The Doctor & the Runaway Heiress

by Marion Lennox

  ‘Yes,’ Lucy managed, but it was a strangled gasp.

  ‘Cool,’ Amy said. ‘Do you want us all to stay?’

  ‘Yes,’ Lucy yelled, gripping Adam’s hand so tight that Pippa saw him wince in pain. ‘I want you all.’ Then… ‘I want my family.’

  Family…

  Was she still talking about wanting to go back to England?

  Somehow Pippa didn’t think so.

  But she had no time to think about it. Riley was grabbing her wrist as Lucy rode her contraction. ‘I’ll talk to you outside,’ he said through gritted teeth.

  ‘It’d better be quick,’ she told him. ‘That’s a minute and a half between contractions. I need a quick shower to get rid of fish before I can turn into a midwife.’

  He wasn’t interested in showers. He hauled her through the door then tugged her along the veranda until they were out of earshot.

  And let fly.

  ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he demanded, practically apoplectic. ‘She’s going to hospital.’

  ‘Why is she going to hospital?’ His face was dark with anger. She tried to stay calm, but her very calmness seemed to infuriate him.

  ‘It’s safer. We need incubators, resuscitation equipment, oxygen, a fully trained obstetrician. Louise is a specialist. Lucy needs the best.’

  ‘You delivered Amy,’ Pippa said, striving to keep her voice even. ‘Amy didn’t deserve the best?’

  ‘Amy was frightened. She didn’t know anyone.’

  ‘And Lucy?’

  ‘She has Adam. She has all of us.’

  ‘In a labour ward in hospital? Louise can’t work with five of us. Amy and Jason would have to stay here, and Amy’s giving Lucy courage. Look at her.’ She glanced in through the window-the contraction was past and Amy was making some sort of a joke-making them all smile. ‘This is like gold.’

  ‘She could have Amy with her.’

  ‘And Adam?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And you?’

  ‘I don’t…’

  ‘She needs you. In the background yes, but she does need you. You’re her dad. She wants family.’

  ‘Her family’s in England.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Pippa said. ‘What mother would pack her eighteen-year-old to Australia to have her baby? Didn’t you hear her? Her family’s here.’

  ‘You can’t make a family in a week.’

  ‘You can if you’re desperate. Lucy’s desperate.’

  ‘You have no right-’

  ‘To tell her she can have her baby here?’ Pippa hauled her wrist away and stepped back, anger coming to her aid. ‘Actually, I do. This isn’t your house. You’ve never bought it. You’ve never thought of it as home. But I’m working for Flight-Aid and I’m renting part of this house. Contrary to you, I’ve put up decorations. I’ve bought rugs and made curtains. So this is my home, Riley Chase, and I have every right to ask Lucy to stay. And you know what?’

  She tilted her chin, knowing she had no right to say what she was about to say but she was saying it anyway.

  ‘Lucy wants family,’ she said, and she couldn’t quite stop a wobble entering her voice. ‘If you know how much that means… It’s the reason I finally said yes to Roger. It’s the reason I almost married. I’ve never had family-not a proper, loving family-and I want it more than anything in the world. I know it’s the last thing you want, but that’s your problem. For now Lucy and Amy need me. When Amy’s gone I’ll somehow figure how to get a family of my own, even if it means dogs or parrots, but right now the only semblance of a family I have is here. Lucy needs my help to deliver her baby. So if you’ll excuse me, Dr Chase, I have a baby to prepare for. Your grandchild. Family, whether you like it or not. And by the way, you stink of fish, too. Do you want to take a shower and join us, or do you want to go surfing? Alone? While your family operates without you? Your choice. Your choice alone.’

  So Lucy didn’t go to hospital.

  Riley and Jason were consigned to the background.

  He and Jason paced. Talked. Lit the barbecue, made a big fire, stoked it. Watched logs crackle and burn and turn to embers.

  They’d cook the fish in the embers, Riley decided, when the baby was born.

  ‘Did Amy go through this?’ Jason asked, awed, as another moan rocked the house.

  ‘She did.’

