Emergency Baby
‘Cool, though.’ Alex spoke between mouthfuls of the savoury meat dish. ‘I wouldn’t mind doing a bit of caving that didn’t have the pressure of being a rescue situation.’
Sam’s smile felt a bit strained. A year ago—even a week ago—she would have encouraged such an interest. Would have felt the same way, in fact, and angled for an opportunity to accompany Alex on a new venture.
‘So?’ Alex couldn’t have satisfied his hunger enough to explain the way his fork hung halfway between his plate and his mouth. The intensity of the glance that came Sam’s way wasn’t diminished by the flickering firelight, and she found it unnerving.
‘“So”, what?’
‘Are you up for it? Shall we see if we can hook up with a caving expedition when we’ve got a few days off?’
‘Maybe.’ Sam pushed a piece of food around her plate, her appetite fading rapidly. What on earth was wrong with her?
She looked up, knowing that distraction would be readily available in the busy scene around them. The numbers of rescue personnel continued to grow steadily. Experts in all sorts of areas had been called in by now, even people from the army who dealt with explosives.
Alex ate in silence for a minute until he had scraped his plate clean. He eyed Sam’s half-eaten meal. ‘You going to finish that?’
‘Nah. I’ve had enough. Here…’ Sam handed him her plate. ‘You have it, Alex. You’re a bottomless pit.’
‘So are you. What’s the matter, Sam? You sick?’
She shook her head, carefully avoiding direct eye contact. ‘Just tired. And I’m worried about Courtney.’
‘The pregnant woman?’
‘Yeah. That’s her over there, sitting in the Red Cross tent.’
‘She looks as though she’s being looked after.’
‘I don’t think hand holding and offering cups of tea are helping much. She’s terribly withdrawn. I tried talking to her after Bruce’s wife went off in the helicopter with him. She’s absolutely distraught. I think she’s convinced herself that Steve is dead.’
‘She could well be right.’
‘She won’t eat or drink anything. She won’t rest. She won’t even talk. That kind of stress can’t be good for the baby.’
‘Let’s keep our fingers crossed for some good news. The first rock-breaking crew must be due out for a break soon. They sent the second team in when we came out with Bruce.’ Alex pushed back a mud-encrusted overall sleeve to look at his watch. ‘They’ll be bringing in the next SERT watch in an hour or so. We might well escape having to go back in.’
‘It’ll be Angus and Tom on the next shift.’
‘Yeah. Gus will enjoy having something different to do.’
‘He’s going a bit hard out these days, isn’t he?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Since Fliss left. I think he’s more miserable than he’s letting on. He’s covering up by giving a hundred and ten per cent of himself at work.’
‘Look who’s talking!’ White teeth gleamed in the firelight as Alex grinned but then his face softened. ‘Giving a hundred and ten per cent is what this job is all about. You know that probably better than any of us, Sam.’
‘Yeah.’ The subtle praise was as warming as the fire but Sam’s response came out as almost a sigh. It fell into a silence that felt as dark as the night pressing in on the edges of the brightly lit rescue base set-up.
Alex cleared his throat. ‘When you asked, down in that tunnel, if it had occurred to me that we were nuts…you were serious, weren’t you?’
He sounded wary, Sam decided, and no wonder. If your job was the most important thing in your life—which it had to be if you were going to cut the mustard as a SERT member—and the partner you depended on started having doubts, the repercussions could be huge.
They did work with other partners sometimes, when illness or injury or holidays interfered with roster placements, but it was never quite the same. Communication could seem awkward. The level of trust just a shade not deep enough. And the combination added a tension it was much better not to have given the type of work they could be required to do.
A curious restraint hung between them now. Sam had always been more than happy to talk to Alex about anything. She had no secrets from someone who was closer to her than any of her brothers even. A ‘best friend with attitude’ was how she’d once described their relationship. How would it affect that relationship if she kept her current emotional state bottled up? Could that, in fact, be more destructive than a confession? Maybe she should test the waters.
‘There are moments,’ Sam admitted cautiously, ‘when I do wonder whether there should be more to life than what we do.’
She could actually feel Alex blink in astonishment. ‘Like what?’
‘Like…relationships.’
