out there with her.’
He led the way out into the garden and down a long leafy path towards a mud and wattle building in the distance. There was a fragrant scent of flowers, mixed with moonlight and night air, and Sara wished that she could linger and enjoy this exotic peace. She had missed gardens more than she knew, in spite of the fact that her time in Tanzania could be measured in hours more easily than in days. It took a lot of effort to submerge that self beneath the mantle of her profession, but she managed it well and there was nothing to show how much she longed to be out in the night when they reached the guest house.
Matt rapped on the door and walked in without waiting for an answer.
‘Joe! It’s Matt! I’ve brought the nurse!’
A tough, ugly man came out of the inner room and grinned at the two of them.
‘I’d just about given you up,’ he said. ‘Marjorie’s in pretty bad shape. C ould you come at once, nurse?’
Sara followed him quickly into the bedroom, taking o ff her cape as she did so. Matt followed with her bag, which he put down on a chair beside the bed. She made a signal for the two men to leave her, and leant over the bed.
‘Hullo, Mrs. Halifax,’ she said gently. ‘My name’s Sara, I’m the nurse your husband sent for.’
Marjorie Halifax gave her a fleeting smile.
‘I should have gone down to the coast,’ she said. ‘If I’d known that it was going to be anything like this, nothing would have kept me here!’ She moaned and gripped Sara’s hand until it hurt.
‘You’ll be fine now!’ Sara said calmly. This was familiar ground to her. She could almost imagine herself back in the Maternity Ward in London, with the rain drizzling down outside, and the occasional screech of a London bus as it drew up at the stop just outside.
It was not an easy birth, but it was quite normal. In between the pains Marjorie told her about her life miles from anywhere, and Sara told her about her previous life in England.
‘ You were a fool not to stay there!’ Marjorie told her. ‘If Joe wasn’t out here, I’d go back tomorrow!’ She muttered on about the labour problems and the difficulties of retaining her British way of life, tired out by the incessant demands she had made on herself to keep her dislike of the country from her husband.
Sara tried to comfort her, but at that moment nobody could. She wanted the rain and the green fields; the well-ploughed landscape of England and the centuries-old villages, buried deep in their traditions.
‘We’re due for leave,’ she confided. ‘Six months of heaven in England! Can you imagine it?’ And then with a touch of humour: ‘After four I shall be screaming to come back again, what with the people and the lack of servants! That’s the trouble with us settlers, we’re happy nowhere!’
But some people were. Some settlers loved the land they had to rn out of the wilderness with a devotion that nothing could compete with. Loving each ugly, spiky plant because it grew on their land. Settlers like Matt for instance!
Sara brought her thoughts back to Marjorie and the coming child. Another Halifax, she thought. Would this one work for, or live off the estate? She hoped urgently that it would be the former. The new generation would be badly needed to carry on the tradition on the land.
Sara was so tired that she was almost asleep on her feet when the baby finally made his appearance. He was a little smaller than the average new-born infant, but he was perfect in every detail. Sara gave him to his mother and went to tell the two men still waiting outside.
Joe Halifax broke down completely when he heard that his wife was waiting to see him. His great shoulders hunched up, he cried as he had not done since he was a child. Matt slapped him on the back and congratulated him, and everyone was very emotional until Halifax junior made himself felt by screaming at the top of his minute lungs.
‘That sounds like a Halifax,’ Matt said
He led the way out into the garden and down a long leafy path towards a mud and wattle building in the distance. There was a fragrant scent of flowers, mixed with moonlight and night air, and Sara wished that she could linger and enjoy this exotic peace. She had missed gardens more than she knew, in spite of the fact that her time in Tanzania could be measured in hours more easily than in days. It took a lot of effort to submerge that self beneath the mantle of her profession, but she managed it well and there was nothing to show how much she longed to be out in the night when they reached the guest house.
Matt rapped on the door and walked in without waiting for an answer.
‘Joe! It’s Matt! I’ve brought the nurse!’
A tough, ugly man came out of the inner room and grinned at the two of them.
‘I’d just about given you up,’ he said. ‘Marjorie’s in pretty bad shape. C ould you come at once, nurse?’
Sara followed him quickly into the bedroom, taking o ff her cape as she did so. Matt followed with her bag, which he put down on a chair beside the bed. She made a signal for the two men to leave her, and leant over the bed.
‘Hullo, Mrs. Halifax,’ she said gently. ‘My name’s Sara, I’m the nurse your husband sent for.’
Marjorie Halifax gave her a fleeting smile.
‘I should have gone down to the coast,’ she said. ‘If I’d known that it was going to be anything like this, nothing would have kept me here!’ She moaned and gripped Sara’s hand until it hurt.
‘You’ll be fine now!’ Sara said calmly. This was familiar ground to her. She could almost imagine herself back in the Maternity Ward in London, with the rain drizzling down outside, and the occasional screech of a London bus as it drew up at the stop just outside.
It was not an easy birth, but it was quite normal. In between the pains Marjorie told her about her life miles from anywhere, and Sara told her about her previous life in England.
‘ You were a fool not to stay there!’ Marjorie told her. ‘If Joe wasn’t out here, I’d go back tomorrow!’ She muttered on about the labour problems and the difficulties of retaining her British way of life, tired out by the incessant demands she had made on herself to keep her dislike of the country from her husband.
Sara tried to comfort her, but at that moment nobody could. She wanted the rain and the green fields; the well-ploughed landscape of England and the centuries-old villages, buried deep in their traditions.
‘We’re due for leave,’ she confided. ‘Six months of heaven in England! Can you imagine it?’ And then with a touch of humour: ‘After four I shall be screaming to come back again, what with the people and the lack of servants! That’s the trouble with us settlers, we’re happy nowhere!’
But some people were. Some settlers loved the land they had to rn out of the wilderness with a devotion that nothing could compete with. Loving each ugly, spiky plant because it grew on their land. Settlers like Matt for instance!
Sara brought her thoughts back to Marjorie and the coming child. Another Halifax, she thought. Would this one work for, or live off the estate? She hoped urgently that it would be the former. The new generation would be badly needed to carry on the tradition on the land.
Sara was so tired that she was almost asleep on her feet when the baby finally made his appearance. He was a little smaller than the average new-born infant, but he was perfect in every detail. Sara gave him to his mother and went to tell the two men still waiting outside.
Joe Halifax broke down completely when he heard that his wife was waiting to see him. His great shoulders hunched up, he cried as he had not done since he was a child. Matt slapped him on the back and congratulated him, and everyone was very emotional until Halifax junior made himself felt by screaming at the top of his minute lungs.
‘That sounds like a Halifax,’ Matt said
Similar Books
