LITMIR.BIZ

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bit. She was the one who decided she couldn’t take the stress of living with what he did for a career, and I can’t blame her.’

      Sam looked past the fire to the Red Cross tent where Courtney could be seen, still sitting in a hunched position, her shoulders shaking again as she sobbed. ‘Imagine what it’s like, having someone you love go off to do dangerous things. Being left to wait and worry and wonder if they’re ever coming back.’

      ‘We’ve got the most amazing job on earth,’ Alex responded firmly. ‘That’s got to be worth a sacrifice or two.’

      ‘But what about when it stops?’ Sam could hear the warning but ignored it. ‘If we got injured or totally burned out or something? What would we have then?’

      But Alex didn’t appear to be listening. He got to his feet in a fluid movement that belied the physical exhaustion he had to be suffering.

      ‘What you need,’ he declared ‘is another coffee. A good, strong one. You’re going weird because you’re too tired.’ He bent to collect their empty plates. ‘You stay here. I’ll be right back.’

      So she was going ‘weird’, was she? She’d been right about that warning tone. Or was Alex simply running from a conversation about something he was not prepared to give any head space to? He was the epitome of confidence. Invincibility, even. Maybe he couldn’t afford to pick at the edges of a persona like that by having doubts.

      She was on her own on this one.

      Wearily, she pushed herself to her feet and moved. Sitting alone in her current mood was not a good idea. She’d had her break and it was time to see if she could help someone.

      Like Courtney, maybe.

      The heavily pregnant woman was still hunched over and sobbing. The sound became more of a concern as Sam got closer. Courtney seemed to be gasping for air rather than crying and she sounded like she was in more than emotional pain.

      ‘What’s happening, love?’ Sam crouched, her fingers registering a rapid heartbeat as she took hold of Courtney’s wrist.

      ‘It…It hurts!’

      An older woman from the Red Cross was rubbing Courtney’s back. ‘I know,’ she said soothingly. ‘They’re doing their best to help. We just have to wait.’

      Sam wasn’t convinced that reassurance was all Courtney needed right now. She gripped the hand beneath hers.

      ‘What hurts, Courtney?’ she asked urgently. ‘Talk to me. Is it the baby?’

      Courtney raised her head finally and Sam could see the panic in her face. The hesitant nod was not needed to confirm the unexpected development in this rescue scenario.

      ‘Close the tent flap,’ Sam ordered the Red Cross worker. ‘And then hold this blanket up to screen Courtney. I need to check to see if she’s in labour.’

      Sam wasn’t prepared for what she found, having persuaded Courtney to lie back and allow her to remove the clothing from her lower body. Maybe the labour had started long ago and had been unnoticed or ignored due to the stress of the situation. Or maybe the birth would have been precipitous anyway.

      It didn’t matter now. When Sam found herself shining a torch on the crowning head of a baby about to enter the world, she could do nothing but don a pair of gloves and wait to assist. At least any birth that happened this quickly was highly unlikely to be complicated.

      And it was over in seconds. Another gasping groan from Courtney and the baby slithered into Sam’s hands. She lifted it, keeping its head down to help clear the airway and hoping desperately that suction wouldn’t be necessary. Tiny limbs moved, making it harder to keep a secure grip and then the baby took its first breath and expelled it in a cry of bewilderment.

      ‘You’ve got a little boy, Courtney!’

      ‘Oh…Oh!’ Courtney held out her arms. ‘Give him to me…please?’

      ‘Lift your jersey up,’ Sam suggested. ‘Let’s get him against your skin and keep you both wrapped up to stay warm.’ She looked up at the Red Cross woman who was standing, open-mouthed. ‘We need some towels,’ she said calmly. ‘And more blankets. And would you have any idea where my partner, Alex, is?’

      ‘I’m right here.’ The tent flap moved. ‘What’s the—’ His jaw also went slack as the lump under Courtney’s jersey gave another warbling cry.

      ‘I need some clips for the cord,’ Sam told him. ‘Can you find something in the kit?’

      The adrenaline rush that had been missing throughout this job had finally arrived. Sam’s fingers worked swiftly and automatically and her brain refused to register any physical weariness. The delivery was completed, the placenta saved for later examination and Sam held the infant, having wrapped him in fluffy towels, while two Red Cross women helped Courtney into some dry clothes and Alex went to find some available transport to take mother and child to the nearest hospital.

      The baby was a few weeks early but he seemed a good size and perfectly healthy. He lay in a cocoon of soft towelling, his eyes wide open, staring up at Sam.

      She stared back, and something stirred deep within her that had nothing to do with any extra adrenaline in her system. Too nebulous to be tacked to any clear memories, it was more like a pool of feelings that had been long buried. It had to do with being held by arms that belonged to someone who could offer the ultimate in comfort to a helpless being. To do with absolute trust. And unconditional love.

      The things that a mother offered her child.

      The things that Sam had had taken away too long ago. Things that could never be replaced because she could never have another mother.

      The stirring was more than poignant. A need that had no hope of ever being fulfilled could only be painful. Sam could never be given what she had once needed so very badly.

      Or could she?

      Maybe she didn’t need to receive it to ease that sore patch on her soul. Maybe giving it would have the same effect.

      Sam couldn’t take her eyes off the tiny unblinking face of Courtney’s baby. She was totally mesmerised.

      The longing—the need—was overwhelming. This was a night for revelations, wasn’t it? But didn’t everything happen for a reason? Had she simply been presented with an answer to what could lie in her life beyond her career? Something that could negate any void? A future that could actually repair the past?

      Alex gave her a strange look as he returned and took the bundle from her arms to give the baby back to his mother.

      ‘Don’t go getting any ideas,’ he warned softly.

      The warning was way too late.

      The longing might come to nothing but the idea had taken firm root.

      Samantha Moore wanted a baby.

      Big time.

       CHAPTER TWO

      SOMETHING had changed.

      Alex couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was, but that disturbing little niggle had been there ever since that caving job a week ago and it kept popping up at the oddest times.

      Like now, when they were in the middle of dealing with a three-car pile-up on the main road near the airport and he should be totally focussed on the patient he was currently assessing.

      He was focussed—kind of. Fortunately, no life-threatening injuries had been caused by the accident even though one of the cars had been travelling at a fairly high speed on one of the semi-rural roads. SERT members were based at the airport, in order to be near their helicopter transport, but they also crewed a standard ambulance and were used as first response to any callouts that wouldn’t take them more than

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