Читать книгу His Little Christmas Miracle - Emily Forbes - Страница 11

‘MUMMY?’

The sound of Lily’s voice startled her. Jess was still on the balcony, standing with her fingers pressed against her lips as she recalled the first kiss she and Lucas had shared. She shivered as she realised she was freezing. She had no idea how long she’d been standing out there in the cold.

She didn’t have time for reminiscing. She had responsibilities.

Lily had wandered out of the bedroom and Jess could see her standing in the living room, looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings. She was sucking on her thumb and had her favourite toy, a soft, grey koala, tucked under one arm. With white-blonde hair and a heart-shaped face she was the spitting image of Jess, just as Jess was the image of her own mother.

‘I’m hungry,’ Lily said, as Jess came in from the balcony and closed the doors and curtains behind her.

‘You are?’ She was surprised. Lily wasn’t often hungry. She was a fussy eater and didn’t have a good appetite and Jess often struggled to find food that appealed to her daughter, although fortunately she would eat her vegetables.

‘Let’s see what we’ve got.’ Jess opened the fridge, hoping Cameron had been right when he’d said that his wife had left some basics for them. She could see bread, milk, eggs, cheese and jam.

‘How about toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner?’ she said. ‘Or eggs and soldier toast?’

‘Eggs and soldier toast.’

Jess put the eggs on to boil and then found Lily’s pyjamas. By the time she was changed the eggs were done. Lily managed to finish the eggs and one soldier. Jess slathered the remaining soldier toasts with jam and polished them off herself.

Lily was fast asleep within minutes of climbing back into bed, but even though Jess was exhausted she found she couldn’t get comfortable. Lily, who was a restless sleeper at the best of times, was tossing and turning in the bed beside her and disturbing her even further. She would have to split the bed apart tomorrow; she couldn’t stand another night like this.

She got up and put the kettle on, hoping for the hundredth time that she’d made the right decision in moving to Moose River.

It seemed surreal to think that returning to the place where things had started to go wrong had been the best solution, but she’d felt she hadn’t had much choice. She’d needed a job with regular hours and this one had the added bonus of accommodation, which meant she could be home with Lily before and after school and she wouldn’t need to leave Lily with a childminder or take extra shifts to cover the rent or babysitting expenses. She also hoped that living in Moose River would give Lily the opportunity to have the childhood she herself had missed out on. A childhood free from worry, a childhood of fun and experiences.

She carried her decaf coffee over to the balcony doors. She drew back the curtains and rested her head on the glass as she gazed out at the moonlit night and let the memories flood back. Of course they were all about Lucas. She couldn’t seem to keep thoughts of him out of her head. She hadn’t expected Moose River to stir her memory quite so much.

What would he be looking at right now? Where would he be?

Probably living at Bondi Beach, running a chain of organic cafés with his gorgeous bikini-model wife, she thought. They would have three blue-eyed children and together his family would look like an advertisement for the wonders of fresh air and exercise and healthy living.

But maybe life hadn’t been so kind to him. Why should it have been? Why should he be glowing with health and happiness?

Perhaps he was working in a hotel restaurant in the Swiss Alps and had grown fat from over-indulging in cheese and chocolate. He could be overweight with a receding hairline. Would that make her feel better?

What was it she wanted to feel better about? she wondered. It didn’t matter where Lucas was or what he was doing. That was history. She’d woken up to herself in the intervening years. Woken up to real life. And he wasn’t part of that life. He was fantasy, not reality. Not her reality anyway.

Jess shook herself. She needed to get a grip. Her situation was entirely of her own choosing and she wouldn’t change it for anything, not if it meant losing Lily.

She sighed as she finished her coffee. Her father had been right. Lucas hadn’t been her Prince Charming and he wasn’t ever coming to rescue her. Wherever he had ended up, she imagined it was far from here.

Their first fortnight in Moose River went smoothly. Lily settled in well at her new school. She was thriving and Jess was thrilled. She loved the after-school ski lessons and Jess was looking forward to getting out on the slopes with her this weekend and seeing how much she’d improved in just ten days. It was amazing how quickly children picked up the basics.

She wondered about Lily’s fearless attitude. If Lily wanted something she went after it, so different from Jess’s reticence. Was that nature or nurture?

Jess had vowed to give Lily freedom—freedom to make her own friends and experience a childhood where she was free to test the boundaries without constant supervision or rules. A childhood without the constant underlying sense that things could, would and did go wrong and where everything had to be micromanaged.

