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She gave another gasp that turned to a sob. ‘I think…’ Her breath caught and for a moment she couldn’t speak. ‘I think the baby is coming.’
‘What?’ He gaped at her. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
Louisa made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a groan. ‘When did you last look at me? I’m nine months pregnant, Josh. It has to come out some time.’
‘But not here! Not now!’ Josh felt a sudden rush of panic and forced himself to stay calm. He was a doctor, for heaven’s sake! ‘OK.’ He jabbed his fingers through his hair and tried to think straight. ‘Well, that’s fine. That’s good. It’s not due for a couple of weeks but this is fine. It’s really not a problem. We’ll just get you to hospital and I’ll give Mac a ring and—’
‘Josh.’ She grabbed his arm and he winced with pain as her fingers dug hard into his flesh. He’d always thought his sister-in-law was gentle. Where had she learnt how to grip like that? ‘Josh.’ She was gasping now. ‘There isn’t going to be time to go to hospital.’
He stared at her blankly. ‘What do you mean, there isn’t going to be time to go to hospital? This is your first baby. First babies take hours—days even.’
They didn’t just arrive without warning. In his kitchen.
She screwed up her face again and made a sound in between a moan and a giggle. ‘You don’t know anything about babies, Josh. Some of them come quickly.’
He ran a hand over the back of his neck, feeling the prickle of sweat cool his skin. ‘Not the first time. The first time they take ages and—’
‘Josh! Shut up, will you?’ There was a tinge of panic in her voice and more than a touch of exasperation. ‘Stop telling me what it says in the textbooks!’ She gritted her teeth and held onto him harder. ‘I’m telling you this baby is coming. I can feel it.’
He heard the fear in her tone and instantly snapped into professional mode. He dealt with people’s fear on a daily basis. He could deal with fear. It was the baby he wouldn’t be any good with.
‘All right, let’s sit you down.’ He pulled out a kitchen chair but she refused to let go of his arm.
‘I don’t think I want to sit down.’ She gave a tiny whimper and rubbed her bump. ‘I want to walk, or push.’
Push?
‘Don’t push!’ Josh felt sweat break out on his brow. This couldn’t be happening to him. He should have stayed in bed. He should have—
‘Josh!’
‘Please, don’t push.’ He wondered if there was any way he could remove his arm from her grip without offending her. At this rate he was going to need stitches. ‘Not until we know what’s going on. I’m going to ring Mac and—’
‘No!’ She still held him tightly. ‘Don’t leave me. I tell you I’m going to have this baby on your kitchen floor any moment.’ She gave a hysterical laugh that turned into a sob and Josh eyed his mobile phone, which was just out of reach. If she’d let go of him for a second, he’d be able to grab it and call someone.
‘Louisa—’
‘Hopeful wants something to eat.’ Archie walked into the kitchen and stopped dead, his eyes popping out of his head. ‘What’s the matter with Louisa? Her face is all funny.’
Josh gritted his teeth. ‘Her baby is coming.’ And that probably wasn’t something a six-year-old was meant to see. What did six-year-olds know about babies? He didn’t want to frighten him.
But Archie looked more excited than frightened. ‘Here? Now?’
‘Here. Now.’ Josh wiped his brow with his forearm and was suddenly struck by inspiration. ‘Archie, I need you to do something for me. I need you to pass me my phone from over there and then go to your house and wake your mum up.’ Hadn’t she told him that her last job had been in obstetrics? ‘Tell her that Louisa is having her baby and that she needs to get over here now. Do it, Archie.’ He gritted his teeth as Louisa almost amputated his arm with her fingers. ‘Do it now!’
Archie looked at him then grabbed the phone, virtually threw it at Josh and then disappeared back through the door at a run.
* * *
From the depths of sleep, Kat heard her name and shot out of bed, her heart racing. ‘What? Archie? Is that you?’
‘You need to come now!’ He raced into her bedroom, panting and almost bursting with excitement. ‘It’s an urgency.’
Urgency? Still half-asleep, she tried to translate. Urgency? Emergency? ‘What’s an emergency? What are you talking about?’
‘The baby’s coming and Josh doesn’t know anything and you have to come now! He said so or it’s going to drop on the floor.’
‘What baby? What floor?’ She grabbed her shorts but Archie pulled at her arm.
