Maeve's Baby

By Fiona McArthur

She moved to the outback to heal her heart, never expecting to fall in love.

Midwife Maeve McGill can deliver a baby with no complications, but finding love isn't that easy. After falling for and being dumped by a doctor who only wanted her as a glorified nanny for his kids, she left her job for a position at a clinic in Wirralong. Maeve is determined to embrace her new life with the help of her friend, Lacey. Men are absolutely off the menu.

Doctor Jace Bronson is everything Maeve’s last boyfriend wasn’t. He’s big—a big chest to lean on with a big heart and a crazy big smile she can’t resist. But Jace is a father and his job is temporary, so he and Maeve vow to keep their relationship strictly professional. Maeve doesn’t want to risk the heartbreak, and Jace wants to protect his daughter from falling under Maeve’s warm and caring spell—the way he has.

They had good intentions, but love, chemistry and the magic of Wirralong have a way of bringing two wounded souls together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tule Publishing
• Release date: Aug 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781952560385

Fiona McArthur

Fiona McArthur is an Australian midwife who lives in the country and loves to dream. Writing Medical Romance gives Fiona the scope to write about all the wonderful aspects of romance, adventure, medicine and the midwifery she feels so passionate about. When not writing, Fiona's ether at home on the farm with her husband or off to meet new people, see new places and have wonderful adventures. Drop in and say hi at Fiona's website www.fionamcarthurauthor.com

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Prologue

Email from Lacey James to Maeve McGill:

You should move to Wirralong, Maeve. How can I describe it? It’s beautiful, with auburn and rust-coloured leaves from the deciduous trees that float like flakes of red confetti onto the open grass. Changeable weather that’s fun. Cool breezes yesterday; warm, wear-no-sleeves weather today. With puffy, fluffy clouds that skitter across the cobalt skies above like cotton candy escaped from the bag.

Autumn brings dahlias and camellias and chrysanthemums to the gardens here, along with the rampant flush of glorious second-growth roses at Maggie Walker-O’Connor’s wedding centre.

Have I told you about Wirra Station? How it rose from a run-down homestead into a dreamy stage for the most iconic and picturesque weddings. The success of Maggie’s venue impacted the town. And the townspeople.

Unlike other rustic gold-rush villages down the southern tip of mainland Australia, Wirralong thrives. We haven’t scattered our inhabitants like tumbleweed into oblivion—because weddings are big business.

Wedding parties waltz around the town’s boardwalks, spreading new life into our previously struggling shop owners’ tills. There’s even a Smart Ladies’ Supper Club where you can meet the business and professional ladies in town.

And the Outback Brides Coffee Shop is the place for lunch. Of course, the doctor’s surgery, where you’ll work if you take over my job, is busy with all these new families. The word has spread of Maggie’s weddings all over Victoria.

You should move to Wirralong, Maeve.

It’s a friendly little town. A great place for taking stock. A haven to pick yourself up from being knocked down. A great place to find inner, amazing, super-strength with friends like me who will stand by you.

Oh, and … There’s this amazing property up for sale and you should buy it, Maeve.

Chapter One

Jace

They met on the street outside the Wirralong Family Doctors Surgery. Two big men, mid-thirties, athletic and confident with wide smiles. One carried a shy three-year-old with curly red hair and dimples. Auburn hair like her daddy’s.

‘We finally got here.’ Jace Bronson grabbed Ben Brierley’s hand and squeezed hard. ‘Can’t believe you’re a father. Two sets of twins and one due, and only since I last saw you!’

‘Not all our own work. The boys were Holly’s sister’s, and we adopted them after she died, but they’re ours now.’ He smiled at the little girl. ‘And you’re Jemima? Hello, gorgeous. Have you come to see Daddy’s new surgery, today?’

A solemn nod, but no words from Jace’s daughter. People passed, smiled, said hello to Ben, and smiled at Jace and Jemima.

‘So good to see you, both.’ Ben slapped his friend on the back. ‘It’s kid city at my house. Tom and Pat are nine and Layla and Amber turned two last week. I’ve found heaven, that’s for sure.’

Jace shook his head. ‘I pull my hair out with one.’

‘Bet you wouldn’t trade her for the world.’

Jace squeezed his daughter tight against him briefly and the little girl slipped both arms around her daddy’s neck. ‘Not a hope.’ Jace looked away. ‘It’s been two years and we’re getting good at juggling, aren’t we, Jem?’

‘I take my hat off to all single parents. You’re doing a great job.’

Jace could see Ben meant that. His friend understood how badly Jace wanted Jemima to grow up happy, despite not having a mother.

