Due Date
Maria was a ball of energy, all mixed up in a streak of anger and excitement and fear – and needing to pee every twenty seconds. Cassie and Tucker were in the kitchen making a chicken and pineapple curry to try and get things moving, and she could smell the raspberry leaf tea that Cassie was brewing. She had to get out, so she hammered out a quick text to Cassie and, turning her phone off, half-ran like a sumo wrestler down the path of Sanctuary Cottage towards the centre of the village. The text read: OFF TO THE SHOP. FOLLOW ME AND DIE. BACK IN AN HOUR.
She kept up the pace till she was out of sight of the cottage, and then started to stroll slowly down to Happy Ever After. Things had picked up now and, with the new line of baby clothes and christening wear, the shop was out of danger. The money from the wedding was safely in the bank and she had a Moses basket ready in her room, along with enough nappies, nipple cream and baby crap to see her through the first couple of months. She had been taking it a lot easier since the wedding, staying at the cottage and reading books, watching slasher flicks, sewing, and pretending to Cassie and Tucker, who were now madly in love, that she didn’t sit and cry every day over the image of James locking lips with the maid of honour. It was seared into her brain – tattooed on the inside of her eyelids every time she dared close her eyes. She hadn’t heard from him, and he had been very clear about never wanting to hear from her.
Mark and Annabel had been in touch; they had been on honeymoon and even sent her a postcard. Cassie was going to draw up some kind of custody arrangement for them all, giving them visitation rights, so things were clear, but for the most part, the pair of them were oddly excited about the impending birth. Maria still marvelled about Annabel’s attitude, but knowing James, it didn’t completely surprise her. They never mentioned him, so she hadn’t dared ask. Knowing her luck, he was probably engaged to be married and little miss ‘put your hands on my arse’ was working on a baby Chance of her very own.
She walked through the village, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. She had had backache for days, and felt sure she was in slow labour, given the information she had gleaned from the books she had devoured, but she knew it would be a long haul. The midwife had said as much.
For someone normally so chilled, even Tucker seemed to be agitated. He had been up at six cleaning and he and Cassie had both taken the day off work to ‘keep her company’. They obviously didn’t realise it wasn’t like in the movies, where a woman gave birth in five minutes flat and wore her normal jeans home from the hospital. She couldn’t look at their expectant faces anymore without wanting to punch them, so she would just go to work. She had just passed the corner of Carrington Street, and was heading to Wexley Street, when something stopped her dead. James’s van was here. Parked right outside the shop. She scanned the street, but there was nobody there. She waddled as fast as she could to the shop, flinging open the door and barrelling in. Lynn was sitting at one of the sewing machines and whirred to a stop.
‘Maria?’ She jumped up, shepherding her to one of the comfy sofas. ‘What on earth are you doing here? You sound out of breath!’
Maria wheezed a little. ‘I walked, from the cottage. I wanted to kill them both, so I left.’ She looked around, but there was no one else there.
‘James?’ she asked, hopeful eyes flicking to Lynn, who smiled.
‘He’s here. He’s been here most days, when you weren’t. He’s upstairs.’
Maria walked up the dark wood staircase at the back of her shop, ignoring the squeal of her back and the burning sensation in her lungs. He was here. Had been coming here. She felt better just knowing he was close by. She rubbed her bump, but the baby had slowed down over the last couple of days. Probably limbering up for the big finish, and the marathon it would have her running for the next few months.
She reached the top of the stairs and stopped to catch her breath. She felt so hot, clammy. She had a simple maternity dress on under her coat and comfy shoes on her feet, but she felt like she was standing in a blast furnace. She shrugged her coat off, hanging it on the banister, and walked into the main room doorway, standing on the small landing.
The furniture she had had delivered had all been put together and arranged nicely. It looked like a home. Her new couches, TV unit, desk, everything. All the things she had had delivered were here and in use.
The kitchen off the hallway was cleaned down, and she could see utensils sitting in a crock on the worktop. Peeking into the storeroom at the other side, she saw it had been cleaned down and organised. Lynn’s handwriting was on some of the drawer fronts. In the corner, a small desk and chair were tucked away. Her favourite scan picture was sitting on the desk in a silver frame.
She walked further, looking into the now partitioned-off bedroom, and there he was. He was sitting on the floor cross-legged, staring at a piece of cherry-red wood, and occasionally looking at a sheet of instructions.
‘I hate you.’ His words rang out in the room and she took a small step back in surprise. Her back protested.
‘Did you hear me?’
She was about to answer, when he spoke again, waggling the piece of wood in his hand.
‘I detest you, instrument of torture. How the fecking feck can A go into B, when C is there? I swear, if your instructions were in Swahili, I would get more sense out of them.’
He looked up as though searching for another bit, and then he saw her. His eyebrows shot up into his hairline and he dropped the wood.
‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you were there.’ He looked her up and down and, standing up fast, strode over to her. ‘You okay? You look a bit red.’
She didn’t say anything, just looked into the marble-like blue-green eyes she’d thought she would never see again. He frowned and, taking her by the arm, brought her over to a rocker at the other side of the room. She sat down in it gently, looking around the room. He placed her foot on a footstool that matched the rocker.
James didn’t say anything, leaving the room and returning with a bottle of water.
The bottle was cold to the touch. ‘Where did this come from? It’s cold.’
‘Lynn went shopping, stocked the fridge up.’
‘Where did all this other stuff come from?’ She cracked the bottle and drank thirstily. He knelt by her feet, still looking at her like she was going to collapse. ‘I’m fine, just hot,’ she said to soothe him, and his brow unfurrowed a fraction.
‘It’s your stuff mostly. Simon did the wall work, and the plumbing, and I did the electrics. We sorted the stuff out that you had delivered, and the rest just came from well-wishers.’
She stroked the arm of the rocker. It was beautiful, dark wood with creamy cushions and upholstery. ‘This is wonderful. Who bought this?’
He went and sat back down on the floor, not looking at her as he got back to work.
‘I did. It’s a nursing rocker. It matches the cot bed, if I can ever get the bloody thing to go together.’
He was studying the instructions intently again, but Maria could see his hand was shaking.
‘Why are you here, James? Why did you do all this?’
He looked up and sighed heavily. ‘You know why, Maria. We were friends, and I wanted you to have a place of your own, you and Sp… the baby.’
‘Sparky,’ she said, rubbing her bump. ‘It’s still Sparky, that hasn’t changed.’
‘Yeah,’ he said sarcastically, ‘but now I really am Uncle James, aren’t I? By blood, not by friendship.’
‘The baby isn’t your blood, not really.’ She tried, knowing that really, with family, blood meant nothing. It was down to more than haemoglobin. Family was much more than that. Ugly as it was sometimes, but that was life.
‘You know what I mean.’ His jaw clenched, and she could see he was still angry. She pushed the footstool away and stood up in as dignified a manner as she could.
‘I’ll leave you to it then,’ she said, starting to head to the exit.
‘Why didn’t you tell me, Mar?’ he asked her, and she felt him move behind her. She wanted to turn around, to look him in the eye, but she knew it was more than she could take. If she turned around now, even caught a smell of him, she would be lost for ever. She would never recover from this, she knew that now, but she needed to be strong, if only for the sake of the baby. Right on cue, the little one gave her a nudge, and she rolled her eyes. This little monkey was a smart one, that was for sure.
‘I wanted to, but I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t know where to start. I knew I had to walk away, so I just focused on that. Doing the wedding and leaving you all to get on with your lives.’
‘What about us? About me?’
She turned sideways, not looking at him but reaching for his hand. She felt his fingers lace around hers, and the warmth and comfort from him seeped into her skin.
‘I was trying to protect you. You deserve someone who will treat you better. Someone without all the baggage and drama.’
He pulled gently on her hand, turning her to face him. She looked at the floor.
‘You kissed me back.’ He stated this but in a way that felt like a question. One Maria had been thinking about since their lips had met. ‘Why did you kiss me back? Look at me!’
His urgent tone made her raise her head, and she dreaded what she would see in his eyes. Hatred, resentment, disappointment. She locked with those baby blues and jolted when she saw love and fear in them instead. He ran his gaze all over her then, taking in her face and landing on her swollen stomach. He reached out his free hand, ever so slowly, and placed it on her tummy.
‘Hey, Sparky,’ he said softly, and a tear ran down his cheek. He wiped it away, taking her hand with him as though he was afraid to let it go. She felt a drop of salty water run down her wrist, and she wiped at the moisture on his cheek. He moved his cheek into her palm and kissed it.
‘Tell me, Maria, tell me once and for all, what is this?’
She ran her thumb along his bottom lip, thinking of all the kindness that had come from this mouth, the devoted friendship, the way he nibbled his lip when he was concentrating, the way he had growled and pouted at Darcy, the way his angry kiss had bruised her lips, her soul. She couldn’t ever imagine not seeing this face every day. She had missed it so much.
‘I love you, James,’ she said. ‘I just love you so much. I have no reason for you to stay, to be here, but I’m yours. I think I always have been, and I’m so sorry I hurt you.’
‘What about the baby?’ he asked, his eyes shining, his mouth slack with shocked surprise.
She laughed as the baby gave another nudge, right on James’s hand, and he laughed too, bending to kiss her bump.
‘I think Sparky loves you too,’ she said, running her hands through his hair. He looked up at her, his cheeky boyish grin back in place, and she beamed back at him.
‘Maria, I love you—’
There was a sploshing sound and James fell backwards. Maria looked down in panic and saw that the floor was wet, and James’s trousers were soaked.
