Just One Kiss (Hearts of the Outback Book 1)

by Susanne Bellamy

Dan and Greg collected the equipment and Campbell led the way, holding a screen door open for them to precede him into a wide hallway that bisected the house.

  “Which way?”

  A high-pitched scream had him sprinting down the hallway into a small room furnished with an old-fashioned cot and rocking chair. A young woman sat in the chair and clutched her stomach. At her feet, a pool of water splotched with blood told him the woman had been right to call for help. He squatted beside her and gently touched her shoulder.

  “Donna, I’m Dan, the Flying Doctor. I’ve come to help you have your baby. Can you stand and walk?”

  Donna sucked in a breath and opened her eyes. She nodded and, taking the arm he offered, struggled to her feet. A small, relieved smile replaced the grimace of pain and she leaned close. “Thank you for coming, doctor. I was afraid—”

  Campbell stepped into the room.

  Beneath Dan’s fingers, Donna’s muscles tensed and he slipped an arm around her back. But the contraction he’s expected didn’t happen.

  She leaned into Dan’s side and clutched his free hand as she glanced up at her husband. “Jebediah. My baby’s coming early.” For a woman in labour, Donna’s voice lacked either excitement or fear.

  He put the impression aside for later consideration. “You can tell me what happened while we walk to your bedroom.” He locked gazes with Jebediah Campbell in the doorway. “While I examine your wife, I need you to call the RFDS base. Let them know we’ll be in touch when I know what stage of labour your wife is in, and whether she’ll need to be admitted to hospital.”

  Jebediah glared at his wife and a muscle spasmed in his jaw. Without a word, he turned away and disappeared into a room on the opposite side of the house.

  Another contraction shuddered through Donna and she sagged in Dan’s hold. “Greg, come around the other side and help me get Donna into a bedroom. Then go and see if her husband needs assistance getting through to base.”

  As the contractions eased, they walked Donna down the hallway and turned into the room she indicated. The ironwork bedhead looked as if it was as old as the homestead. As they lowered Donna onto the mattress, the creaking noises confirmed the bed was an original item of furniture.

  “Need anything else, doc?” Looking pale around the gills and rather less cocksure than usual, Greg edged towards the door.

  “Just make sure base knows we have a situation and we’ll be in touch ASAP. You’ll be fine, Donna.” As Greg hastily removed himself from what had become an impromptu birthing room, Dan took his stethoscope from his personal medical bag and hung it around his neck.

  “Now, can you tell me why your husband doesn’t want you to fly to Mt. Isa?” As he checked Donna’s blood pressure, out of the corner of his eye, Dan watched her eyes dart to the door. “It’s okay. He won’t be back for a few minutes.”

  His hand was gripped with surprising strength and she tugged him close and whispered. “He thinks I won’t come back with the baby.” Another contraction stole her breath.

  “Pant, don’t push, Donna. I’m going to check how far dilated you are and see how your baby is positioned. Okay?” When the contraction eased and she could relax, Dan pulled on a pair of surgical gloves to examine her.

  Reluctantly, she raised her soaked dress to her waist. “It hurts so much, Doctor.”

  “Call me Dan.” He smiled and bent his head to begin his examination and froze.

  Bruises covered her hips, some faded to yellow-green splotches, others, angry purple and new. Anger surged within him like a tidal wave and he gritted his teeth as he desperately sought control. Donna needed calm and competence as she battled the pain of a difficult birth. Later, he would do what he could to help her escape the abuse. Gently, he assessed the baby’s position. “Your baby is in the breech position.”

  “That’s not good, is it?”

  “It’s not usually a problem if the mother has access to the facilities of a modern hospital.”

  “Jeb’s mother had her children out here and died trying to deliver her last baby at home.” Donna caught her lower lip between her teeth. Fear and desperation were clear in her expression. “I’ll die out here too, won’t I?”

  “Not if I have anything to do with it. I’d like to transfer you to hospital for your own safety. Do you want that, Donna?” The bruises over her body demanded he remove her from the reach of her husband and inform the police.

  “He won’t let me go.” Donna’s eyes reddened and she blinked as tears fell down her flushed cheeks.

