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‘Already seen it,’ she reproved him gently and turned towards the medical box. Collecting what he’d asked for, she scooped up the hem of her dress, picking her way carefully across the blood-spattered floor and laying a basin of water and a large wad of gauze down next to him.
‘Thanks. I’ll need a small bandage in a moment.’ Leo set about cleaning as much of the blood off Alan’s hand as he could, and then packed the gauze around what was left of his finger. Then he ran out of hands. This was the trouble with medicine outside a hospital or surgery; he always seemed to get to the point when two hands wasn’t enough.
‘Here, let me.’ Alex was there, the hem of her dress gathered in a makeshift knot at the side, to keep it out of the way. She bent over, winding the bandage over the gauze to keep it in place, and secured it with a safety pin.
Leo carefully relaxed his grip on Alan’s wrist. Good. He didn’t want to use a tourniquet unless absolutely necessary, and it looked as if the bleeding was stopping now.
Alan was quieter now and Leo turned to him, trying to give a little reassurance. ‘You’re doing really well. The ambulance will be here soon and we’ll get you something for the pain...’
‘Where is it?’ Alan was looking round, trying to get up now, and Leo pressed him gently backwards. Now that the bleeding was dealt with, he could think about finding the finger. But he needed to stay here with Alan.
And he wasn’t quite sure how Alex might react to being asked to find a missing body part. But the one thing he did know was that just assuming she couldn’t do it without even mentioning it would hurt her even more.
He smiled at her. ‘Tough question. For me to ask, that is...’
She grinned back. ‘I know. Easy answer for me...’ She laid her gloved hand on the side of Alan’s face and his gaze focused on hers. ‘Alan, I’m going to find your finger. Can’t have you going off to the hospital without it, eh?’
‘Please...’ Alan tried to move again but she shook her head.
‘It’s okay. You need to stay here and do what the doctor tells you. I’ll find it.’
No one could have resisted the warmth of her smile, the reassuring certainty of her tone. Even Leo felt better. Alan relaxed back against the wall with a small nod, and Alex got to her feet.
‘Can you see if you can find something to splint the hand with first?’ Alan was still moving fitfully and he should keep his hand as still as possible.
She nodded, opening a couple of drawers and pulling out a flat wooden spatula. ‘This do?’
‘That’s perfect.’
Alex delivered the spatula and another bigger bandage to him and Leo set about immobilising Alan’s hand. When he glanced up again, Alex was standing at the counter top, moving the bloodstained knife carefully out of the way and sorting through the pile of peelings and chopped vegetables.
A slight shake of her head told Leo that it wasn’t there, and he hoped that it hadn’t rolled onto the floor. He’d been watching where he put his feet, but there had obviously been a bit of panic in here when the accident first happened. Alex was obviously thinking the same thing because she stopped, standing still, looking carefully around her.
Then she moved, one step towards the sink, and reached in. ‘Got it. It’s got some vegetable peelings on it.’
‘Okay, get as much as you can off, but don’t put it under water. Leave anything that isn’t easy to remove for the surgeon at the hospital. Then wrap it with some moist gauze.’
She followed his instructions and then looked in the medical box, breaking open a plastic bag and tipping the contents back into the box. Alex slid the precious gauze-wrapped package into the bag, securing it carefully with some plaster.
‘Great. Now the ice, but make sure it’s not in contact with any tissue.’ Leo decided not to say finger. Alan was calmer now and he didn’t want to upset him any further.
‘Gotcha.’ She walked over to the fridge and found a bag of crushed ice. Tearing it open, she tipped half into the sink and then put the package with Alan’s finger in it carefully into the bag, packing the ice around it and resealing the top.
She walked back over to them and bent down next to Alan. ‘Here, I’ve got it. It’s undamaged and on ice.’
‘They’ll be able to sew it back on?’ Alan reached for the bag and Alex caught his hand, allowing him to touch it but not grab hold of it.
‘There’s a good chance they will.’ She curled her hand over Alan’s. ‘They’ll have to make an assessment, but these days the surgeons can do what seems like the impossible. We’ve done all the right things, and they’ll explain everything to you when you get there.’
It was just the right mix of truth and reassurance. And there was no trace in her manner of the stark truth that the surgeons hadn’t been able to do the impossible for her. He’d never met anyone who was quite so generous with hope as Alex was.
‘Thank you... What’s your name?’
‘Alexandra.’ The use of her full name seemed just right at this moment. Something beautiful, a reassurance to Alan that even now there was time to appreciate the extra syllables.
‘P...pretty name.’
‘Thank you.’ Alan moved restively and Alex caught hold of the bag a little tighter, steadying it without taking it away from him. ‘I know it hurts. The paramedics will be here soon and they’ll be able to give you something for the pain.’
