Matronly Duties (28 page)

There’s deathly silence for a few seconds, then Howard responds. “We mean no harm. We’re just trying to reach the surface.” He takes a step forward; Dad and John follow.

“I’m well aware who you are and what you’re doing,” the security guard yells. “Stay right where you are, or we’ll be forced to open fire.”

Howard, John, and Dad take another step forward. “We’re going to the surface, and if we have to go through you to do it, we will.”

They argue to and fro, and then Howard reaches behind his back, wrapping his fingers around the handle of his gun. John and my father do the same. A shot rings out, and I’m not sure who fired it, but suddenly the parking lot is full of noise reverberating off the tunnel walls. I see Howard pointing the gun at the security guards who started firing at our party.

I put my hands over my ears, close my eyes, and duck down. I don’t know how long the noises last, but everything becomes eerily quiet all of a sudden. I push myself up and look around to see Dad standing over Howard, who is lying on the ground. All four guards are on the ground and not moving.

Without even thinking of the consequences, I’m out of the cart and running to Howard’s side.
Please, don’t let him be dead.

I drop to my knees beside him. The first thing I notice is a blood mark on his sleeve. “Oh my gosh!”

“I’m fine, sweetheart. They only got me in the arm.”

I glance up, surprised to hear his voice. His eyes had been closed, but now he’s staring at me. Relief washes over me, I’m so happy that he’s okay.

“It’s all right, sweetheart. You need to keep it together. We are almost there.” Howard gingerly stands up. “Come on everyone,” Howard yells. “We need to get the airlock open and everyone inside. It won’t be long before more security arrives after that little showdown.”

While I run for a medical kit to bandage Howard’s arm, a couple of Trads head inside the building the guards had come from earlier, I presume to open the airlock.

I’ve just finished wrapping up Howard’s arm when the warning sirens sound, and then the ten-metre-wide airlock door starts to slide open.

Dad and the other two reappear, carrying large boxes, which I can only assume have the protective clothing we’ll need to wear outside. Howard surveys the contents. He hands out hooded coats, waterproof pants, and tinted goggles.

“Grant, Toby, John—seeing as you’re already dressed, can you get the vehicles inside the airlock?” They all nod and do as asked.

Once the vehicles are all in, Howard signals for everybody to get in their designated vehicles to continue the journey. I start to walk towards the cart but stop when Howard doesn’t follow. “What are you doing?” I ask.

“Making sure everyone gets out of this safe and sound. Now, hop in the cart. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“No, I’m staying with you.”

“For Christ’s sake, love, please, will you just get in the cart?”

I begrudgingly do as he asks. He turns and walks away, disappearing on the other side of the airlock doors.

A few minutes later, the warning alarms change tone, signalling the airlock door is closing. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I turn around, looking for Howard. He’s grabbing the guns the security guards dropped when they fell, and then he is running through the airlock. I expect him to get into the cart, but he doesn’t.

“Toby, John, Grant! We’ve got company!” Howard yells. They line up in front of the carts, guns pointed out the slowly closing doors.

I don’t understand what is going on until I hear it—faint but most definitely OSP sirens, and they sound like they’re close.

Centimetre by centimetre the doors close together, but they still aren’t shut when the security carts arrive. Howard and the guys don’t wait this time—they open fire before the guards can get out of their carts. It’s excruciating watching the door close the last few metres. Gunfire continues to ring out until almost the very last second, but then the door finally closes with a boom and the locks clank into place.

Knowing the door is shut and we’re safe, I’m out of the cart and running to Howard before I even think of the possible ramifications. I need to know he’s all right.

“Thank goodness!” I launch myself at him, and he catches me with the arm not holding the gun.

“I’m fine, love,” he says as he pulls me close. His lips crash into mine, and I melt into him. He pulls away before I can get too lost in him. I give him my best pout, which only makes him laugh. “We need to get in the cart, love. The exterior door will start opening soon.”

He’s right, of course. No sooner are we seated in the cart than there’s a loud clank signifying the locks have been triggered on the outside door. I grab Howard’s hand, needing the reassurance he is there with me and we are safe. As the door starts to open, I glance around the cart to make sure everyone I hold dear is present and happy.

“I can’t believe we did it.”

“We’re not quite there yet, love, but it won’t be long.”

“They’re not going to follow us?” I ask.

“I doubt it. They won’t risk damaging the airlock to stop us. And I may have damaged the internal door controls just enough that it’ll be a while before they can open the door.” He gives me a very self-satisfied expression.

I look out the rear window at the giant airlock doors—we’re safe on one side, but the citizens of Oceania are trapped on the other. Every minute of my life was spent locked in that city, training to be nothing but a pretty face. The ever-familiar twinge of guilt hits at the idea I have abandoned the citizens to the likes of Smythe and Denham. But the knowledge that one day those two will get what they deserve keeps me satisfied for now.

