Heart Surgeon in Portugal (24 page)

‘Lilian, I hope you won’t mind my asking this, but why would doctors continue to keep a patient on a ventilator when nothing short of a miracle could bring her back? Did Rafe hope he could perfect an advanced surgical technique and reverse the coma? Were the religious community praying for this miracle?’

Lilian whipped off her dark glasses and Ellie could plainly see the sorrow in the other woman’s eyes - Lilian, a mother herself, with children much the same age as Teresa’s. ‘Yes, of course, they pray for miracles; they pray for all their patients, and for us as well.’

This made Ellie feel very humble. But Lilian had not finished. ‘If Flora and Fr Teo had been able to persuade the family to rally round Teresa, to bring the children to see her, to play her favourite music, to do everything possible to bring her out of the coma… Doctors would never deny that miracles can and do happen. Sadly, the family refused to visit her – and time has not changed their minds.’

‘Which makes Ricardo all the more culpable,’ said Ellie quietly, speaking her thoughts aloud.

‘You know him?’ asked Lilian sharply.

Ellie had spoken her thoughts out loud but was able to deflect the question by remarking that he had been with his mother at the bungalow on a couple of occasions.

‘What did you make of him?’

‘The honest answer is that he was kind and charming - and deeply concerned about his mother.’

Interesting.
Lilian was silent. Then changed the subject. ‘You’ve met Fr Teo?’

‘The chaplain, yes, a dear old man – I do hope he’s been in to cheer up Vivienne. I’ll ask her tomorrow morning when I call in to say goodbye to everyone.’

‘You know he and Kevin are great pals. Kev claims he’s helping Fr Teo improve his English!’

‘Good grief!’

‘I know!’

After they had said their farewells and Lilian had driven off, it occurred to Ellie that she had better check that upstairs bedroom - where she now slept soundly knowing her knight in shining armour was on the other side of the wall.

And there it was, at the back of the drawer where she had so angily thrust it – the yellow Selfridges bag and its forgotten contents. The present Rafe had given her; the only present Rafe would
ever
give her, so ungratefully received…

Ellie sat down on her bed and opened the gold packaging. ‘Après L’Ondée’ she read out loud, holding up to the light a bottle filled with precious golden liquid. She unscrewed the cap and dabbed at her wrists. ‘After the Rain,’ she sighed. It smelled like … entering a dream. It was heartbreaking. She burst into tears …

Rafe left the candlelit chapel, emerging into brilliant sunshine, thankful to have seen Teresa now at peace. This patient was one he would never forget; her tragic situation had weighed so heavily on all of her carers.

He flexed his wide and muscular shoulders and the tension eased.

His summer duties were almost over. But there was a new patient in Room Ten and an assessment to carry out before leaving for the afternoon picnic. He knew Ellie wasn’t particularly keen; he knew her well enough to see through her pretence. But one way or another, for good or for bad, this picnic was one neither of them would ever forget…

The weather was perfect, the sunshine mellower than of late, the sky a cloudless blue, not a drop of rain in sight. I didn’t want this picnic, Ellie reminded herself, and if Rafe wants to cancel then I entirely understand, of course I do.

He arrived back at the Casa mid-afternoon and the first thing he saw was the box file waiting for him on the big wooden hall chest. The sensible thing would be to get stuck into that lot right now - but there was a drift of something on the still cool air of the house that had him on the alert. Something that made his nostrils quiver and his guarded heart skip a beat.

Ellie was there, waiting for him …

‘Ellie – hi! Everything ready?’

She nodded, examining his face for some sign that would betray his innermost feelings, but oddly he had visibly brightened when he caught sight of her. She waited for him to speak of Teresa and inform her flatly that he was no longer in the mood. Or, that he must work in the study now he had Jorge’s material to hand.

Rafe said none of this, but stared penetratingly at the waiting girl as if committing her troubled face to memory.

Ellie quivered under his scrutiny. ‘Lilian’s been,’ she said huskily, desperate to distract him. Pointing to the box file.

‘So I see.’

‘She said it’s urgent!’

He was still watching her and ignoring the box … was he making up his mind about something? ‘Put it in the study for me, would you?’ It was a command but he said it nicely and it gave her a chance to escape those mesmerising eyes.

‘Of course.’

She followed him to the kitchen where he slung his jacket on the back of a chair and swallowed down a large glass of water. He had rolled his sleeves up and his arms were so brown and strong that Ellie felt her throat go dry, remembering how closely she had been held in them, that night of …
no don’t go there, Ellie Robey!

