by Sherri Bryan
Her contractions were closer together now, and, as relaxed as she was trying to stay, concern was etched all over her face.
“Nathan, if it doesn’t get here soon, I’m going to have this baby on the kitchen floor.”
“I thought first babies took hours to be born?” said Betty.
“I think that’s more usual but they can come very quickly, too,” said Aunt Lola. “Looks like Charlotte’s going to fall into the latter category.”
“It’s early—it’s not due until August 11th. Is that okay?” A concerned Nathan rubbed the small of Charlotte’s back as she tried to find a comfortable position.
“Well, it’s not hugely early,” said Lola. “I know people who have had babies far earlier and they’ve been perfectly okay with the right care. The hospital will look after Charlotte and the baby, so try not to worry too much.”
“Do you think Garrett, Ben, Harry and I have got time to take Pippin for a walk?” Leo called, from the bar. “I think he needs to pee.”
Harriett stuck her head through the hole in the wall to speak to him. “What do you mean? Have you got time?”
“Well, we don’t want to miss anything—we want to be here when the paramedics arrive so we can cheer Charlotte on.”
““Cheer her on?”” Harriett tutted. “She’s having a baby, Leo, not racing a horse. Yes, go on, but don’t go too far and don’t be too long.”
As Laura held onto one of Charlotte’s hands and Aunt Lola held the other, Ava was busy boiling kettles and pans for hot water.
“What are you doing?” asked Jess.
“Getting ready to deliver this baby, that’s what I’m doing,” said Ava. “Hopefully, we won’t have to but it pays to be prepared.”
Amidst the chaos, she was so calm it was as if delivering babies was something she did every day. “There are enough of us here who’ve had one, for goodness’ sake, I’m sure we can manage between us if necessary. Now, where are the clean tea towels, dear?”
“Oh, now wait a minute. I’m not sure about that, Ava,” said Nathan. “I know you mean well but I’d really rather wait for the ambulance. No disrespect, but the paramedics are qualified at this.” He looked at his watch. “Where are they? It’s been almost ten minutes since we called.”
Ava tapped her foot, one hand on her hip. “Nathan, I’ve no doubt that you’d like to wait for the ambulance but perhaps you should consider what Charlotte wants to do? I’m not one for interfering, as you well know, but don’t you think this should be her decision?”
She crouched down and stroked Charlotte’s sweat-drenched cheek. “What do you say, my dear? Would you like us to give it a go if you need us to?”
Charlotte looked at the faces around her—Jess, Laura, Ava, Harriett, Betty, Aunt Lola and Nathan. Almost all the people she loved most in the world. She wanted the paramedics to look after her but, if they couldn’t get to her in time, she knew she couldn’t wish for anyone better to try to help her.
She nodded. “Okay, if needs be.”
Ava squeezed her hand. “Good girl. Right, let’s get organised.”
ººººººº
“Nathan Costello, I swear, you are never coming near me again!” Charlotte dug her nails into his hand and she panted through a contraction.
“Ow, your nails are sharp!”
“Oh. Are they indeed? I’m so awfully sorry.” Charlotte glared up at him, unable to keep the sarcasm from her voice. “Did I hurt you? Are you in pain?” She looked around at her friends. “Can someone throttle Nathan, please?”
Jess grinned at Laura. “He’ll be saying he needs a cup of tea and a lie down, next.”
“Oh, Good Lord!” Ava exclaimed.
“What is it?” said Nathan. “Ava!”
“This is all happening so quickly, she said. “Right, Harriett, pass me some more towels please, and that pan of hot water. Charlotte, the baby’s head’s almost here so I need you to stop pushing and pant. It won’t be easy, I know, but try hard. I’ll tell you when to push again, alright?”
Charlotte nodded. “Ava, I’m scared.”
“I know you are, dear, but just focus on me and you’ll be fine. Let’s see if we can make this the most wonderful experience of your life, shall we?”
