The Peppercorn Project (27 page)

‘How’s Karina?’ he asked.

Thunder crashed again overhead and she had to wait a second before she could answer him.

‘She’s doing great, and everything seems to be progressing normally, but I’m going to need some help. I’ve never delivered a baby.’

‘Have you called Adrian?’

‘I don’t have his number.’

‘Leave it with me.’

In the background, Karina puffed and moaned. Lightning flashed again, illuminating the entire clinic, followed by a long, loud roll of thunder and another groan from Karina.

Isabelle glanced at her. She was kneeling on the ground.

‘I can see the head!’ she told Matt before dropping the phone on the floor and rushing to Karina’s side.

‘I need to push,’ Karina panted.

Isabelle reached for the rubber gloves, knocking the box flying. Neil retrieved it and handed it to her. She yanked on the gloves, cursing under her breath as she struggled to get them over her damp fingers. Karina groaned loudly again.

‘Hurry up. I need to
push
.’

Isabelle spoke firmly to her. ‘You’ve done this before and you can do it again. Just breathe, okay? Everything’s going to be fine.’ She made eye contact. ‘We can do this together, okay?’

Karina’s red face was covered in a fine sheen of perspiration. She nodded. Neil rubbed her back, soothing, encouraging, reassuring, while Isabelle kneeled on the ground, waiting.

Moments later, Karina’s waters broke, spraying fluid over the floor – and all over Isabelle. She tried not to grimace. With a low growl from Karina and one massive push, the baby’s head crowned.

Isabelle warned Karina not to push yet, but she wasn’t listening. With another grunt and a high-pitched scream, the baby’s dark head appeared.

‘The cord,’ Neil cried out. ‘It’s wrapped around the neck.’

Isabelle carefully hooked a finger between the baby’s neck and the cord and in one deft movement, as though she’d done it dozens of times before, she flicked it over the baby’s head.

‘All good now,’ she said, sitting back to wait. Adrenalin coursed through her veins. ‘One last push,’ she encouraged.

‘I know,’ Karina hissed.

Isabelle stifled a smile.

‘You’re doing great, honey,’ Neil said.

Isabelle was surprised to see tears glistening in his eyes.

With another grunt, Karina screwed her eyes tight and curled her body over the back of the chair she was holding onto as she pushed again with everything she had. The next few seconds happened in slow motion as Karina pushed a final time. In another gush of fluid and blood, the rest of the baby slid out into Isabelle’s waiting hands.

Karina flipped from a kneeling to a sitting position, and Neil took the baby from Isabelle and placed him against Karina’s chest. Isabelle handed Neil a towel and he gently rubbed the baby’s back. The baby gave a small cough then a loud cry. Isabelle sat back, marvelling at the miracle of new life.

Neil cried as he wiped Karina’s face, pushing her damp hair across her forehead and kissing her flushed cheeks while he stroked the baby’s head.

‘We’ve got a baby boy,’ Karina said through tears.

‘What will you call him?’ Isabelle asked.

Neil and Karina looked down at their son, cradled in her arms. Karina was glowing.

‘We
were
going to call him River, but …’ Neil paused and looked at Karina.

‘I think we should name him Storm.’

Neil nodded. ‘I like it,’ he said. ‘It’s perfect.’

Tears pricked Isabelle’s eyes at the serene scene. Storm seemed tiny, but Neil and Karina assured her he was a bruiser. How had she forgotten how small newborns were?

Minutes later the front door opened and a distinguished-looking man arrived, introducing himself as Dr Adrian Thompson. While he dealt with the delivery of the placenta and the clamping of the cord, Isabelle cleaned up the rest of the clinic.

When everything was tidy and Karina was calmly breastfeeding Storm, Isabelle was finally able to sneak away.

She was amazed it was nearly two o’clock in the morning. Instead of feeling exhausted, she felt energised. She’d never experienced anything so amazing in her life. Plus, she’d faced her fears and won, her small part in Storm’s arrival reminding her how far she’d come since Joe’s heart attack.

She let out a long, slow breath and then inhaled deeply, allowing healing to replace the hurts she’d carried for so long in her heart.

