A Second Chance (45 page)

Hiring a nurse had been Amy’s idea. Richard
had supported her, as aware as she was that it would be easier on
Beth if she did not have to be handled by Richard until she was
unconscious. Finding a nurse willing to work under Richard’s
supervision had proved difficult, but at last someone had mentioned
Mrs Dalton. She was a widow who had moved to Ruatane the previous
year, to keep house for her bachelor brother. She had been a nurse
at a London hospital, and was used to working with doctors. Amy had
found her a stolid, taciturn woman, but she seemed clean and
capable.

Beth brightened visibly at the mention of
Mrs Dalton.

‘Perhaps he’ll get the nurse to do
everything, and he’ll just tell her what to do,’ she said, looking
hopeful. ‘Do you think so, Aunt Amy?’

Amy hesitated. The nurse, she knew, would
not be able to use forceps. ‘I’m sure he’ll get her to do as much
of it as he can,’ she said carefully.

Frank and Lizzie arrived a few minutes
later, and David was unceremoniously ejected from the bedroom by
Lizzie. ‘We don’t need you getting under foot,’ she said, taking
his arm and leading him to the door. ‘Go and talk to your Uncle
Frank. You can help him bring some stuff in from the buggy.’ She
closed the door firmly behind him.

‘I brought a bit of food over,’ she told
Amy. ‘I thought you wouldn’t have had time to get much done today.
Just some biscuits, and a few loaves of bread, and a bit of cold
meat. Oh, and a couple of pies. Now, is everything going all
right?’ she asked Beth. ‘Of course it is, you’ve got your Aunt Amy
looking after you. I’ll just see if there’s anything that needs
doing.’

She bustled about the room with Benjy
clutched to one hip, checking the clean cloths and basins Amy had
ready, and finding everything to her satisfaction. Then she plumped
herself down on the bed and studied Beth’s face. ‘You haven’t been
getting in a state, I hope? You know you’re not supposed to get
upset, with you turning out to have that thing wrong with your
heart, though I’m sure I don’t know how you came to have such a
thing without me knowing about it.’

‘No, I haven’t got upset,’ Beth said,
looking guilty.

Amy patted her hand. ‘She’s being very brave
about it all.’

‘That’s a good girl,’ Lizzie said. ‘I’ll
just pop out to the kitchen and tell Frank and Dave where to put
the stuff I brought.’

She was back some time later, this time
without Benjy, whom she had entrusted to Frank. ‘Your father’s
looking after Dave. He’ll stop him working himself up into a
state.’

‘Can’t Davie stay in here with me?’ Beth
asked, but Lizzie shook her head.

‘It’s no place for a man in here. Well,
except we’ve got to have Richard. That’s different, though, he’s a
doctor. He can make himself useful.’

When Richard arrived, ushering Mrs Dalton
into the room ahead of him, Amy saw Beth’s mouth tremble. She took
Beth’s hand and squeezed it, and felt the ghost of an answering
squeeze.

Richard smiled encouragingly at Beth, but as
he looked around the small room his smile faltered. ‘I’m afraid
there won’t be room for all of us.’

‘Of course. I’m sorry, I’ll get out of the
way,’ Amy said. She released Beth’s hand and made to stand up, but
to her surprise Lizzie waved her back to her seat.

‘No, you stop where you are,’ said Lizzie.
‘You don’t take up much room. I can do cups of tea and stuff while
we’re waiting for something to happen.’

‘Are you sure you don’t want to stay with
Beth?’ Amy asked, reluctant to usurp Lizzie’s place with her
daughter.

‘You’ll be all right with your Aunt Amy,
won’t you?’ Lizzie said to Beth. ‘I won’t be far away, anyway. It’s
better you stay here than me, Amy, you’ve got more of a quiet way
about you—you’ll keep her settled better than I would.’

‘I did have some difficulty persuading
Maudie to stay home,’ Richard told Beth. ‘She wanted to come, but I
managed to convince her there’d be plenty of people to look after
you. She sends her love, and I’ll bring her out to see you in a day
or two.’

The room seemed a good deal less crowded
when Lizzie had gone. Richard sat on the bed and spoke quietly to
Beth. Amy could see that he was studying Beth carefully as he asked
her questions about how she was feeling. He listened to her heart,
though it was impossible to tell from his manner how satisfied he
was with what he heard.

