Читать книгу Heart Of Courage - Sue MacKay - Страница 16
ОглавлениеCOOPER STRODE DOWN the corridor towards the surgical unit, relieved to have left Sophie at home.
As long as she stayed there. Though he doubted she was in any hurry to see her parents. What really was going on in that family? The less Sophie told him about herself the more he wanted to know.
Talk about getting under his skin. He needed to put space between them. Needed to get back on track with being a support person for the mother of his child, no more, no less. Needed to remember he didn’t do relationships of the close and personal kind, and to do so would be to the detriment of Sophie and the baby. And him.
What was he afraid of? That he’d take them in then send them packing when they got too close, and demanded more of him than he had to give? Turn Sophie into one of those women Dad had coming and going? She couldn’t get close if he kept the barriers up. Couldn’t hurt him if he didn’t allow her in.
Under your skin already, remember?
Then there was the baby. A whole other story. He’d never walk away from his daughter. Which meant he’d never walk away from Sophie. He wouldn’t feel incapable of looking after them and opt out for ever, as his mother had. The only thing he was incapable of was loving Sophie. Oh, and making up his mind about how far to press her to stay under his roof where he could do a better job of looking out for them.
When she’d dropped to the ground earlier his heart had stopped. Throw in her fears about the baby not moving and he’d come up with a dreadful scenario. Stroke or, worse, a fatal heart attack. His hands had been shaking as he’d touched her, reached to find a pulse. Even when he’d felt the steady thump, thump of blood pounding through her body it’d taken minutes for his panic to back off. He didn’t want to lose Sophie. Not now. Not ever.
He wasn’t making a lot of sense with this. Who would in the circumstances? If only Sophie would get out of his head, give him quiet time when he wasn’t actually with her. But no. She was in there, tap-tapping away at his resolve to remain uninvolved, making him resent her for getting him in a lather over everything. She was forcing him to face up to his mother’s suicide and how he hadn’t forgiven her for deserting him.
If his mum had got help for her obsessive, compulsive excessive disorder his life would’ve been so different. All their lives would’ve been different. He might even be able to fall in love without thinking up a hundred reasons why that was bad for him and the other person involved.
Cooper stopped to stare out a window onto the motorway below. What if he stopped fighting this? Gave up and took things as they occurred? Dealt with imagined shootings and lack of kicks systematically? Helped Sophie move into that grot box of an apartment instead of trying to talk her out of it? Surely then he’d get past these feelings of need, of wanting to spend more time with her. Emotions that came from his desire to do the right thing, nothing else.
Get it? Nothing else.
‘Cooper? That you?’ a woman called from somewhere further down the corridor.
He recognised the sultry voice instantly. ‘Svetlana, good to see you.’ The last person he wanted right this minute.
She reached him and wrapped her arms around him. ‘Where have you been? I’ve missed you.’
‘Oh, you know. Offshore with the army.’ He shrugged out of the hug. ‘You’re looking as lovely as ever.’ Yuk. How crass. That speculative gleam in Svetlana’s eyes needed a dose of cold reality fast, not encouragement. He knew how she operated, had been a willing participant in the past, but was not interested now.
Her smile widened and her tongue peeked out at the corner of her mouth. ‘Army life has been good for you.’ She squeezed his biceps.
Cooper took another step back. What had he seen in her? Uncomplicated sex. The only answer. They’d had some fun encounters, yet now he felt nothing, no frisson of excitement. Nothing. Just an image of Sophie shimmering in his mind. ‘Can’t complain.’
Svetlana followed, stepping closer, her cloying sweet perfume a thick cloud around her. ‘Want to have some fun tonight, or one night this week?’
‘Thanks, but I’m tied up all week.’ Come on. ‘In fact, I’m busy most of the time.’
She blinked rapidly. ‘You haven’t gone and got yourself all hooked up with a little wifey, now, have you?’ Her smirk suggested she knew full well what his answer would be.
No, he hadn’t. Wasn’t ever likely to. But that didn’t mean he was available for a quick romp either.
You always have been in the past.
Exactly. In the past. Not now. Not since—Sophie.
