by Lucy Clark
‘A wise decision—especially given the circumstances.’
‘Chest is clear.’ Joss held up his finger and got Andy to track it. ‘Perfect.’ Joss looked over at Mindy. ‘What happened next?’
‘I grabbed the medical kit—I always keep it fully stocked by the back door—and went out to help. The bull was still pounding around, with everyone running clear so they didn’t get trampled. Then the bull turned and ran the other way, barging through the corral fence. It just took off.’
Thunder started to rumble in the distance.
‘Do you think it might have been the approaching storm?’ Melissa asked. ‘Some animals do have a real sixth sense where the weather is concerned.’
‘You could be right. It wouldn’t surprise me,’ Mindy responded. ‘I hope they find him.’ She looked out into the distance, wanting to see her husband returning, bull securely roped and chastised for his behaviour.
‘Right. Andy, I want you in Didja as well. I want head X-rays, and then we’ll take a better look at those gashes tomorrow.’
‘Is it necessary?’ Andy asked quietly. ‘I mean, poor Rich is going to be without James as it is.’
‘Let’s just say you need to be in hospital. You can leave this time tomorrow, but only if everything checks out. Head injuries are funny things. Symptoms can be masked for quite a while. You tell either one of us—’ he indicated Melissa and himself ‘—if you feel queasy, or as if you’re going to be sick. Any pounding headaches, you let us know. Understand?’
‘Yes, Joss.’
‘Good. If you feel sick on the plane, you tell Phemie. And if you feel sick when you’re at the hospital you tell Bub or Dex.’
‘Yeah. I get it,’ Andy remarked.
‘You’d better. Head injuries are serious business. Don’t you dare go all macho and put up with the pain.’ He looked down at their patient for another moment before nodding, hoping the message had really got through to the jackaroo. He stood and pulled off his gloves, folding them together. He gathered up their garbage, accepting Melissa’s gloves from her, and put everything into the bin. ‘Now, Lis, why don’t you and Mindy go inside and get her check-up done. I’ll call Dex again to check on the arrangements and give him an update. We still have a few more places to visit before the day is over.’ He glanced up at the sky. ‘And the sooner we can get under way, the better.’
Melissa did as she was told, gathering her own medical bag of tricks and going inside, relieved to be out of the heat. Mindy led the way into the bedroom, where she sat on the bed and rolled up her sleeve so Melissa could take her blood pressure.
She took out the portable sphygmomanometer and wound the cuff around Mindy’s arm. ‘How has everything been progressing with your pregnancy?’
‘Good. No swelling of the ankles, hands or feet.’
‘Good.’
‘I have my own blood pressure monitor here, and the readings have been within normal limits.’
‘Excellent.’ Melissa waited for her own reading and indeed found that Mindy’s blood pressure was just fine. ‘No other problems? Indigestion? Insomnia?’
‘Mild to fair. Nothing out of the ordinary.’ Mindy paused for a second and looked at Melissa. ‘I’m just so glad you’ve come to town. I’d much rather go to Didja to have my baby than to Perth.’
‘Is that where you would have gone?’
‘Oh, yes. Most women when they reach about thirty or thirty-five weeks pack their bags and head off to Perth. They have to stay with friends or family, and apart from going to doctor’s appointments they just sit around in a strange place and wait for their baby to arrive. If things are bad they have to stay in hospital—sometimes from the end of the first trimester.’
‘A lot can go wrong with pregnancies,’ Melissa murmured, but her mind was whirring. She hadn’t really thought about it before. All those women having to leave their loved ones at a time when they needed their support more than ever. She was here now to provide obstetric assistance to the women of the community, but what would happen after her contract ended? Would Joss be able to get another obstetrician out here, or would the women have to go back to leaving their families at such a crucial time? It was definitely something to ponder.
‘Some women,’ Mindy continued, ‘opt to have their babies at home, with just other women helping out with the delivery—mainly Rajene; she’s like an unofficial midwife. But…’ Mindy screwed up her nose at the idea. ‘So much can go wrong, as you’ve said. However, Gemma Etherington seems to like it. She’s had her last four at home and nothing went wrong—but she does have six children, so it’s not as though she doesn’t know what she’s doing.’
