And Riley…

The armour he’d surrounded himself with for years, the protective barriers which let him want no one, need no one, were gone.

Pippa.

She could have drowned.

He was totally exposed.

She was taking her fish home to her family, Riley thought, dazed. Her family.

That would be Amy and Jason and Baby Riley. And Lucy and Adam.

And him?

Yeah. Tonight it would be him.

There was no way he was not being part of those fish.

Mickey was being taken by road to Sydney. He’d need specialist orthopaedic care so there was no medical need for either Riley or Pippa to stay involved. Harry started his routine check of the chopper. Riley and Pippa walked back to the house. They needed a shower. They needed a change of clothes. They also needed to talk, Riley thought, but he didn’t know where to start.

What had just happened?

He’d lowered a slip of a girl into a chasm and he hadn’t known if they could all survive. As simple as that. If the sea had turned on them…

There’d been no choice. The alternative had been impossible to contemplate-to leave Mickey to drown. But he’d had to ask Pippa to risk her life and she’d come up laughing.

She’d come up talking of fish and of family.

He was feeling like he’d shed something he’d barely known he had. He felt light and free and… bewildered.

He was carrying her fish. He was caught up in his thoughts, so it was Pippa who saw Amy first. She paused and looked across as Amy yelled wildly from the veranda.

‘Will you two hurry up? We’re having a baby.’

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THEY were indeed having a baby. Lucy was crouched like an animal in pain on the living-room settee. She moaned as they arrived, a deep, primeval moan that told Pippa they were deep into first stage.

‘How far apart?’ she asked Amy. There was no use asking Lucy anything for the moment.

‘Two minutes,’ Amy said. ‘And she won’t go to hospital. She’s scared. She just wants you guys. Gee, I’m pleased to see you.’

‘But Amy’s fantastic.’ Adam looked terrified but he gave Amy a sheepish smile as Lucy’s moan trailed away. ‘She’s real bossy.’

‘Yeah, well, I know what to do,’ Amy said.

See one, do one, teach one. Pippa almost grinned. Then she glanced at Riley and her grin died. He looked like she never wanted a support person to look. Fear was infectious. What was he doing, with a face as grim as death?

‘We need to get you to hospital,’ he told his daughter as the contraction eased and her body slumped. ‘No argument. I’ll phone Louise and take you now.’

‘Hey, how about, “Hi, Lucy, great to see you, we brought you some fish?”’ Pippa demanded, astonished. The last thing Lucy needed was an implication of fear from her doctor.

But, then, she thought, Riley wasn’t Lucy’s doctor. Riley was Lucy’s dad. Maybe terror was understandable.

So maybe someone else had to take charge.

The contraction was easing. Lucy looked up from the settee and gave them a wavering smile. ‘Fish?’ she managed.

‘Three beauties,’ Pippa said, deciding normal was the way to go. Who needed panic? ‘Your dad and I caught them from the helicopter. Sort of. While you’ve been having fun here. But now we’re here… Okay, fish aside, it looks like baby’s next.’

She gave Riley a sideways glance, trying to figure what to do for the best. He looked under such strain… He’d want Louise, but most obstetricians only worked in hospitals. To have Louise take on her care, that’s where they had to go.

‘Lucy, love, why don’t you want to go to hospital? It’s two minutes away.’

‘I’m not going to hospital,’ Lucy said, in a voice where the fear came through. ‘Please. I don’t want to. This feels like family. You guys can deliver babies. I don’t want my legs in stirrups.’

Where had she learned about stirrups? The internet, Pippa thought, or old documentaries, pictures of labour wards where obstetricians put their patients in stirrups in second stage as a matter of course.

‘Why can’t I stay here?’ Lucy wailed, and grabbed Adam’s hand and held it like she was drowning. ‘I don’t want to do this. I’m so scared. I want to go home.’

‘To England?’ Adam sounded terrified. ‘We can’t.’

‘I won’t go to hospital. Dad’ll help.’

‘Lucy, I’m your father. I can’t be your doctor.’

‘Lucy’s not asking you to be her doctor,’ Pippa said, figuring she had no choice but to intervene. Riley sounded strained to the limit.

He was right. He was Lucy’s father. That had to be his role. Nothing more. But Lucy also needed a professional.

That would be her.

‘You all know I’m a trained midwife,’ she said, speaking more confidently than she felt. ‘The checks Lucy did with Louise on Wednesday showed no problems. Everything’s beautifully normal. Lucy, you’re delivering a week early but that’s fine. I suggest we let Louise know what’s happening in case we need back-up. Then we settle down here, with all of us supporting you every step of the way. But if you get exhausted, or if there are signs that your baby’s exhausted, then we take you to the hospital straight away and Louise takes over. That has to be the deal. Do you agree?’

