

  They ate on the veranda, but although the food was delicious, Ellie couldn’t manage much, the stress of her underground days catching up with her.

  Andy cleaned up after their dinner,
while Ellie showered again, this time in her own bathroom, with her own soap and shampoo, then she slipped into bed, a little uncertain.

  Would Andy join her there?

  Were the problems of the past really behind them?

  She still felt bad that she hadn’t known how much he’d struggled with their baby’s death, and wondered if he’d blamed her for not knowing.

  But he did join her in bed, and as his hands slid over her body, each touch a silent word of love, she discovered she wasn’t as tired as she’d thought she was. They made love slowly, teasing each other with kisses, until they joined in a cataclysmic release that wiped away all the pain, and doubts, and remembered loneliness, reaffirming the love they’d always known existed but had somehow lost its way in sorrow, and taken time to find again.

  * * *

  Bright and early next morning, Ellie made her way to the kitchen to find all their guests in occupation, and a vast array of freshly baked rolls, tubs of yoghurt, and bowls of fresh fruit set out on the table.

  ‘You must think we’re terrible,’ Jill said. ‘Taking over your home while you’ve been helping the miners. Please take whatever you like for breakfast.’

  Ellie helped herself to yoghurt and cut mango, talking as she grabbed a couple of rolls to sustain her through the morning.

  ‘I’m just glad you’re here,’ she said. ‘You’ve kept Andy’s mind off what was happening in the mine, done a huge amount of shopping so we can all eat, and put flowers everywhere. Thank you so much. The roses are always so lovely in summer but I never seem to get time to do anything with them.’

  ‘You’ve such a lovely garden and the roses are so beautiful I couldn’t resist.’

  Ellie thanked her again, adding, ‘I really should get back to work. Heaven only knows how all my patients have been managing.’

  ‘If you’re going to be busy you don’t want all of us staying here,’ Jill said in a no-nonsense voice.

  ‘Of course we do. Andy told me he’d invited you for Christmas and I’m really looking forward to having a crowd. It would have been very lonely for just Andy and me when we’ve always had family Christmases.’

  And especially when she’d have kept thinking of the baby who wasn’t with them. She closed her eyes, remembering that terrible time when it had seemed as if their world had crashed to pieces around them, and how Andy hadn’t been able to share his grief.

  ‘But what we do need to do, Jill, is count heads and work out food. I’ve asked Kane Grant and his three kids.’

  ‘And I thought we might ask Zeke.’

  This from Chelsea, turning a little pink as she mentioned the young policeman’s name.

  ‘So add it all up,’ Ellie told her. ‘I make it ten so we need to see the butcher and ask if he can get us a large turkey and ham at this late stage. I’d prefer a turkey buffe—you know, the ones that are just the breasts—but we might need the whole thing to feed us.’

  ‘We’ll sort that out,’ Jill assured her, as Ellie checked her watch and knew she should have been gone ten minutes earlier.

  * * *

  Maureen greeted her with a big hug.

  ‘I don’t know how you did it,’ she said. ‘My husband’s a miner and I went down once, but never again. Talk about claustrophobia.’

  ‘But it’s as big as a cathedral down there where the lift ends,’ Ellie protested. ‘There were trucks down there.’

  She didn’t mention the shaft or the fact that it had given her many uneasy moments, or the cramped safety bunker they’d all crowded into.

  ‘It’s still under the ground and unnatural for anyone but a rabbit or wombat,’ Maureen said, before handing over messages and sending a list of patients through to Ellie’s computer.

  One of the messages was from Madeleine Courtney, thanking Ellie for the referral to the specialist, who had given her so much information she knew she’d be able to handle her lupus much better now.

  Ellie was thrilled, that was one problem solved, and she didn’t need to worry about Madeleine any more.

  The day began...

  * * *

  Andy walked around his small domain, assuring himself that there really wasn’t anything he could do here.

  With only two days to Christmas most patients had made sure they were well enough to go home, and even most of the elderly had gone to relatives.

  And if he went home he could decorate the tree and house and surprise Ellie.

  Ellie.

  How close had he come to losing her?

  He didn’t know the answer to that question, but just the thought that it might have happened made him feel ill.

  He told the hospital manager where he’d be and walked home, the morning sun just warming up for another very hot day.

