Читать книгу Christmas Brides And Babies Collection - Rebecca Winters - Страница 46

SHE CRIED OUT as she came and felt him shudder as he joined her.

It was different.

But good.

There was such a thing as good different after all.

They had made love fast and impatiently, unable to restrain themselves, and then they made love slowly, getting to know every inch of each other. Luci was adventurous and brave as she discovered the joys of sex with Seb. There was no routine, there was no expectation or pressure. It was all new and exciting.

Luci could remember when sex had been like that—when she and Ben hadn’t been able to get enough of each other. When they had been young and first married they had grabbed every opportunity and then again when they’d decided it was time to start a family. She’d had plenty of sex but somewhere along the line it had lost the fun and become a chore. At some point it had become another thing on the list of jobs that had to be done.

She knew when that had happened. When, month after month, her dreams of falling pregnant hadn’t eventuated. She’d started worrying, constantly taking her temperature, changing her diet, insisting on sex on certain days of the month, certain times of the day—and it had taken the fun out of it. Was it any wonder Ben had started looking elsewhere? She’d blamed him for destroying their marriage single-handedly when the reality was that she’d played her part too.

Remembering how much fun sex could be cheered her up immensely. She still knew how to enjoy life.

She smiled as Seb tucked her in to his side and trailed his finger down her arm. The night hadn’t been a complete disaster after all.

‘So how was the water?’ Seb asked, as his fingers ran over her hip bone and down to the top of her thigh.

Luci’s brain had turned to mush. ‘Pardon?’

‘The water?’ Seb repeated. ‘You wanted to dip your toe in. I want to know if it was to your liking.’

Luci grinned. ‘Very much so. I’ve decided there is such a thing as good different. But this is all new to me. I need some guidelines.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I need to know if we are dating or just having sex.’

‘What do you want?’

‘I need to have some fun but I also want to see what dating is like in the modern day. When I leave Sydney I need to know what to expect. I need some practice.’

‘I think you’ll find you’ll be fine. Trust me,’ he said. ‘But I’m happy to be of service for the next four weeks while I’m still here. We can have fun until I leave or until you get sick of me.’

Luci appreciated the fact that he didn’t suggest he’d get tired of her first.

‘But I do have one condition,’ Seb added.

‘What’s that?’

‘We are exclusive while it lasts. No dating anyone else.’

Luci nodded. She had no intention of looking elsewhere. She couldn’t imagine needing to.

‘So when Michael calls and asks you out, you’d better have an excuse ready.’

‘Really? Michael? I thought I made it perfectly clear that I wasn’t interested.’

‘For some men that only makes you more appealing. For some it’s all about the chase. I can see I have a lot to teach you,’ he said, as he kissed her shoulder. ‘So much to do and so little time.’

‘Where do you want to start?’ Luci replied with a smile.

‘How about we start with this?’ he said, flipping her onto her back and ducking his head under the covers.

Luci closed her eyes and gave herself up to him. There was no room in her head for thoughts of anything other than the waves of pleasure that consumed her.

Seb knew exactly what he was doing. This might just be the best decision she had ever made.

Seb woke her in the morning in the same way he’d said goodnight, then got up to make her a cup of tea.

‘We might be going about this a little backwards but I have a first date planned,’ he said as she sat up in bed and took the tea.

‘Now?’

‘You might have time for a shower.’ He grinned.

The shower took a little longer than normal. Having Seb in there with her, offering to wash her back, wasn’t necessarily the timesaver one might expect.

She dressed in jeans, canvas sneakers, a T-shirt and Seb’s spare leather jacket and climbed on the back of his bike. Her thighs complained as she stretched them over the seat but she wasn’t complaining. She might be a bit stiff and sore but it was an ache she was more than happy to put up with.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked.

‘I’m taking you out for breakfast.’

That sounded good. She was starving.

Seb rode to Milson’s Point on the north shore and pulled into a parking spot beside the harbour bridge. There were numerous cafés along the opposite side of the street and Luci wondered which one he had chosen, but Seb didn’t cross the street. Instead, he took her hand and led her along the ramparts of the bridge and up a flight of stairs.

‘You’re going to walk across the bridge with me?’ Luci asked as they reached the top and she found herself on the pedestrian walkway that ran along the eastern side of the bridge. ‘I thought this was the sort of thing only tourists did?’ she teased.