“We’re back!” Leo called out. “Did we miss anything?”
“No, looks like you got back just in time,” said Harriett.
“Any sign of that ambulance out there?” said Nathan. “I just called them again and they said they’re two minutes away.”
“No, didn’t see it but you know what the traffic’s like on a Saturday…oh, hang on, this must be it.”
A siren was getting louder and louder.
“Oh, thank God,” said Nathan. “Charlotte, it’s here.”
“We can’t wait for them, I’m afraid, this baby’s about to be born.” Ava, who rarely showed emotion, blinked away the tears. “Right, Charlotte, focus on me and give me one more big push, alright? Come on, dear, you can do it.”
Accompanied by the rousing cheers of Garrett, Leo, Harry and Ben, Charlotte and Nathan’s baby was born. As everyone else burst into tears, the paramedics arrived.
“Someone called for an ambulance?”
“They’re in there, mate,” said Garrett, as a feeble wail, growing in volume with every second, heralded the arrival of the newest addition to the Costello family. “But it sounds like you missed all the action.”
“Blimey, you’ve had an audience, haven’t you love?” The paramedics took over as Nathan lifted Ava off her feet and hugged her. “Ava, if I live to be a hundred, I will never be able to thank you enough.”
“Oh, get away with you,” said Ava, wiping her eyes. “Go and enjoy your new baby.”
As the medics tended to Charlotte and the baby, she heard her Aunt whisper to Laura. “Oh, how I wish Scott and Molly were here. They’d be the proudest grandparents.”
Charlotte bit her lip. Her parents had been with her all through this—they were always with her, she knew that—but if she’d ever wanted a hug from them, it was now.
As the paramedic handed the baby back to her, she held it close and sobbed.
ººººººº
“Well, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mother or baby in better shape, all things considered!” The midwife at the hospital peered into the baby blanket cocoon that Charlotte was holding. “Congratulations to both of you, and I’ll drop by and see you and baby tomorrow.”
“I suppose we’d better get home, then,” said Nathan. “There’ll be a lot of people who want to come and visit but I think we should put them off for a while, don’t you? So we can have some time together, just the three of us.”
“Yes, I think that’s a good idea,” said Charlotte. “But could you collect Pippin from Leo’s? I’d like to introduce him to the baby as soon as possible.”
“Okay, I’ll drop you home and then I’ll go and get him. Let’s go, then.”
After twenty minutes of struggling to put the baby seat in the back of the car, they set off on the short drive home.
“What do you think about the names we talked about?” said Charlotte. “Do you think the one we chose fits?
Nathan nodded. “I think it’s perfect.”
She smiled. “That’s good. I do, too.”
“Right, I’ll come in and get you settled and then I’ll go and get Pippin.” Nathan pulled up at the cottage and helped Charlotte inside. “See you in about twenty minutes.”
It was quiet and still. As she lifted the sleeping baby from the seat and held it close to her, Charlotte knew this was probably the last time the cottage would be that way.
She sat down on the large bay window seat in the living room. With its wonderful view of the sea, it was the place in the cottage she loved most.
“So, it’s just you and me for a little while,” she said, kissing the top of her baby’s head and inhaling its new-born scent. “Daddy and Pippin will be home soon and, in a day or two, you’ll meet all our friends a
nd family. You’ll have to wait a little while longer to meet Grandpa George, Grandma Hattie and Aunty Barbara, though. Mind you, I expect they’ll be straight on a plane when they hear about you.” She smiled.
“But, before you meet anyone else, there are two people I want to introduce you to first.
“I’ll tell you all about them when you’re older. I’ll tell you that even though you can’t see them, they’ll always be with you…always beside you.”
“They won’t ever be here to hold your hand, or pick you up when you fall, or tell you they love you, so I’m telling you—if they were here, they would love you more than anything in the world.”
