The Baby Emergency

by Carol Marinelli

  ‘Smells terrible,’ Ross quipped as Matthew started to giggle.

  ‘It’s very tasty actually.’

  ‘If you like tuna casserole! I’ve bought Thai for us all,’ he carried on, banging around opening cupboards and finding plates. ‘Now, that really is tasty.’

  ‘For us perhaps, but Matthew won’t like it.’

  Well, what would she know? She was only his mother after all.

  Matthew, as it turned out, loved Thai food—nearly as much as he liked the cola Ross had bought and the ice cream that followed.

  Nearly as much as he clearly adored Ross.

  ‘You’ll get bored before Matthew does,’ Shelly warned as they engaged in a complicated game of peek-a-boo while Shelly stacked the dishwasher. But yet again her son surprised her—it was Matthew who ended the game. Ross, it seemed, would have gone on for hours.

  ‘Bar.’

  ‘Bath,’ Shelly translated easily as she came into the living room, smiling at the two of them lying sprawled on the sofa, watching cartoons. Scooping up Matthew, she carried him out, not even mildly surprised when Ross followed her. ‘He always has one around this time.’

  ‘He’s his mother’s son.’ Ross grinned as Shelly stood with there with a questioning look on her face, waiting for enlightenment. ‘Bath at seven, bed at eight…’

  ‘He likes to have a routine, all children like a routine, it makes them feel secure.’

  ‘Whatever you say, Sister.’

  Shelly was prickling with indignation as he followed her to the bathroom. Ross could always do this to her, make her feel uptight, like some antiquated old school nurse.

  ‘Look…’ Shelly gestured as she put in the plug. ‘Not a trace of carbolic soap in sight.’

  ‘I’m teasing,’ Ross said easily. ‘Still, you’d better show me where the spare toothbrushes are kept.’

  ‘Here.’ Pulling open the bathroom cupboard as she ran the water, Shelly caught his incredulous look. ‘What have I done now?’

  ‘I was joking.’ He laughed. ‘Or at least I thought I was. How many toothbrushes have you got in there!’

  ‘The crèche was doing a fundraiser,’ Shelly mumbled as he perched on the vanity unit. ‘Each family had to sell ten—it was easier just to buy them myself. I haven’t got obsessive-compulsive disorder.

  ‘Yet,’ she added with a reluctant grin.

  And as easily as that, her awkwardness was gone. The days of frantic preparations, the nights wrestling with the wisdom of having Ross as a house guest disappearing like a puff of smoke as she joined him on the vanity. They dangled their feet and watched as Matthew enjoyed his bath the way only two-year-olds could. Squealing with delight at the mountains of frothy bubbles, filling bottles and emptying them over and over until he worked out that hitting the water directly with the palms of his hands could have the adults present ducking for cover. Ross didn’t mind, not at all, and by the end of the bath the two of them were only slightly less wet than Matthew.

  It was nice having him there, not awkward, not difficult, just nice. Somehow he seemed to know exactly what was needed, what was wanted, and when Matthew was dressed in pale blue pyjamas, his little eyes blinking as he struggled to keep them open, Ross gave the little guy a playful ruffle of his hair and said goodnight, leaving Shelly to settle the over-excited little boy into his bed.

  ‘Wun, wun.’ Sticking his thumb in his mouth, Matthew pointed to the much-loved book Shelly was holding, but instead of opening it and getting on with the story Shelly decided to test the water.

  ‘Did you like Ross?’ Shelly ventured, knowing Matthew wouldn’t answer but hoping for some sort of reaction that would indicate his take on things. ‘He’s a friend of Mummy’s,’ Shelly pushed, but Matthew had eyes only for his book. ‘He’s nice, isn’t he?’ Climbing on the bed beside him, Shelly pulled Matthew into the crook of her arm as she awaited his response, but a little man made out of gingerbread was all Matthew wanted to hear about now.

  ‘Wun?’ he said again, his voice more insistent as he looked up at Shelly.

