Chapter 10
“Give me another big push,” Victoria Stevens said to Jessie, the young woman laboring to bring her baby into the world. Though the clinic’s generator had kicked on to provide low-level lighting and monitors, the AC wasn’t much to speak of, and it was hot as hell in there.
“I can’t,” Jessie said, sobbing as tears spilled down her cheeks. “I’m so tired.”
Vic bathed Jessie’s face with a cool cloth. “You’ve got this, Jessie. A few more pushes, and you’ll be a mom.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Are you sure there’s no one I can call to come be with you?”
“There’s no one.”
Victoria rarely had a mom deliver alone, but it had happened before. Who, she wondered, would support the young mom and baby when they went home from the clinic?
Jessie began to moan as another contraction started to peak.
“Come on, Jessie. Let’s get this baby out. On my count, give me the biggest push yet, and don’t let up.”
The young woman summoned the last of her strength and determination to give birth to a baby girl, who came out red-faced and squalling.
“You’ve got yourself a daughter,” Victoria said as she wrapped the baby in a blanket and handed her over to her mother. “Congratulations.”
“Is she… Is she healthy?”
“I counted ten fingers and ten toes, and she has a healthy set of lungs.” Victoria delivered the placenta, placed a couple of stitches and got Jessie cleaned up. “What’s her name?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“I’ll give you a minute to get acquainted while I get Dr. David to come in and check her out.” Victoria left the birthing room and went to find David, who was in his office, wolfing down a sandwich as he worked on charts and other paperwork that never ended. “Jessie Morgan had a baby girl.”
“Everything went well?”
“Textbook, except for the fact that she seems to be completely alone. I asked if she had anyone she wanted to call, and she said there isn’t anyone.”
“Huh. What do we know about her?”
“Not much. She arrived on the island about a month ago and came to me once for a prenatal check. I don’t think she’d had any care before then. I’m a little concerned about sending her home with a newborn and no support.”
“Let’s go take a look at the baby and see what we can find out.”
Victoria followed David back to the exam room. Before she went in, she caught a glimpse of her partner, Shannon O’Grady, coming in the clinic’s main doors. “I need a few minutes.”
“I’ll wait for you out front.”
“Thanks.” Shannon was so good about rolling with her crazy schedule and the way babies arrived at the most inconvenient of times, such as when she had a lunch date with her love.
Victoria joined David in the delivery room, where he was talking to Jessie about the baby. “We’re just going to take a quick look to make sure she’s nice and healthy. Is that all right?”
“Sure.” She handed the baby over to him, and he took her to a nearby table with a warming light and the items he needed to fully assess her. “She’s okay, right?”
“She seems perfect,” David said. “We’re just making sure. So how long have you lived on Gansett?”
“Just about a month or so. I came to work at the Beachcomber this summer.”
“Are you planning to stay for the off-season?” Victoria asked, making an effort to keep the questions casual and friendly.
“I… I’m not sure yet.”
“Is the baby’s father here with you?”
Jessie shook her head and looked away, sending the message that the subject was off-limits.
“I have to be honest that I’m concerned about you going home with a newborn if you don’t have any support,” Vic said. “Especially with the power out for who knows how long.”
“We’ll be okay. I… I’ll figure it out. Somehow.”
“Do you have a car seat?”
“I don’t have a car, so I don’t need a seat.”
“What about a crib?”
“I was going to use a dresser drawer to start with. My mom did that with us.”
“Is your mom around? Could she come and help?”
“She died six years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too. She was my best friend.”
“Do you have a friend here on the island who might be able to help out for a while?”
“Not really. I haven’t been here that long.”
“Are you staying in the Beachcomber’s employee housing?”
“Yeah.”
Victoria didn’t think that was the right environment for a baby, as the seasonal employee housing tended to be party hot spots. “This community is pretty awesome, and if I put out the word that we have a new mom in need of some help and support, people would be happy to help.”
“I’m not looking for charity.”
“I’m not offering charity. I’m talking about the kind of help that every new mom needs.”
“I… I just don’t know.”
Victoria squeezed her arm. “Think about it. No need to decide anything right this minute.”
David brought the baby back to Jessie. “She’s robustly healthy and scored high on all her tests.”
“Oh good,” Jessie said as she took the baby from him. “That’s good news.”
The awkward way in which she handled the baby indicated to Victoria that she hadn’t had much experience with newborns.
“Make sure to support her head.” Victoria adjusted the baby so her head was better positioned. “Her neck isn’t strong yet.”
“How do people know this stuff before they have a baby?”
“Well, there’re books and websites and stuff. I have a couple of books I could lend you, if you’d like.”
“That would be great. I don’t know much about babies.”
“And that’s why I’d like to get you some help, Jessie. I know of an awesome group of women who’ll take you under their wings and show you the ropes. All you have to do is let them.”
Jessie rolled her bottom lip between her teeth. “Are you sure it’s not charity?”
“I’m very sure. It’s people helping people.”
“I guess that would be okay, then.”
“Great, while you girls get some rest, I’ll make a few calls.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s no problem at all.”
David followed Victoria from the room. “What’s your plan?”
“My first call will be to Lizzie James.”
He snorted out a laugh. “Calling in the big guns.”
“Go big or go home. Will you keep an eye on them while I grab a quick lunch with Shannon?”