  “I’ll inform him that it’s necessary for your safety, and that of your baby.” In a softer voice, Dan continued. “The hospital social worker can help you leave if you wish to. Think about it.”

  Two sets of footsteps approached the room. Dan drew a sheet over Donna’s lower body and stood beside her.

  “Doc?” Greg’s voice called before he appeared in the doorway, hands raised like a police suspect.

  “What the—?” Dan’s question was lost beneath his patient’s cry.

  “Jeb, no. Don’t do this. Please.” Donna’s plea made no sense until her husband stepped into view, a rifle aimed at Greg’s back.

  Jeb fixed his gaze on his wife. “She’s not going anywhere. You help her birth the baby here and you can be on your way. Without her.”

  Dan looked at the gun across the width of the room. Was it loaded or just to make a point? Macho bullshit and violence to his wife aside, Dan wondered if Jeb might be struggling with a mental illness. Highly strung patients could be unpredictable at best. And at worst—?

  Dan moistened his lips and decided to try calm logic. “Jebediah, the baby is in the wrong position. If we don’t get your wife to hospital, you may lose both of them.”

  “You’re a doctor. All your fancy education has got to be some use, else why’d you do all that study? No, you help my Donna with the baby. She’ll be fine.”

  “She needs a Caesarean section. In hospital and—”

  Jeb cocked his rifle. The click was loud in the hot afternoon. “And I told you—she’s not going to leave me.”

  Sweat trickled down Dan’s back and into his eyes but he didn’t dare make any sudden moves. Slowly he raised his hands to chest height, palms facing the gun, and maintained eye contact with Jeb. “Okay, Jeb. But I’m going to need to be patched through to the maternity section of the hospital in Mt. Isa. I haven’t delivered a breech baby and I need an obstetrics specialist on hand to guide me. Can you do that for me? Set up the radio so I can communicate directly with the specialist?”

  Donna screamed as another contraction gripped her. Beneath the pink flush of effort, her cheeks were pale.

  “Pant, Donna, pant, don’t push.” As Dan checked her progress, he reviewed what he’d managed to read on breech births so far. Was his theory going to be enough to help Donna?

  Chapter Seven

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Have Jessie’s Girl ready for me, will you, Johnno?” Amy tapped the end call button and turned to her father. “Something’s wrong. Dan and Greg landed well before midday on a routine pickup. Base hasn’t heard from them since Greg’s call that there was a disagreement between husband and wife about her leaving the property. I’m going to overfly their route and see if I can locate them.”

  “Where were they headed?” A frown added more wrinkles to her father’s forehead.

  “Jeb and Donna Campbell’s property. I don’t know much about them.”

  “I do. Come on, I’ll tell you on the way to the airport.” He slapped his hat on his head and strode out the door.

  Amy grabbed her car keys and followed. As soon as she had reversed into the street and merged with the afternoon traffic, she glanced at her father. His jaw looked as hard as the granite rocks at the lookout. “Okay, Dad, spill.”

  “If Jeb is as bad as his father, that young woman is in a pack of trouble. Old man Campbell was a nasty piece of work, mean as they come. Abused his wife and kids, but out on the property, no one was aro
und to see how bad it got. They had seven children and Patty, his wife, died in childbirth with the eighth because he wouldn’t allow her to come into town for the birth. All but one, Jeb, left the property and they’ve never gone back.”

  “Is the father still alive?” Amy eased back on her speed and her grip on the wheel. It wouldn’t help Dan and Greg—or that poor, young, expectant woman—if Amy had an accident on her way to find them. Shoving graphic images of plane wrecks from her mind, she changed lanes and took the turnoff to the airport.

  “He died a few years back. Broke his neck falling off the water tank, so the story goes. Jeb inherited the property and took his bride—Donna Tait, she was—out there. Rarely seen them since the wedding, and not at all since she’s been pregnant.”

  “Are they just anti-social?”

  “Sweetheart, some families just seem jinxed. The Campbells have had more than their share of abusive men. And maybe because they are never in town, the sons continue the behaviour of their sires. I’d be plenty worried about young Donna right now.”