  ‘In a minute, darling,’ Shelly said gently. ‘I just want to explain things to you. Ross is a doctor,’ Shelly explained patiently. ‘Mummy works with him at the hospital. He’s also a friend, a good friend of mine.’ She hesitated then, unsure how much information to give. Telling Matthew now might only upset him but, taking a deep breath, Shelly decided to plant the seed. Matthew’s reaction would be the litmus test that would invariably make up her mind. ‘While Nanny and Grandad are on holiday, Ross is going to look after you while Mummy works.’ She forced a reassuring smile at the innocent little face, half expecting him to burst into tears or break into hysterics, but Matthew’s thumb stayed firmly in situ as his eyes drifted back to the book.

  ‘Wun, wun,’ Matthew insisted, apparently none the worse for the bombshell that had just been dropped.

  As she took over the story Shelly couldn’t make up her mind whether she was disappointed or excited. Disappointed because there was no legitimate reason for calling this ridiculous charade off, or excited because it really looked like it was going to finally happen.

  ‘“As fast as you can…”’ Shelly intoned, her mind a million miles away from the page in front of her, achingly aware that Ross was waiting for her in the living room, achingly aware that the night had only just started…

  ‘I thought you said that he was tricky with strangers.’ Filling two glasses from the wine bottle he’d brought, Ross handed one to Shelly.

  ‘I meant he’s tricky with adults.’ Shelly grinned as she took a grateful sip of her wine. ‘It’s no wonder you got on so well.’ Sitting down on the couch, she let out an exaggerated sigh. ‘I love him to bits, but it’s bliss when he finally goes to bed.’

  Ross didn’t say anything for a while, just fiddled with the remote as Shelly sipped at her drink, not sure now that her ally was gone how to deal with the sudden silence.

  ‘You’ve got a lovely home.’

  Shelly gave a small shrug, embarrassed at the sudden need for small-talk. ‘It’s not much.’

  ‘It’s great.’ His eyes wandered around the room, taking in the jumble of photos filling every available space, the cushions scattered over the sofa, the toys dotted around the floor. ‘It’s a real home.’

  Eyeing him over the top of her glass, Shelly realised then that he wasn’t just filling an uncomfortable quiet patch, that his admiration was genuine, and for a reason Shelly couldn’t even begin to fathom she felt the sting of tears in her eyes, something in Ross’s voice reaching somewhere deep inside. ‘So what happened at work this morning that was so awful?’

  He didn’t answer for a moment but when he did his voice was curiously hollow. ‘They discharged Angus.’

  Sitting up abruptly, Shelly tucked her long legs under her, shaking her head as she spoke. ‘But I thought you went ahead and reported your suspicions…’

  ‘Ah, but I’m just a lowly resident.’

  ‘But surely…’ Her voice trailed off as Ross shook his head.

  ‘Dr Khan still insists that I’ve overreacted, that I’m a bit wet behind the ears, a touch too eager. He overrode my findings.’

  ‘Ross, you’re the most conscientious doctor I’ve ever met. As if you’d just jump right in if you didn’t have valid reasons.’

  ‘Not valid enough, obviously. Hell, Shelly, I’ve been in the outback for two years, I’ve seem more drama there than that lot can imagine.’ He looked at her questioning face. ‘I have,’ he said insistently. ‘I was the only doctor for two thousand kilometres and, believe me, I’ve had to make my share of decisions on my own two feet. I come back here and I’m treated like some sort of country bumpkin that’s been starved of practising medicine, determined to create a drama when there isn’t one. Well, I’m telling you that little kid is being abused—’

  ‘Hey, Ross.’ It was Shelly breaking in now, slightly taken back by the passion of his outburst but understanding where he was coming from all the same. ‘I�
��m on your side here.’

  ‘I know.’ He ran a slightly shaking hand through his hair then forced that smile again. ‘Let’s watch the movie, shall we?’

  But Shelly refused to buy it. Ross was hurting. There was something going on here that she couldn’t put her finger on. ‘Ross, why are you so upset about this?’

  ‘A child’s being abused, Shelly! Of course I’m upset.’

  Mentally kicking herself, Shelly rephrased her question. ‘I know it’s awful, it eats me up too, but it’s our job, Ross. Tragedies happen regularly in paediatrics. Any illness in a child is awful, but Angus seems to be really getting to you.’ She watched as he shifted uncomfortably, as the shutters came down in those vivid blue eyes, effectively ending the conversation.

