Something in the Air (The Skylarks), page 53
SOMETHING IN THE AIR
HELEN ROLFE
For my readers, thank you for flying with me in this new series!
CONTENTS
Cast of Characters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
More from Helen Rolfe
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Also by Helen Rolfe
The Shelf Care Club
About Boldwood Books
CAST OF CHARACTERS
The Whistlestop River Air Ambulance (The Skylarks)
Red team
Maya – pilot
Noah – critical care paramedic
Bess – critical care paramedic
Blue team
Vik – pilot
Kate – critical care paramedic
Brad – critical care paramedic
Other
Frank – engineer
Hudson – patient and family liaison nurse
Paige – patient and family liaison nurse
Nadia – operational support officer
The Whistlestop River Freewheelers
Rita
Dorothy
Alan
Mick
1
The Skylarks huddled together in the kitchen at the Whistlestop River Air Ambulance base. Beyond the window sat Hilda, their trusty helicopter, ready and waiting on the helipad for the next job. The evening crew had arrived to take over from those who had been on the day shift and as the crews overlapped, they gathered to celebrate patient and family liaison nurse Hudson’s forty-sixth birthday.
Nadia lit the candles on the decadent chocolate drip cake.
‘Did you seriously make this?’ Hudson asked. ‘It’s… well, I’m speechless.’
Maya, pilot in the red team, laughed. ‘First time for everything.’
‘Yes, I made it.’ Nadia was happy with the result too. She’d assembled four layers of rich chocolate sponge filled with chocolate cream as well as pieces of dark and white chocolate. A glossy chocolate ganache covered the sponge layers topped with white and dark chocolate curls.
‘It looks and smells divine,’ said Maya.
‘I love baking.’ Nadia was forever making things for the two crews – the red and the blue teams – and what was known as the wider team which encompassed anyone who was involved with the Whistlestop River Air Ambulance. ‘It’s no big deal.’
‘No big deal?’ Hudson’s eyebrows rose at the sight of the impressive cake. She’d hidden it away so he had had no idea what was coming until he’d been ushered into the kitchen this afternoon.
‘Just blow out the candles already!’ Bess hollered. She, like everyone else, was probably desperate to try a slice.
Together the crews sang such a loud rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ that Nadia almost had to cover her ears, especially when someone added in a high-pitched whistle at the end as Hudson blew out the candles.
‘What did you wish for?’ Nadia asked him.
‘Now that would be telling.’
She removed the four and the six from the top of the cake and set them aside. ‘I cheated a bit with those,’ she said of the two numerals.
‘Would’ve been a fire hazard with forty-six little candles. Much safer this way. And it looks—’
The big red phone at the airbase rang out announcing a job, putting a stop to the celebrations. The blue team leapt into action at the call from the HEMS – Helicopter Emergency Services – desk and because it was a local job at which pilot Vik knew there was no great place to land, the crew decided to take the rapid response vehicle parked out front instead.
Once the blue team, apart from Vik, who wasn’t needed, had all set off, Nadia picked up the cake knife to do the honours – the blue team would get plenty when they were back; she’d made enough for everyone to have a couple of slices – and they all knew the score. Jobs could take anything from under an hour to hours on end and sometimes the crew might have back-to-back jobs meaning even more time away from base.
And nobody else wanted to wait for cake for that long.
Nadia was about to cut into the sponge layers when the front doorbell of the airbase building sounded. ‘I’ll go and get that,’ she said, pausing. As the operational support officer, her job was to ensure the smooth running of The Skylarks’ operations, so it was more than likely for her. She was expecting a delivery of office supplies.
She handed the knife to Bess to take over, and went through to the reception area. The main door was usually unlocked but not as day approached evening and Nadia prepared to go home. She wasn’t subject to shifts like the two crews; she did a regular day, although more often than not she stayed back, doing unpaid overtime. It was more than a job to her; it was a joy to be a part of, and there was always so much to do. Plus, The Skylarks had always felt like family.
When Nadia walked through to reception, she expected someone to be hovering at the door but all she could see was a sizeable cardboard box left in front of it.
‘Do you think that’s for me?’ Hudson had followed her from the kitchen. ‘Could be a nice birthday gift.’ He rubbed his palms together.
Nadia retrieved the bunch of keys from the desk drawer and picked through for the correct one. ‘I hate to disappoint you, but I’m expecting a delivery of stationery – Post-its, notepads, a few manilla folders.’
‘Best birthday gifts ever.’
She laughed. He’d already got some great gifts from the team; he was popular. Especially with her. He was kind, he was a family man, she liked him more than she should. This morning, she’d presented him with a box of chocolate brownies, but he wouldn’t read too much into it because she’d done the same for plenty of other people she worked with. And so her feelings for him stayed buried and that was the best thing all round.
