Mary led her over to the seating area and forced her to sit down.
“Calm down, Judy,” she said firmly. “Of course she’s not dead. She’s a perfectly healthy girl having a perfectly healthy baby. They’re probably going to tell us we can’t go in. Leave it to me.” She put her arm around Judy’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze.
Judy fished in her pocket, pulled out a crumpled tissue, and blew her nose. Of course she was overreacting. She needed to calm down. She was just having a good look around the waiting area when a door in the corner opened and someone came over to them.
“Good lord! Mary Cromwell! I haven’t seen you for years.” Dr. Slater held out her hand to Mary. Mary smiled and stood up.
“Hello, Janet,” she said, shaking the proffered hand. “Nice to see you. I believe you have my daughter’s friend Abigail Thomson here to have her baby. We were wondering if we could see her?”
Dr. Slater frowned and sat down opposite them.
“Certainly Abigail came here for her antenatal care,” she said, “but last week I had a call from her mother saying they were going to go elsewhere for the birth. I was rather shocked, and truth to tell a little worried, but there was nothing I could do to stop them.”
Judy sat forward. “So Abi’s not here?” she said quietly. “Where’s she gone, then?”
Dr. Slater looked at her sympathetically.
“I’m afraid I don’t know. Mrs. Thomson wouldn’t tell me.” She paused and thought for a moment. “I am a little worried because…” She looked at Judy doubtfully and then at Mary, who gave a slight nod. “Well, Mrs. Thomson was very set on Abigail giving the baby up for adoption, and I know that Abigail really doesn’t want to. I would have made sure she didn’t force her into anything, but now I have no control over the situation, and there are some rather less…savoury, shall we say…clinics, where the staff may not be so caring.”
Mary pursed her lips and sighed. “This makes things very difficult,” she agreed. “Abi must not be forced into giving up her baby if she doesn’t want to, but Joan Thomson is a very forceful woman. We need to find out where they’ve gone.” She glanced around her. “Do you have a directory of clinics in this area?” she asked.
Dr. Slater nodded and moved over to the desk, returning a moment later with a large volume.
“This has a list of all the registered clinics in the South,” she said, handing it to Mary. “There are a lot, mind you, and there are also some that won’t appear in that book. It’s somewhere to start, though, I suppose.” She sat down next to them, and they began to search.
An hour later they had come up with a list of eight possible clinics within reasonable reach of Newbury, and Mary suggested that they go back home and phone them all in turn until they found her.
Dr. Slater stood up and shook their hands again. “Good luck,” she said sincerely. “I really hope you find her. I know it sounds dreadful to say, but I really don’t trust her mother to do what’s best for her.”
As they drove back home, Judy glanced at her mother.
“D’you think we’ll find them?” she asked miserably.
Mary sighed. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Even if she’s at one of the eight we’ve found, they may not tell us. And they may have taken her to some unregistered one.”
Judy looked scared. “Would that mean they didn’t know what they were doing? Might they hurt her?” she asked, her eyes wide.
Mary shook her head. “No, it would still need to be run by properly qualified people.” She paused. “But they may not be adhering totally to the rules that govern clinics.” She glanced at Judy and smiled slightly. “Don’t worry. If she’s possible to find, we’ll do it, if it takes all night.”
