When they arrived, they found Jessamine sitting on a blanket under a tree, Mother Earth with her two little babies feeding twin fashion at the breast. Ava’s heart swelled at the sight and she beamed at the young mum.

‘Look at you, sitting up there as relaxed as a grandmother. Go you, Jessamine.’

Jessamine smiled shyly at both of them, and glanced at Vivian, a woman Ava had shared midwifery care with in Alice Springs two years ago. Vivian, a cousin of Big Jim’s, knew Ava well as her baby had been born premature, and she’d had to spend weeks in Alice waiting for him to grow enough to come home.

Ava had tried to be available for Viv in the beginning, during her visits to the neonatal nursery. Their rapport was obvious by the warm smile Viv sent Ava, and Ava sighed with relief to see her. She hadn’t been sure Jessamine had friends yet, and Viv would be a support person with good sense.

‘Viv –’ she gestured to Zac – ‘this is Dr Zac. Zac, this is Vivian. Dr Zac was there when Jessamine had her babies, so I brought him with me today. I thought Jessamine might like him to check the babies over?’

‘Good to meet you, Vivian.’ Zac smiled at Viv.

Ava explained, ‘I was lucky enough to be at Vivian’s son’s birth – a terror of a two-year-old now.’ As if on cue, a dark-skinned, dark-eyed cherub appeared from behind his mother, clutching a battered green truck. ‘Ahh, there you are, Willy. When he was born he was as big as your hand, Zac.’

Zac smiled. ‘Hello there, Willy.’ They all pretended they didn’t see Jessamine taking the babies off the breast and tucking herself discreetly away. When she had covered herself, Zac turned to her.

‘What do you think, Jessamine? Would you like me to look at your boys?’

‘Be good,’ Jessamine agreed. ‘He makes a noise when he breathes and this one’s got a funny belly button.’

Zac smiled at that. ‘That sounds like healthy variations of normal, but let’s start with our noisy one. What’s this man’s name?’

‘Jarrah.’

‘A good, strong name.’ Ava watched Zac with his calm, friendly manner and the way he put Jessamine at ease while examining her babies. It made her heart ache for what might have been – a desert medical duo reaching out to those in need – and she turned away, blinking away the sting in her eyes as she gathered the little set of portable baby scales.

After Zac examined each baby, she weighed the little one then handed the naked baby back to his mother to dress. She wrote the weights down to pass on to the child-and-family nurses for their records.