Melissa listened, intrigued by the plight of these tough Outback women. ‘We’re headed to their place this afternoon.’
‘Gemma’s pregnant with number seven.’ Mindy smiled. ‘You’ll find a lot of big families out here in the back of beyond. I guess people think we have nothing better to do with our time than to farm and have kids.’
‘Do you want a healthy brood?’
‘At the moment I just want this one to be healthy, but I think I’d settle for two or three. I really miss helping Rich on the farm, and he’s had me on light duties since he found out I was pregnant.’
‘It’s fair enough.’
‘Sometimes I feel so left out. I’m the “little woman” and so I can’t go and round up the cattle any more, or drive the tractor, or lug hay bales. Growing a baby is really not that exciting.’
Joss had walked up the corridor to see how they were doing and heard the end of Mindy’s snippet. If she was really feeling that way then she would be pleased to have helped out today with bandaging and looking after James and Andy.
‘Ahh, the exciting part is still to come,’ Melissa said. ‘And, remember, it’s the stronger sex who get to have the babies. Men just couldn’t handle it.’
Joss’s lips twitched at Melissa’s words, and he figured that although he knew she was probably trying to make Mindy feel better she also had a valid point.
‘Lugging hay bales and driving the tractor are easy things. Being a mother—that’s a tough job,’ Melissa continued.
‘Do you have children?’
‘No. I haven’t had that pleasure yet.’
‘Do you want them?’
Melissa sighed. ‘More than anything. I would love to be a mother. To care for a family of my own. To nurture them, to provide for them, to be strong for them.’ She smiled as she said the last words.
‘Well, then, we’re going to have to find you a fella. There isn’t a shortage in the Outback, so you’ll have plenty to choose from—especially in Didja. Heaps of the miners are single. What’s your type?’
‘My type?’ Melissa wasn’t really sure about this turn of events.
‘What do you like in a guy?’
‘Oh.’ Melissa thought for a moment, a picture of Joss instantly coming to mind. ‘Uh…I’m not really sure. I don’t think I’ve ever consciously sat down and thought about it before.’ She thought about Renulf. Initially she’d thought he was her perfect man, but when he’d called off their engagement because he couldn’t handle the dedication Melissa had to her work, even though it was that dedication which had brought them together in the first place, she’d realised Renulf really hadn’t been. Her perfect man would not only understand her dedication to medicine, but would also understand when she was called out in the middle of the night to deliver a baby. She’d often told Renulf that babies didn’t keep office hours, but he still hadn’t been able to deal with it.
It had been a lesson for Melissa never to try and date someone outside the medical profession—not unless they were very understanding about the self-sacrifices doctors often had to make. Joss certainly understood that concept. The man had left his family, his life in Perth, and had come to Didja to set up a brilliant medical facility. He would have poured his heart, his soul and a massive chunk of his own time into it. Oh, yes, self-sacrifice was something she instinctively kn
ew Joss Lawson understood one hundred percent.
She pictured him now as she spoke quietly to Mindy. ‘I guess I want a man who understands my work—my dedication to it, my need to continue with it. Also, I guess, ultimately I’m looking for a man who’ll love me for me. For who I am. Faults and all.’ As Renulf hadn’t been able to do.
‘That’s what we all want.’ Mindy nodded. ‘Come on. Be more specific. Just between you and me. What do you like in a man? I like nice hairy legs and big shoulder muscles.’
Melissa smiled. ‘Hairy legs, eh?’
‘Yep. Rich has a very nice pair. I love running my hands up and down his legs. It makes my hands go all tingly. So, come on. What’s your favourite part?’
Melissa thought for a second, remembering how she hadn’t been able to stop looking at Joss’s legs the first day she’d arrived in Didja. He definitely had a very nice pair of hairy legs too. And then she’d seen his eyes. ‘Eyes.’ She nodded as she spoke. She remembered the way Joss had looked at her just before he’d kissed her and sighed. ‘Nice blue eyes. Deep in colour and very expressive.’
