One Night to Wed

by Alison Roberts

  The bodyguard with the gun was watching again now from the window a few metres away, his eyebrows raised at the obviously acrimonious exchange. And Maria lay not far from Seth. Fliss could only hope they were being quiet enough for neither of the others to hear clearly what they were saying.

  'Maybe I'm not talking about right now,' Angus said swiftly. 'There are some things you've been hiding from for most of your life. That you're still hiding from.'

  Thoughts of putting the kettle down to stop the occasional wisps of steam scalding her hand were forgotten.

  'Like what?' Fliss snapped.

  'Like the death of your father,' Angus responded. 'You've let it poison your life, Fliss. You can't live in hiding. Not really live.'

  'I intend to live,' Fliss told him. 'Without taking unnecessary risks. Is that so stupid?'

  'And you want a partner who feels the same way.' Angus nodded. 'Like who, Fliss? An accountant? He might get knocked off his bike on the way to work, you know. There are no guarantees in life for anybody. You have to live for every moment—you can't shut yourself away. Or shut your heart away.' Angus sighed heavily and his anger seemed to dissipate. 'I'm sorry your dad was killed, Fliss, but you should never have let it be the end of your world.'

  'You don't understand.' Fliss spoke so quietly she could be absolutely sure no one could overhear. Angus was getting too close to the real issue. And yet he was a million miles away. 'It wasn't the end. Just the beginning of the end.'

  'You're right. I don't understand. So tell me.'

  Fliss hesitated but then gave her head a tiny shake and moved on towards the surgery. Could she tell him? Seth was staring at them both, his brow still creased with concern. Then he flattened himself against the wall and peered through the gap in the curtains again, his arms moving to hold his gun at the ready.

  The tension of the night closed in again around Fliss. The edge of horror was inescapable now that they were in the surgery. How much more would it escalate before this was over?

  Enough to shatter defences that Fliss had never even attempted breaking? Confession was good for the soul, wasn't it? What if she died tonight and had never told anybody?

  There was only one person on earth she would consider telling and he was walking right behind her.

  'Tell me, Fliss,' he encouraged softly. 'I want to understand.'

  'Fliss?'

  'What is it, Maria?' Fliss glanced up at Angus, her expression intended to confirm that this wasn't the time. 'Put the tray on the desk, thanks, Angus. Maybe you could make a coffee for you and Seth.' She stepped into the surgery properly and moved swiftly towards the bed. 'Problem?' she queried succinctly.

  Maria nodded but looked embarrassed. 'I need to go to the toilet,' she whispered.

  'Oh...' This was no emergency department where a nurse aide could be summoned to bring a bedpan. Fliss didn't even have such an item in the surgery, unless there was one tucked away in some dusty corner of the storage area. 'Right. I'll go and see what I can find for you to use.'

  'Please.. .hurry.'

  Fliss could see that Maria was deeply embarrassed and no wonder! As if it wasn't bad enough to need assistance to attend to bodily functions, there were two male strangers in the same room. Fliss lowered her voice.

  'I'll tuck some towels under you. Don't hang on if it's hurting. Just wet the bed.'

  Maria looked agonised now. 'I think I need to...do more than that,' she whispered.

  'Oh...' Again, Fliss was thrown momentarily off balance. Then she nodded decisively. There was no time to waste fossicking in the storeroom but she had some old containers in a kitchen cupboard, including a fairly flat plastic basin. It would do in a pinch and could be discarded later. 'I'll be right back.'

  It took less than sixty seconds to get there and back with the item and that included a lightning-fast check on both Jack and Callum. The young boy was still asleep but breathing well and he didn't stir as Fliss laid her hand on his abdomen. The rigidity she had feared was developing was no more advanced than it had been the last time she'd checked.

  Jack was awake enough to smile at her as she flew past and that had to be enough of an indication as to the stability of the old man's condition for now.

  'You guys might need to turn your backs for a minute,' Fliss informed Seth and Angus on her return to Maria's bedside.

  'Sure.' Angus was busy talking to Seth anyway.

  'You got that?' Seth queried.

