by Jenny Kane
‘Ohhhhh.’
‘That’s it, I’m calling an ambulance.’
‘But I haven’t even packed my hospital bag or anything or...’
Jack held Amy’s hand as he spoke into his mobile. ‘Ambulance please, yes ... I’m Jack Brown and I’m with my friend Mrs Amy Donahue on a bench at the corner of Paradise Road and Church Road ... Yes, she’s eight months pregnant, and I’m as sure as I can be that she’s gone into labour ... Yes, dizzy and nauseous with stomach pains every few minutes ... Well yes, I suppose they are contractions ... No, I haven’t timed them, it’s caught us on the hop ... yes ... Thank you ... yes ... bye.’
‘Jack?’ Amy couldn’t stop herself from panicking. ‘My baby can’t be coming! I’ve only had one antenatal class. I don’t know what to do!’
‘I’m not sure the baby knows that!’
‘I want Paul. Can you try him again?’
Jack redialled his friend’s number, holding Amy close. ‘I’m already on it, Amy. Already on it. You concentrate on breathing slowly and keeping calm.’
‘Calm? Seriously?’
Jack felt her hand grip his harder as he muttered under his breath, ‘Come on, Paul, answer the damn phone!’
‘If he isn’t answering then call Jean.’
‘Jean?’
‘Midwife. Number on paper in bag.’ Amy found she could either concentrate on talking or not being sick, but not both. The ambulance seemed to be taking forever.
Rifling through Amy’s bag for the midwife’s number, Jack did his best to sound positive, swallowing his own fears for his friend. ‘No such thing as a standard pregnancy.’
Amy laughed through a weird snorting breath, ‘You sound like Jean.’
‘Got it!’ Jack fished the paper from Amy’s bag and hammered in the phone number, inwardly praying that she answered quickly. ‘Hello? Is that Jean? I’m with Amy Donahue; you met her this morning ... yes, that’s her. I’m waiting for an ambulance with her, looks like the baby is making an early guest appearance ... yes, thank you.’
Jack passed the phone to Amy.
‘Jean? Help!’
The moment they arrived at the hospital, Jack leapt out of the ambulance, and promising Amy he wouldn’t stray far from her side, tried to call Paul again. ‘Come on, come on...’
Running into the hospital’s reception, Jack said, ‘I’m sorry, Amy, I can’t get him to answer. What was he doing this afternoon?’
‘Giving a tour.’
As the receptionist signed her in, Amy was relieved to spy Jean coming towards her at a satisfyingly fast pace. ‘Boy, am I glad to see you!’
‘You couldn’t wait for the check-up tomorrow then!’ Jean smiled, ‘Come on, let’s get you more comfortable. You must be Jack?’
‘Hello, yes, I’ve been trying to get hold of Paul, but his phone is off.’
Tears welled up in Amy’s eyes. ‘I really want him here.’ Suddenly she felt as if she’d been brave all on her own for ages, and although she was glad Jack was there, Amy knew Paul would never forgive himself if he missed the birth. ‘I’m frightened.’
‘Let’s tackle one thing at a time, shall we?’ She soothed Amy into a wheelchair. ‘You wait here while I show Jack where he can go to make a phone call.’
Drawing Jack to one side, out of earshot of Amy, Jean said, ‘If you follow us into the examination room now, then you’ll know where to find us after you’ve been back outside to call Paul a few more times. I suggest you ring every single person he knows and set people hunting him down, then get back in here. Amy is going to need a friend.’
‘She is OK, isn’t she?’
‘The baby is rather early, but she’s strong. I’m going to examine her with a doctor to establish if she’s in labour, or if something else is going on.’
‘Something else?’
‘Make those calls and then come into the exam room. No need to knock or anything. Just come and hold her hand. Oh, and while you’re on the phone, does Amy have a girlfriend she trusts?’
‘Kit.’
‘Call her. Amy’s going to need things for the hospital – nightwear, books, and nice things to help her along. Would Kit know the sort of things Amy would want?’
‘Definitely.’
‘Then call her first.’
‘First?’
‘First.’
‘Have you made a decision yet?’
