What Maisie Did Next

by Katy Lilley

  ‘Evidently so far so good and she’s six centimetres.’

  The muted scream and words that if Dario could hear them would have him reaching for a cricket box and hiding every pair of scissors within the vicinity, that escaped through the gap under the door made Cam blanch.

  ‘Oh, good.’ It was obvious he had no idea what she was going on about.

  Maisie grinned. ‘That,’ she waved her hand toward the other room, ‘is mild to what she called him earlier. Hopefully a few hours. Any more news of Dario?’

  Cam shook his head. ‘Nope. I’m glad you came out. I was just about to send in a message. Theo and I are off to Church.’ He leaned forward over Theo and kissed Maisie on the cheek. His simple sexy male scent surrounded her.

  Down girl, not the time or the place, and maybe sadly not the man.

  ‘Merry Christmas, love,’ Cam said softly. ‘We need to talk. Not now obviously, Theo and I are off to choose carols and you’re off to help deliver a baby.’

  ‘God, I hope not,’ Maisie and blushed. ‘Well, you know what I mean.’

  Would she ever stop putting her foot in it?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Maisie pushed the church door open. Of course, it squeaked and a dozen heads swivelled round as if they had a mind of their own. Talk about horror films.

  She shut it slowly and slid into a rear pew. At the front of the church Cam was standing in front of the alter giving the sermon with Theo firmly strapped to his back. She was oblivious to where they were and was batting at his hair with lots of gurgles and chuckles. Half the congregation appeared mesmerised by the sight, but apart from patting Theo’s hands away when she seemed to be heading for his ears or eyes, he ignored what was going on. Even when she crowed with laughter as she managed to get a finger in his ear, his voice didn’t falter. He pulled her hand away and hung onto it.

  Maisie wondered how he’d do the benediction without his hand.

  They sang the final carol, said a prayer, and he gave the benediction without much trouble, wished them all a good Christmas and turned off his mic. The congregation broke into spontaneous clapping.

  Cam laughed and did a tiny bow. ‘Any more, and this bundle of mischief will slide out of her carrier,’ he said, and proceeded to walk down the aisle. When he got to Maisie, he stopped and blinked. Theo noticed her and squealed.

  ‘News?’ he said hoarsely. ‘Good news?’

  She nodded. ‘Dario arrived in time. Just in time in fact, she was ready to push or say enough no more let’s forget about it.’

  On cue her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out. Then burst into tears.

  Cam hugged her, oblivious to the congregation now queuing up behind him. ‘Tell me, love.’

  ‘When I left, she was almost there, and as I got here Dario said things had slowed down. Now it’s all over. One girl, one boy. It’s good, all three well. Dad not so sanguine. He says send good coffee, do not let me make it.’ She wiped her eyes. ‘I’m so happy. Can you share the news?’

  Cam cleared his throat and gave the details out. ‘A lovely Christmas present,’ he added before he turned back to Maisie. ‘Will you wait for me? I’ll come back with you until Dario gets back. I assume you’ll want to take Theo home?’

  She nodded. ‘Yes, and yes, want me to take Theo? She’s dropped off.’

  ‘I know she’s keeping my head warm. Don’t disturb her until we have to.’ Cam went to say goodbye to everyone. Maisie sat back in the pew and watched him.

  He’d called her love. Dare she think it meant anything?

  If it did, he didn’t refer to it either on their way to Cliff Cottage, or when they got there, and Maisie made tea and ham sandwiches.

  They sat side by side in matching armchairs, in front of the fire that Cam had rekindled and now was a cheerful blaze.

  ‘Tenpm and then the wee small hours,’ Cam said, as he used the poker to stir the blaze and yawned. ‘Until now. No wonder we both look shattered. I better go and try to get some sleep and check all is well with evensong before I come back.’

  ‘Bright eyed and bushy tailed?’ Damn, damn and bugger. She’d so wanted him to stay, even if they did just sit side by side like Derby and Joan. ‘Good luck, I don’t think I’ll feel half human til tea time. Oh, and as I’m in charge of Dario’s cooking or whatever, we’ll eat when he comes back from hospital around eight. He’s given me a minute by minute timetable. Will that be okay? Visiting is until seven today evidently. I’ve had a text, he’s coming home to hug Theo, put the turkey in—he’s decided it’s too heavy for me to lift—and get Bryony’s present. I’ve offered to follow his instructions and do the basting, tattie roasting and carrot cooking. He says he’ll have to trust me. Honestly, I’m not that bad. Just because once years ago I forgot to put the oven on. I’ve promised to hug Theo at regular intervals, no problem with that. Plus let the red wine for you and him breathe. Bry has requested that we go visit tomorrow, if you want.’

