A World of Romances Ii

By Helen Hewitt

Soul-Searching Years

Elisa Harris is reflecting on her life before she met her husband. She lost her mother at an early age, and her father expected her to stay on the farm and continue as her mother did. Elisa decides to leave the security of her family farm and start a new life in the city of Sydney.

Elisa meets a young man called Duncan, whom she becomes very fond of. Duncan asks her to marry him, and Elisa accepts. Her marriage is cut short by the death of her husband. Elisa deals with her loss and concentrates on a career in nursing. Some years after this event, fate steps in. From the first moment our heroine and hero meet, there is electricity there that both Elisa and Terry cannot deny.

Both Elisa and Terry show how two people come to depend on and trust each other under difficult and adventurous circumstances.


Mystical Magical Heart

Join this young girl Nance in her magical and mysterious journey as evildoings descended upon her family. She is thrust into a life of Magick and witchcraft knowing only too well that it may be her downfall in the end.

She starts off with her younger sister by her side, helping her to learn the ways of White Magick but ends up being paired with our hero to save the day. Our heroine and hero go through several changes in their lives not knowing where it will end or how it will end.

They are faced with dangers from Black Magick and find that only when united together can they hope to vanquish this evil that has been destroying the lives of many people.


Lost and Found

Ellen finds herself with a mixture of feelings about her health condition and is embarking on a journey to moderate her life after her divorce. Her thoughts and body are in turmoil, undergoing many changes because of her health.

Feeling like she is all alone in this turmoil, she leaves her family and begins her journey to find out where her life is going and if it is worth holding on to. Along the way, she meets the hero of our story. Is he her life negotiator, or is he is her lifeline to happiness?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Feb 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796000627

Helen Hewitt

I was born in Scotland. My family and I immigrated to Australia in the late 1960’s. My love of writing began in Scotland and has flourished through the years to the point of wanting to publish some of my manuscripts. Being born a middle child with two older and two younger siblings to contend with, my alone time was spent writing stories about fictitious circumstances that I would like to find myself in. Now retired and a Grandmother of four boys I decided that I would take my writing to the next level and see where this path takes me.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Sitting up in bed, I looked at the man who lay beside me. He had brought me here and I could never have done it without him. I reached over and ran my fingers down his chest. He opened his eyes and smiled up at me taking hold of my hand and pulling me towards him. He rolled over until I was beneath his muscular body; he kissed me, and we made love with the moonlight streaming through the balcony doors and the sound of the waves hitting the shore. After our lovemaking, I watched him as he rose and stood at the balcony. I followed him and stood against the balcony door and we looked out over the River Water together.

He took my breath away just with the sound of his voice, just as he had done when we first met in Sydney. We had been through such a lot together since our first meeting. My mind wandered back to our first touch, our first kiss: I had changed a lot since those days back on the family farm. It still amazes me how fate itself can change your life so completely.

Being the eldest girl in the family when my Mother passed away, I was expected to run the family home just as my she had done but my heart and mind were never agreeing on this subject as I felt my life was meant to be spent somewhere else other than on the family farm. My mother had told me stories of her homeland and I longed to reach into her world back there and enjoy some of the things that she so often mentioned. By the time my eighteenth birthday arrived, I had decided to leave the safety of my family and friends and take my chances in what my mother used to call the ‘big beautiful city’.

My Father and my siblings were not very keen on me leaving but I felt that this little black duck had places to go and things to see and my mind was made up to do just that. I left Timmsvale and promised that I would write every single week and come home every chance I got. The bus picked me up, I watched as my family, and the farm life that I was so used to disappear in a cloud of dust. I was about to start my new life and make my mark in this wide wonderful world.

Being a country girl at heart: A trip to the big Apple (Sydney) was such a daunting experience and it took me a few months to settle in. I had worked in a few places since arriving in Sydney and I could not find satisfaction in any of them. My latest job was PA to the Managing Director of a University. One of my daily routines was to distribute the timetable for the lecturers at the University. I met a person who was a part time lecturer and we frequently met for lunch whenever he was at the University. This friendship blossomed and I respected him immensely. After a courtship of about six months, we found that we had very strong feelings for each other and he asked me to marry him. His name was Duncan McIntyre. We were married, and I thought that would be the end of my life as a single person and that I would now raise a family of my own and become a boring homemaker. I had known that this would eventually happen but I still had the feeling that I had not done everything that I wanted to do in my life.

Duncan and I decided to go to Scotland for our honeymoon as both our parents came from there and they always talked about ‘Bonnie Scotland’. It was in a town called Caithness that I met a group of people who would change the direction of my life from where it was now heading.

