For a minute, Nadia’s thoughts were on the elderly sister, but she soon registered who he meant. ‘No, no idea. It’s great though, isn’t it?’
‘It is. A lot of work to have a puppy and bring a kid into the world at the same time, but she and Gio seem pretty solid.’
‘How are your two?’
‘Keeping me busy.’
Hudson usually wanted to talk about his kids but not today it seemed, not even with Bess’s happy news. He went to the main office and Nadia went to hers via reception.
She started on some of her admin tasks. She needed to book in one of the rapid response vehicles for its service, go through a compliance report and place an order for a couple of items needed for the rear of the aircraft.
The distraction worked somewhat but when Bess got back to the airbase and Nadia found her in the locker room hit by a wave of nausea, it was hard to get her head straight and rid herself of the thread of envy that coursed through her, the unfairness that she’d almost had the same thing, twice, that it had been snatched away from her both times.
‘You okay, Bess? Can I get you anything?’
Bess shook her head. ‘I’m feeling a little bit sick, but I think a lot of it is tiredness, that’s all.’
‘Go upstairs, get your head down.’
‘I can’t, I haven’t told Noah or Maya yet. They’ll wonder what I’m doing.’
‘I’ll keep it quiet, say you’re not feeling well; I won’t mention anything else.’
She wasn’t sure she’d be able to get the words out even if she tried.
‘Thanks, Nadia.’
‘Stop looking at me like that.’
‘I can’t help it.’
‘I’m envious but not jealous – I’m happy for you. Remember that. Now get yourself upstairs before you get another call.’
Bess went up the stairs behind reception and Nadia updated Noah, told him Bess was resting but would be fine to go out when they were called to the next job, and she found Hudson in the office.
He put down the phone. ‘That was Mr Potter’s sister. She’s found someone to stand in at the farm, to make sure the business doesn’t go under, and she’ll arrive in a couple of days.’ He started to laugh. ‘I’m sorry, it’s not funny… It’s just that she asked whether I could have a defibrillator on standby for her brother – for when he finds out that (a) she’s coming to live with him, and (b) that someone else will be running his business for a while. And she wasn’t even joking.’
Nadia began to laugh along with him. ‘It sounds as though they’ve quite the relationship.’
‘Siblings, eh.’
She had nothing to say to that. And he didn’t seem to notice her silence.
‘I’m glad I’ve got two kids; they’ll have each other in the future if something like this happens.’
‘They sure will.’
And she walked away without meeting his eye again since the mention of siblings because she’d lied to him. And it really didn’t feel good.
9
The last week had flown by in a blur of work and parenting. Beau had gone off on a school trip for a few days and come back in better spirits and Hudson, with less tension in the house and a somewhat easier routine with the daughter who was young enough to view him as a faultless human being, found himself feeling more relaxed as a result.
Kate, critical care paramedic with the blue team, came into the office as Hudson was finishing a follow-up on Bruce Carey, the patient they’d airlifted to hospital almost a month ago and who had finally been able to go home. Bruce had suffered a stroke and was paralysed down one side of his body, making his job working in a factory no longer an option. The family faced a period of renovations in their home to allow for his disability, financial strain and adjustment, and all of it was hard to navigate, but that’s what Hudson was there for – to give them access to the resources they’d need on their journey. It was one of the reasons this job was so rewarding.
‘Four hours to go.’ Kate tried to jolly Hudson up. His focus meant he didn’t really take in much else until he was done, but now he was, he turned around from the computer monitor.
‘Looking forward to it.’ And he was, especially since he knew Nadia was going to be at tonight’s dinner dance, their main annual fundraiser for the air ambulance charity. ‘Are you excited, by any chance? You’re as fidgety as Carys whenPeppa Pigcomes on the television.’
