A Baby to Bind Them

by Susanne Hampton

  Jade thought back to her wildest days and even then she would have drawn the line at that.

  ‘Jade, we’ve only known each other for three days, so I can’t say I really know much about you at all. What I do know is that you’re a brilliant nurse, amazing with both the parents and the neonates, and you’ve done an amazing job of bringing up Amber. She’s a sweetheart and she adores and depends on you. I’m not about to judge you for skinny-dipping. In fact, quite the opposite,’ he said with a twinkle in his eye.

  ‘In your parents’ pool...that would be so wrong.’

  ‘My family owes you so much for how you have raised Amber and been there for her every step of the way. Honestly, Jade, after what you’ve done for our family you can pretty much do anything you want and get away with it.’

  ‘You can stop right there. It’s been hard at times but she is a joy and so precious and I couldn’t imagine a day without her,’ Jade told him. ‘But no matter how grateful your family might be, I wouldn’t overstep the mark and skinny-dip in their pool...ever. Stripping down to a bikini is a stretch for me, let alone running around the pool naked.’

  Mitchell smiled but wasn’t sure why she wouldn’t wear a bikini around Amber. It was Australia and the twenty-first century so there was no reason that she couldn’t, and from what he had seen there was absolutely no reason for her not to wear one. Maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe she had been wearing a swimsuit and his eyes had misled him.

  ‘What colour is your bikini?’

  ‘It’s kind of skin-coloured Lycra. You could call it nude. Maybe you should check your distance vision.’

  ‘Damn, maybe I should,’ Mitchell said, laughing. ‘If only I’d known that you were wearing a swimsuit, I would’ve stopped and focused. But, Jade, I must say from my brief glance you looked stunning.’

  Jade felt her cheeks redden with the compliment. She knew Mitchell really had looked away quickly. He was a gentleman. If he had stopped to look at her he would have quickly seen she’d been wearing a bikini so decency really had made him look the other way in a hurry.

  Although now she felt quite self-conscious that he had seen her in the skimpy swimsuit and she felt the need to explain why she had been wearing something so at odds with her normal dress code.

  ‘I haven’t worn it in years. I don’t think it’s the right image any more, particularly around a little girl. I think Amber would prefer to see me in something a bit more respectable.’

  Mitchell did not break eye contact as he looked at his dinner companion and the woman who was slowly claiming more than his attention. She was getting closer each day to claiming his heart. ‘I would have to disagree with you on that one, Jade. I’m sure Amber would think her aunty looked gorgeous in a bikini. I know I did.’

  CHAPTER SIX

  THE CALL CAME through from the Royal Flying Doctor Service just as Jade was scrubbing in the next afternoon. It was her last shift for the week, then she would have four days off with Amber to visit the zoo and have a birthday picnic.

  ‘I can leave immediately,’ Mitchell said as he saw the paediatric consultant scrubbing in. He knew NICU would be well covered. ‘Do you have the gestational age?’

  ‘Around thirty-four weeks.’

  ‘Thirty-four weeks, so not critical, but there are two babies to consider. If you have your flight nurse ready I’ll bring a neonatal nurse with midwifery experience.’ Mitchell knew exactly whom he would take on the trip. He had spied her scrubbing in for her shift.

  ‘We can transport the three of you.’

  ‘Good, as I said, thirty-four weeks is not critical but twins can mean smaller babies so if there are complications I would prefer to have additional hands on board. Please let the pilot know I will arrange ambulance transportation to the airport straight away. ETA fifteen minutes.’

  Mitchell hung up the phone and, looking around the NICU, quickly found Jade. With long, purposeful strides he crossed to her just as she was about to take Costa’s obs.

  ‘I need you to come with me. It’s urgent.’ He signalled Alli to come and take over Costa’s care from Jade.

  Jade didn’t doubt for a second by the tone of Mitchell’s voice and the look on his face that it was something serious. His brow was knitted and his jaw rigid as he spoke.