Some people whom we met in Caithness were friends of my parents. They were all extremely generous people wanting us to stay with them while we were there. Duncan and I stayed a few days with a woman called Alexis who was an old friend of my Mothers. She was small in stature but on occasions reminded me of my Mother, which I thought was rather strange. My mother had never talked much of her family in Scotland and I presumed that her family may have passed away, this would explain her not every discussing them with us. Alexis told me of times when she and my mother put on their family tartan and their pumps and they would dance their heart out at the Highland Gathering. I remembered the times that my Mother had shown me how to do the Highland fling, after grabbing a couple of sticks from the garden she would attempt to teach me how to do the sword dance and I would end up on the floor while attempting to copy her steps. My mother had lived in Caithness Tower. I heard of extremely happy times that my mother spent here, and I wondered why she had left such a mystical and wonderful place as Scotland to come out to Australia.

Duncan and I were having a wonderful time in Scotland when he was asked to go on a grouse hunting expedition into the Highlands with some of the other men from the Town. He accepted of course and was well on his way by around 5.00am the next day.

I spent this time with my mother’s friends learning different traditional things that they do daily, which was all very exciting to me. By around six o’clock that night we were all starting to get a little worried about the men. All the women sat around the fire talking and doing anything to keep their minds off the late hour.

At around seven o’clock that evening, a few of the men arrived with the news that there had been an accident. All the women held hands and asked who was injured. The two men looked over in my direction and told me that they were sorry, but it was Duncan and a couple of the other chaps, but Duncan had not survived. I cannot remember much about my reaction but when I woke up, I was in Alexis’s bedroom lying on her bed. Several other women and some of the men were still in the house; I could hear voices in the background arguing. I could hear two male voices quite plainly. These two men were discussing whether Duncan was dead, had someone made sure of this.

After numerous, hot cups of tea to calm me down I made Alexis tell me about the accident. Some of the men were flushing the grouse from the Heather. Since these birds do not fly for a long distance, the men who were waiting had to shoot as soon as the birds rose into the air. Some of the men had turned too sharply and accidentally hit three of their companions. One of those men was Duncan; he had been hit directly in the side of the neck. By the time they got him to the hospital, he was unconscious. The doctors could do nothing for him. I was shocked to say the least and could not think straight about what I was going to do next.

After a couple of days, I thought it would be best if I went back to Australia to be with my family and break the news to Duncan’s family in person. I organized Duncan’s body to be flown back to Australia. I had telephoned Duncan’s parents and asked them to meet me at the airport. This was going to be a difficult time for both his parents and I.

Duncan’s Mother was devastated. Her son was only 23 when he died. It was hard to believe that Duncan and I had just started out as a married couple less than a month ago and now it was over. I tried to put my life back together again and wondered what the future held for me now.

CHAPTER 2

After spending some time with my family in Timmsvale, I decided to go back into the City again enrolling in night school to qualify in a Nursing career. My family could not understand why I would want to go back to the city but I was still searching for my niche in life and I was sure that I would not find it here at the farm. After three years of study, (and I mean study; nothing else) I became qualified in the field of Paediatrics.

I started my new career in Westmead Hospital in Sydney as Head Nurse. I looked after every child as if it was my own and I was feeling terrific. I did enjoy my new career and I thought this was what I was striving for throughout my life. No more did I think of being a homemaker tied to the kitchen sink and cooking meals all day. I had found my true function in life; or so I thought!

There was a very bad accident, which happened on the last day before the start of the school holidays, and it involved a school bus on its way from school at the end of the day. Around thirty children were badly hurt. Every nurse available was called in to help. There were children with bleeding heads, broken legs and arms and a couple of kids were unconscious on arrival. I was the Sister in Charge of the Emergency Room at this stage. The children who were unconscious were taken straight into the examining room on arrival. I took care of one of the little girls who no one had identified, she had blonde hair and was only around six or seven years old. I started checking her for any broken bones, bruising or swelling anywhere. There seemed to be no sign of broken bones but there was a lot of bruising on her body. I left her in the examination room with a nurse checking on her every ten minutes and organized a Doctor to check her over when he was free. I went into the ER to see if I could help with the other children. When I arrived, they were trying to resuscitate a young boy, but unfortunately, he was not responding. There was enough staff in the ER at this stage, so I left and went to help the girls in reception as they were trying to inform parents about their Childs whereabouts. Some of the Mothers went into shock. Altogether, it was a terrible day for the parents, the nurses, and doctors involved.

