Free The Midwife's Little Miracle by Fiona McArthur Page A

never asked about my other qualifications.’
    ‘Westside Admin told me you were in charge of their unit at Westside and instrumental in setting up the free-standing centre there. Misty said you were very good at managing people. I saw that in the week at your house.’ He grinned. ‘I know you’ve got the paperwork and the experience.’
    Montana gazed out over the lake and she could feel the ties binding her to a place she wasn’t sure she wanted to be bound to for reasons that were way too complicated to think about now.
    She had become even more suspicious of her feelings for Andy let alone if she committed to the exposure of working with him at the hospital.
    What about Douglas and Douglas’s house intown and all her things? What about her old friends and her old life?
    And the last, startling, dreadful thought—Douglas hadn’t even been gone a year!
    What disloyalty was this?
    She couldn’t help loving it here. Douglas would never have assumed she could do all the things Andy believed she could.
    She shied away from that because it involved negative thoughts of Douglas and comparisons. The next thing she’d be thinking she could hope and dream for things in the future.
    ‘It’s a big commitment. To tell the truth, part of the attraction here is the lack of commitment required. I’d have to change the way I picture the future. I’d have to think about it seriously and not rush into anything.’
    Andy was nodding, but there was that glint of determination in his eye that she was becoming more wary of. ‘Fine. Believe me, time’s not a problem.’
    Why did she not accept what he said as true? she thought with a smile. He was one-eyed and too passionate about looking after his town, that’s why.
    He scooped up Dawn, who had suddenly decided she didn’t want to lie on her stomach any more, and went on blithely with her tucked under his arm.
    ‘How about in the morning we take a trip up to the hospital and chat to Joan? She could give you an idea of what’s involved in the deputy’s job and then you could see how you feel about the idea.’
    She knew it. She picked up the blanket and shook it in preparation to leave. ‘That’s rushing.’
    ‘Nah.’ He flapped his hand and shifted Dawn onto his hip. Her little fists waved around joyfully. ‘The next board meeting is five days away.’
    ‘Gee, thanks. A whole five days to think about it.’ But she couldn’t help smiling at his singlemindedness.
    The next morning they left Dawn with Louisa again.
    Montana couldn’t help a stab of guilt when her daughter cried as they drove off to the hospital. This must be how all working mothers felt as they drove away but it didn’t help the burden of remorse she seemed to be accumulating. Then again Dawn could be crying that Andy had left.
    ‘She’ll be fine. You know it,’ Andy consoled her, but knowing Dawn enjoyed being with Louisa didn’t help.
    ‘Maybe it’s not time to go back to work yet.’ Montana chewed her lip.
    ‘Maybe not.’ Andy understood and that helped. ‘We’ll see what you think after this morning. But you know that Dawn will be fine with Louisa.’
    The administration offices were in the original stone part of the building with wooden windowframes that pulled straight up so you lean out over the gardens if you wanted to.
    The building had high ceilings and an old fireplace in the boardroom. It resembled the beer garden at the back of an old pub with wooden-backed chairs around the big oak table that dominated the room.
    Matron’s office was tucked away to the side of the boardroom, next to an empty office, and jampacked with old medical books, black ledgers and a towering filing cabinet that looked older than the woman who waited for them with a frail outstretched hand.
    Joan Winterbourne was nudging seventy but the snow-white bun caught tightly on her head pulled the wrinkled folds of her face up nicely so that she looked vaguely oriental in appearance and ten years younger than her