Chapter 4

4

The cold wind against Bess's face as she stood on the helipad at the hospital was a good reminder that winter was on its way. She did the handover to the hospital staff of a male patient in his nineties who'd fallen down some steps at the local sports centre and hit his head. Lucky for them, the sports centre had an enormous rugby pitch and so landing Hilda had been easy for Maya, they'd got to the patient quickly and were here at the trauma centre eight minutes after taking off from the accident location.

‘All clear and available,' Bess called through to the HEMS desk once she was back on board the aircraft and Hilda lifted into the air. At least it was a fine day without much cloud, and as they came in over the Whistlestop River, the sun reflected off its surface.

Bess loved her job, had a real passion for it. She'd been approaching the end of her school years and, after a work experience stint with the ambulance service, made her decision. She wanted to work in emergency care. She read up on different courses offered around the country and it was paramedic science that caught her eye. She'd done her degree, qualified as a paramedic, worked the job for a while and then, when she was hungry for more, she'd studied to become a critical care paramedic and never looked back.

‘Always stunning,' Maya beamed as she flew over the river and took the crew back to base. ‘We're going to try stand-up paddle boarding in the summer, aren't we, Noah?'

‘Affirmative,' he called into his headset from the rear of the aircraft.

‘I'll bet that's peaceful,' said Bess as they passed above the town. ‘Well, unless you fall in, of course.'

Back at the base, as the whir of the blades came to a stop, Bess resisted the urge to look at her phone. She knew there'd be at least a few texts from her mum. Her mum was desperate to talk about Malcolm; Bess would rather put it off as long as possible.

The night of the accident, Bess had gone back to base with the crew but as soon as they got there, Kate from the blue team subbed for her so she could go to the hospital to be with her mother.

It was always weird going into a hospital not in a work capacity but as a relative, even when her relative had only been taken in as a precaution.

Bess found her mum sitting in one of the beds, eating a sandwich. Relief. She really was all right.

‘How are you doing?' Bess hugged her and then sat on the nearby chair while she finished her food.

‘I don't really want this but the nurses said I need to eat.'

‘They're right, you do.'

Bess turned as one of the nurses came over.

The nurse took in her uniform. ‘Ah, you're with the air ambulance; your mother has been telling us all about her wonderful daughter, the lifesaving work you do. '

Bess smiled. ‘Right back at you – we're all one big team.'

‘That we are,' the nurse said, then she was right down to business. ‘I've been in contact with the trauma centre.' Because of his injuries, Malcolm would have been taken elsewhere for the specialist care. ‘This is the number should you wish to call them yourself but Malcolm is doing fine – concussion, bruising, a few cuts from glass but other than that, he is one very lucky man.' She passed Fiona a piece of paper with a number on it.

Fiona put a hand against her chest. ‘Oh, thank goodness. Can I go to see him?'

The nurse opened her mouth but Bess took it from there.

‘Mum, not tonight. It's really late; I need to get you home.'

‘She's right,' the nurse agreed and Bess appreciated the back-up because when her mum set her mind on something, it was difficult to get her to change course. Bess should know; she was the same way. ‘I've got your discharge letter ready; you're good to go. You get yourself home, love, and you can go and see Malcolm in the morning.'

Or maybe a couple of days, thought Bess.

But when the nurse left, Fiona was already taking her phone from her bag.

‘Mum, if he has concussion, he'll be sleeping.'

‘He will?'

‘He'll sleep a lot, it's the body's way of recovering, so leave it for now; let's get you sorted.'

It was only when they were in the car and driving away that Fiona burst into tears.

Bess pulled over. She hadn't even got out of the hospital car park. She put an arm around her mum's shoulders, held her for a moment and then found a tissue from the container in the glovebox.

Fiona took the tissue. ‘I'm sorry, love.' She made that sound where you are trying your best not to cry but can't quite manage it.

‘No need to apologise.'

‘Bess, it was terrifying. One minute, Malcolm and I were laughing at something or other, I can't remember what now, and the next, a great big bang sent us hurtling to the side of the road. I thought we were going to hit the stone wall but we stopped just short of it.' Her voice wobbled. ‘And that sound, the sound of metal being torn apart as they got Malcolm out. I don't think I'll ever forget it.'

‘It's awful, I know,' said Bess. But it was the best way to get a person out quickly and without causing any more injury.

‘You were all so calm at the scene.' She looked at her daughter. ‘I mean, you told me what you do from day to day at work, but seeing it, like that, in reality…'

‘You're safe now. And it sounds as though Malcolm is on the mend. You can try speaking to him tomorrow.' Whoever he was, she couldn't think about that now, or the way she might feel about her mother seeing another man. She was adept at doing this – pushing away stuff that could wait when a situation was urgent; she did it at work all the time. You couldn't bring too many personal worries with you or you'd never get the job done.

Fiona nodded but then calm gave way to fresh emotion. ‘We could've been killed. Malcolm could've died.'

‘You're both going to be fine.' Bess hated seeing her mum this way, reliving it all over again, not only the incident but the terror, the pain, that came with it.