While he spoke, Mrs Dalton set about
checking the progress of Beth’s labour, carefully arranging the
sheet to keep what she was doing invisible to the other occupants
of the room. She seemed to have a gentle touch; although Beth
tensed and turned her face away so as not to look at Richard, Amy
could see no sign that the nurse was hurting her.

‘It feels as if the baby’s lying properly,
Doctor,’ Mrs Dalton announced. ‘She’s only two fingers dilated,
though.’

‘We’ve quite a wait ahead of us,’ Richard
said to Beth. ‘The most important thing is for you to stay as calm
as you can. Try not to push when you feel a contraction, just let
it pass over you.’

Amy watched as Beth made herself look at
Richard. ‘Will you give me something to make it stop hurting?’ Beth
asked.

‘Yes, I will. I don’t want you to suffer
unduly. But do you think you can manage without it for now?’

‘I… I think so. It’s going to get worse,
isn’t it?’

‘The contractions will get stronger, yes. As
soon as you feel it’s too much for you, I’ll give you
chloroform.’

‘Couldn’t you do it now, Richard?’ Amy asked
quietly. ‘Do we have to wait till it gets bad?’

Richard hesitated before answering. ‘I’d
like to wait until things are further along if I possibly can.
Chloroform is not without its risks, you see—and unfortunately,
those risks are particularly significant when there’s any problem
with the patient’s heart. It should be safe if I can use it for a
very brief period—ideally, just for the actual delivery itself. I’m
afraid that’s some way off yet.’

‘So should I try and do without having it at
all?’ Beth asked, a quaver in her voice.

Richard shook his head. ‘No, we’ve moved
beyond such barbarism in the treatment of women. I certainly
wouldn’t attempt a forceps delivery without giving you chloroform
first. And if the pain gets too much for you in the meantime, I’ll
give it to you earlier.’

Beth spoke so quietly that Amy saw Richard
incline his head to be able to hear her, but the quaver had gone
from her voice. ‘I’ll wait till you say it’s time. I can
manage.’

*

The day dragged on. Beth was clearly in
increasing pain, but she continued to insist that it was bearable.
Things were moving slowly, according to the nurse. From time to
time Lizzie brought in cups of tea, and spoke reassuringly to Beth.
Once or twice she spelled Amy at the bedside, giving Amy the chance
to stretch her stiff legs. Rather later than they would usually
have eaten, Amy cobbled together a makeshift lunch from the food
Lizzie had brought and some soup left over from the day before.
People came in and out of the kitchen to snatch a hasty meal.

For the first time Amy could ever recall,
David needed to be persuaded to eat. She had to take him by the
hand and tug him before he would leave the parlour and come to the
kitchen table. Once there, he jumped at every real or imagined
noise from the direction of the bedroom, taking far more notice of
that than of the food Amy put in front of him.

‘You have to eat, Davie,’ she said. ‘You
won’t do Beth any good like that. You need to keep your strength
up, so you can help me look after her when it’s all over.’

That was enough to make him gulp down what
was on his plate and hurry back to the parlour. When Amy came
through on her way to the bedroom, he was perched uncomfortably on
the edge of his chair, staring intently at the bedroom door. Frank,
who was jiggling a somewhat fractious Benjy on his lap, seemed to
be doing his best to engage David in conversation, but it was a
one-sided affair. Amy hurried past them with only the briefest of
glances. Right now it was Beth who needed her.

*

Lizzie emerged from the bedroom moments
after Amy had entered it. ‘I heard Benjy grizzling, give him here,’
she said, sinking onto the couch and opening her arms for the
little boy.

Benjy snuggled up against her when Frank
placed him on her lap, but he soon began wriggling again, trying
unsuccessfully to escape her firm hold.

‘I’ll give him a feed in a bit, see if that
settles him down. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get him to have a
sleep in a strange place, though. Dave, stop that!’ Lizzie said
sharply.

David, who had let out a yelp of alarm as
Beth cried out, turned a bewildered face to Lizzie. ‘Stop
what?’

‘Getting in such a state. If you keep that
up, Beth’ll hear you, and next thing she’ll be worrying about you
getting upset. She’s got enough on her plate without that.’

‘Sorry,’ David said, his face a picture of
guilt. ‘I didn’t mean to bother her.’

