‘You’ve been in labour before, Lily,’ Oliver said calmly. ‘Does the pain feel like labour pain?’
She shook her head and pulled a face, rubbing a hand over her swollen abdomen to ease the discomfort. ‘No. It doesn’t feel like labour pain. It feels like something else. But it isn’t good. I’m not going into hospital, Dr Hunter. I’m not going.’
‘Let’s not worry about that at the moment.’ Oliver grabbed the sonicaid. ‘I just want to listen to the baby’s heart, and then we’ll talk about our options.’
Seconds later the steady, rhythmic pounding of the baby’s heart echoed through the room and Lily gave a soft sigh.
‘Oh, I’m so glad to hear that.’
Oliver nodded and switched off the machine. ‘Your baby’s fine at the moment, Lily, but any pain that bothers you that much should be investigated and I can’t do that properly at home. You should be scanned and examined.’
Lily shook her head. ‘No.’
‘We have a brilliant maternity unit here,’ Oliver said softly, ‘and it has one of the lowest rates of intervention in the country.’
Lily looked at him, her eyes suddenly frightened. ‘You know I don’t want to go in. I want to have this baby at home.’
Oliver sighed and ran long fingers through his hair. ‘I know you had a bad experience with your last delivery, Lily, but you were just unlucky. You never were anybody’s idea of a good candidate for home birth, you know that. And you’re even less so now.’
Lily’s mouth tightened and Helen saw the sparkle of tears in her eyes. ‘The doctors didn’t know what they were doing,’ she muttered. ‘You said you’d deliver me at home if you had to. You and the midwife.’
‘And if I have to, I will, but how much of a risk are you willing to take with this baby, Lily?’ Oliver’s voice was soft. ‘I can promise that whatever happened to you last time won’t happen this time. I’m going to call my brother. He’s the consultant there—remember, I’ve told you about him? I’ve told him about you, too.’
‘But I don’t know him.’
‘Fortunately, I’ve known him for thirty-four years,’ Oliver said easily, rising to his feet in a fluid movement and reaching for his phone. ‘And he is going to take the very best care of you and this baby.’
Lily started to cry and Oliver gave a soft curse.
‘Make your phone call,’ Helen said quickly, sliding her arms around Lily and giving her a hug. ‘Lily, why don’t you tell me what happened last time?’
‘He didn’t even talk to me,’ Lily sobbed, her hand covering her mouth. ‘That doctor just strode into the room, yanked the baby out with forceps and left again without saying a single word. He was horrible! And I was in agony for months and month
s. I couldn’t sit for six weeks I was so bruised, and I had to have ultrasound and everything—I just couldn’t enjoy the baby.’
Helen winced and hugged her tighter. ‘You poor, poor thing,’ she said gently. ‘But you were just really unlucky, Lily. There is no way Tom Hunter would let that happen.’ She didn’t even know Tom, but if he was even half as good a doctor as his brother he would be a brilliant obstetrician. ‘Trust Dr Hunter, Lily. And think of the baby.’
At that moment the front door flew open and Lily’s husband flew in, breathless and visibly stressed.
‘Are you all right, pet?’ He scooted across the room to his wife and looked at Helen with anxious eyes. ‘What’s happening?’
‘I’m trying to persuade her to go to hospital,’ Oliver said, flipping his phone shut and walking over to them. ‘I’ve talked to Tom and he’s going to meet us at the hospital. We’re going there now.’
‘I can’t leave Bruce.’
‘I’ve called your mum,’ Nick said quickly. ‘She’s on her way over.’
Lily bit her lip and looked at Oliver. ‘Do you promise it won’t go wrong?’
Oliver sighed and dropped to his haunches beside her, his handsome face serious. ‘What I can promise is that there is no better person than Tom to deliver a baby.’
‘But if you were married, would you let him deliver your wife’s baby?’
Oliver smiled. ‘Oh, yes.’
Helen had a sudden painful vision of Oliver with a pregnant wife and felt a sudden stab of pain in her chest.
He would make a wonderful husband and an even more wonderful father.