Alex sounded smug now. ‘I get my share.’
Sam snorted. ‘True.’ The amusement faded from her tone. ‘They don’t last long, though, do they?’
‘They would if I wanted them to.’
‘Would they?’ Sam tipped her head sideways trying to ease a crick in her neck. ‘Angus was all set to settle down with Fliss, wasn’t he? Do the whole marriage and kids bit. She was the one who decided she couldn’t take the stress of living with what he did for a career, and I can’t blame her.’
Sam looked past the fire to the Red Cross tent where Courtney could be seen, still sitting in a hunched position, her shoulders shaking again as she sobbed. ‘Imagine what it’s like, having someone you love go off to do dangerous things. Being left to wait and worry and wonder if they’re ever coming back.’
‘We’ve got the most amazing job on earth,’ Alex responded firmly. ‘That’s got to be worth a sacrifice or two.’
‘But what about when it stops?’ Sam could hear the warning but ignored it. ‘If we got injured or totally burned out or something? What would we have then?’
But Alex didn’t appear to be listening. He got to his feet in a fluid movement that belied the physical exhaustion he had to be suffering.
‘What you need,’ he declared ‘is another coffee. A good, strong one. You’re going weird because you’re too tired.’ He bent to collect their empty plates. ‘You stay here. I’ll be right back.’
So she was going ‘weird’, was she? She’d been right about that warning tone. Or was Alex simply running from a conversation about something he was not prepared to give any head space to? He was the epitome of confidence. Invincibility, even. Maybe he couldn’t afford to pick at the edges of a persona like that by having doubts.
She was on her own on this one.
Wearily, she pushed herself to her feet and moved. Sitting alone in her current mood was not a good idea. She’d had her break and it was time to see if she could help someone.
Like Courtney, maybe.
The heavily pregnant woman was still hunched over and sobbing. The sound became more of a concern as Sam got closer. Courtney seemed to be gasping for air rather than crying and she sounded like she was in more than emotional pain.
‘What’s happening, love?’ Sam crouched, her fingers registering a rapid heartbeat as she took hold of Courtney’s wrist.
‘It…It hurts!’
An older woman from the Red Cross was rubbing Courtney’s back. ‘I know,’ she said soothingly. ‘They’re doing their best to help. We just have to wait.’
Sam wasn’t convinced that reassurance was all Courtney needed right now. She gripped the hand beneath hers.
‘What hurts, Courtney?’ she asked urgently. ‘Talk to me. Is it the baby?’
Courtney raised her head finally and Sam could see the panic in her face. The hesitant nod was not needed to confirm the unexpected development in this rescue scenario.
‘Close the tent flap,’ Sam ordered the Red Cross worker. ‘And then hold this blanket up to screen Courtney. I need to check to see if she’s in labour.’
Sam wasn’t prepared for what she found, having persuaded Courtney to lie back and allow her to remove the clothing from her lower body. Maybe the labour had started long ago and had been unnoticed or ignored due to the stress of the situation. Or maybe the birth would have been precipitous anyway.
It didn’t matter now. When Sam found herself shining a torch on the crowning head of a baby about to enter the world, she could do nothing but don a pair of gloves and wait to assist. At least any birth that happened this quickly was highly unlikely to be complicated.
And it was over in seconds. Another gasping groan from Courtney and the baby slithered into Sam’s hands. She lifted it, keeping its head down to help clear the airway and hoping desperately that suction wouldn’t be necessary. Tiny limbs moved, making it harder to keep a secure grip and then the baby took its first breath and expelled it in a cry of bewilderment.
‘You’ve got a little boy, Courtney!’
‘Oh…Oh!’ Courtney held out her arms. ‘Give him to me…please?’
‘Lift your jersey up,’ Sam suggested. ‘Let’s get him against your skin and keep you both wrapped up to stay warm.’ She looked up at the Red Cross woman who was standing, open-mouthed. ‘We need some towels,’ she said calmly. ‘And more blankets. And would you have any idea where my partner, Alex, is?’
‘I’m right here.’ The tent flap moved. ‘What’s the—’ His jaw also went slack as the lump under Courtney’s jersey gave another warbling cry.
