CHAPTER FIVE

      ‘I NEED SOMEONE to buddy this,’ Beth called, and Louise went over to the nurses’ station to look at the CTG tracing of one of Beth’s patients.

      The policy at The Royal was that only two experienced midwives could sign off on a tracing and so a buddy system was in place.

      It was way more than a cursory look Louise gave to the tracing. They discussed it for a few moments, going over the recordings of the contractions and foetal heart rate before Louise signed off.

      It was a busy morning and it sped by. At lunchtime, as Anton walked into the staffroom, had he had sunglasses then he would have put them on. There was a silver Christmas tree by the television and it was dressed in silver balls. There were silver stars hanging from the ceiling—really, there was silver everything hanging from every available space.

      ‘Have you been at the tinsel again?’ Anton said to Louise, who was eating a tuna salad.

      ‘I have. I just can’t help myself. I might have to go and speak with someone about my little tinsel problem—though I took up your suggestion and went with a theme in here!’

      ‘I cannot guess what it was.’

      Anton chose to sit well away from her and, for something to do, rather than listen to all the incessant gossip, he picked up a magazine.

      Oh, no!

      There she was and Louise was right—the underwear was divine.

      ‘Christmas Holly’ said the title and there a stunning Louise was in the stockings she’d had on last night but now he got the full effect—bra, stockings and suspenders. Anton turned the page to the Mistletoe range, and the shots, though very lovely and very tasteful, were so sexy that Anton felt his body responding, like some sad old man reading a porn magazine, and he hastily turned to the problem page, just not in time.

      Oh, God, he was thinking about swiping the magazine, especially when he glimpsed the Holly and the Ivy shots.

      ‘Ooooh.’ Louise looked over and saw what he was reading. ‘I’m in that one.’ She plucked it from his hands and knelt at the coffee table and turned to the section in the magazine as a little crowd gathered around.

      She was so unabashed by it, just totally at ease with her body and its functions in a way that sort of fascinated Anton.

      ‘You’ve got a cleavage,’ Beth said, admiring the shot.

      ‘I know,’ Louise said. ‘Gorgeous, isn’t it?’

      ‘But how?’

      Anton closed his eyes. These were women who spent most of their days dealing with breasts and vaginas and they chatted with absolute ease about such things, an ease Anton usually had too, just not when Miss Louise was around.

      ‘Well,’ Louise said as Anton stared at the news, ‘they take what little I have and sort of squeeze it together and then tape it—there’s a lot of scaffolding under that bra,’ Louise explained. ‘Then they pad the empty part and then they edit out my nipples.’

      ‘Wow!’

      ‘I wish they were real,’ Louise sighed.

      ‘Would you ever get them done?’ Beth asked.

      ‘No,’ Louise said, as Anton intently watched the weather report. ‘I did think about it one time but, no, I’ll stick with what I’ve been given, which admittedly isn’t much. Hopefully they’ll be massive when I get pregnant and then breastfeed.’

      ‘Anton!’ Brenda popped her head in to save the day. ‘I’ve got the husband of one of your patients on the phone. Twenty-eight weeks, back pain …’

      ‘Who?’

      ‘Emily Linton.’

      ‘Merda.’ Anton cursed under his breath and then took the phone while trying to ignore Louise, who was now standing over him as Hugh brought him up to speed.

      ‘Okay,’ Anton said, as Louise hopped on the spot. ‘I’ll come down now and meet you at the maternity entrance.’

      ‘Back pain, some contractions,’ Anton said. ‘Her waters are intact …’ As Louise went to follow him out Anton shook his head. ‘Maybe Emily needs someone who is not close to her,’ Anton said.

      ‘Maybe she needs someone who is close to her,’ Louise retorted. ‘You’re not getting rid of me.’

      Anton nodded.

      ‘Brenda, can you let the paediatricians know?’

      ‘Of course.’

      They stood waiting for the car and Anton looked over. Louise was shivering in the weak winter sun and her teeth were chattering. ‘Emily isn’t the most straightforward person,’ Louise said. ‘She acts like she doesn’t care when, really, she does.’

      Anton nodded and watched as, even though she was terrified for her friend, Louise’s lips spread into a wide smile as the car pulled up.

      ‘Come on, trouble,’ Louise said, helping her friend into a wheelchair.

      ‘I’m sure it’s nothing,’ Emily said, as Louise gave directions.

      ‘Hugh, go and park the car and meet us there.’

      Once Hugh was out of earshot, Emily let out a little of her fear. ‘It’s way too soon,’ Emily said. Her expression was grim but there were no tears.

      ‘Let’s just see where we are,’ Anton said.

      Though Anton would do his level best to make sure that the pregnancy remained intact, Emily was taken straight through to the delivery ward, just in case.

      ‘I had a bit of a backache last night,’ Emily admitted. ‘At first I thought it was from standing for so long yesterday. Then, late this morning, I thought I was getting Braxton-Hicks …’

      Louise was putting on a foetal monitor as Anton put in an IV line and took some bloods, and then, as Hugh arrived, Anton looked at the tracing. ‘The baby is looking very content,’ Anton said, and then he put a hand on Emily’s stomach as the monitor showed another contraction starting.

      ‘I’m only getting them occasionally,’ Emily said.

      But sometimes you only needed a few with a baby this small.

      ‘Emily,’ Anton said when the contraction had passed, ‘I am going to examine you and see where we are.’

      But Emily kept panicking, possibly because she didn’t want to know where they were, and nothing Hugh or Anton might say would reassure her.

      ‘I need you to try and relax,’ Anton said.

      ‘Oh, it’s so easy for them to say that when they come at you with a gloved hand!’ Louise chimed in, and Anton conceded Louise was right to be there because Emily let out a little laugh and she did relax just a touch.

      ‘How long are you here for?’ Emily asked Louise, because even though Louise had yesterday told her she was on an early today, clearly such conversations were the last thing on Emily’s mind at the moment and it was obvious that she wanted her friend to be here.

      ‘I’ve just come on duty,’ Louise lied, ‘so I’m afraid that you’re stuck with me for hours yet.’

      Anton