Sue MacKay - Every Boy's Dream Dad

He strode away, swearing under his breath. He did not need this. It was all the doc’s fault these once-buried memories were pounding at him again. Why couldn’t Lissie have found her a house to rent further around the island, closer to the hospital? Why did he keep opening his trap and offering to do things for her? Like taking the kid to Lanette’s. That need to help her he’d felt last night would not go away.

Ben headed to the pond and slapped his hands on his hips as he watched the boy leaning over the water, following a large carp swimming around the edge. Beside him the doc was talking softly, her face full of love.

Stay away from the kid, Ben growled to himself as his heart rolled over. Stay away from the doc, he hissed in his mind as his stomach tightened. Then life would return to its uneasy but uneventful pace and he could slip back into obscurity.

Rachel followed Colleen through the hospital, being stopped every few minutes by someone wanting to shake her hand and welcome her to Rarotonga. ‘I’m starting to feel like royalty,’ she quipped to Colleen. ‘I only hope I can remember everyone’s names.’

‘You’ll be fine.’ Colleen stopped at the open door to the maternity ward. ‘At least this should look familiar to you.’

Stepping into the noisy room with windows pushed open to allow in any breeze that might come this way, Rachel paused to assimilate the atmosphere. There was something special about maternity wards. She supposed it was because of the excitement for the new lives. Expectant mums and those who’d already delivered stopped chattering and watched her, their faces open and friendly.

‘Hello, I’m Dr Rachel Simmonds.’

They swarmed her, two young women bringing their newborn babes for her to inspect. Rachel took each in turn to cuddle. Babies—who could resist them?

Then a stunningly beautiful woman approached and spoke in a soft lilt. ‘Hello, I’m Manea, the midwife.’ After giving Rachel a welcoming embrace she said, ‘I’d like to talk to you about one of my patients.’

In the little office off to the side of the ward Rachel listened while Manea explained her patient’s symptoms. ‘Kiriana is having her first baby at age thirty-five, which is very late for an islander. She’s been on the internet reading up about everything that can go wrong. And now she wants a whole battery of tests done that I can’t provide.’

‘This is when I dislike the net intensely. All it achieves is to cause more worry than a pregnant woman should have.’ Rachel read Kiriana’s notes. ‘Everything seems perfectly normal. No anaemia, no hepatitis, blood pressure’s good.’

‘Could you examine her?’ Manea asked. ‘It might settle her down to have a doctor taking her fears seriously. I’m the girl who grew up next door. Not likely to be totally convincing when it comes to persuading her everything’s going well.’

‘Can you arrange an appointment for her? Might as well see her as soon as possible. She hasn’t mentioned amniocentesis?’

‘Down’s syndrome is top of her list for things that can go wrong.’

‘It would be.’ Rachel sighed. People put themselves through untold worry at times. ‘I’ll see her as soon as she can come in.’

They went on to discuss all Manea’s patients but the midwife had no other concerns. ‘Hopefully I won’t be bothering you too often,’ she said as she put the patient notes away in a filing cabinet. ‘But I’m thrilled to have an obstetrician to be able to call on if necessary. I bet the GPs are pleased too.’

‘I haven’t met them yet. I’ll drop into the medical centre some time over the next few days to make myself known.’

Colleen piped up. ‘All sorted. You’re to go on Thursday afternoon.’

Rachel started. ‘Thanks for that.’

Colleen glanced at her watch. ‘Right now you’ve got a patient waiting to see you.’

‘Already?’ They certainly weren’t giving her time to settle in.

‘It’s a straightforward consult. One of the bosses at the airline’s office wants to meet you just in case anything goes wrong with her pregnancy. She’s flying home to Auckland next month, four weeks before her baby is due, but is playing it safe.’ Colleen smiled cautiously. ‘I think you’ll get a lot of that—playing safe. Especially with the Kiwis.’

‘That’s fine. Understandable, I suppose, if they’re used to big, modern hospitals.’ Rachel shrugged away her disappointment. She liked to see a pregnancy through to the end, not be a stopgap measure. But who could blame women who wanted to go home to be with family and friends when they were having a baby?

The day of Riley’s birth was still vivid in her mind. She’d been in awe of the tiny bundle the midwife had handed her. And the stunned expression on Jamie’s face and the unqualified love in his eyes as he’d met his son for the very first time had taken her breath away. There’d been a steady stream of friends and colleagues visiting her and Riley while she’d remained in hospital. And Jamie had hardly left her side until he’d been able to take them home.

So why had Jamie gone and got himself shot? What had possessed him to do something so stupid he’d deprived Riley of his father?

She felt tears welling up in her eyes. Nearly two years later and she still couldn’t fathom Jamie’s actions that day. She was still angry and hurt. Pulling herself together for the people who needed her to be strong, she blindly followed Colleen down the corridor. Bring on the work, the patients, the mind-diverting everyday things that would get her past these moments.

The work would settle her, help ease the pain of the past and, just maybe, make the future a little more appealing than it had been since Jamie’s murder.

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