  'No.' Angus tapped his earpiece. 'What was it?'

  'There's some news coming in—we've been asked to stand by for details.'

  'Dammit.' Angus tapped his earpiece again. 'I'm getting a bit of static and that's all. Can anyone hear me?'

  'Try again.'

  'Testing.. .Testing... Alpha 3 to base...'

  Fliss found her mouth tightening with a hint of a wry smile. So the code name for the squad members was Alpha? How appropriate. These men were all a little larger than life. In control of their lives and, when called out, in control of everybody else's as well.

  'Here we go,' she told Maria. 'This might not be very comfortable but it should do the trick. I've got a box of tissues here, too.'

  'Thanks.' Maria was eyeing the men by the window.

  'They won't look,' Fliss assured her.

  The desk lamp angled towards the floor was still on but it was touch rather than sight that rang the alarm bells for Fliss when she pulled back the blankets covering her patient.

  The bed was soaked.

  'Um...do you still feel like you need to go to the toilet, Maria?'

  'Mmm.' Maria grunted. 'I can't hang on much longer.'

  'Do you have any pain?'

  'No. It's just really uncomfortable. Like something's pushing really hard.'

  Something was indeed pushing Maria hard from the inside but it wasn't anything a simple plastic basin would be any use for.

  'I think,' Fliss said carefully, 'that you might be in labour, Maria.'

  'What? I can't be! I haven't been having any contractions or anything.'

  'Are you sure? They might have been masked by the morphine you've had for your leg. Can you try and bend your good leg and shift it out a bit?'

  Fliss angled her torch. 'Your waters have definitely broken. Angus?'

  He was by her side in a moment. He would recognise the significance of the meconium staining in the fluid-soaked sheet on the bed. Fliss didn't want to alarm Maria but the sooner they could get this baby safely delivered, the better.

  'I'll get us some gloves.'

  Any embarrassment Maria had been feeling regarding any bodily functions had to be forgotten. Fliss cut away the flowered dress and Maria's underwear. This was going to be an. awkward delivery anyway, with Maria having one leg anchored by a traction splint, and Fliss needed help even to gain enough access for an internal examination.

  'You haven't had any ultrasound tests done during your pregnancy, have you, Maria?"

  'No. I don't like doing anything unnatural that isn't absolutely necessary. And my other births have all been perfectly straightforward so I didn't think it would matter this time.' Maria drew in an anxious breath. 'Is something wrong?'

  'The baby's position isn't ideal and your dilatation is asymmetrical, which isn't helping.'

  'Occipitoposterior position?' Angus queried.

  Fliss nodded.

  'What's that?' Maria sounded more than anxious now.

  'It means that the back of the head is pointing towards your back. The baby's neck has flexed so that the widest part of its head is trying to come out first.'

  'You mean it's stuck?'

  'It means that the delivery might take a lot longer than normal for you. My worry would be that the baby could be getting stressed.'

  'How would you know?'

  'One of the signs of stress is that meconium can be passed in the amniotic fluid.'

  'And has it been?' Maria reached out to touch Fliss's arm as she sensed the hesitation. 'Tell me, Fliss. I need to know th
e truth.'

  'It looks like there might be some staining from meconium on the bed,' Fliss admitted. 'I'm going to listen to the baby's heartbeat now and that will be a better indication of how its coping.'

  Fliss held her breath as she moved the foetal stethoscope from one point to another on Maria's abdomen. She pressed harder. What if she didn't find one? If it was too weak to hear clearly?

  If there wasn't one any more?

  'You got that, Angus?'

  'No.' Angus jerked his head towards his colleague as Fliss moved the stethoscope yet again. 'What's happening?'

  'There's been a car stopped on its way to Christchurch. Apparently some high-powered weapons were found in its boot.'

  'And?'

  'And there it is,' Fliss said in relief as she finally located the sound of the baby's heart. She tilted her wrist and strained to see the second hand of her watch in the inadequate light as she counted the heart rate.

  'And the car came over the pass. Could well have come from here before the roads got blocked and the occupants might have just been lying low for a while.'