Megan had been putting off asking Peggy any questions about Jack’s proposal to share the afternoon session at his bistro, but as the days ticked by she was getting more anxious to know what her bosses had decided.
Peggy put down the cloth she was using to wipe the tables. ‘To tell you the truth, we’ve been back and forth. I’m sorry to keep you hanging like this.’
‘Not at all, I was just curious.’
‘Part of me thinks it is a great idea, but another part of me isn’t sure if I can trust Jack. Is he responsible enough to risk going into business with? It’s a big decision.’
‘Jack has grown up a lot lately.’
‘If we did go for it, would you run it for us? The part of the bistro that would be ours, I mean.’
‘If you wanted me to, but that would be your choice. I’d be happy either here or there.’
‘You are very loyal, Megan, but this is your future as much as ours that we’re deciding here.’ Peggy was going to expand further when the phone rang.
‘Oh, hello, Jack, I’m afraid we are still thinking about ... Oh, oh hell, no, Kit isn’t here, she left half an hour ago. She’s probably on the Tube if she isn’t answering; you know there’s no signal down there.’
Picking up on her boss’s tone, Megan came closer to the phone as Peggy kept talking, ‘OK, Jack, keep calm. Leave it to me. You get back to Amy, I’ll call Kit, and Megan will keep trying Paul until we find him. We’ll sort this. Now off you go. Send Amy our love.’
Chapter Thirty-three
Tuesday 26th July
‘How do you know Jack then?’ Jean pulled a seat close to where Amy’s head rested on a pillow and took her hand as a doctor attended to what she’d referred to as “the business end of things.”
Amy couldn’t help but smile at the absurdity of being asked about her ex-boyfriend while having her husband’s baby, but was glad that Jean was working to keep her overactive imagination occupied – and off the doctor, who was adding to her discomfort big time. ‘Now that’s a story and a half!’
‘He’s obviously very fond of you.’
‘Jack is my dearest friend ... he is going to be ...’ Suddenly Amy started to cry. She’d been trying so hard not to let more than the occasional tear roll down her cheek, but abruptly she couldn’t hold back the flow.
‘Come on, Amy, what is Jack going to be?’
‘Godfather to my baby. My baby ... is alright, isn’t it?’
Jean opened her mouth to reply, but the doctor beat her to it, reassuring Amy in his calming Scottish burr, ‘I can’t see why not, hen. I think it’s just a case of your bairn being in a hurry to join its mum.’
‘Oh, thank you!’ Amy’s tears came even faster, but now they were as much in relief as in fear.
The door opened and Jack rushed to her side. ‘What’s happening? Amy?’ Jack looked at the midwife for an explanation as to why Amy was crying, not actually sure he wanted to hear the answer.
‘It’s OK. I’m OK, or should I say, we’re OK. I’m just early.’
Jack shook his head, laughing in relief. ‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me!? Like mother, like child.’
‘Paul?’
‘I’ve left Peggy and Megan tracking him down.’
‘He still isn’t answering then?
‘No, and nor is the museum switchboard, but then it is the height of the tourist season, so they’ll be beyond busy. Don’t worry, if I know Peggy she’ll have called Rob and Phil and got them hunting him down. Meanwhile, Kit is getting all your supplies.’
‘But Kit won’t know what to bring me.’
&nb
sp; ‘Amy, love, Kit is the mother of twins.’
Amy smiled. ‘Of course. Sorry. Thanks, Jack. Thanks for being here for me.’
As the doctor departed, and Jean left to make sure there was a delivery suite ready for Amy, she told them that, although things had moved fast at first, they’d slowed down a lot now. Amy still had a little while to go, and that if they wanted to go for a walk or something, they could as long as they stayed on this hospital floor.
Alone with Amy in the sterile room, Jack felt surprisingly calm. ‘So your indigestion wasn’t indigestion, then.’
‘I think it was to start with, but it sort of developed!’ Amy reached out and held Jack’s hand again. ‘Do you think Paul’s going to get here in time?’
Jack – who’d been privately wondering if Paul would ever forgive him for being the one who was there for the birth if he didn’t make it in time – said, ‘He’ll be here.’
