Chapter Twenty-Six
S tacy stumbled across the stones to reach the group, who apart from her and Rico were the only people in sight. The man laid the child down and slapped his cheeks.
Rico shouted something in Swiss German, pulling Stacy forward. The man replied, then straightened up to let Stacy see the child. She dropped to her knees beside the still little body. The little boy must have been about four, and he was fully dressed and soaking wet. Oh God, no – he’d been in the water. Wet curls were plastered over his forehead, his lips were blue, and this beach with its stones the size of tennis balls and larger wasn’t a good place to carry out CPR.
Rico bent to speak to her. ‘I said you’re a nurse. He’s not breathing.’
She could see that. Stacy felt for a pulse. Nothing. Behind her, the man and one of the women were huddled together with the younger child now, the woman crying and the man frozen-faced and white. They must be the parents. God, this was dire. The other woman was about five metres away with the dog, and Rico was on his phone, presumably calling an ambulance, but they didn’t have time to wait. Saving this child was going to be down to her.
Stacy gaped around frantically, and a long stone slab about ten yards away at the water’s edge came into view. She checked the boy’s airway was clear, then blew into his mouth five times. His chest rose and fell, good.
‘Get him over to that slab!’ She was talking to Rico, but the man evidently understood, because he seized the child and ran over, with everyone else following. Once on the slab, Stacy positioned the child, put one hand on his chest and started CPR. She’d done this before, but working in a hospital with a team behind her was a completely different thing to doing it here, on a sloping slab with no equipment. The boy’s chest jerked rhythmically beneath her hand, but he still wasn’t breathing.
The mother was silent now, the other little boy, not much more than a toddler, whimpering in her arms. The other woman produced a towel and started wiping the blood off the smaller boy’s leg, and Stacy glanced up at the dog. It was lying placidly on the stones about ten yards away.
She finished one set of compressions and blew again into the child’s mouth. Still no heartbeat, no sign of life. Hell, no, this couldn’t be happening. Where was the ambulance – but how would it get to them, down here by the lake with no road?
She pumped the boy’s chest again. ‘How long was he in the water?’
Rico started to translate, but the woman answered in almost-perfect English. ‘I don’t know, only a moment. Ben fell and we were helping him, then we saw Elijah was in the lake…’
‘Only a moment’ was enough. Stacy pumped on, and the small chest jerked again and again and again, but no sigh, no cough, came from the boy. She closed her mind to the horror all around her. Please, please, let this child live and be well. She’d been working on him for at least two minutes now; brain cells were dying.
She blew air into the child’s chest, then went back to the compressions. One and two and–
The little boy stirred and coughed, and she pulled him onto his side. His eyelids flickered, and water ran from his mouth and nose as his lips became less blue, and oh, thank you, thank you. He was breathing.
***
Rico’s knees gave way, and he crouched down behind Stacy and the child on the slab, his heart thundering in his chest. The boy coughed again, then his eyelids fluttered. Stacy beckoned the mother forward, and the woman passed the younger child to her husband and knelt beside Stacy.
‘It’s okay, Eli, you had a nasty accident but it’s better now. Just lie still.’
The little boy whimpered. ‘Mama? Papi?’
The father, tears streaming down his face, handed the younger boy to the other woman and knelt beside his son. ‘It’s all right, Eli. Mama and Papi are right here, and the doctor’s coming. You’ll be fine.’
Stacy looked at the other woman. ‘He’s cold. We need some towels or something.’
Rico translated, and she rushed up the beach a few yards and returned with an armful of colourful beach towels. Stacy covered the boy, and showed the mother how to rub his back. Rico perched on a large stone by the water. Thank God Stacy was here, and thank God she was a nurse too.
She met his eyes, her face haggard. ‘We need that ambulance.’
A shout came from further up, and a paramedic on a motorbike appeared. He lurched down the beach, then abandoned the bike and ran up with his bag. Stacy moved back to let him get at the child. The boy’s mother explained what had happened, and the paramedic pulled out his stethoscope.
‘Good strong heartbeat.’
Rico watched as the paramedic ran his hands over the little boy’s chest and limbs, asking if anything else hurt or felt funny. The boy answered ‘no’ to everything, and the paramedic spoke into his radio.
Stacy stood up and moved over to Rico. She was paler than anyone else on the beach now, and he put an arm around her. Imagine if he’d come here alone tonight, like he’d planned to. Would he and these people have managed to resuscitate this little boy? Quite possibly not.
An ambulance lurched along the lake path, and a second paramedic hurried across the beach with a stretcher. The two men lifted their patient onto it, and the boy’s mother came over to Rico and Stacy, tear-filled eyes huge in her face.
‘You saved his life.’ She grabbed Stacy and hugged her hard, then spun round to follow the paramedics and their stretcher back to the van.
Rico stood still, the tension draining out of him as the ambulance bumped back along the lake path before disappearing round the corner. Stacy was motionless beside him, and he ushered her over to the other woman, who had set the smaller boy down beside the dog and was gathering bags and things together. An exchange of names and phone numbers later, he was able to reassure Stacy.
