Free Dance with the Devil by Sandy Curtis

the bed again, Emma reached for a bottle of sterilising solution and a packet of surgical gloves. 'Mary, I need to do an internal examination to see how dilated you are. I'm going to the bathroom to scrub up.' She handed the packet of gloves to Drew. 'Perhaps you'll assist?'
     
    'How long has Mary been an addict?' Drew asked as he held a glove open for Emma to slide her hand into.
    'It wasn't hard to work out,' he explained at Emma's quizzical look. 'I saw the scars on her arms. I've seen them before.'
    'I suppose you've sent a few to jail,' she muttered and gestured impatiently at the gloves packet.
    'I'm a defence lawyer, Emma, not a prosecutor.' He held open the second glove. 'I try to keep kids like Mary out of prison. Though sometimes prison can save their lives. For some it's a reality jolt they'd never get on the streets, and their only chance to dry out.'
    Emma regarded him thoughtfully, then made up her mind. 'Mary's been off heroin for over a year. She's been on the methadone program, and she's even been off that for a few months.'
    'How do you think she'll cope?'
    'She was very determined to give the baby a chance not to be born addicted. But she's not strong, Drew, physically or emotionally. I don't know how she'll get through this birth. Normally I wouldn't give an ex-addict pethidine or any other painkiller, but I will if I have no choice.'
    Her eyes burned with determination. Drew nodded. 'You'll get her through it.'
    He saw the appreciation in her eyes, then the doubt. 'You have a lot of confidence in me,' she said wryly.
    'Yes,' he said with conviction, 'I have. You have a very empathetic nature and Mary trusts you.'
    'Right now,' she held up her gloved hands, 'she doesn't have much choice.'
     
    Drew walked out onto the veranda with a tray holding sandwiches and two mugs of coffee. He settled the tray onto a small table and sat down on a white cane chair.
    Storm clouds cast a grey pall over the mountains. Heat shimmered in the air, and no breeze relieved its fierceness. Sweat dampened Drew's light cotton shirt and irritated the wounds on his back.
    Emma walked out and sat in another chair.
    Drew watched the tired lines around her eyes, the dark hollows that betrayed the strain she'd been under the past two days. 'How's it going?'
    Emma picked up the coffee, took an appreciative sip, and sighed. 'Mary is just one big bundle of nerves. She is so anxious to do this birth right she'll probably be lucky to get through it without breaking down.'
    'Why is she so anxious?'
    'Because she feels she owes everything she has to Tom. He dragged her away from her druggie friends, got her on the methadone program, married her and brought her here to live so there'd be no pressures on her. His parents didn't approve but they decided to give them a chance and let them sort it out together.'
    Drew reached for the sandwiches and passed one to Emma. 'That was very trusting of them.'
    'Mmmm. Good sandwich - I didn't realise I was so hungry. Guess it is after lunchtime.' Emma settled back in the chair and crossed one jeans-clad leg over the other. 'Tom's always been reliable. Salt-of-the-earth type. He's loved Mary since high school but she moved to Cairns, got in with the wrong crowd, into drugs. Tom didn't give up on her, though.'
    'It sounds like you know him very well.'
    She shrugged. 'Tom was only thirteen when Mum and I left the valley. But I saw him when I spent a few holidays with Dad, and J.D. always wrote to let me know what everyone was up to. The valley's a pretty close-knit community.'
    She stood up, flexed her shoulders, then massaged her neck. 'I'd better be getting back.' She looked down at Drew. 'Thanks for getting lunch.' Her eyes held his for a moment, and he could have sworn he read a yearning there, but she turned and walked back inside.
    Drew sat for a long time, his churning thoughts a reflection of the need coursing through his body. No woman had affected him the way Emma did. No woman had provoked the