‘He wants to know, if this happens, then his wife will be safe?’
‘Yes. She won’t be able to have any more children, but there’s a good chance that any further pregnancies could end up life-threatening for his wife.’
She watched the husband’s face as the interpreter passed on the information. Relief pouring through her when he bobbed his head in acknowledgement before a look of determination settled over his features as he stepped forward, silenced the arguing family, and took his wife’s hand.
Rae grabbed a local nurse quickly.
‘Can you go and secure me the next OR please? Emergency C-section and sterilisation.’
And after that the patients, and the obstructed deliveries, kept coming. And by the time her shift was over, it was all she could do to drag herself to her room and flop down into her bed, asleep somewhere before her body even landed on the mattress.
Tomorrow would be Christmas Day which meant that her month-long mission was nearly over. It also meant that it was the first Christmas she hadn’t spent with her family throughout her entire life.
She was almost sad to realise that with the exception of Rafe she didn’t miss them, or their inevitable dramas, one little bit.
* * *
‘Happy Christmas, Raevenne.’ His low voice only just carried the couple of feet between them.
Rae swung around, startled, peering into the shadow of the building where he’d been watching her for some time.
‘Oh, I didn’t see you there. Right. Yes. Happy Christmas.’
She didn’t look particularly overjoyed to see him. If anything she looked wary, not that he could really blame her. He’d been avoiding her ever since the drive back to camp when he’d laid himself out there. Logically he knew that it wasn’t her fault he’d felt vulnerable, and weak, but that hadn’t stopped him from taking it out on her, by avoiding any real contact, ever since.
Mainly because he knew the instant he saw her every regret and reservation he had about talking to her would melt away, replaced instead by the ache to draw her to him, kiss her thoroughly and pretend that none of the bad stuff, none of the baggage, even existed.
‘I heard you performed some really impressive procedures over the last few days.’
‘Oh?’
‘Not least a heterotopic pregnancy.’
He could practically read the internal battle she was waging in every flicker of her expression and he had to fight not to smile. It was typical heart-o
n-sleeve Rae fashion. Or was it just that he knew her better than either of them would probably care to admit?
‘Let me guess,’ he drawled. ‘The private part of you wants to tell me where to shove it, whilst the professional part of you is so geared up by the medical stuff that you’re desperate to talk about it.’
She scowled at him. Or she tried to, anyway.
‘You can’t just flip-flop like this, Myles,’ she muttered.
‘I know.’
‘You open up to me, let me into your most private moments one minute, but the next you’re acting as though I barely even exist.’
‘I accept that.’
‘And now you’re pretending nothing even happened.’
‘You’re right, and I’m sorry.’
He didn’t know what he’d expected her to do, but it wasn’t to narrow her eyes at him.
‘Of course you are. Until the next time.’
Something scraped inside him. He hated the way she was looking at him. As if he wasn’t to be trusted. As if he wasn’t even someone she liked.