I talked to some of the children from the accident that day and a couple of them remembered the little girl that I had taken into Recovery, her name was Sylvia, but they could not remember her surname. I went around the ward and then back to reception and there were parents still waiting to see where their child had been taken to.

I caught sight of a man standing at the front desk wearing a grey pin striped suit with a black woollen overcoat over his arm. He was asking the nurse on duty some questions, he turned and looked in my direction and our eyes met for just a second, but that second, was the longest I had ever felt. His blue eyes seemed to be searching my inner soul. I felt confused and lost track of what I was intending to do. One of the girls from reception area tapped me on the shoulder; she asked if I could help them out, as they did not have details on all the children. I shook my head, as if to rid myself of this person’s gaze and endeavoured to help get some information to the waiting parents. I was asking the parents to describe their child to me or give me a name to go by and I would let them know where their child was. I took a set of parents into one of the examining rooms and asked if one of the girls was theirs and they recognized the girl who had a smashed arm and broken leg. There were only a few people left when I returned to the reception area and one of these was the man that I had encountered earlier. I strolled up to the group of people and asked if I could help anyone. Only one person turned and looked at me, the man who had held me in his gaze earlier. He gave me a brilliant smile that lit up his whole face and my day. At that point, I forgot what I was going to say, so he continued the conversation by telling me that he was looking for his daughter who was on the school bus, her name is Sylvia Harris. I was listening to his rather sexy yet soul-disturbing voice when I realized that he was waiting for an answer from me. I asked him if he could describe her to me. Which he did, saying, She is seven years old with blonde hair. I explained to him that we had a girl in the examining room; she was unconscious on arrival and had no identification on her. I asked if he would like to wait until the child’s Mother arrived and he told me that he was separate from his wife and he has full custody of the child. I felt butterflies jumping around in my stomach when he told me this and I tried not to show any emotion while I asked him to follow me so he could check to see if the young girl was his daughter.

The look on his face was heart jolting; there was sympathy, remorse, and anger altogether in his facial expression. He had to hold onto the side of the bed to steady himself, and then he turned and looked at me and nodded his head. I took him outside to the waiting room and we sat down together on the couch. I told him that the Doctors would like to talk to him regarding his daughter’s condition. He insisted that I fill him in right now of any possible outcome for his little girl. I told him that they would probably want to do a few tests on her. She was in no pain as far as we could tell at this stage. I left him in the waiting room with the Doctor talking to him. I went into the ward to check on the other children to make sure they were all comfortable and changed any dressings that needed changing. Then I began to write my notes on the day as my shift was over in about twenty minutes’ time.

As I was leaving the ward, I caught sight of Mr. Harris. He had just finished speaking with the Doctor and looked very distraught. I wandered over to him and asked if he was OK, did he need a taxi to get home? His answer was no, on both accounts. I felt as if Mr Harris needed someone to talk to tonight so I asked him if he would like a coffee. He nodded his head. I turned to go and get one for him. I felt a slight twinge in my arm as if something had given me an electric shock, when I turned; Mr. Harris had his hand on my arm. He asked if I had finished for the day and I nodded my head. He then asked if I would have a coffee outside the hospital with him. I was speechless; I did not know whether it was the sensation that I just had from him touching me, or if I was just surprised that he had asked me that question, so all I could manage was yet another nod of my head. We walked down to the nearest café and ordered some coffee and sandwiches. He asked me questions about his daughter, and I told him that he would be much better talking to the doctor regarding his daughter’s condition. He asked if it would be all right for him to go and see his daughter before driving home tonight and I told him that under the circumstances, yes, but he must only stay for a short while. We wandered back into the hospital where the receptionist informed us where Mr Harris daughter was. Mr Harris walked into the room and very softly said to me, I will just look in and see if she is awake. Sylvia Harris was still in a coma and the nurse informed us that there has been no change in her condition since her admittance earlier. Both Mr Harris and I left the room and made our way to the elevators as it was nearly 8.00pm. We parted company on the ground floor and on leaving, he said he would be returning in the morning to see Sylvia and asked if I would be on duty, my answer was yes and with that, he went to his car and waved goodbye as he drove away.

The next day at the hospital, I looked in on Sylvia Harris to see how she went through the night. There was no change in her condition. I checked her blood pressure, it was normal, her heartbeat was normal. I picked up her hand and rubbed her arm then uncovered her legs and rubbed the calves, then the soles of her feet but there was no response. I tried talking to her and it was just at that moment that her Father arrived. He spoke quietly and asked if everything went well during the night. I told him he did not have to whisper; he should talk normally as it might bring a response from Sylvia; He sat down next to her and took hold of her hand. He spoke to her of what he had done the night before; he put a small teddy bear next to her and told her that he picked this up for her on his way in this morning. I felt as if I was intruding, so I left them alone.