‘Kids. Who would believe it of us?’ Ben shook his head. ‘Appreciate you coming down. Makes it easy that we can settle in here together before Holly goes into labour.’

‘Nice for me to get away. I need a break from home and you needing me for six months is perfect. Thanks for setting us up with Sandy; knowing a good babysitter makes it smooth.’

‘We’re experts with babysitters. Been juggling for a while now. It’ll be nice to spend time with the family when I do go on leave.’

‘You have a baby in order to get holidays?’ Jace teased him.

‘This one wasn’t planned. Holly kept one day a week in the surgery to stay current. Sandy’s a treasure with the twins and comes across to pick them up. Jemima will love her.’

Sounded hectic to Jace. ‘When’s your baby due?’

‘Six weeks, but Holly’s tired and happy to give up her office to you now. Even happier I’ll be on leave before the baby comes. Come in and look around.’

Jace followed his friend up the two steps into the surgery entrance, then into a light, roomy waiting room with lots of empty chairs and stopped at the front desk with Ben.

‘Jace Bronson, this is Imelda Miles, receptionist extraordinaire and best scone maker in Wirralong.’

‘Hello, Jace. Good to meet you.’

‘And you, Imelda.’ They nodded and both looked at Jemima who jammed her face against Jace’s shoulder.

‘And who’s this?’ The smiling, older lady with the same pure white hair his mother had—a good omen, Jace hoped—lifted a hand in an enthusiastic wave at Jemima.

‘Jemima.’

‘And nice to meet you, too, Jemima.’

Ben gestured to one of the consulting rooms and Jace waved back at the receptionist and followed his friend in for a look.

One wall of the consulting room, the one that faced the street, had been built out of glass bricks, letting in light while maintaining solid patient privacy. The desk stretched large and mahogany in front of the light from the frosted glass, and on the back wall behind a pulled-back curtain the examination couch hid. The computer and printer looked state-of-the-art, as did the instruments and monitoring equipment, and from what he’d seen already, everything else in the surgery.

‘Nice set-up, Ben.’

‘Furnished from scratch,’ Ben said. ‘Everything was new a couple of years ago, when I moved to town.’

Lucky for him, Jace thought. It made it easy for someone who’d been working as a paediatrician, with all his equipment mostly child sized. ‘Suits me not to have to order anything. We’re only here six months.’

‘We’re not trumpeting that to the populace. You never know. You might decide to stay longer.’ Ben waggled his brows and changed the subject. ‘This will be your room, I’ll keep my office, in case you get snowed under, and there’s a mini-surgery treatment room, and an immunisation room. When I go on leave, the new midwife will use my office for antenatal appointments, unless I come in to help.’

‘When does she arrive?’

‘Tomorrow. Lacey, the previous midwife, has her second baby due a week before ours.’

Jace gestured at the window. ‘Do you need a midwife in a small practice like this?’ He had reservations about midwives.

Ben laughed. ‘Don’t let Lacey hear you say that. In truth, best thing I ever did was hire her. And this new midwife is a friend of hers from Perth. Holly interviewed her via video conference and we met her in person last week. We’re very impressed. Lacey and her friend are both women’s health nurses, and I know Lacey’s incredible with the mums and bubs in town. Between her and Holly we have nearly every family in town on our books.’

He pretended to grimace. ‘In my usual working day, I get the senior citizens who are lovely, haemorrhoids—not so lovely—and all the crusty men. They’ll be your clientele.’

Jace laughed. ‘Sounds a different demographic to my kids in the city.’

‘Oh, I think you’ll enjoy small-town medicine.’

Jace rubbed the back of his neck. He hoped so. ‘Not something I would have thought five years ago.’

Ben’s face creased into a teasing grin. ‘You always were going to be the hot-shot paed. Will you miss that?’

Jace shrugged. He couldn’t deal with dying kids. Not after he lost his wife and unborn baby. He knew what it was to have a gaping hole in the family. When tragedy struck for one of their small clients, they’d had the support of each other. Without Jenny … ‘Be a nice change to deal with kids who aren’t battling the effects of being born prematurity or worse.’

‘Please God.’ His friend shuddered. ‘You’ll be able to use your extra paediatric skills here, don’t you worry.’ He looked innocent. ‘How are you with fractures from tree falls?’

Jace felt the uplift of his spirits. Ben always had known the right thing to say. ‘Reckon I can handle that.’

‘Welcome to Wirralong.’

Chapter Two

Maeve

Maeve McGill woke to the sound of birdsong and the munch of … maybe a goat? … eating grass outside her window? She hoped it was grass and not the one flowering bush she was sweating on to flower. Lacey had exaggerated the flowers.