‘Nice catching up, Svetlana.’ He deliberately glanced at his watch. ‘I’m running late for an appointment. See you around.’
Cooper strode away, feeling guilty for his abrupt dismissal but also relieved to be away from the woman. Unfortunately there’d be no avoiding her completely since her white coat with the stethoscope hanging from the pocket suggested she worked here. Obviously she still overdid wearing the gear even when not required so as to show who and what she was.
Unlike Dr Ingram. Happy to wear fatigues or shorts and T-shirt, Sophie preferred casual in her approach to doctoring. Until she was with a patient, and then everyone knew her role. That day in Bamiyan she’d taken charge of caring for Kelly, calm despite her shock, completely cognisant of the medical details despite the fear in her eyes. Everyone who had worked on Kelly had settled into doing their jobs quickly—all because of Sophie’s professional and quiet manner.
Even him. For a moment after the explosion when the bullets had started to fly he’d been terrified for his life, and for that of the beautiful woman he’d met only minutes earlier. He’d leapt to cover her body, fearful of either of them taking a direct hit, and once they had been back on their feet the shakes had set in. If not for Sophie he might’ve run screaming for the hills. Okay, maybe not. But it would’ve taken him a lot longer to settle down enough to help the wounded without leaping into the air at every loud noise.
He turned into the surgical unit and went to find Shaun Langford, the head of department and former mentor from his years specialising right here.
‘Hi, Cooper. We’re looking forward to working with you again,’ a nurse told him, and the receptionist nodded in agreement.
‘Thanks, ladies. It’s good to be back.’ It really was. So much so there was a spring in his step as he reached Shaun’s office. He was coming home, back to a place he’d enjoyed, where people he’d liked still worked, where he knew his role and gave it his all. Yeah, could be he’d made the right decision for his future without being aware of it.
So career move sorted. That only left his personal life.
* * *
Sophie sat back on her heels to admire the stacks of carefully folded baby clothes on her bedroom floor. ‘Not bad, if I say so myself.’
‘Talking to yourself is not a good sign.’
Cooper. Her skin heated at the sound of that gravelly voice. ‘You’re home early.’ There went her quiet time. Over the last two days she’d spent the afternoons pottering around his house, pretending she lived here, as in permanently, and loving every moment of it. Cooper had an eclectic collection of furniture that made her smile. There was endless redecorating required, yet it didn’t matter. The house was warm and cosy, like no place she’d lived in before.
As for all those images of the good-looking hunk standing beside her right now, they’d be the bane of her life, appearing too easily, often doing her head in. She needed to be getting her A into G and making the apartment ready to move into, but it seemed too much of an effort. Staying with Cooper was the soft option. And more exciting. There was also a certain closeness between them in the way he took her BP every morning, noted what she ate. He’d soon drive her crazy with all the attention and then she’d leave.
If she could. The sense of belonging that wrapped around her every time she came through the front door would be hard to walk away from. The essence of this house was Cooper. It said, Take me as I am. If that wasn’t Cooper Daniels, then what was?
Right now he was reaching a hand down to help her up off her haunches. ‘I haven’t officially started yet.’
Pushing to her feet, not an easy or pretty manoeuvre these days, she said, ‘So you go to the hospital first thing every day because I’m under your feet?’ If he stayed at home she might’ve got to work on her list. Baby furniture was an urgent requirement. If baby made her appearance now she’d be sorely in need of just about everything. Except clothes.
His hand fell away from her elbow. ‘Thought I’d go with you to the car yard, see if you can’t find something half-decent to get around in.’
‘That’s not necessary.’ She could find her own car—with the help of an Automobile Association mechanic. If she ever got around to arranging that.
‘You don’t want a car?’ He was being deliberately obtuse.
She could be likewise, hopefully keep him a little distant. ‘I’m aiming for a SUV.’
‘Then let’s go find you one.’
‘No, Cooper. This is mine to do.’ She was quite capable of finding her own vehicle, just not of doing it right away.
‘Fine. Then let’s go look at cots and beds and tables. At the moment your baby will be sleeping on the floor, and so will her mother.’