  Amy pulled into the parking area and leaned across, hugging her father. “Thanks for being you, Dad. Take my car and go visit Jeff. Tell him I’ll call in later tonight but I’ve got to fly—literally.” With a quick kiss on his cheek, she opened her door and raced to the hangar.

  Johnno appeared from the rear of the plane as she reached Jessie’s Girl. He patted the side panel. “She’s good to go, Ames.”

  “Thanks. Any news since—?”

  “Nothing. Look, there isn’t anyone free to go up with you so—”

  “Yes, there is. Me.” Lizzy of the impressive décolletage had pulled on a pair of coveralls and swapped her stilettos for sneakers. “A second pair of eyes might make a difference. I’ve cleared it with my supervisor. So—am I an acceptable co-searcher?”

  Truth to tell, Amy was less than thrilled at the thought of time spent in Lizzy’s company. Too self-confident and pushy when it came to men, Lizzy wouldn’t be her first choice. She glanced at Johnno who seemed less bemused than she was. What did he know that she didn’t?

  Johnno wiped his hands on a rag and tucked it into his pocket. A glint of what appeared to be humour shone in his eyes.

  Amy looked back at Lizzy.

  “I’m in the SES, if that helps. I do know one end of a set of binoculars from the other.” The blonde raised her chin and stood her ground, her gaze unwavering on Amy’s.

  “Sure. Thanks. Climb aboard.” What the hell, maybe there was more than a man-eater to Tizzy Lizzy after all.

  As soon as they were airborne, Amy handed over the route map Johnno had given her. “Can you read a map, Lizzy?”

  “Fair question. Yes. I can also drive an SES truck and I’m learning search and rescue techniques in Johnno’s class.” Lizzy took the map and studied it. “My job is to read the coordinates out regularly and keep an eye out the window, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Stay on your current course. I’ll tell you when X marks the spot.”

  Amy tipped her head and struggled not to stare at her companion. Tizzy Lizzy had cracked a joke. And, by her own choice, Amy’s nemesis and thorn in her side was now her companion on a search and rescue.

  “What’s the matter, Amy? I’m not always a total bitch.” Lizzy raised an eyebrow but her usual tart tone was absent. “Scratch that. I am.”

  “Sorry, I’ve just never seen this side of you.”

  “Yeah, well, I do what I have to so people don’t think they can walk all over me.”

  Gruff and no-nonsense, Lizzy’s usual sultry vixen voice had vanished along with her high heels. Feeling like Alice down the rabbit hole, Amy felt her way through a conversation she’d never imagined having. “You’re the last person I would expect that to be a problem for.”

  “There, you see? People don’t mess with me. Bear five degrees left, um, is that port? Sorry, I have a problem with left and right.”

  “It’s port. Think that port and left both have four letters and end in ‘T’. On second thoughts, scratch the last part. So does right. But the four letters in each word is a handy memory device.” Amy descended as low as she could before trying again to raise Greg on his radio.

  After that, aside from Lizzy’s regular course check, silence reigned in the cockpit. Tension radiated from the right seat in palpable waves, growing more intense the nearer they flew to Dan’s pickup location. Was it possible that Lizzy actually had a thing for Dan? Was that why she’d volunteered to come, and why she was tense as a bowstring now? Pity for her co-worker was the last thing Amy expected to feel. But then, she had the advantage of knowing why Dan would never be interested in Lizzy.

  “We’ll find them. It’s probably something trivial like the radio’s stopped working or the patient might even be delivering early and they’ve decided to help her have the baby at home.” At least, Amy hoped it was that simple. The closer they came to the homestead without seeing evidence of a crash, the more upbeat she became.

  “They were called to the Campbell homestead, weren’t they? With the Campbells, it’s never simple.”

  “My father told me a bit about the family as we drove into work.”

  “That they’ve a history of the men abusing the women? Yeah, they do.” Clipped tones before Lizzy turned her back and scanned through her window discouraged further probing. “There! I can see their plane on the landing strip. It’s maybe a kilometre from the house.”

  Amy radioed base. “We’ve spotted the plane. It appears undamaged and parked normally at the end of the strip. No success raising Dan or Greg via radio though. We’re going to land and walk to the house.”

