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Knowing she couldn’t afford to think about that now, Jenna concentrated on her patient. ‘I understand that it’s unsettling to have someone new, Mrs Parker, but Evanna has left detailed notes. If you see me doing anything differently, or anything that makes you feel worried, you can tell me.’
‘You’ve a teenage daughter, I hear?’ Mrs Parker dropped her bag onto the floor and slipped off her shoe. Her tights were the colour of stewed tea and twisted slightly around her ankles.
Jenna searched through the choice of dressings available
to her, unsure what the surgery stocked. ‘I only stepped off the ferry half an hour ago. Word travels fast.’
‘Hard to have secrets on Glenmore. We’re a close community.’
‘That’s why I chose to come here, Mrs Parker.’ That and the fact she hadn’t had much choice. She helped the woman onto the trolley. ‘And I don’t have any secrets.’
‘Will your husband be joining you later?’
‘I’m no longer married, Mrs Parker.’ Jenna swiftly removed the old dressing, wondering why saying those words made her feel such a failure.
As if to reinforce those feelings, Mrs Parker pressed her lips together in disapproval. ‘I was married for fifty-two years. In those days we sorted out our differences. We didn’t give up.’
Great. Just what she needed. A lecture. Still, she was used to those from her mother. She’d grown up seeing her failings highlighted in neon lights.
‘I admire you, Mrs Parker. I’m just going to check your blood pressure.’
Mrs Parker sniffed her disapproval. ‘I’m here to have the dressing changed.’
‘I know that. And I’ve already picked out what I’m going to use.’ Reminding herself that building relationships was essential to the smooth running of the practice, Jenna was patient. ‘But it’s important to check your blood pressure every six months or so, and I can see from your notes that it hasn’t been done for a while.’
‘I don’t see what my blood pressure has to do with the ulcer on my leg.’
‘Sometimes ulcers can be caused by bad circulation rather than venous problems. I want to do an ankle blood pressure as well as taking it on your arm.’
Mrs Parker relaxed slightly. ‘You obviously know what you’re doing. All right. But I haven’t got all day.’
Jenna checked her blood pressure, reminding herself that she’d always known this move wouldn’t be easy. Not for her, nor Lexi.
‘So you fell pregnant when you were still in school, by the looks of you.’ Mrs Parker’s lips pursed. ‘Still, everyone makes mistakes.’
Jenna carefully recorded the blood pressure readings before she replied. ‘I don’t consider my daughter to be a mistake, Mrs Parker.’
There was a moment of silence and then the old lady gave a chuckle. ‘Capable of standing up for yourself, are you? I like that. You’re obviously a bright girl. Why have you moved all the way up here? You could be in some leading city practice. Or are you running away?’
Jenna sensed that whatever she told this woman would be all over the island by lunchtime, so she delivered an edited version of the truth. ‘My marriage ended. I needed a change. And this place has a good reputation. Logan McNeil has built a good practice.’ She didn’t add that she would have taken the job regardless, because it was as far from Clive and her parents as it was possible to get without leaving the country.
‘Logan is a good doctor. So’s Ryan McKinley, of course. But we all know he won’t be around for long. He’s a real high-flier. Used to work as one of those emergency doctors.’
Emergency doctor?
Confused, Jenna paused. ‘How long has he lived here?’
‘Came here two years ago and bought the old abandoned lighthouse that Ewan Kinaird had given up hope of selling. Too isolated for everyone. But not for Dr McKinley. Apparently isolation was what he wanted, and he paid a fair price for it. Didn’t see him for most of that first year. Turned up occasionally in the village to buy supplies. Kept himself to himself. Never smiled. Some thought he was antisocial. Others thought he was recovering from some trauma or other. Certainly looked grim-faced whenever I glimpsed him.’
Jenna felt guilty for listening. Part of her wanted to cover her ears but she didn’t want to be rude. And she was intrigued by Ryan McKinley. When she’d met him he hadn’t seemed antisocial. Nor had he shown signs of trauma. He’d talked. Smiled. But she knew a smile often hid a secret. ‘So how does he come to be working as a GP?’
‘That was Evanna’s doing. Won’t let anyone be, that girl—especially not if they’re in trouble. She coaxed him into helping out after the last locum left them in the lurch. She had baby Charlie, and Logan was managing the practice on his own. When he was needed, Ryan stepped up. But we all know he won’t stick. He’ll be off to some high-flying job before the tide has turned.’ Mrs Parker took a closer look at her leg. ‘What’s your professional opinion of this, then?’
‘I’m just taking a look now.’ Jenna wondered what trauma had made a doctor qualified in emergency medicine buy a secluded lighthouse on an isolated island. ‘How did you find out he was a doctor?’
‘Oh, he kept it quiet.’ Mrs Parker peered at her leg. ‘But Fiona Grange crashed her car into a ditch in the middle of a storm and he happened to be passing when it happened. Some say he’s the reason she’s alive. Bones smashed, she was unconscious, and the air ambulance couldn’t take off. And there was Dr McKinley, cool as a Glenmore winter, stopping the bleeding, extracting her from the car—shocked everyone, he did. Went from hermit to hero in the blink of an eye. But there was no hiding his profession after that. And he’s been a good doctor, although he’s private. Keeps himself to himself. Some think he’s unfriendly. A bit cold.’
Unfriendly? Jenna thought about the man who had met her at the quay. He hadn’t been unfriendly. Tired, definitely. Guarded, maybe. She would have described him as cool, but not cold.