Outside, the storm had passed. Apart from the occasional distant rumble of thunder, the only evidence that the clouds had released their deluge on Stony Creek earlier that night were small lakes on the hard ground. Isabelle had been so busy she hadn’t realised how much rain had fallen.

She glided home, her feet barely touching the road. She was bursting to tell Matt all about the night.

 *

‘It’s a boy!’ she cried, flinging open her front door moments later.

Matt appeared in the hallway. ‘Is he okay? Is Karina okay? Did Adrian arrive?’

She threw herself into his open arms and hugged him tight. ‘Yes, yes and yes. Adrian’s there now. Everyone’s doing great,’ she gushed, overcome by everything that had happened. ‘Karina is phenomenal.’ She clutched her hands to her chest as she recalled the way Karina had looked lovingly down at Storm in her arms as she fed him.

Matt led her into the lounge. She collapsed beside him on the couch, kicking her shoes off and putting her legs up across his thighs. Sinking into the cushions, she exhaled loudly. ‘Wow. What a night.’

‘I can’t wait to hear all about it.’

‘Are the kids okay?’ she asked.

‘Fine. They’ve both been asleep for hours. Mietta fell asleep in your bed and I didn’t move her until I was sure she was fast asleep.’

She touched his arm. ‘Thanks for being here, Matt.’

‘No need to thank me. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.’

Isabelle smiled. ‘Well, thank you anyway.’

Matt stood and kissed her on the forehead. ‘You hungry? Do you want anything to eat?’

‘I don’t think I could eat a thing.’

‘Drink?’

‘Yes please, something cold would be perfect.’

As Matt went into the kitchen, Isabelle shut her eyes and recalled every detail of the night.

‘Have you fallen asleep on me?’ Matt asked softly, moments later.

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up and took the drink from him. ‘No, I’m definitely not asleep. I’m still buzzing. I was just remembering what it was like.’ She sighed softly. ‘It’s been a big day.’

She nestled into his chest, feeling the comforting weight of his arm as he draped it across her shoulders.

‘Hilary and Storm,’ Matt said.

She nodded. ‘Death followed by new life. It often happens like that.’

‘Tell me what it was like.’

‘Storm’s birth?’

‘Yeah.’

‘It was amazing. Childbirth is amazing. It’s an adrenaline rush seeing that tiny body for the first time and hearing that cry. Knowing I was a part of it will stay with me forever.’

‘I hope I get to experience it for myself one day,’ Matt said quietly.

Her heart pounded in her ears and her mouth went dry.

‘Do you want children of your own?’ she asked.

She held her breath until Matt smiled.

‘Of course I want children.’ He pulled her closer and brushed a kiss across the top of her hair. ‘But only if they’re with you.’

Her jaw dropped and she pulled back to stare at him. ‘Are you saying - ?’

‘I’m saying I want to be a dad to Fletcher and Mietta, but I’m also saying I want a baby with you.’

‘A baby?’ she repeated.

‘Or babies.’ He gave her a teasing smile. ‘Two, three, four.’

‘That means you …’ She shook her head, attempting to sort through the fog in her brain. ‘That means I …’ she tried again.

Matt took her drink from her and placed it on the coffee table. He pulled her close.

‘That means, Belle, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’

A fluttering started deep in her belly. She gazed into Matt’s eyes and saw the love reflected in them.

Hilary’s words flashed before her eyes.

Hold nothing back. Give Matt the pieces of your heart. Trust him.

She’d dealt with loss and now she had the opportunity, with Matt, to remake her life.

‘I want that too,’ she whispered. ‘All of it.’

‘Even the babies?’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘Can we start with just one?’

‘I’m sure we can negotiate the number.’

He rained kisses from her chin to her collarbone and she shivered in pleasure as his warmth breath tickled her skin. ‘If you keep doing that, I won’t be in any fit state to negotiate.’

‘That’s my plan.’ He closed his eyes and kissed her again.

Isabelle snuggled closer, her lips a millimetre from his. ‘I think your plan sounds perfect,’ she whispered.

So did the rest of her life.

