Reunited by Their Secret Daughter

by Emily Forbes

  He was talking to the woman, explaining what he was about to do.

  He was calm and methodical. He worked quickly but smoothly. There was no panic, no hurried movements, nothing to alarm or frighten the woman, who was already on edge.

  Chloe watched his profile as he worked, noting the angle of his jaw, the blond stubble that covered it, the sharpness of his cheekbones, his flat, shell-shaped ears. She remembered how much she’d learnt from him when they’d worked together in Australia. His calmness, experience, patience and bedside manner were some of the many things that she’d found attractive but they hadn’t been the first things she’d noticed about him. She hadn’t even known he was a doctor, let alone that she’d be working with him, when she’d first seen him. It had been one of those moments you read about: their eyes had met across a room and she was done for. She’d fallen hard and fast.

  She blinked and cleared her mind as she took a deep breath and told herself to focus. There were more important things to think about than what had happened between her and Xander. Those days were long gone. She was a different person now, no longer carefree, no longer independent. She had a job to do and other things to consider. She needed to get herself under control. She couldn’t let her hormones unsettle her. She needed to take stock of the situation—even if she couldn’t make sense of it yet.

  She had to try to ignore the fact that Xander was kneeling just inches away from her. She had to resist the temptation to reach out and place her hand on the back of his neck. To feel the warmth of his skin under her fingers. She had to pretend he was just another colleague, not the man who she’d once thought could be the love of her life.

  She forced her attention back to the tableau in front of her, concentrating on the woman’s chest instead of on Xander.

  He’d found the space he wanted and she watched as he inserted the needle between the woman’s ribs. They all heard the air as it flowed out of the chest cavity. He removed the needle after a few seconds, leaving the plastic tube in situ, and reviewed the woman’s observations. Her oxygen sats improved as her chest re-inflated. Xander listened for breath sounds before taking a chest seal from Rick and applying it.

  Rick and Xander worked smoothly together, inserting a drip, administering pain relief and hooking an oxygen mask over Shania’s nose and mouth while Xander kept up his explanations.

  They didn’t need Chloe’s help but she kept herself busy, finding the things she might need for a delivery and making sure they were close to hand. Focusing on anything but Xander.

  ‘How are you feeling now, Shania?’ Xander asked. ‘Do you have any pain? Can you tell me where it is?’

  ‘Ow!’ Shania clutched at her stomach and Chloe could see the tell-tale ripple of a contraction pass across Shania’s abdomen. Treating a tension pneumothorax always gave immediate relief and Xander had relieved Shania’s chest pain so successfully that she was now complaining about her labour pains.

  Xander caught Chloe’s eye and gave her a quick smile, uniting them in their treatment of their patient. But his smile did more than that. Chloe thought he was handsome when he wore his usual brooding expression but when he smiled he was something else altogether. No longer wounded, or sad, the shadows in his eyes disappeared and it was like watching the sun come out after a long winter. His smile instantly transformed his face and made Chloe’s world tilt. It had been almost four years since she’d seen his smile and it knocked the wind out of her all over again.

  ‘Looks like it’s your turn,’ he said as he stood preparing to swap places with Chloe. Space was at a premium and Chloe was very aware of how close to her Xander was standing. How she had to brush past him in order to reach their patient.

  She took a deep breath and mentally shook her head as she knelt on the floor.

  ‘Shania, I’m Chloe. I’m a midwife. Let’s see what’s going on with this baby of yours, shall we?’ She strapped a foetal heart rate monitor around Shania’s belly and waited anxiously for the reading, hoping it would fall between one hundred and ten and one hundred and sixty beats per minute.

  One hundred and two...

  ‘We need to get her to hospital,’ Chloe said. The baby appeared to be in distress and Chloe was concerned about oxygen deprivation given Shania’s injuries.

  ‘I’m not going to the hospital,’ Shania protested.