Moose River was, so far, proving to be the perfect place for Lily to have a relaxed childhood and Jess was beginning to feel like she’d made a good decision. Lily had made friends quickly and her new best friend was Annabel, whose parents owned the patisserie next to their apartment building. By the second week the girls had a routine where Lily would go home with Annabel after ski school and have a hot chocolate at the bakery while they waited for Jess to finish work. Jess had been nervous about this at first but she’d reminded herself that this was a benefit of moving to a small community. She’d wanted that sense of belonging. That sense that people would look out for each other. She wanted somewhere where she and Lily would fit in.

Initially she’d felt like they were taking advantage of Annabel’s mother but Fleur was adamant that it was no bother. Annabel had two older siblings and Fleur insisted that having Lily around was making life easier for everyone as Annabel was too busy to annoy the others. Jess hated asking for favours, she preferred to feel she could manage by herself even if she knew that wasn’t always the case, but she was grateful for Fleur’s assistance.

Her new job as a clinic nurse was going just as smoothly as Lily’s transition. Her role was easy. She helped with splints, dressings, immunisations and did general health checks—cholesterol, blood pressure and the like. It was routine nursing, nothing challenging, but that suited her. It was low stress and by the end of the two weeks she was feeling confident that coming here had been the right decision for her and Lily.

Not having to work weekends or take extra shifts to cover rent or child-care costs was paying dividends. She could be home with Lily in time for dinner and spend full, uninterrupted days with her over the weekends. It was heaven. Jess adored her daughter and she’d dreamt of being able to spend quality time with her. Just the two of them. It was something she hadn’t experienced much in her own childhood and she was determined that Lily would have that quality time with her. After all, they only had each other.

She checked her watch as she tidied her clinic room and got ready to go home. Kristie was coming up for the weekend—in fact, she should already be here. She was changing the sheet on the examination bed when Donna, the practice manager, burst into the room.

‘Jess, do you think you could possibly work a little later today? We’ve had a call from the new hotel, one of their guests is almost thirty-six weeks pregnant and she’s having contractions. It might just be Braxton-Hicks but they’d like someone to take a look and all the doctors are busy. Do you think you could go?’

‘Let me make some arrangements for Lily and then I’ll get over there,’ Jess said when Donna finally paused for breath. Jess was happy to go, provided she could sort Lily out. She rang Kristie as she swapped her shoes for boots and explained the situation as she grabbed her coat and the medical bag that Donna had given to her.

Thank God Kristie was in town, she thought as she rang Fleur to tell her of the change in plans. Of course, Fleur then offered to help too but Jess didn’t want to push the friendship at this early stage. She explained that Kristie would collect Lily and take her home. She could concentrate on the emergency now. It was always a balancing act, juggling parenting responsibilities with her work, but it seemed she might have the support network here that she’d lacked anywhere else.

Jess hurried the few blocks to Main Street. The five-star, boutique Moose River Crystal Lodge, where her patient was a guest, was the new hotel on the Plaza, the one she’d noticed on the night they’d arrived. She and Lily had walked past it several times since. It was hard to miss. It wasn’t huge or ostentatious but it was in a fabulous position, and she’d heard it was beautifully appointed inside.

In the late-afternoon light, the setting sun cast a glow onto the facade of the lodge, making its marble facade shine a pale silver. On the southern side of the main entrance was an elevated outdoor seating area, which would be the perfect spot for an afternoon drink on a sunny day; you could watch the activities in the plaza from the perfect vantage point.

A wide footpath connected the lodge to the plaza and in front of the hotel stood a very placid horse who was hitched to a smart red wooden sleigh. Lily had begged to go for a ride when they had walked past earlier in the week but Jess had fibbed and told her it was for hotel guests only because she doubted she could afford the treat. She had meant to find out how much it cost, thinking maybe it could be a Christmas surprise for Lily, but she had forgotten all about it until now.

She walked past the horse and sleigh and tried to ignore the feeling of guilt that was so familiar to her as a single, working mother, struggling to make ends meet, but walking into the lobby just reinforced how much her life had changed from one of privilege to one much harder but she reminded herself it was of her own choosing.

The lobby was beautifully decorated in dark wood. Soft, caramel-hued leather couches were grouped around rich Persian rugs and enormous crystal chandeliers hung from the timber ceiling. It looked expensive and luxurious but welcoming. Although it was still four weeks until Christmas, festive red, green and silver decorations adorned the room and a wood fire warmed the restaurant where wide glass doors could open out onto the outside terrace. Jess tried not to gawk as she crossed the parquet floor. She’d seen plenty of fancy hotels but this one had a warmth and a charm about it that was rare. Maybe because it was small, but it felt more like an exclusive private ski lodge than a hotel.