‘She’s a neighbour of that family, and she’ll look after the other kid in the meantime. I gave her my number, and she’ll let us know how Elijah is. Stacy – I don’t know what to say. The mother was right, you saved that kid’s life. Are you okay? What do you want to do now?’
She shook her head. ‘Yes. No. I don’t know. Can we stay here for a bit? Where will they take him?’
‘To the children’s hospital in St Gallen, I expect. Let’s sit down over there.’
He led her back to the slab and they sat looking out over the lake, not speaking. Now and then a silent tear slid down Stacy’s face, and Rico’s heart ached. She was hurting, and all he wanted to do was help her, but he had no idea how.
***
It was a moment of unexpected clarity. She was a nurse. She’d known what to do. And because of that, a little boy was alive tonight. Stacy sat still, sunk in her own thoughts as her heart rate slowed from wild panic to something resembling normal. You always had the biggest reaction after the emergency; she knew that from her time on the thoracic unit. When something happened, you reacted, and it wasn’t until afterwards that all the ‘what if’ and ‘oh hell’ thoughts started. She flexed her fingers, still feeling the little boy’s wet T-shirt under her hand. She’d probably wake up in the night feeling it, too. She rubbed her hands together, and Rico stood up and went to fetch her cardigan, which she’d dropped on the beach.
‘You’re cold. We should go back – I’ll get you a hot drink, huh?’
She forced her legs to work. ‘That sounds good. Thank you.’
Back on the path, she took one last look at the stony beach. The sun was about to vanish, and orange streaked across the sky to be reflected in the water. A normal summer evening, except… The boy and his parents would have arrived at th e hospital now. Elijah would be wearing a hospital gown, and they’d be doing a chest X-ray and checking him over. It could have ended so differently, and this had turned into one of those evenings where your life stopped for a snatch of time, then continued on a different path. She had saved a child.
Stacy’s legs were still shaking as they walked back the way they’d come. Rico wasn’t talking, but that was good. She didn’t have the strength to deal with words yet. More people were on the path now, enjoying a walk in the coolness of a perfect summer evening. Back at Lakeside, the terrace was full of chattering groups, most of them with drinks. Saturday night, and good business for the hotel. Rico would be pleased.
Emily and Alan were nowhere to be seen, and Rico led her inside. ‘Let’s grab a table in the restaurant. It won’t be busy in there. Hot chocolate?’
‘Please.’ Stacy sat down at a table overlooking the side garden. Rico vanished into the kitchen, and she pulled out a tissue and blotted her face. She must look a real fright, but what did that matter? The little boy was alive. Elijah. Stacy took a deep, shaky breath.
Rico came back with two mugs, and sat down opposite. ‘You must be shattered. Do you want to talk about it?’
She shrugged. ‘Are they local, do you know? That family?’
‘I think they must be. I’m almost sure he’s one of the runners I sometimes come across when I’m out jogging. Hopefully we’ll hear news of the kid pretty soon. You were amazing back there, Stacy.’
She sniffed, then sipped her chocolate, and look – her hands had stopped shaking. Rico was leaning across the table, his eyes fixed on hers, and oh, no, his face. Em had been right; he liked her way too much. He was a lovely guy, but this was absolutely not what she needed in her life at the moment. It was bad enough when David and her feelings about him were all she had to cope with.
Her eyes strayed to the third finger of her left hand. It felt – and looked – bare without her engagement ring, and hell, he’d noticed it wasn’t there because he was looking positively empathetic now. This was what you called wearing your heart on your sleeve… Rico’s hand was twitching on the table, and if he made one move to touch her, she would collapse into a gibbering mess.
His phone buzzed, and he whipped it out and spoke German for a couple of minutes. Stacy sat straighter. Was this news about the little boy? Now her heart was thundering away all over again. But it must be good news; Rico was smiling.
He ended the call and grinned at her.
‘That was the family’s neighbour. She’s heard from Elijah’s mum and dad, and he’s out of danger. The X-ray was clear, though they’re keeping him in for observation. She’ll let us know how he gets on. Good news, huh?’
Stacy managed to smile back. ‘That’s brilliant, I’m so glad. He’ll be running around again in no time, I’m sure. Kids bounce back quickly.’
‘I guess so.’ Rico leaned back and cupped both hands around his mug. His eyes flicked towards her left hand. ‘You’re not wearing your ring?’
Stacy bowed her head. It was nothing to do with him, but she should answer. ‘David and I are having a temporary break. We’re still engaged, but we need to work out separately what we want to do for the next couple of years, then we’ll see where we have to compromise. I shouldn’t have taken it off.’
‘I – I hope things work out for you.’
Regret prickled into Stacy’s mind. He was so nice. If they were living in a parallel universe with no David, she and Rico might have had a future, but they weren’t, and they didn’t.
And thinking about David was making a few things a whole lot clearer. She’d made a difference tonight. It was important to make a difference in the world, to help people. Maybe David had been right all along. In a big city hospital, she could make a difference every day.
She’d need to have a good long think about what to do next.