December 2017
Mallory gazed at the little bundle in her arms. Nothing could have prepared her for the way she felt looking at the tiny fingers and toes.
Her water had broken at four in the morning and Greg had calmly brought her into the hospital whilst she had been pretty much hysterical.
‘I’m not ready, Greg! I can’t be a mum! I’m rubbish at everything!’ she had sobbed as the reality of their situation soaked in.
Greg had smiled at his panic-stricken wife. ‘Mallory, you’ll be a wonderful mum. Stop worrying. We’ll get through the next eighteen years as a team.’
The labour had been prolonged and very painful. There were some issues with the placenta and there was talk of an emergency C-section which terrified both Greg and Mallory. Some hours later and a check had revealed that the situation had righted itself. The labour continued on – and on and on. Mallory was exhausted.
The time to push came and Mallory had found some hidden resolve from the depths of her soul and had pushed with every ounce of strength she could muster. Twenty-four hours after arriving at the hospital Baby McBradden had been born healthy and crying loudly; which was a very good sign, they were told.
It had been a traumatic journey, but they got here in the end and now their beautiful baby girl slept peacefully, wrapped in a white crocheted blanket that had arrived in the post from Canada and had been made by Renee’s fair hand. All that the little bundle needed now was a name.
They had expected a boy and had prepared for a boy right up to the last minute. The surprise arrival of baby girl McBradden had left them with a little dilemma. But it was a sweet, wonderful dilemma. Mallory had never felt such a glow as she did holding her new baby daughter. The most precious thing she and Greg had ever created.
Greg was such a proud daddy. He had gone off to buy pink things that morning; vowing to return with lots of gifts as speedily as he could. He was so excited about having a baby daughter; even more so than when they had been told at the scan that they were eighty per cent sure the baby was a boy, but not to buy specific colours just in case. So they had bought neutral-coloured clothing. But they had picked out a boy’s name, feeling pretty certain that’s what would be needed.
Mallory had looked adoringly into Greg’s face as he had wept when he had first held their daughter. ‘Oh my precious, beautiful, baby girl. You’re going to wrap me around your little finger, you know.’ He had wiped away his tears on the back of his hand and stroked her tiny little scrunched-up face. ‘I reckon you’re going to cause me more trouble than I’ll know how to deal with, but I’ll love every minute of it. And I’ll protect you and your mummy forever, don’t you ever worry about a thing.’
They had discussed a number of beautiful names; Gaelic names; names of places they had visited together. Greg liked ‘Skye’; Mallory liked ‘Iona’ and they had almost settled on that combination, but then they had discussed naming her after their mothers. The discussion had not ended. There had merely been a short reprieve whilst Daddy Greg had gone shopping.
Whilst he was temporarily absent, Mallory had done a lot of soul-searching and had thought long and hard about names. She would talk to Greg when he returned from his expedition.
On the nurses’ advice, Baby McBradden had gone back into the crib so that Mallory could get some rest; it had been an exhausting forty-eight hours. She slipped into a calm and restful sleep.
*
An hour after she had dozed off, she was awoken by someone sneaking, not-so-quietly, around her room. When she opened her eyes she realised she was surrounded by fragrant flowers and pink balloons.
Greg appeared from behind a huge bouquet of pink and white roses and a giant helium balloon reading ‘It’s a girl!’ His grin was as wide as Loch Ness and his hands were red with the weight of the carrier bags full of purchases from every baby shop conceivable.
He placed the bags down near the door to the private room and came over to Mallory, kissed her gently on her forehead and whispered, ‘I’m so very proud of you. You’ve made me the happiest man alive yet again, Mrs McBradden. And I’ll never let either of you down, ever, I promise.’
Malory grinned. ‘I love you too, Mr McBradden.’ She kissed him tenderly. ‘Listen, I’ve been thinking about the name of our new little addition.’ She stroked his face as she gazed lovingly into his smiling eyes.
‘Aye, me too. You go first though, eh?’
‘Okay, I was thinking that Mairi is such a pretty name and it’s Gaelic just like we wanted if we’re honest. And Mairi was such an important part of your life and mine too in a lot of ways.’
Greg’s eyes filled with tears as he picked up their little sleeping bundle. ‘Funny, I was thinking along the same lines.’ He smiled at his wife as he sat beside her and kissed her forehead. ‘Mallory… my love… meet our new baby daughter… Mairi Samantha.’
We hope you enjoyed this book.
Lisa Hobman’s next book is coming in spring 2018