“You okay, love?” Howard’s question breaks me out of my thoughts.

“Yes. As long as I’m with you, I’m fine.”

I turn to watch out the front windscreen as the outer doors continue their slow creep open. There’s no looking back anymore, that’s all in the past; the future is all that’s important now. A bright new future full of endless possibilities.

As the light streams into the airlock from outside, I immediately cover my eyes with my goggles. I am mesmerised at seeing sunlight for the first time; it’s even more beautiful than I expected.

When the doors finally open all the way, I instantly feel the cold, even with all my layers of protection. I huddle closer to Howard. It isn’t as bad as I expected, though, and certainly it isn’t going to kill anyone instantaneously.

We’re a short way past the airlock when a massive vehicle comes into view. It is humongous and the wheels are easily as tall as me.

Howard pulls the cart up next to the vehicle and hops out. A guy jumps down from the overlander and greets Howard. They talk for a minute, and I can’t hear what they are saying, but the smiles and the handshake indicate it’s an amiable conversation. Howard returns to the cart and opens the door. He holds his hand out for me and I take it.

“We’re free?” I ask as he helps me out of the cart.

“Oh yes, love. We are most definitely free.” He pulls me into his arms and holds me tight.

“What do we do now?”

He smirks. “Whatever we want.”

“I like the sound of that.”

Howard’s mouth claims mine in a passion-filled kiss, and all my tension ebbs away. For the first time in a long while, there is nothing hanging over my head, no duties that need performing, no one to answer to but myself.

I’m truly free.

“I love you, Howard James.”

“I love you, too, Bethanie Greene. Come on. Our future awaits.”

Yes, yes it does.

Epilogue

“Oh crap!” I hold my hand over my mouth and run to the loo again.

Damn, I wish this stomach bug would go away.

After emptying the last of my breakfast from my stomach, I wash up and head down the hall to the Jameses’. Their apartment is on the same floor as ours, but two doors down.

Life in Sydney is like living on a different planet compared to Oceania. I couldn’t help but be blown away at the setup they have. Everyone from the settlement lives in one giant multistorey building. The thirty floors above ground house all the residents. Each floor has ten self-contained apartments, as opposed to the house-style domiciles of Oceania.

For every floor above ground, there is one floor below. A few of the levels have specific purposes, like the school level, the medical level, and the utilities level. But other than that, they are filled with various industries that keep this place going.

When I knock on the Jameses’ door, it takes a while but eventually opens. Instead of Rhonda, Claire stands in the doorway.

“Hey, sweetie, where’s Mum?”

“In the bathroom. She’s not feeling well.”

“Can I come in?”

“Yep,” she says and steps aside so I can enter.

“Hey, Rhonda,” I call out. “It just me, no rush.”

“Hey, Beth. I’ll be out in a minute.”

I sit down on the couch. A familiar retching sound echoes from the bathroom, and I feel guilty that I may have shared my stomach bug.

When she finally comes out, she is looking a little worn but cheerful, nonetheless.

“Sorry.”

“What on earth are you sorry for?” she asks.

“Giving you my stomach bug. I heard you vomiting in the bathroom.”

“Oh, dear, I don’t have a stomach bug. I’m pregnant again.”

Her words floor me. Not only did I think she was too old to conceive, but I suddenly have this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that I don’t have a bug either.

“Are you all right?”

All I can do in my state of shock is shake my head. It takes a minute to gather my thoughts, but then I ask, “How do you know?”

“How do I know what?”

“That you’re pregnant.”

“Oh, well, that’s easy. The nausea is usually a dead giveaway, but also I haven’t had a monthly cycle in about eight weeks. I thought I was finally starting the change of life, but when the morning sickness set in, I realised it wasn’t that at all.”

I think back, trying to remember when I last had a monthly cycle.
Bugger, it was just before Christmas.
I mentally do the maths and realise it was more than seven weeks ago.

“Are there any other normal symptoms?”

“Well, the most common ones are extreme tiredness and sore, swollen boobs.”

If I wasn’t already sure that I was pregnant before I asked, I would bet my life on it now.

“I think I’m pregnant.”

Rhonda walks over to where I’m sitting and pulls me into a tight embrace. “I figured as much. Congratulations.”

Suddenly panic sets in and a million thoughts run through my mind. How am I going to tell Howard? Would he be happy we’re going to have a baby? Am I happy about this? Will I be a good mum? How are we going to deal with being parents on top of everything else we have to do?

Obviously sensing my panic, Rhonda says, “It will be fine. This is a blessing. You’ll see.”

I am about to argue when I realise that I have been so self-absorbed that I haven’t congratulated her on her own impending arrival.

