Read Online Midwife in a Million by Fiona McArthur - Free Book Online Page B

privilege.’ Rory watched the meter as he let the cuff down and winced at the height of Lucy’s blood pressure. ‘One eighty on one ten.’ He shifted back out of the way.
    Kate nodded and tucked the blankets around mother and baby so that Kate’s daughter was chest to chest with her mother’s skin and her little head was bonneted and turned to face Kate. ‘I expected that. I’ll give another dose of Hydralazine now the placenta is delivered.’ She smiled a wooden smile at Lucy. ‘The good news is your daughter looks great. She’s tiny, probably about four pounds, but perfect. She was just a little stunned at birth and will be looking for a real feed because she’s smaller than sheshould be. I think she’s not too prem, just very hungry from the placenta shutting down. See, her ears are perfectly formed.’
    Kate took the Hydralazine from Rory and slowly injected it into Lucy’s second drip line.
    When she’d finished, Rory gave her the saline flush to clear the line, then said, ‘I’ll get us up to the house,’ and he crawled back through to the front of the vehicle.
    Within seconds they were making their way up the driveway. All the lights were on and the door flew open as they arrived.
    The next half hour blurred as Lucy was transferred from the vehicle to a comfortable bed. Mrs McRoberts had been a theatre sister before her marriage and she insisted that Kate and Rory relax after their adventures for ‘five minutes at least’ with a cup of tea while she watched Lucy and her baby.
    It had been a stressful couple of hours and Rory was happy to take advantage of the offer. He wasn’t sure about Kate, who was circling the table as if she couldn’t bear to sit down. She stopped with her back to him and faced the paddocks.
    Rory hesitated and then crossed to stand behind her. When he touched her shoulder she flinched so violently his hand flew up in the air. ‘Hey,’ he said and deliberately put both his hands firmly onto her shoulders and eased her back against his body. ‘Take a couple of those deep breaths you keep recommending everyone else takes.’
    To his relief, she did, her shoulders rising and falling beneath his hands. After an initial stiffness, she relaxed enough to lean into him a little, then inexplicably she pulled away and sat down. Rory let his hands fall through the empty air and turned to look at her where she sat.
    He didn’t get this woman at all—which would be fine if it didn’t feel as if he’d just been kicked in the gut every time she shut him out—so he shrugged and sat down himself.
    When she spoke it was as if nothing had happened between them and Rory decided to drink his tea. He had to find a way to stop her messing with his head.
    ‘Apparently, after the storm left here it seems to have headed Jabiru way,’ she said. ‘No chance they’ll have planes landing on the strip there.’ The way she avoided his eyes and spoke reminded him of this morning, before they’d left, and he felt as if he were riding a roller coaster of emotions. One minute she was fine, the next she’d retreated so far he could barely see the real Kate.
    She poured more tea and then glanced at her watch. ‘Mrs McRoberts said the plane’s only half an hour away from here. We can head back after that.’
    Something was going on and he had no idea where her thoughts were. He watched her face. ‘So you’re not going to go with Lucy to Derby?’
    She shook her head. ‘No. She’s had her baby now, and they’re both fine.’ She shut her mouth with asnap and he almost missed the moment when she started to shake with reaction. The shudders grew until her whole body shook the chair. Almost like Lucy’s fit, only with such anguish on her face he could no more not go to her than not breathe.
    Rory pushed his chair out and dropped to the ground to kneel beside her chair. He pulled her head down onto his chest and held her. ‘It’s okay, baby. Everything’s fine. You did wonderfully.’
    She