by Tina Beckett
Darcie couldn’t stop the smile. “You do, do you? And why is that?”
“Because I’m going to be a midwife too. Did you know that Uncle Luke helped my mum have me? She couldn’t make it to a hospital.”
No, she hadn’t known, because Lucas hadn’t talked about anything personal, she realized. In fact, he knew some pretty intimate stuff about her, while she knew almost nothing about him. Like whether or not his parents were still alive. Or why he’d gone into midwifery in the first place.
Because it was none of her business.
Careful not to pump the girl for information, she settled for a noncommittal response that she hoped would end the conversation.
It didn’t. “Mummy died of cancer.”
That she did know. “I’m sorry, Cora.”
“I don’t remember much about her. But I do remember she always smelled nice…like chocolate biscuits.”
Darcie swallowed hard, forcing down the growing lump in her throat. What would it be like to lose your mother at such a tender age? Her own mum was still her very best friend and confidante. She decided to change the subject once and for all, since neither Felix nor Lucas would appreciate knowing her and Cora’s chat had revealed old heartaches. “Speaking of biscuits, Cora, would you like to go down to the café and see if they have something good to eat? I’ll just let the nurses know where I’ll be.”
“Yay!” Cora grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the door. “Does the coffee shop have espresso, do you think?”
She gave the little girl a sharp glance, not sure if she was joking or not. “How about we both stick with hot chocolate?”
“Even better. Daddy sometimes forgets to buy the chocolate powder.”
“Then hot chocolate we shall have.”
Fifteen minutes later they were in the cafeteria at a table, with Cora imitating the way Darcie drank her chocolate. It made Darcie smile. She could see why Lucas was so very fond of her. The girl was exuberant and full of life, despite the tragedy she’d suffered at such a young age. Then again, children were resilient, a characteristic she often wished was carried into adulthood.
The buzzer on her phone went off and when she looked at the screen her eyes widened. Lucas. He must have got her message. She answered, forcing herself to speak cheerfully, even though her heart was cranking out signals of panic. “Hi.”
“May I ask where you are, and why my niece is with you? You’re not in your office.”
“I…uh…” Oh, God, it hadn’t been her imagination in Margie’s room. He was upset with her for some reason. Only she had no idea why or what she could have done. “We’re in the cafeteria. Felix said he tried to ring you, but you didn’t answer.”
That was really the crux of the matter. Why Lucas had failed to answer anyone’s calls.
“I forgot to charge my battery after…” He paused, then forged ahead, “I got home. I had to get the extra charger from my vehicle in the car park.”
Oh, well, that answered the question about where he’d gone and why he hadn’t picked up his mobile. It didn’t answer why he was acting the way he was. “Okay. Well, Felix said the childminder is ill and he had an appointment to keep. He asked if I could watch Cora for a few minutes.”
Had Felix not left him a message, like she had?
“I’ll be right down to get her.”
She tried to smooth things over. “Why don’t you join us instead? We’re drinking hot chocolate and eating biscuits.”
He mumbled something under his breath that she couldn’t hear before he came back with, “One of us should stay on the ward.”
It was a slow morning and there were several other midwives on duty. Surely he didn’t mind sharing her break time?
She simply said, though, “Whatever you think is best. I’ll see you when you get here.” Then she disconnected before he could say anything else. The last thing she wanted to do was get into an argument with him just when she thought they’d turned a corner.
Turned a corner? Sleeping with him was so much more than that.
Was that what this was all about? Did he suddenly regret what they’d done? Or was he just afraid she was going to become clingy and expect something from him he wasn’t willing to give?
She suddenly felt like a fool. Played with and then discarded, like she would have expected him to do with other women. And why not her? She was no better than anyone else. Certainly not in Lucas’s eyes.
“Darcie, are you okay?” Cora’s worried voice broke into her thoughts.
She forced a smile, picking up her hot chocolate and taking a sip of the now-tepid liquid. “Fine. Your uncle is on his way down to have tea with you.”
“Shall we order him something, do you think?”
“Oh, I think he can manage that on his own.” Another quick smile that made her feel like a total fraud. “And once he gets here I need to get back to work. I have patients that need attending to.”
“Can’t you stay a little while longer? I know Uncle Luke would want you to.”
No, actually he wouldn’t. But there was no way she was going to say that to a little girl. “Sorry, love, I wish I could.”
The second Lucas arrived Darcie popped up from the table. “See, here she is all safe and sound.”
His eyes searched hers for a moment, and she thought she caught a hint of regret in their depths. “I had no doubt she was safe with you.”
His hand came out as if to catch her wrist, but Darcie took a step back, going over to Cora and leaning down to kiss the top of her head. “I’m off. Have fun with your uncle.”
Then, without a backward glance, she made her way out of the café, wishing she could grind the last fortnight of their rotation into dust and sweep it into the nearest bin.
CHAPTER EIGHT
LUCAS FOUND HER just outside the Teen Mums-to-Be room.
Isla had the door to the tiny conference room open, and she and Darcie were discussing ways to promote the program and give it more visibility. When Isla’s eyes settled on him, however, they widened slightly. “I think someone wants to talk to you.”