‘Did your kids give you something special?’
Hudson’s face lit up the way it always did when he talked about his two children. ‘Carys did me a handprint – her grandad may have helped – and Beau gave me a new thermal cup for my coffee.’
‘So cute – Carys, I mean, and that’s a nice gift from Beau. He knows you like your coffee.’
‘I certainly do. I’ll have a coffee with one of those brownies later on, if I can fit it in after the cake, and the kids will help me out.’
She and Hudson had always got on, ever since he’d joined The Skylarks as one of their patient and family liaison officers over five years ago. They’d always been able to talk. In fact, it was that way with the whole team: The Skylarks, who took to the air to save lives; Hudson and Paige, who worked as patient and family liaison nurses; Frank the engineer; and the Whistlestop River Freewheelers who were volunteer riders, drivers, and call handlers, and were responsible for delivering bloods and essential supplies for the air ambulance as well as other medical establishments. And it was good to see Hudson happy today. Lately, she’d got the feeling there was something going on with him that he hadn’t yet shared and whatever it was shrouded him with a fog of sadness and gave the impression that he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Nadia found the correct key and went to unlock the door. She was single, but Hudson wasn’t, and lately the energy between them had contained a spark of something she wouldn’t want to admit to. At least not to anyone but herself. She’d never be the one to destroy a relationship, especially when there were children involved. She’d been on the receiving end and would never be that person. But what made it tough was how Hudson seemed to act around her, as if he too wanted more, more than he could have and more than she could ever give.
When Nadia opened up the front door to the airbase headquarters, their conversation stalled completely.
They both stared down at the cardboard box.
‘Did it…?’ Hudson began.
‘It did… it moved.’
‘I don’t think it’s filled with Post-its.’
Hudson crouched down and pulled back the unsealed flaps as Nadia knelt down beside him, her blonde bobbed hair blowing across her face in the spring winds until she hooked it behind her ears.
Neither of them could immediately find the words to convey what they were looking at.
This morning, Nadia had woken from a dream and promptly decided it had been a nightmare. It had left her distressed, spent. Because in the dream, she’d been given the one thing she’d always wanted, but then it had been cruelly severed away from her when she’d woken up. It had felt so real, to have that gift, that one thing.
And now here it was again. Right in front of her.
But this was no dream. This was reality.
There was a baby in a cardboard box, swaddled in a blanket and abandoned, left here at the door to the airbase.
2
‘What have you got over there?’ Maya came into reception where Nadia and Hudson were still frozen in place at the front door.
When Maya stepped closer, the piece of cake she had in a serviette didn’t make it any closer to her mouth. ‘Is that…’
Hudson scooped the baby up into his arms. Nadia couldn’t take her eyes off the little one, who looked remarkably content despite being left outside in a box.
‘A baby,’ breathed Nadia as she held out her arms to take the infant from Hudson.
Maya gently pulled the edge of the soft blanket so she could see the baby’s face properly. ‘Don’t tell me this precious thing was in the box.’
‘Left here, yes. She was abandoned.’ At least she presumed it was a girl given the pink blanket and the same-coloured Babygro her little body was dressed in.
‘How could anyone do that?’ Maya said softly.
By this time, paramedic Bess had come through to see what was going on. ‘My goodness, did someone leave this little one here?’
‘In the cardboard box.’ It pained Nadia to repeat it, it was so cruel an action.
Bess went over to look inside the box and pulled out a piece of paper. She unfolded it and showed it to the others. ‘Her name is Lena.’ The four letters were written clearly, carefully.
Nadia looked down at the little girl again. ‘Hello, Lena.’ Somehow it made it better that the baby had a name. ‘How about I check you over quickly, make sure you’re okay?’
Hudson headed over to the reception desk. ‘I’ll call for a road ambulance.’
Nadia’s job with The Skylarks was predominantly an admin role but one which entailed a lot of medical knowledge and experience, both of which she’d gained working as a nurse prior to coming to Whistlestop River. She was more than qualified to assess Lena and ensure the infant was stable to transport and so she headed to the office where she laid the baby on the top of the table so she could check her over before the ambulance arrived. She wanted to be sure they weren’t dealing with a baby with immediate health concerns and this became more than simply transporting an abandoned infant.
When Lena began to grizzle, Nadia lifted her into her arms again. ‘You’re doing just fine, aren’t you, little one?’ She held her warm body against her. The bright lights probably hadn’t helped to settle Lena; the undressing had probably made her aware that something wasn’t quite right. It might be spring but the weather in late May still allowed a chill to snake its way through the airbase in the late afternoon.
Hudson met her on her way back to reception. ‘The wait for a road ambulance is too long. I’ve called the hospital and notified them of the situation, let them know we’ll be on our way soon. Bess and Noah are still here and are happy to do overtime but the rapid response vehicle is out. So Vik will take Hilda.’
