‘Go back inside and stay dry and warm.’ Grace raised her voice in the hope that Tessa might still be able to hear her. ‘I’m onto it. I’ll get hold of the coastguard. We’ll come and get you as soon as we can...’

  But Tessa didn’t respond.

  The only thing Grace could hear was the beeping sound of a disconnected call.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  THERE WAS SOMETHING very disquieting about having no control over what was happening around you.

  Jock didn’t like the creaking and cracking sounds of boats bumping and scraping against their moorings as they rocked in the unsettled water beneath them and the gusts of wind that had seagulls shrieking as they battled the air currents in the fading daylight above.

  There was nothing more he could do to make sure Lassie was securely tied up and nothing he could do if another boat came loose and created havoc. It was time to go home. He was hungry and the only thing on board the boat that was edible was a can of beans and he didn’t want to heat that up because...

  Because it would only make him remember being in the limited space of this tiny galley with Grace. Reaching past her to find a can opener and his arm brushing her skin. That look in her eyes when she told him how much she trusted him. When she asked him to make love to her...

  Oh...man...

  He could almost taste that first kiss all over again.

  Could almost hear her voice. Calling him.

  ‘Jock... Jock...are you there?’

  Wait... He could hear her voice.

  ‘Grace?’ He walked out of the wheelhouse to look along the wooden pier. Yes, there she was, running towards him, a large backpack in her arms. ‘What is it?’

  ‘It’s Tessa...’ Grace was gasping for breath. ‘She thinks she might be...going into labour. The coastguard’s not...available...’

  ‘No. I’ve been listening to the radio. There’s a yacht in trouble at the entrance to the Sounds. And the tugboats are tied up trying to help get a ferry into port.’

  ‘I can’t find a water taxi...’ Grace’s gaze was fixed on his. ‘I need to get to Tessa, Jock. She’s all alone. And I can’t get there by myself. I need you...’

  He held his hands out. ‘Give me the pack. Wait for me to help you on. There’s enough of a swell to make movement unpredictable and I don’t want you falling into the water.’

  The pack was heavy. ‘You’ve been running with this?’

  ‘I drove to the hospital and then to the coastguard buildings. I’m parked at the marina entrance.’ Grace’s grasp of his hand was tight as he helped her jump over a gap that suddenly widened between the side of the boat and the pier. ‘But I did take the full home birth kit, just in case. It’s got an oxygen cylinder and all the resuscitation gear, including fluids.’

  ‘Good thinking,’ Jock said. ‘But let’s hope we won’t need it. Best-case scenario, we can look after Tessa, the coastguard will be able to get there and we can get her into hospital in time for that C-section.’

  He let out a sigh of relief as Lassie’s engine started instantly. He jumped out of the boat then, unwinding the ropes he’d tied so firmly around the bollards. Seconds later, he was focusing on manoeuvring through gaps between other boats that were rolling in the swell.

  ‘Put a life jacket on, Grace,’ he ordered. ‘And throw me one. It might be a bit gusty on the head of the arm before we turn into Kumutoto Bay. Do you think you’ll be able to recognise Tessa’s jetty?’

  ‘Yes... If you can get into the bay, I can find it. The posts at the end are carved in a Māori design like a totem pole. They’re very distinctive.’

  The swell of the sea became more noticeable as they left the shelter of the marina. Jock could see how pale Grace’s face was. Was she scared by the way the engine was surging as Lassie tipped and rolled in the dark sea water around them?

  ‘We’ll get there,’ he promised. ‘Just hang on.’

  Grace nodded. ‘I just know how Tessa’s feeling,’ she said. ‘That this is her fault.’

  ‘What? The cyclone? Going into labour?’

  ‘Being trapped. Alone. Having herself and her babies in danger. She’ll be thinking that she should have done something different, like coming to stay closer to the hospital. Or not talking her husband out of staying home with her. Even if it’s not true, blaming yourself or someone else blaming you can destroy lives.’

