Talking Sense (22 page)

The two women looked at each other, and Mia saw her own worry written on Freya’s face.

“Poor Ash,” Mia said. “He so wanted to be here.”

“Oh, sometimes things slow down,” Freya said. “There’s still a chance he’ll make it.”

“I left a message for Isabella,” Mia said, referring to Grace’s mum. “She’s still not answering, though. But I’ll keep trying.”

“I don’t whether that’s a good idea or not,” Freya mumbled, and Mia managed a wry smile. Isabella sometimes drove Grace to distraction, but still, she knew it would be comforting for Grace to have her there.

“Let’s go in,” Freya said. “And let’s do our best to distract her. We don’t want her worrying about that fucking bitch now.”

Mia blinked at Freya’s vehemence, but she felt much the same way. The thought that the spiteful psycho might have caused Grace to go into labour sent fury racing through her veins. But she kept a lid on it as they opened the door and went into the delivery room.

Grace lay on her side, the mask with gas and air lying on the table next to her. She was wearing a hospital gown as she didn’t yet have the nightie she’d bought to give birth in, and she looked pale, but in control.

“Well, this sucks,” Grace said as they walked over to her. “Ash will be fuming.”

“Plenty of time yet,” Freya soothed. “He’ll be boarding soon and he’ll be here in a couple of hours.”

“Did you get hold of Mum?” Grace asked.

“Not yet,” Mia said. Isabella’s home phone had gone to answerphone, and her mobile had been switched off, which annoyed Mia. Isabella was probably gardening, but surely it would have made sense to keep her mobile on night and day when her daughter was due at any moment?. “How’s the pain?” she asked.

“Bearable, at the moment,” Grace said. “They don’t want me to have drugs because they think it might not be long and it would make the baby too sleepy. I’m coping on the gas and air for now but I’ll soon yell for an epidural if I think I need it.” She reached for the mask. “Excuse me. Contraction coming.”

Mia took her other hand and squeezed tight while the wave swept over her friend. She’d never felt so helpless. Pain was etched into Grace’s features, and she groaned softly into the mask as she breathed in the gas and air.

And yet still she found herself envying Grace. Would she ever be in this position herself, lying there waiting to push a little person out of her? At that moment, she couldn’t imagine it ever happening, like she couldn’t imagine ever jumping out of an airplane or climbing Mount Everest. But was this what Ash had seen when Grace said there were good things in store for her?

The contraction went away and Grace dropped the mask. “Ouch,” she said wryly. “That was a strong one.”

Freya glanced at her watch, and Mia realised she was timing how far apart the contractions were.

“I can’t wait for Ash to see that Tigger outfit,” she said, trying to distract Grace. “He’s absolutely going to love it.”

“I wish he was here,” Grace whispered. “I miss him.”

“I know, honey.” Mia rubbed Grace’s hand, knowing that Ash would be out of his mind with worry. He’d just finished his show when she’d rung him on his mobile. Nate had answered and told her initially that Ash was busy signing books, but he’d quickly transferred her over when she told him Grace was in labour.

She’d debated whether she should tell Ash about the note and the stalker in the café. She didn’t want to worry him any more than he already was, but equally, he was a big boy and she knew he wouldn’t want her to keep it a secret. He’d listened to her in silence, thanked her crisply and told her he’d get the first plane out. Then he’d hung up. She knew he’d be straight onto the police.

Sure enough, when they’d gotten to the hospital, the police were there waiting and they’d already spoken to Ash. The uniformed officers got statements from both Mia and Freya and took the note Mia had placed in the bag before speaking briefly to Grace. They promised they’d return to the café and see if any of the staff remembered anything unusual. Mia hoped they’d be able to track the woman down soon. The last thing Grace and Ash needed with a new baby was the worry of some nutcase still hanging around.

The next hour passed agonisingly slowly. Isabella still refused to answer her phone, so eventually Mia rang Liv, Ash’s sister, and asked her to go around to her house and see if she was in the garden, and then go on to Ash’s house to pick up Grace’s hospital bag. Jodi, Ash’s daughter, was staying with her as she usually did on Saturday nights, and she was most excited to know the baby was finally coming and was determined to go with Liv. Mia agreed, thinking that maybe Grace would find it comforting to have Jodi there, as the two of them had grown quite close over Grace’s pregnancy.