‘What the hell was that?’ she asked, just as a sharp pain erupted in her stomach. It felt like someone was squeezing her stomach hard. ‘Ouch!’
James scrabbled to his feet, grabbing his phone out of his pocket.
‘Oh my God, I think your waters broke. I’ll call an ambulance!’
Maria leant over the bed, moving her hips from side to side as the contraction subsided. She could feel the water sloshing out of her as she moved. It was such a weird sensation; she felt a little like a water balloon.
‘No…’ She reached for him and he grabbed her hand, supporting her. ‘I’m okay, it’s going off. I’ve read all the books, it takes hours. I’m okay, I’ll ring a taxi.’
James put his arms around her and raised her face to his. She could see him relax a little as he realised she was no longer in pain.
‘You sure? No taxi, I’ll take you in the van.’ His face fell again. ‘Oh shit, maybe not. Your car?’
She shook her head. ‘It’s at the cottage. I can’t walk that far. The van’s fine. You might just have to help me get in.’
He nodded, and they looked at each other as the adrenaline pumped.
‘James, Sparky’s coming,’ she said, scarcely believing it herself.
He kissed her then, a soft, short kiss that told her everything she needed to know, and everything he needed to say.
‘I love you,’ she told him again, not wanting to stop saying it.
‘I love you too,’ he grinned. ‘I fell for you the minute we met. I’m here and I will never leave you again.’
She smiled, just as the next contraction started to take hold of her.
‘Good, because I have no intention of letting you down ever again either.’
They walked together arm in arm, slowly down the stairs, James rubbing her back and watching her like a hawk down every step. Lynn turned to see them coming down the stairs and clasped her hands together.
‘You sorted everything out!’ she exclaimed, practically flying across the room on her office chair. ‘I knew you two would get together!’
She looked again at them, and her face fell. ‘Maria, what’s wrong?’
James smiled at her, half-carrying Maria to the door.
‘Get the door, Lynn, Sparky’s coming!’
‘OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD, THE BABY!’ She ran to the door, curls flying loose from her pins, and jumped from foot to foot in a panic. ‘Get going, you need to get to the hospital!’
‘Calm down,’ Maria said through gritted teeth. ‘The books say it will be hours yet.’
‘Yes,’ said James, ‘but with the waters breaking, the chance of infection is higher, so we need to go now.’ Both women looked at him, and he looked sheepish. ‘I might have been reading a few books myself.’ Maria hugged him tighter to her, and he dropped a kiss on her slightly sweaty head.
Lynn fawned over them for half a second, and Maria winced in pain.
‘Get a blanket for the car seat, Lynn?’ James urged.
Lynn ran and grabbed one, lying it on the van seat and helping James hoist Maria up the small step into the seat. She pulled the seatbelt around her and concentrated on her breathing. Lynn gave her a kiss and smoothed her hair back off her face.
Maria started to cry a little, overwhelmed.
‘Thanks, Lynn, I love you.’
Lynn brushed a tear away from her own face. ‘I love you too, my girl. Your mother would be so proud, you know, just as I am.’
Maria smiled through her tears. ‘Will you be Grandma?’ she asked, kicking herself for not asking sooner. Lynn burst into a sob.
‘My darling girl, I would be honoured.’ She looked over her head at James. ‘Look after our girl. We’ll meet you there.’
James nodded, getting ready to pull away. ‘I will.’
They drew away from the kerb, and Maria saw Lynn run back into the shop, no doubt to close up and grab Cassie and Tucker. She wondered if she should call Mark and Annabel, but James was already passing her his phone.
‘Ring Mark?’ he asked, and she nodded. He answered on the first ring but Maria was already having a full-on contraction. She thrust the phone into James’s hands-free cradle and bellowed like a bull through the pain.
‘EEEOOOOOOOO!’
There was a stunned silence for a moment, and then Mark’s voice came over the line.
‘James? What’s wrong?’
James was driving as fast as he safely could through the streets of Westfield, heading towards Agatha’s Mayweather Estate on the outskirts, beyond which lay Harrogate Hospital.
‘Mark, the baby’s coming. Meet you at the hospital?’
Mark spluttered down the line and Annabel came on.
Maria grunted again, making a keening sound as she sweated through the pain.
‘Anna! The baby’s coming. I’m bringing Maria to the hospital. Meet you both there?’
‘Oh my God,’ she squealed. ‘Yes, of course. Maria, you okay?’
‘Yes, am okaaayyyyy!’
James grabbed her hand and she squeezed it tightly as he changed gears without letting go of her.
‘She’s okay, she’s with me.’
‘Finally,’ she quipped. ‘Drive safe, love you both.’
The line went dead and they were alone in the van again. The contraction went and Maria reached down, grappling with her underwear. James looked at her with concern as they neared Agatha’s entrance gates.
