Читать книгу A Familiar Stranger - Caroline Anderson - Страница 5

THE day was one of quiet, routine visits for Janna, interspersed with the usual forgetful tourists. Appalled to discover that the nearest chemist was over an hour away by car, they rang the nurse.

‘I’ve left my drugs behind, dear, and I can’t possibly ask my friends to take me all that way,’ one lady told her, and then it transpired that she couldn’t remember what they were all called. Those funny little pink and white ones—you know. And some yellow ones with something written on them.’

Janna had to call the patient’s GP in Manchester and sort out a repeat prescription, then phone the surgery at Craigmore to get them to make up the drugs and send them out with the next delivery.

Another family of visitors had a child with tummyache. Janna called to find that the father and two younger children had gone out for a walk on the beach, and the mother and Julie, the little girl with the pain, were quietly reading a book.

Not, Janna thought, what most little girls would want to do on a beautiful sunny day. She looked pale and pasty, and Janna’s first instinct was appendicitis. However, the pain didn’t seem bad enough, so Janna asked a few questions about the origin of it. Apparently it had been there off and on since just before they left, and the mother reported a history of ‘nervous’ tummyache in the child.

‘She hates change, and I wondered if she was worried about coming up here. She’s had to leave her rabbit with a friend and it’s been fretting her, and sometimes she gets tummyache just from worrying,’ the mother explained.

Janna examined her, asked about problems with passing urine, or if she had constipation or diarrhoea, took her temperature and pulse and found them more or less normal.

‘Are you worried about anything, Julie?’ Janna asked her.

The little girl nodded slowly. ‘My rabbit,’ she said.

Janna turned to the mother. ‘Could you ring the people looking after her, so Julie can reassure herself? Perhaps that really is all that’s wrong.’

‘Oh, dear, I feel so silly,’ Mrs Harvey said apologetically. ‘I didn’t mean to waste your time, but she did look so pale.’

‘She is pale, and I don’t mind you calling me out. You did entirely the right thing, Mrs Harvey,’ Janna soothed the young mother. ‘We never mind coming out to a child with tummyache or earache. However, this time I really think it’s probably nothing much to worry about. Just keep an eye on her, and if you’re still worried give me a ring later on and I’ll get the doctor to pop in and have a look at her before tonight, OK?’

With a smile and a wave to the wan little girl on the sofa, Janna left them and went to old Mrs Buchan.

She came to the door in her nightdress and dressing-gown, looking faintly surprised. ‘It’s you, hen—I wondered who was calling in the middle of the night. Come away in—it’s awful late, but I dare say we could ha’ a wee dish o’ tea.’

‘Mrs Buchan, it’s lunchtime,’ Janna told her gently. ‘See, the sun’s high in the sky.’

She squinted over Janna’s shoulder, her brow creased in confusion, and then her eyes filled and she turned away. ‘So it is. Come away in anyway, hen, it’s nice tae see you just the same.’

Janna followed her in, shaking her head slightly. Poor old thing, if only she hadn’t started to lose her mental faculties she would be fine on her own, because her body was still fit, honed by the harsh life and fresh air. The little croft was simple but spotless, and as Janna followed her into the kitchen she wasn’t surprised to see freshly baked bread out on the side.

‘Had to bake ma own bread—the shop didnae have any.’

At four o’clock on a Monday morning, Janna reasoned, they probably wouldn’t have had.

‘Mind,’ she added, ‘Moira was cross wi’ me because I woke her up from a wee nap—fancy that, Janna, having a nap in the shop in the middle of the afternoon!’

‘I thought it was night-time, though?’

Her brow creased. ‘So Moira said.’

‘You’re getting in more and more of a muddle, aren’t you, Betty?’ Janna said kindly.

Old Mrs Buchan sighed shakily. ‘I never seem to be able to work out the time—I’ve one of those clocks wi’ twenty-four hours, but I cannae work out the time on it. And in the summer the nights are so short, and I seem to doze in the day. Everything just gets in a grand old muddle, and then I make a nuisance of mysel’ and folks get angry——’ She broke off, biting her lip, and Janna put her arm round the slender shoulders and gave her a hug.

