LITMIR.BIZ

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there was something he could do to help Neve.

      She’d given him no quarter when he had been out in the snow, straining to see the lights from the car. She hadn’t cajoled him on or spoken soft words of encouragement, she’d bullied him forward, her voice stronger and more compelling than the storm. He couldn’t help smiling to himself when he wondered whether she’d consider carrying out some of those threats she’d made.

      There was a knock on the door and Nancy’s voice sounded. ‘Neve wants to know whether you’re okay in there. I’m making a hot drink.’

      The rejuvenating feeling that Neve hadn’t forgotten about him drove Joe to his feet. ‘Thanks, Nancy. Just coming.’

      As he approached the sitting room he heard Michael’s voice, raised in panicky desperation, and Neve’s quieter tones.

      ‘I know the law. I can and will prosecute you for assault if you lay one finger on me.’ Michael was pointing to Charlie, insisting that Neve return to his son. Joe’s respect for the man grew.

      ‘Neve, why don’t you go to Charlie and I’ll help Michael with his boots?’

      She turned at the sound of Joe’s voice, her gaze searching his face. He knew what she was looking for. Some sign that he was up to the job he’d just appropriated for himself. Beckoning him over, she spoke quietly to him.

      ‘You must be very careful. If he has frostbite you can damage his toes very easily. Don’t rub his feet to warm them…’

      Joe nodded. ‘I’ve been trained in dealing with cold-weather injuries. I’ve seen frostbite before.’ And somehow he just couldn’t let go, even though he knew he should. The exhilaration when he knew he’d found Michael and Charlie, the rush of achievement when he’d carried Charlie into the house were still too recent to let him back away now.

      She thought for a moment then made her decision. ‘Okay. But talk to me, Joe. Tell me everything you see, and let me make the decisions on treatment.’

      ‘Understood. You’re the boss.’

      He summoned up a relaxed smile and moved over towards Michael. ‘Guess you drew the short straw, mate. Let me help you.’

      Michael nodded, leaning towards him. ‘I’m sorry…’

      ‘You don’t need to apologise.’ Joe almost envied Michael. The kind of love that had driven him on through miles of freezing terrain, and then to reject Neve’s offer of help so she could tend to Charlie, was something special. Something that Joe had once wanted for himself, but had given up on.

      Michael nodded. ‘Dr Harrison…’

      ‘Neve.’ She turned to face Michael. ‘My name’s Neve.’

      Michael nodded. ‘Neve… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have shouted at you…’

      ‘Don’t be. Charlie’s a lucky kid to have a father who cares so much about him.’

      The tenderness in her eyes would have made a stone weep. Suddenly there didn’t seem as if there was enough air in the room for the four of them, and Joe instinctively held his breath.

      ‘We’re both lucky that you and Joe were there when we needed you.’ Michael spoke quietly.

      She gave Michael a smile.

      Joe thought the responsibilities that she shouldered for her patients, the ones that Michael shouldered as a parent, were the kind of privilege that he had shown himself to be unworthy of. But maybe, just for this afternoon, he could help them both.

      ‘Let’s get your boots off now, eh?’ Michael didn’t argue and Joe reached for the laces, untying them and easing his boots open as far as they would go before he slipped them off. Then his socks. Neve nodded in approval when he asked her to double-check Michael’s toes, and Joe tucked a warm blanket around his feet, turning his attention to Michael’s hands.

      ‘The last two fingers on his left hand are swollen and red. They feel cold and hard to the touch. No blisters.’ He knew this was frostbite, but still he kept his word, relaying everything he saw to Neve without any diagnosis.

      ‘Okay.’ Neve turned to look, giving him a quick nod. ‘I don’t want to attempt rewarming unless we know that we can complete it. I’ll give Maisie a call, see what’s happening with Search and Rescue.’

      ‘I should have stayed with the car.’ Michael was shaking his head, his eyes still fixed on Charlie, as Neve pulled her phone out of her pocket.

      ‘Hindsight’s always twenty-twenty.’ Joe didn’t have the heart to tell Michael that he was right.

      ‘This is all my fault…’

      ‘Hey. Enough of that. You carried Charlie for miles to keep him dry. Never underestimate how important that was.’

      ‘If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place.’

      ‘I heard that your car ran off the road.’ Neve had finished her call and put her phone down on the floor beside Charlie’s makeshift bed.

      ‘Yes, we skidded on a patch of ice and ended up in the ditch.’ Michael shook his head. ‘The battery on my mobile was flat, we’ve got no power at home, and we stayed in the car for a while. No one came by and I thought that I could walk to the next village, but I got lost. So stupid…’

      ‘You were pretty shaken up by the accident?’ Her question seemed casual, but Joe was beginning to divine where she was headed with this.

      ‘Yeah. I couldn’t think straight…’ Michael began to realise where this was going too. ‘It’s no excuse.’

      ‘You probably couldn’t think straight because you were in mild shock. A car accident will do that.’ Joe added his own voice to reinforce Neve’s point. ‘You acted on instinct, and that instinct was all about getting Charlie to safety.’

      Michael fell silent. If he couldn’t bring himself to agree, at least he was thinking about it. Joe caught Neve’s eye and she shot him a smile.

      ‘What did Maisie say?’

      ‘Search and Rescue are sending a couple of vehicles. One’s fitted out as an ambulance and they’ll be able to take Michael and Charlie straight to the hospital.’ She shrugged. ‘Apparently the helicopter’s a no-go.’

      ‘Yeah, they can’t land in this visibility.’

      She gave him a long look. Joe’s mask had slipped again, this time unintentionally.

      ‘That’s good to know.’ Her tone left him in no doubt that there would be questions later. ‘So we’ll commence rewarming Michael’s fingers. We’ll need a bowl of warm water…’

      ‘Thirty-seven to thirty-nine degrees centigrade. For thirty minutes.’ He was teasing her now, showing off. Or maybe just trying to reassure her that he knew what he was doing and that she’d been right to trust him. ‘Aspirin?’

      ‘Yes, there’s a packet in my bag.’ She looked up at him, her wry grin taunting Joe. ‘I’m sure you haven’t forgotten the list of contra-indications…’

      By the time the rescue team arrived, Charlie was awake and alert, seemingly none the worse for his experience. Michael had seemed to gain in strength as soon as he’d seen that his son was doing well, and under Neve’s watchful eye both of them had managed to drink some soup.

      ‘They’ll be all right?’ Nancy blinked back the tears when she planted a kiss on Charlie’s forehead, before the little boy was bundled up in blankets, ready for his trip to the hospital.

      ‘I’ll call in the morning and make sure. They’re safe now.’ Neve took her hand and squeezed it. So much had happened this afternoon. Everyone had played their part in keeping little Charlie safe.

      ‘I guess we should be on our way too…’ Joe was reaching

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