‘Again, my problem.’ Why was she being belligerent? Cooper was only trying to help. She should be pleased. In fact, why was she so reluctant to do any of the things she’d been busting to do while waiting in Darwin to come home? ‘I did book an appointment with a midwife for tomorrow.’ One thing off the list.
‘What’s up, Sophie?’
‘Nothing. I bought clothes, nappies by the carton, and some cute little toys this morning.’ Three hours in the mall had had her staggering under all the bags of goodies. Not practical things but adorable baby things in every colour of the rainbow. They were all that interested her at the moment. So unlike her not to be charging through the stores, picking out what she needed and getting them delivered fast.
‘You bought loads of all of those yesterday.’ Amusement lightened his eyes to that pewter shade she adored and turned her insides to mush.
‘True.’ There wasn’t much space to move in this room, the floor being covered in bags from every baby outlet within a five-kilometre radius. ‘Leave it, Cooper. I’m having fun.’
I am? Shopping till I drop, getting so many baby outfits that most of them will never be worn, by this baby at least, is fun?
‘Think about it. I haven’t been near malls since I left New Zealand nearly eleven months ago. I didn’t bother in Darwin, not needing much because I wore a uniform.’
‘We’re going out.’ His amusement had vanished.
‘To the car dealer or the furniture shops?’ she called after him, letting annoyance flare up. It was easier to deal with his high-handed attitude that way, and it pushed aside the sudden yearning to rip their clothes off and make wild, passionate love.
He was back at the doorway. ‘My baby is not sleeping on the floor. Neither is she going without a safe car to ride in. We’ll start with the furniture.’
‘There’s nowhere to store it until I get the keys to the apartment.’ Her desire was rapidly abating.
‘Then we’ll put it all in my third bedroom.’
‘You’re taking charge,’ she growled. Though it made sense. Someone had to since her baby brain was obviously incapable. But she wasn’t telling him that.
‘Too right I am.’
* * *
‘Who’d have thought there were so many choices?’ Sophie muttered as she strolled down yet another aisle in the baby furniture warehouse. ‘Here I’d been thinking a bassinet was just a bassinet.’
‘You hadn’t figured on choosing between turned, stained wood or plain, painted wood; between pink, blue, white or every other colour under the sun. Or one with a shelf at the bottom or not.’ Cooper grinned at her. His mood had lifted since they’d arrived at the massive outlet. ‘And that’s only the actual bassinet. Which mattress and flounces do you like?’
But she was distracted. ‘How about those cute bunnies to string across the top for baby to look at?’
‘She’s supposed to sleep in this thing, not lie awake, staring at plastic baubles.’ His grin widened, and excitement crept into his eyes.
‘Right, then we’ll go for the basic, no-frills version.’ Not likely, but she could pull his strings. That excitement was tightening her belly and turning this into an adventure.
‘I’m having the classy, stained wood one, with that pink flounce that has elephants cavorting over it.’
‘You’re buying a bassinet?’ That had not been part of today’s excursion.
‘Of course I am. Where else will baby sleep when she’s with me?’ The excitement dimmed, and his mouth tightened. ‘I need to duplicate everything you get.’
‘She can’t stay with you. I’ll be breastfeeding.’ Why hadn’t that occurred to her? Of course Cooper would want his daughter to stay with him sometimes. She’d even suggested it. But that had been in the future, not until their daughter was on a bottle and no longer brand-new.
A warm hand descended on her shoulder. ‘You’re winding yourself up over nothing. I just want to be prepared for when my daughter does spend time with me.’
And she had promised he’d have input in her life, which meant the baby would stay with him. ‘We’d better buy lots of feeding bottles, then.’
The tension instantly evaporated from his face. ‘So let’s really get into this. Two of everything.’
‘Everything?’ She choked as unexpected laughter rolled up her throat. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’
‘Yep.’ The excitement was back, and she was glad. Then Cooper grinned. ‘Starting with bassinets. I’m taking that one.’ He tapped the one he’d nodded at earlier.
‘But I like that one.’ She laughed. ‘Though not as keen on the elephants as the butterflies.’
‘It’s mine. I saw it first.’ Then he locked his gaze on hers. ‘Unless you really, really want it.’
She shook her head. ‘It’s yours. I’ve just seen another one I like better. Which baby bath do you think?’
