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Recommended Reading Suggestion July 2001 eharlequin.com.au
The surgeon’s secret!

Midwife Noni Frost needs a miracle! Burra Hospital’s maternity unit is under threat and will close unless a new obstetrician is hired. Yet who wants to work in the sticks?

Iain McCloud and his pregnant daughter have joined Noni’s antenatal classes. Aware of the hospital’s problems, Iain says he’s just a surgeon from Sydney – only then he falls for Noni! How can he tell her the truth? That’s he’s the obstetrician she’s needed all along, but that he needs to return to the city and he wants Noni to go with him.

Reviews

This delightful book by Australian author Fiona McArthur pleasantly surprised me. As a midwife herself, Fiona obviously knows what she’s talking about and I was propelled into the world of obstetrics jam-packed with all of its frenetic drama. You’ll laugh, you may even cry. Most of all, you’ll really enjoy this heart-warming story as Iain and Noni discover that love can throw you for a big loop when you least expect it!

Excerpt

Noni passed the plastic pelvis around the room waiting until it came back to her. She showed the little doll and explained the increased space in the pelvis for the baby to pass through if the woman was upright instead of being on the bed.

‘So stay off the bed, girls.’

‘So what’s the bed for, then?’ Iain couldn’t stand it any longer. She’d have people hanging off lightshades if she kept this up. She looked at him and he mistrusted her smile.

‘Why, for putting your suitcase on, of course.’ He looked around the circle of laughing faces and felt his own lips twitch. Good answer, you little witch. OK, answer this.

‘I can see how squatting could help but what about the fact that these days, in our society, we don’t squat? I’m not sure how long someone could take that position?’ Over to you, lady. He wasn’t playing fair, with Noni unaware of his obsterics background, but he was having fun. He couldn’t believe it.

‘That’s why we have toilets. It’s the perfect position for weak-kneed Caucasians. It’s supported and everything is pointing in the right direction.’

She shifted to the edge of her seat and mimed concentration in pushing, and he couldn’t help admiring her lack of self-consciousness. No way would he do something like that in front of a room full of people.

When do they go to the bed? he wondered. ‘Do you have many babies born on the toilet?’

Noni narrowed her eyes but the voice was innocent.

‘No, but we do have less epidurals, forceps and episiotomies.’

She was tenacious. He’d give her that. Soams had warned him. He smiled to himself. When he refocussed on her voice she was off on another tangent, and he let the words drift over him as he watched the play of emotion across her face.

He’d only been here a week and he felt as if he’d known her for years. If this were Sydney, he probably wouldn’t be fighting the attraction he felt for her so hard. If this were Sydney, he’d be trying to figure out how to get her into his bed.

He didn’t see that much of her and she was away for well over her normal hours. Luckily she hadn’t found out about his call-in the other night, so he was spared that discussion.

She laughed at something and glanced at him. He had no idea what the joke was about but responded to the humour in her face.

He was a sensible man and she wasn’t his type. He liked his women conservative, and aware of the rules. Not radical and naive. Besides, he wasn’t leaving the city and he didn’t believe in long distance relationships.

He wasn’t getting involved. He looked at his daughter and flinched. He’d already failed two women, with the worst possible results. He didn’t need another casualty on his slate. There was a lull in the classroom noise and Iain’s attention focused again on Noni.

‘Before we go any further, has anyone any questions they’d like to ask?’

Jacinta put up her hand as if she was in school, and Noni remembered just how young she was.

‘Last week you mentioned the bag of waters and that they sometimes break before you go into labour or during labour.’

Noni nodded.

‘What happens if they don’t break?’

‘That’s a great question, Jacinta. Sometimes they don’t break at all. Sometimes the doctor asks you if you want him to break your waters to help the labour along.’

Noni looked around the room. ‘This is another example of informed choice.’

‘Spare me.’ The words were quietly spoken but Noni heard them.

Noni raised her eyebrows at Iain but he was contemplating the ceiling.

‘You have a problem, Iain?’

‘No.’ The answer was short and implacable. So she ignored him.

‘A midwifery tutor told me, “The membranes are baby’s best protection before he or she meets their mother”. I believe intact membranes often mean a slower, gentler labour as the fluid wedge of membranes against the cervix lessens the pain of dilation. So think about it if someone suggests it would be quicker if your waters were broken.’

Iain frowned but didn’t say anything.

