Fiona McArthur - Baby for the Midwife

Even what he had done to her before was nothing to this fear that he might take her baby, and even though a tiny spark deep in her brain whispered she was being irrational, she had no control over the dread that was rising in her throat.

Georgia drew a deep breath and her voice sounded weak and strained even to her own ears.

No wonder Sol could smile.

And no doubt Max would hear the paranoia too but there was nothing she could do about that except try and master it at a later time when she had time to regroup. At this moment she just needed Max to understand.

She hadn’t progressed to why that seemed so important at this moment.

‘Before I met Sol I was happy in my work, a senior midwife in my unit and studying for my master’s in midwifery.’

Max nodded. ‘Harry said you were well respected and then you became sick—is that right?’

‘In the end I began to think I was sick. I need to start the story before then.’

She closed her eyes for a second to gather her thoughts. ‘I met my husband, the new senior consultant at our hospital, Sol Winton, and he swept me off my feet. He promised nothing would change, and marriage would only enhance my full life, and that he couldn’t live without me.’

She laughed without amusement. ‘I was flattered. I’d passed thirty waiting for Mr Right. I’m no raving beauty and he was distinguished, handsome, and I’d begun to think I’d missed out on love and marriage and children. He caught me at a vulnerable time and I thought I loved him.

‘In truth I was married for two years to a man who wanted to own me, body and soul, and rule my life down to the smallest degree.

‘In the beginning I believed his excessive protectiveness was because he treasured me but I soon realised it was because he felt I was his prized possession and he was training me to jump.’

Georgia drew a shuddering breath and her shoulders shook until Max edged back closer and leant against her. ‘You OK?’

The tremor stopped and she nodded. ‘I don’t like to go over it but I have to so that you’ll understand.’

Max shook his head. ‘Not if you don’t want to.’

‘I have to,’ she said with resolve.

‘OK.’ Max pressed harder against her as if he knew she needed that support.

She felt strangely safer with Max’s hip and shoulders touching hers, which was ridiculous but it helped her to go on. ‘I tried to make Sol see that marriage wasn’t a power game and I needed to be my own person, but my charming ex-husband, the highly esteemed obstetrician, informed everyone I was a paranoid depressive. That’s not an easy thing to dispute if you have reason to be unhappy.’

‘That would explain what Harry said about your marriage getting you down.’

‘Harry mentioned it, did he?’

She saw the look on Max’s face and sighed. ‘This is what I meant about disputing people’s opinions. Sol made it seem I protested too much.’

Max frowned. ‘It’s OK. I believe you. Go on.’

‘I was a professional woman with a career and friends before Sol. But he became more and more demanding. He isolated me from my friends and began to dictate my daily routine. He would change it at a whim.’ She clutched Elsa to her as she remem-bered.

‘He cancelled my appointments with my uni, pulled my shifts so that when I turned up, cases had been replaced by another midwife, and that was when I realised people had begun to talk. He’d arranged a visit to a psychiatrist and circulated that I suffered from an anxiety-driven mental illness. The saddest thing was that I almost began to believe him, but I kept telling myself it was his problem, not mine, and refused to take medication. Finally I left him.’

‘Leaving was a good thing.’ Max nodded.

‘I left him for a year but I had to stay at the hospital because they were paying for my master’s. The day the divorce papers hit Sol’s desk he upped his campaign to win me back but I knew I would never go back to him. That was when he finally realised it wasn’t just another extended game.’

She laughed without humour. ‘Sol wanted me back, and had everyone at work on his side, and then he threatened my best friend’s credibility over a drug order that he’d tampered with. He’d moved on to blackmail.’

‘So prove it.’

‘It was her word and mine against Sol’s, and he said he’d drop his case if I went back to him.’

‘You went back?’ Max leaned forward incredulously.

‘I thought I had it all worked out. I prepared safeguards against any problems. I was going to stay with him until she was safe. Stay only until she couldn’t be charged.’

She looked away so he couldn’t read her face.

She didn’t mention the horror of what Sol had forced her to endure and that she doubted she’d ever want to make love with a man again.

She didn’t mention the fact that she woke up at night in a lather of sweat and a pounding heart. Or that now she had an even bigger fear. ‘Well, in the end, she wasn’t charged. I left again. Later I found out I was pregnant.’

Max raised his eyebrows. ‘Why didn’t you discredit him?’

‘Sol is a powerful man. People believe him.’ Georgia could feel palpitations in her chest and unconsciously she rested her hand there. He’d said he would take her baby at birth. He’d said he would if she didn’t come back.

All the old fears and uncertainties and even unreasonable guilt that she’d heaped on herself began to surface and she fought to keep them away. She needed to conquer this. Elsa needed her to conquer this. ‘It seemed easier just to leave and never go back.’

Max muttered an oath under his breath.

She went on because the sooner she did so, the sooner she could stop thinking about those horrible few weeks.

‘Sol had been here to tell Harry I was depressed and paranoid. He covered himself in case I told them what he was really like. He is very plausible and dangerous.

‘When Harry suggested I move in with them, I decided it would be good for my baby to know family because she would never know her father if I could help it.’ She kissed the top of her daughter’s head.

She could see Max was trying to understand and at least he was trying. It was more than a lot of other people did.

Max squeezed her shoulder. ‘We’ll all help you feel safe again.’

She looked at him and he read the disbelief in her face. ‘A month ago I received a repeated threat on my mobile phone against my unborn child. He would find a way to take her if I didn’t come back to him,’ she whispered.

That wiped the smile off Max’s face and he felt his hand tighten protectively over her shoulder. ‘Mongrel.’

She sighed under his arm. ‘The police said nothing could be proved because Sol had used a public phone to make the call. All I could do was change my number.’

Max shook his head. ‘He’s put you through hell. I wish I’d known when I had him here.’

She shuddered. ‘He’s seen her now. I’m losing control of my life again. I left Sol because I needed to get control back.’ She looked at him with determination in her eyes. ‘And I will. I am. Just.

‘I decided to move here and start again because I need family for my baby and I can make a good life for myself and my daughter. But now I’m scared again.’

He could help her. He felt the shift. She needed help and his gut tightened. He barely knew the woman but suddenly it all felt ordained. No doubt there would be flak along the way and the ex-husband sounded like a loony, but suddenly all that was unimportant if he could protect her. There was something about Georgia that he truly admired and was irresistibly drawn to.

Now their closeness during Elsa’s dramatic birth and today’s near abduction made him realise that she probably needed him more than he needed her.