****
Abi was sitting bolt upright in bed in a private room at the Birch Clinic. They had arrived about an hour before, and her father had gone straight back home, leaving her to her mother’s tender mercies. She had been booked in and examined by a rather dour midwife, then been instructed to put on her nightdress and get into bed. She stared around the room. It was a fair size and contained a large hospital bed, in which she was now installed, a couple of easy chairs, a chest of drawers, a bean bag, and various machines that Abi realised she would probably be hooked up to. She shivered and slid down under the covers. She had never felt more alone or more terrified in her life. Her mother had gone off to speak to the doctor, who was apparently a friend of hers, and the midwife had left her to get undressed. She sat up again and pulled her bag towards her. She delved inside and pulled out the small grey stuffed rabbit she had bought to give to the baby, and cuddled it tightly. Her heart was pounding with fear, and she wanted Gideon so much it hurt. This was so not how she had imagined giving birth to his baby. They should have been together, in a meadow, or on a beach, or somewhere pretty, and there should have been music playing, and everyone would be happy and smiling and pleased she was having the baby. This was all wrong. Here everything was dark and scary. No one seemed to care about her, everyone was cross she was having the baby, and everyone seemed to want to take it away from her. She really needed Judy, and suddenly she wondered if she would be able to get to a phone without anyone seeing her. If she could at least let Judy know where she was, then maybe… She quietly got out of bed and grabbed a handful of ten-pence coins from her purse. Then she carefully opened the door of her room a crack and looked out into the corridor. There was no one in sight, and all she could hear was the faint murmur of voices coming from behind a closed door off to her left. Cautiously she tiptoed out into the corridor and turned to the right, away from the voices. Hopefully she would be able to find a phone somewhere. Hospitals usually had telephones on trolleys they could take to people’s bedsides. Surely a posh clinic would have something similar? She walked on down the carpeted corridor until she reached a junction. She peered to the left and saw that the passage ended just round the corner. She looked to the right and her heart missed a beat when she saw a payphone attached to the wall about twenty feet away. Clutching her coins tightly in her hand, Abi waddled as fast as she could towards the phone. She had just lifted the receiver and begun to dial when she experienced an enormous cramp-like pain in her stomach. She cried out and doubled over, dropping the receiver and leaving it suspended and banging gently against the wall. She gasped and, breathing rapidly, tried to straighten up, but another wave of pain overcame her, and she cried out again and sank to her knees on the carpet. She heard a voice coming nearer, the words indistinguishable, and suddenly a pair of hands were under her armpits and someone was helping her up.
“It’s okay, love,” said a kindly voice. “It’s only contractions. Doesn’t look like we need to start you off after all.”
Abi straightened up and found herself being supported by a different, younger midwife, who was smiling encouragingly at her. She opened her mouth to speak, but just then there came a sudden rush of liquid pouring down her legs and soaking into the carpet. Abi cried out in alarm.
“Oh, my god! I’ve wet myself,” she gasped in horror, staring down at her soaked nightdress. The midwife chuckled and squeezed her arm.
“It’s only your waters breaking,” she soothed. “Perfectly normal. Come on, let’s get you back to your room. What were you doing out here anyway?” she asked as she helped her along the corridor.
Abi stopped walking. Judy! She needed to call her. She turned to the midwife.
“I’ve got to call my friend,” she said urgently. “She needs to be here, right now.” Then she screamed as another contraction caught her unawares.
“Breathe,” instructed the midwife, “like you were taught in antenatal classes. That’s right. Breathe in, breathe out… That’s good. Now, come on back to the room, and then you can tell me about your friend.”
Awkwardly Abi staggered back to her room, and the midwife helped her change into a dry nightdress and get back into bed. Then she took her blood pressure and hooked her up to a machine that monitored her heartbeat and the
baby’s. Abi lay back against the pillows and watched as the changing figures were displayed on the screen and listened to the strange sound the heartbeat made.
“Sounds like a horse running,” she said with a little smile.
The midwife grinned at her. “Wait till it speeds up a bit!” she said with a laugh. “My name’s Sally. I’m here to help you, and anything you want or are worried about, please tell me. I’ll do what I can to help you.” She gently brushed Abi’s straying hair off her face.
Abi smiled back. “Thank you,” she said. “I’ve been really scared. My best friend is meant to be here, but my mum wouldn’t let her come”—her voice wavered—“and she doesn’t know where I am ’cause Mum and Dad brought me to a different clinic than we’d planned. I’ve never been here before.” Her eyes filled with tears, and Sally stroked her hand gently.
“Don’t worry. I’ll look after you,” she said. “Maybe your mum thought it would be too much for your friend to watch the birth?”