Midwives came and went, checking to make sure Grace was comfortable. Most of the time, however, it was just the three women, Mia and Freya talking and telling Grace that everything was going to be all right.

It had been this way for millennia, Mia thought. Women helping each other through the scary and painful process, reassuring and comforting, letting the one in labour know she wasn’t alone. She’d never felt the strength of her sex so strongly.

And yet curiously, she missed Colm more than ever. He wouldn’t have panicked if they’d been together and she’d gone into labour, she knew. He’d have been as calm and capable as ever, as supportive and caring as he had that day he’d helped with her back.

How she wished he was there now to massage her aching shoulders. Briefly she wondered whether to take a couple of the painkillers in her purse, but it seemed wrong somehow when Grace was in such pain. It was stupid, she knew it deep down, but somehow she felt as if she was sharing the experience, helping Grace somehow by sharing the pain.

Colm would get cross at that, she thought with some amusement. She could only imagine the look on his face if she’d told him.

Grace gestured for the mask and Freya passed it to her. Grace clamped it to her face and grabbed Mia’s hand. Mia winced as Grace squeezed it, but she didn’t say anything. Was it her imagination, or did Grace look more in pain than she had with previous contractions?

Grace lifted the mask as the contraction passed. “That hurt,” she panted. “I felt like I wanted to push then.”

Immediately, Freya rang the buzzer above the bed. She smiled and rubbed Grace’s hand. “Don’t look so worried!” she said. “The baby’s on its way—it won’t be long now.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The midwife came in and Freya explained what had happened. Together they helped Grace to turn onto her back. Almost immediately after, Grace had another contraction. The midwife examined her and announced she was ten centimetres dilated.

Suddenly everything changed. The lights—which had previously been dimmed—were turned up and the room became a hive of activity.

“I want Ash!” Grace wailed.

“I’m sorry, honey, he’s not going to make it,” Mia said, wishing she could magic him up with a wand. And where the hell had Liv and Isabella got to? “Your mum’s not here yet, either. Do you want us to go out?”

“No, please stay,” Grace begged. “I want you here.”

So Mia and Freya stayed, and took turns holding Grace’s hand as she brought her baby into the world. It took thirty minutes, by which time Mia was almost as exhausted as Grace from all the emotion and stress of seeing Grace working so hard and living every inch up to her name, elegant and beautiful even when she was drenched in sweat and racked with pain.

When the midwife finally lifted the baby out, wrapped it in a blanket and placed it in Grace’s arms, all three of them were in tears.

“It’s a girl,” Freya said, lifting the blanket to check. “Grace, you have a little girl, you clever thing!” She could barely speak.

“Is she all right?” Grace asked desperately.

“Ten fingers, ten toes,” the midwife said with a smile, wrapping a tag around the baby’s foot with
Baby Girl Rutherford
written on it.

Mia reached out and gently held the miniature hand waving in the air, amazed at what Grace had managed to do. “Oh she’s beautiful,” she whispered, welling up with tears. “She’s so tiny.”

“She’s lovely,” Grace said, tears streaming down her face. “Isn’t she? Isn’t she the loveliest thing in the world?”

“She’s absolutely perfect,” Freya whispered.

Mia had never felt such a strange mixture of emotions. Pride, relief, envy, sadness, exultation, and a dozen other feelings, all mixed up together, caused by love for Grace and her new family, and a longing to experience something the same.

Colm
, she thought, biting her lip.
I love you. I miss you.
Why did he have to live so far away? Was there any way they could make it work?

Her brain mused on the problem while they cooed over the baby, marvelling at her tiny features as the nurses cleared up the room.

“I’ll just take her off to be washed and weighed,” the midwife said. “I’ll be back very shortly.” She lifted the baby out of Grace’s arms.

“Can you let me know when my mother arrives?” Grace asked. “She should have the baby’s first outfits and some clothes for me.”

“Of course.” The midwife left the room.