‘Did you see the size of the dent in his car? Oh, what a stupid question; you were right there, your fireman friend Gio helped to get him out.'

Her fireman friend ? She kind of liked the terminology and she supposed that's what he was. Sometimes, when he looked at her, she wondered what it might be like if things ever moved beyond friendship but she couldn't let her mind, or anything else, go there.

They drove home in relative silence, both exhausted from the events of that evening. Bess stayed in her mother's spare room so she'd be there just in case. She wanted to feel the closeness of home too, the almost letting go of being a grown-up by stepping into her childhood bedroom, if only for a while.

In the morning, Fiona woke Bess to tell her she was getting a taxi to the trauma centre to see Malcolm. And she wouldn't have it that Bess could take her.

‘We'll talk soon, Bess,' her mother said as she hovered at her bedroom door. She had on her favourite floral blouse and a waft of Anais Anais perfume came Bess's way. She was going to see her boyfriend and Bess wasn't really a part of that. And as soon as the taxi's horn alerted them to its presence outside, her mum was gone.

Now, back at the airbase, once Maya had refuelled the aircraft at the bowser, Bess climbed into the rear of the helicopter, which was separated by a sheet of heavy-duty plastic from the front. The inside of the air ambulance had the litter for patients, breathing apparatus, defibrillators, monitors, and blood transfusion equipment.

Bess retrieved the blood and plasma bags which they brought with them each time they went out on a job. They would need replenishing and the drugs they'd taken to the scene would need to be put away inside the airbase because legally, they couldn't leave those onboard. As she climbed out, she spotted Dorothy. Dorothy was one of the Whistlestop River Freewheelers, a team of fully trained volunteers who provided an around-the-clock, seven-days-a-week service transporting blood, donor breast milk, medications and other medical supplies to the air ambulance as well as hospitals, surgeries and patients themselves. The work they did was vital and words could not express how much this team of people were key to the operations here at the Whistlestop River Air Ambulance.

‘You're right on time.' Bess smiled at Dorothy as they both headed inside the airbase. Bess slotted her helmet onto the shelf alongside the others, ready to grab when they were called out on another job.

‘I have my uses.'

Bess put an arm around the woman's shoulders. ‘You're always appreciated.'

‘So is cake… Word has it Nadia has been making her scones again.'

‘Don't worry, I'll sort you out once I've stored everything away.'

Dorothy gave Bess a fresh supply of blood and plasma in a special cool box fitted with a data logger that indicated if the temperature rose beyond safe limits. Sometimes, they kept blood on board the aircraft but not if it was too hot or too cold, and today, the outside temperature was questionable. Safer to keep it in here. And then any blood unused after twenty-four hours would be returned to the blood donation system to be used elsewhere. It was too valuable to waste.

Once everything was sorted, Bess and Dorothy headed for the kitchen and found Nadia as their welcoming committee.

‘I thought I heard voices.' Nadia beamed. ‘Dorothy, before you head off, you need a coffee and one of my freshly baked scones with jam and cream.' She didn't wait for an answer, simply loaded a scone onto a plate and handed it to Dorothy.

‘Don't tell my doctor,' Dorothy whispered to Bess. ‘I'm supposed to be on a diet.'

‘A diet? Whatever for? '

‘Oh, don't worry, I don't want to lose weight, but the doctor says I need to watch my sugar levels.'

‘Watch them tomorrow,' said Bess.

Bess was good at convincing people to live a little, take a risk, whether it was with their waistlines, their love lives or money. She was good at doing the latter herself; the evidence of that was piling up back at home.

Nadia had Dorothy entertained and after Bess had enjoyed a scone herself, she went into the office.

Noah and Maya were in there dealing with paperwork.

‘Eva loves the toy, Bess. Thank you again,' Noah said, looking up at her.

Noah had finally thrown Eva a very belated first birthday party, even though she was now getting on for seventeen months. His life and hers had been derailed somewhat as he settled into his role as a father and the process of adopting his late sister's daughter got underway.

‘I'm glad she likes it,' Bess smiled. She'd bought Eva a toy school bus with little people inside.

‘You shouldn't have brought a gift, though. I told you those weren't necessary.'

‘And I told you I wanted to. Are you saying you want me to take it back?'

Pen in his hand, already scribbling on a form, he laughed. ‘Are you kidding me? She'd kill me with her bare hands.'

Bess saw to her own admin – it was a good idea to get a jump on things before another job came in. Thankfully, today that didn't happen and she had it done it without interruption.

She'd just passed a file to Nadia when Maya came over, having finished checking weather and flight conditions. She perched on the edge of the desk. ‘I haven't had a chance to ask whether you're excited? Surely it'll go better than the last one. '

‘Huh?'

‘The date tonight.'

Bess looked across at the calendar. ‘Oh, God, it's Tuesday.'

‘Don't tell me you forgot?'

‘Kind of.' Even the brand-new dress hanging on the back of her bedroom door hadn't reminded her this morning. She'd bought it thinking it might be a good luck charm for yet another date she'd found on the app she was using. Surely at some point she had to meet someone half-decent. It was the law of averages, wasn't it?