‘Lilian stayed for a while,’ she said quietly. ‘She told me about this morning – about Teresa.’

Rafe drank another glass of water. Then said, ‘Ah yes.’

‘I’m so sorry, Rafe.’ Her eyes were fixed on him, her expression so loving that Rafe felt his throat constrict and the almost overwhelming urge to feel her comforting arms about him. ‘I realise this changes things. You won’t want us to go out this afternoon.’

He came over to her and putting a hand beneath her chin tipped her face up so that he could look into her eyes. ‘It’s all right, Ellie,’ he said gently. ‘Teresa was ready to go. To prolong things would have been cruel.’

Those hazel eyes fixed upon his with utmost trust and love and with a flash of clarity Rafe saw all that was missing from his life.

He must set the scene, get his timing right.

What’s more, she smelled wonderful and that was the green light he had been waiting for… ‘I’ll have a quick shower,’ he said briskly, ‘then we’ll be off.’

He came bounding down the big staircase wearing a sun-faded black tee shirt and white shorts that had seen better days.

From the top of his cropped head to the toes of his old trainers the sight of him made Ellie’s heart fit to burst with love. She vowed to make the most of their last afternoon together; to live in the moment and relish every second of being alone with Rafe Harland. Let tomorrow take care of itself …‘Two minutes!’ she pleaded and ran to her room where she flung off the cargoes and the khaki-drab tee shirt and pulled frayed denim shorts from the discard heap on the floor and a low-cut strappy pink top out of her case.

‘You look nice,’ was his only comment, but that was enough to flood her with happiness.

With the food stowed away in the boot of the Renault they set off in a silence heavy with sexual tension. Ellie’s breathing was shallow and rapid. Surreptitiously she tested her juddering pulse and tried to make herself breathe deeply from the diaphragm. At the last moment she had sprayed another cloud of Après L’Ondée into the air and walked through it so that her whole body smelled of his perfume. She wanted him to notice, but he made no comment. This picnic was going to be memorable … but for what? ‘Where are we going?’ she asked, her voice sounding ragged.

‘Wait and see.’ Rafe was very calm; very sure of himself now. He had no intention of returning to London with their relationship unresolved. He would lay his heart bare. And if Ellie trampled all over it, so be it.

They drove on till they came to a sleepy village, deserted for the siesta, one sandy mongrel flopped in a patch of shade, tongue out, panting heavily. ‘Here’s where we leave the car. That’s where we’re going.’ He pointed to a meandering path leading upwards and out of sight through gorse and cistus and prickly pear.

‘What about the food?’

‘Save that for later.’

‘Is it far? I’ve only got flipflops.’

‘You’ll have to manage.’

‘You said,’ complained Ellie, hiding a grin, ‘a picnic, not a hike.’ Here they were, bickering like the old times. She felt excited and very far from weepy and that was a
huge
plus.

‘We’re not tackling the Himalayas.’

Rafe glanced back over his shoulder and she pouted at him, flirtatiously.

On he strode in his crumpled shorts and faded tee-shirt, bare feet thrust into a grubby pair of training shoes. Those magnificent legs, dense with muscle, leading the way at a smart pace up a meandering path rising gently through vistas of wild lavender and cistus, greeny hummocks of sweet-smelling herbs, the bright orange soil punctuated by grey boulders and tiny gnarled trees straight out of a fairy-tale.

Ellie followed in his footsteps, filled with wonder.
It was absolutely beautiful and perfect and idyllic and why Rafe hadn’t brought her here before?

They reached a spectacularly lovely spot where Rafe now sat down and patted the ground beside him. ‘That might not be dry,’ said Ellie doubtfully, ‘after all that rain.’ For answer Rafe lay back and stretched out, arms folded behind his head and eyes shut as if he were going to sleep. She lowered herself and sat there watching him, knowing that whatever he claimed, deep down he must be weary and melancholic.

Ellie rested her chin on her bare knees and hugged her ankles. ‘Rafe?’

‘What.’ He opened one eye and looked up at her.

Ellie sat beside him feeling uncomfortable, not because the ground was so hard – which it was – but because she wanted him to express some kind of feeling so that she could try to comfort him. ‘Do you … do you want to talk about it?’

‘No I don’t. Lie down.’