Though, it could be a brush-tailed rock-wallaby. Nobody could stop the wallabies from going through the fence or bouncing over it. She’d thought she’d shut the gate into the paddock yesterday afternoon, hence the goat query, but she was still learning to be a farmer.

She dragged her head from the most comfortable pillow in the world and peered blearily through the curtain-free window. Who needed curtains when you had no neighbours? No two-legged ones anyway. Except for the birds. And wallabies.

‘Yep.’ A wallaby. She plopped back and sighed happily. She’d smiled so much since she’d come here—away from Perth—that she knew she’d done the right thing. ‘Good morning, Skippy,’ she said to the ceiling, though she was talking to the grass-chomper outside.

On her farm. Her own farm. Maeve’s Farm. Albeit a dry, dusty, boulder-strewn red-earth-and-rock kind of farm—it had some grass—and one hundred acres of her land!

And the house was cute too. An A-frame with a loft for visitors, a wide verandah that went all the way around from front to back and one-stepped down into the dusty yard.

She had Lacey to connect with, and had met Holly and Ben at afternoon tea. She liked the pregnant doctor and her husband even more since she’d met them in the flesh.

Ben was going to find her a nice quiet horse to learn to ride on. She’d keep it in the tiny barn at night and put it out in the paddock each day.

Then she’d get a dog.

Having already met Ben would make it easier for her first day at work today, and there was a new doctor coming. It was a shame Ben was going on paternity leave soon, but not surprising with four children already.

It would be awesome to be the antenatal midwife for Lacey, and pregnant Holly, even if they were both going to the base hospital to birth.

The new guy was a friend of Ben’s and a paediatric consultant. A big come down to county GP, but great news because she knew how fast sick kids could go down and apparently this small town was filling up with little kids.

The alarm on her phone began its morning serenade, which she’d changed to an Aussie kid’s nursery song, ‘Home Among the Gum Trees.’ It made her smile.

* *

Two hours later Maeve drove down the small town’s main road, admiring the row of one- and two-storey, elderly store fronts on each side of the wide street. She turned the corner and drove back along the rear of the buildings, until she came to the behind-surgery car park and pulled in.

Two minutes later she pushed the handle to the Wirralong Family Doctors Surgery and the door swung silently onto a hallway, which ran past three small rooms, and led to the waiting area with pale green chairs and a blue water cooler.

Like the rest of the town, the medical centre looked freshly painted and shiny, and she remembered Lacey had said Wirralong was still crowing about winning the Tidy Town of the Year award last year.

She’d never lived in a lauded ‘tidy town’ before, but felt the tug of new resident pride.

An older, white-haired receptionist glanced up with a smile, which widened when she noted Maeve’s blue trousers and pale lilac shirt. ‘You must be the new midwife.’

‘Maeve McGill.’

‘Imelda Miles, dear. Welcome.’

‘Thank you, Imelda.’ Imelda hadn’t been there last week when Lacey had shown her around. The woman stood up, and halleluiah, she wasn’t much taller than Maeve. Which was almost a win. In Maeve’s experience almost everyone who had reached adulthood felt taller than she was. Not that she had an issue with it. Nooooo.

‘Follow me. There’s a cupboard under the sink in the kitchen where we put our bags. Then I’ll let Ben know you’re here.’

She clucked. ‘Actually, Holly’s unwell this morning, and Ben won’t be in. He said to give Jace a call when you arrived.’

Maeve frowned and hoped Holly was okay. Being sick when pregnant and with little kids would be yuck. Still, it was good Ben could be there for her.

She followed the receptionist, still mulling over her change of expectations. She hadn’t met Jace, but hopefully he’d be as easy to get along with as the husband and wife team.

The kitchen ran narrow and white with a jug, sink and fridge, to a poster-covered wall at the end. Wash your hands. Cover your mouth. Immunisation chart. Toxic spills. All the usual wall decorations you’d see in a hospital or in a doctor’s surgery.

What she didn’t usually see was a list of names with birthdays next to them and lots of smiley faces. That made her warm to the place more.

She might actually have found people to remember her birthday. The man she’d bought presents for in Perth had never remembered. But she wasn’t going there in her bright new fresh start.

Her widowed mother sat lotus in an Australian version of an ashram, somewhere in a rainforest in Queensland, breathing in serenity that had nothing to do with material possessions for her, or her daughter. So, no gifts or cards from Mum.

But they noticed birthdays here. Nice touch. She’d add her name sometime.

As if Imelda heard her thoughts she said, ‘When is your birthday, dear?’

‘First of August. The horses’ birthday.’

Imelda pulled a pen from her pocket and wrote Maeve’s name and date down. ‘I’ll retype that later. Means I won’t forget. Though, one of my grandchildren has a birthday on the