Page 100 of Outback Secrets

‘Why are you so desperate to know? You’re not jealous, are you?’

‘Jealous?’ Liam scoffed as something squeezed inside him. The cold hard truth was that even if he didn’t want anything serious with Henri himself, the thought of any other man touching her made him want to punch someone. ‘I just don’t want to be caught out again.’

‘Fine.’ She took a long gulp of Guinness. ‘Max was … Max and I were … His family own a station up—’

A loud exclamation of ‘Oh my God!’ stopped him from hearing anything else about Max.

The pub fell silent, and Liam looked over to see Stella, her hand pressed against her mouth, a man he didn’t recognise standing in front of her.

‘Who’s that?’ Henri said as they watched Stella haul herself out of her seat and throw her arms around the man. She started sobbing and Adam looked on warily as if he weren’t sure what to do.

‘I have no idea.’

Time seemed to stand still as every single person in the pub stared at them. Who on earth was this man holding Stella so tightly? Could he be Heidi’s father?

No, Liam shook his head; it was common knowledge that there was no love lost there.

‘Oh my God!’ she shrieked again and pulled back from the man’s embrace. ‘I think my waters just broke!’

‘What?’ Adam looked down and even from behind the bar, Liam could see that, sure enough, poor Stella looked like she’d wet herself and there was a small pool of water at her feet.

Good grief.He’d had a feeling she shouldn’t be here tonight.

‘Have you had any contractions yet?’ Adam asked, placing a hand on Stella’s back as Liam made his way towards them.

She shook her head and then immediately groaned and clutched her stomach. ‘But … I … think … this … is one.’

Adam, looking like he was about to faint, glanced around at the concerned faces as if waiting for someone to tell him what to do.

Frankie stepped in. ‘We need to get her to hospital.’

‘It’s half an hour to Geraldton,’ Logan said. ‘Don’t second babies come a lot faster than first ones?’

Ruby, who’d not quite made it out the door before the drama started, spoke at the same time. ‘We should call an ambulance.’

‘I’m on it,’ called Henri and Liam looked back to see her with her phone to her ear.

That’s my girl, he thought, before blinking that thought away and focusing on the problem at hand.

With half the town in the pub, there were already three local volunteers on site. Unfortunately, they’d all been drinking so couldn’t fetch the van, but they did what they could to make Stella comfortable while they waited for some other St John’s volunteers to arrive.

While Lara went to fetch clean towels and a pillow, ‘just in case’, Liam and Dylan cleared the pub of everyone except Stella’s close friends and Adam.

‘I’m her brother,’ said the man who’d arrived just before Stella’s waters broke as Liam tried to get him to leave. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

Her brother.Wonders never ceased—as far as Liam knew, Stella had given up ever hearing from him.

Henri approached Liam as he was talking to the man. ‘Is it okay if I wait in your office with Sheila? She seems a little distressed by all this.’

He nodded. He wished he could go with her but as this was his turf, he wasn’t going to leave until he made sure everyone was okay.