  She waited…

  ‘I’d like that.’ He stood up and Maisie stood up automatically. He hugged her and rested his chin on her head. ‘I’ll be second chef to you. Try to get some sleep. I’ll see you later.’

  As it might not be very elegant to jump on the chair and shout ‘yee haa’, Maisie nodded. ‘I’d like that too.’

  She watched him walk out and then sat down heavily, not sure what would happen later. Whatever did, she’d know one way or another; would they be a couple? Would baby make three?

  She honestly had no idea. Maisie checked the fire was safe, and made her slow, waddling way upstairs. First to check on Theo, make sure the monitor was on, and then to collapse in the bed she always used. She had to nap.

  Knackered was an understatement.

  If Theo grizzled, she didn’t hear it. Maisie woke up several hours later in a panic at the silence through the monitor.

  Then she smelled coffee and salivated. Now at the stage she allowed herself one cup a day that thought of a good cup was enough to galvanise her into action, she washed and dressed in her impulse buy at the craft shop earlier in the week. A nineteen sixties caftan that covered her and Wilma perfectly. Within five minutes she made her way downstairs and sniffed the coffee to head to the kitchen.

  Dario was in front of the cooker stirring eggs, a plump and dressed turkey next to him. Theo was in her highchair and squashing a banana. She squealed and waved a banana covered hand when she saw Maisie.

  ‘Mnnssee.’

  ‘That’s right, my precious. Aunty Maisie.’ Maisie gave Dario a hug and Theo a big kiss, which was returned with messy fervour. ‘Congratulations dad of three, how are you? How’s Bry?’

  ‘All good, though enough is enough. No more, really no more. That was stressful. All I can say to you…’ He hugged Maisie. ‘You are a star amongst stars. And so, I guess, is Cam. Did he really take this morning’s service with Theo on his back? I met Mrs C on my way home,’ he elaborated. ‘She waved me down, gave me a box for you and one for Bry and said Cam was a saint and Theo a wee gem.’

  ‘He really was,’ Maisie confirmed. ‘It was both cute and funny. Theo was tugging his hair and he didn’t bat an eyelid just carried on. I only caught the last five minutes, but it seems he took the whole service with a baby on his back.’

  ‘He’ll be good with yours then. Different when it’s your own.’ Dario looked at her as she grabbed into the edge of the table. ‘What? Come on, Mais, you’re both daft over each other and daft to have had a tiff.’

  ‘Not really a tiff,’ she said honestly. ‘More than that, but he’ll be back after morning service, so we hope to chat.’

  ‘Good, make sure you do. I’ll be off around then.’ He slid the turkey in the oven and checked the heat. ‘Perfect. It will be ready at eight. Do you want me to see if someone will take Theo for an hour?’

  ‘What? Why? I do not,’ Maisie said in a firm, take no nonsense tone. ‘You go, she stays. Cam will cope or not. On past showing he’ll cope admirably.’

 
; Dario nodded and set a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of Maisie. ‘Eat. There’s a pressie for you under the tree.’

  ‘I’ll wait ‘til you get back. Take mine to you and Bry in and open them with her.’ She handed him a carrier with her presents to them in it. Nothing over the top; a jumper each and a book for Dario and perfume for Bryony. ‘You can open Theo’s for her when you get back.’

  It was pleasant to walk up the lane with Theo, wave to people around the green where Krystal rode her wobbly way on a bike and Mrs C walked briskly to wherever.

  ‘Off to see our Cissy for a bit, dogs with hubby, and happy,’ she shouted. ‘Don’t worry, get them when you’re ready.’

  Maisie nodded, shouted ‘thank you’ back and watched them both for a moment before she headed back to Cliff Cottage. It was almost time to baste the bird as per Dario’s instructions, feed Theo, and put her down for a sleep. By which time Cam should arrive and Maisie reckoned she could collapse in a heap. Whatever happened she bet she’d still need to put her feet up and have another forty winks. For the first time she wondered if she’d last out at school until the time she’d said she’d leave.

