Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Nate
N ate looked around the nurse’s room, paling at the various pregnancy posters and thanked his lucky stars that he couldn’t give birth. To distract him from what looked painful, he probed Heidi for information.
“So you married a Turner,” Nate said as he swung his legs on the bench seat.
He was in the nurse’s room at the doctor’s surgery.
“I did,” Heidi replied, eyeing him sceptically.
“How is it?”
“Married, or married to a Turner?” she asked, peeling back the elastic bandage from his sprained wrist.
He hadn’t seen Daisy for two weeks and was desperate for a reason to see her.
“Married to a Turner.”
“Why?” her scepticism was replaced with a gleeful glance. “You like Daisy?”
“Do you know her? ”
“A little. She’s the last of the siblings to come back to the island. She’s been on the mainland for a while.”
Nate watched as Heidi tested his wrist. She usually only dealt with pregnant women or new mothers, but the surgery was busy. She was on minor ailments, which included him.
“This is looking good, Nate. You don’t need another bandage but don’t go overboard carrying any weight for another couple of weeks.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Listen, Nate. I’m not sharing about the Turners because it’s their stuff to tell, but my husband and his siblings are good people. If you like Daisy and can promise you’ll treat her well, I’ll tell you where her office is.”
“I will treat her like the diamond she is.”
“Okay. She’s tough and resourceful. I suspect she has had to cope on her own a lot longer than her brothers think. So watch and listen, and you’ll be fine.”
Heidi snapped off her gloves and threw them in the disposal.
“Where is her office?” he asked, getting off the bench and turning his wrist to test it out. The indentations of the bandage fascinated him for a few moments.
“Have you been beyond Turner Hall?”
“Yep,” he said.
“Have you been beyond Edward Hall?”
“I have,” he said in a conspiratorial tone.
“Have you?” she asked, stepping forward, dropping her nurse’s persona and morphing straight into gossip girl. “Have you been inside her cottage?”
“Heidi, I thought we weren’t sharing here?” he teased.
“Oh God, this is gold. Daisy doesn’t let anyone in, metaphorically or physically. This makes me really happy. Please don’t fuck this up. You were awful to her in school. ”
“Why has everyone got a long memory? It was a long time ago,” Nate said, flinging his arms out.
“People always remember their bullies, even when they don’t want to,” Heidi said, her tone turning serious.
It was then it dawned on him what Daisy might have been suppressing.
“Right. Gotcha. You have my word. I have nothing but good intentions towards Daisy,” he promised.
“Good. I want to see her happy.”
“Office. Location,” he bit out.
“Oh right, yes.”
Heidi pulled a piece of paper from the photocopier and drew him a map. Grinning, he took it from her, stuffed it into his pocket and marched out of the doctor’s surgery. He was a free man to hold Daisy tightly.
He was not going to let go.