‘We need help here.’ Cooper looked around for a shop assistant and soon had people following them, writing down everything they selected so that deliveries could be made to their respective homes next week.
But slowly Sophie’s enthusiasm died. Why were they doing this? Sure, she needed to set up for her baby, but Cooper? He didn’t need quite as many things as her. It was as though he intended having the baby living with him a lot, not for some weekends when he wasn’t working.
‘I see an in-depth discussion coming on.’ Cooper nudged her as he slid his credit card back into his wallet after paying for everything, against her wishes. ‘What’s up? You not happy with me decking my house out for my daughter?’
She hadn’t thought it through properly when she’d said she’d never prevent him being a part of their child’s life. ‘She’s going to be living with me.’
‘Most of the time, sure. I’m making her comfortable when she visits me, though.’ His mouth tightened. ‘You’re not reneging on your promise of allowing me to be a part of her life?’
‘No, I wouldn’t do that. Never. Not after the way my parents treated me.’ But... ‘We need to draw up legal papers covering custody and what comes about in the event of something happening to me. Or you.’ Sophie wanted to slap her forehead. She’d been very remiss not thinking about this sooner.
‘You are right. We should see a lawyer.’ Taking her elbow, he led her outside to his car. ‘Talk about deflating the moment.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she snapped. ‘Actually, no, I’m not. We were having fun when this is serious. We haven’t thought everything through. There’re so many legal ramifications about being parents it’s terrifying. I’ve been completely irresponsible.’
‘Don’t go blaming yourself, Sophie. I admit none of this had occurred to me either. It would’ve, eventually.’ His sigh was loud and despondent. ‘Why today when I was enjoying myself?’
Her stance softened. ‘Yeah, that was fun, wasn’t it?’ Then she got wound up again. ‘This goes to show how unprepared to be a good mother I am.’
‘We’re not going there. For now we agree we’ll sort out the legal stuff ASAP. In the meantime let’s go home.’
Home. Again that word sank into her like a ball of warmth. If only. ‘Let’s,’ was all she said.
‘How’s the body? I bet you’ve got some major bruises after throwing yourself on the ground.’
‘One or two.’ She ached in a lot of places.
‘You don’t think you need to talk to someone about your reaction to a backfiring car?’ A load of caution laced his question, like he wasn’t sure of her reaction. ‘I’m thinking of the baby and what harm you could cause her throwing yourself down like that. Once she’s born she’ll be more vulnerable if you’re holding her.’
She’d presume he cared, and wasn’t about to tell her she was incompetent to be his daughter’s mother. She also got that he was only concerned about the baby. Fair enough. That’s how she was supposed to want it. A timely reminder that she was still on her own. ‘I saw the shrink in Darwin when I first got there, and was told I did not have PTSD, or if I did it was very mild.’ Despite the annoyance winding up tight inside her, she conceded, ‘But a second time after eight months is concerning.’
‘Maybe you need to talk to someone again. Another opinion won’t hurt.’
Did that count when it came to her ability to be a good mother? ‘I’ll look into it.’
‘I know a good guy. We were in the army together one tour. I’ll give him a ring tomorrow, get you an appointment.’
Forget annoyed. Anger burst out of her mouth. ‘Stop bossing me around. I’ll make my own arrangements, thank you very much.’ She seethed. ‘Who do you think you are? Telling me what to do, who to see, where to shop? It’s got to stop. Now. I was perfectly capable of looking after myself before I met you. Nothing’s changed.’ She was yelling, but seriously? The guy needed a bash over the head.
‘No problem. Just thought I could help, take some of the strain away from you.’
What strain? Babies were delivered every day and no one suffered badly. A yawn ripped through her. She was exhausted, and Cooper wasn’t helping by adding pressure to her already mounting worries. But he was here, had given her a place to stay, and helped organise furniture delivery. Tears spilled down her cheeks. What a mess she was. At sixes and sevens over everything. Another yawn dragged at her. A tired mess.
Yet the moment she walked inside Cooper’s house the tension plaguing her instantly fell away.
Yes, this house was a haven. A home. The kind of place she’d love to come back to at the end of a busy day, or stay put in on days her baby was grizzly.