‘Blue eyes? Mmm-hmm, what else?’
‘Well, all the basics, I guess. Courteous, kind, giving. Not a party animal, but someone who knows how to have a good time—without starting a riot.’
‘Oh, goodness. That strikes out half the men in Didja.’
Melissa laughed. ‘He needs to have nice hands—clever hands. Healing hands.’ She said the last softly.
‘Oh, my gosh.’ Mindy sat up straighter. ‘I know the perfect man for you. It’s so simple.’
‘A match already? Gee, you’re faster than a computer.’
‘Joss.’ Mindy shrugged, as though it was just so simple. ‘Joss would be perfect for you.’
Joss’s eyes widened as he listened to what had just transpired. He’d been waiting for a good opportunity to announce his presence but it simply hadn’t come, and he hadn’t wanted to break up the female bonding session. Mindy thought he was ideal for Lis? He swallowed over a sudden lump in his throat.
It might be true that there was an incredible awareness between himself and his new female colleague, but that didn’t mean they were going to jump right into a relationship. Physical attraction and need weren’t everything in life, and the thought of anything serious, anything permanent, made him break out in a cold sweat.
‘Joss?’ Melissa closed her eyes for a split second, realising that she had indeed just described Joss when she’d been thinking about what she looked for in a man. What she hadn’t expected was for Mindy to pick up on it. She should have been more careful.
‘You’d be so perfect for each other. You both have medicine in common as well, which is always a good start. Rich and I had the farm in common. It was what brought us together—that and the confines of the area. Oh, I know.’ She clapped her hands, her face lit with excitement. ‘You should ask Joss out to dinner.’
‘What?’
‘Girls can do that nowadays. Equal opportunities and all that. And, secretly, I think the guys love it.’
‘They do?’
Mindy giggled. ‘Of course. But if you feel uncomfortable making it an actual date, then just ask him to show you around the town, and then you could end up having dinner somewhere.’
She couldn’t believe what Mindy was saying, and knew she just wasn’t ready for any of this. To date? To ask Joss out to dinner? Sure, she’d enjoyed that kiss. Sure, she was physically attracted to him. But dinner? Just the two of them? That might be moving a little fast, and she was more determined to get to know the people of the town first. Then again, wasn’t Joss part of that town?
‘We’re…uh…both a little busy back in Didja. We have clinics and house-calls and paperwork and you know…general doctoring stuff.’
Joss knew he should move. Knew he was eavesdropping. But he was glued to the spot, unable to believe the conversation going on between the two women. Was this an indication as to whether or not Melissa was really interested in him?
‘But that’s what makes it so good. He certainly understands the doctoring part, and you do like him, don’t you?’
‘He’s a nice man. Clever, too. But he’s my boss.’
Mindy waved away her last words. ‘He’s also giving and courteous and all of those other things you listed. Oh, you should totally do this. Go out with Joss. It would be good for him too.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Joss has barely dated since he moved to Didja. He’s a workaholic and he uses the clinic as an excuse all the time.’
‘Perhaps he has his reasons for not dating.’
‘Or perhaps he’s running away from his problems. Lots of people come to the Outback to do that. I don’t really know what happened to him in Perth before he came here. Bub might, she knows everything about everyone, but what I can tell you is that Joss certainly isn’t the dating type. You could change all that.’
Melissa emphatically shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. I may not have come to Didja to run away from my problems, but I have no intention of becoming involved with any man—much less Joss Lawson.’ She thought back to the way he’d treated her after that New Year kiss. ‘Besides, he’s made it crystal-clear that he’s not interested in me that way. I’ve only known him for a short time and he runs hot and cold. He’s like a yo-yo so as far as I’m concerned, he’s my boss and my colleague and that’s it. End of story.’
Mindy sighed and shrugged. ‘Well, it was worth a shot.’
