She shifted topic to allow herself time to adjust. ‘How did you remember it was Dawn’s birthday?’
Andy shook his head, denying it had been hard. ‘Forget the day you and Dawn came into my life?’ Andy looked across at her baby dozing now on her mother’s lap. ‘Forget the magic on the mountain on New Year’s Day?’ he said softly, and his words brought back the serenity of that morning.
Then he leant across and kissed her cheek and she could see he really did remember that day with emotion. ‘You were amazing.’
She found herself leaning towards him and his long fingers stroked her jaw and drew her nearer. Just the feel of his warm strength splayed across her cheek and the caress of his thumb sent sensations tumbling into her stomach and chest, and she couldn’t help but close her eyes. She didn’t see his mouth coming but she’d known it would happen. Wanted it to happen.
His lips brushed at hers with gently swooping sips of first one lip and then the other and then he captured her in a timeless seduction that drew the breath from her in tiny gasps of air and she held onto the back of his head in a quest to stay connected with his mouth.
The sensations caused the world to recede and Dawn didn’t like the lack of attention. She squirmed in Montana’s lap and the moment drifted away, as did Andy’s mouth, and Montana sat back.
‘Perhaps you should go to your room,’ he said softly to Dawn, and smiled ruefully. ‘Your mother and I are talking.’
He stood up. ‘I guess it is her birthday, not mine.’ Andy gathered up his clothes. ‘I’ll dress then unpack the hamper.’
Montana watched him go and wondered if there was an end to his patience. Maybe he was too patient!
They spent the rest of the afternoon discussing their childhoods and important people in their lives while Dawn played happily with shiny stones she couldn’t pick up and watched the activity of nature around the pool.
At two they packed and drove home and not long after Andy went out on a call.
Montana dozed with Dawn on the big bed in her room, but pictures and memories of Andy crowded her mind. Was she wasting her life? Could she be happy with Andy? Would Andy love Dawn as a father?
Yes, of course. To all of them. So why, why couldn’t she just say yes to Andy? Why this ridiculous hesitation and crushing load of guilt about Douglas?
Again she examined the concept that perhaps she hadn’t loved Douglas as she realised she loved Andy, and that made her feel a hundred times more unfaithful to her dead husband.
If it had almost killed her to lose Douglas, what if she married Andy and fell more deeply in love every minute?
What of her soul should anything happen to Andy? How would she ever survive?’
The clarity of that fear had her sitting up on the edge of the bed and her heart pounded in her chest. Maybe that fear was larger than the fear of loneliness and of forgetting Douglas. It was scary to think it might be.
She buried her head under her pillow.
The phone call came through at four-thirty in the afternoon from Tommy.
‘Montana?’ His voice faded in and out with poor reception and Montana walked to the window.
‘Tommy, is that you?’ She couldn’t rationalise the reason but a cold chill ran down her neck at the sound of his voice.
‘Emma’s missing and I’ve looked and looked.’
Montana frowned. ‘What do you mean, missing?’
‘She went for a walk and didn’t come back.’ There was a thread of panic in Tommy’s voice.
Montana glanced at the clock. ‘Have you told her father?’
‘He’s at the mill with the brothers in the bush and I can’t get through to him.’ Tommy paused and then the words came in a rush. ‘She’s been acting strange and I’m worried.’
Montana squeezed the phone in her hand until her fingers whitened. ‘I’m sure she’s fine, Tommy. Probably just forgot the time.’
‘She left after breakfast and she’d not back yet. She didn’t take anything to eat.’
The dread inside Montana increased. ‘Give me your number and I’ll ring you back.’
Montana tried Andy’s mobile but he was out of range and when she tried the hospital Chrissie said he was in a distant gully visiting an old man in a shack.
Ned had a distressed patient so she couldn’t ask his advice and even Bob, the policeman, had been seconded to give evidence in court. Montana didn’t know who else to contact.
She rang Tommy back. ‘Did she say where she was going? Or give any hints?’
‘Just that she needed to go for a walk. She can’t have gone far ‘cause she’s pretty big and waddles. She likes to sit in the gully near the mine because there’s a creek but I looked there already.’
