‘Funny that,’ he said with a lopsided grin. ‘Ned is always telling me I coddle my patients.’
When Andy went off to the hospital the house seemed very empty, although Ned and Louisa made sure she had company if she wanted it and encouragement to rest when she needed.
Ned, while supposedly semi-retired, was a white-browed, hyperactive Scotsman who bounced from one task to another with boundless energy.
He ran a clinic every afternoon in a rundown set of consulting rooms at the end of the house, played chess on Tuesdays and Thursdays and was the local Rotary Club president. For fun he carved native animals out of driftwood from the lake and the house was bedecked with his figurines. Sadly, he found it harder with his decreased eyesight for fine detail.
He hobbled a little with his stiff hip, and if he misplaced his glasses—which he did frequently—he could barely read the brand name on the cereal pack, but his diagnostic skills were in no way diminished by his eyesight.
Intuitive and caring, Ned saw through Montana’s façade of calmness and she found herself sharing more with him about her loss of Douglas and her struggle to move on from it than she had with either of her womenfriends.
She wondered if Ned had been equally as
healing with Andy. Maybe Ned was the lyrebird that brought healing.
Ned’s housekeeper, Louisa, was a round Yorkshire dumpling of a woman with merry eyes and big breasts that Dawn cuddled into like a pillow from the first moment.
The feeling appeared mutual as Louisa would commandeer Dawn whenever she could and whisk her off to the kitchen to watch while she cooked.
The first evening Montana glanced at the clock to check the time more often than usual, until she realised she’d begun to calculate the time until Andy returned.
It was probably only because she had more time than she’d expected on her hands, although that didn’t account for the little skip in her heart rate when he did walk in.
In fact, he looked so attractive with his easy smile and laughing green eyes when he asked about her day that she couldn’t help her own smile in return.
She glanced across at Louisa and Ned, who seemed to have faded into the distance since his arrival and weren’t paying attention to her and Andy. ‘I haven’t achieved anything. They won’t let me help.’
‘Dawn looks happy.’ He glanced at the couple, who laughed as they peeled vegetables together. ‘No discontent there. You must have achieved something. Come for a walk before tea.’
A walk in the cool of the evening did sound heavenly, Montana thought, and no doubt Dawn
would enjoy an outing in the fancy old pram Ned had procured from somewhere.
But surely Andy didn’t need to go out again. Selfish woman, she admonished herself. ‘Don’t you ever sit down? You’ve just come in.’
Andy shook his head. ‘I relax better upright. I’d enjoy it, too.’
After some organising of the pram, the three of them meandered along the lakeside path under overhanging trees, and the cool evening breeze was as delightful as Montana had imagined it would be.
They walked side by side and she had to be careful not to lean too close towards Andy as they strolled. It was probably just the fact of two people out walking with one baby but it almost felt like a family excursion. That was ridiculous when she’d only known Andy a week.
The houses they passed all seemed to be built of heavy timber and pretty gables and wroughtiron enclosed back verandas that looked over long rear gardens.
If this was suburbia then Montana hadn’t seen anywhere like it as peaceful or pretty, and the warmth of the evening seemed to wrap the three of them in contentment.
She felt like a child peering through other people’s windows at Christmas, which was strange when in Westside she had her own house and garden, but suddenly home felt a million miles away from here and not a quarter as attractive.
‘Do you ever think of buying a house around here?’ The words fell out and she hoped they weren’t too personal, but Andy didn’t seem worried she’d asked.
He smiled across at her. ‘I might do some time in the future. I did buy my dream block of land at the end of the lake, but most of my time is spent at the hospital or on home visits.’ He shrugged.
‘At the moment I wouldn’t be able to give a house and garden the care they needed until more medical relief arrives.’
Montana wondered if that was really true, or did Andy choose to spend so much time finding things to do so he didn’t have to be alone in a house of his own?
They meandered on and the sun set behind the hills as they turned back towards the doctors’ house.
The three weeks left in January passed in a blur with what became ritual walks along the lake in the evening and caring for Dawn through the day.
Late in the month Andy took Montana to the flying club for a barbeque and she followed him nervously out of the car.
Andy was greeted like a long-lost friend and he introduced Montana to Paul, the local flying instructor.
‘So do you fancy learning to fly, Montana?’ Paul asked with sweep of his hand towards the sky.
‘Not at the moment, thanks,’ she said, and glanced
across at Andy whose laughter-filled eyes dared her to tell Paul what she really thought.
