The Doctor's Unexpected Family

by Lilian Darcy

As he watched her covertly, she rubbed at her lower back and frowned. She was around three weeks shy of her due date now. She would be starting three months’ leave from her part-time work in the pathology department at the end of next week, and people had begun to ask with annoying frequency whether they had everything ready for the birth, names picked out, hospital bag packed.

  Josh had settled in well at Ranleigh over the past four weeks, just as he’d settled into the new family he was now a part of. Declan’s parents were arriving next weekend for a two-month visit. When he’d announced to them that he and Caroline were getting married, and he was staying here, they’d told him, ‘We thought about emigrating to Australia, years ago, when you were a baby. Isn’t life odd, that you should end up there anyway?’

  Odd, yes, but very good. Terrifying, sometimes.

  Declan would have said that, yes, he was more than ready for the birth, impatient for it, in fact, but that didn’t mean he liked the look on Caroline’s face right now, or that thoughtful way she massaged her back with one hand.

  ‘Everything OK?’ he asked, taking the tomatoes from her so that she had both hands free. Hearing his tone, Sandie looked even more closely at the pair of them.

  ‘Hmmm, having some interesting sensations,’ Caroline said. ‘Ouch. Bit more interesting than I want.’

  “‘Interesting” is not a medical word, Caroline.’

  ‘It should be.’ She began to breathe quickly, blowing the out-breath from rounded lips.

  There followed another hour that Declan would have wished out of his life if he could. Caroline wasn’t convinced that these were contractions. ‘With Josh, I kept thinking they were, but they weren’t, and then when they really started, oh, boy, did I know it!’

  ‘Are you sure? Shouldn’t we head back into town?’ She’d had a quick and easy birth with Josh, she’d told him, but that was more than twelve years ago.

  Sandie hovered anxiously in the background, wanting to help. Chris and the boys were still down at the river. If it hadn’t been hot, Declan would have been sweating anyway.

  ‘I’m sure they’ll stop soon. It’s not due for three weeks. I’m fine,’ Caroline concluded. ‘Let’s get on with dinner. We’ll eat early and…um…uh…head straight back…actually no, now this is one of the, oh, boy ones. Oh. Oh, dear. Oh.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘This is it,’ she gasped. ‘This is the real kind. I remember now.’

  She leaned over the kitchen table, gripping it hard. Declan felt as if those white-knuckled hands were gripping his own guts. ‘Let’s go, then,’ he said. ‘Let’s get Josh, and go.’

  ‘I’m not sure…’

  ‘You said you were! You just said—!’

  ‘If an ambulance might be a better idea.’

  ‘We’d be nearly to town by the time it could get here.’

  ‘OK. Yes.’ The contraction passed, and she breathed easier.

  ‘I’ll get Josh. Now.’

  Declan hared out of the house. He trusted Sandie to take care of Caroline during the minutes he’d be gone. He met Chris and the boys on their way back, and gasped out an explanation, then turned back into the yard. Behind him, he heard Josh say in a strained voice, ‘Is Mum OK, Dec?’ and realised that he’d unwittingly frightened the stepson he cared about. Mastering his own jitters, he stopped in his tracks, waited for Josh to catch up and gave his shoulder a squeeze.

  ‘She’s fine, Josh,’ he said. ‘She’s done this before, remember? And she was fine then, by all accounts.’

  ‘Yeah, I’m pretty healthy.’

  ‘I’m the one who needs a bucket of cold water. Over there, by the tap. Just chuck it in my face, OK?’

  ‘You watch me! I will!’

  ‘Good kid. Why don’t you get yourself a quick snack, something you can eat in the car? Dinner might be late tonight.’

  Back in the house, he found Sandie and Caroline in the spare bedroom.

  ‘She’s going to have it here,’ Sandie said.

  ‘No!’

  Here? Over an hour from help, even at ambulance speed? No!

  ‘But it’s wonderful, Declan.’ Sandie had tears in her eyes. ‘I’ll treasure forever that your baby was born here. So special, after all that’s happened. A new life, starting here.’

  ‘Here? No, it’s too risky. What if—?’

  ‘Stop arguing, you two,’ Caroline gasped. ‘Declan, I don’t think it’s a matter of choice!’

  It wasn’t. There was no time to do anything but have the baby here.

  Their little boy was safely born thirty-five minutes later, and greeted at once with the name they’d already picked, James Gerard. Somehow, Declan gathered his wits enough to examine his new son and found him perfect—strong and healthy and ready to take the breast.

  There’d be no need for an ambulance now. The only people heading out from town were Frank and Joy McLennan, impatient to see their fourth grandson. Before they arrived, Chris had managed to get dinner, with Josh’s help, and Sandie already had bags of baby clothes and baby blankets on hand. She’d planned to give them to Caroline and Declan today in any case.

  Darkness was falling when they heard the McLennans’ car outside. Baby James slept in Caroline’s arms, and she looked tired now, too. ‘Funny the way things work out, isn’t it?’ she whispered to Declan.

  ‘It is,’ he told her solemnly. ‘At the moment, it feels pretty nice.’

  ‘Only pretty nice?’ She smiled at him.

  ‘You know how I feel. You know how perfect this is.’

  ‘Oh, yes, Declan, I do,’ she agreed, as he leaned to kiss her, his heart full and light with happiness.

  With this woman, the mother of his new son, he’d found his place in the world, and he wanted to stay in it forever.

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-5784-2

  THE DOCTOR’S UNEXPECTED FAMILY

  First North American Publication 2004

  Copyright © 2004 by Lilian Darcy

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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