was supposed to hear all this or whether she should drift away and look out the window over the lake or something, but she guessed everyone else would know the ins and out of it. She’d find out eventually.
Mia was talking and walking until she opened the fridge. ‘So you could’ve brought her here earlier, even if you couldn’t get away. She could have stayed here or with Louisa. You know how Louisa loves to have people under her roof. And Tara’s there.’ She turned to Tara and drew her back into the circle.
‘Isn’t that right, Tara?’
‘I’ve never felt more welcome in my life,’ she said quietly, and hoped the others missed the pathetic neediness in the statement.
Thankfully they must have because Simon went on as if all was normal. ‘Well, now that I’m here I’m hoping I can manage a few weeks of relaxation till she settles in. Though I may have to do a quick trip back and forth in the middle. It depends when my next two private women go into labour, but they’re not due till after the new year.’
Mia closed the refrigerator and returned with two tall glasses of home-made lemonade. ‘So how are your training sessions going? Have you managed to inspire a few more docs to think breech birth without Caesarean can be a normal thing?’
He took the glass. ‘Thanks. ‘I’m trying. My registrar’s great.’ He took a sip and closed his eyes in delight. ‘Seriously, Mia, you could retire on this stuff.’
She actually looked horrified. ‘Retire? Who wants to retire?’
‘Sometimes I think I do,’ Simon said half-jokingly, and Mia raised her brows.
The concern was clear in her voice. ‘You sound like your father when I first met him. You do need a break. Watch out or Angus will be nagging you to move here and set up practice.’
‘Haven’t completed the research I want to do. A few years yet.’
A vision of Simon with a wife and kids popped unexpectedly into Tara’s mind. Made it a bit of a shame she didn’t stay in places too long, then she realised where her thoughts were heading. That way lay disappointment. Didn’t she ever learn? She’d rather think about Maeve. ‘So has Maeve joined any parenting classes?’
Simon shook his head and his concern was visible. ‘Wouldn’t go to classes in Sydney.’
Tara shrugged. ‘I don’t think that’s too weird. She’s a midwife. She knows the mechanics. And sometimes women don’t want to think about labour until right at the end. Or be involved in the couples classes without a partner. I get that.’
She could feel Mia’s eyes on them and obviously she wanted to say something. Tara waited. Mia was very cool and worth listening to.
‘Why don’t you ask her if she’d like to be on your caseload, Tara? I think a younger midwife would help when she’s feeling a bit lost and lonely.’
Tara could feel her chest squeeze with the sudden shock of surprise. That was pretty big of Mia to trust a family member to her. Her eyes stung and she looked away. Nobody had ever treated her as she was treated here. Or trusted her. She just hoped she didn’t let them down. ‘You know I’d love to. But I guess it depends who she wants.’
Simon looked at Mia too. He felt the shock and turned to look at his stepmother. He wasn’t sure what he thought about that and saw Mia nod reassuringly. Someone else looking after Maeve, not Mia? He looked at the bolshie but sincere young woman beside him. Was she experienced enough? What if something went wrong?
Then saw the flare of empathy for his sister in Tara’s face and allowed the reluctant acceptance that Mia could be right. Maeve wanted to run the show. Wanted to listen to her body without interference, if he’d listened at all to the arguments they’d had over the last couple of weeks, and he had no doubt young Tara was holistic enough for his sister to be able to do that.
Normally he would be right there with a woman, cheering her on, but he was having serious personal issues doing that with the sister he had felt most protective of all his life. Not that he’d actually be there, of course. But he was darned sure he’d be outside the door, pacing.
So maybe Mia was right. It could be harder for Maeve to relax with the connection so strong between her brother and his stepmother.
He found the words out in the air in front of him before he realised. ‘We’ll see what she says.’
He reassured himself that if Mia didn’t have faith in Tara, she wouldn’t have suggested it. And despite the mixed feelings he was starting to have about this intriguing young woman he really did feel a natural confidence in her passion for her work.
He’d seen it before. How Lyrebird Lake could bring out the best in all of them. Maybe he had lost that since he’d been so immersed in the high-tech, high-risk arena of obstetrics he studied now.
He’d even seen it with his own father. From hotshot international evacuation medic to relaxed country GP.
Maeve and Tara did have a lot in common and would get on well, the dry voice in his head agreed—all the way to dropkicking past boyfriends!
No. It would be good. This was all going to turn out even better than he’d hoped.
THE DINNER PARTY was a reasonable success. Maeve smiled and said the right things but still kept her distance and seemed a little flat to Simon. His stepmother was her own gorgeous self and treated both young women as if they were long-term friends of hers, and his father said very little but smiled every time his eyes rested on his wife or daughters.
Louisa was in her element because she loved dinner parties and seeing the family together. She was always happiest when children were around.
And young Tara, dressed in skin-tight, very stressed jeans that showed glimpses of skin beneath the ragged material moulded to her lush little body, drew his eyes like a magnet every time she walked past to the fridge on some errand for Louisa.
His father came to stand beside him. ‘Mia says you seem to get on well with Tara.’
‘She’s easy to get along with.’
Tara laughed at something Louisa whispered as she walked past again with a platter of fruit for dessert and both men sneaked a glance.
Angus looked away first. ‘I think our Tara’s had an interesting life. She’s a tough little cookie, on the outside at least.’
Simon glanced at his father’s face. ‘Lots of people have tough lives.’
‘Guess so.’ Angus took a sip of his beer. ‘What happened to Julia?’
‘Didn’t work out. Said I didn’t pay her enough attention. Let my work come between us.’
‘Did you?’
‘Maybe.’ Simon thought about it. ‘Definitely. Spent a lot of time apologising for leaving and heading into work. Started to enjoy work more than home and she found another guy.’
‘Took
