Snowbound: Miracle Marriage (Lakeside Mountain Rescue 8)

‘Sally is a midwife.’ Tom looked at her and Hayley gave a whimper of embarrassment.

‘You’re a midwife? Why didn’t anyone tell me? I had no idea.’

‘I’m not a midwife at the moment,’ Sally murmured. ‘I’m a pregnant woman and, believe me, it’s entirely different. You can see that just by looking at my husband. Normally he’s a cool, calm professional but today he’s turned into a psycho freak father-to-be.’

‘Thanks,’ Tom said dryly, offering his wife another sip of water. ‘It’s just because I care about you.’

‘Please don’t get sentimental.’ Patrick gave a mock shudder. ‘I prefer it when the pair of you row.’

‘No. No rowing.’ Sally gritted her teeth again and dug her nails into Tom’s arm. ‘It was a row that put me in this position.’

‘Actually, it wasn’t so much the row as the making up,’ Tom drawled, and Patrick backed towards the door, shaking his head.

‘Enough! Hayley and I will leave you to be romantic for a few minutes.’

Agreeing that the couple needed some private time, Hayley checked the foetal heart once more before following Patrick. But before she left the room she cast a final glance towards Sally. ‘Everything is fine. I’ll be back in ten minutes but if you’re worried, press the buzzer.’

Patrick pushed coins into the vending machine and bought two cups of hot chocolate. ‘I’m not asking you what you want.’ He handed one to Hayley. ‘You’ll just have to trust me when I say that the tea tastes like dishwater and the coffee tastes like battery acid. Hot chocolate is the only option.’

‘Hot chocolate is good.’

‘You must be exhausted—let’s go and sit in my office for five minutes.’

She followed him into the room and looked around. ‘Where are the children?’

‘They’ve gone down to the play area outside the children’s ward. Posy likes the rocking horse.’ Patrick gestured towards the armchairs. ‘Collapse for a minute, I’m sure you need it. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’re doing for Sally.’

‘Oh…’ She blushed and sipped her chocolate. ‘It’s my job.’

Her job.

Patrick lounged in his chair, realising that he’d never given any thought to Hayley in her professional capacity. In fact, he was embarrassed to admit that most of his thoughts about her had been of a much shallower nature. ‘You’re a fantastic midwife. Tom isn’t easy to deal with but you stood your ground with him and you calmed Sally down. And she isn’t easy. She’s very exacting.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with being exacting.’

‘That’s why she’s so relaxed with you—your attention to detail is incredible.’ He looked at her curiously. ‘You don’t know this department but in no time at all and with no apparent fuss you’ve located every piece of equipment you need, every request form and observation chart—it’s all done. Perfect. I could stand up in a court of law and produce evidence of perfect care.’

Hayley looked alarmed. ‘I hope you won’t have to stand up in a court of law because of anything I’ve done. In my experience that sort of thing only happens when there’s a breakdown in communication.’

Patrick grinned. ‘And that’s another thing you excel at—communication. The aromatherapy was a good idea. Who taught you to do that?’

‘I went on a course. I think relaxation is important for a pregnant woman. I used to run relaxation classes in Chicago and I often used aromatherapy on the unit.’ She blew gently on her drink to cool it. ‘I don’t believe childbirth is all about following the textbook. It’s about doing what works for the individual, isn’t it? That might not be aromatherapy or massage. A few weeks ago I had a woman who couldn’t bear to be touched so massage was out of the question.’

‘So what did you do with her?’

‘I found out what she usually did to relax.’ Hayley took another sip of her chocolate. ‘Turned out she liked listening to story tapes. So that’s what we did. Instead of p

laying music, we listened to an actor reading Charles Dickens. I quite enjoyed it, actually. Made a nice change.’

Patrick lifted his eyebrow. ‘You got to the end of the book?’

‘It was a long labour,’ Hayley said cheerfully, and Patrick looked at her with new respect, realising how little he knew about her.

Away from the work environment she was funny and selfdeprecating, but here she was pure professional. ‘Did you always want to be a midwife?’

‘It was that or paediatric nursing but I found that too upsetting,’ she admitted. ‘Midwifery is a happy job.’

Patrick laughed. ‘A happy job?’