  Ah well, nothing I can do about that at the moment. She arrived back at Cliff Cottage and set about the things on her mental to do list. Cam arrived just as she’d put Theo in her cot and put the kettle on.

  He took one look at Maisie. ‘Sit. I’ll make the tea.’

  She sat.

  To wake up two hours later to see Cam sprawled on the floor opposite her, playing build the blocks up and knock them down, with Theo as an avid partner.

  ‘I didn’t hear either of you.’ Maisie yawned and rubbed her eyes. ‘All I’ve done today is sleep.’

  ‘I crept in and got her just as she woke. We’ve been bonding. Cuppa? Yours is stone cold.’

  ‘Sounds lovely’. She admired his bum in his well-worn jeans as he left the room, then glanced at the clock. Good grief it was past five. No wonder she felt rested and her tea was stone cold. But…what now?

  Cam came back in and handed Theo to her. ‘Dario has just texted. He’ll be back in half an hour because they want Bryony to get some sleep. She’s coming home tomorrow. Is that not soon?’

  ‘No idea but they must do.’

  ‘So, can we have our chat tomorrow?’

  She nodded. What else could she do?

  The following day, after admiring the twins, who she was informed were Sophia Maisie and Marco George, Maisie set off up the lane to Daps Cottage. Dario and Bryony needed their time, and if she were honest, she needed some ‘me time’. It had been hectic and happy but now she needed quiet and a nap. She drove slowly, the lane was still snowy, and was more than glad when she drew up outside her own home.

  That thought gave her a jolt. Daps Cottage was home now, more than the house in Wimbledon. How things changed. Whoever said you can take the girl out of the town, but not town out of the girl was oh so wrong. Unbelievable.

  She unlocked the door and wondered why it felt wrong. Then it hit her. No Barns. She’d texted Mrs C who was, as she put it, ‘over the water walking the dogs along the prom’. She’d drop them off later at their respective homes.

  Maisie switched the heating on, checked her Christmas tree didn’t need more water and turned the kettle on. Cam had promised to come around in an hour or so, and whatever she said to the contrary, she couldn’t settle until then.

  Mrs C popped in and left an ecstatic Barns who promptly sat on Maisie’s foot and wouldn’t move. Maisie was resigned to hobbling if she needed to get up to do anything. She plonked down in her favourite chair, opened the humorous ‘and you’ll wonder what hit you’ baby book Bryony had given her and prepared to be entertained.

  Sadly, it didn’t hold her attention. Whether it was her large lunch, Barns farting—he must have eaten a lot of veg—or the cows newly installed for a couple of hours a day in three fields at the back of the green, it didn’t matter, by eight o’clock most nights Maisie was finding it hard to keep her eyes open.

  Damn Cam, if he didn’t get a move on, she’d be too tired to listen, let alone be able to answer anything.

  His knock woke her out of a doze.

  Barns barked and then hid behind the settee as Maisie struggled up out of its squishy depth and got to her feet.

  ‘Some guard dog you are,’ she remarked as he put his head around the side. ‘Unless it’s your bone you don’t care.’

  Barns growled at the word bone, loped to the corner of the room where he’d hidden it and then woofed in pleasure as it was still there, before heading behind the settee again.

  Maisie opened the door to Cam.

  ‘How did you know it was me?’ he asked. ‘Not a burglar?’

  Maisie nodded toward Barns. ‘He’s not guarding his bone.’

  ‘Ah, I see.’ Cam hung his coat over the newel post. ‘No actually I don’t, but never mind. How are you?’ He didn’t look at her face, or her bump, but bent down to stroke a suddenly joyous Barns, who almost turned himself inside out as he greeted Cam with woofs and licks. ‘Yes, what a good boy you are. No, not my face, yes okay enough already. Now I need a wash.’ He stood up. ‘May I go and get rid of dog spit in your bathroom?’

  She felt like saying, “oh I’m not invisible then?” How churlish. Instead, Maisie nodded. ‘First right at the top.’ If he could be formal so could she.

  Five minutes later, she’d opened him a beer, left over from the last time Dario and Bryony had been around, poured herself a mineral water, and they’d settled by the fire. Barns, now he knew his beloved bone was safe, snoozed as ever on Maisie’s foot, even though she had her legs up and her feet on the pouffe. It was a wonder he didn’t fall off.

  ‘A limpet’s got nothing on Barns,’ Cam said as he sipped his pint. ‘Cheers.’

