With Win not home, Noni couldn’t have gone if Iain and Jacinta hadn’t been there to mind Harley, and Jacinta’s lips quirked at the idea of her father being dumped with babysitting.
Judging by the strange look on his face as he watched Noni zoom out of hostess and into midwife mode, he was finding it a strange experience to be relegated to background noise. Noni quickly reappeared in her uniform and gave Iain the run-down on the meal before she left.
As her motorbike zoomed away, her father frowned and Jacinta hid a grin. She put her chin on her hand and studied Iain’s drawn brows. ‘I wonder if your ex-wife felt like this when you were called out in Sydney?’
He gave her a look she couldn’t read. He wasn’t happy, that was all she could recognise.
‘I was just wondering the same thing,’ he said after a few seconds. At least he’d answered. They were in the kitchen together staring at the casserole Win had left to put on at a certain time.
An hour later, Harley asked Iain to practise cricket with him and Jacinta watched them go outside. Four hours later, Noni still hadn’t returned, so they pulled out the casserole and ate it. Two hours after that, Harley wanted to go to bed so Iain took him upstairs and tucked him in.
When Iain came back downstairs again they both looked at the clock. It was almost eight. Iain said, ‘I wonder if Noni needs some help.’
Jacinta scratched at her cuticles, feeling unsettled. ‘I wonder if the woman giving birth could be someone from the antenatal classes?’
‘Could be,’ Iain said. ‘The odds are shortened that you would know the person in a small community. I think I’m actually coming to like that concept more, but before I came here I would’ve sworn I appreciated the anonymity of a big hospital.’
That was the first time her father had offered a comment that dealt with his life before she’d known him. ‘Do you miss your work?’
‘It’s hard to imagine, but I find that’s true.’ He laughed, only there wasn’t much humour in it. ‘I might even be a more holistic doctor at the private hospital after Noni’s classes.’ The corner of his mouth lifted as he caught her eyes. ‘My colleagues will be horrified.’
‘The nurses will be happy.’ They smiled at each other.
Jacinta went to bed at nine, but she woke at midnight when Noni came in. She heard her father’s voice and then not long after all the sounds stopped.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Noni
In the early hours of Sunday morning, someone knocked on Noni’s bedroom door.
‘Noni, it’s me, Jacinta. Can I come in?’ she whispered through the door.
Noni pushed back the covers and slid out of bed, padding silently across the carpet to open the door. Jacinta stood there with enormous eyes and a towel between her legs.
Noni’s first crazy thought was, She can’t! Two weeks early and she hasn’t finished her antenatal classes! Then she laughed at herself for behaving like a nervous mother.
‘Come in, honey. So, tonight’s the night.’ Noni clasped Jacinta’s cold hand and squeezed it. ‘You’ll be fine. Look, I have my little trumpet for listening to baby’s heartbeat. Stand still for a moment and we’ll see what he or she thinks of someone pulling the plug out of the bath.’
‘It’s a she,’ Jacinta said firmly and Noni smiled to herself. She’d seen people paint rooms the wrong colour on their mistaken instincts. Noni bent her head to listen to Jacinta’s belly through her instrument. She could hear the clop, clopping of a very happy baby. ‘The heartbeat sounds fine. Trotting along without a care in the world.’
She stood up. ‘Come through and have a shower in my bathroom. I’ll get your things together and wake your father. Have you had any contractions, yet?’
Jacinta had her lip caught between her teeth. She shook her head wordlessly at Noni, her eyes still round with shock, as she looked down at the damp towel.
‘Well you’ve had all those Braxton Hicks contractions. The tightenings will probably start soon.’
Jacinta jammed the towel harder. ‘When do the waters stop dripping?’
Noni tried to keep the smile away from her lips. ‘When you have the baby. You can’t stop it. Just do like the cricketers do, and pad up.’
Jacinta pulled a face. ‘That’s disgusting, Noni.’
Noni watched her shake her head, but Jacinta couldn’t help smiling, and Noni shooed her into the bathroom, well pleased with her state of mind.
She trod quietly up the hallway to Iain’s room and pushed open the door. ‘Iain?’