  Jock might be focusing on managing the roll of the boat as they sped out into the Sounds but he turned his head to give Grace an appalled look.

  ‘Did your husband blame you?’

  ‘I didn’t do what he told me to do,’ Grace admitted. ‘I didn’t stop work when he said I should. I wasn’t eating the right food. I kept going to my yoga classes.’

  Jock shook his head. ‘He made you believe that you caused the death of your baby? He was gaslighting you, Grace—you do know that, don’t you?’

  She was staring through a windshield that had runnels of water streaming across it.

  Like tears.

  ‘I blamed myself, anyway, so what difference did it make?’

  ‘Is that why you stayed in an abusive relationship for so long? Because you thought you deserved to be punished?’ Jock’s heart was breaking. ‘Oh, Grace... You deserve so, so much more than that...’

  He’d proved to her that she was capable of getting close enough to someone new to have an intimate relationship. But how did you make someone believe that they deserved to be loved? It would be like someone trying to tell him that he never needed to worry about not being good enough. That he would never hear anyone tell him ever again that he had ruined their life.

  A larger swell brought Lassie down with a thump and Jock knew they were close to the head of the bay they were heading for. Grace was holding on for dear life now. She probably wouldn’t even hear him if he tried to say anything more about how wrong her bastard of an ex-husband had been.

  ‘It’s okay.’ He raised his voice to make sure he could be heard over the engine noise and the wind. ‘I’ve got this. Trust me...’

  * * *

  Grace trusted Jock more than anyone else on earth, but that didn’t stop this being beyond frightening. She could see that control of the boat wasn’t easy and she was holding on for dear life as huge gusts of wind caught them before they could turn into the more sheltered area of the bay.

  It was fraught trying to secure Lassie to Tessa’s jetty as well, and Jock might have looked calm as he fought to keep the boat steady as Grace climbed off but she could tell how tense he was as her gaze caught his. They were going to need a lot more help from a team which was experienced in rescue scenarios to have any chance of getting a woman who was heavily pregnant with twins out of here and into the safe space of the hospital.

  He caught Grace’s hand and held it tightly to keep her upright in the wind and stinging sheets of rain as they got off the jetty and onto the steep steps that led up the hill to the house.

  When they went into the house to find Tessa on her hands and knees on the floor, crying out with the pain of a contraction, it was obvious that they’d run out of time to get Tessa into hospital anyway. She was about to give birth right here.

  ‘I can’t do this,’ Tessa sobbed. ‘I’m too scared... What if something goes wrong? It will be all my fault...’

  ‘That’s not true.’ Grace crouched on the floor to put her arms around Tessa. ‘Don’t even think like that.’

  Jock was crouching beside her. He had the kit opened and took out a pair of sterile gloves to put on. ‘I need to check what’s happening down below, Tessa. Is it okay if I examine you?’

  ‘Yes...of course.’ But Tessa groaned as she lifted her head to focus on Grace. ‘But this is my fault... If something happens to our babies, Lawrence will never forgive me... I’ll never forgive myself...’

  Grace could feel a bubble of something that felt horribly like panic developing inside her chest.

  She could hear an echo of Jenni’s voice in the back of her head, telling her the horror story of locked twins who’d been in the same positions as Tessa’s unborn babies. Babies who could be in very real danger because of both their prematurity and their presentation.

  Tessa wasn’t the only one who was too scared to do this.

  ‘You’re fully dilated, Tessa,’ Jock said. ‘And I think we need to get ready to meet your babies.’

  He looked up to meet Grace’s gaze and she could see what he wasn’t saying. Could he already feel the bottom of the breech twin emerging?

  He knew just how emotionally involved Grace was in this case and that she understood only too well how Tessa was feeling. He held the eye contact long enough to not need any words. She could feel him gifting her his strength and the promise that he was going to do whatever he possibly could to give this dramatic birth story a happy ending.

  But Tessa was sobbing. ‘No... It’s not safe... Something’s going to go wrong...’