Vik headed for the internal door to the hangar. ‘Flight conditions are good; Maya and I went through them at handover.’ He looked at Lena. ‘We don’t want to take any chances with an infant this young. I’ll start Hilda up, see you out there.’
Bess held out her arms. ‘Let me take the baby to the aircraft.’
But Nadia didn’t want to let Lena go. ‘I’m coming with you.’
‘There’s no need.’ Bess was used to getting out of the airbase pronto, and as they talked, she was already heading in the same direction as Vik had gone.
‘There’s room for me; weight-wise, we’re set.’ Nadia knew how it worked. The aircraft had strict rules every time it took to the skies and one of those rules was to do with calculating fuel and how much weight they were carrying on board. The patient this time wasn’t an adult, not even a teen, but a baby that by her estimate couldn’t weigh more than a few kilograms.
‘I’ll see you both out there.’ Noah, the other critical care paramedic with the red team, put his helmet and jacket on ready for the mission, because he’d need to be on board should the crew get called to another job after they transported the baby. It didn’t matter to him or Bess that they’d finished their shift; they went above and beyond the call of duty whenever it was required. He’d already retrieved the bloods and the drugs that weren’t always kept on the aircraft, and he set off towards the helicopter.
Bess shrugged on her heavy-duty jacket, picked up her helmet and held out her arms again. ‘Give her to me while you put the spare helmet and jacket on.’
Lena seemed happy enough to be passed between them.
Hudson appeared in the hangar next. ‘How is she doing? It’s a good job we answered that door when we did.’
‘Ain’t that the truth,’ said Bess.
Nadia gave her summation to Hudson, who would most likely write the report as she put her arm into the other sleeve of the jacket. ‘Her nappy wasn’t full but not dry either so she seems hydrated. There are no obvious marks on her torso or elsewhere; she’s content. It seems as though she’s been well looked after.’ Her words felt clinical but looking at Lena, this felt like anything but.
The sound of the aircraft’s blades whipping against the air on the helipad grew louder as if to remind them of their mission.
Hudson reached for the spare helmet. They all knew the score with flying in the air ambulance even if you weren’t part of the crew that regularly took to the skies. It was safety first. He put it on Nadia’s head, fastened the strap beneath her chin. She looked into his eyes, closer in proximity than they’d ever been before.
And then the moment was over as she took Lena from Bess and they headed out towards the aircraft.
Hudson walked alongside Bess and Nadia, shouting over the din of the helicopter. ‘I’ll take a look outside, all around the airbase and surrounding fields. Whoever left her might not have got far after they rang the bell.’
‘Okay.’ The downwash from Hilda took Nadia’s words away and she held Lena, who had started to grizzle, closer to her chest as they climbed into the aircraft.
Noah slid the side door to the helicopter shut. He and Nadia were sitting in the back with the baby and would communicate with Bess and Maya in the front via the headsets on their helmets.
With Lena secure in her special seat and wearing a tiny pair of ear defenders to protect her sensitive ears, Noah gave the go-ahead that they were ready.
‘Clear on the left,’ came Bess’s voice over the headset.
‘All clear for take-off,’ Vik confirmed.
Lena began to scream the second Hilda lifted into the air. Nadia longed to take her in her arms but she was in the safest place possible so instead, she reached over and placed a hand against Lena’s chest, just softly, giving her the assurance that she wasn’t alone any more; someone was here for her.
The journey wasn’t a long one. Vik announced an expected arrival time of three minutes almost as soon as they were up in the skies and flying over the beautiful town of Whistlestop River, the town Nadia had made her home in for the last eight years. But she was too preoccupied watching Lena, shushing her even though the baby wouldn’t be able to hear the soothing sounds, to look out of the window and appreciate the river below, winding, curving, glistening in the sunshine.
She wondered whether Hudson had found anyone or anything outside the airbase: perhaps a hint as to who had left the box there. But there hadn’t been an update over the radio; she expected whoever was responsible had fled.
At first, Nadia had wondered who could ever do such a thing, but as Hilda soared through the skies en route to the hospital, her thoughts turned to concern for the person – a mother, most likely, in a highly emotional state, perhaps with physical or mental health issues. The baby couldn’t be more than a week or two old but thankfully, she appeared remarkably unscathed.
As soon as they touched down on the hospital’s helipad, Nadia told Bess and Noah that she’d take it from here. ‘You will be available for another job should you get a call or you can all head back to base. You’ve already done a full shift.’
A nurse met them and ushered them inside the lift that took them down to the appropriate floor. They followed the winding labyrinth of the hospital until they came to paediatrics, all the while Lena nestled contentedly in Nadia’s arms.
Nadia had known this baby less than an hour and already she felt attached, like she never wanted to let her go.