Melissa chuckled. ‘Come on—we need to finish your check-up. Joss will want to go soon, and I don’t want to keep him waiting.
Joss knew she was right. It was the reason he’d come up the corridor in the first place, the carpeted floorboards masking the sound of his footsteps. They needed to get moving. Yet now he seemed unable even to shift his own feet. Had Melissa said what she’d said in order to get Mindy to drop the subject or did she really mean it?
‘See? You’re already in tune with him. You’re thinking like he would think. You have so much in common.’ Mindy clapped her hands again as she sat back amongst the pillows so Melissa could measure her stomach.
Melissa sighed. ‘Leave it, Mindy.’ As she listened to Mindy’s heartbeat through the stethoscope, she mentally strengthened her own resolve. She hadn’t come to Didja to continue being a people-pleaser. This was her chance at a new start—a new life which she wanted to build with Dex. She wasn’t here to continue making the same mistakes as always. She had to be strong, to really put herself first for once. She was in Didja for family—the only remaining family she had.
Melissa put her special baby heart monitor machine onto Mindy’s swollen belly and they both listened to the baby’s heartbeat.
‘Strong and healthy.’ Mindy sighed with relief. ‘I love hearing that sound.’
Melissa smiled. ‘Everything’s looking just fine. Keep on doing whatever it is you’re doing.’
‘Good. I will—and thanks for talking to me. It’s so rare that I get real girly-talk time.’
‘I’ve enjoyed it too. Call me any time.’ Melissa gave Mindy her mobile number. ‘Do mobile phones work out here?’
‘Generally they’re pretty good.’
As they continued discussing the reception of different mobile network carriers, Joss realised that if he didn’t move soon he’d be discovered, and then Lis would know he’d overheard her conversation. Making his feet move, he headed silently back down the corridor.
A minute or two later, the women appeared.
‘Ahh, Joss, there you are.’
Did Mindy’s tone sound overly bright and cheerful? He decided to ignore it and glanced surreptitiously at Lis. She didn’t seem agitated or concerned, and that helped him to relax a little.
‘Here I am.’ He held his medical kit in his hand and raised an eyebrow at Melissa. ‘All done?’ Did his tone sound husky? As though he had a secret? Could she see in his face that he’d overheard?
‘All done. Are you ready to go?�
�
‘Yes. Andy and James are being driven out to the airstrip. The RFDS should be here in about ten minutes and will complete the transfer. We can check on them once we get back to town later tonight, to review their progress.’
‘We don’t need to be here to hand over to the RFDS?’
‘Not this time. It’s all quite straightforward.’ He looked at her for a moment and realised she’d been quite looking forward to the transfer part. ‘You’ll have ample opportunity to meet those crazy flying doctors, but unfortunately today we’re on a very tight schedule.’
‘Oh, sure. It’s no problem.’
‘Everything all right with Mindy and the baby?’
‘Right as rain,’ Melissa replied.
‘Well, speaking of rain, that’s the reason we need to get moving. There’s been a bit of lightning sighted on the horizon.’
Melissa raised her eyebrows. ‘Is that bad?’
‘It means we don’t want to be on a dirt road when the clouds open.’ And neither did they want to get trapped in that ute. Together. Just the two of them. No.
‘Aww, come on,’ Mindy piped up. ‘That’s when you get a really good mudslide going.’
‘And end up wrapped around a tree.’
‘Yeah, but only if the tree doesn’t move fast enough,’ Mindy joked.
Joss grinned. ‘Good point.’ He nodded to Melissa. ‘Let’s go.’ As they walked out to the front of the property they heard the buzzing sound of the chopper.
‘That’s Rich.’ Mindy clapped her hands. ‘Goody. I have so much to tell him.’ Her eyes twinkled with delight as she looked from Melissa to Joss and then back again.
‘Well, it was a pleasure to meet you,’ Melissa rushed in, surprised when the young pregnant woman gave her a hug. It appeared she should get used to being hugged in this town, because the people were most definitely friendly and not backwards in showing their affection.
‘It was great. I have a feeling that everything will work out just fine.’