‘You’re right.’ Rilla laughed, preparing to get up. ‘We don’t have to stay. We can head back.’
Beth put a stilling hand on her sister’s arm. ‘Are you kidding? It’s like paradise here. I want to just sit and absorb it for a while. And I need a rest.’
Rilla relented. The trek hadn’t been particularly arduous, a little uneven and rocky in places, but, then, she wasn’t walking for two.
‘I know you don’t want to talk about Luca, Ril. But being proposed to here must have been very, very romantic.’
Rilla trailed her legs through the water as she thought back to that magical day. Had it only been eight years ago? It seemed like decades. But then some days, like today, it came back to her in such vivid detail it could have been yesterday.
‘Yes, it was.’
They had been alone here that day too. She remembered the feeling of isolation, of feeling they were the only two people in the world wrapped up in a cocoon of love. And she remembered the feeling of absolute rightness. That even after only three months she and Luca were meant to be. That nothing could put them asunder.
It had been a day full of promise and hope. The future had been so bright. So positive. She’d had no inkling that only seven months later their dreams would be crushed into the dirt and within a year it would all be over.
‘Got any Vegemite and cheese?’ Rilla asked, rousing herself from the memories that seemed to have taken over her life since finding out about Luca’s return.
‘Of course,’ Beth said, passing a round of Rilla’s favourite sandwiches to her.
They sat with their legs dangling in the pool, munching on sandwiches, chatting and laughing as the water trickled down the rock, inexorably eroding the surface. They didn’t talk about Luca, or the baby. In fact, sometimes they didn’t even talk at all, familiar enough with each other to be comfortable with silence. They mightn’t share the same DNA but they were as close as any blood sisters.
‘Damn,’ Beth muttered, rubbing her back again. ‘I think I’m going to have to get up. My back’s on fire and my butt is numb.’
They packed up their wrappers and Rilla helped Beth get her shoes back on.
‘God, I can’t wait to see my feet again.’ Beth grimaced as Rilla hauled her upright. ‘Ow,’ she called, reaching out to her sister as she doubled over.
‘What?’ Rilla demanded.
‘Oh, no.’ Beth’s grip tightened as she looked down.
Rilla looked down also. To her dismay a rapidly spreading wet patch stained the front of Beth’s shorts.
‘I think my membranes just ruptured,’ Beth said.
Rilla exchanged a look with her sister.
‘Oh, boy. Gabe’s not going to be happy,’ Beth said.
Rilla couldn’t have agreed more as she stared at the fluid now leaking down Beth’s leg.
‘It can’t be happening now. I’ve still got four weeks to go. It’s too soon. What are we going to do?’
‘It’s OK,’ Rilla said, hearing the first note of panic in her older sister’s voice. She was a nurse. She’d delivered the odd baby or two, the ones that couldn’t wait. Not that it was going to come to that.
‘It’s fine. We have plenty of time. Are you having contractions?’
Beth shook her head. ‘No. Just Braxton-Hicks’ on and off the last few days. It’s mainly my back.’
Rilla gaped at her sister and bit back an exasperated retort. It seemed very likely that Beth had been dismissing true contractions for the harmless Braxton-Hicks’ variety. She didn’t want to think about the fact that they’d been blissfully walking through the bush while Beth was in labour.
‘I wish Hailey was here too,’ Beth murmured.
Ditto. Beth would have been far better off having their youngest sister here. Rilla certainly would have given anything to have someone who had delivered hundreds of babies by their side. But Hailey had declined to join them today, out searching for apartments to rent instead.
‘OK, here’s what we’re going to do,’ Rilla announced. ‘We’re going to get back to the car as quickly as possible and then we’re going to drive straight to the General. It won’t even be a ten-minute drive from here. OK?’
‘OK.’ Beth nodded.
Rilla took an arm and let Beth lean against her as they left the waterhole. They hadn’t gone ten paces when Beth stopped abruptly, practically crippled by a contraction.
‘I don’t think that was Braxton-Hicks’,’ Beth said, her voice wobbling.
Rilla felt Beth’s arms trembling and did some calculations in her head. The walk to the waterhole had taken thirty minutes. The return trip would take longer if they had to keep stopping for contractions. Her heart slammed madly like an open shutter in the middle of a force ten gale.
‘Tell me it’s going to be OK, Rilla,’ Beth gasped, her hold on Rilla tightening.
Rilla could hear the tremble in her sister’s voice. Beth who was always cool, calm and collected was looking to her for assurance. Beth, who, prior to her maternity leave, had run the operating theatres at the General like a sergeant major for years.
‘Of course it is,’ she said confidently. ‘First baby labours take for ever.’ That was one piece of information she did remember in a brain that seemed to be suddenly frozen.
‘But it’s not my first baby.’ Beth grimaced as she clutched at her stomach.
Of course—it wasn’t. ‘It may as well be,’ Rilla said reassuringly. ‘Twenty-three years is a long time. We wipe the slate clean after a while. How long was your labour with David?’
‘Four hours,’ Beth said through gritted teeth.
Rilla tried not to look too alarmed when she glanced sharply at her older sister. ‘Let’s hustle,’ she said, kicking up the pace.
But the going was still slow. The contractions increased in frequency and length over the next twenty minutes, necessitating the need for numerous stops and Rilla was becoming more worried that they weren’t going to make it to the General.
The track remained deserted and their mobile phones still had no signal. All they could do was trudge on and hope the premature baby didn’t decide to make an appearance.
Rilla judged they were about twenty minutes from the car when Beth let out a cry and gripped hard to the arm that was supporting her.
‘What?’ Rilla demanded.
‘Oh, God,’ Beth panted. ‘I need to push.’
‘No. No, no, no,’ Rilla said, shaking her head wildly. ‘No pushing. It’s not far now.’
‘Ril,’ Beth said, leaning forward. ‘I think the baby’s right there.’
‘No.’
‘Yes,’ Beth said looking her younger sister straight in the eye. ‘It is. This baby is coming. Now.’
Rilla believed her. Oh, no! It was time to go to plan B. ‘OK.’ Don’t panic. Just do what has to be done. ‘I’ll get the picnic blanket out of the backpack. I think we need to take a look.’
Rilla’s pulse thundered as she spread the blanket on the track and helped Beth to the ground. This was Beth. Her sister. And her niece. The stakes couldn’t be higher and she was scared out of her brain.
‘Hurry,’ Beth bellowed loudly.
The loud groan broke into Rilla’s escalating fear.