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That was an unequivocal expression of intent. Jamie wanted to know everything. Anna took another sip from her glass, resisting the impulse to gulp the lot down.
‘Second question first, I didn’t tell you before now because I didn’t have permission to do so. It’s up to Jon whether you see his medical records or not. So you can thank him for letting me show you this when you see him tomorrow.’
‘Okay. That put me in my place.’ The signs of strain were showing on Jamie’s face, and Anna longed to reach out and touch him.
‘I have to do everything properly, Jamie. You must understand that.’
He nodded, taking a sip of water. Jamie knew all this, but he was asking the same things that any concerned family member would. ‘Okay. And my first question?’
‘I don’t have a final answer to that, yet. We’ve talked to Jon about his previous stay in hospital, and all he says is that he just lost it for a while. Apparently he’d locked himself in his hotel room and wouldn’t come out, and everyone just left him there for two days, until the hotel staff raised the alarm. We know that he’s exhausted and very probably depressed, but we have to rule out any physical causes for his symptoms.’
Jamie nodded his head, flipping the pages and reading through the rest of the file. ‘So you’re still in the diagnosis stage at the moment. What does Jon say about that?’
Anna shrugged. ‘We’ve explained everything to him, and he just tells us to go ahead and do whatever we want. He doesn’t seem to care. He says he wants to stay and get the burns sorted out, but my opinion is that the clinic is a safe place for him at the moment. A refuge.’
Jamie heaved a sigh. The pain in his eyes was almost tearing Anna’s heart out. ‘He didn’t want me to know, did he? Everything was falling to pieces, and he didn’t want me to know...’
Anna had come to the same conclusion, and glossed over it for Jamie’s sake. ‘Maybe he thought you wouldn’t come. But he was wrong about that, wasn’t he?’
‘I took my time.’ He shot her an anguished look.
‘You came. That’s all that matters. Don’t beat yourself up about it, there are plenty of more constructive things you can do with your time right now.’
He pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers, shaking his head as if he were trying to clear it. ‘That’s your standard advice, is it?’
There was a trace of the confrontation that seasoned any discussion they had about a patient. But this time it was bitter, with no hint of a smile.
‘I may have said it a few times before. That doesn’t mean it isn’t true, Jamie. I don’t underestimate my patients’ families. Did you think for one minute I’d say anything different to you because you’re a doctor?’
For one moment she was lost in his gaze. Those searching eyes that seemed to need so much from her at the moment. Then he smiled.
‘You really are trying to put me in my place, aren’t you?’
‘There’s nothing wrong with knowing your boundaries, in any particular situation. Being a great doctor isn’t going to help you now. Jon needs you as a brother. I know that’s difficult for you, on lots of different levels.’
He nodded. ‘All that matters at the moment is that he needs me. So I should remember to eat and sleep, and just be there for him. Because concentrating on his medical care is just my way of distancing myself from the emotional issues.’
‘Yeah. You’re getting it now.’ Jamie always had been aware of what his patients and their families went through emotionally, and now he got to put that knowledge into practice.
He smiled, that same smile that he always wore when she’d prevailed in one of their debates. Jamie could never be accused of being a sore loser.
‘Thanks, Anna. I really appreciate what you’ve done here.’
She could feel herself beginning to blush, the way she always did when Jamie spared some praise for her. She took a gulp of wine, hoping the gesture might cover her pleasure, or at least explain the redness of her cheeks.
‘No problem. All part of the service.’ That was an obfuscation too. Anna had longed for brothers and sisters when she had been growing up, and then she’d found a family and lost them again. Losing each other must have been ten times harder for Jamie and Jon. She’d go to any lengths to make sure that the fragile reconciliation between them took root and flourished.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘I DON’T LIKE sleeping here.’
Nine-year-old Darren greeted Anna and Jamie with a frown. Jamie had been at the clinic all day yesterday, and had arrived at the crack of dawn this morning, and Anna had given in to the inevitable and asked him to come with her to see Darren. He’d been working with the boy and his family for the last two years, ever since Darren had been scalded by hot water. The long process of medical care and counselling had been successful, but the skin graft on the boy’s leg had failed and Jamie had arranged for it to be replaced here.
‘No?’ Jamie sat down beside the boy’s bed. ‘Why not?’
‘This place stinks. And my leg hurts. I want to go home.’
‘All right. The thing is, I don’t think your leg’s going to hurt any less at home.’