Abi shook her head violently. “No, no, you don’t understand!” she gasped. “Mum wants me to have the baby adopted, and I don’t want to. I need Judy here to make sure she doesn’t take her away from me.”
Sally frowned slightly. “No one can make you give up the baby if you don’t want to,” she said firmly. “Not even your mother. I’ll take care of that,” and she patted Abi’s hand again.
Suddenly another contraction took hold, and Abi shrieked in pain and clutched Sally’s hand.
“Time for a little pain relief, I think,” said Sally with a look at Abi’s face, and disentangled her hand in order to fetch the gas-and-air dispenser. She handed it to Abi. “Just put this to your mouth and press this button when the pain is too much,” she explained. “It’ll make you feel a bit woozy, but it helps a lot.”
Abi looked doubtfully at it. “I wanted a natural birth,” she began, but then as another contraction started she put the contraption to her mouth and breathed deeply. Immediately she felt slightly euphoric and the pain became less important. She breathed it in again and began to relax. The contractions were beginning to get closer together and even stronger, and Sally told Abi she was going to get the doctor to have a quick look at her to make sure everything was all right.
Abi was feeling slightly spaced out because of the gas and air, and she smiled sleepily and said, “Wish Gideon was here. And Judy. That’d be much nicer.”
Sally smiled back at her. “Who’s Gideon?” she asked.
“He’s the father,” slurred Abi proudly. “He’s famous.”
Sally raised her eyebrows. “Famous?” she asked in surprise, smiling slightly.
Abi nodded. “Yeah…he’s famous…he’s in America. With NightHawk.” Her eyes closed as she felt the room begin to spin.
Sally stared at her. “NightHawk?” she repeated. “Gideon Hawk is the father of your baby?”
Abi nodded, her eyes still closed. “Yeah…but he do’n’ want me any more,” she muttered blearily, taking another breath of the gas and air.
“I think you’ve had enough of that for now,” said Sally briskly, trying to remove it from Abi’s hand. The younger girl clung tightly and opened her eyes.
“Still need it,” she said thickly. “Haven’t had baby yet.”
Sally hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and let her keep it.
“Just going to get Doctor now,” she was saying when the door opened and Abi’s mother entered, followed by a short, stocky, greying man and the midwife Abi had met when she’d first arrived.
Abi opened her eyes again. “Get her out of here,” she said distinctly, pointing at her mother. “Don’t want her here. Want Judy.”
The man walked over to the bed and smiled tightly at Abi.
“Hello, Abigail,” he said. “I’m Dr. Munro. I think you’ve already met my wife.” He indicated the older midwife. “We’re here to help you through this. I see you’ve already had pain relief.”
Abi fixed him with a baleful stare and gripped the gas-and-air dispenser even tighter.
“Yes, and you can’t have it,” she said menacingly.
Dr. Munro pursed his lips together and stiffened.
“That’s all right,” he said. “You may keep it. Now, I’m just going to check everything is going okay.”
He bent down and gave her a quick examination, then turned to Abi’s mother.
“Everything’s fine so far. Do you want to stay in here with her?”
Abi struggled to sit up. “No!” she shouted. “I don’t want her here! She wants to take my baby!” Then she fell back against the pillows as another wave of contractions began. Sally ran to her side and held her hand to help her through them, murmuring words of encouragement. When the contractions had passed, Sally turned to the group at the door.
“I think it might be best if I stay with Abi. She seems to be rather upset by your presence at the moment,” she said to Joan. “She’s been asking for her friend Judy. Is it possible we could get her to come in?”
Joan looked at her with dislike. “I decided it would be inappropriate for a young girl to witness the birth,” she said firmly. “I shall wait in the waiting room, if that’s what Abigail prefers.” She turned and left the room without even a glance at her daughter.
Dr Munro took Sally to one side and spoke quietly. “Keep an eye on her,” he instructed. “Apparently she’s rather delusional, according to her mother.”
Sally looked surprised. “Delusional?” she asked with a frown. “In what way? She seems okay to me.”
