He finished chewing. ‘I thought so.’ He winked at her. ‘Didn’t know about the debauchery, though.’ He leaned forward with interest and rubbed his hands.
Win calmly poured her own tea, but her mouth twitched.
Greg reached across and touched her wrist. ‘I missed your life membership presentation. I read about it in the local paper. I’m sorry. I would have gone to cheer.’
‘Noni missed it, too.’ She shrugged. Something like that was not important compared to their medical work. ‘You both had an emergency caesarean. But Harley came! He applauded enthusiastically.’ She smiled fondly at the memory. Harley had nearly clapped his arms off.
He sat back but didn’t shift his gaze. ‘It’s a big deal. I only know of three other people out of the entire town who are life members. That’s a lot of volunteer hours you’ve given.’
Win could feel her cheeks heat. Real compliments were harder to deal with than vague flattery. ‘Tell me about your meeting.’
His hand rested back under his chin and he was, well, she’d have to say, admiring her. She wished he’d stop. ‘No. It’s boring. You tell me how you’re going with your lodgers this week. Are they causing you trouble? Has Iain told Noni, yet? Can I help in any way?’
Win looked at him. Apart from Noni, he really was the only one she could talk to. And Greg personified attentive. Sincerely. He was such a nice man. ‘We have had moments of unusual interest. I think Iain and Noni are falling for each other and that worries me for Noni’s sake. And Jacinta’s unsettled by it, too. And no, she found out he’s a surgeon, but the stupid man didn’t come clean about his obstetrics. I think he has a death wish.’
Greg laughed. ‘You haven’t warned him? Or is that because he can look after himself? Would you like me to have a word about his mortality?’
Win thought about that. ‘He’s a big boy. And it may help Noni to be more philosophical when they go. But thank you for the offer.’
‘Something else worrying you?’
She frowned at him. ‘What is this? Bolster-poor-Win week?’
Greg didn’t bite. Which was kind of him when it hadn’t been a friendly thing to say. But he kept hitting the nail on the head, which was most disconcerting. ‘I suspect Jacinta has some dark secrets.’ She sighed and shrugged a little helplessly – and helpless wasn’t usually in her vocabulary.
She leaned forward. ‘That girl worries me. And I’d say it’s only through her strength of will that she wasn’t using drugs, but she’s had it pretty rough since her mother died. She reminds me of Noni when she was young – she has her singlemindedness – and if she wants to stay here when her father goes back, I’d have her.’
If she wasn’t mistaken Greg looked disturbed by that, but he only said, ‘Of course you would. Though, that won’t make Iain happy.’
And there was the difference. Iain needed to learn a few lessons from this man.
Greg leaned forward. ‘Come to dinner with me next week. Pick a night when you don’t have to rush home.’
‘Not rush home? Where are you leading with this?’ she teased him. ‘Good grief. Not a sleepover?’
Greg twinkled at her. ‘You are welcome to sleep over at my house any time.’
Win had to smile. ‘Penelope would adore that.’
‘My daughter has her own life,’ Greg said mildly. ‘And I have mine.’
Win stifled a smile. ‘Why the change? Is Sunday lunch not suiting you?’
‘I said I was thinking today.’ He stroked her hand and Win felt the gooseflesh rise on her arms. He was deliberately flirting with her. ‘I had hoped our lunch dates would continue, but I’d like to up the ante. After all, I’m not getting any younger and if I’m to woo you I need to get a scurry on.’
She studied him, a little shocked he’d put that out there, but chose to smile as if he were teasing. ‘To woo sounds a little serious for us. And I’m too old to scurry.’
‘You’re not too old to kayak and climb mountains so I think you’ll be fine,’ he quipped.
She guessed he had a point.
Then he said, with his face completely serious, ‘I was going to leave this until next week, but I believe you may need time to get used to the idea.’ He reached and took her hand. Looked down at it and then lifted her palm to his lips and kissed it before capturing her gaze.
‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Winsome Frost, and I want to start as soon as possible. So be prepared for a proper proposal.’
