Christmas Forever

by Sophie Love

  Emily hesitated. “Actually, my husband has just left,” she said. “Can we wait until he’s back? I’d hate to go into labour with him a whole hour’s drive away.”

  The nurse nodded. “Of course. We can wait until he’s back. You rest up. I’ll be back in a few hours to check everything again. If you need anything in the meantime, press this bell.”

  Emily nodded her understanding and the nurse left her. She decided the best way to pass the next few hours until Daniel and Chantelle arrived was to nap. At 41 weeks pregnant, the urge to fall asleep at random points during the day was quite hard to fight, and now she’d more or less been given a free pass to not fight at all. Napping in a big, clean bed in a quiet place was a temptation she could not resist!

  She rested a hand across her stomach and said a silent prayer for Baby Charlotte. Then she felt a kick against her hand as if in response, and smiled, knowing that everything would be okay.

  *

  When she woke, it was dark. The nurse was hovering by her bedside, checking the monitors beside her.

  “What time is it?” Emily murmured, trying to sit up.

  “I’m sorry, did I wake you?” the nurse replied. She checked her watch. “It’s seven p.m.”

  “Oh,” Emily gasped, quickly sitting all the way up. “I was expecting my husband and daughter to come straight here after school. They should be here by now.”

  “I expect the snow’s held them up,” the nurse replied.

  “Snow?” Emily asked.

  “It’s been snowing the whole while you’ve been asleep,” the nurse said, smiling.

  She drew the blinds up for Emily then. Emily gasped as she set eyes upon the thick white snow piled up outside her window. A matter of hours earlier there had been no snow at all, and the weather forecast had only indicated that some might come, not that thick layers would fall!

  “They put out a notice to not drive,” the nurse added.

  “For how long?” Emily gasped, thinking of Daniel and Chantelle. The thought of spending the whole evening and night at hospital alone was daunting.

  “I think it might be all night now,” the nurse said. “The temperature just keeps dropping. But try not to worry about that.”

  “I can’t help it,” Emily said, seeing her heart rate on the monitor increasing in time to her panic. “What about the sweep? I can’t have it now if they won’t be able to come!”

  Giving birth alone with them stuck over an hour away from her was a terrifying prospect!

  “We don’t have to do it,” the nurse said, giving her a sympathetic look. “All your tests are coming back fine. Let’s just relax. I’ll bring you some food and some books. Enjoy the quiet. No one will make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

  Her words bought some comfort to Emily. But this snow had come out of nowhere, taken her by surprise. And she’d not yet seen a forecast for the following day.

  “Do you know if it will be clear by tomorrow?” she asked. “What’s the forecast?”

  The nurse looked a bit guilty then. “I’m afraid there’s more snow forecast.”

  Emily felt her worry immediately intensify. “Am I going to be stranded here?”

  What if she was left alone all that time? What if she went into spontaneous labor while her family were stuck at home with the roads closed by snow?

  “We’ll take good care of you,” the nurse explained. “Don’t worry.”

  But this time her assurances provided little comfort to Emily. She felt suddenly cut off, isolated. She’d never felt so alone.

  “I need to call my family,” Emily said.

  “Of course,” the nurse told her. “You won’t be able to use your cell phone but there’s a pay phone for patients just down the corridor. Come on, I’ll unhook you from the machines and show you the way.”

  Emily looked over at Baby Charlotte’s heart rate monitor. “Is that allowed?”

  “If you keep the call short, it won’t be a problem at all,” the nurse told her kindly.

  She helped disentangle Emily from the machines, then offered her arm for Emily to get out of bed. They left Emily’s room and walked along the brightly lit corridor. Every room they passed seemed to have loads of people inside them, the mothers and their newborns surrounded by family and friends, bright balloons and gifts. Only she was alone, Emily realized, with her family trapped on the other side of the snow storm.

  “Here you go,” the nurse said, showing Emily to a phone attached to the wall, with a chair beside it and a plastic hood above it.

  It reminded Emily of prison.

