The Flyer (34 page)

If only she hadn’t allowed herself to believe she could be happy. Before she’d met him, she had come to terms with the idea of being alone for the rest of her life. At least she’d had her medicine. But she’d fallen in love with the handsome flyer, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t take her heart back.

By comparison, it had been so easy when Reginald had refused her. She hadn’t really wanted him, but had wanted to do the right thing. When she’d discovered he was married, that his wife’s money and prestige were more important to him than her, and their child, she’d made the decision to survive. At all costs.

It had been a good plan. While it had lasted.

Still, no matter how much she missed Paul already, she couldn’t bring herself to regret their time together. She had replaced all of the bad memories of her time with Reginald with wonderful memories of Paul. She could hold onto them forever, bring them out when her life became too lonely, and keep a piece of him close.

“I certainly hope you’ve learned your lesson well this time, Helen,” her mother chastised. “I don’t want any more rash decisions. You’ll see your father was right once we are safely home.”

“Yes, Mother.”

How could she be safe if she weren’t with Paul? Didn’t he realize that she couldn’t possibly be happy without him? Did he remember how he’d promised to keep her safe always?

Helen rubbed her stomach, the ache and sickening turns growing with every passing moment.

“Doc!” Tim O’Leary called from the clinic. “Doc, are you up there?”

Helen leapt from her seat by the window and threw open the door of her apartment. “Tim? What’s wrong?”

Tim appeared at the bottom of the stairs, his expression drawn and sweat soaking through his clothing.

Her first thought was of Paul. He’d been gone for only a few hours, but what if something had happened?

How would they even know?

“It’s Emily Winters.”

“I’ll get my bag.” She flew down the stairs and into the clinic. Blood pumped through her body with a life-giving force she hadn’t felt in too long. Only a few days had passed since she’d last experienced the exhilaration of being truly needed, but it seemed like a lifetime. “What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”

“Aye. We were on our way here when she started complaining that the baby was coming early. She thought we had plenty of time to reach you, but we had to stop along the way. Dale thought he could deliver the little mite, but it’s been more than two days.”

“Two days?” Helen put the last of the supplies into her bag and spun on Tim. “Why didn’t you come get me sooner?”

“That doesn’t matter much now, does it? Dale sent me for you. It’s a good six hours on horseback to reach them.”

“Why on earth were they coming here?” Helen headed out of the flat with Tim directly behind her, carrying her bag.

“Where do you think you’re going,” her mother asked in a voice as pious as any Helen had ever heard, “with … him?” She stood in the doorway, her back straight and her shoulders square and hard.

“Out of my way, Mother.”

“You can’t possibly leave, unescorted, with this man. Haven’t you done enough to ruin your reputation?”

“I’m a doctor, and one of my patients needs me. Get out of my way, or Tim will move you!”

Priscilla blanched, her mouth hanging open.

“Prissy!” Doc appeared on the staircase, a pair of rose trimmers in one hand. “For once in your life, get out of the bloody way.”

“Richard!” she gasped. “How can you approve of this? She’s a young woman, and she can’t go gallivanting across the countryside with some strange man.”

“Oh, for pity’s sake, woman. She’s a doctor. That’s what she’s here for.” He dismissed Priscilla with a roll of his eyes, then nodded to Helen and Tim. Finally, her mother shifted out of the doorway and allowed them to pass.

Doc asked, “Where are you going, precisely?”

“To the billabong where we used to have the rope swing. You know the one I mean?”

“Yes. Someone will follow with a medical wagon so we can bring Emily here. Off with you, now.”

Helen hurried outside, where she found two freshly saddled mounts. For the first time, she was thankful for her new dress. The wide, flowing skirt would make riding that much easier. Tim secured her bag to the back of his saddle, and once he’d helped her to mount, they rode like the wind out of town.

They rode for hours, alternately running and walking the horses. The road they traveled wound along the edge of the De Grey River. Trees lined the riverside and sparse desert, tinted red with dust, and fading sunlight spread from the other side, reaching to the horizon.

They urged the horses as hard as they dared. With no replacements, they were forced to stop twice to water them. Every second seemed to take an hour. Every hour seemed like a day.

