Christmas With Her Ex (8 page)

F
IFTEEN MINUTES LATER,
ready for her solitary bed, Kelsie was feeling pleased with herself. She’d visited the end of the rocking carriage and marvelled at the flash of railway tracks below the white porcelain bowl with a sort of horrid fascination.

Wolfgang had been in and made her long seat into a snug little bed with starched white sheets and satin-bound woollen blankets. There was a delightful old-fashioned tin of sweets, of course in a blue-lined crested container, resting on her pillow, and the nightlight had been switched on.

Outside the window, snow flew in little flurries and the muted bells of the passing railway crossings added a soothing melody to the sound of the tracks clacking below.

But as she cleaned her teeth at the tiny basin, she stared at her pink cheeks in the gilt-edged mirror and wondered at the star-filled eyes of the woman who stared back.

She still reeled at the absolute mindlessness Connor could induce when he kissed her. Her cheeks glowed back at her as she thought about her lack of control.
Somewhere inside her the unsatisfied woman within grumbled and groaned at an ache that wouldn’t go but still she marvelled that after all these years Connor was the one who could make her legs give way when he kissed her.

It seemed she wasn’t uninterested in sex after all. Sex was pleasant, nice, occasionally great, but just kissing someone had never shaken her rafters like Connor had tonight. She grinned at the thought. Did trains have rafters?

A small smile teased at her lips as she dried her mouth. And to think that she’d wished she hadn’t seen him in Venice. They wouldn’t have much time when they got to London but maybe it wouldn’t be a solitary Christmas after all. She had a few hours before she flew away. The possibility of spending a little more time with a very grown-up Connor Black before she left would be a bonus and she would be very interested in that.

Not that she minded being on her own for Christmas, as she usually worked and the thought of wandering around the deserted streets of London on Christmas morning had been part of the plan.

They hadn’t actually spoken about what would happen when they arrived in London but they had hours of travel to go. It was perfect that she was leaving the next day because the tiny voice that wanted to start planning a life with Connor didn’t have a chance. That was good. She enjoyed her independence too much to be answerable to any man. Even Connor Black. Especially Connor Black.

For the rest of the night she was actually quite looking
forward to some cheeky dreams in her rocking bed. She switched off the light above her bed and let the dimness soak into her. Despite her solitude, her cabin still seemed to hold the essence of Connor and she closed her eyes dreamily.

The crying started just as Kelsie’s head sank deeper into the pillow. The darkness carried the soft weeping that came every few minutes and rose and fell like a tiny wave.

Her eyes opened again and Kelsie glanced at the luminous hands of her watch. The sound went away and she closed her eyes.

It came again. Three minutes since the last.

She knew about those tiny waves. Sat up and stared at the wall opposite.

The noise returned, intensified, and she tracked it to the wall behind her head—from the compartment that held the girl in the oversized coat.

She climbed out of bed and pulled on the blue silk robe and her soft Orient Express bedroom slippers and sighed. Though not sure of her reception when the girl had tried so hard to remain out of sight, Kelsie couldn’t leave her to weep alone.

Especially when she had her suspicions as to why a woman might be crying like that.

Kelsie unlocked her compartment door and peered out into the corridor. Apart from the clatter of the wheels on the rails beneath them, the corridor was silent—until the girl began to weep again.

All of the hallway doors she could see were shut and she suspected that nobody else wanted to investigate.
It had to be well after midnight but the sound floated in tendrils down the corridor.

Kelsie tapped gently on the door next to her. The crying stopped and there was a shuffling noise and then the door opened a crack.

‘Are you okay?’ Kelsie whispered through the crack, and the door opened a fraction more.

A shaky whisper came back, ‘No. I am afraid.’

Afraid wasn’t good, Kelsie thought, and hardened her resolve to intrude. ‘Can I come in? I’m alone.’

No answer for a long pause and then the door opened enough to allow entry and Kelsie slipped around the door and then pulled it shut quietly behind her.

The girl climbed back into bed and curled into the foetal position as if she could keep away the pains. Kelsie couldn’t really do anything except stand over against the door or sit next to her on the rumpled bed.

She was young, dressed in a thin white nightgown, and when Kelsie looked down the obviousness of the pregnant belly confirmed her suspicions.