  “Thank you,” she said to the nurse.

  She picked up the phone, slotted some coins into it, then dialled the inn. She was relieved that it was Daniel who answered the call.

  “Oh sweetheart,” he said, sounding utterly relieved. “I was trying to get in touch with you but your cell phone kept going to voicemail. When I called the hospital direct they said you were sleeping.”

  “I was,” Emily said, feeling her voice warble suddenly in her chest. “Are you stuck at home because of the snow?”

  “Well, they’ve issued a warning not to drive,” Daniel told her. “But we’ll come if you need us to. I won’t miss the birth of my daughter because of snow! What happened with the sweep?”

  “I didn’t have it,” Emily told him. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you not being here for the birth.”

  “Well, they said to travel only if it was essential. I think you going into labor counts, don’t you? I’ll just drive very, very carefully.”

  “I would prefer you not to put yourself and Chantelle in any danger,” Emily said, shaking her head, a desperate feeling in her chest. She felt so torn, wanting her family with her but hating the idea of them being in any danger. “Perhaps if I was in the local hospital it would be a different story. But since you’d be driving for so long, I’d be worrying the entire time.” She sighed with sadness. “It’s better to stay where you are.”

  Daniel let out a relieved exhalation. “Okay, I’m going to confess that I’m actually glad you didn’t go ahead with the sweep. I really would not have wanted to have to drive out in this weather!”

  Emily rolled her eyes. After all his cajoling for her to be induced, he was finally on her side. It had just taken a snowstorm to do it!

  “Then fingers crossed I don’t go into spontaneous labor,” she said, a little wrly.

  “Yes,” he replied. “For one night only, I will hope for that too.”

  “Is Chantelle okay?” Emily asked then, wanting to change the subject.

  “Other than missing you, she’s fine,” Daniel said. “Do you want to speak to her?”

  Emily checked the clock. She wasn’t certain how long she could safely be detached from Charlotte’s heart rate monitor, but she desperately wanted to hear Chantelle’s voice.

  “Yes, quickly,” she said. “I need to get back to my machines asap.”

  “Okay, darling,” Daniel said, tenderly. “I love you. I’ll be with you the second I can.”

  Emily’s heart lurched. She fought back tears. “I love you too.”

  There was a moment of silence then, before a rustling sound as Chantelle came on the line.

  “Mommy, are you okay?” her sweet little angel voice sang out.

  “I’m okay,” Emily replied, feeling tears forming in her eyes at the sound of her daughter. “I miss you, that’s all.”

  “I miss you too. When are you coming home?”

  “Not tonight,” Emily explained. “There’s too much snow on the road.”

  “Daddy and I can shovel a path,” Chantelle said innocently.

  Emily swallowed her pain.

  “That’s very kind of you,” she managed to say, “But it might take you a very long time. You’ll get cold hands.”

  “We’ll wear gloves.”

  Emily fought to keep her voice even. “Best not to worry. The snow will melt soon enough.”

  “By tomorrow?”
r />   “Let’s hope so,” Emily said.

  She could only pray that it would.

  Emily was about to say farewell to Chantelle, when the child spoke again.

  “Are you sure you’re okay, mommy?” she asked in a quiet, timid voice. “It’s just that I overheard daddy on the telephone to Papa Roy’s friend Vladi. And I know you promised only to call him in an emergency. So… is this an emergency?”

  Emily’s heart clenched even more. “It’s not an emergency,” she said. “Daddy probably thought I was going to have Baby Charlotte today and wanted Vladi to tell Papa Roy. That’s all.”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  There was a long pause. Then finally, Chantelle spoke for the last time.

  “Okay. I love you mommy. Try not to get too lonely tonight.”

  “I won’t,” Emily told her.

  But the moment the call ended, she put her head in her hands and wept.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Tuesday passed Emily by in a blur. She felt as if she spent the entire day staring out the window at the unrelenting snow, trying not to cry, wishing it would just stop already. She felt so lost and lonely, and missed her family desperately.