  ‘I shoulda been here,’ the kid said. ‘Only she said she didn’t want me. Not if I was just going to hang around. Then she went to Sydney and I missed her and I thought… okay, I’ll get a job. If that’s what it takes. So she went through this by herself. And look at her now. She says she wants to be a nurse. You reckon she could?’

  ‘She’ll need to do part of her training in the city,’ Riley said, watching through the open windows. Adam holding Lucy’s hand. Or rather being clutched by Lucy. Amy was designated coach, talking Lucy through every step of the way.

  ‘Luce, this is brilliant. Pippa says six centimetres, and you remember the book? Every time it hurts you’re opening up a bit more. Every time it hurts it means your baby’s closer. That contraction was awesome. You’re awesome.’

  It was amazing for both of them, Riley thought. For all of them. For Lucy had a team second to none.

  She had Adam, whose love for her was transparent. She had Amy, who was even younger than Lucy but wise for her years and whose assistance now could, Riley sensed, validate and direct Amy’s existence for the rest of her life. And she had Pippa, preparing warmed towels, organising the sterilised equipment she’d sent him over to the hospital to fetch, overseeing her little team…

  Pippa looked happy.

  She was a woman he hardly knew. A woman of independent wealth, British, straight from the English class system he’d thought he loathed.

  He’d made love to her out of need. Her need.

  But…

  As he watched through the window, as he saw her smile, chuckle, give steady encouragement, he knew things had changed. She was wearing jeans and T-shirt. Her feet were bare. Her hair was wet from her shower…

  She was beautiful.

  He thought of her down the crevice and he felt himself shudder.

  ‘Hey, it’s okay.’ Jason put his hand on his shoulder, searching to comfort. ‘She’ll be great. She’s got my Amy and your Pippa helping her through. You gotta trust women, mate. Amy says if I toe the line we can get married. How awesome’s that? To have your own woman… And Amy…’ He glanced in at his Amy. ‘I mean… not that Pippa’s not great. She is. But it’s one woman for every guy, right? Look at Adam. He’s in a blue funk now ’cos of Lucy. Look at me. I’ve even got a job. I’ll even come to the city to help her if she wants to train as a nurse. And you… what would you give up for Pippa?’

  He and Pippa weren’t a couple. He should explain. But there was no time for explanation. Lucy hit full roar in mid-contraction. There wasn’t space for a reply and it was just as well.

  But the question stayed.

  What would he give up for Pippa?

  What would he gain?

  ‘You’re so close.’ The labour had moved fast-five hours from the first contraction and now she was fully into second stage. Youth, Pippa thought. Emotionally, young mums had it hard, but physically they had so much going for them. Lucy was practically shooting this baby out.

  ‘I can see the head,’ she told her. ‘Adam, do you want to help deliver your baby? Amy, can you support Lucy’s shoulders so she can see?’

  ‘Awesome,’ Amy breathed. ‘Lucy, you’re fabulous. Do you want your dad to see?’ She hesitated. ‘And… Jason didn’t see my Riley born. Lucy, would you mind…?’

  ‘You can bring in the whole bloody army as long as they stay up my end of the bed,’ Lucy moaned. ‘Oooooohhhh…’

  ‘Nearly there,’ Pippa said. ‘One more push.’

  ‘Get my dad,’ Lucy yelled, suddenly desperate. ‘I need my Adam and I need my dad. Oooooooowwwwwww…’

  So after eighteen years of not being perm
itted to do a thing for her, he was there beside his daughter as she gave birth. Riley knelt at the head of the settee, supporting Lucy’s shoulders as she saw her baby born, and he didn’t feel like a doctor at all.

  One more push and the head slipped into view. Pippa was there, with warmed towels, warming the tiny head even before the shoulder came out.

  ‘Stay underneath with the towels,’ she told Adam as a last massive contraction ripped through.

  And so, as Amy and Riley held Lucy up to see, Riley’s grandchild slipped into the world, to be caught by Adam, who looked like the sky had opened to reveal the secret of the heavens.

  ‘What…? What…?’ Lucy gasped as Adam gazed down in awe and Pippa did a fast check of the baby’s airway, making sure that everything was in working order. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Look for yourself,’ Riley growled, and felt a bit… a bit like Adam looked.

