She stood up to go to the toilet and her waters broke. Then nothing for a while and then suddenly all this pain and she keeps yelling at me and telling me she feels sick.’ Steve jabbed his fingers through his hair. ‘Her bag’s packed and everything. Should I take her to the hospital?’
‘Yes. Get the car out of the garage,’ Logan said tersely, but Evanna intervened.
‘We’ll just look at her first,’ she said quickly, catching Logan’s eye to prevent him from arguing with her. It wouldn’t help Steve to know that Logan was worried. ‘Can I go up?’
‘Of course. You know where it is. First on the right.’
Evanna ran up the narrow staircase and pushed open the bedroom door. ‘Sonia?’
She was on the floor, kneeling, her elbows on the bed. Her hair was sticking to her forehead and her eyes were scared. ‘Nurse Duncan. Thank goodness. I tried to call you.’
‘I know. I had a missed call and then you didn’t answer. But I’m here now. Goodness, you look hot. Let’s get a cool flannel on your head.’ Evanna dropped her bag on the floor and knelt down next to Sonia. ‘You’re going to be fine, I promise. I just need to wash my hands and then I can take a look at you and we can decide what to do. Can I use the bathroom?’
‘Through there.’ Sonia waved a hand and then gave a howl of pain and buried her head in her arms. Steve came thundering up the stairs and slid an arm round her.
‘There, love. You’re doing well,’ he said in a bracingly cheerful tone.
Evanna emerged from the bathroom in time to hear Sonia snap, ‘Get away from me.’
Seeing the hurt and confusion on Steve’s face, she put a hand on his arm. ‘Women in labour always say things they don’t mean,’ she said softly, kneeling on the floor next to Sonia and rubbing her shoulders.
‘I just want to help,’ Steve said helplessly, and Evanna nodded.
‘Could you fetch a jug of iced water? And a cool flannel would be welcome, I’m sure. This heat is stifling.’
‘I put the fan on her but it seemed to make her cross.’
‘Don’t tell the whole island I’m moody!’ The contraction eased and Sonia groaned. ‘This is agony. Why don’t any of the books tell you that it’s this painful? There’s all this rubbish about breathing through the pain and when it hits it’s so bad I can’t breathe at all!’
‘How often have the pains been coming?’
‘It feels continuous,’ Sonia groaned. ‘My waters broke and there was nothing and then suddenly, wham. Agony.’
‘Evanna.’ Logan’s tone was sharp and Evanna looked up to see him standing in the doorway, his knuckles white as he held onto his phone. ‘We need to get her to the hospital. Jim is holding the ferry.’
‘I’ll go and get the car,’ Steve began, but at that moment Sonia turned her head and was violently sick into the bowl that Steve had left by her side.
‘She can’t go on a ferry like this, Logan,’ Evanna remonstrated softly, sliding a hand over Sonia’s shoulders to support her, ‘neither can she go on a helicopter. I need to examine her, but I think she’s in transition.’
‘Transition?’ Logan repeated the word as if he’d never heard it before, and Evanna felt a twist of unease deep inside her.
Since the death of his wife in childbirth, Logan had always been careful to transfer every woman to the mainland in time for delivery.
Was he going to be able to cope with this?
‘She’s not going anywhere, Logan. She’s going to have the baby here, and that’s fine.’ For everyone’s sake, Evanna kept her voice calm and steady. She didn’t want to frighten Sonia. Logan’s jaw tightened and he glared at her as if she were personally responsible for the fact that Sonia had gone into labour a month early while still on the island.
Understanding the reason for his tension, Evanna wanted to reach out and hug him. She wanted to tell him that she understood. She wanted to reassure him and talk it through with him, but Sonia gave another groan and writhed in agony.
‘Breathe in now, Sonia,’ Evanna instructed, her eyes still on Logan’s face as she coached Sonia through the contraction. ‘That’s good. Well done. Just as we practised in class.’ She was talking and encouraging but her attention was on Logan.
His face was white and drawn and suddenly she felt tiny fingers of panic slide down her spine. If this turned out to be a normal delivery then there would be no problem, but if she needed a doctor, would Logan be able to help?
She’d never known him like this before—never known him anything but completely calm and in control. Normally it was Logan who led everything. The time Michael King had crashed his tractor and suffered a severe head injury, it had been Logan who had managed to keep him alive. When Barbara Mullond’s baby had developed meningitis, it had been Logan’s quick actions and incredible instincts that had prevented a disaster. He was never anything less than confident and skilled and she was used to turning to him.
As Sonia’s contraction eased, Evanna rocked back on her heels and snapped on a pair of gloves.
Was it her fault? Should she have sent Sonia into hospital sooner? But even as she asked herself the question, she knew that the answer to that was no. She’d looked at the guidelines, she’d discussed Sonia’s case with the hospital and she’d monitored her regularly. She’d done all the right things, but the truth was that, no matter how careful they were, childbirth was occasionally unpredictable. They couldn’t transfer everyone just because they lived in a rural area.
But Logan certainly didn’t need this particular outcome.
Why did life have to be so complicated? Why couldn’t Sonia’s delivery have been straightforward? Logan’s face was white and drawn and Evanna felt awful for him, hardly daring to imagine what he must be thinking. After what had happened with Catherine, he didn’t need this. And she wasn’t in a position to offer the support he deserved because she had a labouring woman to deal with.
Afterwards, she promised herself, forgetting the awkwardness that had suddenly emerged between them. After this was over she’d make sure he had the opportunity to talk.
Before she could examine Sonia, another contraction consumed her and suddenly Evanna was in absolutely no doubt that the arrival of the baby was imminent. There was going to be no time to get her to the mainland. No time even to track down Ethan, the other island doctor.
Somehow she was going to have to do this by herself but make it look as though Logan was helping. She didn’t want the inhabitants of the island gossiping.
‘I don’t want to do this any more! I’ve changed my mind.’ Sonia started to sob and thump her husband. ‘This is all your fault. All of it. I hate you. I really hate you. You were the one who wanted children!’
‘You said you wanted them, too. Sonia.’ Stricken and helpless, Steve tried to take her in his arms but she thumped his chest and pushed him away.
‘Get away from me! Don’t touch me! I hope you