“Yep.”
“You want anything?”
“I’m good. Daisy made me a lunch.”
“You’re so spoiled.”
“I know! I tell her she doesn’t have to, but she wants to. She loves her new kitchen so much that she’ll take any chance she gets to be in there.” He patted his belly, which was as flat as ever. “She’s trying to fatten me up before the wedding.”
“She’s only got a few weeks to go. I hope she’s cooking round the clock.”
“Every chance she gets.”
“You hearing anything about the power?”
“Only that it’s out to the entire island.”
“Fantastic. It’s gonna be a hot night in the old town tonight.”
“Sure is. Go have lunch. I’ll be here for a while longer.”
“Thanks.” They were both due to attend Charlie and Sarah’s party later, but they’d come in that morning to see patients who worked during the week and couldn’t get to the clinic. Jessie had shown up earlier in full labor.
Victoria grabbed her purse from her office and ran out to join Shannon, who was between runs on the ferry.
Since he had to leave again at one thirty, they had an hour.
“Sorry, sorry,” she said when she found him sitting on one of the benches outside the clinic, his face tipped into the sun. “Babies don’t care about lunch plans.”
“They don’t care about anything but themselves,” he said in the lovely Irish accent that had become the soundtrack to her life with him.
“Selfish buggers.” He slung an arm around her shoulders.
“How about outside at the Wayfarer today? I heard they’re cooking burgers on the grill, but that’s about it with the power out. ”
“A burger sounds good.” Since it was only a few minutes away, they walked down the hill into town.
“So what’d she have? A boy or girl?”
“A girl, and the poor thing had to give birth with crappy AC in this hideous heat. What’re you hearing about the power failure?”
“That it’s island wide and could be out for days.”
She groaned. “God, that would suck. It’s so hot.
” As they walked, Victoria sent a text to Lizzie James, wife of billionaire investor Jared James, who’d once told her to reach out if she heard of anyone in need.
Give me a call when you have a minute. Her phone rang ten seconds after she sent the text.
To Shannon, Vic said, “Sorry, got to take this.”
“Do your thing, love. No worries.”
He was the best at rolling with the never-ending demands of being the island’s only nurse practitioner-midwife and someone almost always needing her for something.
“Hey, Lizzie. Thanks for calling.”
“No problem. How’re you holding up over there without power?”
“Not great. The generator is running, but the AC is tepid at best.”
“Ugh, hope it won’t be out for long. What’s up?”
“You mentioned once that I should call you if I encountered someone who could use some help. I have a young single mom at the clinic. She came out to work for the Beachcomber this summer and just had a baby. I don’t think she has anyone or anything—”
“Say no more. I’m on it.”
“You’re the best. She’s a bit overwhelmed, to say the least.”
“I can only imagine. We’ll take care of her.”
“Thank you so much, Lizzie.”
“Thanks for calling me. I’ll come by the clinic this afternoon to see her.”
“I’ll see you then.” Victoria ended the call and put the phone in her pocket, determined to give Shannon her full attention for the rare moment they’d stolen in the midst of a workday.
Ever since they’d committed to spending their lives together, he’d been making a huge effort to ensure she was happy—and doing a fantastic job of it by inviting her to lunch between runs, among many other things that had made her feel loved and settled in their relationship.
He was like a different man since he’d unburdened himself to her by sharing the devastating details of his love Fiona’s murder and the years of horrific grief that’d followed.
More important, though, he’d given himself permission to be happy again, which had been key to their ability to move forward together.
“So my aunt, my mam and my da are talking about coming for a visit in the fall,” he said.
“Your aunt who’s Seamus’s mom?”
“That’s the one. My mam and da want to meet the young lady who has me tied to a tiny island in the US.”
“You’re not exactly tied.”
“Aren’t I, though? Roped and shackled.” He made a dramatic display of dragging a pretend ball and chain attached to his leg.
“Be careful, O’Grady. Or your ball and chain won’t be friendly at bedtime.”
His laughter delighted her. “You know I’m happily chained to the smart, sexy, beautiful Nurse Stevens who saved me from myself by forcing me to fall in love with her.”
“I did some of my best work with you.”
“That you did, love. So I was thinking, as long as my family is going to be here, maybe we could, you know, make our arrangement a little more… you know, official.”
Confused and charmed by his stumbling words when he was usually the king of elocution, Victoria looked up at him just as he stopped walking and dropped to his knee right there on the sidewalk in downtown Gansett. “What’re you doing?”
He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “I had this whole thing planned for tonight, but I can’t wait another minute to ask you…” He looked up at her with gorgeous green eyes filled with love and the hint of sadness that would forever be part of who he was now.
“Ask me what?” she asked, breathless. She needed to hear him say the words.
“Will you marry me, Vic? Will you—”
“Yes!”
Smiling up at her, he said, “I wasn’t finished, but ‘yes’ is a good word.”
She reached for him, tugging him up and throwing herself into his arms.
“If you’d let me finish, you would’ve heard about how much I love you and how completely you saved my life by loving me back.”
“I love you just as much, and I can’t wait to marry you. Thank you for asking me.”
He gazed down at her, smiling as big as he ever did. “Thanks for saying yes. When we get home, I’ll give you the ring I got you.”