The Family She Needs

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Mickey shook his head. ‘No. I want to see her now. I need to go pee-pee.’

‘I’ll take you inside.’

Mickey’s head turned from side to side. ‘No. Got to go to work.’ He began tugging at Logan’s hand. ‘Come on.’

A cheerful-looking man glanced up from the counter as they walked in the front door of the medical centre. ‘Hi, Mickey. Sounds like you’ve been having fun.’ Then his gaze swooped to Logan. ‘You must be Logan. I’m David Maxwell, the current locum. Sorry I missed you earlier.’

‘Hey, good to meet you. I never had any intention of dragging you from your patients when I dropped by. I was just eyeing the set-up.’ Logan held out his hand. ‘This little guy wants the bathroom. Apparently you’ve got a better one than what’s at home.’

David chuckled. ‘What we’ve got is Karina.’

So Mickey and Karina had bonded completely. That was good for the little fellow. He was very lovable. Even after a few hours Logan knew leaving him again wouldn’t be as easy as he’d expected.

‘How does he cope when he’s at kindergarten?’

Karina answered from another room. ‘There are good days and there are not-so-good ones. His teacher’s quite strict, but sometimes I go and get him and then he sits in here with me and his colouring-in book.’

‘I need pee-pee, Karina!’ the subject of their conversation yelled.

In the waiting area people laughed.

David grinned. ‘You’d better hurry, Karina. It’s looking a bit urgent out here.’

She appeared in an instant. ‘Come on, Mickey.’ Then over her shoulder she muttered to Logan in a very cheeky tone, ‘Think you dodged a bullet?’

He shuddered. Karina’s bullets would be comparatively harmless compared to the real thing. ‘Apparently you’re a dab hand at this.’

‘You’ll keep.’ She flapped a hand at him before following Mickey down the hall.

‘Keep?’ David asked in a hopeful tone. ‘You’re not looking to hang around permanently, by any chance?’

Hating to disappoint another person already, he shrugged, but finally had to be honest. ‘No, my contract’s still running with the organisation I work for.’

‘Motueka isn’t just a quiet town in the back of beyond. There’s always lots going on.’

That hope was fading.

‘After the places I’ve been, it’s fair heaving. If I ever did come back permanently I think I’d prefer living and working in a place like this. Big cities don’t hold any attraction for me.’

If he ever came back? Why would he? What was here for him?

A little boy who had yet to call him Uncle? A boy who needed a man in his life?

A feminine laugh floated down the hall from the direction in which Karina had disappeared. Okay, there might be another attraction, but he couldn’t change his life plan for a woman.

‘Life plan? More of a total stuff-up.’

‘Sorry?’

He’d forgotten David was still standing there, looking hopeful and resigned all at once. ‘Talking to myself. Not a good look.’

‘I guess you’ve got a lot to sort out at the moment, without me dumping the surgery problems on your shoulders. We can have a chat in a few days.’ Then he looked worried. ‘You will be here for a while, right?’

‘Right.’

Exactly how long was ‘a while’? This was another round of questions he wasn’t dealing with very well. Harmless enquiries and yet they ratcheted up the tightness in his arm muscles, in his chest.

Glancing around, he saw people in the office, the waiting room, the hall: all innocent of anything but normality. Normality he struggled to fit into. By the toy box in the waiting room a toddler lunged for a wooden truck and shrieked at the top of his lungs.

Logan knew that the ear-piercing, gut-tearing sound came from the little boy. Knew it. But somewhere in his head he was hearing one of his fellow hostages as she was beaten, screaming her fear and rage and pain.

That same fear, rage and pain thumped at his temples.

Suddenly he was so tired he could barely stay upright. Exhaustion gripped him, drained his body of every drop of energy. Exhaustion that sleep would not fix. Only exercise might.

It was happening again. He couldn’t blame jet lag. That might be compounding the debilitated state he found himself in, but it wasn’t the cause. That remained back in Africa. In the form of dangerous men armed with machine guns and the inability to listen to reason. Men who thought the quickest way to riches was holding innocent people to ransom.