‘I figured you’re worth making an exception for. But if I’m going to do this then this is the best time of day. It’s quiet enough on a Sunday morning to still be relatively peaceful. We can take our time and we’ll have breakfast at the other end.’

The view was spectacular, better than Luci had imagined. The Opera House, the botanic gardens and the city skyline were laid out before them as they headed south across the bridge. The sun was still low in the sky to their left and the Opera House sparkled like a sugar-coated meringue on the edge of the harbour. She’d seen it from the water, in daylight and at night-time and now from a higher vantage point. It didn’t disappoint, no matter what. She thought it was an incredible building and she knew it would always remind her of Seb.

There was a light breeze blowing, just enough to get the flag on top of the bridge moving but not enough to be unpleasant. They stopped numerous times to watch the ferries crisscross the harbour and the tiny yachts dart across the water. By the time they descended onto Cumberland Street in The Rocks Luci was famished. The combination of sex and walking had certainly fired her appetite. Seb ordered a big breakfast—bacon, eggs, tomato, spinach, mushrooms, hash browns. Luci had smashed avocado on toast with bacon on the side. She needed an energy boost.

‘Can I ask you something?’ she said as she cut into her bacon.

‘Sure.’

‘Why don’t you have a girlfriend?’

‘You mean, what’s wrong with me that you haven’t noticed yet?’

‘No. Maybe.’ Seb was teasing her but she was serious. ‘Why is a guy like you single?’

‘A guy like me? What am I like, exactly?’

‘Oh, no, don’t go fishing for compliments. Just answer the question.’

‘Well, as long as you were thinking complimentary things, I’ll explain,’ he said. ‘I want the freedom to do the things I want to do, to go where I want to go. Last year I spent about forty weeks in the country in four different towns. I don’t see the point in long-distance relationships. I don’t have a girlfriend because I don’t want a serious relationship.’

‘Have you never had a serious relationship?’

‘Only one but that ended three years ago and I’m used to doing things my way now. I can’t really see the need to commit to one person, not when so many relationships end badly.’ He speared a mushroom with his fork before he looked up at her. ‘Would you go through it all again?’

Luci nodded. ‘I would. I liked being married,’ she said honestly. ‘I didn’t like how my marriage ended but I’m not going to let that dictate how I spend the rest of my life. I liked being part of a couple, sharing my life.’ It would be a long, lonely existence if she vowed never to go down that path again and if she was going to achieve her dream of motherhood she needed to be in a committed relationship. It wouldn’t work any other way. Not for her at least, who had always dreamed of the whole package. ‘You don’t want that? Someone to share your life with? A family of your own?’

‘No.’ Seb drained the last of his coffee and pushed his chair back. ‘I don’t,’ he said as he stood up.

Clearly that conversation was over. Luci would remember not to raise that topic again. She didn’t want to rock the boat. There was no need to. They didn’t need to have in-depth, detailed discussions about their hopes and dreams. This was all temporary, she reminded herself. It was supposed to be just a bit of fun.

They spent the next hour wandering through the markets in The Rocks before Seb took her to climb the south pylon of the bridge on their way back across the harbour. Their conversation stayed neutral, away from anything that could be considered remotely emotional, but Luci wasn’t going to let it ruin her day. There was no rule that said he had to open up to her, and besides that he was the ideal date. He was attentive, funny, thoughtful and gorgeous. It had been a perfect first date.

Over the next ten days Seb took her on several dates that were almost as good. They visited the zoo and shopped in Paddington. They ate dinner in Chinatown, oysters beside the Opera House, burgers in Manly and fish and chips in Watson’s Bay. But her favourite date was the day they’d hired a kayak and paddled to Store Beach. Just thinking about it now made her smile. She had been surprised by how many secluded coves there were around the harbour and she loved being able to escape the city so easily.

Store Beach was only accessible by boat, which meant it was quiet. She preferred the quieter beaches to the bustle of Bondi and Manly. Perhaps it was the country girl in her or perhaps it had something to do with the fact that when they had a beach to themselves they took advantage of that. They had made love in the water that day, something she was positive they wouldn’t have been able to do at Bondi, and she knew she was going to file these memories away and revisit them when Seb was gone from her life. This might be temporary but she would always have the memories.

