Her husband.
Nick put his arm around her. ‘You should have been up there, helping to cut that ribbon.’
Fiona laughed. She patted the impressive mound of her tummy. ‘There isn’t a uniform in creation that would fit me at the moment. I think they’ve got it wrong, you know. I’m sure there must be at least twins hiding in there.’
‘If there is, we might have to send back that lovely new scanner we got from the extra funding. It would be seriously faulty.’
Hugh had turned to face the crowd. Someone handed him a microphone. ‘Nobody’s feeling sick out there in this heat, are they?’ he inquired hopefully. ‘Because we’ve got some fabulous new gear we wouldn’t mind playing with.’
A ripple of laughter went through the audience. Nick had his mouth close to Fiona’s ear.
‘You’re not missing it too much, are you? Being on active duty?’
‘Are you kidding? We’ve had a fabulous time overseas, we’ve just had the foundation poured for the house of our dreams and our daughter’s due to put in an appearance any day now. I might never want to go back to work. Ooh…’ Fiona’s face scrunched into lines of discomfort.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘This baby has a kick like a mule. Feel that!’ Taking Nick’s hand in hers, Fiona laid it on her belly—a contact that they had become expert in. She was watching his face as their baby moved again. She loved that look of incredulity that never seemed to fade no matter how often he felt it. And the look of dreamy contentment that invariably followed.
‘Mummy, we want to go and play on the bouncy castle.’ Sam was six now and shooting up. His friend Luke was beside him as usual and the two boys were clearly bored with the formal proceedings of the day. The entertainment and food that was being laid on after the speeches were of far greater appeal.
‘Shh,’ Fiona warned. ‘Uncle Hugh’s still talking.’
‘We have so many people to thank,’ Hugh was saying. ‘Everybody in this community has been involved in some way, helping to get us to this point. I hope it’s just a good insurance policy but if you need us, we’ll be there for you. All of you.’
Nick still hand his hand resting protectively on Fiona’s belly. ‘I’m here for you,’ he said in a stage whisper. ‘All of you.’
Fiona giggled. ‘There’s quite a lot of me at the moment.’ She took a glance over her shoulder. He didn’t mean just her and the precious extra family member she was carrying, though, did he?
Elsie was standing behind them. Her wedding ring glinted in the sun as she reached out to distract Sam who was playing ‘paper, scissors, rock’ with Luke and had just thumped his friend’s ‘scissors’ with his ‘rock’. Then she leaned back into the position she was so often in, close enough to touch Bernie.
Bernie was holding Luke’s little sister, Lucy, and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his role of de facto grandfather for the youngest member of the Patterson household. Lucy was ignoring the sound of her father’s voice as he continued with his speech, intent on removing Bernie’s sunglasses.
Fiona hadn’t heard the last thing Hugh had said but it had created a spontaneous round of applause. A photographer walked closer to get a better shot and the man following in his wake was scribbling busily in a notebook. He held his pen slightly oddly but you had to look closely to see that he had a finger missing.
Jeff had done them all proud in the long fundraising campaign that had led to this celebration, putting in countless unpaid hours of effort.
‘I owe you guys,’ was all he’d said whenever anybody had tried to thank him. ‘Big time.’
Jeff’s wife Jude would be somewhere in this crowd, Fiona realised. She would have to find her later and see how she was keeping in the early stages of her pregnancy.
‘In a minute we’re going to invite you all to look inside,’ Hugh said. ‘Take a look at the office, the sleeping accommodation that means we now have trained staff available twenty-four seven and meet some of our new permanent staff members who will be only too delighted to show you some of the new equipment. You might be lucky and get a free blood-pressure check or even an ECG.’
‘I might get lucky and get to sit down,’ Fiona whispered to Nick. ‘My back’s killing me.’
‘Come and sit down now. Somewhere shady.’
Fiona shook her head. ‘Hugh’s almost finished. I don’t want to attract attention.’
Hugh couldn’t possibly have heard her. He certainly wouldn’t have changed what he was about to say, anyway.
‘While I’m here, it’s a great opportunity to introduce the newest member of our hospital staff. Recently back from post-grad training overseas, we’re lucky enough to have persuaded Dr Nick Stewart to become our resident surgeon. Nick? Where are you?’
There had been a time when both Nick and Fiona would have shied away from such public scrutiny. Taken steps to avoid the camera lens that was swinging in their direction.
But now they just stood there. Holding hands and smiling. First for the camera and then for each other, as the applause around them became the background for another cheer.
Fiona’s smile faded, however. It became a grimace.
‘Nick?’
‘Yes, hon?’
‘You know what you said about sitting down?’
‘Let’s go.’ Nick was supporting her firmly but Fiona couldn’t move.
‘It’s hurting too much,’ she groaned. ‘Oh, help. I think I’m in labour, Nick.’
Hugh was still watching them but his eyebrows were raised. He could see something might be amiss. He strode in their direction, with Maggie right behind him.
‘Got one of those fancy new stretchers from the new ambulance in there, Maggie?’
‘Sure.’ Maggie was looking intently at Fiona’s face. ‘Uh-oh!’
‘I know.’ Fiona tried to take a new breath. How could contractions start this suddenly and with such ferocity? ‘Good timing, isn’t it?’
‘Let’s go and get that stretcher,’ Hugh said. He pulled Maggie’s arm. ‘Today might be good.’
‘I reckon.’ But Nick was grinning. ‘I know we’ve advertised entertainment for everybody this afternoon but I think I’d rather our baby got born inside.’
And so she was.
Charlotte Jane Murchison Stewart was born a mere thirty minutes later, in the relative privacy of Lakeview’s emergency department.
The small crowd of family and friends in the waiting room had been quite content to miss the start of the festivities outside.
Except for Sam. He gave up waiting patiently and sneaked into the room his mother had disappeared into.
‘Dad?’
‘Over here, buddy.’
Sam stared at the tiny face in the bundle Nick was holding. ‘Is that it?’
‘That’s your sister,’ Fiona told him. ‘Isn’t she gorgeous?’
‘Yeah…I guess. Can I go and get an ice cream now?’
‘In a minute.’ Nick was handing something to Hugh, who had been supervising a very straightforward birth. ‘Do you mind, mate?’
‘Not at all.’
Nick placed the bundle that was Charlotte into Fiona’s arms with infinite care. Then he scooped Sam up with one arm, making him squeak with glee, before perching on the side of the bed, one arm across the pillow to encircle his wife and baby, the other holding Sam securely on his knee.
‘A family photo,’ Nick declared. ‘The first of many.’
Fiona tilted her head, tearing her gaze away from her newborn to bask in the love she could see in her husband’s gaze. Sam chose that moment to reach out and see if that fluff on his new sister’s head was as soft as it looked.
And the camera shutter clicked, capturing a tiny circle linked by touch and so much more.
By love. By a future they would all share.
As a family.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5619-7
HER FOUR-YEAR BABY SECRET
First North American Publication 2008
Copyright �
� 2008 by Alison Roberts
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Her Four-Year Baby Secret Page 16
