“Again?”
“They’re like those waves out there,” Grace gestured. “Although maybe not as angry as those waves are at the moment, not yet, anyway.”
“Do you not want to eat anything?”
Grace pushed some food around on the plate and then took a small bite. “I’m not very hungry, which I suppose may be a sign that things are happening. It may also just be a sign that I ate too many pancakes for breakfast, though. Hugh decided to make them this morning, and I think I ate a dozen.”
Bessie chuckled. “It may be a bit of both. We can put all of the food in the refrigerator and you and Hugh can have dinner for tonight, and probably for lunch tomorrow as well.”
“Let’s hope the power comes back on, or everything will spoil.”
A moment later the lights flickered several times and then came back on. Bessie switched off the torch but left it within reach. She cleared her plate while Grace ate a few more bites, and then she helped her put the leftovers away. When that was done, Grace smiled at Bessie.
“You haven’t seen the nursery, have you?”
“No. Hugh invited me, but he didn’t want me to see it until it was finished, and I’ve been busy with Christmas at the Castle since you put the final touches on the room.”
“I love showing it off. It’s just perfect, mostly thanks to you and Mary.”
Mary Quayle was one of Bessie’s closest friends. Married to one of the island’s wealthiest and most gregarious men, Mary was quiet and shy. She was also incredibly generous at every opportunity. Having helped pay for a wonderful honeymoon for Hugh and Grace as their wedding gift, Mary had been thrilled to then help Bessie plan a baby shower for Grace. The young couple had been shocked by the number of gifts they’d received for their impending new arrival, and Bessie was delighted to have helped the pair, who were struggling a bit financially after buying the house.
Grace led Bessie up the stairs, stopping once to take a few deep breaths. She led Bessie to the bedroom nearest the master and opened the door. “What do you think?”
Bessie looked around the room. It had been painted a soft grey that would be suitable for either gender. The wooden cot was against one wall, with a large baby-changing table on one side. “That’s a lot of nappies,” Bessie said, nodding at the carefully stacked piles.
“I’m told that’s about a week’s supply,” Grace replied.
“Goodness,” was all that Bessie could say.
Bessie’s old rocking chair sat in the corner. A new cushion with a light pink cover was tied to the seat. “Pink? Does that mean you think you’re having a girl?”
Grace flushed. “We don’t know, but I’ve said all along that I think the baby will be a girl. Hugh thinks it will be a boy. Neither of us cares, as long as he or she is healthy, of course, but Hugh and I have a running debate about the baby. That pillow is just part of the debate.”
She winked at Bessie and then crossed to the small built-in wardrobe. Pulling it open, she took out another cushion. It was an exact match for the one on the rocking chair, except it was blue. “Hugh puts this one on every night when he gets home from work,” Grace laughed. “I change it back to pink every morning. It’s just our silly little thing.”
Bessie grinned. “I think it’s sweet,” she said, touched by the small insight into the couple’s marriage.
Grace nodded and then put her hands on her tummy. “Goodness,” she exclaimed before breathing in slowly.
“Sit down,” Bessie suggested.
Grace looked at the rocking chair that was three steps away. “Not just yet,” she said before she took another breath.
“Maybe you should ring your midwife.”
“Maybe,” Grace shrugged. “I’m not ready to ring her. They said not to worry until the contractions are only five minutes apart.”
“We should be timing them, then.”
Grace nodded. “I’m ready to start timing them, anyway.” They walked back down the stairs together, with Bessie’s hand on Grace’s arm. She was getting increasingly worried about the girl.
As she flopped onto the couch, Grace smiled at Bessie. “Thank you for lunch. I’m sure you have better things to do with your day than sit and time my contractions.”
“I have other things I could be doing, but nothing I’d rather be doing. I’ll at least stay until we’ve timed a few contractions.”
The words were hardly out of her mouth when Grace gasped. “Here’s one.”
