She was dimly aware that Reece was spreading more towels on the bed and taking something out of the medical chest. She heard the snap of sterile gloves.
There was nothing she could do but push.
And push.
And pu-u-u-sh.
‘You’re doing brilliantly,’ Reece coaxed. ‘The baby’s shoulders are almost there now. Everything’s happening just the way it’s supposed to. Good girl. You’re fabulous. That’s it. Another push.’
‘I can’t.’
Exhausted, Jess sank back against the pillows. She couldn’t push again. She didn’t have the strength.
‘Honestly, your baby’s almost here,’ Reece said again. ‘Don’t give up now, Jess. I can see its face. It’s a real little cutie.’
‘That’s nice,’ she said wearily.
But next moment, she was gripping her knees and pushing again, assisted, thank heavens, by another contraction.
‘That’s it, Jess. Here it comes. Good girl!’
Face screwed tight with the effort of another huge push, Jess felt the baby slip from her and she heard Reece’s shout of triumph.
She fell back, panting, hardly daring to believe it was over so soon. Two breaths later, she asked, ‘Boy or girl?’
‘Well … I’m not sure about calling her Reece.’
‘A girl?’
He was grinning from ear to ear. ‘A perfectly beautiful baby girl.’
A girl. In the sudden lull, Jess felt exhausted and strangely devoid of emotion. Secretly, she’d hoped for a girl, but she’d been so sure she was having a boy. It took a moment or two to adjust.
She closed her eyes, suddenly weary and drifting towards sleep.
‘Waaaa!’
At that tiny, lusty yell, Jess’s eyes whipped open and her heart gave a leap of joy, her exhaustion vanished in a blink. She struggled to sit. ‘How is she? Is she all right?’
‘She has all her fingers and toes. I’m no doctor, but she looks perfect to me.’
Jess wanted to see her, but before she could dig her elbows into the mattress and hoist herself upright Reece was at her side.
‘Here,’ he said gently.
She felt a warm weight on her chest and looked down. And discovered a miracle. Her baby daughter. Red and perfect, with a scrunched-up face. ‘Hey, little girl.’
Her baby’s skin was still shiny and wet, but she was so cute. She had tiny little fingers and toes with the sweetest little transparent nails. And she had the most exquisite, perfect, tiny ears. And her nose was tiny and perfect too, and so was her mouth. And her eyes. And her hair.
‘Reece, she’s utterly gorgeous.’
Looking up, she saw the silver sheen of tears in his eyes. He gave her an embarrassed, lopsided smile. ‘Congratulations.’
‘Congratulations to you too. You were brilliant.’ Jess felt suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude. Everything had happened so quickly and, if it hadn’t been for Reece, her baby might have been born on the edge of a dirt track out in the rain.
Now, this simple room, miles from anywhere, felt like the most wonderfully safe and comforting haven in the world.
‘Thank you,’ she said softly.
Somehow, just saying ‘thank you’ felt totally inadequate, but she was scared that she might start to cry if she tried to express how she really felt.
‘Let’s get this around her to keep her warm.’ Businesslike again, Reece tucked a mauve crocheted blanket around the baby’s tiny body. ‘Do you want to see if she’s hungry?’
‘I’ll try, I guess.’
‘Do you know what to do?’
‘I think so.’
With his work finally done, Reece stepped out onto the veranda, and realised he was shaking. He’d never held a baby before, not even when he was a godfather attending his nephew’s fancy christening in a Sydney cathedral. Now, tonight, he’d assisted in a total stranger’s birth. The little creature had slipped from her mother into the world.
Into his hands.
He’d looked down into her little face, all red and wrinkled. He’d watched her open her eyes for the very first time, and he’d seen the tiny quivering tremble of her lip, a heartbeat before she opened her mouth to give her first cry.
And he’d lost his heart.
Completely.
Now, as he stood at the veranda railing, trying to get a grip on his galloping emotions, he told himself to man up. He felt as if his life had changed in some significant way, but the reality was, it hadn’t changed at all.
In an hour or two, the police or the ambulance would probably get through. If not tonight, tomorrow, or the next day … Then, this mother and baby would be gone. Out of his life. He’d be back to living alone with his ageing father as he had for almost thirty years. Back to carrying out his duty on this vast, back-breaking cattle property. Back to worrying about his father’s health. Back to visiting lonely spinsters if he wanted female company.
‘What’s happening in there?’
Reece turned as his father appeared at his elbow and cocked his head to the French doors, now discreetly shut with the curtains drawn.
‘Jess had a baby girl.’ Reece’s voice was choked as he said this.
‘Crikey. She doesn’t muck around, does she? Is she going to stay?’
‘Of course not. She’ll want to get back to the coast as fast as she can.’
‘Yeah. They never want to stay.’ His dad released an unexpectedly heavy sigh. After a bit, he brightened. ‘Can I see her?’
‘She needs a little time alone. She’s feeding the baby. It’s late, Dad. Why don’t you go to bed?’
‘What about the Flying Doc?’
‘I’m going to ring them again now.’ Reece had followed the doctor’s instructions faithfully, using sterile gloves and scissors from the specially supplied medical chest, and the placenta had come away easily—thank God—but he wanted to double-check that he hadn’t overlooked anything.
‘You want to put lights out on the landing strip?’ his father asked. ‘I’ll get the tins from the shed.’
Reece blinked. This was the first cooperative gesture his dad had made in ages. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make use of it. He shook his head. ‘It’s too wet for the plane to land.’ He smiled. ‘But I’m sure we could all use a cup of tea.’
Jess was too stirred to sleep. Part of her mind was constantly worrying about Alan, while the rest of her thoughts were leaping with excitement. And she couldn’t close her eyes because she didn’t want to stop gazing in awe at the tiny sleeping beauty beside her. Reece had helped her to bath the baby. She’d been nervous of the tiny body, as slippery as a frog, but he’d been calm and gentle and sure.
Jess had dried her then, and wrapped her in strips of sheeting, because they had no nappies, while Reece fashioned a makeshift cot by padding a drawer with blankets and setting it on two chairs beside Jess’s bed.
So now the baby was right there, at eye level and touching close, which was perfect. And Jess had chosen her name—Rosie Millicent Cassidy.
‘Millicent after my grandmother. And Rosie because it’s a bit like Reece,’ she’d announced as she’d sat, propped by a bank of pillows and sipping hot, sweet tea.
A