‘I’mveryexcited! Four hours until I get to lose these unflattering trousers and clumpy shoes and put on high heels and a dress.’
Brad, the other critical care paramedic in the same crew as Kate, came in. ‘I’m just as excited as she is, apart from the wearing of a dress and high heels, that is.’
‘Hey, whatever you’re into,’ Kate teased before she flitted off in the direction of the kitchen.
Spirits were high with tonight to look forward to. Hudson was even staying over at the venue along with plenty of the rest of the team. It was half term at the moment and he’d hoped Lucinda would offer to take the kids away for the week, but two days was all she could get off work, she’d said. She’d taken Carys and Beau to visit her parents in Cardiff where they’d stay until tomorrow and the kids always loved it up there. He wondered whether Beau particularly enjoyed it because it was getting away from the norm, the familiarity and locality of his hometown. Perhaps he felt like he could finally be himself in another place without any pressure placed on him, because he always seemed happy when he came home.
In February, Beau had gone to visit Lucinda’s parents on his own – his grandad had taken him to see the rugby, and his gran, by the sounds of it, had fussed over him with all his favourite foods. Hudson wouldn’t mind betting they hadn’t made him do a jot of homework either. Lucinda had two brothers and all three of them had excelled academically, they’d all found top jobs and earned a hefty salary each, and sometimes, Hudson wondered whether Lucinda’s parents ever regretted pushing their kids toomuch. Or maybe the years had softened them and they had different priorities now their three had flown the nest. Lucky for Hudson, Lucinda’s parents had always approved of him – they’d seen him as a good match for their daughter and he knew that was partly down to his different drive when it came to work. It wasn’t that Hudson hadn’t done well, but it had soon become apparent how much of a family man he was, and her parents had warmed to him instantly. At least he liked to think so and that was the feeling he still got. He missed them since Lucinda left and although he called them on the phone to say hello, he didn’t visit; it wouldn’t feel right. He wasn’t sure how much Lucinda had told them about their relationship breakdown but whatever it was had left them open to being friendly with him and that made it easier all round.
When Beau came home in February extolling the virtues of Cardiff and the open spaces at his grandparents’ place, Hudson had asked whether one day, he wanted to relocate there.
‘To be near Granny and Grandad?’ Beau had asked.
‘No, but for the place. You seem to like it a lot.’
Beau shrugged. ‘It’s different. I have time to myself. But I like it here too.’ He’d exchanged a look with his dad, a look that said he didn’t want Hudson to think he wanted to get away from him even though Hudson was pretty sure he’d thrown those words at his dad more than once in a fit of rage if things weren’t going his way.
Nestled in a valley in Dorset, Whistlestop River wasn’t somewhere Hudson wanted to leave any time soon either. The town was a good size but hadn’t lost its personality, people were friendly, the scenery amazing with the river meandering its way along and surrounded by miles upon miles of rolling countryside. The Whistlestop River Air Ambulance base was a major part of what Hudson loved too and he couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.
At shift changeover time, the airbase became busier with the red crew taking over from the blue, who’d only just returned from a job they’d thought might be a hoax at first.
‘I really thought it was prank.’ Kate put her helmet back on the shelf in the hangar when the crew came in from the helicopter.
‘What happened?’ Hudson asked.
Apparently, they’d arrived on scene at a derelict farmhouse next to a pond and couldn’t see a victim anywhere nor anyone waving to them to signify their help was desperately needed. The crew had been told a five-year-old boy had fallen into the pond and hit his head.
While The Skylarks didn’t get many hoax calls, they did happen occasionally like the one they’d had last summer.
‘We saw the pond, but no sign of anyone next to it or nearby,’ said Kate. ‘Vik hovered overhead and he managed to spot a second, smaller pond in the distance. He flew us closer and we found the patient. We took the little boy to the hospital and from what I can tell, he should make a full recovery.’
‘That’s good news,’ said Hudson.
‘I’ll say.’ Noah had just come on shift with the red team and was picking up his helmet because the crew already had a job.
All of them felt strongly about the crime of hoax calls but Noah had more reason than any of them. His late sister Cassie had required an air ambulance when she’d had an accident that cost her her life, but the air ambulance had been dispatched elsewhere already, to a prank call by someone who thought it was all a joke.
Hudson finished his day before the crew returned and Nadia held the door open for him at the front of the building.
‘Escaping early to get ready?’ he asked.
‘Something like that. Kate has already gone; she couldn’t get out of here fast enough.’ She locked the door behind them seeingas the crew was out and only Frank, their engineer, was in the back finishing up a report before he too got ready for tonight’s event.
He watched Nadia put the keys into her bag and look at the closed door to the airbase. ‘You’re thinking about Lena.’
‘Am I that obvious?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m being silly. I know nobody is going to leave a baby here again – although they could.’
‘Unlikely though. Come on, let’s think about how Lena is safe and well and let’s have a good time tonight.’
‘Still no word on the mother or a guardian?’ She rummaged for her car keys in her bag.
‘Not yet. Hopefully, we’ll hear something soon. In the meantime, let’s enjoy ourselves and raise a ton of money.’
‘I like the way you think. I’d better get going, get organised before Dorothy turns up to give me a lift and sees that I am in no way ready.’