‘I’m Kelsie. Can I sit for a minute?’

The slim shoulders shrugged and the woman sniffed, but she shifted her bottom further back into the bed so there was room for two. ‘I am Anna.’

‘Hello, Anna.’ Kelsie peered into her face. ‘Are you in labour, Anna?’

Anna shook her head in the negative, rapidly, and then sighed. ‘I don’t know.’

‘How long have the pains been coming?’
Huge dark eyes stared solemnly back as the girl
pushed her thick long black ponytail off her neck. ‘Since we left Venice.’

‘Are they regular?’ The girl blinked and didn’t answer. Kelsie tried again. ‘Do they come the same distance apart? Every few minutes.’

‘I think so.’ Her eyes screwed up and her hand flew to her belly. ‘Another comes.’

The young woman began to whimper and Kelsie put her hand on her shoulder. ‘It’s okay. Just let it happen. Don’t be scared. If you’re scared then you feel more pain. Keeping calm means less pain.’

Kelsie listened to her automatic midwifery patter and mocked herself. Or you could be scared because you’re in a train in the middle of the Swiss Alps and there’s snow outside. If something goes wrong, we’re all in trouble.

Instead she said, ‘Just let it go. Let it wash over you like a big wave. Ride it up one side of the wave and down the other and let it go. Everything is fine. You’re doing beautifully.’

She could feel the tension ebb away under her fingers as she squeezed the woman’s shoulder gently and hoped to goodness this baby was a decent size because the tummy beside her didn’t look that big.

‘When is your baby due?’

‘I don’t know.’

It wasn’t an answer she wanted to hear but there was nothing to do about that now. ‘Have you seen a doctor at all while you’ve been pregnant?’

‘The doctor would tell my parents.’

Who must be very well known? Or perhaps it was a small town?

Mentally Kelsie grimaced. There are doctors out there who don’t know your parents, she thought, but tried again.

Obviously money wasn’t a problem if she could hire a single compartment on the Orient Express. It had taken Kelsie three years to save up for this trip so the issue wasn’t financial.

‘Have you been well?’

‘Until today when the pain started.’

‘And do you remember when your last period was?’

‘Non.’
Anna’s eyes widened again and she began to hyperventilate.

Kelsie put her hand back on the young woman’s shoulder and talked her through that contraction as well. It seemed to last longer and be more powerful than the previous one, which was never a good sign on a train, Kelsie thought resignedly.

She was so young. As young as she had been when she’d left Connor. She could remember what that felt like. Terrifying. ‘Does the father of your baby know you’re pregnant?’

‘Non. But I go to tell him.’ Her eyes grew rounder. ‘In Paris. He is meeting me.’

He might meet more than you if the contractions get much stronger, Kelsie thought, and decided it was time for reinforcements.

She shifted on the seat so the girl could see her face more clearly. ‘Anna, I am a midwife. A nurse for babies. You understand?’

The girl nodded. ‘I think perhaps you may have your baby in the next few hours. We have to get you to a hospital until after your baby is born.’

Vigorous shaking of the head ensued. ‘No. I will be in Paris in five hours. I will wait.’

Kelsie smiled. I wish, she thought. ‘Your baby may not wait.’

More head-shaking. ‘Leave me. I will not get off the train!’

Kelsie could almost understand her reluctance. It was dark. Midnight or later. Goodness knew where they were and if anyone spoke a language this girl understood if she did get transferred to the nearest hospital. And how hard would it be to be transferred out again after the baby was born?

But the reality was it was a very tiny cabin. And this was a train! ‘Look, I believe babies of healthy young women are generally born healthy. But if something did go wrong you have no back-up plan. No way to save your baby if he or she needed emergency help. No way to save yourself if you needed help.’

She pushed away the thought of Connor a few carriages away. Just because they had an obstetrician on board, it didn’t mean they had anything else.

Anna shook her head violently and then began to breathe rapidly again as the next contraction built and Kelsie saw the wildness enter her eyes. It seemed Kelsie might just need back-up very soon.

‘It’s okay,’ she whispered as she leaned forward and pressed the call button for Wolfgang. Perhaps he could talk some sense into their friend.