  'They're local?'

  'No.'

  Maria was waiting for a verdict on her baby's condition. 'It's all right, isn't it, Fliss? It sounds a bit slower to me than the last time we listened.'

  'Yes.' Fliss removed the stethoscope. 'It's down from 160 to 104, which is still in the normal range but I'd be happier if it was a bit faster.' A slowing heart rate was another sign of potentially serious foetal distress.

  'What are you going to do?'

  'Don't worry.' Fliss hoped her smile was reassuring. 'Angus has probably helped with more difficult deliveries in odd places than I have. You're in good hands.'

  It wouldn't be hard for Angus to be more experienced than Fliss. Babies hardly ever got born in emergency departments and it seemed far too long ago that she had done her obstetric training.

  'I'm just going to go and get some towels and things,' she told Maria.

  'Don't forget to boil the water.' The attempt at both a joke and a smile made Fliss smile return the smile more than willingly.

  'Be right back,' she promised. 'Angus?'

  'Yep?'

  'I might need a hand.'

  What Fliss really needed was another opinion. Support for what she suspected she might have to do in the very near future.

  'I'm not very happy with this situation.'

  Angus smiled wryly at the obvious understatement. 'How much trouble do you reckon the baby's in?'

  'Too much. Maria's hardly in the best shape for this. She's fully dilated but it feels uneven.' Fliss led the way to her already depleted linen cupboard. 'There's a thickened lip of cervix anteriorly, presumably because the head hasn't been putting enough pressure in the right places. I have a feeling that if we wait and see if it's going to thin out, it's still not going to help her deliver by herself. There's already too much evidence of foetal distress, which is hardly surprising given the blood loss and stress Maria's already got.'

  'What do you want to do?'

  'Call an obstetrician,' Fliss snapped. 'Get a theatre on standby for an emergency Caesar.' She shoved an armload of towels into Angus's arms. 'What do you think I want to do?'

  He ignored the sarcasm. 'Find a way to deliver this baby quickly and safely,' he suggested evenly.

  Fliss sighed heavily. 'Yeah...Sorry, Angus. I don't mean to take this out on you. This is just such a nightmare. I'm worried sick.'

  'I know, lass.'

  Fliss peered up at Angus. Maybe it was a trick of the weird lighting from using torches but she could have sworn that if he didn't have an armload of towels, Angus would have taken her in his arms. He looked as though he wanted to kiss her. To offer support, maybe. Encouragement. Or possibly he just wanted her?

  Fliss dropped her gaze to the pile of towels, willing them to drop to the floor. Angus seemed to be waiting as well. Probably for her to say something that was actually relevant to the current crisis.

  'I can't do a Caesar here.' Fliss forced her brain to push any desire for physical closeness to Angus aside. 'It's totally impossible. But I'm damned if I'm going to let Maria lose this baby.'

  'What about a forceps delivery?'

  'A mid-cavity forceps delivery?' Fliss made an uncertain sound. 'The presenting part is only just past the ischial spine. I've only ever watched one, Angus. I know the theory but I'm sadly lacking in any experience. I'd have to try and rotate the head. What if I failed? I'd have distressed the baby, and Maria even more, and there'd be no surgical back-up for rescue.'

  The thought of trying something that could have such disastrous consequences if it didn't go well was terrifying. But the thought of not trying anything and still getting those consequences was even worse.

  'Do you have local anaesthetic?'

  'Of course.'

  'You're happy to do an epidural anaesthetic?'

  'Yes, of course. We'd need to put one in for a forceps delivery in any case.'

  'So, if the worst came to the worst, we could do an emergency Caesar.'

  'We'. Fliss liked that. Maybe Angus hadn't dropped the towels and gathered her close but they were still in this together. She could feel the confidence and support Angus was exuding and she gathered and stored it eagerly. Taking a deep breath, Fliss gave a single nod and began the short journey back to the surgery.

  'You've got forceps?'

  'Yes. There's an obstetric kit in the storeroom. The list I have says it contains Kjelland's forceps but I suspect it's been years since they were used.'

  'Are they in sterile packaging?'

