Margaret McDonagh – Their Christmas Vows (страница 4)

As the helicopter landed, Callie unstrapped herself and grabbed her pack, feeling a rush of adrenalin spill through her veins as she faced her very first call. Too bad it had to be in the company of Frazer McInnes, she groused to herself, following close on his heels as he ran towards the tangled wreckage. Her new boots, protected with steel toecaps and ankle supports, still felt cumbersome, while the full pack she carried was heavy, but she kept up as they were directed by a waiting policeman towards the worst of the injured. The other, less serious casualties, were already being assessed and taken to hospital by road.

‘Hello, Rory, what do we have?’ Frazer enquired as they came to a halt beside the mangled remains of a car.

‘Hi, Doc,’ the paramedic on scene greeted him, giving basic details of the patient and her condition, while his partner, Tim, remained in the car to monitor her as the firefighters worked. ‘Her name is Barbara Allen, fifty-one years old. We have a neck collar on her as a precaution and she’s receiving oxygen. She’s conscious, but having difficulty talking and breathing, and she’s complaining of chest pains. No head injury, and as far as we can tell her legs are clear. The problem was the buckling, and the way the steering column caved in to her chest and abdomen.’

Fearing internal injuries, Callie set out their packs and readied herself, waiting for their casualty to be freed. Another few moments and the firefighters had gently and skilfully removed the woman from her car, a backboard in place as a precaution. Frazer knelt opposite her, speaking reassuringly as he carried out his preliminary assessment.

‘Can you hear me, Barbara? My name’s Frazer, I’m a doctor, and this is Callie, a paramedic. I know you are scared, and in pain, but we’re going to do all we can to make you more comfortable and get you off to hospital,’ he told her, his voice calm, instilling confidence. Callie held Barbara’s hand, feeling the slight squeeze of her fingers as Frazer continued. ‘Are you hurting anywhere else but your chest, Barbara? Any pain in your tummy?’

‘No.’ The response was weak, and plainly the woman was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe.

Callie smiled at Rory as the other paramedic took over monitoring the oxygen flow and saturation, replacing the mask over Barbara’s face, leaving Callie free to carry out her own observations and do what needed to be done.

‘Airway is clear, saturation ninety-two per cent on oxygen, respirations twenty-one, pulse one-twenty, blood pressure one-ten over seventy-five, pupils even and reactive to light,’ she informed Frazer when he had finished listening to the patient’s chest.

‘Unequal air entry,’ he reported with a frown. ‘Her left lung sounds clear, but she has broken ribs on the right and her right lung is hyper-resonant, no breath sounds.’

‘Pneumothorax?’

Frazer nodded, sparing her a glance from those rich dark eyes—one that might have been brief but still had the effect of a physical touch, sending a prickle of unwanted awareness along her spine.

‘Let’s get to work.’

Callie was thankful to snap herself out of her moment of madness and follow Frazer’s decree.

Impressed by Callie’s quiet efficiency, Frazer noted that she had already inserted one large-bore cannula and was running the colloid infusion he had requested before obtaining a second IV access. He gave the order for analgesia, confirming the correct dosage before it was administered. While he prepared to decompress the pneumothorax, giving local anaesthetic to ease the patient’s distress, Callie spoke quietly to Barbara, reassuring her.

When he was ready to proceed, Callie had a sixteen-gauge cannula waiting for him, and he felt for the intercostal space between the second and third ribs in the mid-clavicular line before inserting it, satisfied when he heard the hiss of gas as he withdrew the needle. Tape was prepared for him without the need to ask, along with all he required to insert a chest drain on the affected side. He made the incision above the sixth rib and spread the tissues down to the pleural space. After puncturing the pleura with artery forceps, he felt with a gloved finger to make sure the passage was clear before inserting the drain, connecting it to the seal and securing it in place. Taking his stethoscope, he listened again to his patient’s chest and nodded.

‘OK, I’m done. Everything set?’ At Callie’s confirmation, and after another run-down of Barbara’s obs, they began packing up and readied their patient for transfer. ‘Let’s get you off to hospital, Barbara.’

