As Vic came in to land a crowd was gathered at the helicopter base to welcome them home with cheers and claps. As he shut the helicopter down he saw Jim heading his way with a concerned look on his face. It seemed out of character with all the well wishers. He wondered what he had done.
Vic walked over to him and Jim pulled him away to the side of all the people “Well done young fella. I gather that was a neat piece of flying to get them out. But other news is more important right now.
“Your wife’s aunt rang about half an hour ago to say your wife has gone into labor. So I thought you might want to escape the celebrations and head home. It is not the best driving weather, but it is better than flying.”
I gather all is fine but the aunt thought you would want to be there.”
Vic thanked him and slipped out the back to his car, unnoticed. The drive was wild, wet and windy. Despite his anxiety to go fast he kept his speed under control, not wanting to slide into a ditch.
It took two hours of intense concentration to reach the local small town hospital where Susan was waiting. She was pale and drawn. A contraction came as he entered the ward. As it passed she greeted him with her usual smile, interrupted by another spasm.
He held her hand and they talked quietly in between contractions.
The midwife advised that all was proceeding normally. The baby seemed strong even if three weeks early and it was just a matter of letting it happen in its own good time.
Vic had spent little time in hospitals; his only experience was when they operated on a broken leg. Then he had left early to search for a missing Susan. That seemed a life time ago and he blessed all that he could think of that she was here again with him and now it was about their product of their new life together.
He said a silent prayer for the day to go well, but felt an unformed terror of yet another problem arising, how the unforeseen had a habit of rising up each time their life seemed comfortable.
He calmed his mind. This time hospital seemed like a much better place. The nurses were reassuring, the doctor quietly competent. It was just him and Susan’s aunt there with her, her parents were due up in a fortnight to mind the children for her predicted delivery. They were now on their way and he welcomed the thought of their quiet competence.
He felt he should be in control and reassuring but he was scared. Despite having seen it often in livestock, this birth business was no joke. He found himself more anxious for Susan and the baby than he was in the middle of a Force 9 gale trying to hold a lurching helicopter steady.
Each time she contracted his body contracted too in a fear spasm. It proceeded slowly, contraction following contraction, becoming more frequent until almost continuous. The midwife checked and announced she was fully dilated and it would happen very soon.
They gave her gas to breathe on and told her to get ready for a final push. Vic held both her hands as her face contorted and she cried out. His heart was in his mouth. Then suddenly it was there, the black head pushing out between her legs, an almost pop as the body slithered through into the waiting hands.
After a quick wipe and shake to clear the mucus this little creature was drawing breaths. Its colour went from bluish to pink. The nurse wrapped it in a small blanket and passed it to him to hold. He looked at the unknown object and saw a little face, perfectly formed eyes and nose, and his black hair.
In that moment it was no longer an object but a living, breathing person they had made. The emotion of what they had created almost overwhelmed him. It was the most perfect day in his life, to have lost this woman and found her again, now to share the birth of this person with her, to hold it, a joined part of them both. He could feel tears streaming down his cheeks as he gazed at their baby.
He carried the small bundle over to his most beautiful darling and placed it in her arms. She looked at them both with a radiant smile, then tucked the bundle and him inside her arms. It felt unbelievably good.
She stayed in hospital for five days, not that she needed to but the baby was a bit small so they wanted to see it well settled and feeding before it went home. And the hospital was hardly busy, just Susan and one other mother in the maternity ward so there was no rush.
Vic barely left her side while other relatives ferried brother David and sister Anne in to see their baby brother. Susan announced the next morning that this baby was named Victor Thomas, or Vic junior for short, she did not ask Vic, she just said it was what she wanted. Who was he to disagree?
On the third day the weather cleared, the storm had blown itself out somewhere across the middle of Europe. As they ate a leisurely breakfast in the hospital bed the nurse came in with a newspaper held out.
“Didn’t know you were a hero, did you,” she said with a smirk.
There was a photo of Vic, making his exit from the helicopter on his return to base. The story began,
HELICOPTER PILOT HERO.
But for a remarkable piece of flying by helicopter pilot Vic Campbell, four men would have lost their lives when a fishing trawler foundered in the North Sea in this week’s huge storm.
Yesterday we told of the remarkable bravery of the man who went down to winch the four crew of the trawler to safety. But all those involved say the true hero of the story is the pilot. He brought his helicopter down to wave height and held it there as four huge waves came crashing in, holding position as wave after wave rolled past, first capsizing then sinking the boat as the sea thundered over it. All the while the pilot held the helicopter steady allowing the men cling to life and be lifted out on a flimsy line.
With waves of 50 feet bearing down and a Force 9 -10 gale only pilot skill allowed the crew to be winched up to safety. The pilot somehow kept the helicopter bare feet above the wave tops so the down draft allowed the winch to operate despite the hundred mile an hour gale. Those who saw it describe it as the most skillful and courageous flying feat they have witnessed.
But where is Vic, reluctant hero. Rumor has it that on this same night his wife gave birth to a child. So Vic drove through this same storm across the highlands to be with her at the birth. Mother and baby are reported as fine.
It is with the heartfelt thanks that all the people of Aberdeen commend Vic for his skill and bravery and wish the very best to this new family!
Vic winced as he read it, he should have felt flattered. But now, as a local hero, all the reporters would descend on the hospital. It was no secret here who Susan was, the new mother. In days the story would be out.
He was tired of running away. Susan had done nothing to be ashamed of; he had done nothing to be ashamed of. He knew it was now far out of his control, but he was not going to hide from it again. He would hold his head high and if any reporter came to him saying nasty things about his wife he would punch him in the mouth like he had the last one. This time, he would let the story run its course. He hoped it would all end up OK, but he would not hide away. At least this time it was Susan who was in hospital not him and she was totally and utterly captivated by the new little Vic.
Surprisingly for the next week it was only a local story and he thought it would all die down. Susan was named but of minor interest, he was the one talked about, the boy from the Australian Outback, a true bush hero.
After a week someone joined the dots. This story was front page on a London tabloid and he knew that tomorrow it would be front cover of all the papers and lead on the TV news.
He waited anxiously for the next day to come, expecting the worst. But instead, now that he was a national hero there was no space for any bad story about Susan. Even though the first tabloid had made the connection and tried some hints about Susan’s past life it was howled down by all the other papers and programs the next day, with stories like
HELICOPTER PILOT HERO AND HIS REMARKABLE WIFE.
Despite rumors in our disreputable competitor we can report that both Vic Campbell and his delightful wife Susan are true heroes, she for surviving the ordeal of months in jail for a murder she had now been pardoned for, he for first having made an extraordinary journey to escape from his own helicopter crash in one of the remotest parts of Australia and then having performed a second extraordinary feat to rescue others in a similarly terrifying situation. As modest people they now just want to be left alone to enjoy their beautiful little baby and so we should respect their wishes.
The only comment was a single interview with her father. He simply said he and he and his wife were incredibly proud grandparents and asked all to respect the privacy of his wife and son in law.
Within a week it was just another story, barely mentioned. In another week it was gone, with no appetite remaining for sensation. It seemed to pass Susan by. They did not deliberately hide newspapers from her and for the first day or two she had proudly read about Vic. By the time she became a character in the story she had lost interest. So these papers stayed unread.