This contraction didn’t seem to want to end and Kelsie suspected Anna could be almost ready for second stage. It seemed they’d need Connor after all. She doubted they’d make a hospital unless there was one beside the railway track and around the next bend. She could manage the actual birth but wanted someone else here in case the baby did something out of the ordinary.

There was a knock at the door and Kelsie stood up to open it. Wolfgang’s hat was skew and his top button undone.

‘I need you to find Dr Black. Is the train anywhere near a hospital? Anna is having a baby.’

Wolfgang looked more horrified than worried for Anna. ‘Mon
Dieu
. My seats. The carpet.’

‘We’ll try to be as clean as we can,’ Kelsie said dryly. ‘Or you could get the doctor and maybe Anna off the train.’

Wolfgang nodded frantically. ‘Of course. At once.’ He wrung his hands, spun back to her as if to ask another question, and then spun away again to hurry off in the direction of the front of the train.

Kelsie shook her head. She never could understand why people went strange when babies were coming. Surely he knew it was too late now to wish it away. Best to just deal with what came and worry about it later, she thought prosaically.

Anna was breathing heavily again and this time, at the end of the long contraction, Kelsie heard the little catch and hold of breath that signalled the change to second stage.

Uh-oh! Kelsie glanced around the compartment,
swept the towel from the hidden wash stand table and rested it on the ridged oil heater against the window to warm. At least she could have something to dry the baby, if nothing else.

The most important thing was to keep the baby warm, after the carpets, she thought wryly to herself.

Anna’s nightgown had tiny buttons all the way down the front. It would do. ‘You’ll have to take off your knickers. Panties.’ Anna looked helplessly at Kelsie. ‘Underclothes.’ Kelsie pretended to pull off her underpants.

She had a horrible thought that surely Anna knew where babies came from? It seemed she did when comprehension flitted across the girl’s face. A small mercy.

Another contraction arrived just as she accompanied this feat with huge modesty and this time Anna’s expulsive breath frightened both of them.

‘What is happening?’

‘Your baby is getting ready to come.’

‘But it cannot. We are not yet in Paris.’

‘Not sure that mindset did much for you not being pregnant either,’ Kelsie muttered, and bumped her elbow painfully on a wall. ‘These cabins are pathetically small.’ She’d bet Connor and his grandmother had a double suite each.

She shifted the pillow from the door side of the bed to the window end. If Anna lay down again the table would be a problem to access and she might just need some room.

Anna moaned just as Wolfgang arrived back with a
plastic sheet and two raincoats. Kelsie refused to take them as she helped Anna to breathe calmly.

‘Where is Dr Black?’ she shot over her shoulder.

‘Coming.’ Wolfgang thrust the first raincoat at her. ‘For the bed,’ he implored.

‘Okay.’ Kelsie glanced at the distraught man. ‘We need you somewhere more comfortable, Anna. Do you want to stand up? You might find the contractions easier to bear if you work with them.’

Anna shook her head doubtfully. ‘I don’t want to move.’

‘Do you have pain in your back?’ Kelsie asked patiently.

Instinctively Anna’s hand went to the small curve in her spine. ‘Oh, yes.’

‘Then standing will help that and also help your baby to present the easiest way for your birth.’

‘Oh. I see.’ she struggled to her feet with Kelsie’s help, and Kelsie slid the raincoat under the blankets to protect the seats while she was up. Anna stayed doubled over, leaning on the tiny table, as the next pain arrived, but she was listening to Kelsie’s instructions.

The young woman seemed to have found an inner calm that Kelsie hadn’t expected, though she shouldn’t have been surprised—women continued to amaze her all the time in her work. ‘You are doing so well. Wonderful.’

‘I feel less frightened,’ Anna whispered, and Kelsie patted her arm.

With the contraction easing, Kelsie urged Anna to straighten her back into the full upright position before
the contraction rolled on, and a sudden startled expression appeared on the girl’s face as a thin trickle of pink water ran down her leg and onto the blue carpet in a growing puddle.

Kelsie shot an amused glance at Wolfgang, who gasped in horror then looked at her accusingly, before all the blood slowly drained from his face and he crumpled to his knees in a dead faint, blocking the corridor.