The doctor bristled slightly. “I’m sure her mother knows best,” he said sharply. “Apparently she thinks the father is some rock star or other. Obviously a story she made up to cover the shame of a quick shag behind the bike sheds. Watch her.” With that, he turned and left the room, followed by his wife.
Sally looked at Abi. She was lying back on the pillows looking totally exhausted, her face wet with tears, the gas-and-air dispenser still gripped in her hand, but she opened her eyes and smiled wanly at Sally.
“This is hard,” she said with a sigh. “When will it be over?”
Sally felt Abi’s stomach, then checked to see how dilated she was.
“Bit longer yet, I’m afraid,” she said with an apologetic smile. “You need to be ten centimetres dilated, and so far you’re only about six.” She glanced at the clock. It was eight o’clock. “May manage it before midnight, but somehow I doubt it.”
Abi rolled her eyes. “Seriously?” she said. “I don’t like this. It hurts.” She took another burst of gas and air. “Wish Judy was here,” she said as the room began to swim again.
Sally smiled at her. “How did you meet Gideon Hawk?” she asked casually.
Abi closed her eyes. “He used to go to school near me,” she said. “Then his band played at our school dance, and we fell in love.” Another contraction came and she sucked in the gas and air in quiet desperation, falling back on the pillows again as it subsided. “Then…he went…on tour…to America. He didn’t write.” She paused, breathing heavily. “I was going to go and stay with him, but he never wrote.” She turned anguished eyes to Sally. “I love him so much. We were going to get married.”
Sally had watched Abi closely during this speech and was pretty convinced the girl was telling the truth. She hadn’t liked the look of the mother and was now beginning to worry that Abi’s fears about having the baby taken away might be genuine. If her mother was saying she was delusional, it would be easier to get the doctor to pronounce her unfit to look after a child.
Sally touched Abi gently on the arm. “Abi, have you got Judy’s phone number?” she asked urgently. “I’ll call her for you and see if we can get her here.”
Abi’s eyes opened and she stared woozily at Sally. “That’d be nice,” she muttered sleepily. “Gi’ me a pen an’ paper an’ I’ll write it down.”
Sally pulled a small pad and pen out of her pocket and handed them to Abi. The girl carefully wrote the number down and handed
it back to her.
“Be careful,” she whispered. “They don’t want me to have her here.”
Sally nodded and winked at her, then turned and opened the door. As she stepped out into the corridor and closed the door quietly behind her, Sally became aware of someone watching her. She spun around and found Sister Munro, the senior midwife, standing in the shadows.
“Oh, you made me jump!” she said with a nervous laugh.
Sister Munro held out her hand.
“What’s that you’ve got there, Nurse Robins?” she asked without smiling.
Sally clutched the paper tighter. “Just…a phone number,” she said, her heart sinking. The older woman stepped nearer and snatched the paper out of Sally’s hand.
“And this is the phone number for…?” she asked, watching Sally closely.
“Just a friend.” she said hesitantly. “I promised to call her.”
Sister Munro spun around. “Follow me,” she ordered, and marched off down the corridor into the waiting room. Abi’s mother was sitting in a chair having a cup of tea and chatting to the doctor. Sister Munro walked over and handed her the paper. “Do you recognise this phone number?” she demanded.
Joan peered at it for a moment. “Yes,” she said. This is Judy Cromwell’s number. Where did you get it?”
All eyes turned to Sally, and she felt her face flush.
“Ummm…Abi gave it to me,” she faltered. “She’s really scared and would love to have her friend with her. I…” She paused. “I offered to phone her.” She raised her head and put her shoulders back. “I really think it would do her good.”
Dr. Munro sighed. “Nurse Robins, this is very disappointing,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m sure you’re aware Mrs. Thomson said the girl was not to be here, and yet you were deliberately going to go against her wishes?”
Sally suddenly got her confidence back.
“But surely the wishes of the patient are of more importance?” she said bravely. “She’s the one having to go through this, and she’s only a child. Surely there’s no harm in letting her have a friend to hold her hand, is there?”
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