The Midwife's Little Miracle (8 page)

In the kitchen Louisa laughed so hard at the kilt that in the end Montana even felt sorry for Andy.

‘Watch you don’t lay an egg there, Louisa.’ Andy pretended to be miffed. ‘Off you go and pretty yourself up for seven. We’ll look after your work here and meet you in the library at five to seven.’

Louisa scurried out, dragging off her apron as she went, but she still giggled.

Montana glanced at Andy’s crestfallen face as she stirred the rice salad in a bowl. ‘Poor Andy. She laughed at you.’

Andy scooped coleslaw into a large crystal dish. ‘I prefer to think she laughed with me, if you don’t mind.’

She placed a sprig of parsley in the middle of her bowl and then Andy’s for decoration. ‘I think you look wonderful.’

‘That’s all that matters, then.’ He’d said it lightly but when Montana looked at him again he was watching her.

She turned away to the sink to hide her flushed
cheeks. There was more to that statement than she’d first realised.

‘By the way…’ He was right behind her when she turned back. He had a sprig of parsley in his hand and he held it over their heads. ‘It’s not mistletoe but it will do.’

‘What—?’ She didn’t finish and he pulled her gently into his arms and kissed her. Only a gentle kiss but this time there was a hint of promise that he had further plans. She didn’t know what she thought of that and there wasn’t time to think about it now.

‘I needed that for my bruised ego,’ was all he said.

She frowned. He was getting a little too easy with his kisses. ‘Glad I could be of service, but a little warning wouldn’t go astray.’

Don’t read too much into it, she told herself. ‘We should move to the library because I think I just heard Joe’s car arrive to drop off Ned.’

Andy looked horrified. ‘You can hear outside noises while I kiss you?’ He shook his head as he popped the salads into the fridge. ‘That’s not a good recommendation of my technique.’

‘We will talk about your technique later.’ Which is pretty darn good, she added silently. ‘Let’s go or we’ll miss the surprise.’

They slipped into the dark library past Chrissie who raised her eyebrows at Andy’s kilt, and then everyone was silent as they heard the front door open.

‘Of course you can come in, Joe.’ Ned sounded
jovial and Montana suspected he might even have had a whisky to help with his chess game.

He went on as another voice could be heard on the veranda. ‘Louisa can always set another place at the table. Now, where is everybody?’

‘In here, Ned,’ Andy called out, and they waited in the darkness for the door to open.

It did so and a shaft of light preceded Ned’s face as he peered into the room. ‘Has the bulb blown?’ he asked, and flicked the switch.

‘Surprise!’ Twenty smiling faces appeared with the light and Ned took a step back and clutched his chest.

‘A dinna ken what you’re doin’ here.’ He lapsed into broad Scots and Andy patted his back.

‘It’s all right, oldtimer. It’s a surprise party for your seventieth. Don’t have a heart attack on us.’

‘Well, what do you expect? A bunch of noddies like you in the dark would scare anyone.’

He peered at the way Andy was dressed. ‘Andy, me boy. You’ve found yourself a kilt. You look bonny.’

‘In honour of you.’ Andy rotated to show it off.

‘I appreciate that. I really do. You should have had one sooner.’ Ned looked around. ‘Now, where’s that lass of yours?’

‘Would that be me?’ Montana smiled and kissed Ned’s cheek. ‘Many happy returns, Ned.’

‘Thank you, sweetheart.’

‘Don’t thank me. Louisa has been slaving in secret for weeks.’

He turned to Louisa with a soft smile. ‘Now you are my true sweetheart.’ Ned put his hand out to the older woman and pulled her forward.

‘Dear Louisa. Thank you.’ He planted a gentle kiss on his housekeeper’s startled lips and winked at Andy.

The music started in the background, a Scottish reel that Ned loved, and he towed Louisa forward. ‘I’m afraid I’m a bit slow in one hip but now that I’m a decent age I’ll no let grass grow under my feet. Shall we dance, lass?’