‘Noni?’ His voice sounded calm, as if he always had people stealing into his room in the early hours of the morning. ‘Couldn’t leave me alone?’
‘Jacinta’s waters have broken. She’s in the shower in my room. I’ll get her things.’
‘Have you checked for cord prolapse?’
Noni frowned. There was something different in his voice. ‘Just because Aimee had one doesn’t mean Jacinta will.’
Iain’s voice held a hint of steel. ‘Don’t patronise me. If it was a big gush, cord prolapse is a possibility.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘Don’t be paranoid. The head was well down. Trust me when I say she’s fine. I’m the midwife.’
‘I want you to check.’
‘You’re a surgeon. Since when were you an obstetrician?’
‘Oh, hell, Noni. For the last five years I’ve been an obstetrician. Now, please, examine her.’
Noni shook her head twice as if once wouldn’t clear it. ‘Let me get this clear. You lied to me twice? You’re actually an obstetrician?’ Noni felt as if someone had squeezed the air out of her. She wiped any expression from her face and spoke to his left shoulder. ‘No. I won’t examine her,’ she said, her voice grim. ‘You do it – though I’m not sure that’s ethical.’ She shook her head at the bizarreness of the situation. ‘She’s draining copious amounts of clear liquid and the foetal heart is reassuring. If she’d had a cord prolapse the foetal heart would show that.’
As his further lies finally settled into her psyche, she felt overwhelmed. She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘I’ll be there for Jacinta if she needs me until she has the baby, but I don’t want to speak to you ever again. You creep!’ She spun on her heel and went along to Jacinta’s room to throw the last few things into the girl’s bag before returning to her own room.
Iain was there when she went in and she dropped the bag in front of him.
‘Noni?’
She ignored him, turned and walked out again. Then she stopped, came back and knocked on the ensuite door.
‘Jacinta? How’re you going in there?’ As she listened at the door, the shower stopped. ‘Here are some things to put on. Your dad is going to take you to the hospital and I’ll stay here with Harley until the morning. Remember, you mightn’t start having contractions until later in the day. If you need me sooner, I’ll wake Harley and bring him with me. Okay?’
‘Okay. I’m fine. Still no contractions. Tell Dad I’ll be out in a minute.’
Noni looked at Iain. ‘He’s right here. I’m going to check on Harley.’ She had to get out of there. She was going to throw something at Iain any minute now if she didn’t.
She sidestepped to avoid getting close to him as she went past, and breathed a sigh of relief as she hit the corridor. Until he grabbed her arm.
‘Get your hands off me,’ she hissed. Her voice rose barely above a whisper, but the coldness in it would have frozen a volcano, and the fury in it bubbled dangerously, just below the surface of her control. She was such a fool. ‘See to your daughter, Mr Obstetrician.’ She looked down at his large hand against her paler skin and brushed it away as if it were a spider.
His black brows drew together. ‘Look, I know I’m in big trouble, but we don’t have time for this. I’ve been incredibly stupid, not explaining it all to you before now, but I didn’t want to get involved in hospital politics.’
‘Tell someone who cares.’
He followed her down the stairs to the
kitchen and she could feel how close he was behind her. Noni thought there might actually be steam coming out of her ears. She hoped he got a vapour burn.
‘Talk to me,’ he said.
Noni threw up her hands, swivelling angrily to face him. ‘I can’t believe it. An obstetrician! No wonder you never asked about my work. You didn’t want to give yourself away. What further proof do I need that you’re untrustworthy? That you will lie to me every single day I know you? That’s a pretty big blot on your copybook. And you asked me to trust you with our lives in Sydney?’ She shook her head. ‘All those discussions in the classes – you knew it all! You must have been laughing your head off.’
Iain winced. ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time.’
She turned on the light in the kitchen and plugged in the kettle viciously. ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time,’ she mimicked. ‘So that’s how you know Dr Soams, too.’
‘I met Greg when I was teaching an obstetric refresher course he attended. Penelope was there at the dinner afterwards, and we all got on like a house on fire. They stayed with us a couple of times in Sydney.’
