Zac sat outside the clinic on the tiny verandah and waited for Ava to finish handing over Jessamine and her babies to the flight staff from the RFDS. Jessamine had wanted to breastfeed and he’d left them to it. Denise had collected a bottle of red soil for Jessamine to take with the boys as a symbol of country.

Above him the sun had drawn closer to the horizon. Thinking of celestial movement made him feel remarkably blessed to have been present for Jessamine’s babies’ smooth arrival. The young mum had held it together so well, helped by Ava’s calm action and management, which kept him shaking his head. His girl had been like the conductor of nature’s incredible symphony of birth. How had he been so lucky to have been there to see it all?

In Sydney he’d seen twins born by caesarean section but had never witnessed a natural twin birth. Although those times were special, the absolute amazement of seeing a first-time mother achieving what could have been a very complicated birth without any unnecessary hands interfering had truly blown him away. And made him rethink his medical-school risk-management ideas. His new motto was going to be: go natural birth until proven otherwise. The only vaginal breech birth he’d seen had been fraught with drama and declarations of what could go wrong, and he wondered now if that had been so dramatic because everyone had been hands-on when they should have been hands-off.

It was a pivotal moment in his life, showing him that things could turn out well if he gave them a chance. He could see luck played a part. Ava had been here, obviously, and he had been backup in case the twins were compromised. But maybe you made your own luck.

For some reason, the arrival of the twins au naturel reminded him that he should trust the arrival of Ava in his life. His Ava, who continued to astound and astonish him with her clarity of purpose, her intuitive skill and warmth when dealing with crises, and her unconditional generosity to allow him to enter her private world, dealing with his crisis, too.

He could hear the dull murmur of voices from inside the little clinic, and he stood up and walked down the steps to the native gardens laid out like small green artworks of nature’s design all around the resort complex.