Ned twirled a laughing Louisa into the middle of the floor and the party began.

Montana stepped back and watched with a smile on her face until Andy came up behind her and pulled her back against his body.

‘We need to check the kitchen,’ he said into her ear and Montana didn’t know which sensation to register first. The feel of his hard body against her back or the fluttery jangle of nerves he’d sent to her stomach with his whispery breath. She shouldn’t be registering either.

She pulled away and stood straight again. ‘Lead the way. We can get the food out onto the table in the hall and open all the doors.’

Andy frowned and followed. ‘Then we can talk about my technique.’

Chrissie came up behind them. ‘What technique would that be, Andy?’ There was a bubble of laughter in her voice and Montana stifled a giggle.
Andy was having a poor evening being the butt of everyone’s jokes.

Andy had the answer. ‘A new surgical tie, Chrissie. Where are you going?’

Chrissie looked surprised. ‘I’m coming to help Montana in the kitchen, of course.’

Andy nodded as if he’d suspected she might be. ‘Then I’m off to drink to Ned’s health.’

But he slipped out to the veranda because suddenly he didn’t feel like partying.

There’d been a few occasions when he’d thought that Montana felt the same way he did or at least had begun to be attracted to him. Then she would close up like a clam and he’d be back at square one.

He become way too attracted to the maddening woman to get himself out of the nowhere land he seemed stuck in.

In the three years since his wife had died he hadn’t looked at another woman until Montana. She had broken through the shell around his heart with her courage and serenity and the last thing he wanted to do was damage that serenity by making a nuisance of himself.

He needed to proceed slowly for both of them but it was hard. Especially when he glimpsed the passionate woman he knew she’d be.

When he went back to the party half an hour later Montana was dancing with Chrissie’s husband and he leant against the wall and watched.

What was it about this woman that affected him so?

Her dark hair was still confined in an ornate clasp and the slender column of her throat rose from her shoulders like the stem of flower. The hollow beneath her ear and her jaw made him want to draw her in and rest his fingers on that flushed delicate skin. Just to feel it. Inhale her scent there.

He pushed himself off the wall and was considering returning outside when she looked up, smiled and crooked her finger at him. ‘Your wish is my command,’ he murmured to himself, as he powerlessly moved towards her.

Chrissie’s husband stepped back with a grin and suddenly Andy had what he wanted—Montana in his arms, and the chance to hold her close without needing an excuse.

She stepped into his embrace as if she’d been waiting for him, but that was wishful thinking on his part.

Either way, her body fitted perfectly with his, and he held her lightly, barely needing to guide her as their steps matched the dance movements.

‘Where did you go?’ she asked above the music. ‘We looked for you after we finished in the kitchen.’

‘Stargazing. But the view is just as magical in here. Did I mention you look beautiful?’ You feel beautiful, he added silently, and as he leant down her subtle perfume was as intoxicating as he’d imagined it would be. Somehow he resisted the
urge to brush that sensitive skin under her ear with his lips.

‘I think you look magnificent in your kilt, Dr Buchanan.’

‘Magnificent, eh? That sounds promising.’

‘Let’s just dance.’ She leant her cheek against his chest and he gathered her closer and closed his eyes. She was right—they needed to just dance.

After the party, when all the revellers had departed and the mess had been cleaned up, Montana disappeared before he could say goodnight. But maybe that was better.

He went for a fast walk along the lake to clear—or was that cool?—his mind, but it didn’t work.

Back in his room he dropped the kilt and shirt and, wrapping his towel around his waist, strode down the hallway to the bathroom.

Everyone else was in bed and probably sleeping the sleep of the innocent. He was anything but that.

Tonight he wanted Montana and he pulled back the screen and stepped into the shower, blasting his skin with an icy dousing from the shower. He shuddered as the onslaught beat against his chest and ran icily over his belly, but he knew it was the only way there was a chance he’d be able to sleep.