Too little too late. Noni gritted her teeth and squeezed all the aggressive thoughts into a tiny cubicle of her brain and mentally forced the door shut on them. It was quite a battle, but she was strong. Stronger than he’d ever know. Then she drew in a deep breath and consciously relaxed her shoulders. Forget about him, she told herself. Jacinta is the important one now.
She felt Iain’s hand on her shoulder and again she peeled it away from her skin. She felt her anger bubble up once more and slammed the lid shut. ‘Please, keep away from me as much as you can in the circumstances.’ Her words were very clearly enunciated in a dangerously quiet voice. ‘Perhaps, you could put Jacinta’s bag in the car. I really don’t want her to have to cope with friction between the two of us.’
‘Look, Noni, it’s a long story and I’m sorry I misled you.’
She looked up at him and steeled herself. She refused to soften. He didn’t deserve her giving him an inch after this. ‘When all this is over, for me to even talk to you, you’d better have a bloody good explanation.’
The jug switched off and she made two mugs of tea and walked past him out of the kitchen door. She would have liked to have stomped, except she’d have spilt the tea.
It was the little things in life that were so frustrating.
Within half an hour Iain and Jacinta had left for the hospital. Noni would have kept Jacinta home, but Iain wanted her baby electronically monitored for any heart irregularities. It was four-thirty am.
Noni tidied Jacinta’s room and smoothed her hand across the book of baby names lying on the dresser. She refused to think about Iain and his deception, or the fact that the man she suspected she loved had lied to her for weeks. Twice. Why would he do that? What else would he lie about?
She shook her head and straightened her shoulders. Jacinta was the important one here.
Chapter Thirty-nine
Noni
When Noni arrived at the hospital in her uniform she was glad to see the ward had quietened down.
‘Hi, Noni.’ Cathy was on again and sat at the nurses’ station, waiting for the handover report. She grinned at her. ‘I see the lodgers are in. I gather you’d like to be the extra in the birthing suite?’
‘Thanks, Cath. Do you know how she’s going?’
‘Night staff are still with her. If you want to relieve them so they can come out, I’ll fill you in later.’
‘Sounds good.’ Noni tucked her bag into her locker and headed down the hallway. She knocked gently and pushed open the door.
She found Jacinta sitting on the bed with the baby monitor strapped to her stomach. She looked incredibly miserable. She smiled wanly at Noni, who frowned at the long coils of paper hanging out of the machine. Judging by the length of it, she’d been strapped up since her arrival hours ago.
The night sister tilted her head towards Iain and raised her eyebrows as if to say, It’s not my fault.
Noni crossed the room without looking at Iain and took Jacinta’s hand. ‘Hi, Jacinta. How’re you going?’
The girl’s big eyes looked tragic and almost hopeless. ‘It hurts.’
‘I know, sweetie. You’ll feel better when you get up. When did the contractions start?’
‘About an hour ago, and they’re getting stronger and closer together.’ Jacinta drew in a breath and closed her eyes. ‘Here comes another one.’
They all watched as Jacinta breathed slowly in and out through the contraction with her eyes shut tight and her body rigid on the bed.
Noni frowned and shook her head. What were they doing, confining her to the bed with the monitoring? The night sister wasn’t a strong advocate for excessive monitoring so it had to be Iain’s idea.
‘Big sigh as the pain finishes, Jacinta, and then let your muscles go really floppy.’ She tilted her head and watched as Jacinta struggled to relax. ‘Drop your shoulders. Good. Let’s get you off this bed.’
Iain stepped forward, but Noni didn’t give him a chance to speak. She picked up the strip of paper and it unfolded like a concertina in her hand all the way down to the floor. ‘What a lovely tracing of baby’s heartbeat. Look at all these contraction hills we’ve recorded.’ She looked at him from beneath her brows. ‘I can see the baseline rate is normal, there are two accelerations in almost every ten-minute period, plus the beat-to-beat variability is above five, as it should be for a healthy baby. You’re happy with this, aren’t you, Iain? I’m sure Jacinta would like a nice hot shower to help her relax.’