‘Don’t fret, Betty. You’re not a nuisance, pet. I think I’ll have a word with Dr McGregor and see if you should have something to help you sleep at night—that way perhaps you’d get back into a pattern of sleeping at night and being awake in the day, and it would help you to work out what the time was.’

She chatted for a few more minutes with the lonely old lady over a cup of tea, then headed back to her house to grab a late bite of lunch and check her phone for messages.

There was a note from Finn in his jagged, powerful scrawl.

Dinner tonight at the hotel at seven. I’ll pick you up at ten to. Be here, please. Finn.

The ‘please’ was underlined about a dozen times, and Janna’s heart sank. Evidently he meant to talk to her.

She checked her answerphone, found a call she needed to make to an elderly patient at Inverbeg, and set off again.

‘Mac’ McDougall was an old man, housebound, and supported by a team of carers and auxiliaries, and Janna had already visited him that morning. He was restless, however, and had apparently pulled his catheter out.

‘What’ve you been up to, my darling?’ she asked cheerfully as she prepared the necessary equipment.

‘Are you cross wi’ me, Sister?’ he croaked.

‘No, Mac, you’ve just been a bit silly. You must leave it in, otherwise you wet the bed. Let me see you, now.’

She peeled back the bedclothes and found his pyjamas were soaked and so was the bed. First things first, she thought, and stripped him out of his wet things, washed him down and started on the catheter. Once he was leakproof, she decided, she’d tackle the bed.

Inserting a new catheter was a job Janna did often, and she wouldn’t have minded at all except that Mac was rather difficult to deal with and refused to keep still, bending up his legs and rolling over so that Janna had to start again twice before she managed to insert it and fill the balloon with saline to keep it in place—not that the balloon had stopped him pulling the last one out.

She could see that his urethra was a little sore as a result, and so she had used plenty of anaesthetic jelly on the new catheter; by her third attempt it must have been numb enough not to worry him any more. However, she was feeling harassed, the procedure had taken far longer than it should have done, and she was worried about little Julie Harvey.

‘There—now, please, Mac, leave it alone, my dear.’ She taped the end of the catheter firmly to his thigh, so he couldn’t get hold of it too easily, and then helped him into dry pyjamas, remade the bed in double-quick time and popped him back in.

Already it was nearly four, and as she had to pass the house she called in on the Harveys.

‘Oh, she’s much better now she’s found out that the rabbit’s OK,’ Mrs Harvey said blithely. ‘She’s gone down to the beach with the other two.’

For some reason Janna didn’t feel reassured. ‘Call me if you’re unhappy or the pain comes back,’ she repeated, and went back to the Nurse’s House.

One last maternity check, she thought, and then she was off duty and could get ready for dinner with Finn. The young woman she had to visit was eight months pregnant with her third child, and Janna was trying to persuade her to go to Inverness or Fort William the following week, to be on the safe side. Her first two labours had been protracted, and without the prompt attention of the maternity staff at Inverness could have had a much less happy outcome.

However, against all advice, Lindsay Baird had decided to have this baby at home. Dr MacWhirter’s opinion on the subject had been pithy in the extreme, and his parting shot to Janna on Friday had been, ‘Well, at least I don’t have to be responsible for the Baird delivery now!’

Janna, however, was, in her capacity as community nurse and midwife. If Lindsay refused to go to hospital and had the baby at home, technically Janna was absolved if anything went wrong. Morally, however, she knew she had to do everything in her power to get the woman to listen, even if it mean worrying her to death with what might go wrong in order to make her take advice.

She arrived at the house and found Lindsay lying in the garden on a sun-lounger, enjoying the warm summer sunshine while the children played in the sand-pit beside her. She greeted Janna with a wave. ‘Hi—grab a seat.’

‘I will—fancy a drink?’

‘Oh, love one. The kettle’s hot.’

