AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The question took her by surprise but it didn’t take much thought to answer. ‘Every day.’
‘And before that? Before that, how often did she message you?’
It hadn’t even occurred to her. ‘Maybe...once a week?’
He shook his head. ‘She senses things, Katsuko. She senses the changes in you. She’s still trying to control you. Once you tell her you want to leave she’ll do everything she can to stand in your way.’
His clear green eyes were so intense, so sincere. And in a horrible way she knew he was right. She’d just been pushing things away, trying not to think about them too much.
‘How much control you let her have over your life is up to you, Katsuko.’
His gaze was so intense, so penetrating that she had to look away.
All the words that couldn’t be said.
She got that. She got that now.
This could be about them. Her grandmother was sensing change. She recognised the signs. She’d seen them in her daughter—and now she could see them in her granddaughter. Two women who had fallen in love. And in her grandmother’s eyes with two totally unsuitable men.
She put her hand down on the table to steady her legs. Now she got why Avery wouldn’t say the words.
If he felt the same way she did, he didn’t want to make her choose. He wouldn’t ask her to.
And he was right. As soon as she told her grandmother she’d requested to move base she’d be faced with a whole host of problems. Her phone would probably go non-stop.
She could almost see words forming on his lips. Avery—the confident, intelligent doctor she knew—was racked with self-doubt. His family history preyed on him in a way that it shouldn’t. In a life without different bases, different career pathways, no grandmothers and no multi-married parents, she could see them sitting on a porch, growing old together.
Nothing in her head felt straight. How her grandmother continually made her feel. The fact that she hadn’t spoken to Don about Afghanistan. How she would feel about being away from her family and friends for months at a time.
And the fact that right now she just wanted to love and be loved.
She felt herself start to tremble. This so wasn’t like her. But she just didn’t know what to say. She just didn’t know what to think.
His gaze was fixed on her. It was like he was looking for a sign. Looking for a prompt so he could say what he really wanted to.
Tears pooled in her eyes. ‘But she’s my grandmother’ was all that came out.
Avery looked at her for the longest time. Then he gave a little nod of his head. ‘Yes. She is.’ He brushed a kiss to the side of her cheek and walked out.
CHAPTER TEN
THE ALARM SHOT through the ER. A few newer members of staff frowned, trying to decipher why the cardiac arrest call sounded different.
The rest of the staff didn’t hesitate. Katsuko lifted her small patient from the trolley and dropped to her knees. Blake’s voice echoed on the Tannoy system.
‘Drop! Cover! Hold!’
The shaking started a few seconds later.
Most of the staff here were old pros. They’d trained for this and had to use their training on a regular basis throughout the year. For the light quakes the alarm didn’t sound. It only sounded for the moderate and strong quakes—anything above five on the Richter scale.
There was no space to get beneath the trolley so Katsuko pulled the little girl she’d been treating close to her chest and spoke quietly to her as the ground and walls shook around them.
There were inevitable noises. A few shrieks. A few crashes. The hospital was well prepared. Heavy items weren’t stored on high shelves where they could fall and do harm. Larger pieces of furniture were bolted to walls—no one wanted a hospital wardrobe or filing cabinet to land on them.
The little girl didn’t seem at all bothered. She’d just had her hand stitched after lacerating it on a piece of glass during a fall. Her mother had gone to the front desk to sign a few forms. Katsuko hoped that she had taken cover somewhere too.
Frank was in the room across the hall. He had an elderly patient next to him on the ground. ‘You two okay?’ he shouted.
She nodded, just as the trolley in his room managed to release its brake and roll towards them. ‘Watch out!’ she shouted.
Frank barely blinked as the shaking continued. He caught the trolley with one hand and one foot, protecting both himself and the patient.
He squinted up the clock in the hall. ‘This one is lasting a bit longer than normal, isn’t it?’
Katsuko nodded. ‘Let’s hope there’s no damage.’
A phone cut through the shaking. It had a different tone from normal.
Frank mouthed a silent expletive at her as the force of the shaking started to diminish. They both knew exactly what phone that was. It meant there was a problem somewhere else in the hospital.
When the shaking finally stopped Katsuko jumped to her feet. Everything in her surrounding area seemed fine. She put her charge back on the trolley and pulled up the sides just as the mother reappeared. ‘Is she okay?’
Katsuko nodded. ‘We’re both fine. How about you?’
The woman nodded, her trembling lip betraying her fear. ‘Thank you.’
Katsuko glanced across the corridor. ‘Need a hand, Frank?’
He shook his head as he snapped the brake back on the trolley and lifted his elderly patient easily on his own. She hid her smile. Health and Safety would have a fit.
Blake appeared at her side. ‘Kat, ICU. Now. Two of the ventilators are down and they need help bagging. The emergency generator hasn’t kicked in.’
She took off at a run. Blake’s voice carried behind her. ‘Seiko, implement the phone muster. Frank, injury and patient reports. Lei, structural damage.’
They’d hear just how big the earthquake had been in a while, but in the meantime they had systems and processes in place to try and ensure the safety of all the staff and patients.
ICU was silently chaotic. She burst through the doors and was given an immediate wave by a member of staff in the corner. She ran straight over and took over bagging the patient. It wasn’t a hard job—it was just essential to maintain the patient’s breathing. The emergency generators usually kicked in straight away. This had never happened before.
Staff
from other areas arrived too, all moving wherever needed. After a short while maintenance staff arrived, covered in dust, wheeling a portable generator alongside them.
‘The line to the emergency generator has fractured. Repairs will take an hour. There’s a gas leak somewhere else, so the main power can’t be turned back on.’
The maintenance staff set up the portable generator and the staff from ICU connected the two ventilators. After a few minutes everything seemed to be working again. Katsuko was just putting down the bag and mask when Blake walked through the doors and waved her over.
The senior nurse shot her a glance. ‘Thanks for your help.’
Katsuko gave her a nod and walked to the door. ‘What’s wrong?’
Blake looked anxious. He held open the door and started walking back along the corridor with her. ‘Avery was due on duty. He isn’t answering his house phone, his mobile or his page. Do you know where he could be?’
Katsuko shook her head. They’d parted on such bad terms last night that she no idea what his plans were for today. ‘Are there reports of any problems?’
Blake nodded as they reached the ER front desk. ‘Some reports are telling us already it was five point nine on the Richter scale. They also think we were only thirty miles away from the epicentre.’
‘Are we expecting casualties?’ She was asking the questions she should be asking. But not the questions she wanted to ask. She was on duty. She was a nurse. The military were expected to be able to react in the event of emergencies. All staff were supposed to respond.
Avery knew that. He’d been in emergency situations before. She couldn’t understand why he wasn’t here.
The emergency radio was on behind the desk, the Japanese voice speaking steadily. It sounded like there was some damage across the city. All of the modern buildings had been constructed to withstand earthquakes but some of the older buildings hadn’t fared so well. It seemed that years of being shaken by earthquakes had caused some older foundations to finally crumble.
The emergency phone rang again and Blake answered. His brow furrowed as he listened intently. ‘Yes, yes, no problem.’
