Page 101 of Outback Secrets
Chapter Twenty-nine
‘Talk about drama,’ Henri said to Sheila as she hobbled into Liam’s office, the dog following closely at her heels. Was the breaking of Stella’s waters God’s answer to their prayers? It was amazing how fast a woman going into labour had scattered the men. She laughed inwardly at the recollection of Sexy Rexy almost tripping over his own feet in his efforts to escape. The blokes Liam called his ‘Poker Pensioners’ hadn’t been far behind. Of course there’d been a few lingering busybodies, but he’d sent them packing.
He hadn’t asked Henri to leave, but she’d decided to make herself scarce anyway. Babies were cute enough, but she definitely didn’t need to see one born and she didn’t think Stella needed an audience either. She had Adam, Frankie and Ruby to support her. For Stella and the baby’s sake, she prayed the ambulance would arrive before things progressed too much further, but also so that she could finally be alone with Liam again. As much as she’d been enjoying hanging out with her old friends, there was really only one person she wanted to spend the evening with.
Leaning her crutches against the desk, she lowered herself carefully into the swivel chair behind it. It was the first time she’d actually been in the office and, like Liam’s apartment, it was clean and neatly ordered. He’d obviously made the desk, which looked as if it should be in some kind of art gallery rather than the back office of a country pub.
As she smoothed her fingers along the beautifully carved and polished wood in admiration, Sheila flopped at her feet. Henri pulled off her shoe and rubbed her good foot against the dog’s soft, warm fur. Not being able to have pretty things like this desk or a pet were definitely downsides to her itinerant lifestyle.
She saw how much Liam loved Sheila and the dog was never far from his side, whereas Henri couldn’t even get a bloody goldfish. Even if she could fit a small tank in Cecil, who’d look after it when she went to Canada?
‘I’ll just have to make the most of you for the next few days, won’t I?’
Sheila looked up briefly, made a sort of rumbly noise as if agreeing, and then dropped her head back down onto her paws.
‘Fuck off, Adam!’
The exclamation startled both of them and Sheila jumped to attention, her head cocked to her side as she stared at the open door. Henri grabbed her collar as Stella continued to scream.
‘It’s your fault I’m in this predicament. Where the hell is that ambulance? I don’t want to have this baby in a bloody pub!’
Sheila barked towards the door.
‘It’s all right,’ Henri said, trying to calm her, all the while wincing at the sound of Stella swearing and shouting. Not that she had anything against curse words—truth was she rather liked them—but sweet, serene Stella who she’d been chatting with on the beach only hours earlier, didn’t look like she had such language in her.
Which only made Henri wonder why any woman would do this to themselves. The sounds she could hear right now were enough to make her want to go and have a hysterectomy. Or, at the very least, a drink.
If only she hadn’t left that Guinness out on the bar—she could really do with it right about now.
She glanced around looking for something to distract her, but Liam’s office was annoyingly sparse. There wasn’t even a magazine lying around. In all the commotion, she’d left her bag and her phone at the bar, which meant she couldn’t even amuse herself playing Solitaire or scrolling Facebook. She could sneak out and get them, but her crutches made sneaking almost impossible.
Henri barely heard her own sigh over the sound of another ear-piercing scream, followed by more swearing and a deep, guttural moan. In desperation, she yanked open one of the desk drawers, looking for a book or something else that could distract her. She lifted a pile of catalogues, hoping to find a hip flask of whiskey or something, but her efforts were fruitless.
Argh. Did the man even drink? Now that she thought about it, she’d never seen him so much as take a sip of beer. What kind of pub owner was he?
In lieu of actual alcohol, Henri opened one of the catalogues and tried to lose herself in its pages instead. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing.
Just as she was coming to the end of the first catalogue, she heard someone shout, ‘The ambulance is here.’
Well, hallelujah. She snapped the catalogue shut and opened the drawer to shove them all back in. She noticed two scraps of paper had fallen onto the floor: a yellow Post-it note, and what looked like a prescription. She plucked them up, respecting Liam’s privacy and not reading what the prescription was for, but briefly registering the words ‘JMC Office Supplies’ and ‘$3211’ scrawled across the Post-it as she put them both back into the desk drawer.
Fifteen minutes later, Liam appeared in the doorway of the office and Henri’s heart somersaulted in her chest. She couldn’t have been more delighted if it was one of the Hemsworth brothers.
‘Is Stella gone? Is the baby gunna be okay?’ she asked as Sheila got up to greet him.
‘Hopefully they’ll both be. Mandy and Karen have taken her to Geraldton; fingers crossed they don’t end up delivering in the ambulance.’
Henri made a face. ‘Better than in the pub, I guess.’
‘Hell yeah, I was worried there for a moment. Never a dull moment in the Bay, that’s for sure. You hightailed it out of there pretty fast.’
‘I’m not good with blood. Or babies.’ She shuddered. ‘Especially ones that are covered in blood and gunky birth stuff.’
‘Lucky you’re good at many other things then,’ he said with a smirk. ‘Are you ready to call it a night?’
‘You’re closing the pub?’
‘Yep. Everyone’s gone. Our prayers were answered.’