‘Well I –’

‘Lie down,’ he commanded. He sat up and stripped off his tee-shirt spreading it behind her, ‘Lie down, Nurse Robey. Doctor’s orders. Do as you’re told.’

‘I never,’ said Ellie primly, excitement surging through every pore of her being, ‘as a matter of principle – do as I am told.’ She looked down into his smiling face, her eyes twinkling mischievously, prolonging the deliciousness of disobedience. ‘Try asking me nicely.’

Rafe just grinned and pulled her backwards. ‘Lie down, darling Ellie. As a matter of principle I never ask a woman for permission to kiss her. I just go right ahead.’

She sank blissfully into the warmth of his shirt and half-naked he loomed over her, blotting out the sun. Ellie was dizzy with longing for him, her slender arms reaching for him, knowing that this time … this time …

‘You’re wearing my scent,’ his deep voice was murmuring in her ear, his mouth nuzzling her neck. ‘I think you’re wearing it all over - and I intend to find out!’

If she was going to have a heart attack, this might be the best place to do it, pinioned by the gorgeous body of the most wonderful man in the world…

‘Someone might come!’ gasped Ellie, surfacing for breath a while later and scrambling for her knickers. ‘We’ll get arrested. Think of the headlines.’

“London surgeon finds love of his life in Portugal,” quoted her lover.

Ellie stroked his stubbly head and nibbled his ear, her lips trailing down his chest. “London surgeon admitted to Cardiac Centre with unmentionable sunburn. Nuns state that they have seen it all before and are beyond embarrassment.”

‘I’m hungry!’ she realised suddenly. ‘I didn’t have any lunch – well, apart from a custard tart with Lilian. My stomach’s rumbling.’

‘Come on then,’ he said, getting to his feet and pulling her up into the circle of his arms. ‘Let’s eat that picnic and then go skinny dipping back at the Casa. I’ve been wanting to get you out of those gratuitous bikinis for weeks.’

Ellie gathered up their clothes and gave them a good shake. ‘We’re covered in dust. What do we look like!’

Rafe beamed at her. ‘Like two people truly madly deeply and passionately in love. Let’s go.
Andiamo!
’

‘Don’t you think,’ murmured her dreamy voice in between kisses, ‘the Casa de la Paz is the most romantic place in the whole wide world.’

They were sharing a single sunbed, Ellie lying on top of him, her wet hair twined around his neck, lashing him to her.

‘Shall I buy it for you, sweetheart? Would you like that?’

Ellie almost fell off the sunbed but he swiftly grasped her and held her safe. ‘Would I …? Would I
like
it? Oh Rafe, don’t tease me!’

‘Why not? I can afford it. A wedding present to my kind, funny, intelligent, incomparably beautiful wife. And think what fun it will be for all our kids.’

Ellie snuggled up to him. ‘Oh darling, be serious!’

He kissed the pulse at the base of her throat. She smelled delicious and he would never have enough of her. ‘I’m perfectly serious. I’ll see if I can get a deal done before I meet your parents. Are you going to tell them tonight?’

‘Shall I? Oh Rafe.’ Ellie began to giggle and with one swift movement Rafe swung her over and reversed their positions.

‘Eleanor Robey!’ he growled, pinioning her head with his hands. ‘Just what is so funny?’

She couldn’t, no she really couldn’t say that Jon had warned her not to fall for him … ‘They’ll be in total shock. I always said I’d never
ever
marry a doctor! Anyway, I’m supposed to be a career nurse.’

As if she were delicate as an egg shell his gentle fingers tucked a strand of fine hair behind her left ear. ‘So carry on with your career. I’m certainly not going to try and stop you. Do your post-graduate training – we don’t need to start a family right away …’ His arm tightened round her and he gave her a squeeze that made her gasp. ‘The Casa sleeps eight and the children will have such fun in this pool. So one day, sweetest Ellie, I want babies coming along like buses, one after the other. At least four of them.’

‘And I shall be delighted to oblige,
Mr Big!
’ she smiled dizzily into his loving eyes.

‘Mr
what
?!’

‘It’s what I called you on the plane. I hadn’t a clue who you were but you were so imposing and arrogant and angry. Mr Big, I called you. We were cross with each other. Remember?’

‘Only too well,’ said her lover wryly. In the vivid sky an aircraft was tracing a vapour trail directly above their heads, the far-off engine noise merging with the hum of the bees in the lavender. They looked up at the tiny plane, then at each other and laughed.