‘You’ll have to come up with me one day,’ Paul said, oblivious to the shudder from Montana. ‘Andy’s only an amateur in a baby plane.’
He pointed to a petite brunette serving salad at the trestle table. ‘My wife has a beautiful biplane, a Tiger Moth. Now, that’s real flying.’
Driving home later, Andy teased her about her not taking up Paul’s offer.
‘I can just see you with goggles and a flying jacket in the front of the Tiger Moth.’
‘Not.’ Montana refused to take the bait. ‘But thanks for taking me out. It was lovely to have a change of scenery and, you’re right, the flying club mob are larrikins but lovely.’
Montana had begun to itch for some work, an occasional relief shift even at the hospital when Andy told her about a staff member off sick, but Andy insisted Montana relax and enjoy Dawn while she settled into motherhood.
It was like stolen time and Montana had never done so little for so long. Despite some reflex ennui, she felt more at peace than she had since Douglas had died.
She realised the gnawing pain from her loss of Douglas had been eased by her love for Dawn and the warmth from her housemates and, of course, the ever-caring presence of Andy. Her calm persona became the real Montana, not just the projection.
February saw Montana drift to the surgery end of the house and glance over the list of patients. At least she could see if there were any nursing tasks she could do for Ned, like occasional dressings or injections or even minor suturing.
She began to spend an hour or maybe more in the surgery but as the days passed more clients began to be allocated in her time to drift in. Soon the time had stretched from one hour and then two.
Montana discussed with Ned the need for a well-women’s clinic and the idea to use her women’s health certificate for the first time in years gave her the incentive to scan the internet for health sites to update her knowledge.
One morning she realised she’d been there six weeks already and Andy had seemed to have fallen into a routine of including her in his day.
He arrived in the kitchen and swooped on Dawn who lay propped up as she stared fascinated at the world from her pram while Montana ate her breakfast.
‘Would you like to come for a turn around the garden, gorgeous, before I sit down for my breakfast?’
Dawn’s little face lit up as soon as Andy entered her vision and she had even begun to coo when he picked her up. Montana realised that she wasn’t the only person falling under Andy’s spell. Dawn adored him.
Her own external relationship with Andy hadn’t changed since she’d moved into his house but she wished she could say the same about the way she reacted to him emotionally.
To Montana he was unfailingly polite and supportive and she had to admit she looked forward to seeing him in the mornings but there was still a certain reserve between them that wasn’t there for Dawn or the others.
But, then, he was everyone’s favourite.
Louisa he teased unmercifully, and the affection in the scoldings she gave him showed how much she enjoyed their exchanges, while Ned treated Andy as his favourite son.
Apart from breakfast and their evening walks, Montana actually saw very little of the workaholic Andy.
As she watched Andy bear Dawn away Montana decided the less she saw of Andy the better. She’d come to suspect her panicked misgivings during the plane trip could have substance. Following Andy out here could be detrimental to her peace of mind. Then there was the fair lashing of guilt over her faithlessness to Douglas.
To her dismay she’d begun to daydream about Andy. He appeared in her thoughts and snippets of new memories would have her drift into a reverie when she least expected it.
Both he and Ned treated her like a princess, opened doors, pulled out her chair, stood when she
entered the room. It was totally different from her life with Douglas, who had loved her but had expected almost the opposite.
Douglas had been the prince, the doctor and the artist, and she the person responsible for the mundane tasks of day-to-day living as well as all nurturing and household business.
Here Louisa managed the house, Andy the hospital and Ned the clinic. Montana looked after Dawn and learnt about Lyrebird Lake.
She knew Andy suspected she still missed the day-to-day interaction from her husband—or maybe that was what he had missed the most when his wife had died—but she wished he wouldn’t try to replace that because she found it harder to picture Douglas’s face each day and easier to conjure up Andy’s.
She didn’t feel comfortable to lose the memory of her husband so quickly and easily, and the rising tide of guilt was the only tarnish on her peaceful life.
What she could see even without actually spending much time with Andy was how much the town relied on him.
Ned couldn’t suture and had difficulty when he tried to read the names on drug ampoules and bottles because of his diminishing eyesight.
Andy slipped those tasks into his already busy schedule and Montana continued to take on what tasks she could to lighten his load.
Andy dealt with all the hospital admissions and
transfers to the base hospital, minor surgery and emergencies, and apparently worked on the disaster rescue team when needed. She could help.