‘I need some clips for the cord,’ Sam told him. ‘Can you find something in the kit?’
The adrenaline rush that had been missing throughout this job had finally arrived. Sam’s fingers worked swiftly and automatically and her brain refused to register any physical weariness. The delivery was completed, the placenta saved for later examination and Sam held the infant, having wrapped him in fluffy towels, while two Red Cross women helped Courtney into some dry clothes and Alex went to find some available transport to take mother and child to the nearest hospital.
The baby was a few weeks early but he seemed a good size and perfectly healthy. He lay in a cocoon of soft towelling, his eyes wide open, staring up at Sam.
She stared back, and something stirred deep within her that had nothing to do with any extra adrenaline in her system. Too nebulous to be tacked to any clear memories, it was more like a pool of feelings that had been long buried. It had to do with being held by arms that belonged to someone who could offer the ultimate in comfort to a helpless being. To do with absolute trust. And unconditional love.
The things that a mother offered her child.
The things that Sam had had taken away too long ago. Things that could never be replaced because she could never have another mother.
The stirring was more than poignant. A need that had no hope of ever being fulfilled could only be painful. Sam could never be given what she had once needed so very badly.
Or could she?
Maybe she didn’t need to receive it to ease that sore patch on her soul. Maybe giving it would have the same effect.
Sam couldn’t take her eyes off the tiny unblinking face of Courtney’s baby. She was totally mesmerised.
The longing—the need—was overwhelming. This was a night for revelations, wasn’t it? But didn’t everything happen for a reason? Had she simply been presented with an answer to what could lie in her life beyond her career? Something that could negate any void? A future that could actually repair the past?
Alex gave her a strange look as he returned and took the bundle from her arms to give the baby back to his mother.
‘Don’t go getting any ideas,’ he warned softly.
The warning was way too late.
The longing might come to nothing but the idea had taken firm root.
Samantha Moore wanted a baby.
Big time.
CHAPTER TWO
SOMETHING had changed.
Alex couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was, but that disturbing little niggle had been there ever since that caving job a week ago and it kept popping up at the oddest times.
Like now, when they were in the middle of dealing with a three-car pile-up on the main road near the airport and he should be totally focussed on the patient he was currently assessing.
He was focussed—kind of. Fortunately, no life-threatening injuries had been caused by the accident even though one of the cars had been travelling at a fairly high speed on one of the semi-rural roads. SERT members were based at the airport, in order to be near their helicopter transport, but they also crewed a standard ambulance and were used as first response to any callouts that wouldn’t take them more than five minutes’ drive away from their base.
Such as this scene, where an elderly driver had failed to stop at an intersection and had gone into the side of a car that had then swerved into the lane of opposing traffic. The driver coming the other way had luckily had time to brake as he’d swerved himself but he had still connected with the elderly woman’s car with enough force to cave in the passenger side.
Remarkably, she appeared to be unhurt. She was also very cross.
‘Someone is going to have to pay for this damage to my car!’
‘Do you have any medical conditions that you’re being treated for, ma’am? Problems with your heart or blood pressure perhaps?’
‘Are you suggesting this accident was my fault, young man?’
Alex almost grinned. It was all relative, he supposed, and thirty-eight would make him a whippersnapper to someone who looked to be well into their eighties. This accident could not have been anyone else’s fault, however. The faded blue eyes glaring at him belonged to someone who had just gone through a very clearly marked ‘stop’ sign.
‘I just want to check you out and make sure you haven’t been hurt,’ he told her.
‘I’m not hurt but I could have been killed! I want to know who’s responsible.’
‘Are you having any trouble breathing?’ Silly question. Nobody would be snapping at him like an angry barracuda if they were in serious respiratory distress. ‘Do you have any pain anywhere?’
Alex glanced up to see whether he might be needed with a more seriously injured person in one of the other vehicles. No such luck. The male driver of the third vehicle involved was talking to a police officer and his wild gesticulations towards the ‘stop’ sign and then Alex’s position suggested that he wasn’t in any degree of physical distress.