  ‘I need you to walk as we talk,’ he said, leading her from NICU. ‘I want you to travel with me to the Outback, to near a small town in the central Flinders Ranges. It’s called Blinman and it’s about an hour’s flight from here. We have premature labour with twins and the town has no medical facilities. The woman was on a camping retreat with her husband and friends when her waters broke.’

  ‘Why me?’

  ‘Because you have both neonatal and midwifery skills and you have just scrubbed in, so you are fresh,’ he replied matter-of-factly. ‘Alli and Laura have some midwifery behind them but they are about an hour from finishing long shifts. They’re tired and you’re better placed to help.’

  They had reached the doors of the hospital and the ambulance bay at a ridiculously fast pace.

  ‘But what about Amber?’

  ‘She won’t even know you’ve gone with me. It will be just over an hour’s flight time and by the sound of it the babies are close to being born so we will be back by dinner at the latest and I’ll let you knock off and go home the moment we get back. You’re not due to finish until late so you’ll be home earlier than usual.’

  ‘Isn’t there a flight nurse and doctor on board already?’

  ‘No, just a flight nurse. She will meet us at the airport. This is still deemed a high-risk delivery and there is enough room in the emergency retrieval aircraft for a three-person medical team, the mother and two portable cribs According to the RFDS, the mother is not fully dilated but well on the way so I’m thinking maybe four hours all up. Your shift has only just begun so we should return in plenty of time for you to get home to kiss Amber goodnight. I’ll text home and let them know we’re both in the air and we’ll be back in a few hours.’

  ‘Why would an expectant mother head to the bush? What was out in the middle of nowhere?’ Jade asked as she and Mitchell climbed into the ambulance.

  ‘Sounds like eastern suburbs hippies, doing yoga and meditation for a week,’ he returned with a roll of his eyes. ‘Eastern suburbs means nothing to you, I know, but basically they are well educated, financially secure people who head to the bush to centre themselves once or twice a year. I have nothing against it but travelling over rough terrain probably wasn’t the best idea. It may or may not have brought about the early labour but it’s happened and she’s in trouble. Last antenatal check, twin two was still breech.’

  ‘She’s definitely going to need our help, then,’ Jade replied.

  * * *

  They arrived at the plane fifteen minutes later. The pilot warned them of bad weather rolling in from a tropical storm in the northeast, bringing a high chance of turbulence. He had exchanged intermittent radio contact with the patient’s partner, Jeremy, on the ground as his mobile service coverage wasn’t great and the stormclouds were interfering. He would be making his way to the nearest makeshift airstrip. The flight nurse had ascertained that the woman was coping with the pain, she was as comfortable as could be expected in a tent and had another female companion with her. Then radio contact had been lost.

  ‘Emma Kingston,’ the flight nurse introduced herself as she boarded and buckled up.

  ‘Mitchell Forrester, neonatologist, Eastern Memorial.’

  ‘Jade Grant, neonatal nurse.’

  ‘And midwife,’ Mitchell added, with a sense of pride for the woman sitting beside him.

  ‘Good to have you both on board,’ Emma said as she looked over the notes that had been sent to her phone and handed them to Jade and Mitchell to read. ‘Twins, one breech, in a bush delivery will be challenging.’

  ‘What are the biggest risks in your opinion?’ Mitchell asked Jade as they became airborne.

  ‘I have concerns with t
he safety of natural breech delivery and we obviously can’t perform a C-section. Natural birth requires at least the first foetus to be cephalic, which I’m noting here was the case at the last antenatal visit, but if the first baby is anything but this then a natural delivery is unsafe.’

  ‘The RFDS operator said her obstetrician is confident that hasn’t changed,’ Mitchell told her.

  ‘Then we just have the normal issues after the first infant is delivered. With the cervix still wide open, the umbilical cord can make its way down and this can be dangerous for the remaining foetus. Then there’s the risk that if the uterus shrinks rapidly with the delivery of the first twin, then the placenta can separate. As I said before, there’s always a small risk with twin delivery of the need for a C-section for the second twin, and we won’t have that option in the bush.’

  Mitchell considered Jade’s concerns for a moment. ‘Then let’s hope for everyone’s sake that the birth is straightforward as I want both babies out ASAP.’

