Sleigh Ride With The Single Dad. Alison Roberts

a horror movie, in fact.

      Grace Forbes, in her crisp, clean set of scrubs—her stethoscope slung around her neck along with the lanyard holding her new Manhattan Mercy ID card—walking towards Charles Davenport who, as chief of Emergency Services, was about to give her an official welcome to her new job.

      An enormous clap of thunder rolled overhead from a storm that had to be directly on top of central New York and big enough for the sound to carry into every corner of this huge building.

      And then the lights went out.

      Unexpectedly, the moment Grace had been bracing herself for became an anti-climax. It was no longer important that this was the first time in more than a decade that her path was about to cross with that of the man who’d rocked her world back in the days of Harvard Medical School. Taking control of a potential crisis in a crowded emergency room was the only thing that mattered.

      In the brief, shocked silence that followed both the clap of thunder, a terrified scream from a child and the startling contrast of a virtually windowless area bathed in bright, neon lighting being transformed instantly into the shadowed gloom of a deep cave, Charles Davenport did exactly that.

      ‘It’s just a power outage, folks.’ He raised his voice but still sounded calm. ‘Stay where you are. The emergency generators will kick in any minute.’

      Torch apps on mobile phones flickered on like stars appearing in a night sky and beams of light began to sweep the area as people tried to see what was going on. The noise level rose and rapidly got louder and louder. Telephones were ringing against the backdrop of the buzz of agitated conversations. Alarms sounded to warn of the power disruption to medical equipment. Staff, including the administrative clerks from the waiting area, triage nurses and technicians were moving towards the central desk to await instructions and their movements triggered shouts from people desperate for attention.

      ‘Hey, come back...where are you going?’

      ‘Help...I need help.’

      ‘Nurse...over here...please?’

      ‘I’m scared, Mommy...I want to go home...’

      Grace stayed where she was, her gaze fixed on Charles. The dramatic change in the lighting had softened the differences that time had inevitably produced and, for a heartbeat, he looked exactly as he had that night. Exactly like the haunting figure that had walked through her mind and her heart so often when sleep had opened portals to another time.

      Tall and commanding. Caring enough to come after her and find out what was wrong so he could do something about making it better...

      Which was pretty much what he was doing right now. She could see him assessing the situation and dealing with the most urgent priorities, even as he took in information that was coming at him from numerous directions.

      ‘Miranda—check any alarms coming from cardiac monitors.’

      ‘Get ready to put us on bypass for incoming patients. If we don’t get power back on fast, we’ll have a problem.’

      ‘Put the trauma team on standby. If this outage is widespread, we could be in for a spate of accidents.’

      Sure enough, people manning the telephones and radio links with the ambulance service were already taking calls.

      ‘Traffic lights out at an intersection on Riverside Drive. Multi-vehicle pile-up. Fire service called for trapped patients. Cyclist versus truck incoming, stat.’

      ‘Fall down stairs only two blocks away. Possible spinal injury. ETA two minutes.’

      ‘Estates need to talk to you, Dr Davenport. Apparently there’s some issue with the generators and they’re prioritising Theatres and ICU...’

      Charles nodded tersely and began issuing orders rapidly. Staff dispersed swiftly to cover designated areas and calm patients. A technician was dispatched to find extra batteries that might be needed for backup for equipment like portable ultrasound and X-ray machines. Flashlights were found and given to orderlies, security personnel and even patients’ relatives to hold. Finally, Charles had an instruction specifically directed to Grace.

      ‘Come with me,’ he said. ‘I need someone to head the trauma team if I have to troubleshoot other stuff.’ He noticed heads turning in his direction. ‘This is Dr Grace Forbes,’ he announced briskly. ‘Old colleague of mine who’s come from running her own emergency department in outback Australia. She probably feels right at home in primitive conditions like this.’

      A smile or two flashed in Grace’s direction as her new workmates rushed past to follow their own orders. The smile Charles gave her was distinctly wry. Because of the unusual situation she was being thrown into? Or was it because he knew that describing her as an old colleague was stretching the truth more than a little? It was true that she and Charles had worked in the same hospital more than once in that final year of medical school but their real relationship had been that of fierce but amicable rivals for the position of being the top student of their year. The fact that Charles knew where she’d been recently, when he hadn’t been present for the interview she’d had for this job, was another indication that he was on top of his position of being head of this department. No wonder he’d won that final battle of the marks, even though it had only been by a small margin.

      ‘Welcome to Manhattan Mercy, Grace... Trauma One is this way...’

      * * *

      It was hardly the best way to welcome a new member of staff but maybe it was better this way, with so many things to think about that Charles couldn’t allow any flashes of memory to do more than float past the edges of his conscious mind.

      He hadn’t seen Grace since he’d noticed her in the audience when he’d walked onto the stage to accept the trophy for being the top student of their graduation party from medical school.

      He hadn’t spoken to her since...since that night...

      ‘Warn people that waiting times are going to go through the roof for anything non-urgent,’ he told the senior member of the administrative team as he passed her. ‘But don’t push them out the door. By the sound of this storm, it’s not safe out there.’

      A flicker in the ambient light filtering into the department suggested a flash of lightning outside and another roll of thunder could be heard only a second later so they were still right underneath it. Fingers crossed that the worst of the storm would cross the central city quickly but how long would it be before the power disruption was sorted? And how many problems would it cause?

      The weather alone would give them a huge spike in traffic accidents. A sudden plunge into darkness could cause all sorts of trauma like that fall down stairs already on its way. And what about the people on home oxygen who could find themselves in severe respiratory distress with the power outage cutting off their support? They needed to be ready for anything in the ER and he needed to clear space for the potential battleground of dodging unexpected missiles of incoming cases and whatever ambush could be in store with equipment that might not be functioning until power came back on.

      He hadn’t faced a challenge like this for a long time but he had learned way back how to multi-task when the proverbial was hitting the fan and Charles knew he could function effectively on different levels at the same time.

      Like knowing which patients could be sidelined for observation well away from centre-stage and directing staff members to transfer them as he passed their ed cubicles at the same time as fending off a request from a television crew who happened to be in the area and wanted to cover the fallout from what was apparently a record-breaking storm.

      ‘Keep them out of here,’ he growled. ‘We’re going to have more than enough to deal with.’

      It never took long for the media to get their teeth into something, did it? Memories of how much damage had been done to his own family all those years ago had left Charles with a mistrust bordering on paranoia. It was a time of his life he had no desire to revisit so it was perhaps unfortunate that the arrival of Grace Forbes in his department had