Read Online The Doctor's Proposal by Marion Lennox - Free Book Online Page A

leukaemia , and Susie winced.
    â€˜I’m sorry. I don’t want to scare you. But we need to get out there and see.’
    â€˜But you’re pregnant, lass,’ Angus said, looking at her with real concern. His old eyes misted with emotion. ‘Pregnant with Rory’s child.’
    â€˜And Rory wouldn’t thank me if I just lay here while his Uncle Angus’s pumpkin rotted,’ she retorted. ‘Kirsty, you have to help.’
    â€˜And you,’ Angus said, turning and poking Jake in the midriff. ‘You helped me come down to meet my new niece without so much as a jacket and Wellingtons. They’re packed away in the back of my wardrobe. Get them for me, there’s a good chap.’
    â€˜Yes, sir,’ Jake said—and grinned.
    Ten minutes later Jake and Kirsty were standing at the back door, onlookers to the main medical question of the day. Which was why Spike wasn’t at his best.
    The patient in question was a vast grey-green pumpkin. Susie was balancing on her crutches, trying not to wobble as she examined him from every angle, and Angus had pushed his oxygen cylinder onto its side so he could use it as a seat.
    â€˜Um…do we or do we not have a miracle happening here?’ Jake asked, and Kirsty glared at him, as if by saying it he could jinx it.
    â€˜Don’t even think it. Just hold your breath, hold your tongue and cross everything you possess.’
    â€˜Susie’s weight-bearing is better than I thought.’
    â€˜I told you yesterday. She’s weight-bearing but unsteady and she won’t practise. The ground here’s so soft and squishy, though, she’s being forced to use her legs.’
    â€˜Praise be,’ he said softly. ‘And…you said Susie’s a landscape gardener?’
    â€˜That’s right.’
    â€˜So Angus has a niece by marriage, pregnant with Rory’s child, who shares his passion for gardening. A niece who needs accommodation for a few weeks.’
    â€˜You’re going too fast,’ she told him, and he raised his brows.
    â€˜Am I? Tell me you’re not looking out at your sister and thinking this might work.’
    â€˜It’s too soon to tell.’
    â€˜Yesterday you had a sister who was non-responsive and I had a patient who wanted to die. I don’t see him refusing oxygen now.’
    â€˜He needs the tank for a garden seat,’ she said, but grinned. ‘OK, Dr Cameron, I concede you’ve done very well so far.’
    â€˜Most Australian doctors know enough to prescribe pumpkins for advanced pulmonary failure and severe depression,’ he said, smiling in return. ‘Hasn’t that reached the States as standard practice yet?’
    She choked on a bubble of laughter, and then looked out at Susie balancing precariously over the pumpkin but not even thinking about how wobbly her legs were, and thought, This is great. This could just work.
    â€˜Hey, Angus, I’d arranged to take you to the nursing home this morning,’ Jake called, and the two pumpkin inspectors turned with identical expressions of confusion.
    â€˜Nursing home?’ Angus said—and then he remembered and his face fell. ‘Oh, aye. That’s right.’ He turned to Susie as if explaining. ‘I agreed to go.’
    â€˜Why are you going to a nursing home?’ Susie asked in astonishment, and he shook his head, defeat written all over him.
    â€˜It’s time, lass. I can’t keep on here. The doc is calling on me twice a day as it is, and he can’t keep doing that indefinitely.’
    â€˜Angus has advanced pulmonary fibrosis,’ Jake said gravely. ‘He can’t manage here alone any more.’
    There was a moment’s silence. ‘Pulmonary fibrosis…does that mean you’re dying?’ Susie demanded, her already pale face blanching still further.
    â€˜It doesn’t matter,’ Angus said uneasily. ‘We all go some