Bound by Their Love (5 page)

Greta knew from Graham that his presentation to Luciano Morelli and Jeffrey Courteux had been well received. In fact, he'd breezed into her office gloating. Informing her not to bother turning up for her appointment. He had the account in the bag. Even her father had come in and slapped him on the back, saying he'd done fabulous job.

Her own father. The same father who was
too busy
to make it to her appointment. It had taken everything in her not to show how hurt she was by her father's rejection. But she was determined to prove to him she had what it took to run the agency. She would land the account, not Graham.

The fact the elusive Jeffrey Courteux would be in attendance made her even more determined to make a lasting impression.

Satisfied she had everything she needed, she placed a hand on her swirling stomach. For the last few days her stomach had been turning somersaults. She put it down to the stress and nerves about her presentation.

Greta closed the door on her apartment. Walking toward the lift, she stifled a groan when saw her very pregnant neighbour exiting her own apartment. Towing two small girls behind her.

Great, I get to travel down twenty floors with Maria Von Trapp.

She cringed a little at the comparison she'd made. Sheree was no singing nanny. She had once been a very successful banker. Sheree had given it all up to have a family and follow her husband all over the world.

No thanks. Family life was not for her. She liked her independence and, seeing as she wanted to run the agency, there was no way she had time for marriage and babies.

‘Hey Greta, you're out early today.' The other woman tossed her friendly smile, but Greta could see it was a little strained and she looked a little pale.

‘Morning Sheree. No, I'm not early today. I'm running late. I'm usually at the office by seven.'

Looking at her daughters, Sheree spoke softly. ‘I remember wearing power suits.' She rubbed her belly while blowing out a few breaths. ‘But I wouldn't trade grubby fingerprints on my shirt for anything nowadays.'

A tiny part of Greta softened at seeing the love shining from the other woman's face. What would it be like to feel something growing inside of you? Something moving around that when it came out was totally dependent on you?

Greta shuddered at the unbidden thought. No, not for her.

The lift arrived and they all traipsed in, the two little girls jumping up and down to make the lift move. Once again Greta's stomach flipped and she took a couple of deep breaths.

The lifted started moving. They'd only gone down a couple of floors when the lights flickered and then went out, causing the elevator to come to a jarring halt. Sheree's two little girls screamed and it was all Greta could do to not shout at them to be quiet. She couldn't get stuck in the lift. Not today of all days.

‘Shit, I can't believe this is happening,' Greta ground out as she fumbled in her bag for her cell phone. Once she located it, she activated the flashlight. Sheree was comforting her girls and their crying quietened down. Greta flashed it around to see if the girls were okay and found them sitting on the floor, clutching at each other.

‘Are you okay, Sheree?'

‘Umm, no, I don't think so.' Something in her tone turned Greta's blood cold. She flicked the light on the other woman's face. Terror had transformed her normally tranquil face. God, she hoped Sheree wasn't claustrophobic.

‘What's wrong?'

‘The baby's coming.'

No! No! No!
This really couldn't be happening. She didn't know what to do.

‘Why do you say that?'

‘Because of this,' she said, and pointed down. Greta noticed the puddle of liquid on the floor, slowly inching toward her Jimmy Choos. She quickly took them off and slipped them into her bag.

Sheree closed her eyes, her breath coming in short pants. ‘And because my husband is probably downstairs, waiting with my sister to take me to the hospital. I called them earlier when I realised.'

‘Realised what?'

‘That I've been in labour since last night.'

‘Oh hell,' Greta muttered as she took a moment to gather her thoughts. The last thing anyone needed was for her to panic. There were two small children crying. A woman about to give birth.

Panicking was exactly what Greta wanted to do. She wanted to pound on the doors in the hopes that that would make the lift move again. Was karma playing a trick on her? Testing her to see if she could deal with something so major right before the biggest presentation of her career?

‘Greta? I know this is the last thing you expected but …' Sheree's voice trailed off.