Bessie looked at her watch. The second hand didn’t seem to be moving at all as Grace took several deep breaths.
“It’s over,” she told Bessie twenty-two seconds later.
“Now we just have to wait for the next one.”
Grace sighed. “There must be an easier way to have babies.”
As they waited, Bessie told her about the various charities that were involved with Christmas at the Castle that year. It was just over four minutes later than Grace made a face. “Here we go again,” she sighed.
“That was only four minutes. Time for Noble’s.”
Grace laughed. “We need more than two that close together. We’re meant to time them for an hour. If they keep coming that close together or get closer, then I’ll ring my midwife. You don’t have to stay, of course.”
“Do you know where you left your mobile?”
“It’s probably upstairs. Can you go and get it for me, actually? I’m sorry to be a bother, but it has the midwife’s number and I’ll never find it otherwise.”
Bessie went back up and found the phone on one of the bedside tables. When she walked back into the sitting room, Grace took it gratefully.
“I had another one while you were gone,” she said softly.
“They seem to be getting closer together,” Bessie replied.
“Maybe. I’m told they’ll speed up and slow down and that it will be hours before the baby actually arrives.”
Bessie sat back down feeling as if she was in over her head. “Maybe we should ring your mother,” she suggested.
“She had a committee luncheon today, otherwise she probably would have had lunch with me.”
“Which committee?” Bessie asked, just trying to keep the conversation flowing. Maybe Grace would forget to have contractions if she were distracted enough.
“She’s on the decorating committee for Mannanan’s Kids this year. They finished decorating their room in the castle yesterday, so they were going out for lunch today to celebrate.”
“It looks wonderful, too. I keep peeking at all of the rooms when I go in and out of the castle. Everyone has done a…”
“Contraction,” Grace interrupted.
Bessie noted the time. “Maybe I should be writing the times down,” she said after Grace told her it was over.
“Hugh has a special sheet for them,” Grace told her. “He wanted to be prepared, so he made a chart. I think he put it in the desk drawer.”
There was a small desk built into the corner of the kitchen. Bessie found what she was looking for in the centre drawer. “There are a dozen copies. Surely you won’t have to time your contractions for that long.”
“Hugh wanted to be prepared.”
“He’s going to be sorry he missed it, then.”
“I don’t think so. He’s already incredibly nervous about the baby. I think it’s better for both of us that he isn’t here.”
Bessie chuckled. “He’ll be there for the part that counts, anyway.”
“Oh, yes, he won’t miss the birth. As I said, I’m sure I have hours to go.” She sighed. “Another one.”
Bessie noted the start time in the small box on Hugh’s chart. A short while later, she added the end time to the next box.
An hour later, as contractions continued at roughly four-minute intervals, Bessie was ready to ring the midwife herself. Grace was oddly calm between contractions.
“Okay, let me ring her and see what she says,” she agreed after a contraction that lasted nearly a minute. When Grace put t
he phone down, she smiled at Bessie. “She thinks I should go to Noble’s and get checked. It could be the real thing.”
“I’ll ring for a taxi.”
“I can probably drive,” Grace began. As the contraction hit, she shook her head. “Taxi,” she gasped.
While they were waiting, Bessie brought Grace’s hospital bag down from the bedroom.
“I packed it a month ago,” Grace said. “It seems a long time ago now.”
As she and Bessie stood at the door, watching for the taxi, Grace hugged her. “Thank you for being with me. I’m suddenly quite terrified.”
“Once we’re in the taxi, you should probably ring everyone.”
“Mum should be done with lunch by now. I don’t want Hugh to leave work early unless he has to, though.”
The same driver, Mike, arrived a moment later. He grinned as he helped Grace into the car. “Hang in there. I already know my way to Noble’s far too well.”