Win’s breath hitched like crochet hook in her chest. He did not just say that. She forced the breath back and sagged in the chair. Didn’t he know how unsuitable she was?
Then she straightened. She would just have to remind him how unsuitable she was for him. She sat back with a bright smile on her face. ‘Do you fancy Naturism as a lifestyle, Greg? Going to come with me next weekend and embrace nature?’
She expected him to look away but his gaze was wicked and her natural confidence faulted. Could she have got it wrong?
‘I said I’m an advocate of a healthy lifestyle. If you’d like me to, of course I’ll come. I guess I won’t have to pack much. What time?’
Chapter Twenty-four
Noni
Noni stood at the doors of the maternity ward, instead of the antenatal classroom, because they were doing the labour-ward tour tonight. She watched the first of the cars pull up with the class members. The staff on duty had been discussing the threat of closure.
When the couples had assembled, she took the group through to the ward, trying not to sound depressed when she pointed out the lovely home-like surroundings that soon could be used for storing hospital supplies and old beds. Then they went through to the garden and all sat down outside in the gazebo, where she passed around the birthing room goody bag – a knapsack filled with comfort items for their hospital stay. Everyone had to take a lucky dip and try to explain how the item could be used during labour.
One young father-to-be pulled out a pair of men’s swimming briefs and the class roared with laughter. ‘I don’t know what these are for!’
It was good to laugh for a change. Noni straightened her face and explained, ‘Now, Paul, you may have to rub Suzie’s back in labour while she’s in the shower, and you’re going to get wet if you do the job properly.’
‘I wouldn’t wear these.’ He screwed up his face. ‘They’re budgie smugglers.’
‘That’s fine,’ Noni said kindly. ‘The midwives in there with you won’t mind if you don’t want to wear anything.’
The class roared again. Noni smiled serenely at Iain. ‘Your turn.’ His hand dipped into the bag and he pulled out a plastic toy camera.
‘To take photos of the baby,’ he said in his confident tone. He then glanced at Jacinta and added hastily, ‘Not during the birth, of course.’
‘No chance, buddy.’ Jacinta lifted her hand in the shape of a gun she’d use if he tried and the class laughed again.
The circle continued until the bag was empty. Then Noni ushered them into the birthing suite she’d prepared. The lights had been dimmed, the aroma of lavender lingered faintly and rain-forest relaxation music played softly in the corner. She’d filled up the bath with warm water and set out the mat and beanbag on the floor.
‘All the little extras in here you could bring yourself if you had to.’ She pointed to the boomerang pillow and the speaker for the MP3 player. ‘A scent you like, music, your own pillow. If you set up your room like this you can help yourself to stay as relaxed as possible while listening to what your body wants you to do. Remember what I’ve said. The contractions are powerful – the stronger they are, the better they’re doing their job. Don’t fight with them, that’s a waste of energy and will slow you down. Work with them. Call them strong, not painful. Full of power, not fear.’
She looked around at the faces, eager to understand how their bodies worked and what they could do to help it along. Jacinta looked thoughtful and Noni hoped her exposure to the drama of Aimee’s birth had
n’t undermined her new faith in her body. Iain hadn’t been pleased that his daughter had been a part of the crisis, but things happened. That was nature. It was unfortunate but real.
‘Stay relaxed so these good contractions can push baby’s head against the cervix and help it open. Then sigh afterwards to release any extra tension.’ She looked at the nearest male. ‘That’s your job. Gently touch her shoulder. Make sure she’s let go of the last contraction and is resting before the next one.’
Before they finished for the night, Noni took them in to see a birthing unit that had just been cleaned, so none of the bareness or hard edges had been hidden with quilts or dim lighting. ‘If you were travelling somewhere and you had to have your baby in another hospital, it might look like this.’
The room lay sterile, with steel furniture exposed, and white sheets and bright lights glaring. There was no music and it smelled like a hospital. ‘I want you to envisage turning this room into the room next door.’