  ‘You did everything you could, Ross,’ Shelly pushed, not wanting to leave things there when he was so obviously upset. ‘You’ve reported it, you’ve gone through all the right channels.’

  ‘Fat lot of good that did.’ Ross took a gulp of his wine as Shelly looked on thoughtfully. It was Ross not letting Shelly in now, and his obvious hurt not only upset her—it made her strangely uneasy. His disenchantment with the hospital unnerved her, made Shelly feel suddenly twitchy. How easy it would be for Ross to throw in the towel if things weren’t going well at work, to head off back to his beloved outback, or wherever the mood took him.

  ‘You can talk to me, Ross,’ Shelly ventured. ‘You’ve listened to my problems enough over the years. It goes both ways.’

  ‘I’m fine.’ Ross gave a shrug. ‘Really.’ As if sensing her sudden apprehension, he gave her a reassuring smile, stretching out on the sofa beside her, his winning smile back firmly in place. ‘Let’s just drop it, shall we? Talking shop is the last thing I need right now.’

  She’d have been a fool to push it.

  Even watching a slushy film that Shelly had seen maybe a hundred times felt special, sharing it with Ross.

  It was so nice having someone to chat to, someone to grab a bag of chips from the pantry, someone to tell you what you’d missed when Mother Nature called and you couldn’t wait for the commercials!

  Topping up her glass as the movie ended, Shelly went to fill up Ross’s but he shook his head. ‘Better not. I’m driving.’ He turned back to the television, not even a hint of innuendo hanging in the air, so why was Shelly blushing?

  ‘Stay.’ The single word was more of a croak really and as Ross turned his head Shelly shook hers. ‘On the couch. I didn’t mean…’

  ‘But what would the neighbours say?’ Ross laughed at the blush flaming over her cheeks. ‘A strange man’s car parked outside all night!’

  ‘Well, they’re going to have to get used to it over the next week and I’m sure they’ve got better things to worry about,’ Shelly mumbled, filling up his glass. ‘Anyway, it will be good for Matthew to see you here in the morning.’

  A tourism commercial was playing now, inviting Australians to come and see for themselves the wild rugged beauty of the outback, and Shelly couldn’t help but notice the way it held Ross’s attention, one idle hand lifting his glass as he gazed at the screen.

  ‘You really love it, don’t you?’ Shelly murmured.

  ‘Oh, yes.’ Putting his glass on the coffee-table, Ross stretched out on the floor. Propping himself up on one elbow, he fixed his blue gaze up at her. ‘The time I spent in Tennagarrah was easily the best few years of my life.’

  ‘Really?’ Shelly shot him a slightly questioning look. Sure, the outback had its charms, but from the rap Ross was giving it, it sounded like he’d been living in paradise. ‘But didn’t you get lonely?’

  ‘I didn’t have five minutes to myself—there wasn’t a chance to get lonely. It’s like another world, Shelly. The entire community rallies round each other, respects each other. I can’t even begin to describe the people, it’s like one big family. You’d love it.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t think so.’ Shelly shook her head firmly.

  ‘You would,’ Ross insisted. ‘There’s none of this arguing about policies, they’re just so thrilled you’re actually there. Without a doctor or midwife nearby, pregnant women have to leave their homes weeks before their due dates so they can be at one of the clinics when they go into labour. Can you imagine how hard it would be to up and leave your husband and children at the time you need them most, just to ensure a safe delivery?’

  ‘It would be awful,’ Shelly gasped.

  ‘It happens there all the time, that’s why they’re so thrilled to have anyone medical there. You’d be treated like a queen, you being a midwife and everything.’

  ‘I haven’t practised for years.’

  ‘You could do a refresher course,’ Ross said easily, and Shelly found herself doing a double take. Ross was actually talking as if the idea had some merit! ‘They’re the most resilient people you’ll ever meet, they have to be, which means nine times out of ten by the time they’ve called for medical attention, they really need it! You’re using your brain, working on your own initiative every step of the way.’

  ‘Well, if it’s so good, why did you leave?’ Shelly asked airily, while privately delighted that he had.

  ‘There was a lot of talk about extending the centre I was at, making it into a small hospital.’

  ‘So why would that put you off?’