Nodding silently, Amy suddenly half sat up, ‘I haven’t told Chris! He’ll be expecting me at work tomorrow.’
Smoothing her hair from her forehead, Jack said, ‘Why don’t you concentrate on what you’re doing? Paul can make all your phone calls when he gets here. Shall we have a walk or something? I seem to remember my sister telling me she’d walked up and down the hospital corridors right up until the birth itself. She swore gravity helped.’
‘Good idea, I’m getting stiff stuck here.’ Amy pulled herself up. ‘Can I hold onto you though? I feel a bit weird.’
‘We could hobble and wobble towards the café if there is one. I’m gagging for a cup of coffee, and I bet you must be hungry. You’ll need energy for what lies ahead.’
‘I’m not that hungry, but you’re probably right. Maybe we could hunt down a packet of biscuits or something I could nibble on.’
As they ambled slowly to the door, Amy stopped dead. ‘I haven’t phoned my parents. My mum will be gutted that she didn’t know I was in labour until it was all over.’
‘Amy, you are priceless! Stop worrying about letting other people down and concentrate on yourself, please.’
‘OK.’ Pausing to catch her breath before finally making it into the corridor, Amy asked, ‘Did I thank you for being here, Jack?’
‘A lot. I was hardly going to run away and leave you to have a baby at the side of the road, was I?’
‘I know, but you could have got me here and then gone home. You must have so much to do before opening the bistro. I would have understood.’
‘Amy Donahue, you just listen to me for a minute. That is my godchild in there.’ Jack’s expression cracked as they stopped to let a trolley push past them. He had been determined not to cry, but now tears snuck out of his eyes regardless. ‘Not only that, but you are the only woman I have ever loved – so don’t even think about putting the opening of a restaurant higher on my priority list than your welfare. Got it!’
Amy mumbled, ‘Yes, Jack,’ as the sign for the café loomed into view.
‘Once Paul arrives I’ll leave you to it. Until then, I stay. Enough said. Right then, I need coffee.’
Amy caught a glance of her ex’s dark brown eyes, and saw clearly what she had always known. Jack would have loved kids of his own, and for a while he, like her, had thought that they would have them together.
But that had been then.
Half an hour later Amy was back in the examination room, wandering round in circles munching her way through a packet of chocolate digestives at a speed that Jack would never have believed possible if he hadn’t witnessed it.
‘I’m going to have to serve chocolate digestives at your baby’s naming party.’
Amy laughed. ‘They’d go well with the champagne!’
‘I have no doubt about that. I could start a new trend!’
They’d got into routine now. Every now and then Amy would stop moving and Jack would rub her back hard as she breathed deeply, before they carried along with their conversation as if nothing had happened.
‘Now that your youngster is making an early guest appearance, I will have to bring your party forward. Are you and Paul planning an actual christening or just a party?’
‘Just the party. If he or she wants to be baptised when they’re older then that’s their choice to make, not ours.’
‘It isn’t that long until Peggy’s birthday either, is it?’
‘Do you think she’ll want a party?’
‘I have no idea. At least she is talking to me now.’
‘Kit’s twins’ exam results will be out soon as well, won’t they. That’s three reasons for a party already. We could have a joint do; it’ll be much more fun that way. What do you think? You up for a bigger party? Get in crates of champagne rather than a few bottles?’
‘Not to mention the digestive biscuits.’
‘Essential.’
Amy stopped suddenly and gasped, ‘Fuckin’ hell...’
Her un-Amy-like bad language was interrupted by the opening of the examination room door. Jean was back, carrying a tray complete with a jug of iced water and two glasses.
‘Hi, guys. You must be getting to the hot and bothered stage by now.’
‘Some cold water would be wonderful. Thanks, Jean.’ Amy caught her breath again and sat down on the side of the bed.
‘No problem. If you lie down a minute, Amy love, I’ll see how you’re progressing.’
Jack sat next to Amy’s head and took hold of her hand. ‘We’ve been walking up and down a bit, it seems to be helping.’
‘Excellent. Now then, let’s take a peep.’
Amy increased her grip on Jack’s hand as Jean checked her.