Janna made a pot of tea and took it out to the garden. Lindsay was one of her contemporaries, and Janna knew her well. It helped, because it meant that she could take a more frank approach.

‘I don’t suppose you’ve come to your senses?’ she asked bluntly as she poured the tea.

Linday shook her head. ‘Janna, I really want a normal, natural birth. I’m sure the others were so traumatic because I wasn’t at home. If I was here, and relaxed, it could all be so different.’

‘Lindsay, that’s hogwash. Of course being relaxed helps, but it won’t increase the diameter of your pelvic outlet. You’re small, your husband’s big, and you suffer a degree of pelvic disproportion every time. When was your last scan?’

Lindsay sighed. ‘Three weeks ago, and they said it was almost as big as it could get.’

‘Well, then.’

‘Well, then, nothing. Janna, I want to have my baby at home!’

‘Even it if means risking its life?’

‘Janna, don’t be melodramatic! I’ll be fine, I know I will. I’m confident.’

‘Did anybody ever tell you you were stubborn?’ Janna asked mildly, giving up for now.

‘Me?’ Lindsay snorted. ‘Never. Tell me, how’s Finn? We missed MacWhirter’s party on Friday, so I didn’t see him. Is he still as gorgeous as ever?’

‘Are you changing the subject, Lindsay?’ Janna asked, trying to ignore the soft colour flooding her cheeks.

‘Yes,’ her friend replied, eyeing her blush with interest. ‘Are you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Nice weather for July.’

‘Isn’t it?’

‘Janna?’

‘Mmm?’

‘Are you still in love with Finn?’

Janna stirred her tea absently. ‘Why would you think that?’

‘Because I know you. You look strained.’

‘Finn said that.’

‘He’s right.’

‘So am I—Lindsay, you can’t have that baby at home.’

‘I can.’

Janna sighed. Why was everybody so determined to be difficult today? She left Lindsay, still adamant about a home birth, and went home to examine the sparse contents of her wardrobe. Heavens, there were still things in there Finn would recognise! Still, it was only the local pub they were going to, and she was damned if she was going to try and impress Finn! She dug out a silk shirt, jeans, and a newish sweater in case it got chilly later, showered in double-quick time and arrived in the hall just as the bell rang.

Carefully arranging her face into a non-committal smile, she opened the door expecting Finn, and found instead Sue, the landlord’s daughter. ‘It’s Julie Harvey,’ she said frantically. ‘They were in the pub having supper and she keeled over. She looks dreadful! You must come!’

Janna picked up her bag, scribbled a note for Finn and stuck it on the door, and ran down the road after Sue. By the time she arrived at the pub Julie had been put into a little back room, and had been violently sick several times.

‘Oh, Nurse, thank God you’re here,’ Mrs Harvey said fervently. ‘I can’t understand it—she was so much better.’ And she started to shake all over.

Moving her gently out of the way, Janna looked at the little girl’s flushed face and glazed eyes, and took her temperature.

‘It’s up now, quite a bit,’ Janna told the girl’s mother. ‘I think she’s got appendicitis, but Dr McGregor will be here in a minute and he’ll confirm it. It’s all right, sweetheart,’ she said gently to the little girl as she was sick yet again. ‘You’ll soon be OK. We’ll look after you.’

Just then she heard Finn’s deep, soft voice, and he came into the room, glanced at the child and then at Janna, and raised his eyebrows.

‘Appendix, I think,’ Janna told him.

He nodded, examined her quickly and turned to the parents. ‘Yes, it looks like a classic appendicitis, so she’ll need to go to hospital straight away, and I imagine they’ll operate as soon as she arrives. I’ll go and make the arrangements.’ He went out to the bar, and a few minutes later came back with a little towel—wrung out in warm water. ‘They’re on their way,’ he told everyone generally, then crouched down by the little girl on the bed, wiping her face and hands gently with the damp towel. ‘Can you hear me, sweetheart?’

The little girl opened her eyes and nodded, a shiver running through her.

