A Mother For His Family by Alison Roberts

Author:Alison Roberts [Alison Roberts]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Harlequin Medical Romances
ISBN: 9781460377840
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

‘EVER been in a Hercules before?’

Sarah nodded and then had to shout over the engine noise. ‘A few weeks ago, actually. My sister broke her leg in Fiji and we came out on an army flight.’

It was no less uncomfortable this time, sitting on bench seats in the fuselage of the huge, lumbering aircraft, with the bulk of space taken up by box after box of medical supplies.

‘I’ve never done this before, though.’

‘What’s that?’ The young, bearded doctor seated beside Sarah was a stranger from another Auckland hospital.

‘Been on a relief medical team.’

‘It’s hard work,’ he shouted back. ‘But very satisfying. I’m Kevin, by the way. General surgical registrar.’

‘Pleased to meet you, Kevin. I’m Sarah. We’ll be based at Suva hospital, won’t we?’ That had been the deciding factor for Sarah when she had received that unexpected phone call asking if she could be available as part of a medical team to help with the Pacific island emergency. Excitement at the opportunity to see Ben again had pushed aside any nervousness about accepting such a challenge.

‘We’ll be split up. Some of us are going to Nadi or Lautoka.’

Suva was the capital of Fiji and its major hospital was where Tori had been treated, but Sarah had no idea how far from Nadi or Lautoka it was, or how large the hospitals in the other towns might be. Then again, she had no idea what kind of role a GP who looked after holiday resorts might be expected to take in such a crisis.

Maybe Ben was touring around smaller islands, stabilising patients and deciding who needed to be evacuated to hospital. He would be there somewhere, though, wouldn’t he? And she’d be a lot closer than she had been in New Zealand.

‘What will we have to do?’

‘Just what you do at home basically—with way too many patients and not nearly enough space or gear. Forget about sleep. Or decent food or even a hot shower.’ He grinned. ‘You’ll love it.’

Sarah’s face creased into an expression of doubt but she gave up the effort of conversing over the engine noise. She also gave up any fantasies of working side by side with Ben, saving lives in peril thanks to the aftermath of a relentlessly severe tropical storm that had brought major damage and flooding to many areas and a tidal wave that had claimed at least one low-lying island.

It was thirty-six hours since the storm had struck, but the airport at Nadi had only just reopened and conditions were still rough as the military plane ploughed its way through the night sky. Strong gusts of wind buffeted the passengers as they disembarked and it was still raining. There were no garlands of exotic flowers or smiling islanders to greet her this time, and Sarah had to hurry out of the way of a forklift heading towards the open back of the plane’s fuselage.

‘This way, Sarah!’ Kevin caught her arm and they hurried towards two trucks that marked the collection point for the team.

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