‘Mar, you okay?’
She shook her head. ‘I need to take my pants off, I feel like the baby’s coming.’ She saw the blood drain from his face.
She wrestled them off and managed to get them into her hand. They were wet from the fluid, and she threw them out of the open window without even thinking as another contraction rode over her. The huge pants fluttered on the breeze for a moment before landing on one of the stone lions.
Maria groaned with embarrassment. ‘Oh God,’ she half-screamed, ‘Agatha will kill me!’
James squeezed her hand, his face set with concentration as he raced to get to the hospital. She felt the sudden unmistakable urge to push.
‘Oh God, James, I thought it would take longer! I think the baby’s coming now!’ The contractions were coming thick and fast, and she just concentrated on the pain, fighting the urge her body was screaming at her to push. She put her feet up on the dashboard, trying to ride the crescendo of pain. They were just driving along the road when James suddenly shouted, ‘Hold on!’ He swerved off the road, pulling into Westfield fire station. A man with a fire-department emblem on his T-shirt was cleaning equipment at the front and he took one look at them and ran over.
He stuck his head through the window as James slammed the handbrake on.
‘You okay?’ he asked. ‘I’m Sam. Can I help?’
James jumped out of the van, running over to her side and standing next to Sam.
‘Please, it’s my girlfriend, she’s having a baby right now!’
Sam opened the door and both men grabbed an arm and leg each and half-hoisted, half-carried her out of the cabin as Sam shouted for help from his colleagues. Two other men came out, one running back in and grabbing a blanket. They tried to carry her into the fire station, but Maria protested.
‘I can’t,’ she said, crying with pain and fear. ‘James, it’s coming!’
Sam looked at James and they laid her down on the blanket on the tarmac. Two other men came and, turning away, held blankets up to protect her modesty.
‘Okay,’ Sam said. ‘Well, er…’
‘Maria,’ James said. ‘Maria… she’s due today.’
Sam nodded, smiling. ‘Well, I’m Sam, and you’ll be happy to know I’ve delivered no fewer than ten babies in my job, and they’re all healthy, bouncing little bundles of joy.’
His mate passed him some gloves and antibacterial gel, and he donned them after washing his hands.
‘I just need to look, okay? James, is it?’
James nodded.
‘Okay, James, you get behind Maria and support her back.’
James sat down on the driveway of the fire station on the blanket, and Maria sank down so she was lying between his legs. He supported her arms and kissed her head over and over.
‘You’ve got this, Mar – I’m here.’ They linked both hands together, their fingers tight around each other.
‘I love you,’ she murmured, half-delirious, and James kissed her cheek.
‘I love you too. Now let’s get Sparky here, safe and sound.’
Sam lifted up her dress, getting down to business.
‘Okay, Maria, your waters have broken, yeah?’
They both nodded. ‘About fifteen minutes ago. We got straight in the van. We thought she’d have longer.’
‘First?’ Sam checked.
‘Yeah.’
‘Ah, we have a little feisty one! Well, Fireman Sam will sort you out.’
‘Fireman Sam?’ Maria asked, thinking she must be more delirious than she thought. He winked at her.
‘Where’s Norman?’ she quipped, giddy with adrenaline. Another fireman appeared, holding a bowl of steaming water.
‘Norman? It’s his day off.’
James and Maria broke into laughter at the absurdity of the situation, and the firemen all grinned at each other. Another contraction started and Sam rolled up his sleeves.
‘Right, Maria, this baby’s coming, right now. Get ready, boys.’
‘Ambulance responder is on route,’ one of them said. Sam shook his head.
‘We won’t have that long. Ready, Maria? The head is ready to come out. When you get the urge to push, I want you to push. Hard. Go!’
Maria pushed with every part of her. She felt like her whole body was going to explode, and she could feel the bones of James’s hand rubbing together with the force of her grip. James never moaned, just kept whispering to her, the warmth of him behind her spurring her on.
‘Go on, baby, you can do this. Push!’
She pushed as hard as she could and Sam reached forward.
‘Okay, okay, the head is here! Rest now, and on the next contraction your baby is going to be here! You know what you’re having? It’s a speedy one, that’s for sure!’
Maria shook her head, laying her head back onto James’s shoulder.
There was the sound of distant sirens in the background, and Cassie’s car came flying past, driving up the road. Obviously on the way to the hospital. They would get there before them at this rate.
James held her tight as they waited for what seemed like for ever. Maria felt her muscles clench again, and put her head up. Sam looked at her and gave her an encouraging look. He was cute, his head shaved bald, big brown eyes looking out from his features. Strong eyebrows. The man looked like he had faced danger and punched it in the face.
‘Ready?’ he asked.
‘Ready,’ she said and, when the pain took hold, she pushed. Hard.