  Emma nodded her reply. She had been a flight nurse for over fifteen years with the RFDS but twins in remote areas was a worry. Not wanting to overthink the situation, she slipped on her headphones, pulled out some reports and began reading and making revisions.

  The increasing cloud cover made it a bumpy flight and a little nerve-racking for Jade. Each pocket of air that lifted and dropped the small plane sent Jade’s stomach into a tailspin. Her heart was beating at an alarming rate but she did her best to mask her concern.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Mitchell asked when he heard the sudden intake of air by Jade. ‘I thought this would be a piece of cake compared to the long-haul.’

  ‘Not a huge lover of small aircraft,’ she said, still trying to control her emotions.

  Emma was engaged in her paperwork and didn’t seem perturbed by it at all. But there was more to it for Jade. She really didn’t want to discuss her recently acquired fear of nearly everything with a man who had daredevil on his résumé. He would never understand her love of thrills had flown out the window when Amber had arrived. She wasn’t scared for her own sake. It was the thought of Amber losing another person from her life that scared Jade to the core. No one deserved to experience loss the way Amber had without even being aware yet of what had been taken. One day she would understand more fully and Jade wanted to be there in one piece to help her though that realisation.

  ‘We’ll be fine. This weather might seem frightening to you but not to the pilot, who will be very experienced,’ his deep but still silky-smooth voice reassured her. Mitchell looked at Jade and realised that what he had deemed slight turbulence was really unnerving her. His bedside manner kicked in and he changed the subject. ‘How about you tell me why you chose the noble profession of neonatal nursing and midwifery and then I will bore you with why I became a neonatologist.’

  Jade considered the very handsome passenger beside her and she appreciated he was trying to distract her. She felt she knew him better now after they’d worked together for two days and, of course, the enlightening lunch. It concerned her more that she was increasingly finding him as attractive on the inside as on the outside.

  Without warning, the plane dropped, and Mitchell instinctively reached his hand across to Jade’s and held it tightly.

  She didn’t pull away. His skin was so warm. His grip so firm. It wasn’t the turbulence that took her breath. She swallowed and tried not to look down to her lap, where his hand was protectively covering hers. His touch was unsettling but she had to admit silently, although it was ridiculous, that she suddenly felt better. Again. This was the second time that Mitchell had made her fears disappear with his touch. It was silly to think that his hand on hers could protect her in an emergency landing. But it felt as if it could. It also felt wonderful to have someone want to reassure her. And hold her.

  Jade knew what she had to do. And it was very different from what she wanted to do. She wanted to let him protect her for a few minutes longer. She wanted to relish that feeling of his skin against hers. But she needed to pull away and take care of herself. She had been doing it alone and there was no reason to change that now. She couldn’t rely on Mitchell. She couldn’t let him in.

  ‘I fell into it literally,’ she said, pulling her hand free to supposedly check the time on her wristwatch. ‘I was fourteen and I’d been skateboarding and took a tumble down some steps. I was attempting a stupid manoeuvre that didn’t pan out and I was admitted to A and E for a broken wrist. Before that I had no idea what I wanted to do but, watching the nurses, I decided that was my career path.’

  ‘So why neo and midwifery after an A and E admission?’ he asked, aware that she had strategically withdrawn her hand and set the purely professional boundaries yet again. He wasn’t about to push that boundary.

  ‘On student placement I felt at home both in NICU and Obstetrics. I trained to be a midwife but also wanted to work in Neonatal so undertook additional training so I could work across both. What about you?’

  ‘I left school and backpacked around Australia and then headed to Asia and Africa,’ he returned quickly, not wanting a lull in conversation that would let Jade think about the size of the plane and the worsening weather outside. ‘I saw what was needed in the developing countries that I visited and decided that I needed to qualify to be of any use so I headed home, applied to study medicine at Adelaide Uni and then specialised. It was a long haul but worth it. Once I was qualified and had completed my residency I returned to Africa and signed on with Médecins Sans Frontières. I worked in small villages and two refugee camps. They had squat when it came to medical equipment, but as a team we did save lives and improve the quality of those who may have been handicapped without early intervention.’