Her hands splayed across her belly. This had to stop. It was imperative she move into her own place—fast. Turn the apartment into something as comforting as Cooper’s home, without him there. Of course she’d delayed. She didn’t know where to start, how to create a home that she and baby would be safe and secure in. She’d never known that for herself. Growing up, home had been the place where she’d slept and eaten and done her homework and listened to her parents arguing. Her bedroom the sanctuary she’d hidden in when the arguing had escalated into a full-scale war. Not once had she ever walked in the front door and sighed with contentment. As she did here. Talk about being in big trouble.
‘Sophie? Are you all right? You’re not having pains, are you?’ Cooper hovered over her, anxiety replacing the cool demeanour he’d shown since they’d talked about her supposed PTSD.
‘I’m fine. No pains.’ Just a crazy revelation that she had to deal with. She was not staying here permanently. Like to or not, she had to move on, set up her own life. Just as she’d planned since learning she was pregnant.
So get on with it.
‘You’d tell me?’ The anxiety hung between them.
‘Yes.’ Locking eyes with Cooper, she said with all the force she could muster, ‘I will let you know the moment I think I’m in labour.’ She couldn’t keep him out of the picture on that score. When she’d gone into meltdown over the lack of movement from the baby Cooper had given her strength when she’d needed someone to cling to. She couldn’t push him away over this.
‘Good.’ He tossed his car keys up in the air, snatched them and repeated the action. ‘So tomorrow we’ll find you a suitable car.’ He wasn’t easily diverted.
Something she’d be wise to remember. ‘I’ll do that in the morning.’ While he was at the hospital.
He shook his head. ‘Uh-uh. I’ll do some research on the net while you tell me why you want an SUV instead of a car.’
‘You can stop looking so smug. It doesn’t suit you,’ she growled, trying hard not to smile at him. He’d won and yet she couldn’t find it in her to be cross. Not really. He had a way about him that made her feel more and more at ease. When he wasn’t reminding her that there were lots more problems to add to her list than she had to tick off. Lawyers, a midwife, and now a psychologist had to be dealt with.
In the meantime, Cooper merely laughed and booted up his laptop.
* * *
‘Three more ticks on my list,’ Sophie sighed late the next afternoon. Things were starting to come together nicely. ‘I like my new midwife. She’s so enthusiastic.’ When Cooper’s eyebrows rose, she added, ‘And professional, and competent.’
‘What else is on that list?’ Cooper asked as he drove through the rush-hour traffic in Newmarket on their way home from a car dealer. ‘Apart from a vehicle, which it looks like we’ve got sorted now.’
‘Dinner. Can we swing by the supermarket? I feel like pasta tonight.’
‘What’s with all this pasta? Seems you’re always eating it. You’re not of Italian extraction, are you?’
‘Irish. Except I’m not fussed about spuds.’ She smacked her lips, her stomach sitting up in anticipation. ‘Can’t go past the sauces that go with linguine, and then there’s ravioli and the delicious fillings.’
‘You been to Italy?’
Nodding, she explained, ‘I spent four months there after completing my internship in London. I didn’t want to leave.’ Not only was the food divine, the men were just as mouth-watering. Though not as delectable as the man in the driver’s seat beside her. Only the car’s seat? Or was he driving her life now? He definitely played havoc with her focus, which should be entirely on preparing for the baby, not on kisses. Hot kisses that swamped her mind with memories of his body against her, diverting pictures that had her longing for more.
‘Why didn’t you stay on in Italy?’
‘I couldn’t get a work permit so I returned home and saved up for the next adventure, which was in Chile.’
‘We’re not going to eat Chilean food, then?’
‘They eat a lot of potatoes. But having said that, I did enjoy most things. Lots of seafood and meat. Pastel do chocio was my all-time favourite, sort of like a shepherd’s pie. Haven’t seen that in the supermarkets here.’
Cooper turned into the supermarket parking building. ‘You might have to go back to Chile for that. From things you’ve said, it sounds as though you’ve done a lot of travelling. You got a thing against staying at home?’
More like a thing about staying still. ‘My travelling days are on hold for a few years.’