‘Blimey, Amy! I don’t envy Paul holding your hand during the actual birth if you’re gripping me this hard now!’
‘Oops, sorry.’ Amy relaxed her hold a bit, but she didn’t let go of Jack’s hand as she spoke to Jean, ‘Please don’t tell me I’ve got hours left to go. I’m already worn out!’
The midwife laughed. ‘Not at all, it seems you’re ready to go along to the delivery room.’
‘What? But I can’t! Paul isn’t here yet!’
‘Sorry, Amy, for a first birth this is happening fast. Let’s hope that bodes well for a trouble-free swift labour.’
‘But Paul isn’t here!’
‘No, but you have some friends outside who tell me that he’s on the way. Daddy has time to get there.’
On hearing the word ‘Daddy’, Jack and Amy simultaneously dropped hands.
‘Who’s here?’ Amy silently willed Paul to move faster through whatever traffic he was stuck in.
‘I think they said Kit and Peggy, does that sound right?’
‘Yes.’
‘They have your things, but if you don’t feel up to seeing them then I can just bring in your stuff and send them away.’
‘I’d like to see them. Is there time?’
‘I think so, but only for ten minutes, then I’m going to take you down to the delivery suite, OK?’
‘But Paul...’
Jack put his arm around Amy’s shoulders. ‘He will make it, and you won’t be alone for a single second until he does. I promise.’
‘I love you, Jack Brown.’
Jack kissed her nose. ‘And I love you, now just wait there. I’ll fetch the others.’
Jean waited until Jack was outside before saying, ‘You have a good friend there. Does he have children?’
‘He’s one of the best, but sadly no, I don’t think children are going to happen for him.’
‘Shame, he’d make a great dad.’
Amy was spared further comment by the arrival of her friends with a multitude of bulging carrier bags.
Kit engulfed her friend, ‘Can’t you wait for anything, woman!’
‘That’s what Jack said!’ Her eyes fell on the shopping, ‘Thanks so much for all that, Kit, what have you got? Looks as though you cleaned out the baby shop!’
Peggy flexed her arms theatrically. ‘It feels like she brought you weightlifting stuff!’
‘Take no notice of Peggy! She has an even better gift for you.’
‘You do?’
‘Paul. He’ll be here really soon now. His phone cut out in the museum basement, and he’s not long been up in the main office.’
‘Is he OK?’
‘I think panicked would cover it.’
‘I bet!’ Jack took a step back from Amy, pleased that Paul was going to be on time, but aware of a feeling of disappointment that he was a little ashamed of, and would never ever admit to.
Amy clenched her teeth. ‘Contraction ...’
Kit winced on her behalf. ‘How you finding them so far? Gas and air or painkillers come your way yet?’
Shaking her head by way of reply, Jack spoke for Amy. ‘She’s been incredible: nothing so far, but of course, we’re only just beginning.’
‘We?’ Peggy smiled at Jack.
‘I meant Amy. I’ve just been an admiring witness.’
Her powers of speech back, Amy said, ‘I think the time for a little something is fast approaching though!’
Barely was her breath back, when another contraction hit the back of the last, ‘Oh, shiii ...’
Kit and Peggy exchanged looks as Kit said, ‘Time to get that midwife back in here.’
They had no sooner spoken than the door flew open, and a red-faced, breathless Paul ran across the room, looking almost as exhausted as his wife.
Chapter Thirty-four
Tuesday 26th July
The moment Paul arrived, Jean gently ushered Kit and Peggy outside the room before taking Jack to one side.
‘You’ve been incredible. Amy will never forget today, and I don’t imagine you will either. Will you be alright?’
Feeling far from alright, Jack said, ‘Amy, Paul, and the baby are all that matters. Look after them, won’t you?’
Jean said nothing more, but nodded with a kind smile as, unnoticed by Amy and Paul, Jack left the room, and joined his friends on the other side of the door.
‘You want a drink, Jack?’ Kit pointed to the sign for the café. ‘Peggy and I are heading that way. You must be gagging for a coffee.’
Jack shrugged. ‘Thanks, but I’m going to head home. Fancy being on my own for a bit.’
