Work always helped, she thought. After Clive had left, work had been her healing potion. It had stopped her thinking, analysing, asking ‘what if?’ And she’d discovered that if you worked hard enough, you fell into bed dog-tired and slept, instead of lying awake, thinking all the same things you’d been thinking during the day.

‘Flattening of the cheek can be obscured by swelling—’

‘It isn’t that swollen yet. It only happened half an hour ago, and her mum put an ice pack on it immediately. I can’t feel any defect to the orbit, and she can open and close her mouth without difficulty.’

‘It sounds as though you’re confident with your assessment.’ His long fingers toyed with the pen on his desk. ‘Why do you need me?’

‘Because the mother is so, so worried. I thought some reassurance from you might help. I know what it’s like to be a panicking mother.’

‘Who is the patient?’

‘Parsons?’

Ryan stood up. ‘Lily Parsons? That explains why you have a worried mother in your room. Little Lily had a nasty accident a couple of years ago—almost died. She fell in deep water in the quay and a boat propeller caught her artery.’

‘Oh, no—’ Jenna lifted her hand to her throat, horrified by the image his words created. ‘How did she survive that?’

‘My predecessor, Connor McNeil—Logan’s cousin—was ex-army. Trauma was his speciality, otherwise I doubt Lily would be with us today. She went into respiratory arrest, lost so much blood—’

‘Were you here?’

‘No. It was just before I arrived, but Connor’s rescue has gone down in island folklore. Apparently Jayne totally flipped. She witnessed the whole thing—blamed herself for the fact that Lily had fallen in. The child was watching the fish, and a crowd of tourists queuing for the ferry bumped into her and she lost her balance.’

‘Poor Jayne!’ To stop herself looking at his mouth, Jenna walked back towards the door. ‘All the more reason why you should reassure her.’

Without arguing, Ryan followed her into the room, charmed Jayne, made Lily laugh, and then checked the child’s eye with a thoroughness that would have satisfied the most hyper-anxious mother.

Jenna watched, wondering why someone with his own trauma skills would give up a glittering career to bury himself on Glenmore.

Something must have happened.

Life, she thought, had a way of doling out grim surprises.