  Jade had had no idea that he had been providing lifesaving medical assistance to people who would otherwise be denied access to even the most basic health care. Suddenly she realised that the man she had judged as irresponsible was, in fact, quite the opposite. He didn’t want ties but he certainly wanted to give to those who needed him most. Mitchell was quite complicated and not a man just after a good time.

  ‘But now you’re home,’ she said, not really sure why she did and even less sure of why she kept going with that line of questioning. ‘Will you stay here or head back overseas?’ It was none of her business and she wasn’t sure why she wanted to know.

  Mitchell paused to think. He hadn’t made plans, he never really had after his initial decision to study medicine. Everything else had just seemed to happen. He’d gone where opportunities and challenges arose and where he could avoid commitment. Mitchell had lived his adult life with a ‘fly by the seat of his pants’ attitude to life and he liked it that way.

  ‘I heard that there was an opening they couldn’t fill in NICU at the Eastern and thought it would be a good chance to catch up with family. Haven’t really thought about how long or what my plan is, I’ll just take it as it comes.’

  The plane entered heavy grey clouds and rocked from side to side a little.

  ‘I’m afraid the storm front arrived a little early,’ the pilot announced. ‘Might get a little rough but shouldn’t be too long before we’re through to the other side.’

  Jade felt her breathing stall as the plane lurched and jolted. She swallowed anxiously but very quickly the plane steadied and so did her breathing. She looked nervously from the window at the solid wall of grey and white fluff surrounding the small plane. She had to be brave, and with Mitchell so close she found it a little easier. It was only slight turbulence and perhaps the worst was already over.

  Suddenly the plane dropped about fifty feet from its flight path. Steadiness disappeared as Jade felt her stomach churn and her heart begin to pound. She gripped the armrests, her knuckles quickly turning white. Without thinking, Mitchell’s arms held her tightly. He didn’t care that she had tried to build a barrier. He ignored what she wanted and gave her what he knew at that moment she needed. Security and a sense that everything would be okay.

/>   Mitchell had travelled in enough light aircraft over the years to know they would be fine but she didn’t have that experience. He understood her fear was very real and he didn’t hesitate to reach out to her.

  Jade didn’t pull away, even after the turbulence subsided. She felt like she had found her safe harbour with Mitchell. And this time she wasn’t about to tell it any other way, to him or to herself. It was the truth. He made her sense of fear lessen and it was as if she could halve the worry, knowing he was there to lean on. She could not remember the last time she’d felt that she could rely on someone, more particularly a man. She had never let herself feel that way.

  As she looked down at the strong hand that was covering hers so warmly and the arm that was holding her tight, she wondered if Maureen and Arthur had raised two exceptional sons.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THE PLANE LANDED without incident and the medical team quickly unloaded their kits, including two portable incubators, and made their way to the woman’s partner, who had been waiting at the makeshift runway with his four-wheel-drive.

  ‘I’m so bloody relieved to see you,’ he began as he helped to load the equipment into the back of the vehicle. ‘I left Sophie’s best friend, Wendy, with her. She’s had four kids of her own so I figured she would be more use than me,’ he told them as they climbed into the vehicle. ‘It’s only a ten-minute drive from here but I can get Wendy on the phone for you if you like. My hand-free connection’s not good so I’ll call before I start out and give you the phone.’

  Jade watched as he pulled up the number. His fingers were shaking and beads of perspiration were covering his brow. The sun was warm and the air was dry. It was clearly nerves causing his reaction.

  ‘I have the doctors with me,’ he said into the mobile phone then put it on loudspeaker and handed it over.

  ‘Hi, Wendy, this is Jade Grant, I’m a midwife from the Eastern Memorial Hospital and I have with me Mitchell Forrester, a neonatal specialist, and also Emma, the Royal Flying Doctor Service flight nurse. The plan is for us to be there to deliver the twins and we are a little under ten minutes away. How far apart are Sophie’s contractions?’