Fiona McArthur - Baby for the Midwife

‘Noisy birdies,’ Max said, and Elsa crowed and opened and shut her hands in delight. The sun was heading behind the hills and the shadows were lengthening in the garden by the time Max took her back inside. The mosquitoes would be out soon and Elsa was tiring.

Dinner and bed for the baby. If only it was dinner and bed for Max, he mocked himself.

He knew who he wanted to bed, though even just holding Georgia through the long nights would be heaven. Nothing new there.

Georgia looked beautiful again tonight, Max thought soberly two hours later when they both sat down at the table. Her hair was loose and she had some flowing shirt with a deeper neckline than usual that highlighted the smoothness of her long throat.

They’d skipped pre-dinner drinks on the veranda because of Elsa’s late settling and now he was separated by the width of the table. He just wanted to touch her.

The sky grew inky outside, with clouds obscuring the stars, and Mrs White had retired for the night, leaving dinner in the kitchen.

Before he’d come home Max had rung through to see which receiving hospital Del had ended up in and how the babies were. Mother and the newborn twins were stable and settled. The one bad piece of news had been the consultant who had received them—Sol Winton.

Max still debated if Georgia should be told because he suspected the news would upset her. He knew her ex-husband had given Georgia an emotionally hard time as well as making her severely depressed.

During the last four months Max had seen no signs of paranoia or depression—and anyone with a colicky baby could easily plead depression—so Winton had obviously had some hidden agenda.

Still, she was away from him now and, theoretically, hearing about his hospital shouldn’t upset her too much.

He dragged his thoughts away from his quandary and caught Georgia in the middle of a half-hidden yawn. She even looked cute when she yawned.

‘You must be tired,’ he said. ‘It takes a while to get used to shifts again.’

She tucked her hand away from her mouth ruefully. ‘Not really. Do I look it?’ In fact, she looked a little crestfallen at his observation, and Max grinned.

‘You look positively haggard, darling,’ he drawled, and Georgia blinked before she realised he was joking.

‘Teaser.’ She shook her head at him and changed the subject. ‘How was the rest of your day?’

Max tilted his head. ‘Actually, you look stunning.’ He watched her frown at him but he was darned if he shouldn’t say it when he meant it.

He moved on when she grimaced at him. ‘Now, what was your question? My day? After our exciting morning?’

He ticked off his fingers. ‘Del’s twin girls were born at midday and all are well. They weighed over twelve hundred grams each so I don’t know where she was hiding that weight. The girls are breathing for themselves and may start tube feeds tomorrow.’

‘That’s wonderful.’

Before Georgia could ask more he went on hoping to change to another topic. ‘Even bigger news is that Tayla and my brother, Paul, have decided to get married. We’re invited to the wedding but guess who is not invited to be bridesmaid?’

‘Me?’ Georgia tried to look sad.

He shook his head sadly. ‘I know you must be dreadfully disappointed.’

Georgia put down her spoonful of pumpkin soup and looked up with a grin. ‘That’s wonderful. On both counts.’ Her eyes sparkled with laughter.

She stirred her soup with a smile. ‘You know, I think they will do very well together.’

She tilted her head. ‘Which hospital did you say had the neonatal beds? Del didn’t have to go to Canberra, did she?’

MAX should have known her empathy with her patients wouldn’t wane. She’d need to know Del was happy where she was.

‘No. I didn’t say.’

Max hesitated and then answered. ‘Lower Mountains Base Hospital.’ He wondered if they were both going to pretend the connection to her exhusband’s hospital didn’t exist.

Georgia’s spoon stilled and then she took another mouthful. The colour had left her face and he cursed himself for not withholding the information.

She swallowed slowly and then spoke to her spoon. ‘I’m glad all went well. I wonder how she’ll manage without Shannon to talk for her.’

She went on without pausing but at least she looked up at him. ‘I hear Susie has recovered from having her baby in the car and wants to go home tomorrow morning.’ Her voice was extra-bright and his chest tightened in sympathy for her.

‘I’m sure that will be fine.’ Max was in a differ-ent dilemma now. He didn’t want to upset Georgia by bringing the subject up again but she needed to know he was happy to talk about how she felt if she wished.

If she gave him the option. The silence lengthened and he guessed they were both going to pretend nothing was wrong.

Georgia felt gutted. She wasn’t even sure Max knew it was Sol’s hospital.

She tried to quell the pictures that rose unbidden into her mind. It’s OK, she told herself. The connection with Del wasn’t so bad. Was it?

Sol would have to be the receiving consultant on duty to have had any contact with Del. Even then the registrar would probably have been the one to read the nurse’s notes.

There really wasn’t much chance Sol would track them down, and she doubted Del would speak much about Meeandah except to nod.

Georgia just wished she hadn’t been the one to sign and print her name on the nurse’s transfer letter—along with Max’s. She still signed her maiden name because of the rigmarole of changing names through the nurse’s registration board so Sol would recognise it.

‘We have the weekend before us. What can we do to put a smile on your face?’

Georgia looked up at him blankly.

‘Would you like to go somewhere? For the weekend?’ This time it had been Max to change the subject and she was glad because her own brain still felt sluggish with shock.

The idea of hiding away from the world appealed to Georgia greatly. ‘Let’s go away. Drive bush roads for the weekend. Follow where the tracks take us.’

Nobody would find them and she would be able to push the thoughts of Sol far into the back of her mind again. She’d just begun to feel settled and happy but now the secure rock Max had built for her had crumbled away with only one obstetric transfer to Sol’s hospital. Her response in itself was disheartening.

‘Go camping, you mean?’ Max was looking at her as if to judge how serious she was.

The idea promised sanctuary, Georgia thought, clutching at anything to divert her mind away from the past. ‘No phones, no people—just the bush and us.’

‘I think it’s a great idea to take some picnic supplies and get offroad,’ Max said cautiously, and she looked up in surprise. She’d thought he would have jumped at the chance to camp out.

He went on. ‘How about we run back into the coast at night to sleep with civilised showers and comfortable beds? Away from the mosquitoes, for Elsa’s sake.’

The urgency to hide loomed larger than comfort for Georgia. ‘Elsa will be fine. I thought you enjoyed roughing it.’