Best Practice by Penny Parkes (43)

Chapter 43

Grace watched the happy couple from the shaded rose garden, sipping thoughtfully at her glass of champagne. Holly’s beatific smile and happiness were in sharp contrast to how Grace had felt on her own wedding day, all those years ago. Pregnant and terrified, dropping out of medical school, she had never really stopped to explore her motivations for marrying Roy: they were having a baby together and it was as simple as that. How many times over the course of that soul-sapping relationship had she wished she had only been a little braver?

Seeing Holly getting married now, equally as pregnant, but noticeably more besotted, was a sharp reminder to Grace that her actions, her choices, had the ability to influence so much more than her own happiness. She had no desire to see her fourth decade frittered away, like her twenties, with cowardliness and indecision.

‘Are you hiding out or just bogarting the best sticky buns?’ Dan said with a teasing smile as he wandered over to join her. Grace couldn’t deny that their budding relationship had brought a spring to her step and a sparkle to her eye that she hadn’t felt in years. When he leaned in to kiss her on the lips, it was so natural, so wonderful, that she couldn’t help wondering what exactly they’d been waiting for.

‘How would you feel if I wanted to tell my boys about us?’ she ventured tentatively, leaning in to his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

Dan pulled back for a moment, confusion on his face, and she felt her heart lurch with disappointment that she might have misjudged whatever ‘this’ was. ‘Oh Gracie,’ he said, concern etched into his every syllable. ‘I didn’t realise.’

She pulled away too, forcing a smile, shaking her head as though it didn’t matter. But it did. ‘It’s okay,’ she managed, distractedly noticing that her hands had begun to shake. Maybe some people just didn’t get their happy-ever-after, after all.

Dan stepped towards her. ‘I’m so sorry. I just didn’t realise we were keeping it a secret.’ Grace looked up, blinking hard to recalibrate. ‘I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been so ridiculously happy the last few days, I couldn’t really hide it. Taffy knows. Holly knows. God, I think even Pru at the bakery knows – she caught me whistling while I bought our breakfast the other morning. I’ve told everyone I can possibly think of.’

Grace allowed a small sob to escape. When would she stop anticipating the worst eventuality at every turn? ‘So you mean—’

‘That I want everyone to know we’re together? God, yes.’ He leaned in, one hand slipping behind her waist to pull her in closer. When he kissed her, she felt her whole body relax, all the tensions erased by the promise in his kiss.

A cacophony of whoops broke into her awareness. ‘I think the cat might be out of the bag now anyway,’ she whispered.

‘Perfect,’ he replied, barely missing a breath, before kissing her as though his life depended on it.

Ambling over to join the others later, Grace couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. The bride and groom were circulating, their hands never parting, even as Patty began fussing with Taffy’s hair for the photos. Even Ben and Tom seemed determined not to miss a trick and were hovering beside Holly like a fidgety shadow, only breaking away occasionally to replenish their cake supply.

Elsie appeared to have recovered from her initial shock at the impromptu wedding and was now swinging into gear as the hostess with the mostest. ‘Oh Grace,’ she exclaimed as she bustled by with yet more posies of sweet peas for the photographs. ‘I’m really most pleased with you.’ She stopped and gave Grace’s hand a delighted squeeze. ‘You can fill me in on all the scrumptious details later. And don’t spare my blushes, darling girl. I’ll need to know everything.’

‘Please don’t,’ begged Dan quietly, trying not to laugh at the lascivious look Elsie had shot his way.

‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ replied Grace, becoming accustomed oh-so-easily to their intimate banter; that feeling of solidarity that people had talked about in their relationships, but she herself had never before experienced.

She wanted to tell him how she felt, but every time the words came to her lips, that little catastrophising voice in her head, the one that had been haunting her all week, would point out that maybe Dan’s highly developed White Knight complex was all that was throwing them together.

‘Do you have any idea how long I’ve loved you?’ Dan asked, his hand still warming the curve of her waist, but moving with imperceptible tenderness.

Grace blinked in surprise. It was as though he’d heard her doubts and countered them before they could take hold. ‘Tell me,’ she whispered with a smile.