Most of the class nodded their heads, seeing her point. Then she saw Jacinta’s face. It had that look on it again. Noni could see her starting to shake and she tried to catch Iain’s eye, but he was laughing with one of the fathers.
‘Well, that’s all, folks.’ She pointed to the door. ‘I’ll see you next week back at our usual room.’
She moved swiftly to Jacinta’s side and steered her out of the cold room and into the one next door.
‘Jacinta! What is it?’ She crouched down in front of the girl. ‘Are you upset about Aimee?’ Noni glanced up as Iain appeared at her shoulder. ‘She’s upset again.’
‘Probably Aimee and the stark reality of being back in that room. Was that really necessary?’
‘Fine. Let’s pretend the labour wards don’t usually look like that in the city,’ Noni snapped. She wasn’t responsible for Jacinta’s state. She ignored him then and concentrated on the young woman. ‘What is it, honey?’ She rubbed her cold hands.
‘Tell him to go away.’ The whispered words carried to her father and he stepped back as if he’d been slapped. Noni wished she could have softened the statement, but Iain wasn’t her first priority.
‘Can you give us a couple of minutes, please, Iain?’
He walked to the door, turned in a circle, opened his mouth, didn’t say anything and finally walked away.
Something had jolted Jacinta into this state. ‘Tell me the real reason you’re like this, Jacinta. I want to help you.’
The young girl looked up at her and Noni caught her breath. What she saw scared her. And Noni didn’t scare easily. The blue eyes so like Iain’s were filled with such pain she could hardly bear to witness it. Maybe she should call Iain back? But Jacinta started to talk.
‘My mum died in a room like this. They cut the baby out right there.’ Her voice caught. ‘The nurses wouldn’t let me in, the room looked like that one – I saw it when they opened the door to come and go, and I could hear them yelling. I couldn’t save her.’
‘Who was with you there, sweetheart?’ Noni lifted the girl’s small, cold hand and wrapped her own warm ones around it.
‘Her boyfriend.’ The tears ran down her cheeks. ‘That’s why I moved into the flat with Nick. I couldn’t go home and live with her boyfriend after she died. Until Nick threw me out.’ She raised tortured eyes to Noni. ‘Iain,’ she spat the word. ‘He’s a doctor! A surgeon. If I’d called my father he could have come and maybe he could have helped. He could have saved her.’
Noni sighed with regret for the broken-hearted child in front of her. A child in a woman’s body, carrying another child. She could feel the sting of tears at the back of her own eyes and blinked them away. She drew a breath and let it out slowly.
‘Sometimes, people die having babies, Jacinta. Sometimes babies die. Sometimes, if a mother can’t be resuscitated they may decide to do a caesarean as a last-ditch effort to try to save them both. When the baby is born that way, a surge of blood that was in the uterus can be shifted back into the mother’s blood stream like a big transfusion and some mothers have been saved by this procedure. And some babies. But it’s last-minute, which means the mother has had no pulse for at least four minutes before they do it. She’s technically already dead so it can’t make it worse.’
‘It was horrible.’
‘Absolutely.’ Noni hugged her. ‘The absolute worst thing anyone could see. Especially her daughter,’ Noni whispered into her ear. ‘Especially her pregnant daughter,’ she said a little dryly and looked at Jacinta with raised brows.
Jacinta straightened and wiped her eyes. Drew a long, ragged breath, and straightened her shoulders as if the telling of it had somehow made it just a little less of a burden. ‘You’re telling me.’
‘It’s a tragic part of nature’s truth that we as humans don’t have a lot of control, not over all things and all circumstances. Even your father can’t save everyone.’
‘I’d like to say that’s BS. But I know that. And I know tragedies happen. Like it almost happened today. But I’ll never forget seeing my mum as she died. Never.’
Noni hugged her again. ‘Sometimes, something could have been done better and we try very hard to learn from those occasions, but usually it’s because of another medical reason as well as pregnancy and it’s nobody’s fault. Strong, healthy women without medical illnesses don’t die without reason. I believe you’re a strong, healthy young woman, Jacinta.’ Noni met her eyes. ‘We’ll be there for you every step of the way. You’re not going to die having your baby, not under my watch.’ Please, God.