Along the way, Tim explained Emily’s condition. No matter how severe the pains, the baby wouldn’t move. She’d been screaming for a full day, and Dale had feared she wouldn’t have the strength for much more. That’s when he’d sent Tim for help. They’d had enough babies to recognize when something was terribly wrong.

Losing a child was the worst thing a mother could experience. Jayla had lost hers early, and that had been hard enough. Helen had been nearly four months along when she’d lost her child on the ocean voyage from America. The pain of that loss still haunted her, still made her regret so many things. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to bring a child nearly to point of life, only three or four weeks from the brilliance of healthy birth, only to have that child ripped away.

Emily had been so happy just last week.

But then, so had Helen. The future had seemed so full and rich, the possibilities endless. Life could turn so quickly. In an instant, everything was different. With a few uttered phrases, the walls came crashing in, and nothing mattered anymore.

Wasn’t anyone entitled to happiness? If not her, then Dale and Emily certainly deserved it. And what about Paul? Hadn’t he done enough for others that he should have some small amount of peace for himself?

She was to blame for his unrest. If she hadn’t kept the worst of her secrets until the very end, perhaps he could have trusted her enough to love her. Maybe he would have believed in her forever, like he’d wanted to.

Instead, she’d betrayed him with her lies and half truths.

In the end, she deserved whatever pain she must bear—but he didn’t.

A distant scream sliced the late-afternoon twilight like a sharp, piercing blade.

Tim kicked his horse to a full run. Helen followed, holding to the reins with fingers that burned against the leather. She followed him off the road and into a stand of trees. The soft, sandy earth cushioned her feet when she threw herself off the horse and ran to a large tent erected well away from the water’s edge.

“Bring my bag!” she yelled back at Tim before she ducked into the tent.

Emily curled on a makeshift bed Dale had made from a combination of fallen leaves, palms, and blankets they’d brought with them. She was on her side, hugging her belly while Dale tried to soothe her by stroking her wet hair and her naked back.

Dale turned his gaze on Helen, the pain in his eyes imploring her to help. “I don’t know what’s wrong. The baby just won’t be born,” he whispered hoarsely, his voice a series of cracks.

“We’ll get to the bottom of it, Dale. Don’t you worry.” She forced a smile, and knelt next to Emily’s other side. “Hi there, girl. How are you feeling?”

“Something’s wrong, Helen,” Emily’s voice trembled. “None of the others were like this.”

Fear came in many forms. Some people shook. Others cried. Emily did both. Her shoulders rocked as sobs escaped her overused throat.

Tim slid into the tent with Helen’s bag. He placed it next to her, obviously trying not to make any noise. “How is she?”

Dale ran a hand over his whisker-covered chin. “The same.”

“Tim, why don’t you and Dale go outside and tend to the horses?”

“I’m not leaving my wife,” Dale growled.

“Just for a little while, Dale. Please?” Helen dug into her bag for her maternity stethoscope. “Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

“Come on, Dale. Out we go.”

Dale stiffened. At first, Helen didn’t think he was going to leave, but something in his expression changed after a moment and he finally stood. “Take care of her, Helen. She is my whole life.”

“I will,” she answered, suddenly wishing Paul loved her that much. “I promise.”

Tim and Dale left her alone with Emily.

Emily followed them out with her eyes, then turned the wide, pain-filled orbs on Helen. “I don’t want to lose my baby.”

Helen nearly choked. The memory of uttering those same words to a ship’s doctor who was beside himself as to how to deal with a distraught young woman, traveling without escort, assailed her. She’d been so alone and unloved then. That had been the worst part.

“We’re going to help you through this, Emily. I need you to lie on your back.”

Emily groaned, sucking in a small breath with enormous effort. “I can’t. It hurts. It hurts so much.”

“I know it does, sweetheart. But I need to listen to your baby. Can you feel him moving about?”

Emily nodded. “Not as much as yesterday, but some,” she hiccuped.

Helen pressed the stethoscope to Emily’s enormous abdomen. She’d grown considerably in only the past week, her shape having changed size and distention since the baby had dropped in preparation for its birth. She hadn’t been expecting the baby to be born for another month, but her size indicated she was further along.