Greta could do this. She had to. Sheree needed her. She would handle this situation. All she had to do was treat it like a crisis had occurred in the office. It was what would be expected of her if she took over the running of the agency.

Taking a deep breath, Greta turned to the panel of small discs and pressed the alarm button. A loud blaring sounded around the small space. The girls cried a little louder and Greta immediately felt bad for scaring them. She could've at least given them a warning. The sound died and she pressed the call button; immediately a voice answered.

‘Maintenance here. We're aware you're stuck. Can you tell me how many are in the lift, please?' A tinny voice filled the space.

‘Hi. There are four of us. Two adult women and two children.'

‘Okay. We've contacted the lift company and they assured me they'd be here as soon as they can.'

As soon as they can
wasn't good enough for Greta. She wanted them there now.

‘How long is that going to be? The other woman in here is in labour.' Greta was pleased at how calm and in control she sounded. Inside she was a mass of nerves. Sweat was beading on her forehead and her blouse was feeling distinctly damp under her arms. She began praying to any deity possible that Sheree wouldn't give birth until after help arrived.

‘A woman in labour, eh.' He paused, and Greta heard some paper rustling. ‘They told me it could be up to two hours before they get to the building. I'll see what I can do about hurrying them up, but I can't promise anything.'

Greta bit back a groan. Sheree didn't need to hear her frustration. The other woman had been panting and moaning the whole time she'd been talking to the maintenance man. Surely a baby didn't come this quickly?

‘Please do. It's an emergency, they need to give us priority. In the meantime, can you please contact the paramedics to be ready when we get out. Do you think you can try and get someone on the phone in case I have to deliver the baby, please?'

‘Definitely. Hang in there and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.'

The line went dead. An unnatural silence descended on them.

‘Greta, I don't think I can wait two hours. I have quick labours. Both girls came really quickly after my water broke. I'm betting this baby is not going to be any different.'

Grateful she was facing the lift doors and not Sheree, she squeezed her eyes shut. There was no way she was prepared for any of this. She had no idea what to do if she had to deliver Sheree's baby. It was the last thing she'd ever expected to have to do. Even having her own baby wasn't something she hadn't seen in her future.

God, I wish I was anywhere but here. Why couldn't I have been five minutes earlier? I could've been at the office by now.

‘I'm sorry about this, Greta.'

Guilt immediately replaced her annoyance. It wasn't Sheree's fault the lift stopped. She had to stop thinking of herself and focus on the issue at hand.

‘You have nothing to apologise for.' Greta walked over to where Sheree sat. She reached for the other woman's hand. ‘We can do this. It's going to be fine.'

Maybe if she said it enough she could believe it.

Sheree glanced at the two girls, who were now staring wide-eyed at their mother. ‘What about the girls?'

Greta released Sheree's hand and stretched out to grab her purse. Reaching inside, she extracted her iPad. Entering the passcode, she pulled up the movie app and picked a movie. She was a sucker for animated movies and was eternally grateful for that. She placed the device in front of the girls. ‘How about you beautiful girls watch this while your mum and I chat? And no matter what you hear, make sure you both keep your eyes on the movie. Okay?'

They nodded in a mixture of terror and excitement. Sheree grabbed her hand. ‘Thank you.'

She winced as the other woman tightened her hold, almost squeezing the life out of it. ‘What do you need me to do?'

She waited as Sheree panted through what she assumed was a contraction. Once it passed she blew out a breath. ‘This baby is in a hurry.'

‘Can you tell it to slow down?' It was totally the wrong time for humour but Sheree laughed and a little of the tension seeped out of Greta.

Greta lost track of time as Sheree panted her way through contractions, squeezing her hand. The lift phone remained ominously quiet.

‘Why hasn't the maintenance guy got back to us with help? I bet he completely forgot about calling for help.'

‘I've no idea but they need to hurry. I feel like I need to push.'

‘You're not joking, are you?'

‘No, it's time. This baby is coming.'