‘Er, guys?’ said Rupert, seeking them out with some urgency. ‘I’m so sorry to interrupt, but we have a bit of a situation.’ He was flushed and uncomfortable, unable to stand still, and he wasted no time pulling on Dan’s arm and setting off towards the kitchen. ‘She didn’t want to interrupt the wedding, you see. We both thought we’d have ages. I mean, that’s what they say in all the books, isn’t it?’ He was running on with a stream of consciousness that bore no interruption, but was certainly giving Grace a clear idea of what they were dealing with.

Pushing open the French windows into the kitchen, it was immediately apparent that Rupert’s concern had actually been an understatement. Poor Mims was clutching at the edge of the kitchen table, doubled over in pain, sweat sticking her hair to her forehead as she groaned quietly. The effort not to bellow was clearly taking its toll, her knuckles white and her whole body shaking.

‘How far apart are the contractions?’ Dan asked, gently taking Mims’s pulse on her wrist.

‘Um, I don’t know, not long,’ Rupert flustered. As if to answer his question, Mims spasmed again as yet another contraction caught her in its vice. ‘Two, three minutes?’

‘Make it stop,’ begged Mims, panting as the wave subsided. ‘It’s too early. I’m not due until next week. I thought it was just Braxton Hicks.’

Rupert shook his head. ‘I even told her it was, during the ceremony.’ The guilt on his face was almost palpable. ‘I was going to call an ambulance just now, but she begged me not to.’ He turned to Dan, professional to professional. ‘I know I can’t make her go to hospital if she doesn’t want to, but can you persuade her? Please?’

Dan shook his head and Grace could see the conflict on his face. ‘Rupert mate, it’s too late now anyway. Unless there’s complications you haven’t told me about, she might be better staying put.’

‘We were supposed to be going to Rosemore,’ Mims wailed. ‘I had a plan!’

Grace wrung out the clean tea towel she’d been running under the cold tap and gently pressed it against Mims’s forehead. ‘Plans are great, but the babies never listen, Mims. We just have to follow their lead.’ She turned to frown at Dan and Rupert, who seemed to have been caught up in some heated debate about the best plan of action. ‘Guys,’ she said firmly. ‘We’re in a kitchen during a wedding reception. I don’t think Holly and Taffy need to know, do you? Can we at least find somewhere a little more private while you work out what to do?’

They waited until the next contraction had passed, alarmingly close to the last. Even tackling the first flight of stairs was no mean feat and Grace could only be grateful that she was bringing up the rear rather than physically supporting poor Mims. She quietly plucked her mobile from her pocket and tapped out a message to Chris Virtue. A little part of her mind already covering their bases and wondering just how slammed the Air Ambulance team were today, just in case.

She ducked around them as they came to the landing, pushing open the first bedroom door they came to and watching Rupert and Dan give in and carry Mims to the bed, as yet another contraction crashed over her. It was only as they were plumping up cushions to prop her up and make her comfortable that Grace clocked all the flowers and candles decorating the bedroom. Apparently Mims was about to give birth in Holly and Taffy’s bridal suite.

‘Bugger,’ said Dan, as he clearly noticed the same thing. He dropped his voice as he leaned in to Grace. ‘Nothing about this is ideal, Gracie. But maybe you could muster up Alice, some towels and an idea of how busy they are in Bath?’

She nodded and dialled as she ran down the stairs, cursing the twinkly muzak as her call was diverted again and again. When finally it was answered, the nurse sounded frazzled and distracted. ‘Maternity Level Three.’

As Grace outlined the situation, she began to wonder whether the nurse could actually hear her. The noise in the background was like something from a catastrophe movie. ‘I’ve got ladies on trolleys in the corridor here and some poor soul just gave birth in the lift. We are completely swamped. I can’t even send out a midwife.’ The nurse sounded on the verge of tears herself. ‘I have no idea what they were thinking closing down four midwife-led units in the county with no notice, but they had to realise that all these births had to happen somewhere. My advice? If your patient is stable, comfortable and has a doctor on hand, she’s already doing better than some of the women here.’

Grace felt sick as she ended the call. Even seeing that Holly and Taffy were now fudging their first dance to Ben’s strangled version of ‘Edelweiss’ on the recorder did nothing to lighten her mood. She grabbed Alice discreetly by the hand and led her away before anyone could question it.