  ‘We need to transfer you,’ Chloe insisted. ‘You have a chest wound and you’re having a baby. This is for your safety. And your baby’s safety.’

  ‘Who will look after my kids?’ Shania asked as another contraction gripped her.

  ‘Where are they?’ Xander asked.

  ‘With one of the neighbours.’ A policewoman stood in the corner of the kitchen. Chloe had barely been aware of her until she replied to Xander’s question.

  Xander looked over to her. ‘Can you see if the neighbour is happy to keep them for a while?’

  The policewoman nodded and left the room and Chloe indicated to Rick to follow her. She needed him to fetch the stretcher.

  She bent her head and resumed her examination. ‘Let me have a quick look to see how far along your labour is.’ The contractions were less than a minute apart and Chloe was worried. She looked up at Xander. ‘I don’t think we’re going anywhere right now. She’s fully dilated.’

  The baby’s head was crowning. There was nothing Chloe could do now to slow down Shania’s labour. This baby was coming whether they were ready or not.

  ‘I want to push!’ Shania cried out.

  ‘Okay, Shania, ready when you are.’ The pain relief Xander administered was enough to lightly sedate Shania, enough to calm her down but not enough to make her unable to push.

  Shania bore down and Chloe eased the baby’s head out. ‘Well done, Shania. Take a breath now,’ she said as she felt for the cord. Everything seemed clear. ‘Wait for the next contraction and I’ll get you to push again.’

  The baby came out in a slippery rush. A girl. She didn’t appear to be injured but everything was silent. No crying and Chloe didn’t think she was even breathing. She quickly wrapped her in a soft cloth and rubbed her vigorously and was rewarded with a muted cry.

  ‘Congratulations, Shania. You have a daughter.’

  Chloe clamped and cut the cord and did a quick Apgar assessment. The baby’s hands and feet were blue, her respiration slow, but she scored an eight out of ten, which was great, all things considered.

  Chloe wrapped her against the cold and slid a cap onto her head to retain warmth. ‘Do you have a name for her?’ she asked as she handed her to Shania.

  ‘Tonya.’ Shania was gazing at her daughter, all pain forgotten.

  Shania was oblivious to her surroundings now as Chloe delivered the placenta and put it into a bag. Shania still needed to go to hospital and Chloe needed to take the placenta with them.

  Rick returned with the stretcher followed by the policewoman. Chloe could see the surprised look on her face. The baby had arrived faster than anyone anticipated. The policewoman spoke to Shania. ‘Shania, your neighbour will mind the children while you go to hospital.’

  Shania was too tired to argue as Chloe took the baby and Rick and Xander transferred her to the stretcher.

  Chloe did another quick check of the baby and increased her Apgar score by one. Despite the dramatic circumstances surrounding her birth she was doing remarkably well. Chloe carried Tonya out to the chopper and held her as Shania’s stretcher was loaded on board and Rick connected Shania to the monitors. Simon lifted the chopper into the air as soon as Rick gave the all clear.

  ‘The police asked me to let you know you’ll need to make a report,’ Xander said to Shania. ‘They want to know if you want to press charges.’

  Shania shook her head. ‘I’m not going to press charges.’

  Xander looked incredulous. ‘What? Why not?’

  ‘If I’m in hospital I need
Greg at home to look after the other kids. I can’t have him locked up overnight. They’ll keep him until he sobers up and then they’ll let him go. I just hope he goes home and not back to the pub.’

  ‘The police have arrested Greg. I don’t think they’re going to be too quick to let him go.’ Xander was speaking slowly, as if he was worried that Shania wasn’t understanding the situation. ‘Has he been physically violent towards you before?’

  ‘I started it,’ Shania replied, and Chloe noticed she avoided answering Xander’s question.

  ‘How do you figure that?’