Late in the eighth week of her stay Montana swung gently on the veranda swing with the warmth and weight of Dawn on her chest, and watched the sun set over the lake.
She’d have to go in soon for tea but for the moment the gentle breeze and cerise reflection off the water were glorious and she felt more energised than she had since Dawn’s birth.
The days had begun to drag and she realised she was ready to return at least to part-time work.
The noise of the latch on the screen door behind heralded the end of her solitude and she glanced up from the water.
‘Hope I’m not intruding.’ Andy raised his brows as if she only had to say and he would go again.
A
NDY
really was the most gorgeous man and she didn’t understand why he hadn’t remarried and surrounded himself with a brood of auburn-haired children when he was so wonderful with Dawn.
Of course, her daughter seemed as pleased as Montana that he’d joined them. She cooed and smiled at Andy’s familiar face and Montana thought at least Dawn would know a little of what a father figure was like when she could have so easily have been devoid of all male company.
Certainly at Westside her daughter would have been in a predominately female environment.
Montana patted the seat beside her. ‘Join me. We seem to have very little time to chat. Was there something particular you wanted to discuss with me?’
She edged over to make room for him on the swing and then Andy’s woodsy cologne, which almost reminded her of the bottlebrush foliage she’d arranged in the vase today, was there and she real
ised she’d grown to not only recognise but respond to the aroma of Andy. When had that happened?
His was nothing like the expensive cologne Douglas had preferred but was just as manly—funny how Andy’s cologne made her think of unobtrusive strength—which was as comforting as the man it belonged to.
For Andy, he savoured her warmth against him and he realised how much he missed the little feminine aspects that Montana abounded in. She dazzled him as she sat here like the sun that reflected off the lake and yet he could see she had no idea how much he delighted in her company.
He’d been watching her for a while from the lounge and she’d looked so peaceful he’d been reluctant to break into her thoughts.
‘Are you settled here?’
‘Unless you’re planning to evict me, I have no thoughts of moving on. Why?’
He couldn’t help but smile at her. ‘Fancy a bit of work?’
Her chin went up along with the sparkle in her eyes. ‘I was just thinking that.’
Good, he thought, satisfied she was at ease. ‘There are a couple of things I want to run by you.’
She turned towards him and regrettably it became harder for Andy to concentrate with her brown eyes on his so expectantly.
He regathered his wits. ‘Ned mentioned your well-women’s clinic idea. I think that would be
great. We could do it when one of us isn’t here to give you the other consulting room. Maybe we could run it a couple of hours one morning or afternoon a week?’
‘That sounds fine.’ Montana nodded.
She looked happy with that, Andy thought, pleased. He hoped she’d be as interested in his next proposal. ‘The other thing is that one of my younger patients, Emma, is pregnant and due in July. I wondered if you would be interested in chatting to her about labour and birth over the next few weeks or months?’
‘Of course!’ Montana sat up straighter and Andy smiled at her passion.
‘How old is Emma?’ she asked.
He frowned as he thought of Emma and the lacklustre person she’d become in so short a time. ‘She’s sixteen and about twenty weeks pregnant. My concern is that she’s changed from an outgoing girl to an introverted and withdrawn wraith. I know the family well and I’m worried about her.’
Montana’s fine brows drew together and he wanted to follow the movement with his fingers and trace them straight again, but this was too important to be sidetracked by fancies.
‘Depression, you mean?’ she asked.
He concentrated his brain on Emma. ‘Yes. I think there’s a risk she could become seriously depressed, especially as her mother seems to be going through a low period at the moment.’
The malady of Clare, Emma’s mother, still puzzled him. ‘I’d like to think with a bit of positive feedback from you, Emma will turn back into herself before she gets used to being miserable. She’s only a child.’
Montana raised her eyebrows. ‘If she is old enough to become pregnant then she’s no child. She’s a woman. Make no mistake about that.’
He could see the midwife in her and he knew he’d been right in thinking she would be good for Emma. ‘I stand corrected.’
She smiled gently. ‘That’s my own opinion and Emma’s lucky she has you to look out for her. Though if she’s only halfway there, she may not want to know about labour and the birth process just yet,’ Montana said thoughtfully.
She captivated him. ‘Why’s that?’ He just wanted her to keep on talking so he could watch and enjoy.
‘Labour is the last thing a young woman wants to hear about when she’s still dealing with the shock of being fertile.’