  ‘They wanted a three-to five-year commitment.’

  Shelly almost laughed. ‘And we know how much you hate the “C” word. Why’s it so hard for you, Ross? Why, if you so clearly love the place, couldn’t you commit to staying?’ Her mind was only half on the question. Ross’s T-shirt had worked its way out of his jeans, giving a teasing glimpse of a very flat, very brown stomach, blond hairs blazing a golden trail downwards, and Shelly had to force herself to concentrate, anticipating a vague answer about career progression or appalling wages, crippling social life, anything really.

  Anything other than what came next.

  ‘Haven’t you worked that one out yet?’

  Dark blue eyes were fixed firmly on her and Shelly took a desperate gulp of her drink, sucking in air as she realised her glass was empty, her eyes frantically seeking refuge from his direct stare. But no solace was forthcoming, just the decadent glimpse of his stomach, the muscular strength of his thighs and that very attractive bit in the middle that seemed to be working like a magnet to her green eyes.

  ‘Worked what out?’ Her voice was high, and she settled for the television. The late night news had started now, a touch of strange normality as her own world seemed to shift out of focus.

  ‘Why I came back.’ He’d knelt up now, tipping the last of the bottle into her glass as Shelly desperately feigned disinterest. ‘I heard that a certain nurse I’d always had a soft spot for was suddenly single.’

  When Shelly didn’t respond he carried on regardless, his voice a velvet caress as it delivered his earth-shattering tale, as calm and detached as the newsreader talking easily about fires and bombs. ‘More than a soft spot really. I never could quite get over her so when I heard her marriage was finished I figured I’d check things out for myself. Find out if things between us were as good as I remembered, see once and for all if the woman I’d been crazy about for so long was as gorgeous as I remembered.’

  ‘And was she?’

  The glass she was clinging to was being gently prised out of her hands, and she watched in stunned silence as Ross placed it very carefully on the table next to his.

  ‘Better,’ he whispered, his breath hot on her cheek, his lips moving in for a skilful kill, his lips when they brushed hers rekindling memories, the tiniest kiss they had long ago shared soldered into her subconscious; the rock, the strength he had provided wrapping around her again as Shelly closed her eyes, the soft warm flesh of his lips, the cool shiver of his tongue, the heady, all-embracing scent that filled her, the trembling reaction as his body pressed against her.

  His kiss.

  It was everything she’d secretly imagined.

  And more
.

  Every electric brush of his hand, every tiny shared smile that had bonded them magnified now; culminating in this delicious lingering moment. Their lips moving, probing, as Shelly’s fingers crept into the thick silken blond hair, the scratch of his jeans against her smooth long legs sending her stomach into freefall, the firm touch of his hands on her back as he pulled her closer.

  And for a moment it felt so instinctively right it was easier to go with her feelings, to succumb to the moment, to die a little in his arms as his lips traced the hollows of her throat, as one hand worked its magic on the aching swell of her breast.

  ‘Don’t.’

  The word was so at odds with how she was feeling, for a split second Shelly thought she was hearing things. But the sound of her voice was definitely familiar and it was her hands pushing him away, fiddling with her top, flicking back her hair, and it was her eyes frantically trying to avoid his.

  ‘Why?’

  It was a good question and one Shelly struggled to answer for a moment. Why shouldn’t she just go on letting him kiss her, why shouldn’t she just keep right on kissing him back? ‘Because it isn’t right.’

  ‘It felt pretty right to me.’ His hand was on her leg, fiddling with the hem of her skirt, with one tiny stray thread of lilac cotton. One tiny pull and the whole hem would unravel, one tiny touch and her resolve would weaken, and it was that thought that forced the words to come more harshly perhaps than intended.

  ‘Is that what you’re here for?’ She looked at his nonplussed face. ‘A week of regular sex?’

  ‘What are you going on about, Shelly? I didn’t plan for this.’

  ‘Rubbish,’ Shelly scoffed, erecting the barriers again, furious at herself for letting him near. ‘But then again, you probably didn’t. You’re not one for master plans, are you? You’re just happy to go with the flow, and why not? Let’s see if poor old Shelly’s fair game, it might make the next week a bit more pleasurable.’

  ‘Let’s get a couple of things straight here, Shelly.’