It turned out that Mike and his wife had four boys, and even though they’d only been on the island for a month, they’d already had to go to Noble’s three times. “The oldest, he’s ten, he fell out of the tree in our back garden,” he said. “We were living in city centre Manchester and didn’t have any trees. He couldn’t wait to climb one, but he wasn’t very good at it. He broke his arm. Then the baby tripped on the stairs and banged his head. We’ve had to put on stair gates, but I suspect he’ll work out how they work before too long. He’s very clever for two.”
Bessie glanced at Grace. Girls sounded a good deal easier to Bessie.
“The twins were next. They’re both six and they wanted to go down the slide together one afternoon. When the one in the front stopped, the one behind didn’t. He just got a badly bloodied nose, but we couldn’t get the bleeding to stop on our own.”
Grace grabbed Bessie’s hand. “I’m not ready for children,” she whispered.
Bessie was relieved when they reached the front entrance to Noble’s. Mike was just starting to tell them about his wife’s first labour and delivery and Bessie was certain that Grace didn’t want to hear another word. Grace was pale and shaking slightly as she climbed out of the car.
“It’s going to be fine,” Bessie assured her as they walked into the building.
An hour later, they’d put Grace in a room. There were four beds, but the other three were empty.
“I’ll check on you every half hour,” the midwife said cheerfully as Grace settled onto the bed. “Press the call button if you need me sooner. You’re progressing, but slowly.”
“Can you give us an idea of when the baby might arrive? Should she ring her husband to leave work early?” Bessie asked.
The midwife laughed. “She has a fair few hours to go. If he finishes at five, he’ll have time to get dinner before he needs to get here.”
Grace moaned. “It’s starting to hurt,” she said softly.
“I can give you something for the pain, but it could slow things down,” the midwife replied.
“I’ll wait until I really need something,” Grace replied.
As the midwife left the room, Grace pulled out her phone. “Mum first,” she said. “I know she’ll want to be here right away.” After her mother, Grace left a message for Hugh with Doona at the station. “Just tell him I’m at Noble’s but it’s going to be a while. He can come after work,” she said.
When she put the phone down on the nightstand, she grinned at Bessie. “Doona is more excited than I am.”
“Doona isn’t the one going through all the pain.”
Grace nodded and then took another deep breath. “It does hurt rather a lot, really,” she said when the contraction finished.
When Grace’s mother appeared, Bessie wandered out to the large lounge on the ward. An older woman, maybe sixty, was sitting staring at the television, which was tuned to some programme Bessie had never seen before.
“Getting a new grandbaby,” the woman told Bessie. “My daughter is forty-two and far too old to be having her first baby, but what can you do? She doesn’t want me in the room, but I can’t go home, not when the baby could arrive at any moment.”
“Good luck. I’m just here with a friend.”
Hugh rushed through a short while later, stopping to hug Bessie and thank her for looking after Grace throughout the day. “Are you staying for a while?” he asked.
“I think I might. This is something new for me and I’m rather enjoying it.”
Hugh’s parents arrived and then joined Hugh in the room with Grace. Bessie wasn’t so sure about staying as the hours slipped past. Having waited this long, though, she didn’t want to go home and miss the best part. The other woman’s daughter had a boy just before midnight. It was two hours later when Hugh finally walked back into the lounge.
“It’s a girl,” he said, sounding completely overwhelmed.
Chapter 2
“Congratulations,” Bessie told him.
“Thanks.” Hugh sank onto the couch next to Bessie, looking dazed and confused.
“Are you okay?”
“It was amazing,” he said slowly, “but it all feels so much more real now. There’s a real baby here and she can’t do anything for herself. I’m terrified.”
“It’s going to be okay.” Bessie patted his arm. “You and Grace are going to do an amazing job as parents.”
Hugh nodded, but he still looked shell shocked. “Do you want to see the baby?” he asked.
“If I won’t be intruding.”
“Not at all. Grace sent me out to see if you were still here and to invite you back. She wants to show the baby off to everyone, and as she said, you’re practically family anyway.”
