Montana settled back in her chair and sighed as she looked around. ‘This is wonderful, Andy. The food looks and smells authentic, and Angelo could be in any restaurant in Rome.’
They both looked across at the dapper Italian in his black shiny trousers, bow-tie and white apron. His hands gesticulated floridly as he explained intricate details to the other couple.
‘He’s a gem. Believe it or not, Angelo grew up around here. His parents immigrated many years ago and ran a huge property about fifty kilometres out of town.
‘Angelo travelled to Italy to study under a master chef in Rome. There he met Angelina, who is also a chef. They had four sons in five years but came back when his parents needed help on the station.’
He looked fondly at the little Italian. ‘Now the boys run the station and Angelo and his wife can do what they love. Cook. Here he comes.’
Andy stood up and Angelo pumped Andy’s hand as if he’d never let it go.
‘Dr Andy, and your beautiful lady. Welcome to my Paragon.’
He put two menus down on the table and leaned towards Montana as if he had a secret to share. ‘He saved my life, this doctor. I would be dead but for him. But here I am and my beautiful wife and I will prepare you food from the gods.’
He paused and spread his arms. ‘What’s mine is yours.’ He beamed at them both. ‘Now, tell me, Andy, who is this beautiful lady?’
‘This is Montana. A midwife. Perhaps your son’s sons can be born at the Lake now that she is here.’
‘Sì. This would be excellent.’ He nodded and smiled again. ‘Maybe a granddaughter for my wife one day.’
Andy looked him up and down. ‘You’re looking well. How are Angelina and the boys?’
Angelo patted his round stomach. ‘I am too well. My Angelina you will see later, she is beautiful, and my boys are multiplying. Already I have six grandsons. How can a man be so fortunate? Eh?’
He pointed at Andy and said to Montana, ‘Relax. Enjoy. He is a good man.’
Montana smiled. ‘I know.’
‘I will be back.’ Angelo nodded, smiled and left them.
‘He’s great, Andy. So is this place. I had no idea, judging from the outside, it looks like an ordinary pizza parlour.’
‘Wait till you taste the food.’ He kissed his fingers and grinned. They ordered after much consultation with Angelo, who wouldn’t allow their first choice.
‘You must be brave!’ he said sternly.
Angelo brought them a chilled bottle of sparkling Shiraz from a boutique vineyard. ‘On the house. This is from my cousin in the Hunter Valley and I save it for special occasions. For you. The best wine in Australia. Taste.’
Angelo poured the deep plum-coloured wine and it winkled in their glasses like the fizzing atmosphere that had been building up between Montana and Andy since they’d sat down.
Montana’s first sip made her eyes open wide and Angelo clapped his hands in delight.
‘See!’
‘My goodness.’ She sipped again. The berry-flavoured Shiraz bubbled and rolled on her tongue and this time she closed her eyes to concentrate. ‘Amazing. My first sparkling red and I’m already addicted.’
Angelo left them and Montana looked up to see Andy watching her. A tiny smile tilted the corner of his lips.
It made the warmth steal into her face again and she wished she had a fan to wave and cool her cheeks. ‘What?’
‘You!’ He tilted his head. ‘Watching you makes me smile. You make me feel good.’
The words were simple but there was no doubting his sincerity and he followed them with his hand across the table to capture her fingers.
‘I’m falling for you, Montana, and it’s time I told you that. So I give you purple roses.’
He brushed the blooms at the side of her plate gently. ‘Love at first sight. And I thought that was a myth.’
She could feel the shock reflected in her face and he sat back. Her fingers slid from his and he smiled ruefully.
‘It’s OK. Don’t look so shaken. That’s all. It’s my problem, not yours. I just wanted you to know in case you could begin to think about us building a life together some time in the future.’
He leaned forward and topped up their glasses to help fill the silence that had fallen. She glanced around the room to see if it all still looked the same because suddenly everything was different for her.