  ‘We’ve got this, Tessa,’ Jock said calmly. ‘You’ve instinctively chosen the best position to be in and the babies are still small enough for this to work. Grace, can you help set up?’

  Moving helped. She got Tessa’s clothing out of the way properly and put clean linen on the floor. Jock was getting out an infant resuscitation kit and IV gear. With another contraction starting, she rubbed Tessa’s back and could feel herself tapping into Jock’s confidence as she kept her voice calm and steady.

  ‘You’re doing so well, Tessa... Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Keep your mouth soft and open and let the sound come out too.’

  Tessa’s outward sigh turned into a groan as it continued.

  ‘I’m going to pop a wee needle in your hand when this contraction is over,’ Jock told Tessa. ‘Just in case we need to give you any medication or fluids.’

  Grace felt the change in Jock’s focus a moment later, however, before he had time to get an IV line in, and she could see why. The small buttocks of this first twin were appearing. Jock was very still, not touching the baby as he watched it appearing. Grace was watching him as she kept encouraging Tessa and breathing with her.

  When the baby had appeared to the level of its umbilicus, Jock started moving. He hooked one finger under a leg and swept it sideways to bring it out. Then he swiftly did the same for the other leg. Half the baby could be seen now, dangling in mid-air. Grace reached to pass a towel to Jock and he wrapped it around the baby’s lower body.

  ‘I need to push,’ Tessa groaned.

  Jock was holding the baby with his thumbs on the lower back, ready to assist Tessa’s pushing by applying gentle traction.

  Grace was holding her breath. She tried to shut down a reminder of what could happen if the twins were caught on each other’s chins, but she froze in what felt like a heart-stopping moment.

  The small body slid out to the level of the shoulders and Grace watched the skill with which Jock turned the baby to deliver one arm and then rotated it gently right around to find the other shoulder and bring out the second arm. She saw him position his hands and knew he would be placing his fingers on the baby’s face to tilt the head as it lay on his palm and forearm. He was using his other hand to grasp the shoulders and deliver the head and Grace couldn’t let her breath out until that happened.

  As she heard the first warbling cry of the tiny newborn girl, the frozen moment evaporated into a blur of movement.

  ‘It’s your first daughter,’ Grace told Tessa. ‘She’s safe...’

  ‘And she’s perfect,’ Jock added.

  He was smiling at Grace. It wasn’t the usual cheeky grin she’d come to love receiving from this man. This was a smile that was so soft it told her he understood how amazing this moment was. And that it was even more special to be sharing it with her?

  She knew in that moment that she was important to Jock. That they had a connection that would be there for ever. That he might only ever love her as a friend but that love was something deep. And too precious to lose.

  Grace picked up the bubble wrap and clean towels to keep the too small body warm and a suction bulb and oxygen, although the baby seemed to be breathing well and the APGAR score at five minutes was surprisingly good. Tessa turned so that she could see and touch her baby and Grace made a pile of cushions so she could lean back and hold her baby against her skin for extra warmth as they waited for the birth of the second twin.

  Jock carefully palpated Tessa’s abdomen to find the position the remaining baby was in. This time, when he made eye contact with Grace, he gave a single nod that came with a sigh of relief.

  ‘Still cephalic,’ he said quietly.

  With more room suddenly available, the remaining baby could have moved into a different and more difficult presentation, but this second girl arrived in a textbook, headfirst delivery with even less fuss than her sister only thirty minutes later.

  It took longer for the arrival of the skilled rescue teams that could get Tessa and her babies into hospital safely and the next hours were a blur of activity as they continued caring for Tessa, another rescue team was dispatched to find Lawrence and bring him to meet his daughters and a neonatal paediatrician was called in to assess the twins and decided they didn’t need to be evacuated for specialist care.

  Even Mother Nature seemed to be breathing a sigh of relief at the safe creation of this new family.

  ‘Can you hear that?’ Lawrence was holding one of his twins as Grace helped Tessa with her first breastfeeding of her babies.