He twisted the tap to hot and then cold again and then hot and cold again until he stood at last with the cold water pelting him into submission.

He sighed, reached and turned the tap off, then slung the towel around his waist and took himself to bed.

A
WEEK
later Clare’s results had come back positive for Huntington’s disease, and the whole town reeled with shock.

Emma had gone into caring mode for her mother and was even reluctant to leave long enough to talk to Montana about her coming baby.

It was as if she didn’t want to think about the future too much and by being busy she could ignore what was hanging over her mother’s—and her own—head.

Montana could understand a tiny fraction of being busy to avoid things because she was ignoring a showdown with her own conscience.

She’d taken to spending long hours when Dawn was asleep in the evenings on her computer to assemble procedures and protocols for the running of the stand-alone caseload midwifery unit.

A lot of the paperwork she adapted from that she’d prepared before, which had been sent across by Misty from Westside. Apart from the state dif
ferences, the main area of organisation was in the transportation of women should medical need arise.

Andy was a general practitioner with his obstetric diploma so could give medical back-up prior to transfer, but they needed seamless access to an obstetric service for sick mums and babies.

The base would hopefully supply that but Montana needed to set up networking so everybody was happy.

It kept her out of Andy’s way, plus exhaustion was good, and didn’t leave enough time to think about how disloyal she’d been to Douglas, even if it was only in her mind as she approached a year since he had died.

It was indecently early for her to be even thinking of another man.

The first of May, a year since Douglas died, was a cold and rainy day at Lyrebird Lake. It fell on a Friday and she’d agreed to do a shift for Chrissie who wanted to go away for the weekend with her family.

She didn’t mention the significance of the day to anyone at the Lake because she didn’t know how she felt, though she had spoken to Misty and Mia that morning when they’d rung to see how she was.

At least she’d stayed busy with outpatients and when the shift was over she borrowed Louisa’s car and drove herself and Dawn up the winding road to the lookout where she gazed out over the town.

A town that she realised she’d grown to love.

‘Is it already a year since you left, Douglas?’ she said to the sky, and shook her head in disbelief.

She cuddled Dawn against her and sighed. It didn’t feel as though anyone was there.

She couldn’t even imagine Douglas could hear her and she wanted to believe that was a good thing. He was at rest. He wasn’t haunting her. He wanted her to get on with her life but she couldn’t help the feeling of guilt.

The distant sound of another car as it climbed the hill penetrated her reverie and she turned to watch it park beside hers.

She’d known it was Andy even before she’d seen his vehicle.

He walked across to her and she wasn’t sure if she was glad or sorry he had come.

‘I’ve been worried about you all day and I’m sorry if I’m intruding.’ His compassion made her want to weep all over him and she really didn’t want to do that. She tried to talk but her throat was closed.

When she didn’t answer he came to stand beside her and looked past her at the view. ‘Just tell me to go and I will.’

Misty must have rung him. ‘Stay. Maybe you can help. I’m just so confused that I feel this way when a year ago I thought I would never be happy again.’

He looked at her swiftly and then away, as if afraid of the answer. ‘Are you happy?’

She sighed and accepted the truth. ‘I love it here. Dawn is happy. Life shouldn’t be this good only a year after Douglas’s death.’

Andy rubbed his neck. ‘What’s the right time to start living after a loss like that?’ He turned back to face her and she could see he felt strongly about this. ‘Everyone is different. You knew to get away was the best thing for you and Dawn and I believe with all my being that you did the right thing.’

She looked into his face, and his eyes said that he did understand. Andy had always understood. ‘I can’t help feel it’s too fickle of me to be almost healed. To want a new life for Dawn and I. To look at happy families and want that for us. He’s only been gone a year.’

Andy nodded. ‘For some people a new life might not come along for ten years but for others it arrives within months. There are no rules to say you haven’t suffered enough. You just have to be strong enough to grab it when it comes.’