Nothing had drastically changed in the environment but things had certainly tilted with her and Andy.
She picked up her glass and swirled the liquid, not sure what to say.
It wasn’t just moving on from the past, and Douglas, and how she saw her future. It was Andy, fearlessly facing the same and moving on, unlike her. He was incredibly brave. And she didn’t know if she could match that bravery.
The big part of her was terrified that now it had been said and there was no going back, while the other was releasing bursts of tiny bubbles of excitement like the Shiraz in the glass she stared into.
‘Don’t stress. Enjoy the meal.’ Andy’s voice drifted softly over her, just like it had when she’d been on the mountain, and she remembered who he was. This was Andy. She was safe.
‘Just think about it for a while,’ he said. ‘We’re still friends.’
She raised her eyes and nodded her head. He was right. He didn’t expect her to respond in kind in this instant. She couldn’t.
With relief she watched Angelo approach with crusty bruschetta and the Italian’s smile lightened her preoccupation.
The conversation between them turned to the hospital and the new maternity wing. The hunt for staff looked to be easier than expected when word had spread about the caseload midwifery programme.
They discussed a spate of sick children in the last week and gradually she relaxed and began to enjoy herself again.
But now, deep inside, a tiny flicker of joy had ignited to quietly gain in strength as she relaxed, as if to shine too quickly it might be extinguished. Or maybe that was the wine.
The meal was accompanied by a visit from Angelo’s wife, a tall, black-eyed seductress who Montana thought could never have borne four strapping sons.
‘And she ruled them with a rod of iron. A very strong lady is our Angelina,’ Andy said later when she’d gone.
‘This town becomes more interesting and exciting the more I see of it.’
‘Good,’ said Andy, and she could see he was pleased, although he said no more.
They skipped dessert to savour a liqueur that Angelo insisted they try. Inky black Sambucca brought in tiny shot glasses with coffee beans that Angelo insisted on lighting, whirling, extinguishing and ordering them to sip.
The heated liqueur slid like black gold down her throat and Montana hoped Dawn wouldn’t mind that she’d had two drinks tonight.
When Andy suggested they dance she knew it would feel different now. He stood beside her chair and held out his hand to help her up and she felt like a princess again. How did he do that? Create such magic?
When he circled her waist she closed her eyes and leant against him. His shirt was a thin barrier to the firm muscles under her cheek and his lips near her neck made her sensitive to every breath that he took.
Amazingly their steps matched as they swayed to the music—amazing because no part of her brain could be spared for such a mundane thing as rules of a dance while Andy held her.
And he offered so much more.
On their walk home, when Andy suggested a stroll around the lake, she demurred because she was already heavy with desire and needed time to consider the implications of Andy’s stated intention. So they went home to Dawn and their separate rooms.
At least she knew how he felt, Andy consoled himself later as he stepped into the flagellation of the cold shower, though he wouldn’t mind a warm end to the night instead of a freezing finish before bed.
For Montana there was a lot to think about.
It was time to consider life after Douglas without guilt. Without apologising
for being alive when he wasn’t. She acknowledged to herself she had loved her husband until the end.
But she and Dawn weren’t meant to be lonely and alone.
She needed a man to talk to and she so loved talking to Andy. Dawn needed a good father and Andy would slip into that role with barely a ripple—had already slipped into that role beautifully.
Andy would be a man to learn and live with and grow older with. He could so easily be that one person in the world to spend her life with, as she would be his.
She missed that. She missed a lot of things.
She loved the way Andy had shown her tonight how special he found her. The roses, the romance, his obvious pleasure in her pleasure. The smoulder in his eyes when he looked at her. And the hardest part was that she knew he would be a wonderful lover. As generous in bed as out, and that thought brought a flush to her skin that heated her right down to her toes.
If she started to think of Andy’s strong neck and broad chest and those glorious shoulders and arms, she’d be a basket case.