‘I suppose they are. But that’s not what I asked.’
As a diversion she’d missed the gate. ‘Travel’s exciting and opens your eyes to so much more than we’ve grown up with here.’ And it had kept her from spending time wondering if she’d ever be able to settle down in one place for long. Every time she thought about finding a place of her own she’d think about how uncomfortable her parents’ home had been and known she’d had no idea how to make hers any different. Except that had bitten her on the backside this year. Settling down was her current goal.
As they walked inside Cooper mused, ‘I haven’t seen much of the world. Only the out-of-the-way and often inhospitable places the army sent me to.’
Sophie shivered. ‘I’m over those. Not going back to dangerous areas again.’
‘Cuts out quite a lot of the world at the moment. Hideous.’ Cooper swung a shopping basket between them.
‘There are definitely places to stay away from. I can’t believe some of the things going on at the moment.’ She paused, listening hard. Had she heard a cry? But nothing untoward reached her. Must’ve been imagining it. Snapping off a plastic bag, she began selecting tomatoes. ‘Need some mushrooms too.’
‘I’ll get them.’
There it was again. A low cry, almost a groan. ‘Something’s not right.’ Dropping the tomatoes in the basket, she headed for the next aisle.
‘What have you heard?’ Cooper was right with her, the empty mushroom bag still in his hand.
‘Like someone’s in pain.’ She stared down the next aisle. Nothing out of the ordinary. Was her imagination overacting? No. There it was again. ‘Hear that?’ She headed for the next aisle and raced down it. Sitting the floor was a heavily pregnant girl, her face contorted with pain. Sophie reached for her hand. ‘Hi. My name’s Sophie. I’m a doctor. What’s happening?’
‘I think my baby’s coming.’ The young face scrunched up tight as a contraction gripped her.
The cry of pain that accompanied it cut through Sophie. ‘Breathe deep, go with the pain, don’t fight it.’ She tried to remember everything she’d heard in antenatal classes in Darwin.
‘Easy for you to say,’ grunted the girl.
Cooper knelt on the other side of the distressed girl. ‘Has anyone called an ambulance?’ he asked the gathering onlookers.
‘Yes,’ replied an older woman dressed in the store’s uniform. ‘Just now.’
‘Good. What’s your name?’ he asked the girl, adding, ‘I’m Cooper, another doctor.’
‘Melanie. It’s coming,’ she cried as another contraction caught her.
She might be right, Sophie conceded. Those contractions were very close. ‘We need to examine her,’ she said quietly so only Cooper heard. ‘But it’s hardly ideal here.’
‘Not a lot of choice.’ He stood up. ‘Can you all give us a bit of privacy? Carry on with your shopping and leave us to help this girl.’
‘I want some tinned corn for my fritters,’ a woman said. ‘If you can just step out of my way.’
Cooper sounded calm, too calm. ‘Do you have to have it today?’
‘It’s my son’s favourite dinner.’
‘Make him something else,’ Cooper snapped, no long holding onto his temper. ‘This young lady’s situation is more important.’
Sophie held onto a smile and concentrated on talking to Melanie. ‘How far along are you?’
‘Thirty-six weeks.’
Too early. Thirty-seven was considered safe. ‘Cooper, we might need the paediatric ambulance.’
‘Onto it.’
Sophie turned back to Melanie. ‘Has your pregnancy been normal so far?’
She nodded. ‘Blood pressure fine. No diabetes. Not even Braxton Hicks pains.’
Better than me, then.
‘Have you called your...’ Sophie paused to glance at Melanie’s left hand ‘...partner?’
‘He’s busy.’
Really? Too busy to be here for Melanie and his baby? ‘Want Cooper to talk to him?’
Melanie’s face shut down. ‘No.’
Something was definitely off key here, but it wasn’t her place to ask questions that were obviously awkward. Not wanting to upset the younger woman any more, Sophie changed the subject slightly. ‘Can I examine you?’
‘Not with those people gawping at me.’
‘Fair enough. Cooper?’
‘Onto it.’ Striding up to the nearest person still standing watching the fun, he said in a very firm tone, ‘Move, sunshine. Out of this aisle. Now. And the rest of you. Where is the store manager?’