Lizzie heaved herself to her feet, Benjy in
one arm. ‘I’m taking Benjy out to the verandah. Frank, do something
with this boy,’ she said, waving her free hand in David’s
direction.

Frank studied David, who looked as tense as
a coil of wire. ‘How about we go outside for a bit?’ he suggested.
‘I could do with some fresh air.’

David glanced at him, then returned his
attention to the bedroom door. ‘I’d sooner stay close, in case they
want me for something.’

‘I shouldn’t think they will, Dave. There’s
that many people running around after Beth, they don’t need you and
me just now.’

David showed no sign of having heard him.
When Beth next cried out, he leapt to his feet and took a few steps
towards the bedroom, then stopped and stood in the middle of the
parlour, head down and looking utterly dejected.

Frank rose from his chair and moved towards
the kitchen. ‘Come on, Dave, let’s take a look around the place,’
he said, looking back over his shoulder. ‘You can show me what
you’re thinking you might get done over the winter. You were
talking about doing a bit of work on your cowshed, weren’t
you?’

David reluctantly followed him outside.
Frank allowed David to choose their direction, which meant an
aimless wander along the nearest fence line.

‘It’s hard, this waiting,’ said Frank.
‘Harder for her than for you, though.’

David turned a stricken face to him. ‘I
didn’t know it was like this. The way it’s hurting her! Beth’s not
one for making a fuss, it must be really bad. And she didn’t want
to have Richard, I said she had to.’

‘You couldn’t have made her if she’d put her
foot down—she’s got enough of her ma in her for that. It’s good
you’ve got Richard here, anyway, he’ll see that she’s all
right.

‘I hope so,’ David said in a low voice.

‘This thing with her heart—it’s not that
bad, is it? I mean, she’s always been that healthy, she can’t have
much wrong with her.’ Frank had had a vague account from Lizzie,
who had herself relied on what Beth had told her, and had not
seemed unduly concerned. Now, faced with David’s distress, an
answering fear was gnawing at Frank. ‘It’s something to do with her
missing a beat every now and again, isn’t it? That doesn’t sound so
bad.’

‘I don’t know. Richard said it’s a strain on
her heart, having a baby. And that’s my fault.’ He met Frank’s
eyes, clearly expecting to be berated.

Frank shook his head. ‘There’s no sense
talking about anyone’s fault. Beth would’ve had a baby sooner or
later, however it had turned out. It’s a good thing you got Richard
to look at her, or we wouldn’t have known there was anything wrong.
It’s thanks to you we’ve got him onto it.’ Lizzie had not been able
to tell him just what it was Richard was expected to do, but
everyone involved seemed agreed that it was something useful.

The afternoon was wearing on, and Frank
noticed the cows bunching up near a gate. ‘Must be about time to
think about milking.’ Perhaps, he hoped, the familiar task would
steady David somewhat; especially if he had some company. ‘How
about I give you a hand? Joe’ll be all right getting the other boys
on with it at my place, I told him he might have to do without me
this afternoon.’ He saw David look uncertainly back towards the
house. ‘They’ll know where to find you if there’s any need,
Dave.’

When they reached the gate, Frank saw the
three Jerseys at the front of the herd, dwarfed by the Shorthorns.
‘Beth’s cows don’t let the Shorthorns boss them around, eh?’

For the first time that day, he saw the
ghost of a smile on David’s face. ‘No, they’re always at the front
of the line. They’re cleverer than the others, they want to get
milked and back in the paddock as quick as they can. The littlest
one isn’t even in milk yet, but she likes hanging around with the
other two.’

‘I hope you get a couple of heifers out of
them come calving time. You’ll want to build your herd up a bit now
you and Beth have started having kids.’

That did not raise the spark of interest
Frank had hoped for. ‘I just wish this could all be over, and I
knew she was all right,’ David murmured.

*

Beth lay limp against the pillows. The front
of her nightdress was drenched with sweat, and her hair was
plastered to her scalp. She no longer seemed to have the strength
to do more than moan when the pains took her. The months she had
spent confined to bed had left her weak, and this labour was
exhausting her. Amy patted at Beth’s face and neck with a cloth
wrung out in cool water, and wished she could do something more to
ease the girl’s suffering.

Richard checked Beth’s heartbeat from time
to time, and did what he could to reassure her that she was doing
well. Things were moving along, the nurse said, but they seemed to
be moving with agonizing slowness.