Midwife in a Million by Fiona McArthur Page B

was far from that. ‘As long as one of us is happy.’
    Lucy moaned and shifted her head from side to side but still didn’t open her eyes.
    Kate frowned and ran her hand over Lucy’sabdomen. ‘I’m not that happy.’ She bent closer to Lucy’s ear. ‘Your uterus is contracting strongly now, Lucy. That’s what the pain is. Soon.’
    ‘Do you want me to head to Rainbow’s End Station? It’s less than an hour away. At least we’d have facilities and an airstrip.’
    Kate had the Doppler out to check the baby’s heartbeat. The clop, clop was marginally slower and very regular but Kate couldn’t hear any slowing after the contractions. She stared at him for a moment and then nodded. ‘I’ll check with Derby but that sounds great. Let’s do it.’
    Rory nodded and he could hear the baby’s heartbeat follow him as he climbed back through to the front, where he grabbed the satellite phone and passed it back before he started the engine.
    Kate’s voice echoed around his head. This Kate was a new woman, so much more independent and bolshy than the one he’d loved with every ounce of his adolescent heart and she seemed quite capable of handling any situation. She certainly didn’t need him.
    Kate, the person who had given his life meaning all those years ago, then had taken it away on a whim, leaving him a driven man. It amazed him to see her so gentle and calm as she talked to the semi-conscious girl and he was just as affected. Even though she was not part of his future, he could still feel proud of the woman she’d become.
     
    Kate loosened her shoulders and took her own deep breath. Well, that was the first fit out of the way. Thank goodness Rory had been here. She’d have hated to try and cope with Charlie or Bob at the wheel.
    Hopefully, Lucy wouldn’t have any more fits before the drugs kicked in. ‘It’s okay, Lucy.’ Kate stroked the girl’s arm. ‘You’ll start to feel better when baby’s born and the placenta that’s causing all this trouble has gone.’
    She checked Lucy’s BP again and then picked up the phone. Lucy moaned and Kate slipped her other hand down to feel the contraction at the top of Lucy’s uterus. ‘Your baby’s fine and looks like he or she is determined to come soon.’
    Kate dialled the number for Derby that she’d kept since the last stop. As she waited to be transferred through to the obstetrician on call she peered out of the window. ‘Is it my imagination or is the sky becoming lighter?’
    Rory started to answer but Kate said, ‘I hope so,’ before he could. He remembered she’d had a habit of that. The memory drew an unwilling smile.
    ‘The storm seems to be concentrated more over the way we’ve come,’ he said quietly, then stopped as she lifted her head when they answered.
    ‘Hello? Yes, Doctor, it’s Kate Onslow again.’ She waited. Then, ‘Lucy’s just had one eclamptic episode lasting two minutes and her BP’s now one sixty over a hundred.’
    She listened. ‘Foetal heart rate one hundred andfifteen,’ and then nodded her head. ‘We’ve given the Hydralazine. Start the Magnesium Sulphate? Sure. I’ve got the protocol. No problem.’ She looked across at Rory and he waved the prepared flask.
    ‘She’s in established labour and we’d like to divert to Rainbow’s End Station for the birth.’ She paused, then, ‘About an hour. We’d wait there until RFDS can come and get them both. How’s the weather at your end?’
    She smiled and Rory smiled too. It lifted his spirits to see that Kate again. So, good weather report, he gathered.
    ‘Our weather isn’t quite that here yet, but good news. So you’ll ring Rainbow’s End and tell them we’re coming. Great. We’ll see the plane there, then. Thanks.’
    Kate put the phone down on the ledge and took the loaded flask from Rory and this time she gave him the full-blown grin that he’d give his brand new, fully equipped, supercharged Range Rover for. ‘We work pretty well together,