‘Julie, inside your tummy there’s a little thing like a curly tail, called an appendix. Have you ever heard of it?’

She nodded, her eyes wide. ‘A boy in my class had one of his out.’

Finn suppressed the smile. ‘Well, sweetheart, I think you might have to have yours out, too, because I think it’s gone bad, and it’s making you feel poorly, isn’t it?’

She nodded again, her eyes filling with self-pity. ‘I feel ever so sick,’ she whispered.

‘I expect you do, poppet. Now, tell me, how do you fancy going in a helicopter?’

Her eyes rounded. ‘A helicopter? I’ve never done that before.’

‘Not many people have—and I bet when the boy in your class went to hopsital to have his appendix out he just went in an ordinary ambulance, didn’t he?’ Julie nodded. ‘Well, you’re going to have something to tell him when you get home, aren’t you?’

She smiled faintly, and Finn squeezed her hand and straightened up, turning to her mother and father.

‘You will have gathered the air ambulance is on its way from Inverness—it’ll be here in about half an hour, and it will be able to take Julie and one other person.’

‘Inverness!’ Mrs Harvey exclaimed. ‘Isn’t there a hospital closer?’

‘No. Well, there is, but it takes longer to get there by road, and I think time is of the essence. Your little girl’s pretty sick, Mrs Harvey. You don’t want to waste time.’

As the significance of Finn’s comment sank in, Mrs Harvey collapsed on to a chair, her face ashen. ‘Is she really that ill?’ she asked. ‘I thought she was just worrying about the rabbit!’

‘I’m afraid not.’

‘Is it critical that she’s hospitalised so fast?’ Mr Harvey asked Finn. ‘It will make visiting them so difficult. Can’t they deal with something so common here?’

Finn shrugged. ‘They can, of course. I could take out her appendix myself with anaesthetic cover. However, I don’t have it, and although it’s a common complaint it can be quite serious if it’s neglected or if treatment is delayed. She’ll be fine once she’s had her appendix out,’ Finn assured them. ‘I just don’t think you want to jostle her about on the road unnecessarily in case it perforates. Now, will one of you be going with her? You might just have time to get a few things together before they get here.’

Mrs Harvey looked at her husband. ‘I’ll go—can you find us a change of clothes and wash things?’

With a nod he left, and a few minutes later they heard the steady beat of the helicopter rotors. Within minutes Julie was strapped to a stretcher, Finn had handed over to the team doctor and they were loading Julie and her mother into the helicopter in the field behind the pub. Mr Harvey returned in the nick of time and handed a bag to his anxious wife. ‘I’ve probably put in all the wrong things,’ he told her.

‘It doesn’t matter. Take care of the other two—come up and see us tomorrow.’

‘I will. Ring me.’

He hugged her briefly, then Finn led them all back out of the way and the helicopter roared into life, the steady wop-wop-wop of the rotors fading gradually into the distance.

Mr Harvey, one arm round each of the two younger children, turned to Finn. ‘Will she really be all right?’

‘I’m sure she will,’ Finn said confidently. ‘Don’t worry—the helicopter seems very dramatic, but it’s just a case of distance and terrain. People round here soon take it for granted.’

He nodded. ‘OK. Thanks. Will it be all right to ring the hospital later on?’

‘Of course—try them about ten o’clock. OK?’

‘I’ll do that. Thanks again. Come on, kids, let’s get you home to bed.’ As Mr Harvey led the other two children towards his car, Finn turned to Janna.

‘Well, hi there,’ he said with a smile.

She laughed softly. ‘Hi.’

‘Hungry?’

‘Starving.’

‘When aren’t you?’ Finn said with a laugh. ‘You were hungry the first time I met you, and as far as I know you’ve been hungry ever since. Come on, let’s eat.’

‘Can I clean up first? Julie was in a bit of a mess. I could do with a change of clothes.’

Finn sniffed, and grinned. ‘Good idea. I could do with a wash, too. I’ll walk you back to your house.’

‘Such a gentleman.’

‘Don’t knock it.’

