Saving Maddie's Baby

There was a long silence, for which she was grateful. And then she thought …

These are cramps. Stomach cramps.

Back cramps?

And that thought brought a stab of fear so deep it terrified her.

She was lying on a rock floor, supporting Malu’s legs. Of course she had cramps.

Of course?

Please …

‘I can top up the morphine now if you like,’ she managed at last, and at least this was an excuse to turn on the torch. She needed the phone app torch, too, to clean the dust away and inject the morphine. She held the phone for a bit too long after.

The light was a comfort.

The phone would be better.

No word. No texting.

Cramps.

Josh …

Malu’s grip on her hand gradually lessened. She thought he was drifting into sleep, but maybe the rocks were too hard. The morphine didn’t cut it.

‘So your Josh abandoned you and joined Cairns Air Sea Rescue?’ he whispered at last.

Oh, her back hurt. She wouldn’t mind some of that morphine herself …

Talk, she told herself. Don’t think of anything but distracting Malu.

‘I think that other people’s trauma, other people’s pain, are things he can deal with,’ she managed, struggling to find the right words. Struggling to find the right answer. ‘But losing our baby … It hurt him to look at me hurting, and when Holly died, he didn’t know where to put himself. He couldn’t comfort me and he thought showing me his pain would make mine worse. He couldn’t help me, so he left.’

‘Oh, girl …’

‘I’m fine,’ she whispered, and Malu coughed again and then gripped tighter.

‘I dunno much,’ he wheezed. ‘But I do know I’m very sure you’re not.’

‘Not what?’

‘Fine. You’re hurting and it’s not just the memory of some low-life husband walking out on you.’

‘I’m okay.’

‘I can tell pain when I hear it.’

‘I got hit by a few rocks. We both have bruises all over.’

‘There’s room on my pillow to share.’

‘It’s not exactly professional—to share my patient’s bed.’

‘I’m just sharing the pillow,’ Malu told her with an attempt at laughter. ‘You have to provide your own rock base.’

She tried to smile. Her phone pinged and she’d never read a text message faster.

Hey, you. Quick update? Tell us you’re okay. Josh.

‘Is that telling us the bulldozers are coming?’ Malu demanded, and the threadiness of his voice had her switching on the torch again. ‘Hey, it’s okay,’ he managed. ‘You tell them … tell them to tell Pearl I’m okay. But I wouldn’t mind a bulldozer.’

‘I wouldn’t mind a piece of foam,’ she told him, and tried to think of what to say to Josh. Apart from the fact that she was scared. No, make that terrified. She hated the dark and she was starting to panic and the dust in her lungs made it hard to breathe and the cramps …

Get a grip. Hysterics were no use to anyone.

She shouldn’t have come in in the first place, she told herself.

Yeah, and then Malu would be dead.

Josh wanted facts. He couldn’t cope with emotion.

Yeah, Josh, we’re fine.

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_ad30fbc2-b933-5792-a101-1d6e66bb1bce)

JOSH WASN’T ON Wildfire to dig into a mine and pull people out. Not even Maddie. Josh was there to assess medical need, perform triage, arrange evacuation where possible and then get his hands dirty dealing with injuries needing on-the-ground treatment.

And there was a need. The locals were doing all they could, but the medical team here consisted of one doctor and two nurses. It had apparently taken the doctor—an islander called Keanu—time to get there, and the guy who had been injured first was taking up his attention. A fractured leg followed by a cardiac arrest left room for little else.

But there was more medical need. Apparently, before Keanu had arrived, the miners had fought their way back into mine, frantically trying to reach their injured mates. It hadn’t worked. There’d been a further cave-in. Further casualties. Keanu barely had time to acknowledge Josh and Beth’s arrival.

There was still a sense of chaos. Keanu had ordered everyone back from the mine mouth but no one seemed to be in charge of rescue efforts.

‘Where’s the mine manager?’ Josh snapped as he surveyed the scene before him. A group of filthy miners were huddled at the mouth of the mine, with pretty much matching expressions of shock and loss. Keanu had organised the casualties a little way away, under the shade of palm trees. He and the nurses were working frantically over the guy with the injured leg, but he shook his head as Josh approached.

‘We have everything we need here. It’s touch and go for this guy and there’s others needing help. The guy with the arm first.’ He motioned across to where a miner was on the ground, his mate beside him.

‘No breathing problems?’

‘They’ve all had a lungful of rock—we could use a tank of oxygen—but …’

‘I’ll get Beth to do a respiratory assessment. Beth?’

‘Onto it.’ She was already heading for the truck, for oxygen canisters. ‘Okay, guys,’ she called. ‘Anyone want a face wipe and a whiff of something that’ll do you good? Line up here.’

‘What’s happening down the mine?’ Josh asked.