  ‘I was going to the next-door neighbour’s. I was going to ask her to drive me to hospital because Greg had been drinking, but Greg got angry. He didn’t want the neighbours to know he was in no state to drive and he insisted he was okay to take me. I knew he wasn’t and when I tried to get past him he blocked my way. I grabbed a kitchen knife and threatened him but he took it off me and, when I tried to push past him, the knife stabbed into me. I shouldn’t have taken the knife in the first place and then none of this would have happened.’

  Chloe could see by Xander’s expression that he wasn’t pleased with Shania’s answer. She also knew he wouldn’t be pleased that there was nothing he could do about the situation. She knew he was driven by the same overwhelming desire to help people, to fight for the underdog, to improve people’s lives, as she was. ‘Shania, the knife didn’t stab you, your husband did. That is not okay.’

  ‘Do you have kids?’ Shania asked.

  Chloe should have anticipated the question. It was one she got asked by almost every labouring mother when they were looking for some common ground or reassurance that Chloe knew what they were going through, but she hadn’t been prepared to have to answer that question in front of Xander. Her heart rate spiked but thank God she didn’t have to answer as fortunately Shania was addressing Xander and not her.

  Xander shook his head. ‘No, I don’t.’ He kept his head turned away and Chloe wasn’t able to see his expression. When she’d last seen him four years ago he hadn’t wanted kids. Had anything changed? Would he want Lily?

  ‘I have three kids,’ Shania continued. ‘Four now. I don’t work. Where would I go?’

  Xander looked up and Chloe took over from him. She knew he’d be wanting to offer advice but she guessed he wasn’t sure how the system worked in the UK.

  ‘There are options,’ Chloe said. ‘I can organise for a social worker to come and see you and we can see what measures we can put in place.’ It was often a difficult process. Resources were scant and Chloe knew that a lot of mums preferred not to uproot their children. It was a catch-22. She’d start with getting the social worker visit while Shania was in hospital but she knew from experience that there was little they could do if Shania wasn’t on board with the idea. She was sure Shania had heard it all before but she was pleased to see her give a very slight nod of agreement just as the large red H of the hospital helipad came into view beneath them.

  The hospital roof became a hive of activity as the helicopter door slid open. Surgical and neonatal teams were on hand to meet them and transfer the patients and Chloe lost sight of Xander as she went with baby Tonya to the neonatal unit.

  Her hands shook as she transferred Tonya to the neonatal stretcher. Her heart rate was still elevated and she knew some of it was due to adrenalin from the job but the rest was wholly and solely because of Xander.

  She remained on tenterhooks for the rest of her shift waiting to see if Xander would appear in A&E even though she knew his shift must have finished well before hers. The air ambulance helicopter only operated during daylight hours and it was long since dark. Once the helicopter was out of action, road crews took over and Xander would have gone home. The only reason he would have to come to A&E would be to see her.

  She was partly relieved and partly disappointed when her shift ended with Xander nowhere in sight.

  * * *

  Xander sat at the bar and nursed his drink as he mulled over the day’s turn of events.

  He wasn’t thinking about work or Shania. He was thinking about Chloe. Seeing her had completely blindsided him and had brought back memories he’d thought long buried.

  He hadn’t let himself consider the possibility of seeing her again even though he was in London. But was it really such a surprise?

  They’d met when she was on a study exchange, working with the flying doctor, and he knew that the London air ambulance was the UK equivalent but he’d had no idea she was working with them. He hadn’t let himself hope that he’d see her again.

  But here she was.

  It had been almost four years but she’d barely changed. Maybe she wasn’t quite as thin but, if anything, the few extra pounds suited her. She still looked young—she was seven years younger than him so she must only be about twenty-seven—but there was a maturity about her now. In both looks and manner. He saw it in her eyes and he’d seen it in her work today. She’d been confident, assured and capable.

  He closed his eyes as he pictured her.