Listening intently, Helen shifted the stethoscope from one side of Emily’s belly to the other. She smiled. How had she not heard that before?

“What is it?”

“You’ve gone into early labor because you’re just too big. There isn’t any more room in there, Emily. Not for both of them.”

“Twins?”

“I’m pretty sure. That explains the early labor. Now, to figure out where they are. Take a deep breath, Emily. This might hurt a little.”

Helen probed Emily’s belly, feeling for any part of the babies she might recognize. Emily screeched, gritting her teeth and fisting her hands in the blankets. Slowly, Emily gained a mental picture of the infants. An arm, a head, a leg. The first baby, higher in her belly, was head down, curled in a tight ball. She felt lower, pressing as gently as she could, but with enough force to find the second baby. Feet. An arm? Helen frowned. A head higher than it should be.

Dale rushed into the tent, apparently in response to his wife’s cries of agony. “What are you doing? You’re hurting her!”

“I know. I’m sorry, Dale. If you’re going to insist on being here, I’ll need your help.”

“Oh God!” Emily screamed. “It’s starting again!”

Emily’s belly tightened beneath Helen’s fingers. “Don’t push, Emily. Dale, help her. Hold her down. No curling up, and absolutely no pushing!”

“What’s wrong?”

Helen examined Emily internally as quickly as she could, wincing when Emily inhaled a sharp breath at the pain. “You’re nearly there, Emily, but you can’t push quite yet.”

“I want them out!” she screamed, anger and pain contorting her voice.

“Them?” Dale asked.

“Yes, them. And one of them is breech. It’s too late to attempt turning him now. She can’t push until she’s completely dilated.”

Together, Dale and Helen kept Emily on her back. She struggled, writhing and trying to force herself into a curled position. Each scream lanced through Helen’s heart with the force of a battering ram. For the moment, she was helpless to do anything but watch her friend suffer. She could only imagine how much worse it was for Dale.

When the pain finally vanished, at least for a few minutes, Emily cried quietly. “I can’t do it anymore.”

Dale’s brows drew together. The love he shared with his wife was written in the etched lines around his eyes and mouth, and the fear filling his eyes. “What if the baby can’t come out?”

Helen took a deep, steadying breath, but she couldn’t say the words aloud. “We’ll deal with that if we have to. For now, keep her as calm as you can.”

“No. Tell me now. What is the worst?”

“You can’t think like that. You must believe that everything will be fine.”

“I’m not a child, and neither is my wife. Tell us,” he insisted.

Helen closed her eyes briefly. Maybe she wasn’t meant to be a doctor, after all. She hated this part of the occupation. When she opened her eyes again, both Emily and Dale were staring at her with all of their fears making their eyes moist and shining. She couldn’t assuage those fears, and it broke her heart.

“If the baby won’t come out on its own, I can deliver it another way. But only if …”

“If what?” Dale prompted.

“Only if I’m going to die,” Emily whispered.

Helen nodded. “If we can’t save the babies and Emily, we can save the babies. I think. If I’d gotten here sooner, I could have performed a surgical procedure, but it’s too late now. One of the babies is too far into the birth canal. The surgery would most likely kill Emily at this point.”

“I can’t lose her,” Dale growled. “You do what you need to, Doc, but I will not lose the only part of myself worth anything. Do you hear me?”

Love that strong didn’t really exist, did it? Helen hadn’t believed it was possible, and the realization that two people could become one heart, one soul, one life, spread over her like a warm blanket. She loved Paul that much. It wasn’t fair that she’d come so close, only to have it torn away.

It wasn’t fair!

And it wasn’t fair that two people who had managed to find each other and build a perfect life together were on the cusp of losing the very thing that made them whole. Each other.

Emily clenched again, another pain ripping through her weak, exhausted body. Helen didn’t have time to think of what was and was not fair. Life just was.

When the pain finally eased, Helen checked Emily’s progress again. After three more contractions, she had finally reached a point where she could deliver.

“When the pain comes again, Emily, I want you to push. Dale, hold her shoulders up. Help her as best as you can. If the first baby isn’t born quickly …”