  His tree wasn’t looking too perky, having been abandoned on the veranda floor all night, but once he’d managed to pack it, upright, into a bucket of wet dirt, it looked a lot better.

  The box of the family’s old decorations was still on the veranda, so he dragged it closer to the tree then realised that this had always been a job his sisters had done. How the hell did you decorate a Christmas tree?

  Can’t be that hard, he decided, and began to strew the contents of the box around it on the floor, seeking something like a length of tinsel or maybe fairy lights to wind around it for a start.

  There was nothing.

  Had his mother decided to throw away anything that looked too tattered?

  He could go up town and get some lights and tinsel, but he’d really wanted to do this as a surprise for Ellie when she finished her morning’s work.

  There were heaps of baubles.

  Should he do a colour theme—all red or all silver, or maybe red and gold, or silver and blue? All those colours were there and he had vague recollections that the tree had always looked beautiful but not always the same.

  He didn’t really have time to think it through, so he set to work, hanging baubles on the tree, cursing the ones that had broken tops and wouldn’t hang, moving up and down the tree so there was an even spread.

  Except he was fast running out of baubles and he had the back half of the tree still to do.

  Maybe Ellie wouldn’t notice that, because he really wanted to get some gold angels, which he’d just discovered in a smaller box, attached here and there, and he’d found the angel for the top in another box.

  With the fairy lights.

  And underneath them, another package, wrapped in faded brown paper. He opened it carefully and stared in disbelief at the contents—one red and white Santa suit, complete with cap and beard and glasses.

  He had to smile, remembering his father, when he’d been younger and slimmer, clambering into it each Christmas, and doing the rounds of the hospital and the older people’s annexe, giving out chocolates.

  Could he bring back the idea and make a Santa call at the hospital?

  Tree first, he reminded himself, and began to wind the lights around his tree.

  But trying to wind them around the tree and the baubles was far harder then he’d realised. With three sisters, tree decoration had always been their domain, and since he and Ellie had been together, because they’d usually spent Christmas at one of their families’ homes, Ellie had kept only a small tree at home. Sometimes just some twisted bits of willow, sprayed gold and decorated with odds and ends they’d picked up in their travels.

  So he was standing in a tangle of wire and bulbs and baubles when he heard Ellie coming up the steps.

  He stepped forward, hoping to head her off, and the tree followed him, just tilting at first, then crashing to the floor.

  ‘I was doing it as a surprise for you,’ he muttered, as she stood and laughed at the chaos.

  ‘Well, it’s certainly that!’ she said, trying to stifle the giggles that kept coming.

  But she came
towards him and knelt beside him, all tangled in wires, on the floor. She put her arms around him, lights, baubles, tree and all, and gave him a big hug.

  * * *

  ‘Just stay still so I can untangle you,’ she said, when she was done with her hugs and kisses. ‘It was a lovely idea and I’m sure we can fix it up, but first let’s get the lights sorted.’

  She sat beside him, lifting the loops of wire over his head.

  ‘Have you tried the lights? Tightened all the little bulbs? Found any dead ones?’

  He looked blankly at her.

  ‘You do that first,’ she said, ‘before you put them on the tree because, especially on older strings of light, if you’ve got one dead or loose bulb the whole lot doesn’t work.’

  Andy shook his head, then smiled and kissed her.

  ‘Isn’t it nice to be us again?’

  And the simple question struck deep into her heart, forcing a lump too big to swallow into her throat, so all she could do by way of agreement was kiss him back.

  Hold him and kiss him, and let all her love flow into him, while she felt his flow into her.

  ‘Well, that must have been some kiss to have brought the whole tree down.’

  The voice, coming so unexpectedly, had them moving hurriedly apart, Ellie to frown in confusion at Chelsea, who’d appeared as if from nowhere.

  But Andy handled it better.

  ‘Don’t be cheeky, young lady,’ he said with mock severity, ‘or I’ll make you clean up the mess.’

  Chelsea laughed and came forward to begin the job, carefully rescuing any unbroken baubles and brushing dirt off them, setting them on the table until they could get the tree upright again.

  Ellie left them to it. She wanted to have a quick snack then go back to work, making up missed appointments, so she could be home in time to have dinner with her visitors for the first time.