She looked out at the sea, and the sand on which she and her parents had enjoyed so many good times when she’d been young. She couldn’t think of a better place to bring up her child.
She opened up the blanket and lifted the sleeping baby onto the crook of her arm.
“Mum, Dad—I’d like you to meet Molly Costello.”
The End
Other Books by Sherri Bryan
If you’d like to receive a notification when further books in the Charlotte Denver Cozy Mystery series are published, please click here to sign up to my readers’ list on my website.
If you’d like to, you can also view my other books there.
The Charlotte Denver Series continues with a new mystery to solve in each book. Each one is a stand-alone story, so they can be read in any order but, if you’d like to read them as they were written, this is the order to follow:
TAPAS, CARROT CAKE AND A CORPSE (Free to download from Amazon)
https://www.amazon.com/Carrot-Corpse-Charlotte-Mystery-Culinary-ebook/dp/B00Y7XAX26
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carrot-Corpse-Charlotte-Mystery-Culinary-ebook/dp/B00Y7XAX26
FUDGE CAKE, FELONY AND A FUNERAL - Book 2
https://www.amazon.com/Felony-Funeral-Charlotte-Denver-Mystery-ebook/dp/B010K6KS46
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Felony-Funeral-Charlotte-Denver-Mystery-ebook/dp/B010K6KS46
SPARE RIBS, SECRETS AND A SCANDAL - Book 3
https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Scandal-Charlotte-Denver-Mystery-ebook/dp/B01449K8NG
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Scandal-Charlotte-Denver-Mystery-ebook/dp/B01449K8NG
PUMPKINS, PERIL AND A PAELLA - Book 4
https://www.amazon.com/Pumpkins-Paella-Charlotte-Denver-Mystery-ebook/dp/B018B5TJSE
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pumpkins-Paella-Charlotte-Denver-Mystery-ebook/dp/B018B5TJSE
HAMBURGERS, HOMICIDE AND A HONEYMOON - Book 5
https://www.amazon.com/Hamburgers-Homicide-Honeymoon-Charlotte-Mystery-ebook/dp/B01G0NC0VM
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hamburgers-Homicide-Honeymoon-Charlotte-Mystery-ebook/dp/B01G0NC0VM
A Selection of Recipes from Hamburgers, Homicide and a Honeymoon
Grandma Doris’ Boiled Fruit Cake
Ingredients
2 medium eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
8 oz butter or margarine
1½ cups dried, mixed fruit of your choice, plus ½ cup dried (or glacé) cherries or cranberries
1 cup water
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon mixed spice
1 cup plain flour
1½ cups self-raising flour
Method
Place fruit (except the cherries or cranberries), sugar, butter and water into a saucepan of cold water, bring to a boil and cook for five minutes.
After five minutes, transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl to cool.
When cool, add the bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice and beaten eggs to the mixture and mix everything together.
Fold in the flour, a spoonful at a time, before adding the cherries or cranberries.
Line and lightly grease a seven inch baking tin and pour the mixture into it
Bake in the middle of a preheated oven at 325ºF/170ºC/Gas 3, for 1 - 1¼ hours, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool before slicing.
Charlotte’s Chicken Casserole with Dumplings
Serves four to six people
Ingredients
1 whole chicken, jointed into eight pieces
6 rashers of smoked bacon, chopped
25g/1oz butter
225g/8oz whole baby onions, peeled
1 teaspoon mixed herbs or a bouquet garni of thyme, bay leaves, peppercorns, rosemary sprigs and a celery stalk
800ml/27 fl oz chicken stock
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
2 leeks, washed and sliced
3 large carrots, chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 bay leaves (use these even if you are using a bouquet garni)
Salt and pepper to season
Chopped parsley to garnish
For the dumplings
250g/8 ½ oz self-raising flour
125g/4 ¼ oz cold butter, straight from the fridge
100ml/3 fl oz cold water
Method
Preheat your oven to 170ºC/325ºF/Gas mark 3)
Heat the oil in a large cast-iron casserole dish, or frying pan, and fry the chicken pieces, in batches, until brown. Transfer them to a plate.
