As soon as the first baby was delivered, Jason went into a state of panic. He was a father. ‘Is he OK? Is he breathing?’ he said to the midwife at least a dozen times.

‘You can see quite clearly he’s breathing, Dad,’ she said, smiling. ‘He certainly has a good pair of lungs.’ The baby was wailing about his sudden entry into the world. But Jason felt a stab of worry. Why was he crying? What was wrong with him?

‘He’s beautiful and healthy,’ she said. ‘Now just let me sort him out and you can have a cuddle.’

Jason was nervous. What if he didn’t do it right? He hadn’t quite recovered from cutting the cord – the emotional aspect of severing child from mother as well as the thought that it must hurt had unsettled him. Greta was quiet and resting for the moment, having spent the last hour howling in pain. He did what he’d learnt in childbirth classes – lower back massage, keeping the gas and air handy, letting her grip his hand while breathing steadily along with her, talking to her between contractions and helping her shift into different positions – but Greta was having none of it. She’d sworn at him, hit him, thrown her iced water over him and virtually bitten off his hand. Then, between contractions, she’d pulled him close and sobbed into his shoulder, telling him that she wanted to die, that she couldn’t carry on, that she was already a useless mother.

Fifteen minutes later, the second baby was delivered, and Jason immediately saw that it was a little girl. A very quiet, very limp little girl. ‘Is she OK? Why isn’t she crying?’ He darted between Greta’s side and the see-through crib where the midwife had laid the baby. She was rubbing her vigorously with a towel, ignoring Jason’s concerns.

‘Oh God, this can’t be happening,’ Jason mumbled, his hands pushing through his hair. The assistant midwife had called for help, and within seconds a doctor and another senior midwife were there, crowding around the baby with monitors, tubes and other equipment. Jason had no idea what was going on except that his little girl was still blue and not moving or making a sound.

‘What’s going on, Jason?’ Greta said, trying to hoist herself up in bed so she could see. ‘Is she OK?’

‘I don’t know, love. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t think she’s breath—’ Jason checked himself. Their baby would be fine. There was no way he would allow her not to be. ‘They’re just checking her over, love. Cleaning out her airways.’ He’d seen the suction tubes go between her tiny blue lips.

Greta rested back on the pillow. She was exhausted. And then they heard the cry. Softer than the first baby but nonetheless a beautiful, heart-warming cry. It was the most welcome sound in the world. Satisfied with her condition, the doctor went off to another delivery room, leaving the midwife in control again.

‘She’s absolutely fine now,’ she said over her shoulder. ‘It just took a moment to get her jump-started.’ Ten minutes later, Greta and Jason were holding a baby each, hardly aware that the midwife had picked up Jason’s phone and was taking photos of them.

Over the next while, Jason gazed between his son, his daughter and his wife. Where had they all come from? He felt like the luckiest man alive. For the briefest of moments, his happiness was clouded with sadness as he thought he saw a glimmer of Lenni in his daughter’s face. Her curious expression – constantly changing as she tried to make sense of the world – glimmered with Lenni’s little dimples and serious frown. Then it disappeared, and she was his daughter once again, a perfect little creature in her own right.

‘Is there any news about Rain?’ Greta whispered to Jason, as the midwife showed her how to latch the baby onto her nipple. They watched as a hungry mouth found its way to the most important place on earth. Greta winced.

‘I don’t think so.’ Jason hadn’t heard anything since he’d been in hospital, but then he’d been preoccupied. ‘I’ll check my phone,’ he said, while the midwife showed Greta how to feed two babies at once. She smiled, holding her new family with confidence, as if she’d done it all before.

Jason stared at the screen. He’d had eight missed calls and several texts. He opened a message that had just come in from Claire, reading it three times. He stood, silent for a moment, drinking in the sight of his beautiful new family, before breaking the news to his wife.