  ‘I can’t hear a thing.’ Tessa didn’t look up. She was smiling down at her tiny, perfect daughter who was latching on like a champion.

  ‘Exactly. The wind’s stopped howling.’

  ‘Cyclone Barry has apparently decided to move back out to sea.’ Jock was looking at his phone. ‘He’s gone. For good.’

  He sent the ghost of a wink in Grace’s direction. It wasn’t just the cyclone with that name that would never be able to damage her life again, was it?

  Thanks to Jock...

  This wasn’t the time to let that thought grow. It was helpful that the twin being held by her father started a shaky cry.

  ‘Would you like to try feeding both babies at once, Tessa?’

  ‘Oh, can I...?’

  ‘Of course. I’ll use these pillows to help support them.’

  Lawrence let Grace take the second baby from his arms. ‘I’m going to find my phone and get some photos of this,’ he said.

  ‘Oh...can you find those little hats my mum knitted for the girls? She’d be thrilled to see them wearing them.’

  ‘Sure. Where’s the bag with all the baby stuff in it?’

  ‘It’ll be with my bag.’

  ‘I can’t see that either.’

  Grace groaned softly. ‘Oh, no... I put those bags right by the door but that’s the last time I saw them. With so many people there and everything that was happening to get you and the babies out of the house and into the coastguard boat, they must have been forgotten.’

  Lawrence’s face fell. ‘I’ll have to go and get them,’ he said. But he looked as if it was the last thing he wanted to do. ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ he told his wife. He reached out to touch one of the babies with a gentle rub. ‘Or these little miracles.’

  Jock glanced out of the window. ‘It’s nearly light,’ he said. ‘And it’s so much calmer out there. I need to go and collect my boat, which is hopefully still tied up at your jetty, Tessa. I can bring your bags back.’

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ Grace said. ‘You’ve got this, Tessa, and you’ve got all the help you need just a bell press away here. It’s time we left you and Lawrence to have some time alone together with these gorgeous daughters of yours. I can make sure we cleaned up properly after your home birth. And find anything extra you might think you need. That way, Lawrence won’t need to be anywhere else for a while.’ She raised her eyebrows as she turned to Jock. ‘If that’s okay with you?’

  ‘No worries.’ He didn’t meet her gaze, however. He was busy with his phone. ‘Let me see how soon I can find a water taxi to get us out there.’

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  IT WAS STILL the most beautiful view Grace had ever seen in her life.

  She was standing on the deck of Tessa and Lawrence’s home, looking out into Kumutoto Bay. Fronds of magnificent punga fern trees framed the view to an empty sea, with bush-covered hills in the distance. The water was still ruffled with the after-effects of the cyclone, but there were patches of blue between the clouds scooting across the morning sky and they felt like the promise of everything getting better.

  Or almost everything...

  Jock had taken the bags Tessa had packed down to put on board Lassie but she was waiting for him to come and tell her it was time to head back to town. She was hanging onto the last moments of being here in this amazing place.

  Hanging onto what could be some of the last moments she ever had with Jock...?

  Grace didn’t turn around when she heard his footsteps on the wooden deck.

  ‘I can’t imagine choosing to leave all this behind,’ she said quietly. ‘It’s paradise.’

  ‘You don’t have to,’ Jock said.

  ‘Neither do you.’

  He came to stand beside her at the edge of the deck, putting his hands on the railing. ‘I will miss it,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll miss you.’ Grace’s voice was no more than a whisper.

  ‘You’ll be fine.’ She could hear the smile in Jock’s voice. ‘Trust me.’

  That made Grace turn her head sharply. ‘Do you have any idea how often you say that?’ She pulled in a breath. ‘Trust is important to you, isn’t it?’

  Jock didn’t hesitate in his response. ‘It’s everything,’ he said.

  ‘I have trusted you,’ Grace said. ‘More than I could ever trust anyone else.’

 

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