Montana tried to think. ‘Have you rung all her friends?’
‘Yep. Even the unfriendly ones. Nobody has seen her today.’ Tommy had actually done well with his sleuthing.
Montana’s brain raced. ‘Was she upset when you talked to her this morning?’
‘Yep,’ he said. ‘She’s been getting queerer every day.’ Montana felt like shaking him and asking why he hadn’t mentioned something before this.
That wouldn’t help and she needed Tommy thinking clearly, not upset by her censure. ‘Fine. I’ll have a drive around in the car, Tommy, and see if I can see her. Do you know if she has her mobile phone?’
‘No.’ Brief and non-explanatory, and she waited for him to elaborate. He didn’t.
Frustration had her grit her teeth. ‘No, she doesn’t have her phone or, no, you don’t know?’
‘Don’t know.’ Tommy began to sound frightened at the unmistakable thread of concern in Montana’s voice.
‘Fine.’ Montana drew a deep breath and calmed her urge to scream. ‘I’ll send a message to Andy with your number and he’ll ring you as soon as he’s back in mobile range.’
She ran through the options in her mind. ‘Tell him what you’ve told me and that I’ll drive to the mine and park my car and walk back to town from there. You come from the bottom up with Andy. It will be dark soon so I’d better go.’
The relief in Tommy’s voice was palpable. ‘Thanks, Montana.’
Montana rubbed her neck, a trait she’d obviously picked up from Andy. ‘You did the right thing, ringing me, Tommy. Now, stay in range so Andy can ring you.’
Montana found Emma, tear-stained and terrified, just as the sun went down, midway between the mine and town. She’d twisted her ankle and her waters had broken.
Montana gathered her in her arms and hugged her, so pleased to see her alive because she’d been having some dark and dismal thoughts as she’d called out in the bush.
Emma clutched Montana’s hand and pushed it low down on her stomach. ‘I haven’t any real pains yet but the five-minute tightenings are getting worse. It’s awfully sore in here.’
Montana spread her fingers around Emma’s belly button and felt the tautness rock hard against her hand. It felt like a contraction to her.
She glanced at her watch in the gathering gloom. Five-thirty. It would be pitch black by six. Shame it wasn’t summer.
‘We need to contact Andy.’ Montana drew her phone from her jeans.
Emma nodded her head vigorously. ‘Yes, please.’
Montana tried and then stood up and tried again. No signal on the phone. She resisted the impulse to throw the offending article into the creek.
‘Look, Emma, I’ll have to climb back up the hill and try for coverage, OK?’
‘No. Don’t leave me.’ Emma turned her tearstained face towards her and clutched Montana’s hand. The fear in her eyes twisted Montana’s heart.
‘It’s OK, Em. I’m not leaving you.’ She eased her hand out of Emma’s. ‘I’ll be five minutes, maximum ten. I’ll talk to Andy and scoot down to you again. Can you cope with that?’
Emma swallowed. ‘OK. But don’t be longer, ‘cause I’m scared and I need you here.’
Montana kissed the top of her head. ‘I’ll be as quick as I
can. Sit on the rug I brought. At least it will keep the dampness from the ground getting to you.’
‘Don’t turn your own ankle,’ Emma said with a weak attempt at humour.
Montana smiled. ‘You’re terrific. Back soonest.’ Montana jogged up the path and tried not to think about all the spiders that would be preparing their webs for the night. After only a few minutes she had one bar of reception on her phone and she sent a little prayer of thanks skywards.
When she pressed in Andy’s number the engaged signal had her mumbling under her breath in frustration. She disconnected and climbed a few feet higher.
Unexpectedly the phone rang in her hand and, startled, she allowed it to slide from her fingers and fall to the ground, where it bounced down between two rocks in a crevice just out of reach. Then it rang again.
‘Damn,’ she muttered. She’d have to lie down on the ground and slide her arm between two rocks and feel around for the phone. Her skin crawled at the thought of what else could be in the dark under the rock.
‘I don’t believe this,’ she said out loud as the phone rang again, but the glow from the screen helped and the vibration made it easy to pick the right object.