Late one afternoon Emma arrived at the doctors’ house for another antenatal class.

‘I’m glad you could come, Emma,’ Montana said when Emma hugged her.

‘I wanted to come.’ She looked around the familiar room and then back at Montana. ‘It is good to see you, too, and get out of the house.’

Montana followed her into the room. ‘Sit. Unwind. How are your father and mother?’

They sat at the table where Montana had set up cold drinks and savoury biscuits, and Emma began to relax.

‘Dad’s pretty amazing, really. He’s already made the house safer and easier to maintain for Mum, which has helped her cut back on accidents. He keeps telling her he loves her and he will love her for ever, no matter what.’

Emma’s eyes filled up. ‘If I have the gene then no one will have the chance to love me like that.’ She paused and blinked away the tears. ‘Because I won’t let them.’

Montana could tell something had upset her badly. ‘What has Tommy said?’

Emma threw her head up. ‘He said his mother reckons we should terminate the pregnancy.’ Her hands cupped protectively over her baby like they had the day Andy had diagnosed her mother. ‘How can people say things like that about my baby?’

Montana sighed. Poor Emma. ‘Some people say sad things when they’re scared.’ She squeezed Emma’s hand. ‘You’ll have to pretend she didn’t say it.’

Emma’s lip quivered and Montana ached to be able to comfort her. ‘There’s a big chance you don’t have the gene, Emma. Even if you do, your baby has just as big a chance not to have it.’

Emma brushed her hand across her eyes, scrubbing the wetness away. ‘I’m not worried about me and it’s too far away to think about when my child
is thirty. It’s when my baby is threatened now. But how could she even say that? Tommy’s not even talking to her any more.’

‘When your baby is born, Tommy’s mother will want to be involved too, and should be. A grandchild is a wonderful joy in life. Tommy’s mother is just not as strong as you at the moment and she will regret her comments when she loves your baby. But everything takes time.’

Emma nodded and Montana went on. ‘In less than ten weeks your gorgeous baby will be here and you will be an awesome mother.’

Emma dropped her voice. ‘I don’t know anything about looking after a baby. How will I know what to do?’

Montana smiled. ‘When you come in to have your baby we’ll help you practise caring for it before you come home. Then we’ll visit you at home and help with anything you need help with. But you’ll learn fast because you’ll love your baby.’

Montana lowered her voice. ‘Don’t underestimate that you still have your mother to help you learn to mother your baby as well.’

Emma nodded. ‘I know. One of my friends’ mothers was killed in the car three years ago. She said I’m lucky I still have my mum.’

She sniffed and visibly shook off her distress. ‘And I really don’t want to waste Mum’s good times worrying about the not so good ones to come.’

She looked Montana in the eye. ‘I am glad I
came because I can talk about things with you I can’t say to other people and it helps me clear my brain.’

Montana hugged her. ‘Your baby is one lucky little boy or girl.’ She stepped back, brushed her eyes, and sniffed. ‘I’d better blow my nose and get on with it, then. It’s time we discussed labour.’

Andy had been sitting on the veranda and he couldn’t help overhearing the conversation. Poor Emma. Poor Montana, because she was fond of Emma, too.

He felt like strangling Tommy’s mother but instead he’d better go and see if he could talk some sense into her.

He had an hour and a half until Louisa served the evening meal. If he did half as well as Montana had with Emma, it would be worth it.

As he drove he shook his head at the amazing conversation he’d overheard. It made him see Montana again and what she’d brought to the Lake and to him.

If only he could use that same rationale with her in regard to getting on with life.

Her husband was dead and life was too precarious to waste opportunities like they had, but it was just too soon.

He could see how amazing those opportunities were for the two of them—now he needed her to see that.

He needed someone else to talk some sense into
her. It had been too long since he’d pursued a woman with a view to commitment and obviously he was going about it all wrong.

Maybe he should ring his sister tonight, get some advice or see when she was coming out, even if he had to fly down and get her himself.