  The strip was rough but easier and flatter than the landing to pick up Jeff from a remote corner of their home.

  As she pulled up beside the other RFDS plane, Amy began a visual check, which she continued once on the ground. She completed her circuit, patted the plane and walked over to join Lizzy. “The good news is there doesn’t appear to be any damage to the plane.”

  “That may be the only good news. Come on, the homestead’s this way.” Lizzy marched off with a certainty that confused Amy.

  “How do you know it’s this way?”

  “I checked the area as we flew in and read the map while you were checking the plane.” She broke into a jog that revealed a level of fitness Amy had to work to match.

  Five minutes later, the homestead came into view through a stand of small trees. Amy’s calf muscles protested with the ache of not having warmed up before their run, and she slowed to a walk. Farm dogs barked as they approached, and one hurled itself against the high fence that separated it from the women and the house.

  “I’m glad they don’t let their dogs roam in the home yard.” A shiver ran down Amy’s spine as she gave the dogs a wide berth.

  Lizzy glanced at her, and one eyebrow rose. “You don’t like dogs? I thought you grew up on a property?”

  “I was bitten by one when I was a kid. Let’s say I have a healthy respect for them and keep my distance now.” She opened the gate to the house yard and entered.

  Lizzy stopped with her hand on the rusted iron. Her eyes narrowed as she stood at the entrance to the homestead. “I’ll take a look around the back.”

  “Okay.” Amy mounted the stairs, calling out as she reached the veranda. “Hello. Anybody home?”

  “Come in.” The unfamiliar voice sounded tense and Amy wondered whether the gossip had got the situation wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.

  “Mr Campbell?” Amy opened the screen door and stepped into a dim, slightly cooler interior. After the bright sunlight, she could just make out the figure of a man as her eyes adjusted to the dark hallway. From a room on her left, a woman cried out. Instinctively, Amy moved to the doorway.

  On the bed amid rumpled and blood-streaked sheets, a young woman strained in the throes of what appeared to be a difficult labour. Dan was bent over the woman; her lower half lay exposed. In the opposite corner, Greg sat l
ike a prisoner with his hands behind his neck, and a pinched and pale face.

  Before Amy could voice her concern at Greg’s unorthodox presence, the strange man stepped in behind her and prodded her in the back with something cold, hard and metallic. “Go and sit beside flyboy over there. Hands on your head where I can see them.”

  “Do as Jeb says, Captain.” Dan’s voice was neutral, but he held her gaze and frowned.

  As she slid to the floor with her back against a wardrobe, Amy flicked a look at their captor. Aside from the gun he cradled in his arms, he seemed—normal. But what would he do if Lizzy knocked on the back door? Or worse, if she strolled in unannounced? Amy’s breath caught on a gasp. He might shoot first and worry about the ‘who’ later. She couldn’t allow that to happen. Mind racing, she scrabbled to find a way to communicate information so Jeb didn’t cotton on.

  “How’s she doing, Dan? Anything I can help with?” Dan was intent on his patient and the woman—Donna, she reminded herself—didn’t look good, even to her untrained eye.

  “The doc can manage, girly. You just shut your mouth.” Jeb leaned against the doorjamb, relaxed with the power balance in his favour.

  How could Amy change it? “It’s just that the doctor looks like he needs a hand. He’s never done a birth like this before.”

  “A breech birth, you mean?” Jeb’s focus flicked between Amy and Dan.

  “Under duress. Don’t you think the doctor would be able to focus better if you didn’t point that gun at him and your wife?”

  “Shut up, you stupid little—”

  “Jeb, I need another pair of hands. You can put down your gun and help your wife, or let Amy come and help me.”

  Beneath Dan’s calm request, Amy sensed an underlying strain. Slowly, she pushed up until she stood, hands behind her neck. “Jeb? Can I go and help the doctor?”

  Jeb’s neck muscles corded and his eyes narrowed, his gaze the only thing that moved. Back and forth between Dan and Amy until she wanted to scream in frustration. Finally, he waved her over with the gun. “No talking. Keep your hands where I can see them.”