She shuddered as she stood up and brushed herself down with one hand as she flicked open the phone with her other.
‘Montana?’ Andy’s voice echoed reassuringly in her ear and she’d never been so pleased to hear anybody’s voice. She drew a deep breath and calmed her racing heart.
‘Andy.’ She had to take another breath before she could talk again. ‘I’ve found her. She’s fine but five minutes away from me with no reception so I have to get back to her.’
‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m fine. Just dropped the phone in the dark down a hole and had to fish it out. Yuk.’
She could hear the smile in his voice. ‘OK. Well done. Where are you?’
She shut her eyes for a moment and pictured Emma’s position. ‘It took me thirty minutes to walk from the mine down the hill along the creek. We’re beside the creek and she’s hurt her ankle and can’t walk.’
Montana paused.
He’d love this. Not. ‘By the way, she’s ruptured her membranes and having five minutely contractions.’
There was a moment’s silence while he digested that. Then he said, ‘Of course she has. You do have moments of unusual interest.’ Understatement.
Then he went on. ‘Nothing we can do about that. I had an idea that’s where you would be and I’m halfway there.’
Just like his sister, she thought. ‘Family premonitions?’ It was so reassuring to know he was close.
‘Misty would be proud of me. We’ll come up from the bottom. See you soon.’
‘Soonest.’ She looked at the phone as she shut it and thanked the mobile-phone god for being there.
When Montana skidded to a halt in a shower of pebbles beside Emma she could see the labour would wait for no man, not even Andy.
Emma turned anguished eyes towards Montana and moaned. She moistened her lips with her tongue, and sighed at the end of the pain, just like Montana had said to do in the classes. ‘I’m going to have my baby here, aren’t I?’
Montana peered into her face in the gloom. ‘You told me you weren’t going to have your baby on a mountain.’
Emma sniffed. ‘It’s only a hill.’
Montana wanted to hug her. ‘Well, that doesn’t count, then. Besides, I think we’d be better to wait to christen our new birthing unit, don’t you think?’
Emma grimaced. ‘Would love to but I don’t think I can wait.’
Montana re-evaluated their position. ‘If that happens, it’s not a tragedy. Women are designed to have babies and at least we have a rug and Andy is on his way with Tommy. Obviously you like the great outdoors and your baby will probably be a bushie too.’
She met Emma’s eyes and hoped her gaze was rock solid with belief. ‘We can manage. I did and you will.’
‘How many people,’ Emma said crossly and drew a panting breath, ‘do you know…’ she breathed again ‘…who had babies in the wild when they meant to have them in hospital?’
Emma glared and Montana smiled to herself. That crossness sounded like transition at the end of first-stage of labour.
‘Um. Just me and maybe you.’ She rubbed Emma’s arm. ‘Hang in there. I’m here. Andy and Tommy are coming. Try to relax and enjoy the fact you’ll meet your baby very soon.’
‘I’m having a ball.’ Emma grimaced and tried to smile then her tears began to well again. ‘That’s why I went for the walk. Mum told me today that she’d known her nana had had Huntington’s and she’d blocked it out. We had a fight when I asked why she didn’t tell me earlier.’
‘Poor Emma.’ Montana squeezed her hand.
‘It was really dumb of me because Mum’s got enough on her plate without me being hard to get along with. I just got so scared for my baby I wanted to get away and think.’
Her eyes implored Montana to understand. ‘I didn’t think the baby would come today. I wish I hadn’t come out.’
‘Hey. No more self-blame. If your baby comes today then so be it. It was your baby’s decision. Let it come with you happy to see him or her. OK?’
Emma nodded and then she flinched at a rustle in the bushes. ‘What was that?’
Montana frowned and tried to see in the gloom. There was still some light but it was too early for the moon and they were under trees. ‘It’s not a big noise so it isn’t Andy. Probably a little creature frightened by us invading its home.’
The rustle came again and then suddenly, from the bush, a mobile phone rang briefly and then stopped.
They both froze and Montana pulled her phone from her pocket and stared at it. No call had been missed and she hadn’t felt any vibration. ‘Have you got your phone, Emma?’