Spending time with Seb was therapeutic, mentally as well as physically. She felt happier than she had in a long time and she no longer thought about babies and failed marriages or Ben and his new wife, Catriona, every day. She had other things on her mind. She was becoming the person for the next stage of her life and she was starting to feel that she would be okay. She still wasn’t sure that she’d be okay on her own but Seb was showing her how to put herself out there again. She knew that if she had been able to do it with him she’d be able to do it with the next guy. And maybe the next guy would be the one.

Her life was far from over. She would take her second chance. She would achieve her dreams, one way or another. Seb was right, she had time on her side and she wasn’t going to let Ben take it all away from her. She would go after her dream and she would make it happen. She would learn as much as she could about herself while Seb was giving her that chance so she could grow and move forward.

Luci’s time in Sydney was almost half-gone. The time was flying past; her days were busy and so were her nights. She wasn’t sure how she was going to manage back in Vickers Hill. She couldn’t remember how she used to fill her days. Work, housework, dinner with her parents and a game of netball once a week didn’t seem like much now compared to what she was packing into her days in Sydney. So she’d better make the most of it.

She was feeling more confident and comfortable at work. She’d decided not to be so precious about comments and questions from clients as to whether or not she had children. They didn’t know her circumstances so she replied with, ‘Not yet,’ and left it at that. She wasn’t wearing a wedding ring so at least she was spared from those expectations that she and Ben had had. From the moment they’d got married that had been the next question. She’d initially used the excuses of ‘We’ve only just got married’ or ‘We’re saving for a house’ but the questions hadn’t really bothered her until she’d been trying to fall pregnant. She had needed to develop a tougher skin.

Spending time with Seb was definitely helping. He kept her mind and body busy and she no longer thought about having kids every hour of every day. She had relaxed. She had a little over four weeks remaining and she was determined to enjoy every second. The rest of her life could start after that. She had time.

But she very quickly got used to spending her days and nights with Seb and when he told her he needed to go away for a few days for work she found the prospect of being alone again quite daunting.

‘I have been asked to go to Budgee to work in their community health clinic for a few days later this week. The doctor’s wife and daughter have been injured in a car accident and the doctor has flown down to Sydney to be with them. There’s no hospital there any more so there’s no other cover.’

‘Why have they asked you?’

He shrugged. ‘I was there about eighteen months ago for six weeks so they figure I’ll be more familiar with the work than others. And, besides, it’s what I do.’

She knew that. He’d told her he spent a lot of time travelling to different parts of country New South Wales.

‘You could come with me if you like.’

‘How do you figure that?’

‘The doctor’s wife is a nurse so with her out of action the town has lost their nurse and doctor. I could arrange a few days there for you as part of your course.’

Luci didn’t care if people accused Seb of favouritism. Going with him was preferable to being left alone in Sydney, even if it was only for three days, which was how she found herself being driven down the main street of Budgee two days later.

It was a pretty town three hours west of Sydney over the Blue Mountains, with a small-town feel. The main street was wide, not dissimilar to main streets in most country towns across Australia, and this one was planted with oak trees and lined with beautiful old public buildings. A wide, grassy strip ran down the centre of the road. A military memorial stood at one end near the pub; a majestic building with wraparound balconies and elaborate wrought-iron railings. The two-storey red-brick post office stood in the middle of town opposite the limestone town hall. Further down the street, past the police station, the Catholic church faced off across the road from the Presbyterian one, standing sentinel at the end of town.

They had left Sydney early and arrived at the clinic by ten. They were going to spend the morning working there before visiting an aboriginal settlement in the afternoon.

‘Budgee used to have a small hospital,’ Seb explained as he turned off the main street, ‘but the services gradually dwindled as the community decreased in size and as the roads and transport improved, making it unnecessary for each country town to have its own facilities. The government “consolidated”—their word—the services, which was all well and good in most cases except for emergencies. Budgee lost its hospital but retained a community health centre, which was moved into the old hospital ironically, and the local doctor spends two days a week here and three days a week in surrounding towns.’

Seb pulled into the car park of the old hospital and Luci followed him inside. She spent what was left of the morning doing health checks, just like she would have done in Sydney, along with fielding the same personal questions interspersed with questions about the health of the local nurse and her daughter.