Gently fry the bacon pieces in the same pan and then put them on the plate with the chicken.
Add the butter to the oil in the casserole and gently cook the onions until they become soft and golden brown.
Add the chicken and bacon back to the casserole.
Add the carrots, leeks, potatoes, bay leaves, herbs or bouquet garni and chicken stock to the dish and season well.
Cover with a lid and put into the centre of the preheated oven to cook for 40 minutes.
While the casserole is cooking, make the dumplings as follows:
Put the self-raising flour into a mixing bowl with a pinch of salt.
Coarsely grate the cold butter and rub it together with the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the cold water to the flour and butter and mix together gently until you form a ball of dough. (Note; Don’t knead the dough too vigorously—it only needs a gentle bringing together with your hands until it’s all combined).
Divide the dough into twelve and roll into balls.
At the end of the 40 minutes cooking time, carefully take the casserole from the oven and place the dumplings on top.
Replace the lid and return the casserole to the oven for a further 30 minutes, after which, the dumplings should be cooked through and fluffy and the chicken, meltingly tender.
Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley and serve.
Big Al’s Burgers
Serves four very hungry people
Ingredients
800g/1lb chuck steak mince, coarsely ground (I’ve found that between 25% and 30% fat content in the meat makes the tastiest, juiciest burgers—even if you like them very well done—and it helps them stay together). Note; If you can, ask your butcher to mince the chuck steak for you. If you can’t, you can buy ready minced meat
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 anchovy fillets from a can or a jar (secret ingredient) + 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
110g/4oz mature cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying
4 burger buns
Mayonnaise, ketchup and/or mustard and sliced tomatoes, lettuce and pickles to serve, if required
Method
Divide the cheese into four and form into balls. Put into the fridge until needed.
Put the anchovy fillets into a small bowl with the tablespoon of vegetable oil. Mash them with a spoon until they break up and ‘dissolve’ into the oil.
Place the minced meat into a large bowl.
Drizzle the anchovy/oil mix evenly over the meat and add the chopped onion and salt and pepper. (Note; you won’t need as much salt as you may normally add because the anchov
ies are quite salty).
Mix everything together with your hands—it’s a little messy but it’s the best way to combine all the ingredients.
Divide the mince mixture into four and form into flat patties, making sure to leave a well in the middle.
Put a cheese ball into each well and mould the meat around it until all the cheese is covered.
Flatten the burgers a little with your hands or with a fish slice.
Heat the remaining vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and brown the burgers on both sides.
Keeping an eye on them, cook the burgers gently for between twenty-five and thirty minutes, flipping a couple of times during cooking. (Note; If you have a pan with a heatproof handle, you can cook the burgers in the oven which has been preheated to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas 4, if you prefer, but don’t forget to use an oven glove to take the pan out!)
When the burgers are cooked to your liking, slice the buns and spread each half with mayonnaise, ketchup or mustard. Add the burger and fill the buns with additional ingredients if required before serving.
Note from Sherri
Hello, and thanks for reading Hamburgers, Homicide and a Honeymoon, the fifth book in The Charlotte Denver Cozy Mystery Series.
If you’ve read the other books in the series, you’ll notice that this book is a little different in that it’s the first time I’ve taken the protagonists out of their comfort zone. And mine, too!
If you haven’t read the other books, but would like to, may I suggest that you start with Tapas, Carrot Cake and a Corpse, which is where the series began and which, incidentally, is free to download from Amazon.
That said, I’ve written the books so that you can read them in any order you wish, without missing out on too much background information.
As with all the other books in the series, I’d like to mention that, although this has been proofread and edited more times that I can recall, there may still be the odd mistake within its pages. If you should come across one, I’d be grateful if you could let me know so I can put it right—thank you.