Jacinta just looked at her.
Noni tried the last thing she could think of. ‘Your father will be there and he will make sure everything is right for you. So will I. Come on. Let your dad take you home. He’s worried sick about you. And I’ll be home soon, too.’
Half an hour later, Noni walked into the library. Iain leaned with both hands on the mantelpiece. He looked up when he heard her and shook his head.
‘She told me. This bloody fiasco gets worse and worse.’ He pushed himself away from the mantelpiece and walked agitatedly around the room. ‘How I wish she’d been able to ring me.’
His eyes were deep pits of despair. Noni felt powerless to ease his distress. She didn’t know how to comfort him.
Then he said, ‘I can’t get over Adele having the key to seventeen years of my daughter’s life. Information that could have changed Jacinta’s childhood.’ His expression was bitter and his voice matched.
All Adele’s fault again. Noni sighed. Poor Adele. Adele, who had died as her daughter watched.
Iain returned to the mantelpiece and pushed his hands with force. Despite the fact that it was very sturdy, Noni looked worriedly at it. ‘How could a woman not tell a man he had a child?’ he asked.
Noni winced. This was definitely not the time to mention that Harley’s father didn’t know about his son.
‘Look, Iain. The circumstances were unique to everyone. For the moment, Jacinta is the concern.’ She tried to be the voice of reason because they needed a plan. ‘We need to find a way to reassure Jacinta. Dwelling in the past isn’t going to help her. She still thinks she’s going to die in labour, like her mother did, and that’s the worst way to prepare yourself for a birth.’
His head shot up. ‘That’s it. I’ll find out which hospital it was and how Adele died. There had to be an underlying medical problem or someone stuffed up severely.’ Suddenly, he was a man with a purpose. ‘I’ll find out the details and we’ll be able to put in safeguards, make her see it’s not going to happen to her.’
He paced the room as if he wanted to leave now. ‘Damn it. I’ll have to wait until Monday to leave. The sort of search I’ll need will have to go through a medical-records department.’
Noni had a sinking feeling it wouldn’t be easy to gain access to medical records in a strange hospital. Even if you were a surgeon. She didn’t like to underestimate him, though. He looked very determined and it was difficult to imagine Iain not getting
his way. Her head filled with the image of him gliding into the theatre during Aimee’s caesarean and the masterful way he’d saved the baby, and she knew without a doubt that he would get his way. If he tried hard enough he’d probably get his own way with me, too, she thought.
She blinked and felt a shiver cross her skin. Why would she think that? Because, she admitted to herself, he’d started to intrude on her thoughts at odd moments. She noticed when he was there and she noticed when he was gone. Unfortunately, she felt more than a little alive when he was there, despite the fact that she wanted to slap him half the time.
Iain looked down at Noni. ‘Will you and Win look after Jaz for me while I go back to the city for a few days? I know it’s a lot to ask, but I need to find out the truth. Please.’
‘Of course.’ Her answer was absent, because suddenly, she had to wrestle with her own crisis. She had the horrible feeling that she was dangerously close to falling in love with him. But why? He wasn’t that loveable.
She cleared her throat and her voice strengthened. ‘You don’t have to ask that.’ She had to get out of here. ‘I’m going up to bed. Try to get some sleep.’
There was no way she would sleep tonight. Noni couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid. She’d made sure Harley knew Iain and Jacinta would leave a couple of days after the baby was born so it wasn’t a shock for him. She should have reminded herself more often. She’d suspected they would leave a definite gap for all of them. How could she be falling for someone she’d only known such a short while?
She sighed as she climbed the stairs. The last man she’d been involved with had only been passing through, too.
Chapter Twenty-five
Noni
Jacinta remained quiet over the weekend and Noni didn’t feel much more talkative. By Sunday afternoon the house lay positively morose, almost as if they all were waiting for Win to come home and make them feel better.
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