On the way, people seemed to come out of the woodwork and find them.

‘McGregor! Good tae see ye!’

‘Finlay—my, laddie, you’re even bigger!’

‘Caught any salmon yet this season, Finn?’ This last with a dig in the ribs from Auld Jock, a friend of Finn’s late father.

‘I’ll see you in a minute,’ Janna mouthed over Jock’s head, and left him to it.

She heard him come in through the front door while she was changing into an older pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that had definitely seen better days. Oh, well, So much for trying to please Finn. It was the last thing she should be doing, anyway. Perhaps it was a blessing Julie Harvey had been sick on her clothes!

He appeared from the cloakroom just as she stepped down into the hall. His eyes swept over her, softened in a smile and his hand came up and cupped her face. It was cool from the water and sent shivers over her skin. ‘OK now?’ he murmured.

‘Fine,’ she told him, annoyed with herself because her voice was breathless and thready. What a fool!

‘Let’s go, then.’

She felt the firm, warm pressure of his hand against the small of her back as he ushered her out of the door and down to the street, but just when she was ready to protest they had crossed the road and his hand fell away.

She felt the loss of contact right down to her socks. Damn you, Finn, she thought. Why can’t I get over you?

‘Come on,’ she said brightly. ‘I’m starving, and they’ve got venison casserole on the menu. I’d hate them to sell out.’

‘Always your stomach,’ Finn grumbled gently, but he let her lead the way, and for most of the meal she managed to stall the inevitable confrontation. In fact, for a while, she even thought she’d imagined there was a confrontation coming up.

She hadn’t. Finn asked for their coffee on a tray and took it outside, led Janna to a bench under the old horse-chestnut tree and turned to her as soon as they were seated.

‘We’ve got a problem, Janna, haven’t we?’ he said without preamble, handing her a cup of coffee. ‘I hoped we’d be able to work together well, but you don’t seem very happy to see me. I don’t know why you’ve been avoiding me, but clearly you’ve got your reasons. Do they mean we can’t work together now?’

She stared blankly at the swirl of cream circling slowly on the dark coffee. The prospect of losing him again suddenly overwhelmed her, and her hand trembled. ‘Of course we can work together, Finn,’ she said quickly. ‘We’re both adults. We’re capable of being sensible. I’m sure we’ll be fine.’

But her cup rattled betrayingly against the saucer and she put it down sharply, folding her hands together in her lap to steady them.

Finn reached out his hand and covered them, his thumb idly caressing the inside of one wrist. ‘I’m sorry if my coming back has messed things up for you, Janna. I didn’t intend to stir up old hurts or interfere with new relationships. I thought we were still friends.’

Janna couldn’t look away, transfixed by the searching, gentle eyes that she loved so much. She felt her own eyes welling, and blinked hard to stop them. ‘Of course we’re still friends,’ she whispered, and then his face blurred and she closed her eyes.

‘Ach, Janna,’ he groaned, and pulled her gently into his arms, folding her against his chest and cupping the back of her head with one large, comforting hand.

‘I’ve missed you,’ she mumbled into his jacket.

‘I’ve missed you, too, Janna,’ he replied softly, and she wondered if she’d really heard the wistful tone in his voice, or if her desperate heart had simply imagined it …

After that things were easier. Finn didn’t try to kiss her again, and in fact he seemed to go out of his way not to crowd her.

Perversely, she found herself missing it, and wished he wasn’t being so gentlemanly and reasonable. It was, however, wonderful to spend time with him again, albeit sporadically. He was very busy, and they only met on Monday morning, Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon at his surgeries. Otherwise she only spoke to him on the phone if she had a worry about a patient, and although she was busy she found the hours spent in the car between patients left her altogether too much time to dream.

Lindsay Baird was worrying her, and she spent a long time on the phone to Finn on the Monday evening of his second week, discussing her case history and how they could best manage her labour should the need arise. Janna was growing more certain that it would be necessary to manage her labour, because the woman was quite steadfast in her refusal to go to hospital.