For lunch she and Seb grabbed a meat pie from the local bakery and ate in the car as Seb drove them to the aboriginal settlement thirty minutes out of town. Budgee was in the centre of a wine-growing region and the town was surrounded by vineyards. It reminded Luci of Vickers Hill, having the same look and feel of home. Did Vickers Hill still feel like home? She wasn’t sure. She’d changed since she’d been in Sydney. She was different now and she wasn’t sure if she would be able to settle back into her old life.

Was it living in a big city that had changed her or was it Seb?

She didn’t know the answer to that either, although she suspected the latter.

As they drove through the countryside she almost felt as though they were on a date. Seb was dressed casually in an open-necked, short-sleeved shirt that showed off his muscular forearms. His long fingers were wrapped around the steering wheel. Last night they’d been caressing her breasts and bringing her to another orgasm, and she could still feel some tenderness between her thighs after another night of lovemaking, but it was definitely not an unpleasant sensation.

Seb was tapping his index finger and humming along in time to the song that was playing on the radio. She looked at his face, at his perfect profile as the scenery flashed past. They were still driving past rows and rows of vines, dense with green foliage, and she was tempted to tell him to pull over. She wondered if they had time for a quick make-out session in the car. She hadn’t behaved like that for years but something about him made her feel like a teenager again, a reckless, rebellious teenager with only one thing on her mind.

He turned his head to look at her; he must have felt her scrutiny. He took one look at her expression and winked, and she knew he could tell what she was thinking.

She blushed and he laughed, rich and throaty, as he turned his attention back to the road.

‘Hold that thought,’ he said. ‘There’ll be time for fooling around later but we can’t turn up at the settlement looking like we’ve just tumbled out of bed. Or out of the bushes.’ He grinned and his eyes flicked briefly back to her.

A quick glance at her chest and Luci could feel the heat rising from her. The only thing stopping the windows from fogging up was the fact that it was almost as warm outside the car as inside.

If he looked at her like that once more she was going to have to pull on the handbrake and have her way with him.

‘Pity,’ she said as she reached across the console, ignoring the handbrake, and rested her hand at the very top of his thigh. She slid her hand between his thighs so her fingers rested against his groin. If he was going to make her sweat she was going to make sure he joined her. Two could play at that game. ‘We could pull over and sneak down between the rows of grapes and make love on the ground between the vines.’

‘You’ll get covered in dirt.’

‘I was planning to go on top,’ she responded.

‘Luci,’ he groaned. ‘That’s not playing fair. I need to concentrate.’

‘Are you sure we haven’t got time for a quick stop?’

‘Positive,’ he said, removing her hand from his groin and putting it back in her lap. ‘But we will have all night and I promise I’ll make the wait worth your while,’ he said as he drove past the signpost that welcomed them to the settlement of Frog Hollow.

She sighed and looked around as Seb drove down the main street. She needed to get her mind back on the job.

‘So tell me again what I’ll be doing here,’ she said, trying to focus less on Seb and more on her duties.

‘It does depend on who turns up but general health checks are the norm. BP, cholesterol tests, with referral for any high readings, plus counselling will take up most of your time. Just keep in mind there are different issues facing this population. Diabetes, eye disease, cardiovascular conditions, kidney disease and ear infections all tend to be more prevalent in the indigenous community and a lot of the problems arise because they don’t have access to health care.’

‘I remember what you told us when you gave the lecture.’

‘Well, you’re about to see it first-hand, although because the community of Frog Hollow made a decision to be a dry settlement we do see fewer issues here than elsewhere. There won’t be scheduled appointments as such, we just see whoever turns up in whatever order they turn up, but expect to be busy as these remote clinics are only run once a month.’

Seb turned off the main street onto a side road that was made of dirt. Apparently only the main road in and out of town was tarred but the buildings were modern. Luci could see plenty of free-roaming chickens and dogs, as well as a number of kids riding bikes and playing in the street. There seem to be an awful lot of children not in school.

‘There’s no school in the settlement,’ Seb explained, when Luci commented. ‘The kids need to go into Budgee on the school bus but a lot don’t make it in time. Today quite a few parents would have chosen not to send their kids to town because we were coming,’ he said as he parked the car and switched off the engine.