‘Are you all right?’

David was staring at him with that same wary look he’d seen in his colleagues’ eyes all too often since he’d been freed.

‘I’m fine.’ His voice rasped with tension. ‘I need some fresh air. Tell Karina I’ve gone for a walk, will you?’

Tell her I’m sorry I’m leaving Mickey with her while she has to work. Tell her I apologise for coming here before I’d managed to quash the demons lurking in my skull.

He ran for the door.

CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_2d61e915-58d2-507a-9c25-c43a3cf257fe)

KARINA ROLLED OVER in bed and held her breath. Something had woken her. But what? The house creaked as usual, but otherwise everything seemed quiet. She must have been imagining things. Punching her pillow into shape, she curled up on her side and closed her eyes.

There it was again. A low moan—followed by a cry.

Slipping out from under the warm bedcovers, she shoved her feet into slippers and pushed her arms into her thick robe. Out in the hallway she listened for a minute but heard nothing. Had Mickey called out? Carefully opening his door, she checked him over but he was sound asleep.

Karina returned to her room as a cry cut through the quiet, lifting the hairs on her neck. It came from further down the hall. Logan? Had he fallen and hurt himself?

Outside his door, she hesitated. If the noise hadn’t come from in there, she’d look a right idiot, bursting in and waking him. Leaning her ear to the door, she heard mutterings from the other side. It sounded as though the man talked in his sleep. She smiled. Who knew what she might learn if she felt inclined to listen in? Straightening up, she began to turn away. There was still that noise to check out.

‘Don’t touch me, you pig!’ Logan shouted.

At least she presumed it was Logan, even though his voice was pitched higher than usual and filled with hate. Was that fear in those words? It sounded as if he needed help. What if someone else was in the room, attacking him?

Flinging the door wide, she flicked the light on and stared around the room. Nobody but Logan. He lay sprawled across the bed, the sheets wound around his legs, his arms thrashing against the mattress at either side of his hips. His skin glistened with sweat, and yet he was shivering. His eyes were wide, staring at the ceiling, then at her, then cruising the walls. Back to her. Not seeing her or seeing anything. As though he didn’t know where he was.

‘Who are you? Get out of my hut.’

Oh, my God, he’s having a nightmare.

Wary of those flailing arms, she reached to touch his shoulder. ‘Logan. Wake up. Logan. You’re having a bad dream.’

She shook him gently. His arm swung up and out. Karina stepped back, felt his fist graze her thigh. This time she snatched at his arm, held it tight against her body, shook him as gently as possible.

‘Logan. Wake up. It’s Karina. You’re in Motueka. You are safe.’

Was this the right thing to do? Should she be trying to bring him round more slowly? But how?

‘Did you say Karina?’ Logan blinked at her. Then looked around the room, tried to peer past her. ‘Where did you say I am?’

‘You’re at James’s home. Remember? Where Mickey lives.’

In her tight grip his arm began relaxing, the tension slowly ebbing away as reality dawned in those gunmetal-grey eyes.

He said nothing, continued to stare at her, not quite believing her.

‘Motueka. Mickey, Karina.’ She enunciated slowly, clearly, hoping the significance of those words would reach him.

Did this have anything to do with his sudden mood change that afternoon? David had told her Logan had become agitated and taken off for a fast walk. When she’d asked him about it later he’d fobbed her off with some nonsense about needing fresh air. As if the air in the back yard where he’d been playing with Mickey had been stale and old?

Lowering his arm to his side, she spoke quietly, so as not to disturb him unduly. ‘Logan, I’m going to cover you with the quilt. It’s freezing in here and you’ve got goose-bumps on your arms.’

He also had scars on his chest and his ribs were too close to the surface. Not enough muscle or fat covered him. As if he’d been ill. What had the nightmare been about? Was it linked to the state of his body? What would he do if she gave in to the need to hug him to her? To kiss away that pain darkening his eyes to the colour of cold slate? If she ran her fingertips over those purple lines on his skin, would he yell at her?