Greta was so not ready for this. So not ready to play midwife. So not ready to see the miracle of a child being born. She had no choice. She had to suck it up and help her neighbour.

‘Okay, do you need a blanket or something?'

Sheree nodded as she gripped her knees, bringing them close to her chest. ‘There's a blanket in the bag next to the girls. I know this is probably going to freak you out. I'm going to need you to help guide the baby out.'

Greta tried hard to stop the panic from building up inside of her again. Words were impossible. All she could do was nod her understanding to Sheree.

‘I trust you, Greta. We can do this. And we need to do it now.'

Time passed in a blur for Greta. It could have been an hour. It could have been five minutes. But suddenly the baby slipped out of Sheree and into her waiting, blanket-covered arms. ‘It's another girl, Sheree. You have a daughter.'

By now the other girls had lost interest in the movie, as the new baby was crying in earnest. Greta handed the baby over to her waiting mum, conscious of the cord. ‘Congratulations,' she whispered as tears threatened to leak out. She never cried but she'd just played a big part in one of nature's miracles. She couldn't deny how powerful it was.

That moment a voice broke into the mayhem. ‘The lift repair crew have arrived and should have you out of there very shortly.' There was a pause before the voice continued. ‘Is that a baby I hear?'

Greta laughed at the disbelief in his tone. ‘Yes, delivered about five minutes ago. By the way, thanks for getting help on the phone. Like I asked you to.'

With adrenaline racing through her blood, tempering her words was impossible.

‘Ahh, yeah, sorry about that. Anyway, we'll make sure we have an ambulance here to help with everything when we get you out.'

‘Thank you.' Greta, shaking her head at the casual brush-off she got, turned back to Sheree. ‘Do you want to call your husband? I'm sure he's pacing downstairs.'

Sheree laughed. ‘Oh yes, we should. And I be he is too. He hates not being able to control situations. Can you hold the baby while I call him, please?'

Greta looked at the bundle lying in Sheree's arms. Nerves at holding something so little assailed her. It was so ridiculous to feel nervous, considering she'd caught the baby when she had been born. ‘Umm, sure.'

Greta scooted closer to Sheree and took the baby carefully in her arms. She gazed down at her tiny face. She couldn't believe how small a newborn baby could be. The baby's eyes opened sleepily and looked up at Greta. She squirmed and her little hand popped out of the blanket. The tiny limb patted Greta's face, as if to say thank you. A smile broke out over Greta's face. Everything faded and she concentrated solely on the baby. ‘You're welcome, precious. So very welcome.'

‘We're going to call her Greta Rose.' Sheree's soft voice penetrated her little cocoon.

‘What?' she asked in shock.

‘Paul and I agreed. Our new daughter needs to be named after the woman who helped her come into the world.'

Greta opened her mouth and closed it, swallowing against the lump in her throat she handed the baby back to her mother. ‘Thank you, I'm honoured, but you don't have to do that.'

‘We want to. I couldn't have got through this without you.'

Just then the lift started moving, and in a matter of moments they were on the ground floor and a bustle of activity surrounded them. She waited long enough for the paramedics to finish working with Sheree before she approached the woman.

‘I've got to head off to a meeting.'

‘Oh no, I hope I haven't made you late.'

Greta didn't care about being late. She knew a moment like this would never happen again. ‘It doesn't matter. Imagine if I hadn't overslept. You would've been stuck in that lift all by yourself with your girls. I'm glad I was there.' She reached out and touched baby Greta's soft cheek. ‘I wouldn't have missed meeting this precious baby for anything.'

‘Right, Mrs Dawson, let's get you and this princess off to the hospital to get you fully checked out.'

Greta stood back as the paramedics wheeled Sheree toward the waiting ambulance. Sheree's sister had taken charge of her other two girls. Seeing the unconditional love and relief on Sheree's husband's face as he grabbed his girls in a hug, struck her deep in her heart. She'd never seen that unconditional love on her father's face.

Standing alone in the foyer of her apartment building, the real world crushed her adrenaline high.