Noni went on. ‘Rarely is the baby is born while the sack stays intact, keeping in mind that a baby will not open its glottis - that is breathe - until exposed to air pressure, and the mother or midwife would break the waters to allow the baby to start life outside the womb. The old wives’ tale is that any baby born in the “membrane caul” or unbroken fluid sack around baby, will never drown. In the old days midwives used to save and dry “cauls” from a baby born intact and sell them to sailors to keep on their person while at sea.’

Iain rolled his eyes. ‘And they wondered why people burnt them as witches.’

The men in the class chuckled at Iain’s comment. Noni let them have their laugh, secure in her own beliefs.

She smiled at Jacinta. ‘Another one of my hobbyhorses, I’m afraid, Jaz. Let’s get on.’

The class went well and Jacinta asked another two perceptive questions about labour. Iain was being a pain, but for Noni there was a certain excitement in keeping ahead of him. He obviously knew a bit about childbirth but she could handle him. Noni was feeling quite positive about the group as she closed the windows at the end.

‘We’ll wait to see you lock up before we leave.’

Iain’s voice made her jump and she turned around slowly to face him.

‘Thanks, but I’m fine. I do it every week.’

‘I’m sure you do. We will wait nonetheless.’ He turned and stalked out into the foyer.

‘Arrogant man.’ She slammed the next window down and flicked the lock across. What does he think I am? Some wimp afraid of the dark? The logical side of her brain disagreed. What are you getting so uptight about? You know you hate it when the lights are out and you have to walk across the deserted parking area. She turned off the fan and had a last glance around the room.

They were waiting outside for her. ‘Thank you.’ That didn’t sound gracious, she chided herself. Jacinta scowled at her and she scowled back.

Iain smiled. ‘Well, that was fun. Goodnight.’

‘Smart alec.’ She muttered. Then she heard his voice drift back across the parking area.

‘I have sonic ears’.

Noni gunned the motor on the bike and decided to go for a swim. She carried one of those tiny chamois towels in her bag and she could swim in her underwear. A month ago it would have been light at this time but she wasn’t afraid of the dark.

The beach was deserted. Now that she was there, she really didn’t want to go in, but the demon of contrariness called her. When she slipped out of her jeans and put her toe in the water she started to think of all those Jawstype movies. This was dumb.

Noni pulled her jeans back on and walked back to the bike. Why should it matter if Iain was an irritating man? She climbed back onto her bike. It started to tip sideways in the uneven gutter - an inevitable slide. She strained and held it for a moment but knew it was a losing battle.

She had to pull her leg out of the way smartly before itwas caught underneath. Hell.

Noni swore again and reached over to switch the petrol off. She sat down beside her bike on the edge of the gutter, well aware from past experience that the bike was too heavy for her to lift once it lay on its side. She reached for her mobile phone. Aunt Win insisted she had one. Good old Aunt Win.

‘Hi, Aunt. I’m fine. Is Iain there?’ She listened for a moment. ‘Oh. Penelope is there? No. It’s fine. Don’t worry.’ There was the sound of voices and then Iain’s voice came on.

‘Where are you?’

She lay back on the grass beside the road with the phone beside her ear. ‘At the main beach.’ She moved the phone away from her ear as he raised his voice. When he stopped she put it back.

‘No, I wasn’t swimming. If you aren’t too busy, could you come and help me lift my bike up?’ She moved the phone away from her ear again as the volume increased. Her lips twitched.

‘No, I haven’t had an accident. I didn’t put the stand up properly and it fell over. I’m not strong enough to lift it back up.’ Her grin faded and she pulled the phone away from her ear and glared at it.

‘Don’t call me Superwoman and don’t bother coming. I’ll ring someone else.’ She jabbed the talk button to cut him off.

It took him four minutes to get there. With Machiavellian nastiness he’d brought Penelope. Round one to him.

‘Oh, dear, Noni.’ Penelope, immaculately groomed as usual, was all saccharine and good sense. ‘I always thought that bike was too dangerous for a woman. You really should get a sensible vehicle.’

Iain said nothing and Noni gritted her teeth. He strode over to the bike and reached down.

Both women watched Iain easily stand the bike up, the muscles in his arms hardening as if accustomed to the application of weights. Both raised their eyebrows and their eyes clashed.

‘Noni is lucky she had you to call, Iain.’

‘Mmm.’ He looked at Noni from under his brows and she was sure there was some amusement there. She picked up her helmet.

Noni nodded and smiled sweetly at Penelope’s sympathy.

‘Thank you for lifting my bike, Iain.’ Noni was trying to be very polite. ‘I’ll see you at home, then.’ She pulled the helmet on and started the bike. Then snarled bad words all the way home.