  Her thick blond curls had been pulled back into a ponytail today, but he could remember how it had felt to slide his fingers into her tresses, how her hair had felt splayed across his bare chest. How she’d felt lying nestled into his side, how he had felt when she’d taken him in her arms. The cool, silkiness of her skin, the softness of her lips and the smell of shampoo and sun in her hair. He recalled it all.

  It had been almost four years but he remembered her as if it was yesterday.

  She had been a good distraction, an excellent distraction, at a time of his life when he’d needed distracting.

  He’d had a tumultuous two years and he had still been trying to process what had happened when she walked into his life. He’d encountered two of life’s major stresses simultaneously. A serious health scare and a marriage breakdown. His cancer diagnosis had been a shock, his wife’s infidelity equally so. Going through chemotherapy had been confronting and exhausting without the additional stress of a divorce. A divorce that he hadn’t seen coming. Those past two years had left him shattered and numb and he had been struggling to find his new identity in a future that didn’t hold marriage or fatherhood. His dreams had been crushed, leaving him with nothing except his career.

  He had been physically and emotionally exhausted when he’d met Chloe. He’d been through the wringer and, although he knew a stranger would look at him and suspect nothing, he felt a shadow of his former self.

  She’d made him feel better but she hadn’t been able to mend him.

  Chloe had given him a chance to forget about the previous two years. Some respite. She’d allowed him a chance to ignore what had happened but, he could admit this now, that hadn’t helped him to deal with it. Denial and acceptance were two completely different things.

  But he did know that the last time he’d been truly happy had been when he’d been with Chloe. She had calmed his soul and brought peace and happiness to his life at a time when he’d desperately needed it. And then taken it all away with her again when she’d left.

  He hadn’t anticipated that her departure would leave such a big hole in his life—after all, they’d only known each other for four weeks—but the loneliness he felt had surprised him and it was only after she’d gone that he wondered if he should have confided in her. Could they have had something more if he hadn’t been so emotionally wounded? So damaged.

  He would never know.

  Confiding in her would have meant talking about what had happened, talking about his feelings, and he wasn’t ready to do that. He was happier in denial. They’d shared a bed but not their minds. His wife, ex-wife, whom he’d known for ten years, had betrayed his trust and he hadn’t been in a position where he could bring himself to trust anyone else with his story. Not even a virtual stranger.

  He’d needed time.

  And time was something they didn’
t have then.

  He may have denied them the opportunity of getting to know each other better but he consoled himself with the knowledge that Chloe was only ever in Australia temporarily. He told himself that nothing he could have said or done would have changed that but it didn’t stop him from sometimes wishing that things had turned out differently.

  They’d had no plans for a future together, although he had found himself imagining one, but he knew he wasn’t in a position to offer her anything permanent. The future. Permanency. They were words that he’d been afraid to consider. His fate was still uncertain. He’d enjoyed Chloe’s company but he’d known, in his soul, that he wasn’t what she needed even while he thought she might be exactly what he desired.

  But he had to sort himself out first. He had to find some level of acceptance for what had happened to him. To his life. He couldn’t move forward until he’d done that.

  He didn’t know what his future was going to be, so instead of searching for her he’d gone searching the world, looking for a substitute. Looking for something to fill the space she’d left behind.

  He’d thought he would find something to fill that void but today, seeing her again, he wondered whether his search had been in vain. Could anything fill that void or could it only be filled by someone?

  She’d been the perfect tonic for him at one of the lowest points of his life but what about now?

  Was he in a better place?

  Four years on and he’d thought he was better but his feelings today took him by surprise. He’d felt an extraordinary sense of calm when he’d seen her today. As if, for the first time in years, he could breathe deeply and fully.

  He’d considered asking her out for a coffee or a drink but had hesitated at the last minute. He needed some time to understand what this chance meeting could mean. Was it just that? A chance. It didn’t need to mean anything. He didn’t need to act on it. He needed time to digest this situation. To figure it out.

  Being in the same place again was just a coincidence and he didn’t believe in coincidences.