‘Coming,’ called a young man, scurrying towards them.
‘Clear this lot out of here right now.’ Did he just add under his breath, ‘The guy’s still wet behind the ears’?
Sophie felt her smile widen. Almost immediately they had the aisle to themselves. Cooper on the rampage was something to admire. His tone brooked no argument, like he was on the parade ground again.
‘How’s that?’ she asked Melanie. ‘We’re alone.’
A contraction rippled through the girl and she didn’t, or couldn’t, hold back a scream.
Sophie reached for her nearest hand and held on. ‘Breathe, in one, two, three, out one, two, three. And before you say anything, I’m pregnant too.’
Melanie’s eyes popped open. ‘So you know what this is like.’
Ah. Caught. ‘No. My first time.’ She squeezed Melanie’s hand. ‘Sorry. I’ll shut up with the advice.’
‘Do you want your baby?’
‘Absolutely. Don’t you?’
‘No. Yes. I’m not ready.’ Tears oozed slowly from the corners of Melanie’s eyes. ‘It’s not fair.’
Sophie knew all about that, but it seemed she’d come to terms with her deal better than this young woman. ‘I’d like to check what’s going on. We’re on our own now.’ Where was that ambulance?
Cooper placed himself between them and the end of the aisle while Sophie took a discreet look. Melanie wasn’t wrong. ‘Your baby’s very nearly here.’
‘So I’m going to have him in the supermarket.’ Her expression was wry. ‘Guess that goes with everything else that’s gone wrong.’
The rising and falling sound of an approaching siren reached them. ‘You might get lucky and have the baby in the ambulance.’
Even before she’d finished saying that Melanie bent over her stomach, snatching for Sophie’s hand as pain hit her.
Sophie used her free hand to rub Melanie’s back. ‘You’re doing great.’
‘So are you,’ Cooper said from behind her. ‘Like the pro you are.’
Warmth stole through her. ‘Thanks.’ Then she shook her head. ‘Watch this space. It’ll be very different when it’s my turn.’
‘I’ll be there to rub your back. And hold your hand.’
She nodded. ‘Yeah, you will be.’ Decision made. She wouldn’t go back on it. She’d need someone there and while a girlfriend had volunteered she knew it had to be Cooper with her. For the baby. And for him. He needed to be a part of the birth. It was his daughter she’d be bringing into the world and she wanted to be able to tell their child that Daddy had been there when she’d arrived.
A paramedic squatted down beside them. ‘Hi, there. I’ve been told there’s a baby in a hurry to make an appearance.’
‘A big hurry,’ Sophie told him. ‘The baby’s nearly here.’
‘You’re a doctor?’
She nodded. ‘We’ve got minutes, so I don’t know if you want to remove Melanie to the privacy of your ambulance or carry on here.’ She had to hand over. It was how the system worked. But she could stick with Melanie. ‘You want to try and make it out to the ambulance? There’s a stretcher ready.’
‘Ambulance,’ Melanie grunted as she sucked in a breath and squeezed Sophie’s hand. ‘If there’s time.’
There wasn’t. Melanie’s baby rushed into the world seconds later. The paramedic was instantly busy clearing the wee boy’s air passage and checking his reflexes.
When the baby cried Melanie smiled and held her arms out. ‘Can I hold him?’
Sophie let go the breath she’d been holding. This girl did want her baby. Whatever the situation she was facing, her baby was welcome despite her earlier denial. ‘The paramedics need to take care of him for now. Let’s get you onto that stretcher and shifted to the ambulance. You both need to go to hospital.’
‘Will you come with me?’ Melanie locked her eyes on Sophie. ‘Please,’ she begged. ‘I don’t want to be on my own.’
‘Is there anyone I can call?’
The girl’s head moved slowly from side to side. ‘No. My parents have disowned me, and the baby’s father doesn’t want a bar of him.’
‘Of course I’ll come with you.’ How could she not? Raising her eyes to Cooper, she was relieved to see his approval beaming out at her. When did she need Cooper’s approval for anything? Worse, why did it feel so good? Just something else to worry about in the middle of the night.