‘Women’s intuition?’ He was happy to learn. ‘What do you suggest?’
She pursed her lips and he was distracted for a moment again as she went on. ‘Maybe some sessions on pregnancy health and lifestyle choices? We still have time to engage her for the benefit of baby and her own health. And that information is not so scary initially.’
His brain had become stationary again for a few seconds and he had to blink several times to get his head back together. He kept seeing Montana’s mouth and that frozen moment had stunned him silly. He didn’t want to go there—or he did and he knew he couldn’t—and needed to stay focussed on what she was saying.
‘I’m sorry.’ He blinked again. ‘So you’d be happy to do a couple of sessions with Emma?’
Thankfully Montana seemed oblivious to his mental disorder and he was glad about that. Very glad.
‘Absolutely,’ she said. ‘It might help to ease her into the idea of learning about her body as we go along.’
Everything had double meanings for him at the moment. He fancied a body lesson—specifically concerning the one beside him on the seat—and every day brought more observations for him to store in his expanding folder of what he’d come to realise was growing into a deep and dangerous attraction to the woman beside him.
The mystification had started that first day on the mountain. At least he’d figured out what had been wrong with him a month or so ago and he had the walls up, but he was still struggling to stay focussed when he talked to her. ‘So you would be interested in helping Emma?’ Damn. He’d already asked her that.
‘Yes.’ She looked at him as if to remind him they’d been there but there was no doubt in her
voice. Forget all that, he told himself. He’d done the right thing in asking.
Montana frowned as she considered Emma’s dilemma. ‘So how did the parents react to the news?’
He thought ruefully of the intense week he’d had with both sets of grandparents-to-be. ‘Badly, but they’re coming around. It’s even more tricky because Emma’s mother isn’t well.’
Montana tilted her head. ‘In what way unwell?’
Maybe it would help to clarify his thoughts if he ran it by Montana. ‘I wish I knew. Clare still puzzles me but there’s something niggling below the surface. She had a car accident a month ago and is complaining of being vague, clumsy and irritable, which is unlike her. There’s nothing on her cerebral CT scan and I’m not sure but I think I’m closer to working it out.’
Montana nodded. ‘More worry for poor Emma. You need your mum at times like this.’ She pondered that. ‘And the baby’s father? Is he into relationships?’
‘Her boyfriend, Tommy, agrees on keeping the baby, if that’s what you mean?’ He grinned at scatterbrained Tommy being a father. No doubt he’d mature eventually. ‘I think he plans to stay around, but he’s only eighteen. They’ve been together for three years.’
‘You’ll be up for a dads’ class then,’ she said mischievously.
Lord help him, he hadn’t seen himself doing that. ‘I don’t know anything about being a dad!’
‘Neither would he so you can both learn as you go along. I could lend you Dawn for an hour for show and tell. You’re pretty good with her.’
She was teasing him, and he liked it, but he wasn’t pretending to know something he didn’t. ‘I’ll help but you have to come with Dawn.’
‘The value will be in the guy aspect. But we’ll talk about that later.’
Her eyes shone and felt his mood lift with hers. ‘It’s not too much work for you to start with?’
‘The clinic and Emma?’ She shook her head vehemently. ‘No. I’d love to help with both of them. I’m starting to climb the walls here without working somewhere.’
‘Guilt is good.’ He smiled. ‘Seriously, though, that’s wonderful. I’ll set Emma up for later this week or early next week and talk to Ned about the clinics.’
Almost a week later Montana watched out of the lounge room window as Andy’s car pulled into the drive.
A too-thin blonde girl—young woman, she corrected herself—had her head down and didn’t look up at the house when Andy opened the passenger door.
So he opened doors for everyone. It was such a lovely gesture and it made her appreciate him even more that he would do it for young patients like Emma as well as older adults.
Montana watched the teenager mumble a thank you and sighed.
She glanced at the table and chairs she’d set up with pamphlets and a gift pack Misty had sent up from New South Wales.
It wasn’t so much a statement about learning as information Emma could take away when she left and maybe read at home. But it wouldn’t help if she didn’t want to be here.
Montana aimed for the whole session to illustrate the fact that a mother’s choices affected a baby’s future, but none of it would sink in if she couldn’t engage Emma’s interest.
Montana twitched a tablecloth over the table to create a bumpy but blank face to the room. She’d see if curiosity would encourage Emma’s interest later.