  ‘I have a boy. Oh, I have a boy!’ Lucy burst into tears. And then… ‘Ohhh…’

  For Pippa was quietly directing Adam, showing him what to do, and Adam was settling his tiny son onto Lucy’s breast. The tiny baby hadn’t made a sound, but his eyes were wide open, wondering, and now…

  He stirred and wriggled, skin against skin against his mother’s breast. Without prompting, Adam carefully guided the little mouth to where it needed to be.

  He found what he was looking for. His tiny mouth centred-and Riley’s grandson found his home.

  And Riley’s world shifted once more. He glanced up and saw Pippa’s eyes filled with unshed tears-and maybe his were the same.

  His grandson had arrived into his family.

  His family.

  It was almost midnight before they ate their fish, and for all of them it was a truly memorable meal.

  Jason and Amy cooked the fish. Pippa produced a salad. Riley found some chocolate biscuits.

  You could spend thousands on a meal and not get better, Riley decided. They were all out on the veranda. The boys had lifted Lucy’s settee, Lucy and all, out where she could see the luminescence of moonlight off the ocean. She ate her fish and her chocolate biscuits-she was starving. She had a little name discussion with Adam, then she snuggled down to sleep, her baby beside her.

  Adam watched their baby as if it was only he who stood between his son and all the threats of a dangerous outside world.

  Adam had grown ten years in this afternoon, Riley thought. He’d make a good partner for his daughter.

  He’d be a son-in-law to be proud of.

  Part of a family to be proud of?

  Until the meal was ended there were things to do, but now… Amy and Jason were snoozing on the sun loungers. Soon they’d roll into bed. Both babies were asleep.

  ‘I’m going to the beach,’ Pippa said abruptly. She’d been carrying stuff into the kitchen. Now she came out and walked straight down the steps to the garden. ‘See you later.’

  He let her go. He was feeling… discombobulated.

  His grandson was right beside him. He was thirty-eight years old and he felt a hundred.

  He was watching Pippa in the moonlight.

  She was wealthy. English. Good family.

  He was a guy from the wrong side of the tracks. He was a guy who’d had a kid at nineteen, who was a grandpa at thirty-eight.

  Pippa reached the gate leading down to the beach and he realised with a shock that she was no longer wearing jeans. She was wearing a sarong.

  He’d seen it before. She wore it over swimmers.

  ‘You’re not going swimming?’

  ‘I won’t go out of my depth.’

  ‘What about night-feeders?’

  ‘I’ve painted my nails with Anti-Chew. Precautions R Us. You going to sit on the veranda for the rest of the night… Grandpa?’

  Grandpa… The word still had him stunned.

  She chuckled, she tossed her towel over her shoulder and she headed down the cliff path.

  Grandpa.

  Family.

  Pippa.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CONTRARY to what she’d told Riley, Pippa had no faith at all in Anti-Chew. She consequently had no intention at all to bathe in the ocean.

  There was, however, a rock pool at the edge of the cove. It was a naturally formed ring of rocks. At high tide the waves washed over it, meaning it was full of clear seawater. At low tide-now-there was an almost eighteen-inch rim of rock. The pool was five feet deep at the most. There was no way night feeders could get in. It was safe and she needed to swim.

  It had been one incredible day. First Mickey. Then Lucy’s baby. And watching Riley…

  His face had been changing all day. It was like he was fighting some desperate internal war, and he wasn’t winning.

  She’d fallen in love with him.

  How had she ever thought she could marry Roger? Oh, if she had…

  She shuddered and dived into the rock pool. The water was cooler than she’d thought it would be, fresh from the sea, and she shuddered again.

  She decided to swim and stop thinking.

  The thoughts wouldn’t stop.

  Riley.

  Could she stay on at Whale Cove if he didn’t want her love?

  He’d made it plain that he didn’t. Lucy was hauling him into family whether he liked it or not, but to have a needy, besotted nurse at his side as well…

  ‘It’s not going to happen,’ she told herself, and then she thought of how she’d felt that morning, on the rock, clinging to Mickey, clinging to Riley.

  Feeling like… if she died now at least she’d known Riley. At least she’d had one night.