She shrugged out of her coat as she approached the reception desk.

‘I’m Jess Johnson, from the Moose River Medical Centre. Someone called about a woman in labour?’

The young girl behind the desk nodded. ‘Yes, Mrs Bertillon. She’s in room three zero five on the third floor. I’ll just call the hotel manager to take you up.’

‘It’s okay, I’ll find it.’ Jess could see the elevators tucked into a short hallway alongside the desk. The hotel was small so she’d have no trouble finding the room. She didn’t want to waste time waiting.

She stabbed at the button for the elevator. The doors slid open and she stepped inside.

Jess found room 305 and knocked on the door. It swung open under her hand. There was a bathroom to her left with a wardrobe on the right, forming a short passage. Jess could see a small sofa positioned in front of a large picture window but that was it.

She called out a greeting. ‘Mrs Bertillon?’

‘Come in.’ The faceless voice sounded strong and Jess relaxed. That didn’t sound like a woman in labour.

A woman appeared at the end of the passage. She was a hotel employee judging by her uniform. ‘She’s through here.’ The same voice. This wasn’t Mrs. Bertillon. ‘I’m Margaret. I was keeping an eye on Aimee until you got here,’ she explained, and Jess could see the relief on her face. She’d obviously been waiting nervously for reinforcements. ‘I’ll wait outside now but you can call for me if there’s anything you need,’ she said, hurriedly abdicating responsibility.

Jess introduced herself to Aimee and got her medical history as she washed her hands and then wrapped the blood-pressure cuff around her patient’s left arm. This was her first pregnancy, Aimee told her, and she’d had no complications. Her blood pressure had been fine, no gestational diabetes, no heart problems. ‘I’ve had some back pain today and now these contractions but otherwise I’ve been fine.’

‘Sharp pain?’ asked Jess.

‘No. Dull,’ Aimee explained, ‘more like backache, I suppose. Ow …’

‘Is that a contraction now?’

Aimee nodded and Jess looked at her watch, timing the contraction. She could see the contraction ripple across the woman’s abdomen as the muscles tightened. This wasn’t Braxton-Hicks.

‘Your waters haven’t broken?’ she asked, and Aimee shook her head in reply.

Once the contraction had passed she checked the baby’s size and position, pleased to note the baby wasn’t breech. But she wasn’t so pleased when she discovered that Aimee’s cervix was already seven centimetres dilated. Aimee was in labour and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

‘Where is your husband?’ Jess asked. She’d noticed a wedding ring on Aimee’s finger but wondered where Mr Bertillon was.

‘He’s out skiing,’ Aimee replied. ‘Why?’

Jess smiled. ‘I thought he might like to be here to meet your baby.’

‘It’s coming now?’

‘Mmm-hmm.’ Jess nodded. ‘You’re about to become parents.’

‘Oh, my God.’

‘Does your husband have a mobile phone with him? Would you like me to call him for you?’ Jess asked.

‘No. I can do it. I think.’ Aimee put a hand on her distended belly as another contraction subsided. ‘If I hurry. Jean-Paul will be surprised. This was supposed to be our last holiday before the baby arrived and it wasn’t supposed to end like this.’ She gave a wry smile. ‘Maybe we’ve been having too much sex. Is it true that can bring on labour?’

Jess couldn’t remember the last time she’d had too much sex. She could barely remember the last time she’d had any sex. She nodded. ‘But not usually at this stage. I think your baby has just decided to join the party.’ She concentrated on Aimee. Thinking about sex always made her think about Lucas, especially since she was in Moose River, but now wasn’t the time for daydreaming. Aimee needed all her attention.

Aimee’s cell phone was beside the bed. Jess passed it to her and then picked up the hotel phone and asked for an ambulance to be sent. Aimee needed to go to the nearest hospital that had premature birthing facilities, which meant leaving Moose River.

Another contraction gripped Aimee and Jess waited as she panted and puffed her way through it. Jess checked her watch. The contractions were two minutes apart. How long would the ambulance take? She had no idea.

Once that contraction had passed and Jess saw Aimee press the buttons on her phone to call her husband she went to gather towels from the bathroom. She stuck her head out into the corridor and asked Margaret to fetch more towels from Housekeeping.

‘How did it go? Did you reach Jean-Paul?’ Jess asked when she returned to Aimee’s side.