‘Yes,’ Lucy managed, but it was a strangled gasp.

‘Cool,’ Amy said. ‘Do you want us all to stay?’

‘Yes,’ Lucy yelled, gripping Adam’s hand so tight that Pippa saw him wince in pain. ‘I want you all.’ Then… ‘I want my family.’

Family…

Was she still talking about wanting to go back to England?

Somehow Pippa didn’t think so.

But she had no time to think about it. Riley was grabbing her wrist as Lucy rode her contraction. ‘I’ll talk to you outside,’ he said through gritted teeth.

‘It’d better be quick,’ she told him. ‘That’s a minute and a half between contractions. I need a quick shower to get rid of fish before I can turn into a midwife.’

He wasn’t interested in showers. He hauled her through the door then tugged her along the veranda until they were out of earshot.

And let fly.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he demanded, practically apoplectic. ‘She’s going to hospital.’

‘Why is she going to hospital?’ His face was dark with anger. She tried to stay calm, but her very calmness seemed to infuriate him.

‘It’s safer. We need incubators, resuscitation equipment, oxygen, a fully trained obstetrician. Louise is a specialist. Lucy needs the best.’

‘You delivered Amy,’ Pippa said, striving to keep her voice even. ‘Amy didn’t deserve the best?’

‘Amy was frightened. She didn’t know anyone.’

‘And Lucy?’

‘She has Adam. She has all of us.’

‘In a labour ward in hospital? Louise can’t work with five of us. Amy and Jason would have to stay here, and Amy’s giving Lucy courage. Look at her.’ She glanced in through the window-the contraction was past and Amy was making some sort of a joke-making them all smile. ‘This is like gold.’

‘She could have Amy with her.’

‘And Adam?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you?’

‘I don’t…’

‘She needs you. In the background yes, but she does need you. You’re her dad. She wants family.’

‘Her family’s in England.’

‘I don’t think so,’ Pippa said. ‘What mother would pack her eighteen-year-old to Australia to have her baby? Didn’t you hear her? Her family’s here.’

‘You can’t make a family in a week.’

‘You can if you’re desperate. Lucy’s desperate.’

‘You have no right-’

‘To tell her she can have her baby here?’ Pippa hauled her wrist away and stepped back, anger coming to her aid. ‘Actually, I do. This isn’t your house. You’ve never bought it. You’ve never thought of it as home. But I’m working for Flight-Aid and I’m renting part of this house. Contrary to you, I’ve put up decorations. I’ve bought rugs and made curtains. So this is my home, Riley Chase, and I have every right to ask Lucy to stay. And you know what?’

She tilted her chin, knowing she had no right to say what she was about to say but she was saying it anyway.

‘Lucy wants family,’ she said, and she couldn’t quite stop a wobble entering her voice. ‘If you know how much that means… It’s the reason I finally said yes to Roger. It’s the reason I almost married. I’ve never had family-not a proper, loving family-and I want it more than anything in the world. I know it’s the last thing you want, but that’s your problem. For now Lucy and Amy need me. When Amy’s gone I’ll somehow figure how to get a family of my own, even if it means dogs or parrots, but right now the only semblance of a family I have is here. Lucy needs my help to deliver her baby. So if you’ll excuse me, Dr Chase, I have a baby to prepare for. Your grandchild. Family, whether you like it or not. And by the way, you stink of fish, too. Do you want to take a shower and join us, or do you want to go surfing? Alone? While your family operates without you? Your choice. Your choice alone.’

So Lucy didn’t go to hospital.

Riley and Jason were consigned to the background.

He and Jason paced. Talked. Lit the barbecue, made a big fire, stoked it. Watched logs crackle and burn and turn to embers.

They’d cook the fish in the embers, Riley decided, when the baby was born.

‘Did Amy go through this?’ Jason asked, awed, as another moan rocked the house.

‘She did.’

‘I shoulda been here,’ the kid said. ‘Only she said she didn’t want me. Not if I was just going to hang around. Then she went to Sydney and I missed her and I thought… okay, I’ll get a job. If that’s what it takes. So she went through this by herself. And look at her now. She says she wants to be a nurse. You reckon she could?’

‘She’ll need to do part of her training in the city,’ Riley said, watching through the open windows. Adam holding Lucy’s hand. Or rather being clutched by Lucy. Amy was designated coach, talking Lucy through every step of the way.