  When the nurse came to take some blood, Emily looked up at her with hopeful eyes.

  “When will I be discharged?” she asked. “It’s my daughter’s last day of school tomorrow before the vacation and I really want to be there for her.”

  The nurse shook her head, sympathetic to her plight, but unmoving. “I’m sorry. It just wouldn’t be safe. Even if the snow was cleared we’d want to keep you in for at least another twenty four hours.”

  Emily’s heart sank. This was just awful. Hospitals weren’t the nicest places on earth to begin with, and having no family or friends around made it even more bleak. Not to mention the fact that Christmas was fast approaching.

  “I’ve not finished my gift shopping,” Emily said, sadly.

  The nurse squeezed her shoulder kindly. “I don’t think your family is going to mind a few less gifts when its your baby’s health that’s at stake. Try to relax.”

  Emily nodded. She knew that relaxing right now was the most important thing she could do, especially if she wanted to avoid having her labor chemically induced. But that was easier said than done.

  “I don’t know how,” Emily said. “I feel like I’m about to cry any second. What if I’m stuck in here over Christmas?”

  The nurse gave her a sad, sympathetic look. But she didn’t refute it, and Emily faced the very real possibility that she’d be spending Christmas this year alone in a hospital bed. Her tears began to fall.

  *

  Emily was awake and fretting as the clock ticked past midnight. It was officially Christmas Eve. She grit her teeth, feeling determined. Today she would go home, no matter what. Even if they advised her not to, she was going to discharge herself. She wanted to spend Christmas at home with her family, even if that ran the risk of her giving birth on the dining room floor!

  The nurse wasn’t scheduled to come and see her until 6 a.m. so there was nothing to do but try and get some rest. But Emily’s mind was racing. Was she being a fool, taking a gamble with her health? With her baby’s health? Or was she just listening to her own body and her own needs? Being in hospital wasn’t doing her any favors. She felt tense here, and very lonely, and knew that the stress would be more harmful for the baby than her being happy and relaxed at home would. Women had carried babies to term for centuries without machines and monitors. If they could do it, she could too.

  Somehow she slept, though as she dreamed, her mind was chaotic and filled with anxiety.

  When she woke, daylight was streaming in through the curtains.

  “Crap!” Emily said, realizing she’d slept straight through the nurse’s morning check. The clock read nine a.m.

  Just then, the door opened. Emily was prepared with her speech, ready to explain why she needed to be discharged. But it wasn’t the nurse who came in. It was Daniel and Chantelle.

  “Oh!” Emily exclaimed, breaking down immediately into tears as the two rushed at her. “You’re here.”

  She shuddered with relief. Chantelle held her tightly.

  “Don’t cry, mommy!” the girl said in a soothing voice.

  “I’m so sorry,” Emily said, wiping her tears away. “I wasn’t expecting to see you. It’s just a shock.”

  Chantelle let go and grinned at her. “Happy Christmas Eve.”

  Emily wiped her hair from her eyes. “Happy Christmas Eve. Tell me, how was your last day at school?”

  “It was fun!” Chantelle said. “We did our talent show. Laverne did a really cool ballet dance. I sang. But Bailey won. She did a comedy routine.”

  “That sounds like fun,” Emily said. She smiled at Daniel. “And the bake sale?”

  Daniel nodded. “Chantelle and I made cookies, didn’t we sweety?”

  “Yes,” she said, smiling proudly. “I showed Daddy what to do.”

  Daniel nodded in affirmation.

  Emily felt a surge of gratitude. Her family were here, at last, and everything had been fine in her absence. The inn hadn’t fallen down, no one had crashed in the snow. Her worries were finally over.

  “I thought you might have had the baby by now,” Chantelle commented sadly, seeing Emily’s round stomach was still very much there.

  “I’m glad I didn’t,” Emily told them. “Imagine if I’d given birth all alone? It would have been the worst.”

  Daniel reached out for her hand then. “Did you have the sweep?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t want to. Not if you weren’t going to be here.”

  “How about we organize for it to be done now?” he said.