Montana moved to the door as Andy ushered in the girl. His face showed palpable relief when he saw her. ‘Here’s Montana. Montana, this is Emma.’
He looked particularly handsome this morning in his open-necked shirt, and his thick hair was tousled as if they’d had the windows open on the drive. Or he’d been running his hands through it as he’d driven Emma here.
His stressed relief at seeing Montana made her realise for the first time that he wasn’t always as comfortable with everybody as he was with her. Strangely that warmed her to him even more.
‘Hello, Emma,’ she said. ‘Thank you, Andy.
We’ll sit on the lounge, not at the table, and just chat for a bit.’
Andy tapped the ends of his fingers together a few times and looked hopelessly out of his depth. He stepped back. ‘Do you need me?’
Montana took pity on his discomfort and shook her head, although Emma threw him an anguished glance.
Montana smiled at him. ‘That’s fine. How about if you run Emma home later when we’re finished, unless you get called away?’
‘Great idea. I’ll leave you ladies to it, then, and be back in a little while?’
He dropped the keys onto the bookshelf as if they were hot. ‘Emma can give directions if I’m not around and I’ll use the utility if I need to go to the hospital.’
Andy waved and backed out of the room. Both women watched him go.
‘Well, you really had him scared,’ Montana commented, and watched the sudden glint of amusement in Emma’s face before she schooled her features into a surly frown again.
Gotcha, Montana thought with an inner smile and a little relief.
She watched Emma perch uncomfortably on the edge of the lounge and share her glances between the door and the floor and tried to remember how it had felt at sixteen in the head’s office.
Montana smiled. ‘I gather you’re a bit nervous about being here?’
‘Andy said I had to come.’ Emma darted a quick look at Montana and narrowed her eyes. ‘I’m keeping my baby.’
So this was the issue. Fair enough, then, Montana could understand her attitude. ‘Great. I’m a midwife and I’m a good person to know because I catch them.’
Emma smiled reluctantly.
Montana went on. ‘But your baby isn’t going to be here for a long time and Dr Buchanan and I thought you might like some extra knowledge to help you in the rest of your pregnancy.’
Montana paused, didn’t rush to fill the silence, and waited. The silence lengthened. The relaxed expression on Montana’s face didn’t change, but Emma began to fidget and finally she looked at Montana.
Emma shrugged. ‘So what are you going to talk about?’
‘I guess I need you to participate and ask questions otherwise you won’t take home as much as you could have. It would help if I knew what would you like to know.’
Emma shrugged again and Montana saw the frightened girl Emma was trying to hide.
‘Maybe we should get to know each other before I do all the talking,’ Montana suggested. She waited, and Emma eventually nodded.
‘You could tell me one thing about yourself, Emma. Tell me about your family maybe.’
Emma stayed balanced on the edge of the lounge with her arms crossed but she did answer eventually. ‘There’s my dad, who has a sawmill. I get on well with him.’
She looked down darkly at the carpet. ‘Or I did before I was pregnant.’
Life wouldn’t be fun for Emma at this moment, Montana could see that, and she softened her tone. ‘He’ll come around. He’s trying to adjust the dreams he had—parents have huge dreams in their minds for their children—and now he has to change those pictures into the ones that you will make for yourself.’
Emma looked up and pondered Montana’s words before she nodded. This time she met Montana’s eyes. ‘That does make sense. Thank you.’
That was when that Montana saw the first glimpses of the girl that Andy had spoken of with such admiration so she pushed on. ‘Have you any brothers or sisters?’
Emma sniffed. ‘Three older brothers who wanted to beat up poor Tommy.’ Emma looked up and her chin tilted. ‘But I wouldn’t let them.’
Montana liked her more every second. ‘I have an idea you could be a pretty strong-minded young woman when you want to be.’
Emma rolled her eyes. ‘Men are so dumb sometimes.’ She shook her head in disgust. ‘As if thumping Tommy would help. Tommy’s the only one who understands.’
Montana bit back a smile. ‘Well, that’s a good thing. Lots of younger men wouldn’t be able to get their head around being a father.’
Emma even went so far as to grin then. ‘I don’t think he’s even thought of that, just that it’s happened, and we are the ones who have to make the best of it.’
‘And your mum?’ Montana hoped Emma didn’t mind her asking.
‘Mum’s been sick lately.’ Emma frowned. ‘I am sorry she’s had this worry as well but if she’d tried to get better I wouldn’t have been away from the house so much and this might not have happened.’