The contraction was over. The girl was burrowed into the pillows, whimpering.

‘Hey, Amy, I’m so sorry we’ve had to leave you alone,’ he told her, touching her tear-drenched face with gentle fingers. ‘It’s hard to do this and it’s even harder to do it alone. I did warn you. This is why I wanted you to stay in Sydney. But now you’re here, we just have to get through it. And we will.’

Pippa backed away as he took both Amy’s hands in his and held. It was like he was imparting strength-and Pippa remembered how he’d felt holding her last night and thought there was no one she’d rather have hold her. The guy exuded strength.

But maybe strength was the wrong word. Trust? More. It was a combination so powerful that she wasn’t the least bit surprised that Amy stopped whimpering and met his gaze directly. Amy trusted him, she thought. For a teenager in such trouble…

‘I want to go home,’ Amy whimpered.

‘I know you do. If I were you, I’d be on the first bus out of here,’ Riley told her. ‘But there’s the little problem of your baby. He wants out.’

‘It hurts. I want my mum.’

‘I wish your mum could be here,’ he said.

‘Mum thought it was stupid to come.’

‘So she did.’ Riley’s face set a little and Pippa guessed there’d been conflict. ‘So now you’re doing this on your own. But you can do it, Amy.’

‘I can’t.’

‘Can I check and see how your baby’s doing?’

Pippa didn’t need prompting to leave them to it. She scooted back to her bed and Riley gave her a smile of thanks as he hauled the dividing curtain closed.

‘You’ve been getting to know your neighbour,’ he said to Amy. ‘Have you two been introduced?’

Pippa was back in bed with the covers up, a curtain between them.

‘No,’ Amy whispered.

‘Pippa, your neighbour is Amy. Amy, your neighbour is Pippa. Pippa went for a swim after dark last night and came close to being shark meat.’