‘Lay it on the line,’ Finn told her.

‘I have.’

He sighed. ‘Have you got any midwifely textbooks that show obstructed labour and describe the consequences?’

‘Finn, don’t you think that’s a bit drastic?’ Janna reasoned.

‘We’ve got to do something if she steadfastly refuses to see sense. I’ll come over and visit her tomorrow. Maybe she’ll listen to me.’

‘She wouldn’t listen to MacWhirter.’

‘He’s too nice. I won’t be.’

Janna sighed. ‘Finn, don’t frighten her unnecessarily.’

‘Janna, someone has to. It might as well be me. She can’t have the babe at home.’

However, by the time he got to see her on Tuesday, after his surgery at Glenmorriston, Lindsay’s labour was already established.

Finn returned to the house and reported to Janna, and they sat in her kitchen over a cup of tea and discussed where to go from there.

‘What stage is she at?’ Janna asked, watching Finn toying with a biscuit.

‘Dilating steadily—about four centimetres when I was there—and I don’t think she had any intention of calling you until it was too late to do anything. Regardless, she’s quite determined not to go to hospital. She threatened to sue me if I called the ambulance.’

‘And you listened?’

He grinned. ‘I always listen when people talk about suing me!’ The grin faded, and he reached for another biscuit, snapping it in half and dunking it in his tea thoughtfully. ‘I don’t know, Janna, she’s not due for two weeks, and the baby’s head doesn’t seem that big. I’m almost tempted to let her try.’

‘Finn!’

‘I know, but maybe she’s right, Janna. She’s much more relaxed and comfortable at home, and with proper management and support she might well be fine.’

‘And if she’s not?’

He shrugged. ‘It’s academic, because the damn girl won’t go in, anyway. And, whatever we think, it’s her decision. We can only advise.’

Janna sighed. ‘What does Fergus think now?’

Finn laughed. ‘He’s talking about how he’s going to spend the life insurance.’

Janna was scandalised. ‘How can you both joke about it, Finn? She could die—certainly the baby could!’

‘Aye, well, perhaps. But I think it’s unlikely. I’m sure we’d get her in before that if we could really convince her there was a problem.’

Janna rolled her eyes. ‘Brilliant.’

He grinned again, that wicked grin she had fallen in love with at the age of two or thereabouts—probably younger. Think of it as a challenge,’ he said cheerfully. ‘How’s your midwifery?’

‘Fine, as far as it goes, but I’m not Jesus. There’s a limit to my talents.’

His big hand came across the table and cupped hers reassuringly. ‘Don’t worry, Janna, she’ll be fine. We’ll get her through.’

Six hours later Janna was beginning to doubt Finn’s confidence and her own sanity. Lindsay was struggling, Fergus was frantic, and Janna was worried to death.

Finn, on the other hand, was quietly encouraging, and still taking a positive attitude in the face of Lindsay’s stubborn determination.

‘I can do it—I know I can,’ she muttered, but the pain and effort were beginning to exhaust her.

Janna was worried because the pressure of the baby’s head was causing bruising and soft tissue swelling, which was only serving to obstruct her labour further.

She took Finn on one side.

‘That baby has to come out soon or it won’t come out at all! She’s not going to manage without forceps, Finn.’

‘Yes, she will,’ he said calmly. ‘We’ll get her up and moving again.’

‘Finn, she’s beyond that,’ Janna reasoned.

‘No. The baby’s not distressed yet, and Lindsay’s still determined. We’ll have that baby out in less than half an hour, Janna, I promise.’

‘And if you don’t?’

‘I’ll use the forceps.’

Their eyes locked. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, like a wild fawn he had nursed one spring, Janna felt her tension ease. She could trust him. More importantly, Lindsay could trust him. He would never do anything to harm her.

Janna nodded. ‘OK,’ she agreed, and together they went back into the bedroom. Lindsay was dozing and Fergus was sitting on the edge of the bed holding her hand, his eyes closed. As they approached he lifted his head and looked at them.

