‘Then push.’ Kat slid an arm round her shoulders and encouraged her, but Louisa gave a tiny sob.
‘I want Mac. I really want Mac.’
‘He’s coming, angel,’ Josh said quietly, sitting down beside her and taking her in his arms. ‘In the meantime, I’m just going to have to be a substitute. A pretty poor one, I know, but I’m the best there is. Go on, amputate my arms if you need to, but when this is over, I’m cutting your nails.’
Louisa buried her head in his shoulder and laughed. ‘But you hate babies and everything to do with children.’
‘Whoever told you that?’ Josh gave a lopsided smile and stroked her hair awkwardly. ‘I’m brilliant with children. Just ask Archie. I’ve been practising my technique on him. It still needs a bit of refining but I’m improving daily.’
Grateful that he was distracting and calming Louisa, Kat examined her again. ‘This baby is nearly born, Louisa,’ she said gently. ‘You’re doing so well. Just one more push.’
Where was Archie?
Suddenly anxious about her son, she glanced over her shoulder. Josh intercepted the look.
‘I told him he’s on ambulance duty,’ he said roughly. ‘I’ve stationed him in the garden with Hopeful, watching the road. Was that the right thing to do? I thought that a practical lesson in human reproduction might not be appropriate at his age.’
‘Exactly the right thing to do.’ She was immensely touched that, given everything that was happening, he’d still given thought to Archie’s feelings. ‘Uncle Josh.’ She felt Louisa’s abdomen tighten under her hand and turned her attention back to her friend.
‘This is it, Louisa. I can see the baby’s head.’ Remembering everything she’d learned from her time on obstetrics, she watched the head emerge and stopped Louisa from pushing. ‘Pant, now, that’s it.’ Kat encouraged her as the baby’s head was born and then let out a breath of relief. So far so good. ‘Well done. You’re nearly there, Louisa. The shoulders will come with the next contraction.’
She felt a flicker of panic. What if something went wrong now? What equipment did they have? Nothing…
Then she reminded herself that there was no reason why anything should go wrong. Plenty of women had babies with no problems at all. Why shouldn’t Louisa be one of them?
Even as she had the thought, Louisa screwed up her face with the contraction, held tightly to Josh and the baby slithered out into Kat’s waiting arms and started to bawl loudly.
Josh breathed out heavily and hugged Louisa tightly. ‘You clever thing.’ He looked at Kat and a big smile spread across his face. ‘And you’re a clever thing, too, Dr O’Brien.’
She shared his sense of relief that so far everything had gone smoothly. ‘You have a little girl,’ she said softly, lifting the baby carefully and giving her to Louisa. Then she wrapped mother and baby in blankets and felt some of the tension drain from her.
Which was all wrong, of course, she mused, because there was still the placenta to deliver and she hadn’t cut the cord.
At that moment Archie raced into the room, Hopeful at his heels. ‘The ambulance is coming. I heard it and—’ He broke off and stared at Louisa and then at his mother. Ts that it?’
‘Not “it”, sweetheart,’ Kat said gently. ‘Her. She’s a baby girl.’
‘Wow.’ Archie tiptoed across. ‘Can I see?’
Flushed with her success, Louisa smiled at him and pulled the blanket down so that he could take a closer look. ‘Of course you can. Isn’t she beautiful?’
Knowing that six-year-olds weren’t blessed with tact, Kat held her breath, waiting for Archie to make some ingenuous comment about how wrinkled and screwed up the baby was, but instead he stared in wonder.
‘That’s amazing. Why is she crying? What’s the matter with her?’ He looked at Josh. ‘I don’t understand why she’s crying. Does she want something?’
‘Don’t ask me,’ Josh drawled, his eyes fixed on his baby niece. ‘She may only be small, but she’s still a woman and what they want is always a total mystery to the male species. Get used to it, Arch. It’s a fact of life.’
Archie gave a nod and they shared a look of masculine understanding. ‘Right. Maybe she just wants a cuddle.’ He gave the casual shrug of an expert. ‘Girls usually like cuddles.’
‘Good idea,’ Louisa said, holding the baby closer. The newborn immediately stopped crying and Archie beamed.
‘I was right! You see? Simple.’
From outside they heard the roar of an engine and the shriek of sirens, and Mac raced into the house moments later with the paramedics on his heels.
‘I got your message. Is she OK? Has she had it?’ He stopped dead at the sight of his wife in the arms of his brother, a tiny baby cradled in her arms. ‘Oh, my God…’
‘Yes, to all those questions. I’m an uncle.’ Josh kept his arm round Louisa, a smug expression in his eyes, ‘and, if I say so myself, I’m pretty good at it. With Archie’s help, we’ve got this whole baby thing sorted.’