Darcie glanced back, and then her chin popped up, eyes sparkling. “May I help you with something, Mr. Elliot?”
Her sudden formality struck him right between the eyes. He wasn’t the only who noticed. Isla looked from one to the other then murmured that she would see Darcie later and left, quietly closing the door behind her.
He’d cursed himself up one side and down the other for the way he’d spoken to Darcie on the phone yesterday. Margie talking about her miscarriage and wondering if she’d ever be happy again had scrubbed at a raw spot inside him that just wouldn’t go away. Because he’d wondered the same thing about his brother time and time again—whether he’d ever be happy again, or if he’d simply wander the same worn paths for the rest of his life or, worse, destroy himself and damage Cora in the process. Love and loss seemed to go hand in hand.
But that had been no reason to take it out on Darcie.
Better make this good, mate.
“I wanted to apologize for being short with you yesterday.”
“No need. I should have simply asked your brother to take Cora home when he couldn’t reach you, appointment or no appointment. I didn’t realize you were so against me spending time with her.” Her lips pressed together in a straight line.
She was angry.
And gorgeous. Especially now.
He’d settled Cora in his office yesterday while Felix had gone to his therapy session, and between him and the nurses they’d taken turns keeping her occupied. Every time he’d checked in on her she’d chattered nonstop about Darcie. She’d loaded the pictures from their time at Max’s bungee-jumping tower onto his computer. One of those shots had taken his breath away. It had been taken just after he’d unhooked her carabiners, just after he’d kissed her. She’d broken through the surface of the water at the same time as he had, brown hair streaming down her back, fingers clutching his.
And their eyes
had been locked on each other. He could only hope none of the nurses had seen the picture.
But in that moment he’d realized why he was so against Darcie and Cora spending time together. Because Darcie was too easy to love. Much like Melody had been.
Cora had already grown attached to the obstetrician. That fact made his chest ache. She’d lost her mother, and very possibly her father. This was one little girl who didn’t deserve to experience any more hurt. And she would if he wasn’t careful. Because Darcie would be leaving the country. Soon.
He’d tried to apologize to her yesterday, but by the time his brother had come to pick Cora up, Darcie had been flooded with patients and unable to stop and talk. At least, that’s what she said. And when their shift had ended, she’d left immediately.
“No, you did the right thing,” he said. “I was upset with myself for not getting those calls and leaving you to deal with the whole mess.” A partial truth. But if his mobile phone had been charged, he could have avoided all of this.
“Mess?”
Damn, he wasn’t explaining himself very well. “Things with my brother are complicated at the moment, and I was worried.”
Darcie’s brows puckered, but she didn’t ask what the complications were. “It was no problem. Cora and I get on quite well.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed.”
If he were smart he’d have let things continue the way they had yesterday—with Darcie put out with him—until their rotation ended. But the note of hurt in her voice, when he’d demanded to know where Cora was, had punctured something deep inside. He’d found he just couldn’t let her think the worst of him.
Which was why he was here.
She glanced at the door Isla had closed, probably planning her escape. So Lucas blurted out, “Which thing on your list were you thinking of tackling next?”
He’d made a promise. He couldn’t very well renege on it, could he? Yes, he damn well could. He was just choosing not to.
“I hadn’t given it much thought today.”
He should have said goodbye when he’d woken up in her bed, but he’d been too damned shocked to do anything but throw his clothes on and get out of there. He rarely spent the night at a woman’s flat, most of the time leaving soon after the physical act was completed. Because the aftermath always felt uncomfortable. Intimate. And holding a woman for hours after having sex with her? Well, that was something a husband or boyfriend did. Lucas didn’t want either of those titles attached to his name.
But he didn’t want to hurt anyone unnecessarily either. Especially one who’d already been treated badly by someone else. One he’d promised wouldn’t have to accomplish her to-do-while-in-Australia list on her own.
Besides, he’d promised Isla as well.
“How about the pier? We could walk along it tonight, see the moon shining on the water.” It had been on the tip of his tongue to suggest a trip to the dock where his sailboat was moored, but he had the same internal rule about that as he did about spending the whole night with a woman. He didn’t do it.
“That wasn’t on my list.”
He offered her a smile. “Maybe lists were made to be changed—added to.”
She stared up at him for a long second. “Maybe they were. Okay, Lucas. The pier. Tonight.”
Relief swept over him, not only because he wasn’t breaking his promise to show her the sights—and the pier at night was one of his favorites—but that she was back to calling him by his first name. He liked the sound of it on her lips.
Especially in that breathy little voice that—
Back to business, Lucas.
“Okay, then, do you want to meet after our shift?”
“Sounds perfect.”
Just as Darcie reached for the door handle of the teen mums’ room, Tristan Hamilton, MMU’s neonatal cardiothoracic surgeon, came sprinting down the hallway. “Flick’s in labor.”
Isla pushed the door from the other side, making it known that the rooms were not soundproof. “Are you sure?”
Tristan dragged shaky fingers through his hair. “I’m sure. So is she. She knows the signs.”