‘Are you serious?’ exclaimed Alice, turning a deathly shade of pale as they raced up the stairs, Coco in hot pursuit and Grace giving an abbreviated sitrep. ‘I’m not sure how much use I’m going to be. Umbilical cords kind of freak me out.’

Grace stared at her in amazement. ‘Alice Walker, you are a highly qualified GP and your patient is in distress. Not to mention the fact that, bluntly, your hands are considerably smaller than Dan’s, if you get my drift. Now pull yourself together, because there are two very frightened new parents in there.’

Alice nodded, a sickly green colour sweeping over her face. ‘I’m on it.’

Pushing open the door, Grace looked sharply to Dan for reassurance but the expression on his face offered none. ‘Breathe for me, Mims,’ he said gently, ‘and whatever you do, don’t push.’

Mims let out a strangled scream. ‘I was supposed to be in a pool of lovely warm water. This is not how it was supposed to be!’ Rupert was holding her hand tightly and looking petrified.

‘Is it breach?’ he asked Dan, his veterinary knowledge being just enough to worry him.

Dan shook his head. ‘I think the cord’s wrapped around the baby’s neck. Every time she pushes, the baby’s heartbeat is dropping, so it could be it’s tightening a little.’

Grace knew only too well what that meant. Nuchal cords weren’t uncommon, but they did need careful evaluation. If they were at the maternity unit now, there would, in all probability, be that terrifying rush down the corridor at the first sign of foetal distress, where nurses and anaesthetists would appear as if from nowhere, hustling into the operating theatre for an emergency C-section. Her phone bleeped in her pocket. Chris. She read the screen twice and then discreetly showed it to Dan.

They were on their own.

Alice emerged from the en suite, drying her hands and with a sheen of perspiration on her forehead. ‘So, Mims, we might need you to change position in a moment,’ she said gently, as Dan listened intently to the baby’s heartbeat with his stethoscope. Trust Dan to have brought his doctor’s bag to a baby shower, thought Grace gratefully.

Alice knelt on the bed beside Dan and they muttered to each other in muted tones. It wasn’t the first time that Grace lamented her lack of medical degree and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. If she couldn’t be useful where it mattered, at least she could help soothe Mims and Rupert as the strain began to take its toll. Mims was clearly flagging now and the energy needed to keep her cries quiet was beyond her. Grace looked sharply across the landing to the windows overlooking the garden, where the party was still in full swing, relaxing only slightly when she saw they were firmly closed and double-glazed.

She watched as Dan talked Alice through what needed to be done and Grace’s heart went out to her. If anything went wrong, she knew only too well that Alice would blame herself for evermore. She caught her eye and mouthed ‘you can do this’ across their patient’s belly.

What would it actually take, Grace wondered, for the petty bureaucrats in their comfortable urban world to realise the very real effect of their sweeping decisions on the rural population. How many babies might die, or mothers go through this trauma alone? Grace felt a surge of righteous indignation, not just because right now Chris and his team were having to triage patients at the side of the road, or because Mims’s birth plan was no longer even an option – it was a sense of injustice that took her breath away. And she didn’t need a medical degree to take action on that front.

As she gently soothed Mims and held her hand through each contraction, Grace felt a solid kernel of determination settle in her chest. Whatever the outcome of today’s melodrama, she was steadfast in her resolve – the waiting game was over; it was time to take action. It was time to make themselves heard.

She watched Alice carefully, the fear and trepidation on her face relaxing into wonderment as finally, finally, Mims’s baby was freed from its umbilical noose and slithered into the world. Mims gave a relieved and heartfelt sob as its first cries filled the air like a welcome melody.

‘It’s a boy,’ said Alice. ‘You’ve a healthy baby boy.’

She gently handed the baby to Mims, snuggling him neatly onto her mother’s chest before quietly and discreetly tiptoeing into the en suite and vomiting loudly.

Grace followed after her, quietly pushing the door closed as she sank down on the floor beside Alice. ‘You only bloody did it,’ she said. ‘I’m so incredibly proud of you.’ And they both burst into tears.