Sam was with the occupants of the car that had been hit side on by the old woman’s car. She was crouched in front of a baby’s seat that had been lifted from the rear of the car. A young woman stood beside her, looking very anxious. Even from this distance Alex could see that the baby was smiling in response to whatever noises or exaggerated facial expressions Sam was making and her posture made it quite obvious that everything was under control there.
And there it was again.
That disturbing little niggle.
A curious disappointment, perhaps, that this job wasn’t going to provide the kind of challenge that his partner thrived on. One that would drive any current dissatisfaction with her career into the background.
Where it belonged.
‘I’m bleeding! Oh, my goodness! I’ve ruined a brand-new pair of stockings.’ The dismay in his patient’s voice was wildly misplaced. The thin leg Alex could see now protruding from the car had had a sizeable flap of skin peeled back from the shin. He snapped open the catches on his kit and reached for a gauze pad and a saline sachet to dampen it.
‘I’m going to cover this to stop the bleeding, ma’am. This might sting a little bit.’
‘It’s not going to fix my stocking, is it? Someone’s going to have to replace these as well. They’re not cheap, you know. I only buy the best. None of that nasty supermarket rubbish!’
‘Of course,’ Alex murmured. ‘Can you tell me your name, please, ma’am?’
‘What for?’
‘I’m going to need to fill in some paperwork.’
‘Oh…all right. It’s Esme. Esme Dickson.’
Alex wound the bandage around Esme’s leg to hold the dressing in place and apply enough pressure to stop the bleeding. ‘And how old are you, Mrs Dickson?’
‘None of your business. And it’s “Miss”, not “Mrs”.’
It was a relief to see a police officer approaching. Alex should be able to get the information he needed with a lot less angst after Miss Dickson had had her interview with more authoritative personnel.
‘Is she all right?’
‘Relatively minor skin tear.’Alex had cleaned the wound and eased the skin back into place before bandaging. ‘I don’t think she needs transport to hospital unless it’s what she wants.’
‘Of course it isn’t,’ Esme declared. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me that a good cup of tea won’t fix.’
‘A visit to her GP might be in order to ensure that it doesn’t get infected.’
‘And “she’s” the cat’s mother.’ Esme wagged a finger at Alex. ‘I do have a name, as you well know, young man.’
‘This is Miss Dickson,’ Alex told the police officer, keeping the twitch of his lips firmly under control. ‘I’ll just do a quick check of her blood pressure and so on and then she’s all yours.’
The expression on the officer’s face did not suggest delight. ‘Do you have your driver’s licence available, Miss Dickson?’
‘I hope you’re not suggesting I don’t have one.’
‘Not at all, but it would be helpful if you could show it to me.’
‘It’s right here, in my handbag. Oh…Where is my handbag? It was just here, on the seat beside me.’
‘Is this it?’Alex fished a cavernous bright green bag with thick handles and an ornate clasp from behind the front seat.
‘Yes. Thank you. Now I just need to find my glasses.’
The police officer almost sighed aloud. ‘Do you require your glasses for driving, Miss Dickson?’
‘Of course I do. And I was wearing them. They must have fallen off.’
Alex could see a pair of spectacles, minus their case, inside the now open green bag as he wound the blood-pressure cuff around his patient’s upper arm. ‘Those wouldn’t be the ones you’re looking for, by any chance?’
Miss Dickson looked disconcerted. ‘Goodness! How on earth did they manage to fall in there?’
Alex let down the cuff. ‘Blood pressure’s fine,’ he announced. ‘Heart rate and rhythm are also normal. I’ll come back in a minute to get the details I need for the paperwork.’ He straightened and gave the police officer a sympathetic lift of his eyebrows. ‘I’d better go and see whether my partner needs any assistance.’
She didn’t, of course. By the time Alex approached the knot of people around the back of the ambulance, Sam had lifted the infant from its car seat, presumably having given it a thorough check, and it was bouncing in her arms, looking delighted at the amount of attention being bestowed on it.
There was something just not quite right any more about seeing Samantha Moore with a baby in her arms. Maybe that was what had started making things seem different.
That weird feeling he’d experienced last week, seeing Sam staring at the baby she’d just delivered. Holding it as though…as though it was her own child.