  She chewed her lip. “I really just want to go home. I’m sorry. It’s Christmas Eve. I don’t want to choose to spend it in hospital. I’d prefer to be home if nature allowed.” She squeezed Daniel’s hand, hoping he could understand where she was coming from. “Once Christmas is over, I promise I’ll book in the induction if she’s still not come. Okay?”

  Daniel exhaled loudly. “This isn’t a fight I’m going to win,” he said, finally. “You do what’s best for you.”

  “Does that mean mommy’s coming home?” Chantelle asked, looking hopeful.

  “Yes, I suppose it does,” Daniel relented.

  Chantelle punched the air with joy. Just then the nurse came in.

  “Hello everyone,” she smiled, looking around the room. “I see your family made it in the end.”

  Emily nodded. She was about to launch into her prepared speech about needing to be released, when the nurse beat her to it.

  “Now the doctors have agreed to discharge you,” she began.

  Emily gasped. “They have?”

  The nurse nodded. “Yes. All your tests have come back fine. Baby is happy and healthy, no signs of distress. They think it would be better for you to spend Christmas at home rather than in hospital. So you get to go home.”

  She grinned, evidently aware of how good that news was for Emily. Emily was, indeed, thrilled by the news.

  “Thank you,” she squealed, sounding breathless with delight.

  “Now there is one condition,” the nurse added. “Monday, December 28 is when you reach 42 weeks. After that you’ll need daily monitoring. So nine a.m. every morning with Doctor Arkwright.”

  “That’s fine by me,” Emily said.

  She couldn’t leave the hospital soon enough. Chantelle helped pack up her things for her, speeding round the room picking up discarded socks and random items that had fallen from her purse, slinging them hastily inside.

  “Who has scissors?” Emily said, holding up her plastic name tag. “I want to get this thing off!”

  The nurse chuckled and came over with a small pair of scissors. She clipped the tag and discarded in the trash can.

  “Thank you!” Emily cried. “For everything!”

  Then they were off, heading out int
o the freezing December air.

  Emily almost squealed with delight when she saw Daniel’s beat up pick up truck in the parking lot. She was finally going home!

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  It was only when Daniel turned the truck onto the driveway leading up the inn that Emily realized the extent of chaos the snowfall had caused. The roofs of several of the old outhouses had collapsed under the weight of snow. Both the greenhouses had also been crushed.

  “Your plants,” Emily gasped, looking from Chantelle to Daniel. “All that work you put in with Papa Roy.”

  “I know,” Chantelle said sadly. “And the worse thing is he won’t be here to help me fix it all.”

  Daniel spoke up then. “We’re going to make it a spring project, aren’t we Chantelle? To have everything fixed up for then. We’ll get stronger glass next time around, just in case. George will know the best type to use.”

  Chantelle nodded, and gazed out the window at the wrecked greenhouses as they parked up. Emily’s wish for her father grew even stronger then. She couldn't help but share in the child’s sadness that he’d not been in touch or let them know about his plans. Despite Vladi’s reassurances, she couldn’t help but worry.

  “Why don’t I help out, Chantelle?” she said. “I’ve been stuck inside for so long, I’d quite like to have something to do. Something to get my hands dirty with.” Noticing Daniel’s expression, she added, “I won’t do any heavy lifting, don’t worry! Just some tidying. Sweeping and raking leaves, that sort of thing. I mean, we can’t leave them like that. It’s a health and safety hazard and it looks awful.”

  They all got out of the car and went into the inn. Emily felt so relieved to be home, even if there was some destruction to deal with. Even the smell of the place felt comforting and familiar to her.

  “Let’s see if Terry can help us with the greenhouse work,” Daniel said.

  “What about Stu and the others?” Emily asked.

  “They’ve gone home for Christmas,” Daniel told her.

  “Oh. Of course,” Emily replied. She felt sad to have not had a chance to say goodbye and wish them each an enjoyable vacation. She’d gotten so used to having them around the inn they almost felt like family now.