‘No. It goes straight to his message service.’ Aimee gasped and grabbed her belly as another contraction ripped through her. ‘He’s gone skiing with a snowcat group so I can only assume he’s out in the wilderness and out of range.’

Margaret came into the room with an armful of towels and Jess asked if there was any way of getting a message to Jean-Paul.

‘Yes, of course,’ Margaret replied. ‘Will you be all right on your own with Aimee while I organise that?’

Jess nodded. Margaret wasn’t going to be of any further use. It was the ambos Jess wanted to see. Jess tucked several of the towels underneath Aimee. She knew it was probably a futile exercise but if Aimee’s waters broke she was hoping to limit the damage to the hotel bedding. Another contraction gripped Aimee and this one was accompanied by a gush of fluid. Fortunately it wasn’t a big flood and Jess suspected that meant the baby’s head was well down into Aimee’s pelvis.

Jess used the time between contractions to check Aimee’s cervix. Eight centimetres dilated. This was really happening. If the ambos didn’t hurry she would have to deliver the baby. What would she need?

She’d need to keep the baby warm. She put a couple of the clean towels back on the heated towel rail in the bathroom.

Aimee’s cries were getting louder and she had a sheen of perspiration across her forehead. ‘I want to push,’ she called out.

‘Hang on,’ Jess cautioned, and she checked progress again.

Oh no. The baby’s head was crowning already.

Jess felt for the cord. It felt loose and she just hoped it wasn’t around the baby’s neck.

‘Okay, Aimee. This is it. You can push with the next contraction.’

Jess saw the contraction ripple across Aimee’s skin. ‘Okay, bend your knees and push!’

The baby’s head appeared and Jess was able to turn the baby to deliver one shoulder with the next contraction and the baby slid into her hands. ‘It’s a girl,’ she told Aimee. Jess rubbed the baby’s back, checking to make sure her little chest rose and fell with a breath and listening for her first cry before she placed her on Aimee’s chest and fetched a warm towel. She took one-minute Apgar readings and clamped the cord just as the ambos arrived. Relief flooded through her. She’d done the easy bit, now they could finish off.

‘Congratulations, Aimee.’

‘Thank you.’ Aimee’s smile was gentle but she barely lifted her eyes from her baby. She was oblivious to the work the ambos were doing. Nothing could distract her from the miracle of new life.

Jess could remember that feeling, that vague, blissful state of euphoria. She tidied her things, packing them into her bag as she thought about Lily’s birth. Like Aimee, she’d done it without the baby’s father there.

She hadn’t wanted to do it alone but she hadn’t had a lot of choice. She hadn’t expected their relationship to end so suddenly. She hadn’t expected a lot of things.

By the time she’d discovered she was pregnant the ski fields had closed for the season and Lily’s father had been long gone, and despite her best efforts she hadn’t been able to find him. So she’d done it alone and she’d done her best.

She snapped her medical bag closed with shaky hands. Now that the drama was over her body shook with the adrenalin that coursed through her system. She stripped the bed as the ambos transferred Aimee and her baby onto a stretcher and wheeled them out the door.

She could hear voices in the hallway and assumed that Jean-Paul had been located. That was quick. She could hear an Australian accent too. That was odd. Jean-Paul didn’t sound like an Australian name. She listened more carefully.

A male voice, an Australian accent. It sounded a lot like Lucas.

Her stomach flipped and her heart began to race. She was being ridiculous. It had been seven years since she’d heard his voice, as if she’d remember exactly how he sounded. She only imagined it was him because he’d been in her thoughts.

It wouldn’t be him. It couldn’t be him.

But she couldn’t resist taking a look.

She picked up the medical bag and stepped out into the hallway. The ambos had halted the stretcher and a man stood with his back to her, talking to Aimee.

‘We’ve got a message to your husband,’ he was saying. ‘We’ll get him back as quickly as possible and I’ll make sure he gets brought to the hospital.’

The man was tall with broad shoulders and tousled blond hair. Jess could see narrow hips and long, lean legs. His voice was deep with a sexy Aussie drawl. Her heart beat quickened, pumping the blood around her body, leaving her feeling light-headed and faint.

It was him. It was most definitely him.

She steadied herself with one hand against the wall as she prayed that her knees wouldn’t buckle.

It was Lucas.

She didn’t need to see his face. She knew it and her body knew it. Every one of her cells was straining towards him. Seven years may have passed but her body hadn’t forgotten him and neither had she. She recognised the length of his legs, the shape of his backside, the sound of his voice.

The ambos were pushing the stretcher towards the elevator by the time she found her voice.

‘Lucas?’