  ‘I want more nights,’ she said out loud, and started doing laps, up and down the length of the rock pool. She was tired to the bone, but she also knew she wouldn’t sleep. She might as well exhaust herself properly.

  What would she do?

  She wanted to stay here. She wanted to be part of this community, this job, but how much was the job and how much was Riley?

  Tonight had been magic. Friends, family, kids, babies, barbecues at midnight, no clear delineation between work and home, saving Mickey, waving her fish from the helicopter, loving Riley…

  She almost sobbed, only it was hard to sob when she had her head down, swimming hard. She closed her eyes and let the darkness envelop her.

  Something touched her foot.

  She pretty near had a palsy stroke. A night feeder…

  She whirled in the water to face whatever it was, expecting teeth-and two hands landed on her shoulders, holding her up. Riley’s voice growled into the night.

  ‘I thought you’d have learned your lesson about night swimming.’

  She’d whirled too fast. She had a mouthful of water. She spluttered and choked and it took a couple of moments before she could breathe properly, let alone reply. But finally…

  ‘If I’d died of fright,’ she said, with as much dignity as she could muster-which actually wasn’t very dignified when she was still spluttering and when his nose was only inches from hers-‘it would have been your fault.’

  ‘No deaths today,’ he said gently, in a voice she didn’t recognise. ‘Only life. First Mickey. Then Lucy’s baby.’

  How to answer that? She fought for something innocuous. Something safe.

  ‘Did… did they decide what to call it?’ She was practically gibbering.

  ‘It seems they thought of calling him Riley,’ Riley told her, gravely. ‘Only there’s a bit of a run on the name. They’re moving to William instead.

  ‘I like William,’ she said, and then managed a tentative smile. ‘Do you? Papa?’

  ‘Papa,’ he said blankly.

  ‘Papa. Or Grandpa? Grandfather? Sir? Hmm.’

  ‘You want to get ducked?’

  ‘Gotta be one,’ she said, recovering courage. ‘There’s no getting away from the fact that you’re a grandpa.’

  ‘I don’t think I want to get away,’ he said, and there was enough in that to give her pause.

  ‘You don’t d
o family.’

  ‘I haven’t done family.’

  ‘You don’t want-’

  ‘I haven’t wanted. Until now.’

  She paused. She was suddenly acutely aware that Riley was holding her up. They were in the deepest part of the pool. He could stand up. She couldn’t.

  She was at a disadvantage. She needed to put her feet somewhere solid, but Riley was holding her and not letting her go.

  ‘I thought you might die,’ he said, almost conversationally, and instead of moving to shallow water where a girl could set her legs down, he swung her up into his arms. ‘Today with Mickey… You risked your life and, more than that, it was me who asked you to. You just… did it. And then tonight you delivered Lucy’s son. You’ve made Amy happy. You’ve made Lucy happy. You saved Mickey. Wherever you go, life follows. And you know what? I’ve been sweating on an accent and on money and on past history, and they haven’t let me see what’s before my eyes.’

  ‘Golly,’ Pippa said, which ridiculous but she couldn’t think of anything more sensible to say. ‘I don’t think I’m that good.’

  ‘And you’re practical, too,’ Riley said, ignoring her interruption, and she heard his smile. From where she was she couldn’t see his face.

  She could feel, though. She was enjoying feeling. She was starting to enjoy feeling very much indeed.

  ‘Even at the cliff this afternoon,’ he said, almost conversationally, ‘I was worrying about Mickey. I was worrying about practicalities, transport, shock, you, even about dry clothes-and suddenly you were organising fish. You had your priorities. Free fish. That’s a woman in a million, I thought. And then you know what else I thought? I thought I really want to kiss you.’

  ‘Really?’ she said, cautiously. Something inside her was starting to feel… good.

  ‘Really.’ He tugged her higher then, and he kissed her. He was shoulder deep in water. He was holding her hard and he was kissing her as she wanted to be kissed. As she ought to be kissed.

  A girl had a right to be kissed like this.

  ‘So… so what…?’ she ventured when she could finally get a word in. ‘What made you think… you might want to kiss me?’