flushed at the taunt, suddenly only his nineteen years, his air of bravado wavering. ‘It doesn’t,’ he said almost sulkily. ‘You know that.’
‘Then it isn’t going to hurt you to wait two minutes while I ask her how she is, is it?’ she said brightly.
‘Okay,’ he agreed grudgingly. ‘But don’t be long,’ he added warningly as she turned to walk towards the other woman.
Dear Danny, he did like to think he was the Don Juan of Maddox College—and acted accordingly. When he forgot to act the macho man he could be good company, fun to be with, but in this mood he wasn’t quite so pleasant.
Close to, the young woman looked even worse, a sheen of perspiration on her brow, her pale skin having a grey tinge to it, her breathing shallow and ragged.
‘Excuse me …’ Rachel began hesitantly.
The woman looked up, tears instantly flooding her eyes. ‘Oh, thank God someone has actually spoken to me!’ she groaned, her accent distinctly American, her hand coming out to clutch on to Rachel’s. ‘Can you please help me?’
Rachel sat down on the bench beside the woman. ‘Of course,’ she squeezed her hand reassuringly. ‘Is it the baby?’
‘Yes. I—I think it’s going to be born soon. I’ve been having pains the last hour. Sharp pains,’ the woman added pointedly.
Rachel chewed on her bottom lip, knowing little or nothing about giving birth. ‘Do you think you should go to hospital?’
‘I know so,’ the other woman admitted ruefully. ‘I’ve been trying to get out of this park and into a cab for the last thirty minutes, but no one seems willing to help.’
Rachel gave her hand another squeeze, knowing exactly what she meant, having once seen a man actually collapse in the street and people walk past him. It wasn’t that the people were callous or uncaring, they just didn’t want to get involved—as Danny hadn’t. Only she wasn’t made of the same stuff, had been the one to call an ambulance for that man and sit with him while they waited for it to arrive, and she was going to help this woman too.
‘I’ll help you,’ she promised. ‘I’ll get you a taxi, and—–’
‘You won’t leave me?’ The woman sounded panicked.
‘I could call someone for you—–’
‘Nick—he’ll come. I—Oh!’ she groaned, her hand squeezing the blood out of Rachel’s fingers.
‘A contraction?’ Rachel gulped.
‘Yes,’ she gasped. ‘They’re coming quite regularly now. I don’t think it can be much longer.’
Rachel was no expert, but she had the same feeling. ‘There’s a call-box just outside the park gates, I’ll call an ambulance. And Nick.’
‘Just call the ambulance,’ the woman advised raggedly, pulling a tattered piece of paper out of her handbag. ‘It’s a private clinic,’ she explained as she gave Rachel the slip of paper. ‘My name is Kay Lennox, by the way—they might ask you that. The call to Nick can wait until later.’
Rachel managed to extricate her hand, flexing the fingers to recirculate the blood. ‘I’ll call the clinic now, and—–’
‘Rachel!’ Danny had tired of waiting and now stood in front of them. ‘We have to get back,’ he hissed pointedly.
She licked her lips nervously, knowing he wasn’t going to like what she said next. ‘Mrs Lennox is having a baby,’ she explained.
‘I can see that,’ he snapped.
She shook her head, and stood up. ‘I mean now,’ she told him softly. ‘I have to call an ambulance—–’
‘Count me out,’ he said instantly—as she had known he would. ‘Rachel, you can’t get involved in this!’
‘I can’t not get involved,’ she snapped angrily. ‘Can’t you see that—–’
‘I can see you’re determined to do this. I have a class to go to,’ he told her coldly. ‘Call me when you’ve finished—baby-sitting!’ He turned and walked off.
‘Danny!’ She soon caught up with him, grabbing his arm to stop him. ‘I thought you could stay with Mrs Lennox while I made the telephone call,’ she looked up at him pleadingly.
‘Then you thought wrong,’ he scowled darkly. ‘Are you mad, Rachel? It won’t just be the telephone call, the next thing you know she’ll want you to go to the hospital with her.’
‘She won’t ask, Danny,’ her hand fell away from his arm, ‘because I’ll offer,’ she added rebelliously.
‘Then you do it alone!’ He shook his head. ‘You always have to interfere. Why couldn’t you just leave the woman alone?’
‘And let her have her baby on a park bench?’ Her eyes flashed.
‘She wouldn’t have—–’
‘She still could if I don’t make that call. Goodbye, Danny.’
‘Rachel—–’
She looked at him coldly, disappointed to find he was another of those people who didn’t want to get involved. ‘I said goodbye.’ This time she was the one to turn and walk away.
When she next looked round it was to see Danny striding back towards the college. She doubted she would be dating him again. Oh well, maybe it was for the best; she didn’t particularly like people who couldn’t care for others.
She quickly called the clinic, giving them instructions on how to find them before rushing back to Kay Lennox’s side. ‘They’ll be here in a few minutes,’ she reassured her.
‘Thank you.’ Kay seemed to relax visibly. ‘You’ve been so kind. The baby isn’t really due for another three weeks, and I thought it would be all right for me to go shopping. Nick will be so angry when he finds out what’s happened,’ she frowned worriedly.
He must be a bit of a brute to be angry just because his wife was having their baby three weeks early. ‘I’m sure he’ll understand,’ Rachel soothed softly.
‘You don’t know Nick,’ Kay grimaced.
And she wasn’t sure she wanted to! Kay seemed genuinely worried about her husband’s disapproval. He should be made to understand that babies had no idea of the date picked out for them to arrive.
‘I’ll call him,’ she promised again. ‘Just as soon as we get you to the clinic. I’m sure he’ll forget to be angry once he sees the baby.’
Kay grimaced once again. ‘I doubt it. The last thing he said to me this morning was to take things easy.’
Rachel didn’t like the sound of Nick Lennox at all, although she gave no indication of that as she accompanied the other woman to the clinic in the ambulance. Once there Kay
