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Jennifer opened her mouth to speak but found herself incapable of forming a sentence. It was on the tip of her tongue to simply blurt out her true feelings, to tell Jasper that she’d just realised she was in love with him, but she knew she couldn’t. She didn’t want to wreck what was happening between them and, besides, she needed to think this through. Her head had been quite fuzzy of late and she’d been experiencing a general feeling of exhaustion at the end of the day, more so than usual, and now she knew what the diagnosis was—she was in love.
His gaze flicked to her one more time before he slammed on the brakes and gripped the steering-wheel tightly. Jennifer instinctively put her hand out to the dashboard but the seat belt held her in. The car skidded forward, heading towards the stationary block of cars in front of them which had already crashed.
Jennifer closed her eyes for a second, waiting for that sickening sound of metal, twisting with metal but it never came. Everything had happened so fast and, thankfully, Jasper had brought his own car to a stop within a reasonable distance. He checked his rear-view mirror to find the car behind him had already stopped as well before he turned to check on his girls.
‘Jen? You OK?’
‘Yes.’
‘Girls?’
‘Daddy?’ Lilly’s lower lip was starting to wobble.
‘Daddy?’ Lola echoed, her eyes wide with fright.
‘It’s OK, girls. We’re all all right. There’s been an accident up ahead. I’m just going to have a look.’ Jasper was out of the car before they knew what was happening. Jennifer undid her own seat belt before wriggling herself into the back seat and placing an arm about both girls as they started to cry.
‘It’s all right,’ she comforted them. ‘It’s over. We’re all OK.’
‘I want to get out,’ Lola protested, tugging on her seat belt.
‘No, no, darling. Just wait a moment. Let me check you both.’ Jennifer was visually giving them a once-over, only breathing out a sigh of relief when she’d reassured herself they were indeed both all right. Her cellphone began to ring, which momentarily stopped the girls from crying, and Jennifer quickly reached into the front seat to answer it.
‘Jen? It’s Sara. Are you all right?’
‘We’re fine. Where are you?’
‘About five cars back.’
‘Great.’ Jennifer looked out the window to see that several motorists had stopped their cars blocking off the lane next to the crash, and were directing traffic. ‘Why don’t you come and get the girls and take them to your house? I have a feeling Jasper and I will be in Theatre for a few hours.’
‘Of course. Be right there.’
It didn’t take much to pack up the girls who were both more than happy to go with Sara in her mini-van. Jennifer and Jasper kissed them both goodbye and once they were gone Jasper took her hand in his as they walked back towards his car.
‘The emergency services have already been called and I just need to get my medical kit from the car. Although there are several cars involved in the pile-up, the worst seems to be the motorcyclist at the front. He obviously had to brake hard and then went not only over his own handlebars but over the car in front which I believe was the one that caused the accident in the first place.’
‘I’ll take the cyclist. You do a closer triage on the other vehicles then report back and help me.’
Jasper couldn’t help the smile that touched the corners of his mouth. ‘Yes, boss,’ he said, and laughed away Jennifer’s brief look of alarm.
‘Sorry. I guess it’s just habit.’
‘And one that suits you.’ They were at his car now and before Jasper opened the boot to retrieve his medical bag he bent his head and placed a firm kiss to Jennifer’s lips.
Wishing she had a change of shoes, Jennifer made her way in her high heels towards the motorcyclist. There was a man sitting beside him, talking to him, keeping him alert. The rider still had his helmet on and she was thankful no one had tried to remove it.
‘Hi. I’m Dr Thorngate.’ She knelt down as best she could, given the tightness of the dress she was wearing, and was momentarily thankful she’d gone for the rich, deep burgundy colour as it wouldn’t show many of the stains she knew the garment was about to get.
‘You’re a doctor?’ The man sitting beside the rider sounded doubtful. ‘You don’t look like one.’
‘Well, I could hardly wear my operating clothes to a wedding, now, could I?’ She opened the medical kit Jasper had given her and pulled on a pair of gloves as she did a visual assessment of the injured man, thankful he was still conscious. His upper torso was angled slightly but appeared fine. It was his left leg, twisted in an odd way, that gave her the most concern.