He was still there at 10.30am when I passed the room. I got him a cup of coffee and some sweet biscuits to nibble on, he thanked me and rose from the chair to stretch his legs a little and he asked me what the next step was that we were going to take with Sylvia.

I told him the only thing we could do was keep her legs mobile by massaging them. He told me that the doctor mentioned that they were going to do a brain scan; he asked if he could go with Sylvia when they do this. I told him that it would be better if he got some fresh air by taking a walk outside and he could come back at lunchtime and see if anything had changed for his daughter; the doctors would be in touch with him when the results came through. He mentioned that he was going to hang around the hospital today and if they needed him, he would be in the downstairs café.

The scan result was normal, and I was happy to pass this result on to her Father, who was waiting in Sylvia’s room upon our return. I could tell he was relieved, as his blue eyes sparkled for the first time since I had seen him. It started from the inner corner and spread like sunlight over blue water. I was surprised at myself for even thinking that now. Therefore, I corrected it by addressing the father and talking about what the next step would be for his daughter.

Over the next few days, Sylvia Harris’s Father was there at dawn talking to her and trying to raise any response at all from her. On the Fourth day, he came hurriedly into the nurse’s station and called for me to come and see what Sylvia had just done. I went straight to her bed and Mr Harris spoke to her, after a few seconds, she tried to move her left hand and tried to say something. I lifted her eyelids and there was a response there. I looked at Mr. Harris, nodded my head, and smiled. As I stepped away from Sylvia’s bedside, I was picked up and swung around by Mr. Harris. I gave a little laugh and said it was quite all right. I could tell he was extremely happy that there was a response at last from Sylvia.

Mr. Harris stayed with Sylvia for the rest of the day hoping to get more response from her. I told him that it might be a slow process; he told me that his little girl was a very determined person and when she has decided to show signs of recovery then it would be quicker than I thought. I smiled and he slapped the side of his leg and told me that he was extremely happy that things were looking better for Sylvia. I left Mr Harris with his daughter as he picked up a storybook by the side of the bed and started reading to her.

Around seven o’clock that night my shift was finished. I saw Mr. Harris still by Sylvia’s bedside, so I stopped in to say goodnight. He asked if I would like to come out for coffee with him. I paused and thought it was only coffee, then Mr. Harris suggested that we make it dinner instead of coffee because he wanted to eat and celebrating tonight. I thought, ‘what the hell’! In all my time as a Nurse, I had stuck to the rule not to get involved with any patients or their family. Then I thought to myself that I would make an exception in this case just for tonight, so I agreed. We made our way to the car park and took off in search of a Restaurant that would let the two of us in without a reservation.

CHAPTER 3

I was enjoying Mr. Harris’s company very much and he was in good spirits tonight. We picked a small restaurant on the outskirts of town. We ordered a carafe of house wine and enjoyed a very nice dinner. We talked about Sylvia. Mr. Harris was expecting her to go ahead in leaps and bounds soon as he said she has a very strong grip on life. Mr. Harris asked if I was married, I simply said no, but he said he sensed some regret there and if he was not being too familiar, was I divorced. This took me by surprise. I told him that I was a widow; my husband had died in a hunting accident. Just speaking about it aloud made my eyes fill with tears and he immediately saw this and apologized for his ill manners.

We continued our conversation talking of our brothers, sisters, and things we did when we were younger and the night passed rather pleasantly. It was around 8.30pm when we decided to call it a night and he drove me home and said he would pick me up in the morning as my car was still in the hospital car park and he was going into the Hospital anyway. I agreed and mentioned that I did not have to be in at the hospital until 10.00am. We said goodnight at my front door and I do not know if he felt as awkward as I did. Should I shake hands, or just say goodnight, then turn and go inside.

I found myself lying in bed that night thinking of the company I had just shared. There was that feeling of butterflies flying around in my stomach again and I kept visualizing his sea blue eyes laughing with me and found myself smiling when I should have been thinking of sleep.

I woke early the next morning, so I cleaned up the flat and had just finished when there was a knock on the door. It was Mr. Harris, bright, happy, and very enthusiastic to get to the hospital. We drove there with Mr. Harris telling me how much he enjoyed last night and we would have to do it again sometime. When we arrived at the hospital, it was to find that Sylvia had improved even more through the night.