Alex had joked about it at the time, warning Sam not to get any ‘ideas’, but he was quite sure now that he’d discovered the cause of what had been bothering him for the last few days. That Sam’s biological clock had inexplicably started ticking and she was going to go off and have babies and leave him to try and find another partner that he could work with as well as he worked with Sam.
As if!
On both counts. Alex smiled at Sam. A relieved smile. He knew perfectly well how Sam felt about marriage. He’d even met her overpoweringly successful father and the brother that had gone into the fire service rather than trying to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the police force, as her other two brothers had.
Alex could understand why Sam was so fiercely protective of her independence. That was why she was so adamant about never sharing her life with any other male on a permanent basis. And a child would sap that independence even more. Of course he could understand. He felt the same way himself, cherishing his own independence enough to make even a relationship of a few months’ duration seem long term. The idea of permanence or, worse, dependants, was a fate worse than death.
The idea of finding someone else he could work with so well was equally ludicrous. It might have taken a while to get used to in the beginning but Sam was special. As good as any bloke to work with. Better, really, because there were times that Alex’s extra physical strength was needed and he could provide it and feel great. There was none of that subtle competitive stuff you’d get working with another male. And then there were times when a feminine touch was needed. The sympathy angle or an examination on a female patient that everybody was more comfortable having another female providing. Sam could do that and feel great.
Neither of them ever held such advantages over the other. They complemented each other perfectly. They were the best team.
Alex took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He could put that disturbing niggle to rest now. It was something that he had got entirely out of proportion because Sam had been so tired that night and had made those comments about there being more to life than their jobs. About them being crazy, doing what they did. Seeing her holding that baby on top of the odd comments had triggered an entirely unfounded fear.
He’d seen Sam dealing with kids dozens of times over the last few years, hadn’t he? Just like now. She was terrific in handling them and perfectly happy to give them back to whoever they belonged to. The mother of this particular rugrat was smiling rather tentatively as she took her baby from Sam.
‘Are you sure she’s OK?’
‘She seems absolutely fine. We can take you into hospital to have her checked out again if you’re still worried, though.’
‘I don’t know…Maybe I should…’
‘I’ll just get some paperwork done while you think about it.’ Sam climbed into the back of the ambulance where Alex had beaten her to the patient report forms.
He ripped some pages off for her. ‘Do you want me to arrange transport for the kid? I’ve already contacted Control and told them a second vehicle wasn’t needed.’
‘I thought we could take them in,’ Sam said. ‘We’re due to take the truck back to Headquarters in half an hour or so.’ She smiled at Alex. ‘And if we happened to be in the hospital, we could take a few minutes and go and see whether Steve’s out of Intensive Care yet.’
It was a winning smile that made it quite clear how keen Sam was to follow up on the victims of the caving incident. After more than twelve hours of being trapped by rubble, one of the men last week had succumbed to a head injury but Steve, the father of the baby Sam had delivered, had survived. He’d been in the ICU the last time they’d visited but any day now he should be joining Bruce, who was still in the ward recovering from the surgery needed on his fractured femur.
Maybe this time Alex could ask about the chance of getting another underground trip. He didn’t need that special smile from Sam to persuade him.
‘Works for me,’ he said. ‘I’ll talk to Control again and I need to get some patient details from the others involved here.’
It was ten minutes before they left the scene and another fifteen minutes to get to the emergency department of Christchurch General Hospital. By the time they had handed over the only patient they’d transported, Sam and Alex were officially off duty.
‘They don’t mind if we’re a bit late back with the truck,’ Sam informed Alex. ‘Angus and Tom are having a coffee and they can find another vehicle for them to get to Base if there’s a callout.’
‘Great. Quick visit to the ward, then?’
‘Absolutely.’
They stopped at the ward clerk’s desk to see whether Steve had been transferred from the intensive care unit yet. The nurse who overheard their request happened to be the one looking after both Steve and Bruce for the afternoon shift and she was more than happy to discuss her patients with Alex.
Big blue eyes were fastened on Sam’s partner and the eager, if subtle, leaning forward posture was nothing new, either. Sam was quite used to the interest women showed in Alex. She would have felt the same way in their position but it had never occurred to her to do anything more than appreciate his looks in a very academic way.