If she was honest with herself, she’d admit she wanted to be seduced by Andy. Feel his hands on her skin. That had been the main factor in refusing to walk by the lake tonight. She’d wanted distance before she irrevocably committed herself, and if he’d leant on her tonight she’d have been unable to say no.
And the final reason she held back was the realisation she’d fallen in love with Andy and she was terrified it was a different, more complete love than that she had shared with Douglas.
But suddenly time to spend together deserted them.
By May the birthing centre application had been assessed and passed for their first birth.
The wing had been furnished like a home, not a hospital. Montana had begun the antenatal clinic and staff had been finalised. All they needed was a woman in labour.
Along with her administration days there seemed little time to spend with Andy. At least new staff had been found in two young midwives whose husbands worked at the mine.
Sara and Sue couldn’t believe their luck at finding their dream jobs. Though not long graduated, both had loads of experience in a tertiary-affiliated birth centre in Brisbane, and were very happy to work with the base hospital whenever they needed to transfer a patient.
Each would work two shifts on call and two off and Montana would be the second person when birth was imminent.
More midwives were needed but there was no hurry. Montana doubted they would be run off their feet in the beginning.
By June Sara and Sue had accepted four women each on their case loads, which meant the women visited the unit for antenatal care with more visits as they drew closer to their due dates. As yet they hadn’t had to pass any women with complications to Andy to refer on to the base obstetricians.
The first baby was due at the end of June and the three midwives carried their mobile phones everywhere, even where reception proved tricky.
Montana planned to caseload only with Emma until Dawn was older, and that left her free to be second on call when needed.
Today was Montana’s day for Emma to be checked.
‘So how are you keeping, Emma?’ Montana let down the blood-pressure cuff on her arm as she studied Emma’s face.
Emma shrugged miserably. ‘I’m OK. Baby kicks a lot and now I’m getting heartburn after I eat all the time.’
‘When you have baby, that will go away. Try smaller meals. Give your tummy time to empty before you drink anything. That will stop the acid contents splashing up through the floppy door leading from your tummy into your throat.’
‘Why have I got a floppy door now?’ Emma sounded just a little fed up and Montana sympathised with the tiredness of late pregnancy.
‘It’s all the fault of those muscle-loosening hormones. Your body can’t pick and choose between muscles in your pelvis and muscles in your stomach, but your body is preparing itself for birth. Remember you can hurt your back easily now, too, as muscles can over-stretch.’
‘I’m sick of me. How’s Dawn?’ Emma wanted to know. Emma had become fond of Montana’s baby.
Montana smiled. ‘She’s rolling over onto her tummy and back again and puts everything into her mouth. And she loves having conversations with Andy. He talks, she gurgles and then he talks and she shrieks. It’s so funny. You’ll have to come and visit again.’
‘I’d like that.’
‘You and Tommy are coming to the class tonight, aren’t you?’
‘You bet. I want to see Andy in front of a class.’
That night Montana ran the first antenatal night class ever in Lyrebird Lake, with four women and their men as well as Emma and Tommy on a revision course.
The sessions proved popular, especially as the husbands and partners had never had the chance to attend before.
Andy gave descriptions of labour complications from the medical aspect and even enjoyed himself. They discussed reasons for transfer out of the centre to the base hospital and talked about premature labour and antenatal medical complications as well.
By the end even Tommy said he was glad he’d come.
The first of July heralded the cooler weather and when Montana carried Dawn in to a late breakfast Andy had a surprise for them both.
He’d tied pink balloons around Dawn’s high chair and a handmade card sat on her little tray table.
‘Happy birthday, Dawn.’ The others clapped as Montana carried her daughter in and she stopped in the doorway.
‘You’re all mad. It’s not her birthday for another six months.’
Andy sniffed. ‘It’s her half-birthday and it’s the first of July. I declare a Lyrebird Lake holiday because it’s Sunday.’ Andy swooped on Dawn and flew her over to her chair to see the balloons.