Bessie smiled as she got to her feet, feeling grateful to Grace for saying such a thing. Hugh led her to a small private room at the end of the corridor.
“Grace’s mum is paying for the private room,” Hugh said as he pushed open the door.
Grace was in bed, holding what looked like a huge pile of blankets. As Bessie approached, she smiled. “I may have wrapped her up a bit too much.”
It took Bessie a moment to find the tiny face among the layers. When she did, though, she felt a rush of affection for the tiny girl.
“She’s gorgeous,” she said.
“Thanks,” Grace grinned. “She’s fast asleep, but the midwife assures me that that’s only temporary. I feel as if I could lie here and watch her sleep all night.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Grace’s mum interjected from the doorway. She smiled at Bessie. “I had to go out and ring a dozen people with the news, but now I’m back and I want to cuddle my grandbaby. Grace, you need sleep, anyway.”
Grace looked as if she were going to protest, but then yawned. “You may be right,” she admitted.
“I won’t leave the room,” Grace’s mother promised. “You close your eyes for a few minutes and get some rest. Your body has just worked harder than it has ever had to work before. Hugh, you go home and get some sleep, too. It may be the last chance you get to sleep for more than a few uninterrupted hours for a very long time.”
Hugh looked at Grace. “I should stay,” he said.
“No, Mum is right. You go home and sleep. Take Bessie home, too. It’s the middle of the night. I assume you’ve taken tomorrow off work?” Grace asked.
“Yes, and the rest of the week. I’m using holiday time and saving my paternity leave for after you come home with the baby.”
Grace nodded. “So go and sleep for as long as you can. The baby and I will be fine here. They won’t let me leave tomorrow, even if I beg, or so I’ve been told. As long as Mum is here, I’ll be fine.”
“And I’m not leaving,” Grace’s mother said firmly.
Hugh nodded. “Would you like a ride home?” he asked Bessie.
“Are you okay to drive?” she wondered.
“I’m tired, but I’m fine. I had a cup of coffee a short while ago. I won’t fall asleep behind the wheel, I promise,” Hugh told her.
Bessie gave Grace a hug and smiled again at the baby. “Congratulations,” she said.
“Thanks.”
She gave Grace’s mother a hug, too, as it seemed that sort of occasion. Hugh was quiet on the drive back to Laxey. Bessie would have worried more about his driving if she hadn’t been mostly asleep in the passenger seat. As it was, she didn’t even notice where they were until the car stopped.
“You’ve driven home,” she said, feeling confused.
Hugh looked at her for a minute and then shook his head. “I forgot about you,” he said. “I’m more tired than I’d realised.”
As he moved to restart the car, Bessie stopped him. “I can walk home,” she said quickly. “I don’t think you should be driving any further until you’ve had some sleep.”
“I’ll walk you home, then,” Hugh replied. “Some fresh air and exercise will probably do me good.”
The walk back to Treoghe Bwaane seemed to take forever. Bessie felt as if she were trying to walk through treacle as her tired legs dragged through the sand. Hugh stumbled over a piece of driftwood and nearly fell to the ground.
“Go home and go to bed,” Bessie told him. “I can walk myself home.”
“We’re nearly there,” Hugh replied. “There’s Thie yn Traie.”
They’d only gone a few steps further when Hugh put his hand on Bessie’s arm. “I know I’m tired, but I don’t think I’m seeing things. Is there a light on in that holiday cottage?”
Bessie looked at the last cottage in the row. From where they were standing, it did look as if there was a light on in the dining room.
“Does Thomas leave the power on all year?” Hugh asked.
“Yes, because he and Maggie do all of the maintenance during the winter months,” Bessie explained.
Thomas and Maggie Shimmin had bought the cottage next to Bessie’s some years earlier. Thomas had quit his job in banking as soon as they’d received planning permission to tear the small cottage down and replace it with the row of holiday cottages that now covered the beach.
Aunt Bessie Understands Page 2