Willing hands aided them as they hurried the stretcher back to the helicopter, where Craig was waiting, and Frazer thanked paramedics Rory and Tim for their valuable help. Once on board, he was impressed with the way Callie held Barbara’s hand, her gaze alert as she constantly checked the monitors for any change in observation readings or condition, while still finding time to spare some reassuring words.

Thankfully it was a short flight to Strathlochan Hospital, and within minutes they were wheeling the stretcher into A and E to be met by Will Brown, one of the duty doctors, who whisked the injured woman straight into Resus, where the waiting team set to work.

Conscious of Callie’s presence beside him, the faint hint of her sexy coconut scent teasing him, he stepped away, disturbed by his awareness. Forcing himself to concentrate, Frazer gave full details of the treatment given and the state of Barbara’s condition at the scene of the accident and on the journey.

‘Good job, Callie.’ He smiled at her as they wheeled their stretcher back to the helicopter, keeping his praise understated as he sensed her unease now the emergency situation was over. ‘Thank you—you did well out there.’

A brief nod was her only response before she climbed aboard and strapped herself back in. Frazer sighed. He had been pleasantly surprised at finding Callie calm, knowledgeable and efficient, not to mention caring of their patient. She might look as if a gust of wind would knock her over, but she had shown surprising physical strength, and mentally she appeared as tough as nails. And not remotely ready to forgive him. Clearly things were not going to run smoothly with the rest of their working relationship, and he would have a job on his hands to mend fences and make up for their unfortunate start.

They had hardly arrived back at base, taking time to restock the emergency packs, check the drugs and fill in the required paperwork, before they were called out again. It set the pattern for the rest of the day. They had a rushed lunch on the run, and there wasn’t even time for their chat with Archie Stewart.

The freezing weather had brought with it an upsurge in road traffic collisions, as well as other incidents, and on top of these there was a call-out to a woman suffering a heart attack, and to a teenager at an outlying farm whose GP, Conor Anderson, had diagnosed a burst appendix and who needed to get to hospital as swiftly as possible for an urgent operation.

Now they were on their way back to Strathlochan after their last job of the day: transferring a patient with a nasty head injury to the neurological unit in Glasgow. His condition had given cause for concern on the flight, and Frazer had been relieved to have Callie’s expert help before they handed the patient over to the specialist team who would care for him.

Frazer glanced across at Callie, her eyes closed as she relaxed on the flight home. Throughout an inordinately busy day he had kept a surreptitious eye on his new partner, finding himself more and more intrigued by all her contradictions as time went on. He had discovered that Callie was most comfortable when she was occupied in her role as paramedic. Her unease was only apparent in personal situations. While she projected most of the chill onto him, she was reserved with everyone outside a work setting, and unwilling and awkward when asked questions about herself. Yet she was warm and friendly to patients and any colleagues working with her. Once the incident was over she closed in on herself again. Interesting. He sensed there was much beneath the surface that Callie was hiding from the world.

Given their disastrous start, Frazer had expected working with Callie to be torturous. But nothing proved further from the truth. He’d rarely had to ask for anything. Callie was an amazingly competent paramedic and seemingly unflappable. He was stunned at how quickly she seemed to anticipate everything he needed, from equipment to medications. It was as if she was inside his head, interpreting his thoughts before he’d even registered them. Whatever difficulties they had getting along on a personal level, they’d made a uniquely special team on the job—something that usually took weeks or months to build. He’d never worked with anyone so attuned to him … and certainly not in the space of a day. Which was a bit scary, too.

He was thinking far, far too much about Callie Grogan.

It was dark by the time they came to land at the base in Strathlochan, and the temperature was dropping even further, signalling another icy night to come. While Craig did his own checks of the aircraft, and talked to the technicians who would work on it overnight, Frazer accompanied Callie to the supply room, restocking the packs and checking the drugs, making sure all was in order for the crew who would be taking over from them.