Luci could see several people waiting, sitting on the veranda of the hall. She helped Seb to unload the medical kits from the car and take them into the hall. A temporary clinic had been set up at one end near the kitchen. There were two stations, one for her and one for him, basic and identical save for the fact that Seb’s had an examination bed tucked against the wall, sectioned off behind a privacy screen.

They worked their way steadily through the locals who seemed quite content to sit and wait. They didn’t seem impatient. They didn’t seem to be watching the clock, like the clients in the city who always seemed to have somewhere else they needed to be. The pace suited Luci. It was nice to have time to stop and take a breath occasionally.

There were some things about home she hadn’t missed—the lack of privacy, for example—but she hadn’t realised just what a whirlwind life in Sydney was. The pace was frenetic, with everyone constantly on the go, but it wasn’t until she had a chance to slow down that she realised how rushed she’d been.

From her station she could watch Seb working. He seemed to be primarily checking ears and eyes as frequently as she was checking blood pressures.

He looked up and smiled at her and she felt a warm glow suffuse her. They worked well together. They did other things well together too and she hugged that thought to herself. She was looking forward to the end of the day, looking forward to tonight.

She stripped off her gloves as she finished with her patient and went out to the veranda to call the next one, only to find there was no one else waiting. She wondered if their day was done, if they could return to Budgee and finish what she’d started.

She went back inside the hall and was preparing to pack away her things when she saw Seb incline his head at her and nod at his patient, and she knew he wanted her to join them.

Seb was looking into the ears of a little boy who looked about three or four years of age. The boy’s mother sat beside him. She was heavily pregnant and the fabric of her summer dress strained across her belly.

‘Nadine, this is Luci Dawson, one of the community health nurses,’ Seb said as he switched sides to look into the little boy’s left ear. ‘Luci, would you mind checking Nadine’s blood pressure for me while I finish up with Byron? This is Nadine’s fifth pregnancy and she hasn’t had any problems, but she hasn’t had any antenatal care either and she’s not sure of her dates. She thinks she might be about seven months but seeing as we’re here I thought we’d do a bit of a check.’

‘Sure.’ Luci smiled at Nadine.

The woman looked much further along than seven months. Luci couldn’t imagine not having any antenatal care herself but Seb had warned her that things were different out here. Nadine looked relaxed but Luci knew Seb was worried.

It was hard to pinpoint her age. Her brown skin was smooth and glowed but her eyes looked tired. She could be anywhere from twenty-five to thirty-five. Even so, a fifth pregnancy was a lot.

Luci wrapped the blood-pressure cuff around Nadine’s arm and pumped it up. She popped the stethoscope in her ears and listened for the heartbeat followed by silence as the cuff deflated. Her blood pressure was fine.

‘All normal,’ she told Seb.

‘Good.’ Seb nodded. ‘Byron seems to have another slight middle-ear infection, swimmer’s ear most likely. I’ll give him a course of antibiotics but no swimming for a week, okay? And before you go I’d like to listen to the baby’s heart and take a couple of measurements, if that’s all right. Can you just hop up on the bed behind the screen for me?’

Seb rifled through one of the medical bags and found the medication he wanted. He wrote Byron’s name and the instructions on a label and attached it to the bottle.

Luci took the bottle and handed him the stethoscope. She picked Byron up and popped him on her hip and followed Seb around the screen. Protocol dictated that she needed to be present for the exam.

Nadine had already hoisted her dress up to expose her belly, which was as tight as a drum. Luci felt a familiar pull of longing and jealousy when she saw the woman’s heavily pregnant frame but she tried her best to ignore it. She was a professional, she could do this.

Seb placed the bulb of the scope on Nadine’s tummy and moved it around, listening for the baby’s heartbeat. Luci watched him. She saw him frown and reposition the stethoscope. She could see Nadine hold her breath but then Seb smiled and Nadine relaxed and exhaled.

Seb pulled the stethoscope out of his ears and looped it around his neck. Luci handed him a tape measure, which he took but didn’t immediately use.

‘Well, that explains a few things,’ he said as he smiled at Nadine. ‘You’re having twins.’

‘Twins?’ Nadine and Luci said in unison.

Seb nodded and his blue eyes sparkled. ‘Now I know you’ve done all this before but this is the first set of twins you’ve had. I want you to have some antenatal care. I want you to make an appointment at the hospital in Dubbo—actually, I’ll make it for you,’ he said as he helped Nadine to sit up on the edge of the bed.

He pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and scrolled through the address book, looking for the number. Nadine stood up and slipped her feet back into her flip-flops before taking Byron from Luci.

Seb had been put through to the right department and covered the speaker with his hand as he spoke to Nadine. ‘Can you make it to Dubbo tomorrow afternoon?’

Nadine nodded and Seb confirmed the time.

‘They will do an ultrasound scan,’ he said as he ended the call. ‘It’s important that they try to confirm your dates and check that everything is on track. Any dramas, make sure you call the Budgee clinic. I’ll still be there tomorrow and I’ll phone Dubbo for an update,’ he added, wanting to make sure that she understood he’d be around to keep an eye on her. He handed Nadine a card with the Budgee clinic number on it and added the number for the Dubbo hospital, along with the appointment time.

‘Do you think she’ll keep the appointment?’ Luci asked as they hit the road a little later for the return trip to Budgee. Flocks of galahs and sulphur-crested cockatoos were feeding at the side of the road. The cockatoos rose up in a squawking mass as the car passed them but the little pink and grey galahs seemed oblivious. They kept their heads down, pecking away at the gum-nut seeds that were strewn on the ground.

‘I hope so. Twins are obviously trickier to deal with, and gestational diabetes is high in the indigenous population so I’d like her to have the proper care. It’ll be another month before anyone is back out at Frog Hollow. Anything could happen in that time.’

Luci’s muscles groaned in protest as she lowered herself onto a child-sized kindergarten chair. Muscles she’d forgotten she had ached and every time she moved she was reminded of the night before. She’d been stretched, bent and contorted into all sorts of positions last night but she wasn’t complaining even if her muscles were. She and Seb had barely made it back to the motel before tearing each other’s clothes off. Their desire had been building all afternoon until it had reached fever pitch and they had almost sprinted to her room and spent the rest of the evening making love, stopping only briefly to shower and grab some food before they’d gone back to her room. Luci knew they must have looked like they had been having frenzied sex but she hadn’t cared any more. It hadn’t been like home. She could behave as she pleased out here and it pleased her to misbehave with Seb.

She smiled to herself as she thought about what they’d got up to, until she realised that the preschoolers sitting at the table with her weren’t going to give her time to daydream.

She was spending the afternoon in the child-care centre and kindergarten attached to the community health clinic. The work was pretty much the same, assessing the development of the children, but the approach was different. Instead of a formal appointment, Luci played with the children in the kindergarten environment, doing surreptitious development checks. Sitting with the kids while they drew pictures or constructed masterpieces out of cardboard rolls, boxes, egg cartons and metres of sticky tape gave her a chance to assess their hearing, speech and fine motor skills. Later she’d play outside with them in the sandpit and on the climbing equipment, observing their balance, co-ordination and gross motor skills.

If she noticed any issues she could then make referrals to the visiting therapists but, again, making appointments didn’t necessarily work. Appointment times were not generally considered fixed and Luci had been told that a lot of the time the health-care staff just had to hope that some of the kids were in attendance at playgroup when the visiting therapists were in town.

Luci was writing a child’s name on the cardboard robot that he’d made when she noticed Nadine and Byron coming into the centre.

Nadine looked tired today, definitely not as fresh as yesterday. The circles under her eyes had darkened and Luci thought her face looked a little pinched and drawn, as if she was in pain. Luci stood up. ‘Nadine, hello. Are you on your way to Dubbo?’

Nadine nodded. ‘I thought I’d drop Byron here while I went for my appointment, if that’s okay. He knows this kindy.’

Budgee was about halfway between Frog Hollow and Dubbo. Nadine had had to pass through town in order to reach Dubbo.

‘Sure,’ Luci replied as Byron ran off to play. ‘Are you feeling all right?’

‘I didn’t sleep well and my back is a bit sore. I think I might have pulled a muscle when I picked Byron up this morning.’

‘Have you got time for a cup of tea or water? Why don’t you sit down and I’ll get you something to drink?’ Luci offered. But before she could usher her to a chair Nadine clutched her stomach and looked as if she was about to burst into tears.

‘What is it?’ Luci asked.

But Nadine didn’t answer, she just looked down at the floor. Luci followed her gaze.

Nadine was standing in a pool of water.