Emma’s voice shook. ‘Not with me.’
The phone rang again from the bush next to them and they both stared. Then a sweet, melodious warble drifted from beneath the leaves and a small brown feathered bird strutted out to stare at them with its long lacy plumed tail dragging behind in the twilight.
It stared, strutted, and lifted its plume until feathers stood up behind him like a miniature silver harp, just like a small brown peacock on show.
‘It’s a lyrebird,’ Emma whispered.
‘He’s gorgeous.’ Montana couldn’t believe they’d been so lucky.
As if satisfied that homage had been paid, the bird turned and with a shimmy of feathers it strolled back into the bush and disappeared.
‘It was the phone. That’s awesome.’ Emma’s hand slid down to her belly and she sighed again. ‘Here comes another one.’
Montana rested her hand on Emma’s shoulder. Not rubbing, just resting there to give her strength. ‘Don’t be afraid.’
Emma’s voice sounded distant. ‘Strangely, I’m not.’ She smiled at Montana. ‘Any more.’ Then the pain came again.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ANDY found them ten minutes later, his arrival preceded by the sudden silence of the evening creatures. Tommy followed and as they entered the clearing Emma turned her eyes to Montana.
‘It’s too late,’ she said. ‘I’m scared.’ And pushed.
Montana wasn’t as philosophical about the impending birth as she’d like either, and she wasn’t sure why, but was fervently glad Andy had arrived in time.
‘Don’t be scared. You’re safe.’ Andy’s calm voice settled over all of them and even Tommy lost his end-of-the-world face and stopped muttering.
Andy patted Tommy’s back as he moved closer to Emma. ‘Nice and easy, Emma. What more could you want? Tommy, Montana and I will cheer you on and your baby will be fine.’
Montana listened with relief. It was funny how she could handle the thought of her own birth in the bush, but for Emma she was suddenly very frightened.
Andy had brought the emergency delivery kit and at least they had the bare essentials and Montana’s rug. But she was very glad Andy was
with them.
The next pain built and as the evening deepened the first signs of the baby could be seen.
Montana loved this moment and she glanced across at Andy, who had his hand resting on Emma’s shoulder as he gently encouraged her.
Tommy held Emma’s hand and as night descended, Grace Isobel Victoria was born as crickets chirped and night birds called and to the sound of a distant mobile phone.
Baby Grace entered the world into Montana’s caring hands and shortly after her first cry, another baby echoed from the bush.
‘What was that?’ Tommy’s head twisted from side to side and Emma and Montana laughed softly.
‘Later,’ Montana said softly, and dried Grace quickly with the small towel Andy had brought with the kit. She laid the newborn gently skin to skin on her mother’s breast so that she could stay warm with Emma’s heat and hear her heartbeat.
‘A girl. We’ve got a daughter,’ Tommy whispered for all of them, and he squeezed Emma’s hand and kissed her forehead and Montana felt relieved tears prick her eyes as she ensured that Emma’s third stage of labour was complete.
Andy listened briefly to Grace’s lungs and pronounced all well as Montana tucked the blanket over mother and baby and sat back on her heels.
She stripped off the gloves Andy had given her and glanced across to catch Andy’s eyes. She found him watching her.
His eyes seemed darker in the evening light and his smile seemed a little strained, but he spoke warmly to Emma. ‘You were fabulous, Emma. Well done.’
He looked at Montana. ‘Let’s give them some space. Emma and Tommy should be fine for a minute while we give them a moment alone with their daughter.’
‘Of course,’ Montana agreed.
Andy paused before stepping away. ‘We could go higher and use the phone to call in reinforcements if you like, Emma, or do you want us to wait?’
Montana frowned and hesitated and, as she’d hoped, Emma spoke up from where she lay. ‘I don’t want to think about moving just yet. Can we wait a few minutes, please, Andy?’
‘Of course,’ Andy said.
‘Emma might want to walk herself out, Andy,’ Montana said quietly. She smiled at Emma, who was gazing dotingly down at her daughter. ‘She looks much better now she’s given birth.’
The Midwife's Little Miracle Page 12
