Page 57 of Come Fly With Me

The singing stopped dead, the music stuttering to a halt a few seconds later.

Mairi took advantage of the silence. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” she called to the stage, “but we have a medical emergency. My sister’s having a baby on the floor.”

For a second, there was only stunned silence, and then a voice came over the sound system: “If there’s a doctor in the audience, please make your way to Box…B? Is that Box B?”

The noise in the theater was suddenly deafening as hundreds of people started talking at once.

“I need to push,” Isobel shouted before letting out a strangled scream.

“The head’s coming out!” Donna reached down to support it. “Next time she pushes, I think it will be all the way out. Where’s the doctor? I need something to put under her. I can’t let the baby’s head touch this carpet. Who knows what’s on it?”

“I’ll put my wrap under her,” Agnes said as she did exactly that.

“We’re taking a little break right now, but the show will resume as soon as we’re able,” an actor’s voice sounded from the stage just as Isobel let out another scream.

“There’s a doctor coming,” Mairi told them with a grin. “I’ve always wanted to shout ‘is there a doctor in the house?’.”

“We’re thrilled for you,” Agnes said.

Isobel flopped back, her head banging on the hard floor. Callum cursed. At least this was something he could help with.

“I’m going to let go of you for a second,” Callum said to Isobel. “I’m just taking my jacket off. Okay?”

She nodded, her eyes glued to his, as though he were her lifeline. He quickly removed the jacket, rolled it up and put it under her head. Damn, he hated seeing her in pain.

He leaned into her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’d take all the pain if I could. Bloody hate seeing you like this. I read up on the drugs you should have had. I thought I had it covered.”

“You’re here. That’s all that matters. Just don’t let go of my hand.”

“I won’t. I promise.” He kissed her lips. “Don’t you know I’d do anything for you?”

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Except let me have a girls’ night out without you.”

“Except that.” He wasn’t even going to mention how glad he was that he’d elbowed his way into joining them.

There was a commotion behind them, and Agnes got up to deal with it. Callum was vaguely aware of her talking to the manager before calling out that the doctor had arrived. A middle-aged woman in a black cocktail dress smiled at them as she made herself comfortable on the floor beside Donna.

“Well,” she said, “you really are having this baby.” She looked past Callum to the door. “We need the house medical kit. Inform the ambulance that the baby’s being born right now and to prepare for a newborn.”

Someone darted off behind them.

“You’re doing great,” the doctor told Isobel. “I’m Michelle. I’m an emergency resident at the Royal London Hospital. Is this your first baby?”

Isobel shook her head. Her face red, sweat dripped from her brow, smudging her makeup and making her mascara run. “Third.”

“How long has she been in labor?” the doctor asked as someone pushed into the room and handed her a case with a red cross on it.

The sisters shared a look.

It was Agnes who answered. “We have no idea. It came on out of nowhere. She didn’t mention having contractions. The first we knew of it was when she lay down on the floor.”

“It can sometimes happen like that. Are you ready to push?” the doctor asked Isobel.

Her reply was a groan, and her body spasmed, almost as though curling in on itself.

“You’re doing great.” Michelle kept her attention firmly on the baby. “That’s the head out. Well done, you. Now let’s get those shoulders.”

“The head’s out,” Mairi shouted to the audience, and there was a cheer.