  'Yes.' Another thought occurred to Fliss as they walked past the laundry appliances and she stopped suddenly. 'Hang on.' She turned to head to find Angus only inches away. 'Didn't I hear Seth talking about some guns being found?'

  'Yeah. They've picked up a couple of blokes who were heading for Christchurch. A high-powered weapon was found in the boot of the car and it's apparently been used pretty recently.'

  'So they're the people who were here?'

  'It's possible. Probable.'

  'So that means they've been caught. We could get a chopper to evacuate Maria.'

  'Not yet.'

  'Why not?'

  'They don't know the full story. These guys are being questioned now but they're not likely to be overly co-operative.'

  'But it's obvious! Who else would be trying to get away from the coast with guns?'

  'It seems likely they've had a part in the incident,' Angus agreed, 'but we still don't know if there are any more outsiders involved. And we don't know where the local guy that was involved is. Darren.'

  Fliss thought about this as they crossed the waiting room area. She automatically looked at the small boy lying in the corner, pausing long enough to watch his breathing for a moment.

  Jack gave her a thumbs-up sign. 'I'm watching the lad,' he said. 'Sounds like you've got enough on your hands next door. I'll call you if I get worried.'

  'Thanks, Jack.' Fliss took another moment to watch the trace on the ECG screen. Callum's heart rate wasn't too fast and it appeared reassuringly even. She glanced at Angus. 'He could have been mistaken, you know— about Darren.'

  'Do you really think so?'

  Her head shake was disappointed. 'No. So there's no hope of evacuating anybody just yet?'

  'No. Sorry. The thinking is that even if there is only one person left who's a danger, we don't have any idea where he is at the moment so it's too dangerous to allow civilian movement of any kind. They're going to start an operation to close the cordon and search until we find the offenders. They'll go through every house one by one.' Angus hesitated. 'Seth and I will probably be pulled in to help at some stage.'

  'Couldn't Seth go by himself?'

  'We work in pairs, Fliss.' An undertone suggested that Angus would much rather stay with her but then he spoke more firmly. 'It's my job.'

  And loyalty was one of Angus's greatest strengths. Fliss wasn't high enough on the
list of where that loyalty was directed any more, was she?

  'But...but what about Maria?' As childish as it seemed, Fliss couldn't help her plaintive response. 'And Jack and Callum? I...need you, Gus.'

  He didn't answer. There wasn't really anything he could say, was there? Fliss could only hope that the call to take Angus away from her didn't come any time too soon.

  The situation, potential complications and possible outcomes were carefully explained to Maria. She was crying by the time Fliss had finished answering all her questions but then she sniffed hard and cleared her throat.

  'Let's just get on with it, please. Put that anaesthetic in, Fliss. Use the forceps and do whatever you have to do. Just save my baby....Please!''

  Turning Maria so that it was possible to reach her lower spine and put the epidural anaesthetic in place was a mission in itself. It was distressing for everybody, including Seth, who had to put down his gun and leave his post by the window to help hold Maria on her side.

  Fliss couldn't be sure that her cannula placement was perfect given the difficulties, so it was a tense fifteen minutes or so until they realised that the nerve block had been effective.

  'I can't feel my legs any more,' Maria said in surprise. 'They feel like big lumps of wood.'

  Fliss swallowed hard. This was it, then. She was gowned, gloved and masked. She had the disinfectant and drapes ready and the contents of the sterile obstetric kit had been laid out on her desk.

  'I can't take that traction splint off your leg,' she warned Maria. 'I don't want to risk you losing any more blood from the fracture site. It's making space pretty tight, though, so I'll probably have to do an episiotomy.'

  Maria groaned. 'That's where you cut me, right?'

  'Yes. Sorry, but it's a lot better than having a tear.'

  'You'll sew it up again afterwards?'

  'Of course.'

  Maria screwed her eyes tightly shut. 'Whatever,' she said faintly. 'I just want to get this over with.'

  Fliss was ready moments later. She picked up the forceps in her gloved hands and stared at them for a moment as she extracted everything she could remember from the relevant mental files.