He tightened his lips but nodded. ‘As you say, a healthy trace.’
‘So we could take that off, now that we can see how happy baby is in there.’ The night sister made a strangled noise and squeezed her lips together. Neither Noni nor Iain looked at her. They were too intent on their own private battle.
The night sister finally said, ‘Jacinta started contracting at five-thirty and Dr McCloud was concerned. I’ll leave you to carry on here, Noni, and give my report to Cathy. Good luck, Jacinta. Bye, everybody.’
‘Thanks, Broni.’ Jacinta smiled wanly as the other midwife left the room. Iain leaned against the wall and watched Noni with his eyes narrowed.
Noni ignored him. ‘Okay, sweetie, let’s get these belts off your tummy and get you into the shower.’ Iain’s rigid spine hinted at mutiny but he didn’t protest. Noni’s shoulders relaxed a little.
They shuffled their way into the chair in the bathroom and Jacinta leaned her head against the wall as Noni directed the hot water over her back. They’d kept on the pink crop-top bra and a tiny pair of bikini pants for her modesty.
Her groan of relief was clearly audible even to her father. ‘That feels wonderful.’
‘I know.’ Noni resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Iain. ‘Keep the nozzle of the hand shower over the part where the tightness is during contractions and the heat will help.’ Noni showed her how to change the direction of the spray, then she draped a towel around Jacinta’s damp shoulders to prevent a chill. ‘I’m just ducking out here for a moment to talk to your father.’
Jacinta had her eyes closed. ‘So much better. Thank goodness,’ she said as she sagged into the chair. ‘I might even sit on the ball, instead.’
Noni leaned forward and brushed the hair out of the girl’s eyes. ‘Good thought. Change spots until you’re comfortable. You’ll be fine. You’re doing beautifully. Sometimes, a minute with just you and baby is what you need as well.’
‘And you’re designed to do it,’ Jacinta chorused the last line with Noni and they smiled at each other.
‘I’ll be back soon.’ Noni shut the bathroom door behind her and moved over to where Iain was still leaning tensely against the wall.
‘We’re both glad to see you, although I won’t allow you to steamroll me all the time.’ His level voice came across quietly but very firm. He was used to everyone doing what he said, no doubt.
Non
i shrugged. ‘I never thought you would. Jacinta needs you to stop thinking like an obstetrician …’ One she’d needed for the last six weeks. She tried not to put an accusing inflection on the word, even though it tasted like dirt in her mouth. She couldn’t believe he’d been here the whole time.
She forced herself to calm down. ‘Think more like her support person. You aren’t dealing with the usual high-risk pregnancy you’d be called in for. She’s put on weight, and all her cardiac tests came back normal and we agreed to assume she’s a perfectly healthy young woman with a healthy baby.’ She looked up at him and refused to drop her eyes. ‘Excessive monitoring of normal labour can cause stress for the mother. It can slow her labour by decreasing access to movement, and encourage early intervention with arte-facts in the trace that don’t mean anything. You know that.’
Iain flexed his shoulders and straightened. ‘Okay.’ He ran his hand through his hair. ‘Okay. I may have overreacted. It’s early in the labour and, as you say, the trace is good.’ He put his fingers on the bridge of his nose and inhaled slowly. ‘I’ll go home and shower and be back in an hour. Phone me if you need me earlier.’
She watched him go, still angry with him for his previous deception, but she could acknowledge his fear of something going wrong for Jacinta. But for crying out loud! Expecting trouble only drew it closer. Negative people shouldn’t be in the birthing suite, and she strongly believed everything would progress as it should. That was her job. She wasn’t going to look at Jacinta as if she were a bomb about to go off like her father did.
The bathroom held a fine fog of steam as Noni carried a small paper cup of ice chips over to the ball Jacinta sat on. ‘How’s it going, Jacinta?’
‘It’s so much easier here than on the bed.’
No kidding. ‘Suck on these ice chips between contractions and I’ll put a cold washcloth on the rail in case you feel faint from the heat.’
‘They’re getting really strong, Noni.’ Noni could hear the first uncertainty in Jacinta’s voice.
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