“Congratulations to you as well. Sorry, I was a little thrown by my own revelation.”

“It’s all right, I totally understand. The first time can be a little scary.”

If one word encompasses everything that I am feeling, it is scared.

Before long, the day is over and I head home to wait for Howard. I’m listening to the radio when the front door opens.

“Hi, love, I’m home.”

The nerves I managed to quell earlier return in full force. “In here.”

I hear him moving around in the bathroom, probably washing away the day’s grime. He calls out, “Hey, did you know that Mum’s pregnant again?”

My heart is beating a million miles an hour. “Yeah, she told me today.”

He comes into the lounge room. “I can’t believe I am going to have another brother or sister in seven months.”

Deciding now is as good a time as any to break the news, I respond, “Yeah, it will be good that our child will have someone in the family close to their own age.”

“Yeah, it—” He stops midsentence as my words sink in. “What did you say?”

“I said it will be good that our child—” I don’t even get a chance to finish my sentence. He strides over to me, enthusiastically embracing me and placing kisses all over my face, each one interspersed with a murmured “I love you.”

Pulling back, he looks at me, so much love and adoration dancing around his face. “We’re going to have a baby?”

Erring on the side of caution, I say, “Well, I don’t know for certain, but all the signs are there—the late monthly cycle, the nausea, the tiredness, and, of course, the sensitive boobs.” He chuckles at the last bit. More than once in recent times I’ve asked him to stop touching my breasts because they were sore.

“I love you so much, Beth.”

Never before have I seen such utter adoration in his gaze. His lips meet mine, and he kisses me in a slow, worshipful manner. Any further thoughts or conversation are forgotten as we retire to our bedroom and celebrate our news by making love over and over.

***

When I wake the next morning, it doesn’t take long for my stomach to send me running to the toilet. Somehow knowing that my vomiting is caused by the fact my body is growing a child makes it easier to bear.

Tonight we are going out for a Greene and James family dinner. We have done this a couple of times since we arrived, and it means so much to me that our families get along so well. When Howard and I get to the restaurant, we notice we are the last to arrive. After saying hello to our families, we take our seats. As I peruse the menu, I want to cut to the chase and shout from the rooftops that I’m pregnant. I can’t stop the smile that crosses my face knowing that Howard is intending to tell everyone our news tonight.

Once our drinks arrive, he stands and taps his fork against his glass.

“Thank you,” he says as everyone looks at him. “I know you all think tonight is just a typical family gathering, like the other few we’ve had, but I actually have something I would like to share with you all.”

My nerves thunder through my chest. I hope my parents are as excited by our news as we are.

Howard turns to me. “Bethanie, I know we have only been in each other’s lives for a relatively short period of time, but I knew from the very beginning that if you gave me the chance I would love you forever.”

I look at him, uncertain where he is going with this. Suddenly, he is on one knee holding out a jewellery box.

“I love you with all of my heart, and if you’ll have me, I would love to be your husband. Will you marry me?”

My eyes prick with tears as I sit speechless before him. When he started talking, I was expecting him to tell everyone I was pregnant and sit back down. I wasn’t expecting this. I stare at the ring in his hand and will my voice to cooperate with me.

“Y-y-y-es.” He smiles, but I know I can give him a better response than that. Gathering all my wits I try again. “Yes! Howard James, I would love to be your wife.”

He stands and pulls me to him, sealing the deal with a kiss. I can hear the cheers of our family around us and am extremely glad they were here to witness this momentous occasion.

As he pulls back, he gives me a smile, then grabs my left hand and slides his ring onto my finger. With one more kiss for luck, he turns to our family and tells them our other news.

“While we are celebrating, Beth and I also have some other news. We are expecting our first child.”

Another round of congratulatory cheers goes up, and my mum stands to hug me.

Out of the corner of my eye I notice Howard’s dad rise, too, and I suspect he is about to add to the celebratory news.

“Seeing as there has been lots of good news tonight, I figure now is as good a time as any to tell you all that my beautiful wife and I are expecting child number seven.”

There are a few shocked looks at first, but soon there is another round of best wishes.

We have a wonderful dinner, and there is much talk about all the upcoming events. Try as I might to pay attention, I have a hard time doing so. I can’t keep my eyes off my gorgeous fiancé or the ring on my finger that says I am his.

Never in a million years did I expect when I was preparing for my normal Sunday run all those months ago that I would end up here. Less than a year later, I am no longer Matron, I am living somewhere other than Oceania, I am engaged to a wonderful man, and I am pregnant with our child.

It just goes to show how quickly things can change. Maybe this time next year we will have effected change on a much greater scale.

Only time will tell, but as long as I have Howard and our family, we can achieve anything we set our minds to.

As we raise our glasses and toast to the future, for the first time in a long time I am looking forward to it.