Dawn cackled in delight and waved her hands as she tried to capture Andy’s face. Louisa stood with her hands in her apron pockets, clapping her hands, and even Ned had appeared early to be part of the festivities.
Montana looked around at the caring and warmth of these people who had taken her into their home. At a time when she’d needed unobtrusive support they’d given unstintingly, and she could feel the sting of tears. Andy would have arranged this. She forced her tears back because the last thing they needed was to think they had upset her.
She sniffed. ‘Who would have thought today was such a momentous day? How could I have forgotten my own daughter’s half-birthday?’
Ned tut-tutted.
Andy nodded sagely. ‘You may have had other things on your mind but it’s OK.’
Louisa bustled up to lift up a pink-iced cake complete with a picture of a sunrise on it and ‘Half’ written in icing.
‘Oh, my.’ Montana peered at the cake. ‘It’s incredible. But won’t we all be sick if we have that for breakfast?’
‘You could squeeze in a wee piece if you eat it after eggs,’ Ned declared sagely.
Even Dawn enjoyed her cake by mushing it gloriously between her fingers, finger-painting her tray and then smearing icing and crumbs onto her mouth. Her little pink tongue darted busily as she crowed and played.
Louisa hovered with a dishcloth, not sure how far and wide Dawn was capable of spreading the mess, while the others backed off.
After the party, Andy tucked Dawn against his side and drew Montana out onto the veranda and into the swing seat.
The three of them swung gently and gazed across the lake. ‘So where would you like to go for Dawn’s birthday?’ Andy said.
‘So this day will get even better?’ she teased.
Andy’s eyes twinkled wickedly and she blushed and looked away. They really hadn’t had time for themselves and she knew Andy wanted to talk again about their future. It was time she met him halfway. ‘We’d love a picnic.’
Montana looked across at the lake and then up to the hills. ‘I hear there’s a waterfall halfway down the creek.’
Andy considered the idea. ‘I did say that but it’s more of a rapid than a waterfall. It’s pretty and the track at the to
p isn’t too far from the road. I could easily carry Dawn and an esky if you bring the hamper and a rug.’
He thought about it some more. ‘There’s a great clearing not far from the old antimony mine.’
Dawn would love her first picnic. ‘Sounds perfect. Are you on call?’
Andy nodded. ‘But higher up there’s mobile service. And we could take more cake.’
Montana patted her stomach. ‘Not if I want to fit into my jeans.’
Andy raised his eyebrows in mock censure. ‘There’s always room for the good things in life. Trust me.’
CHAPTER TEN
THREE hours later, because like any mother it seemed to take Montana so long to organise any expedition with Dawn, they finally found the waterfall. A waist-deep pool beckoned beyond and Andy answered the call even though it was quite cool.
Montana dangled Dawn’s feet at the edge and tried not to stare at Andy as he encouraged her to come in.
Droplets sparkled in his hair and off his strong throat as he played in the water and pretended to splash her. His green eyes wickedly seduced her while he spoke silly talk to Dawn.
When she refused for the third time he dived under the water once more and then lifted himself effortlessly onto the smooth boulder beside Montana.
‘I haven’t been here for ages. I have no idea why not. I’d forgotten how much I love it.’
He was close and wet and half-naked and she wanted to chase rivulets of water down his chest just to feel the firmness beneath her fingers. Instead she said, ‘It’s good to see you relaxed. You work so hard week in, week out. How do you keep your good humour? That’s what I want to know.’
‘Great friends. Great people.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s not hard.’
She realised his kindness never seemed stretched. Like today and the party he’d organised for Dawn.
‘You should have more time off, Andy,’ she said. ‘Look after yourself, instead of arranging parties for stray mothers and babies.’
He smiled crookedly. ‘I will when I have a reason to take time off.’
He said the words lightly but Montana felt they were directed at her and suddenly the little oasis seemed warmer and more private.
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