I would like to personally express my gratitude to the many people who have journeyed with me as I wrote this book. So many provided support, talked things over with me both online and face to face, read zillions of different versions (no exaggeration), helped me come up with better scenes, offered comments, allowed me to quote them, and assisted in critiquing and initial editing. I am blessed beyond measure with your contributions. Without you, this book wouldn’t have happened.

I would especially like to thank Haylee Nash for believing in me from the beginning and for loving this book. And to my publishing team at Momentum – I’m so glad I chose to work with you all again. You are the dream team. To my editor, Dianne, when you told me the edits would be ‘daunting’ you weren’t wrong. I admit, I nearly cried. But thank you for pushing me hard to make the big changes. This book is so much stronger because of you. And to the Danielle Hurps, this gorgeous cover still makes me swoon. Thank you.

First and foremost I want to acknowledge and thank my amazing husband, Tim, for standing beside me as I write. You are my rock. Tim, thank you for giving me the space and freedom to write, for believing in me, for telling others how proud you are of me and for taking the time out of your insanely busy life to read my books. It means more than you know. Thank you for listening while I ramble on about what I’m writing, for brainstorming sessions when we’re taking long drives, for taking up the slack at home when I’m on a deadline, for helping unravel storylines and fill in plot holes, for telling me my books are good and for just holding me in your arms at night. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without you by my side. As I write this, we’re about to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Next year is the big one. (I know it’s silver, but I prefer diamonds, in case you don’t already know!) Why don’t we renew our vows?

To our incredible children, Jeremy, Chloe, Zach and Toby. You guys are everything a mum could hope for. I am so ridiculously proud of each of you. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - you’re my greatest creation. I love watching you grow and spread your wings and can’t wait to see where the future leads each of you. Chase your dreams, please. Thank you for supporting and encouraging me in spite of all the time my writing takes me away from you. I’m sorry that sometimes I’m off in la-la land while characters are having conversations in my head and not concentrating on what you’re telling me. If it’s really important, you have permission to close the laptop lid on my fingers! Thank you for keeping me grounded and laughing at the stupid things I say and do.

To Molly, you’re the best Border Collie in the world and we all know it. To Roxy, I love you, even if no one else in the family does. Don’t take offense, it’s because you’re a cat!

Finally I would like to acknowledge the following people (in no particular order) who have given their support for this book. Without you, I wouldn’t be writing these acknowledgements.

Kate Lithgow: You walked your journey of loss and grief with grace, strength, dignity, courage and faith in God. Thank you for being so transparent.

Christine Davey: You’ve loved this story right from the very first version. Thank you for cheering me on every step of the way.

Meredith Resce: Thank you for inspiring me to write and for encouraging me to keep going. I can’t thank you enough for your support of this book in particular, especially for fixing all the things I got wrong with ‘Stony Creek’. All discrepancies and errors are totally mine. One day I’ll visit your home town and realise just how much I got wrong. I know you’ll forgive me.

Andrea Grigg: Your support and friendship is invaluable. I’m so glad God brought you into my life. Thank you for reading every single different version of this book I’ve sent you over the past two years and for pushing me to make every word better.

Sarah Barrie: Thank you for reading one of the later versions of this story and for encouraging me just when I thought every word I’d written totally sucked.

To the AWSOM authors I meet with regularly in Geelong, thank you for being so warm, welcoming and willing to share your expertise.

Marg Wigg: Thank you for being an important part of my writing journey. You and Ralph are a blessing to us.

Last and not least: I ask forgiveness from all those who have been with me over the course of writing this book whose names I have failed to mention personally. I love you all anyway and I’m very grateful.

Nicki Edwards is a city girl with a country heart. Growing up on a small family acreage, she spent her formative years riding horses and pretending the neighbour’s farm was her own.

Nicki writes medical rural romance for Momentum and when she isn’t reading, writing or dreaming about rural life and medical emergencies, she can be found working as a Critical Care Nurse in a busy Intensive Care Unit, where many of her stories and characters are imagined.

Nicki lives in Geelong, Victoria with her husband and their four teenage/young adult children. Life is busy, fun and at times exhausting, but Nicki wouldn’t change it for anything. Visit her at
nickiedwards.com.au
.