“It’s still early.” Lucas said what everyone was probably thinking. Heavily pregnant, Tristan’s wife had already been through a lot. So had Tristan. The baby had inherited his father’s heart defect—a defect that had required Tristan to undergo a heart transplant when he’d been younger. Thankfully, a specialized team had done surgery on the baby in utero a few weeks ago, repairing the faulty organ and inserting a stent, but the baby was still recovering. The fact that Flick had gone into labor wasn’t a good sign. It could mean the baby was in distress. A complication from surgery?
He glanced at Darcie, who nodded. “We’re on our way.”
Isla, the worry evident on her face, said, “I’ll come too.”
“No.” Darcie moved closer and squeezed the other woman’s hand. “You’re needed here. We’ll keep you up to date on what’s happening.”
“Promise?” Lucas noted Isla’s hand had gone to the bulge of her own stomach in a protective gesture he recognized.
“I promise.”
Then the trio was off, Tristan leading the pack, while Darcie and Lucas followed behind. Once back on the ward, it was obvious which room Flick was in by the bevy of nurses rushing in and out.
The second they entered the space, Flick—already in a hospital gown—cast a terrified glance their way. “They’re coming faster, Tristan. Every two minutes now.”
While her husband went to hold her hand, Lucas and Darcie hurriedly washed their hands and snapped on gloves. Lucas nodded at Darcie to do the initial exam while he hooked up the monitor.
Without a word being said, she moved into position. “Tell me if you start contracting, Flick, and I’ll stop.”
Lucas watched the woman’s expression, even as he positioned the wide elastic band of the monitor around her waist. Once he switched it on the sound of the baby’s heart filled the room, along with a palpable sense of relief. No arrhythmias. No dangerous slowing of the heart rate. Just a blessedly normal chunga-chunga-chunga-chunga that came from a healthy fetus.
Darcie’s face was a study in concentration as she felt the cervix to judge its state. If Flick was still in the early stages of labor, it might be possible to halt it with medication.
Grim little lines appeared around her mouth as she straightened. “Have you noticed any leakage?”
“The baby’s been pressing hard on my bladder so…” Her eyes went to her husband. “The amniotic sac?”
Darcie nodded. “It’s trickling. And you’re at five centimeters and almost fully effaced. There’s no stopping it at this point, Flick. Your baby is coming.”
“But his heart…”
Tristan, standing beside his wife, looked stunned. “You’d better get Alessandro down here.”
The neonatal specialist was in charge of the hospital’s NICU. Once the baby was born, Alessandro would make sure everything was working as it should and that the child’s tiny heart was okay.
Darcie asked one of the nurses to put in a call, and then she moved up to stroke Flick’s head. “It’s going to be all right. You’re only a few weeks early.”
“Mmm…” Flick’s blue eyes closed as she pulled air in through her nose and blew out through her mouth. Tristan leaned closer to help her, while Lucas glanced at the monitor. Contraction. Building.
The baby’s heart rate slowed as the uterus clamped down further, squeezing the umbilical cord. Everyone held their breath, but the blips on the screen picked up the pace once the contraction crested and the pressure began to ease.
Lucas came over and said in a low voice, “She’s going fast for her first.”
A few seconds later Alessandro appeared in the room, along with a few more nurses. He studied Flick’s chart and then watched the monitor beside the bed for a minute or two. “Let me know when she’s getting close. I’ll have everything ready.”
He shook Tristan’s hand. “Congratulations.
It looks like you’re going to be a daddy today. Have you got a name picked out for her?”
The baby’s sex wasn’t a secret any more. Tristan and Flick were having a girl.
“We’re still having heated discussions about that,” Flick said with a shaky smile. “I hoped we’d have a few more weeks to talk it over.”
Her husband laid a hand on her cheek. “Let’s go with Laura. I know how much you love that name.”
“Are you sure?” Tears appeared in her eyes, but then another contraction hit and her thoughts turned to controlling the pain.
Alessandro’s attention turned to the monitor to watch the progression. “Everything looks good so far. Call me when the baby crowns, or if you need me before that.” He gave Flick’s shoulder a gentle squeeze and then nodded at the rest of them and left the room.
Once labor was in full swing, the room grew crowded with healthcare workers. Flick refused the offer of nitrous oxide, afraid that anything she put into her body at this point would affect the baby, even though the gas was well tolerated and often used to manage labor pain.
“I need to push.” Flick’s announcement had Darcie at her side in a flash.
She checked the baby’s position once again then nodded. “You’re all set. Are you ready, Mum?”
“Yes.”
They waited for a second as Flick found a comfortable position.
Tension gathered in the back of Lucas’s head as he assisted Darcie, while Tristan remained closer to his wife’s head, murmuring encouragement.
Lucas saw the climb begin on the monitor. “Okay, Flick, here it comes, take a deep breath and push.”
The woman grabbed a lungful of air, closed her eyes and bore down, helping her contracting uterus do its job. Tristan counted to ten in a slow, steady voice and told her to take another breath and push again.
The pushing phase went as quickly as the rest of the labor had gone. Ten pushes, and Darcie signaled that the baby had crowned. “Someone ring Alessandro.”
He must have been close by because he entered the room within a minute and stood at the far wall.
“Here we go, Flick.”