‘Well?’

‘We need to get her up, Fergus. She’s not going to get anywhere like that,’ Finn told him.

‘She’s exhausted.’

‘She’ll do. Lindsay?’

Her eyelids fluttered and she looked blearily at Finn. ‘Come back tomorrow,’ she slurred. ‘Too tired now.’

‘No, you’re not. Come on, I want you walking around.’

‘Can’t,’ she mumbled.

Finn didn’t bother to argue. He pulled back the covers, slipped an arm round her waist and hauled her to her feet.

‘Finn, no,’ she moaned, sagging back.

‘Do you want the forceps or the helicopter?’ he threatened gently.

She bit her lip, straightened her legs and stood up again. ‘I’ll walk,’ she said, and, leaning her weight on him and Janna, she trailed slowly up and down the bedroom, pausing after a few moments for a contraction.

‘I want to push,’ she told him.

‘Not yet. Come on, let gravity help you.’

‘I can’t!’ she cried out, reaching for her husband, and he put his arms round her and glared at Finn.

‘Let her lie down!’

‘No,’ Finn said calmly. ‘She has to stand and keep moving as long as possible. We could do with some encouragement, Fergus,’ he added, the gentle admonishment bringing a slight flush to his old friend’s cheeks.

Still, it did the trick. Fergus encouraged, Finn and Janna supported, and together they walked her round and round through several more contractions.

Then Janna knelt on the floor and examined Lindsay, who was finding walking difficult by now because the head, against all odds, was finally descending.

Unfortunately the baby’s heartbeat was also dropping with each contraction, and only picking up to a limited extent afterwards. That worried Janna, and she met Finn’s eyes with a troubled look.

‘We need to move a bit quicker,’ she said economically. ‘The head’s well down now, but she’ll have to hang and squat to get the maximum pelvic capacity,’ Janna told him, and so they led her back to the bed, sat Fergus on the side, with Lindsay facing him between his legs and hanging round his neck, and together Finn and Janna directed her pushing and breathing until the baby’s head was crowning at the entrance to the birth canal. Please, God, let us be in time, Janna prayed.

The perineal skin, already damaged by the two previous difficult deliveries, was beginning to look hopelessly overstretched, but still it held, delaying the birth.

‘Do you want the scissors?’ Janna asked Finn softly, but he shook his head.

‘No.’

‘She’ll tear,’ Janna warned in an undertone.

‘Quite likely,’ Finn said calmly, but there wasn’t time to wait and do a nice, tidy episiotomy with the scissors. Using his big fingers to brace her perineum, he waited for the next contraction, ordered Lindsay to push gently with her mouth open, to soften the power of the push, and caught the baby’s head with his other hand, rendering Janna not only redundant but speechless.

Not only had Lindsay not needed forceps, but she wouldn’t need stitches either, and the baby, if the yelling was anything to go by, was fine.

Her eyes prickling, Janna supported the baby as Finn turned Lindsay and sat her on the floor between Fergus’s feet, and then she handed the little girl to her exhausted but ecstatic mother. She held the baby to her breast, and immediately the crying stopped, replaced by the steady, rhythmic sound of suckling.

‘I said I could do it,’ Lindsay told them victoriously, and Finn, the tension gone, sat back on his heels and sighed.

‘Don’t ever—ever!—pull a stunt like that again, Lindsay,’ Finn warned. ‘You came that close to losing her.’ He held up his finger and thumb a fraction apart, and Fergus shuddered.

‘Don’t. Lindsay, you are a stubborn, stupid woman, and I’m having a vasectomy as soon as I can get one.’

‘Oh, you’re only cross because you don’t get to spend the life insurance,’ she teased, but her eyes were misted and so were his.

Finn shook his head. ‘Daft, both of you. Right, Lindsay, let’s get you on the bed, get this placenta delivered and then tidy you up. I’ve got twenty miles to drive before I can go to bed, and it’s already after midnight.’

In fact, by the time they were able to leave the Bairds it was nearly two, and Janna, thinking purely practically, found herself suggesting on the way home that he should stay the rest of the night with her.

