Fiona McArthur - Midwives On Call At Christmas

‘Not until I give you some advice.’

Oh, no. ‘Do you have to? Please. I hate advice. Comes with having to sort yourself out all your life.’ She said it but now she knew Maeve better she doubted anything would stop her when she was on a roll. She almost wished for the washed-out, droopy dandelion Maeve had been before she’d recovered her spirits.

She looked again at the new, brighter Maeve and she knew she was happy her friend had found her equilibrium. Lyrebird Lake was doing its magic. So, no, she didn’t wish for droopy Maeve back.

Over the last few weeks, gradually they had become friends, good friends, if she dared to say it. She and Maeve had found lots to smile about. Lots to agree and not agree about and quirky, girly conversations that had often little to do with Simon. And, at Maeve’s request, nothing at all to do with Rayne, the father of Maeve’s baby.

‘Me? Not give advice?’ Maeve laughed at her.

Tara sighed. ‘But you’re not having this all your own way. I’ll listen to you if you tell me what you’re thinking about Rayne.’

Maeve blinked in shock and Tara grinned. ‘And if I have advice then you have to listen to me.’

Ha. Miss Bossy didn’t like it so much in return. But to give Maeve her due, she sat back with a grimace. ‘I was being pushy, wasn’t I?’ She shook her head and smiled wryly. ‘You haven’t seen this side of me yet but I’m not normally the pathetic wimp I’ve been since I came here.’

She looked around and then back at Tara. ‘You know what? You’re right. I do feel better since I came here. This place really is as amazing as Simon says it is.’

Tara looked around with fresh eyes. Made herself feel the moment. Smell the furniture polish. Taste the freshly brewed tea from the pot that Louisa had made before she’d gone out. Saw the little touches that spelt people cared. A Christmas nativity scene tucked in behind the bread basket. The growing pile of gifts under the tree. The photo frames of family that Louisa polished with her silver cloth every morning. ‘I think it’s the people.’

And Tara didn’t ever want to leave but she wasn’t expecting the world to be that perfect. ‘Yep. It’s amazing. And it is good to see you firing on all cylinders—even if you are a bit scary sometimes.’

‘Scary? Me? You should meet my oldest sister, Kate.’ Then Maeve showed she at least was focussed. ‘Seeing that you hate advice, I’ll keep it simple—and let you in on a secret.’

She sat forward, ready to impart her wisdom, and Tara pulled a face as she waited. ‘My sisters and I have decided Simon’s been hiding from a real romantic relationship all his life—he’s terrified the fairy-tale isn’t real.’

‘Um. I hate to tell you this, but it isn’t,’ Tara said, but Maeve ignored her.

‘Whether that came from our mother and his dad not staying together or the fact that he never knew his dad, we don’t know.’

She lowered her voice. ‘What we do know is that the right woman can help him come out from the place he’s been hiding all these years—but she has to get past the barriers.’

‘Barriers?’ Tara was lost. She had no idea what Maeve was talking about. She hadn’t noticed any barriers.

‘Not when-you-meet-him barriers. He’s too good a people person for that. It’s later. Whenever a woman is getting close, he’d discover some other place that needed him more than he needed her and bolt. She’d try and hold him, he’d spend less time with her, and then she’d give up and drop him. I’ve seen it time and again. But you’re different.’

Her? Tara? Different? She couldn’t help the tiny glow of warmth the words left in her chest. Then she thought it through and decided there was another reason she was different. Maybe because she didn’t expect people to want to look long term with her?

‘He’s scared of long term, Tara.’

Well, there you go. Maybe she was the right girl for him after all. She forced a smile. ‘I’m not presuming long-term.’ Had lost that expectation years ago.

‘Might be the way to getting it.’ Maeve looked at her.

That didn’t make sense. ‘You mean, actually say, Hi, Simon, I don’t expect long term ?’ The fantasy was tragically attractive—but it was fantasy. But that didn’t mean one day it mightn’t happen. Did it?

Maeve waggled her brows. ‘And that just might be the way to break through the barriers.’

Nope. Tara didn’t understand and she backed away from reading anything ridiculously ambitious into Maeve’s comments. ‘Okay. I’ve listened.’ And you are scaring the socks off me at the thought of having any such conversation with Simon. Although if Simon was scared she would try to trap him, he did need to know that wasn’t in her plans.

But he had changed after the lyrebird, true, and he’d practically said he remembered what seeing the bird dance meant. True love and all that stuff. For a guy who wasn’t thinking long term she guessed that could be scary. She wasn’t scared, just didn’t believe the hogwash. All too confusing for a conversation.

‘Your turn.’ She sat forward. ‘Tell me about the father of your child.’ She really did want to know. She couldn’t imagine anyone leaving Maeve. She was gorgeous and funny, and she was classy.

Maeve’s shoulders drooped. Her confident persona disappeared into the dejected woman Tara had first met. There was an extended silence and Tara thought for a moment Maeve was going to renege. Then she sighed. ‘I fell for Rayne like a ton of bricks.’ She lifted her head, her eyes unexpectedly dreamy, and remembered. ‘He’s a head taller than me, shoulders like a front-row forward, and those eyes. Black pools of serious lust when he looked at me. Which he did from across the room.’

Tara had to grin. Descriptive. ‘Crikey. I’m squirming on my seat over here. So what happened?’

She shrugged. ‘We spent the night together—then he went to jail.’

Tara remembered Maeve saying he’d omitted to tell her he was going to jail. ‘Was he wrongly convicted?’

Tears filled Maeve’s eyes. She chewed her lip and gathered her control. Then looked at Tara with a wry and watery smile. ‘Thank you.’

Tara wasn’t sure what was going on but she seriously wanted to get to the bottom of it. ‘Did he tell you about it?’

Shook her head. ‘Didn’t have a chance. And since then he’s refused to see or talk to me on the phone.’

That didn’t make sense. ‘So when did this happen?

Maeve patted her stomach. ‘Eight months ago.’

O-o-o-kay. Tara suspected Simon might have reason to worry. ‘And how long were you together before you fell pregnant?’

She sighed. ‘One night. But I’ve always loved Rayne. He was the bad boy all the girls lusted after. I always thought the problem was more his mum than Rayne—she was a single mum and couldn’t kick her drug addiction—but despite our mum’s misgivings he and Simon were always friends.’

And now he’d got Simon’s sister pregnant on the way to jail. Probably why Simon wanted to wring his neck.

Maeve was still talking. ‘Simon and he were mates through med school and then Rayne went to California to do paediatrics. And he was supposed to come and work with Simon at his hospital this year.’

She shrugged. ‘Something happened when he was over there, and apparently as soon as he hit Australia alarm bells went off. Simon picked him up from the airport, and neither of us knew that the police would come for him as soon as he was back in the country. It seems he suspected it was a possibility and didn’t tell us.’

‘Wow. Seems a strange way to act.’

‘I’m pretty sure he planned to tell but Simon got called out to a patient before he could, I think.’ Maeve shrugged.