  Maisie held her glass up. ‘Cheers.’ And a merry Christmas to you as well.

  They sat in silence for a few minutes. As it wasn’t what you could call restful, Maisie broke it. ‘Okay, you want to talk. So, talk. I’m all ears.’ She yawned suddenly. ‘Sorry, by this time at night I’m half asleep. Anyway, go on.’

  He smiled. ‘I haven’t started yet.’

  ‘Then why not start.’ She yawned again. ‘Sorry.’

  Cam looked at her properly, for what she decided was the first time in ages. ‘Grief Maisie you look…’ he bit his lip.

  All of a sudden, she was fed up with it all. Him, his attitude, Faye Soole, philandering blokes. You name it, Maisie thought, I’ve had them up to my back teeth. She pointed her finger at him. Very rude but so what?

  ‘Pregnant? Blossoming? Knackered?’ she said in a challenging tone. ‘I am, all three. But that’s not going to change for several months, and then it will just be the knackered bit. However much you wish I wasn’t, I’m pregnant, five plus months pregnant give or take. Looking at me, or averting your eyes, either way, isn’t going to change that for a while. No, I do not know who the father is except there’s a 50-50 chance on whose wee wrigglers hit the jackpot. Plus, it seems whoever it is, is no beaming papa-to-be. I can’t say I’m proud of it, the who is it scenario, but I’m happy, and excited to know all being well, God willing, in around three months, I’ll be a mum. And if I have to be mum and dad, then I will. I won’t be the first single woman, no father in sight, to give birth and not the last. And if that offends you, well tough, suck it up buttercup. Now what was it you wanted to say?’

  Cam opened his mouth, shut it and swallowed. ‘Wow.’

  ‘Thanks, anything else or can I go to bed?’

  He grinned, the wicked grin that had originally attracted her to him.

  ‘Alone,’ Maisie snapped. ‘So?’

  ‘Is Barns in the dog house as well as me?’

  ‘Barns? No, he’s a good boy. You I reserve judgement on.’

  Cam sobered. ‘I can understand that. I reserve judgement on myself as well.’ He sighed, his eyes clouded his face a study of misery and worry.

  For the first time Ma
isie had some idea of how he must have felt when she’d told him her news. ‘I’m sorry, Cam,’ she said gently, all her anger spent. ‘I can now see what a shock my news must have been. You didn’t know me…’

  ‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that,’ he said with a glimmer of his old hot, self. ‘I did in some ways.’ He winked. ‘And very nice ways they were as well.’

  Maisie stuck her tongue out at him. ‘Yes, well, since then you’ve been a right bastard. There I was, all of a guddle and you went ‘not my problem’.’

  ‘I did not,’ he replied, aghast.

  ‘Not in so many words, but in in mind and deed? Be honest.’

  ‘Yes, well, okay, I admit I wasn’t very full of Christian charity towards you. I’ve thought long and hard. And prayed.’ He smiled, very shame faced. ‘Then I lost my bottle. I mean, what could I say? How could I say what a bloody awful person I’ve been? How sodding miserable? Why my new life, something that is so important to me and my faith, faded into insignificance and I’m damned sure I’ve not done my job properly.’

  ‘No one’s said that. Never. Everyone loves the new vicar. 'Proper breath of fresh air he is, my dear. Ever so conscientious and caring. Sorted that Dave Soole out good and proper.’ She mimicked the local accent. ‘Never misses a trick.’

  ‘I did in this case,’ Cam said wryly. ‘Why blame you? It takes two to tango and two to… well you know.’

  ‘The problem being I couldn’t say which two tangoed?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  Maisie stirred the fire to give herself a few moments to collect her thoughts. What happened in the next few minutes, she judged, would probably be among the most important in her life.

  ‘I could say I’m sorry until the cows come home, and I am, but that’s not going to solve anything is it? It won’t change things. I can’t help you decide whether you want to talk to me, be seen with me or be part of my baby’s life. It’s got to be your choice, your desire and your decision. Free and without coercion. The one thing I can say is, that I won’t put any pressure on you, but if you ever want to know more, I’m here.’ She smiled as a heavy lump settled in her stomach and threatened to overwhelm her and send Wilma into hiding. He looked so sad. ‘Cam, you called me love. Have a think what you mean by it. And don’t say it again unless you mean it. Now I’m sorry, I’m tired, so perhaps you better go.’