She grabbed her phone.

‘What are you doing?' Maya asked.

‘Cancelling.' The guy from the other night was enough for now. She couldn't face any more disappointment, at least for a while.

In a few clicks, the deed was done. She swiped up to clear the screen when yet another text message came in from her mother.

‘Why are you cancelling?' Maya asked.

‘My head's not in the right space for a date.'

‘Because of the last one?'

‘Kind of.'

‘You're still thinking about your mum,' Maya realised.

Maya knew the shock Bess had felt seeing her mum at the scene of the accident for a start but even more so, discovering the man she'd been in the car with. And ever since that night, Bess had done her best to push the facts deep down into the recesses of her mind.

‘I need to get my head around my mother's "date" before I can go on another one of my own.' She put the word date in air quotes, having no idea whether it was a first date, a fifth, or whether the relationship had turned serious. She was sensing it was the latter, given her mum's reaction to Malcolm's injuries and the worry she had for him.

‘Have you spoken to her about it yet?' Maya tied her chestnut hair up and out of the way as they headed out of the kitchen and into the hangar, which needed a tidy. ‘Take it from me: the longer you put it off, the worse it seems. For the both of you.' She was speaking from experience.

Bess reached for the broom. ‘She deserves to be happy. But it's a lot to get my head around. It's been three years since Dad, but it still feels so odd to me.'

Maya stopped what she was doing, a bin bag in her hands. ‘After my mum passed away, I think it was years until my dad dated. And then, it was very on and off, and we weren't talking by then, so I could easily block it out.' She smiled kindly. ‘I can't say I recommend that approach, though.'

Bess swept the main concrete floor, got rid of some of the debris from beneath cabinets against the walls. She couldn't begrudge her mother some happiness, some fun, but ever since her dad died, the man her mother had described as one of a kind , the only man she would forever love deeply , she'd thought her mum would be content with her daughter, her friends and acquaintances. And a man stepping into her mum's life meant he was stepping into Bess's too and she'd shocked even herself by how much it unsettled her.

She stopped sweeping and leant her chin on her hands against the top of the broom handle, crossing one ankle over the other. ‘Seeing Mum crying about a man who isn't my dad, saying his name, her worry for him when I had absolutely no idea she was seeing anyone was hard. I reacted by not talking about it and… well, I've been avoiding her calls, sticking to text messages.' She'd used the excuse that she'd covered shifts for Kate, twice, and then that she had extra training sessions .

‘I'm sure you and your mum will sort this out; give it time.'

‘You're so wise.'

Nadia breezed into the hangar, bringing with her a waft of the floral perfume Bess had given her for her birthday. ‘I think it's the scones.'

‘Probably,' Bess laughed. ‘What's with all the baking anyway, Nadia?'

‘I've always enjoyed it but I took a few classes at the start of autumn, thought I'd do something different just for fun, and then I got addicted. Now I've started baking even more, I can't seem to stop myself.' Blonde and curvy, she was every bit as gorgeous as the cakes she kept bringing to the airbase.

‘No arguments from me,' Noah hollered as he passed by from the direction of the office. The airbase building had a welcoming reception at the front, the hangar at the rear, an office, kitchen, locker room and briefing room as well as a small room with a few beds should any of them need to get their head down for a while on shift.

‘Talk to your mum soon, Bess,' Maya urged when it was just the two of them again.

And she knew she had to. For both their sakes. She texted her mum there and then to say she'd be over after shift.

But no sooner had the whoosh sound signalled the text leaving her device, the phone at the base rang out, its shrill signal alerting them to another job coming in.

It was time for The Skylarks to drop everything and take to the skies again.

The job turned out to be a major one where the outcome was very unsure indeed. A schoolgirl had climbed a tree in her back garden to rescue her cat and she'd fallen, landing on her head. Her injuries were life threatening and Bess and Noah did as much as they could for her on the ground before transporting her by air to the trauma centre where neurologists and other doctors were on standby. If the young girl came through this, it would be a long road to recovery.

By the time Hilda landed back at base, it was well after the end of shift for the red team and Bess was shattered. The more difficult and traumatic calls where the outcomes might not be favourable were hard.

She called her mother so she could explain why she was running late. If she sent a text, her mum would assume she was putting the talk off again, but after she gave the gist of what had happened, her mum suggested they reschedule for lunch tomorrow instead.

‘What can I bring?' Bess asked, keen not to dwell on the sadness and shock of her shift. ‘I'll have to do a supermarket dash in the morning, I'm almost out of a few essentials.'

‘I don't like to be a pain but could you grab me a few packets of cat food for Liquorice?'

‘Of course I can. I'll see you tomorrow, around midday.'

No mention of Malcolm. Maybe her mum was as apprehensive about talking about him as her daughter was.

Bess headed home, the last job of the day still very much on her mind, all good thoughts going to the young girl and her family that their story would have a happy ending.

Nothing was ever guaranteed, though, and as she pushed her key into the lock of her front door and clocked the words on her key fob yet again, she was very much reminded of that.