Mia by Fiona McArthur

Author:Fiona McArthur
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780648718185
Publisher: Fiona McArthur

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The men arrived half an hour later and Paul dragged Angus with him into the house like a security blanket. When he heard the Celtic Crossover music Jo had chosen for late labour Paul’s eyes widened as he guessed how far along they were.

‘Angus drove me,’ he said unnecessarily as his head swivelled to search for Jo. ‘Where is she?’

‘In the bathroom. Go knock on the door, Paul. She'll be glad to see you. I’m sorting the pool.’ She looked at Angus, who stood tall and solid in the doorway, and she wanted him to stay with her, share this, and take the opportunity to understand the woman inside her who needed to be with birthing women.

‘You want a hand?' Angus looked at the clear-sided child's pool half-inflated in the middle of the living-room floor, then at Mia's red cheeks. She’d been manually blowing the darn thing up.

Of course, he thought it was funny. A rare “twinkle in his eyes” was noted by Mia as he said, ‘I see midwives require good lung capacity?’

She sucked in big breath and blew another breath into the pool before she answered. Then took a minute to recover. 'They do if the parents forget to buy a pump. Paul probably expected to borrow one from the mine or from me, which I didn’t bring. I didn’t expect Jo to be this far along.’

Angus nudged her out of the way. ‘Here, let me do that before I leave.’

Mia's breath whooshed in relief. ‘I won't say no. Thanks.’ Mia busied herself with the tubing Paul had remembered, thank goodness, to connect the bath through to the tap over the kitchen sink. Then began to sort her own midwifery necessities in the corner.

‘Your needs look simple,’ Angus said between breaths, and she grinned at him and his red face.

‘I'm a simple girl.’

‘No girl is simple,’ he muttered before he blew into the mouthpiece again.

‘Fun, isn't it?’ Mia watched, unutterably relieved she didn't have to inflate it by herself.

‘Oh, yeah.’ Angus paused, squeezed the valve shut as he gathered his breath, and they smiled at each other. Suddenly the rapport from Brisbane was back and they both looked pretty happy about it, Mia realised.

Maybe she'd imagined his coolness after they'd left the hotel. Maybe he wouldn't find it as easy to leave the lake – and her – as he'd thought. She was dreaming, but she could do that until she was used to the idea that he would go. She still regretted nothing.

She watched his eyes narrow as he stared at the bung, daring the pool to leak air. It didn’t. He exhaled one last huge breath to finish off the inflation and jammed the plug in with only a little loss of air.

Mia wondered how this usually serious man felt to be part of a community again, caught up in a mad moment he'd been dragged into. Nothing like the stern, picked-up-in-black-SUV persona she’d seen at the airport.

Mia's shoulders began to shake with silent giggles.

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