The Midwife's Baby by Fiona McArthur

Author:Fiona McArthur
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-08-14T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

THEY rose and crossed the room and strolled out through the French doors to the veranda. A soft breeze blew tendrils of hair across Georgia’s cheek and she felt Max’s gaze on her as she sat down on the swing seat. He sat next to her and his strong thigh brushed hers as they swung.

Georgia took a sip from her glass and tried to retrieve the light mood they’d shared in the dining room.

The focus had shifted suddenly so that she was aware of Max’s weight against her and the subtle scent of his aftershave even with the breeze carrying scents from the garden her way.

She remembered those crazy fantasies she’d had on the mountaintop and shifted a little on the seat.

She cleared her throat. ‘Meeandah Hospital is certainly grass roots. You might change your mind when you’ve had ten nights’ broken sleep in a row from callouts.’

Max spread one arm to encompass the vista and the other he dropped around her shoulders. ‘A hospital like we have here has fewer than one hundred and fifty births a year. That leaves me two hundred nights with sleep at least—not counting the quick births in the night that I’m told about in the morning.’

What a dream life as far as she was concerned. Imagine living here, Elsa growing up in this wonderful environment, Max as a true companion and lover, plus the best of doctors to work with. They were damned attractive thoughts but Max could never settle here.

‘Somewhere like this is a big step down,’ Georgia said as she thought of the high-powered position he’d held in the city, and even the subtle state-wide ramifications of what he achieved now, along with his visits to the hospital. His position was important to the whole scheme of obstetrics in New South Wales.

Max looked across at her. ‘Could you be happy working in a facility like this?’

‘Of course.’ Couldn’t he tell? She glanced around them at the idyllic lushness of the garden and the endless sky, and thought of the birth she had already been privileged to share. ‘If the health system will sustain it, I’d stay here for ever.’

Georgia exhaled a long blissful sigh and looked across at him. ‘This is what I love to do. Before I worked at Lower Mountains Base, I had my own home-birth practice, but nowadays I couldn’t make that kind of availability commitment with Elsa.’

‘Why is that?’

She loved it that Max seemed so interested. ‘I need the framework of other midwives around me and this sort of situation is the nearest I can get to the ideal world.’

Max sat back. ‘I would never have imagined this sleepy town could be an ideal world.’

She sighed. ‘For you it wouldn’t be. You’d miss not having the city to call on for amusement.’ As she said the words, disappointment washed over her. Of course she was being unrealistic.

That was sad but true. Max would move on and she might even think about staying here when the time came for them to part, if she could be safe.

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