Mia and Freya stood to one side while the nurses helped Grace up to change her gown and began to run a bath in the adjoining bathroom. Mia felt almost too tired to stand, although it was only just after six. She realised she hadn’t eaten since that morning, as she’d hardly taken a bite of the muffin they’d ordered for lunch in the café.

Just seconds after Grace lay back down in a clean gown, the doors opened and Ash walked in. His face lit up as he saw Grace, and he came forward to give her a huge hug.

Mia and Freya slipped out to give them some privacy. Freya ran up to Nate who was standing outside waiting impatiently, and threw her arms around him.

“I want one,” Mia heard her whisper.

Nate chuckled and murmured something in Freya’s ear, and she giggled and nuzzled his neck.

Mia turned away, the delight and exultation she’d been feeling fading a little at the thought that she didn’t have anyone to hug. Once again she wished Colm was there to share in the event. That was what life was about, she thought. Sharing everything, from your bed to your children to everything else in your life.
That
was what she was missing.

The doors opened and Ash came out with a huge grin on his face. “I’m going to find my daughter,” he announced, laughing as they came over to hug him. He walked down to the nurses’ station to find her.

Mia sat down and closed her eyes for a moment. Her back ached, and so did her abdomen, and she remembered she had her period. Maybe she’d take a few painkillers just this once.
Colm would want me to,
she thought, and felt sad again. How long would it be before she stopped thinking like that?

Raised voices echoed along the corridor, and she opened her eyes and frowned. Ash was shouting. Alarm shot through her, and she stood and walked down to him, Nate and Freya close behind.

As she turned the corner, she saw that Grace’s mother, Isabella, had arrived with Jodi and Liv. Isabella looked bewildered, Liv furious, and Jodi was white-faced as Ash yelled at the midwife, his six-foot-four frame looming over her. The midwife was a practical, no-nonsense sort of woman who’d been rather bossy while Grace was in labour, but Mia had been glad of her firm manner at the time. Now, however, the woman looked frightened, which scared Mia almost more than seeing the teddy-bear-like Ash angry.

“What’s the matter?” Mia asked.

The midwife moistened her lips. “A woman came for the baby—she said she was Grace’s mother.”

Mia went completely cold. “She took the baby?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know.” The midwife’s eyes filled with panic.

“
This
is Grace’s mother,” Ash yelled, pointing to Isabella, who looked like she might faint.

“I…I didn’t know…I knew she was about to arrive and I assumed…” The midwife’s voice petered off. She looked like she might be sick.

Mia glanced at Ash, then at Jodi, who was crying, then at Freya, whose face reflected her own fear.

She looked back at the other nurse standing behind the desk, who looked terrified. “Ring the police,” Mia said.

Colm was trying to read, and failing.

He’d attempted to keep himself busy all day—he went into town to get a new pair of jeans, pretending that he wasn’t trying to bump into Mia in the shops and failing miserably as he got depressed when he didn’t see her. Then he called around David’s house and endured half an hour’s teasing about the All Blacks’ victory over the Irish in the rugby the night before. Finally he went home and tried to watch the
Doctor Who
series he’d bought in town, only to make himself completely morbid after two episodes.

He didn’t drink, though. He’d had far too much the night before, thrown up most of it, and didn’t think he’d even be able to look at a bottle of Scotch for several months. So instead he lay on the sofa with his book unread, his eyes seeing not the fading light but instead pictures of Mia his mind conjured up, of her laughing, or head tipped in serious thought, or eyes closed in pleasure as they made love, her body soft beneath his.

How was he going to forget her? Maybe over time, when he was back in Ireland and half a world away, the memory of her would fade and eventually he’d convince himself things couldn’t have been as great as he’d remembered, and another girl would come along and he’d be able to put Mia’s ghost to rest.

The thought made him unutterably sad.

So when the phone rang, it was a welcome distraction from his thoughts, and he picked the receiver up with a surge of relief.

“Hello?” he said.

“Colm?”

He recognised Mia’s voice immediately, and delight flooded through him. “Mia. Honey. Hi.” Then he registered the strange tone in her voice. “Are you okay?”

“Not really.” She cleared her throat. “Grace had the baby.”

He went cold. “What happened? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine—well, she’s not fine but… I mean the birth was fine, and the baby was fine… It’s not that…”