While Mr. Harris was downstairs making some phone calls, I gave Sylvia her morning sponge bath. While I was doing this, she kept watching me. (She had eyes like her father but not quite as blue) I could feel her muscles tighten up as she tried to pull herself up when I lifted her arms and rolled her over on her side to wash her back. I noticed a slight swelling at the base of her spine and thought; I must mention this to the Doctor on his rounds of the ward.

After discussing the swelling at the base of Sylvia’s spine, the Doctor suggested that we do some more X-rays on her today to see if there was any minor damage to the spine. I told Mr. Harris that it was normal to do follow up X-rays and the hospital would be in touch with him on the phone as he had told us that he had to go to work this afternoon to check on things.

We wheeled Sylvia down to the X-ray unit and I assured her that everything would be fine. This seemed to satisfy her for the moment. On Sylvia’s return from the X-ray Unit, I settled her in her bed for the day. I left her in her room, telling her that her Father would be coming in later today all she had to do was just ring the buzzer if she needed assistance with anything.

The results came back from x-ray and I had the job of breaking the news to her Father. It was not good news; the swelling on her back was a tumour that may have resulted from her fall in the accident. I wondered how I was going to break this news to Mr. Harris. I had never worried about breaking bad news to parents about their child in the past, but I kept thinking that Mr. Harris’s beautiful blue eyes would grow dark with despair and I would feel so bad that I would just want to put my arms around him. Nevertheless, I forced myself to think that he would cope with it, just as any other parent would.

I went in to check on Sylvia and just as I had thought; her Father was there with her and he must have said something amusing because Sylvia was laughing. They both turned when I arrived and smiled over at me. Mr Harris asked if there was any word on the X-rays taken this morning and I said, Not at this early stage and bit my lip for not just saying, yes, not good news." I fussed around the bed for a while checking things were as they should be and then made an excuse to leave them both and went back to the nurse’s station and almost kicked myself for not telling him the results. I told myself that I would tell him before I leave the hospital today.

It was getting near the end of my shift. I was still trying to think of a way to tell Mr. Harris when I heard his voice behind me asking if I would like to have coffee with him after I finished here. The other nurses giggled like schoolchildren then left the station. He started apologizing saying, I just don’t think before opening my mouth. I assured him that there was no damage done and agreed to have coffee with him in about half an hour.

I was walking past Sylvia’s room, I caught Mr Harris saying goodbye to her, they both looked so happy together, and I immediately got this huge lump in my throat and had to turn away from them.

We walked to the car park, he suggested we go in the one car, but I said it would be better not to, as I would need my car the next day, as it was my day off. Mr Harris said, Great, let’s spend the day together and we’ll take a drive and have a picnic near the beach; Sylvia is coming along nicely now. I’ll explain to her that I will see her in the morning, and then I’ll pick you up in the afternoon. I knew then that this was the time to tell him the news. I glanced at him saying, let’s have that coffee and we’ll talk about this idea of yours.

We went to a coffee shop not far from the Hospital, sat down and ordered coffee. Without looking at Mr. Harris, I began folding the napkin on the table and told him, we did get the results of the X-rays today and I’m sorry to say that it is not good news. I looked up at him and saw his eyes change instantly and he waited for me to continue, still folding the napkin, I told him that there was a growth at the base of Sylvia’s spine and the Doctors had ordered that a biopsy be done. I assured him that for a healthy young child the recovery rate is very high and in Sylvia’s case, I would think that her future looked good. I advised him that they have scheduled the biopsy for Friday morning.

I fell silent and waited for his reaction. He spoke very quietly and asked what my thoughts were. I told him that Sylvia was having the feelings of pins and needles in her legs and sometimes she could not feel her limbs and we (the nurses and I) have been rubbing them at night for her and the feeling would go away after a while. He asked why Sylvia had not told him of these feelings in her legs. I told him that she probably did not want him worrying about anything, as children perceive that they are a worry to their parents when they are in hospital and telling them of something else that hurts would just make them worry even more. I assured him that in my experience working with children, this is exactly how they think.

He asked me if the biopsy proved to be Malignant; what is the procedure to correct it. I told him that there would be a series of injections of various drugs and a follow up of Chemotherapy to try to reduce the growth. The Chemotherapy would be over a six-month period and probably radiation therapy treatment in between. If everything went well, they would keep a check on her over the next 5 to 10 years to make sure that the tumour did not return.

Mr. Harris was sitting there stirring his coffee repeatedly