Chapter Twenty-Four

Jess furiously paced up and down the hotel reception. She looked up at the clock, whilst repeatedly flicking the top of a pen, up and down, up and down.

‘Where is he, Maddie? We’ve got a very important appointment and he promised he’d be here.’ She dropped the pen down and onto the diary.

‘Jess, he’ll be here, Jack’s never late. In fact, he’s normally twenty minutes early to go anywhere, you know that.’ Madeleine walked from reception and into the dining room, where she picked up a handful of salt and pepper pots, before carrying them into the kitchen.

Jess once again looked back up at the clock. Maddie was right. It was almost three o’clock, and during the past eighteen months, she’d never known Jack to be late, not once.

So where was he?

Jess turned, went to the dining room and picked up the remaining salt cellars and followed Madeleine into the kitchen, where Nomsa stood with her hands on her hips.

‘There you are, Maddie. Now all the starters are organised. Soups in the pots and Bernie’s preparing the mains. The majority of the desserts are either in the fridge or on the side waiting to go in the oven.’ She untied her apron and, with a tray in her hands, she walked towards the door. ‘Now, it’s my afternoon off and if you’ll excuse me I have a game of Scrabble planned with Lily and Bastion.’ She blushed. ‘Oh, they both think they’ll beat me, but do you know what, I’m planning on whooping their asses.’ Her Caribbean tone sang out. ‘Oh, Maddie, you don’t mind me taking a tray up, do you? I promised I’d take up some hot drinks for me and Bastion, and a glass of lemonade for our little Lily.’ She indicated the tray. ‘That is okay, isn’t it?’

Madeleine nodded and started to fill the salt and pepper pots. ‘Of course, Nomsa. You’re more than welcome to anything you want, you know you don’t have to ask.’ She pointed to the fridge. ‘If I’m right there were some of your lovely mince pies in the chiller. Why don’t you take a few of those up with you too?’

Nomsa put the tray down, opened the fridge and put half a dozen of the mince pies on a plate. ‘Well, I know Bastion likes my baking and he’ll appreciate these, that’s for sure.’ She gave them both a knowing smile and then turned, picked up the tray and made her way to the back staircase.

‘Well, what do you think about that?’ Madeleine asked Jess. ‘They’re getting a bit cosy, aren’t they?’

Jess wasn’t sure whether to mention the kiss she’d witnessed and shrugged her shoulders. ‘Maddie, I really don’t care if my dad’s having it away with half the Women’s Institute. I’m too busy being annoyed with Jack.’

Madeleine turned. ‘Jess, give him a break. Have you tried his mobile?’ She began placing a selection of linen napkins on the table. ‘Anyhow, what is it with you at the moment? You seem a bit distant.’

Jess stared at the floor. She and Maddie had always been close, and it was becoming more than obvious that she couldn’t keep the news of the baby to herself for much longer. After all, since they were very young, they’d always told each other everything, and even though she’d promised Jack, he’d let her down. And now all she really wanted was to tell her big sister about the baby.

‘Maddie, I’m … I’m pregnant.’ A long, shrill squeal came from her sister’s lips. ‘I’m … I’m ten weeks pregnant,’ she tried to say, but felt sure she hadn’t been heard until Madeleine spun around on the spot.

‘Oh my God, Jess. How could I have been so blind? I mean, I should have guessed, you’ve been a real moody cow for weeks now. When did you find out? Why on earth didn’t you tell me? Look at you, there’s nothing of you. What did Jack say?’ Madeleine threw out questions one after the other, as her hand went straight to Jess’s stomach. ‘Hello, little baby, hello in there. Hello. Can you hear me? I’m your Aunty Maddie.’ The words came out as more of a screech and for a few moments Jess enjoyed the closeness of her sister’s hand. ‘I’m going to spoil you so much. I am. Do you know that?’ She leaned over and planted a kiss on Jess’s stomach. ‘Oh, Jess. I’m so in love with her already.’ Madeleine sat up, but her hand remained on Jess’s stomach. ‘She’ll be beautiful, just like you.’ Tears of joy sparkled in Madeleine’s eyes.

‘It could just as easily be a boy,’ Jess stated. ‘And it’s still early days. It’s my first scan, Maddie and it’s in less than an hour, and Jack should be here. He promised he’d go with me.’ Jess felt herself being hugged and squeezed by Madeleine, before being pushed towards the kitchen bench and forcibly sat down.

‘But you’re only ten weeks, isn’t it early for a scan?’ Madeleine looked concerned. ‘Is there something wrong?’

‘No, not really. The doctor is just being cautious because of all the trauma. I only found out just before Emily died.’ Jess knew her own body well; she remembered how she’d picked up on how she’d felt different immediately, and the moment she’d missed her period she’d known. She’d only waited a few days before she’d bought the test.

‘Well, that proves that Jack’s just running a bit late. He’ll be here. You know he wouldn’t miss something like this, not Jack.’ Maddie continued to hold her hand to Jess’s stomach.

‘Do you know what, Maddie? He really didn’t take the whole idea of pregnancy and our having a baby too well, not at first.’ Her voice broke as she looked up at her sister. ‘But … last night, he apologised, he said everything was going to be okay. He promised.’ She put her hand over Maddie’s. ‘He’s even bought a Moses basket, like the one you had with the pretty white broderie anglaise interior. I know it’s a bit soon, but when we went back to the room last night, it was there, all set up, all ready and looking so beautiful,’ She looked out of the door and into reception. ‘But now, he hasn’t turned up and … What if he’s had second thoughts?’

Maddie sat back on the bench. ‘Oh, Jess, you know Jack better than that. He wouldn’t take off.’

‘I don’t know any more. Last night everything was perfect. Jack was so loving. We went out for dinner, came back here, went to bed.’ A sob left her lips. ‘I thought he was happy.’

‘Hey, come on, this is your pregnancy hormones that are screaming. I’ll try his mobile and then I’ll try his mum, see if he’s up there. He’s probably gone to his mum’s and will be telling her all about the baby. He’ll have lost track of time.’ Madeleine looked at her watch. ‘Now, you go and dry those gorgeous eyes of yours, and get ready to go. You can bet he’ll be here any moment and we’ll have worried for nothing.’

Jess stood up and nodded, just as Lily burst into the room and fell onto the kitchen floor in fits of giggles.

‘Hey there, sister, what you doing down there?’ Jess walked towards her and Lily jumped up and ran to give her a hug. Her hair was in bunches, making her look even younger than she had before.

‘Well, I was upstairs with Daddy and Nomsa, and we were playing Scrabble and I was drinking lemonade, when they both went real quiet. They do that a lot and then our daddy said to me …’ She jumped up onto the kitchen bench, put her hands on her hips and began to emphasise the Caribbean twang to mimic his voice. ‘… Lily, my girl, you run down them stairs and ask our Jess for a looooong wait, and while you’re gone, I’m gonna give this fine woman a kiss.’ She smacked her lips together and continued to giggle. ‘I think they’re snogging.’ Her hand went over her mouth and both she and Jess laughed together. ‘Do you think she’ll be our new mummy?’

Jess took a step back and glanced at Madeleine who stood in the corner of the room with the phone to her ear. ‘Well … oh … err, I don’t know …’ She hadn’t really thought of Nomsa becoming her step-mum. She smiled and it occurred to her that she quite liked the idea. It was early days, but Lily was right in her observation, Nomsa and her father were getting closer. ‘So did they say how long you’ve got to stay down here?’ Jess asked Lily, who now sat on the bench with her hands under her chin.

‘Till you give me the long wait …’ Her reply was innocent, she had no idea what her father had told her to do, but all of them began to giggle.