‘After all, you’ve got a surgery here in the morning, so it seems silly to go all that way, especially as the calls are being transferred to my house anyway.’

‘Are you sure it’s a good idea?’ Finn asked her.

She wasn’t, not at all, but the offer was out now and it seemed silly to try and retract it.

‘I think it’s an excellent idea,’ she said. ‘It’s too late to drive back now—what a waste of time.’

‘I was thinking of your reputation,’ he told her quietly.

‘Oh, stuff. We’re professionals. Anyway, nothing’s going to happen.’

His smile was wry. ‘We know that, Janna, but what about the busybodies in the village?’

‘They’re asleep—or they should be. Don’t worry.’

He was silent until they were in the house, then he turned to her again as she hurried across the hall with an armful of sheets, heading for the stairs. ‘Janna, are you sure about this? I don’t want to compromise you.’

She laughed. ‘Finn, where you’re concerned there’s nothing left to compromise. Of course I’m sure.’

He followed her into the spare room, his brows crawling together in a frown. ‘What are you talking about? We never did anything that would damage your reputation.’

‘No?’ She laughed again, flapping out a sheet and spreading it over the mattress of her spare bed. ‘What about poaching MacWhirter’s salmon trout? And riding down into Port Mackie on the crossbar of your bike at about thirty miles an hour and crashing into Mrs Cameron’s front garden when your brakes failed? And what about the time MacPhee caught us all skinny-dipping at Camas Ciuicharan?’

‘All of those little stunts were your idea!’

‘So? You were with me. Everyone thinks you led me astray!’

He threw her that devastating grin across the bed, his shadowed cheek dimpling with mischief. ‘OK, OK, your reputation’s in shreds. I’m sorry. As it’s clearly too late to worry, yes, please, I will take you up on your offer.’

He smoothed the sheet, tucked it in and took the quilt from her, threading it deftly into the cover while she dealt with the pillowcases.

‘Cup of tea?’ she offered, patting the pillows straight.

He shook his head. ‘No, thanks. I really am dead tired. If you don’t mind, I’ll turn in now.’

‘I’ll get you a towel,’ she said, and hurried past him, ignoring the urge to put her arms round him and thank him for saving Lindsay’s baby.

Moments later she returned with a towel, a clean flannel and a new toothbrush. ‘Here.’

He took them from her, his manner quietly courteous but dismissive, and with a muttered goodnight she left him and went to her room, closing the door and shutting it firmly behind her.

What did she want, for goodness’ sake? Was she expecting him to drag her into bed and make love to her?

A sudden stab of need caught her by surprise, and she sat at her dressing-table, yanking out hairpins and brushing her dark hair out over her shoulders while she glared at her reflection. Her eyes, usually greeny-grey, looked back at her like exhausted smudges in her pale face. No wonder he hadn’t dragged her to bed, looking like that.

Smacking the brush down on the dressing-table, she pulled off her clothes, tugged her dressing-gown on and belted it firmly, then went to the bathroom. She washed quickly, scrubbing her teeth and dragging a hot flannel over her face, before opening the door and walking smack into Finn’s chest.

She stepped back, an apology on her lips, and found herself staringly longingly at the broad expanse of warm, silky skin lightly dusted with soft curls between the open edges of his shirt. She’d seen it before, a million times, so why was she so fascinated by the way the hair changed direction and made that little whorl just over the flat, copper nub of his left nipple? Or by the silken texture of his skin, gilded by the light from the bathroom that streamed over her shoulder and touched him with gold? Or by the way the hair arrowed down, a fine line of soft, dark down that disappeared so intriguingly——

She yanked her eyes up and they locked with his, and for an endless moment they stood there, trapped in the silence of the night, conscious only of the empty house and the beating of their hearts.

Then with a muttered apology Finn stood back and let her pass, and she fled to her room, her heart hammering, the blood roaring in her veins, and her whole body quivering with a need she didn’t dare to name.