by Sue Margolis
There was a flight leaving Heathrow two hours from now. She had no idea if Sam was intending to be on it—the woman had refused to say if his name was on the passenger list—but it was the only lead she had.
She was just about to leave and was thanking the electrician for letting her look round, when another thought struck her. “God,” she said, “where’s Cat Damon?”
The electrician looked at her as if she was raving. “Er, in Hollywood, I presume.”
“No, that’s Matt Damon. I’m talking about Cat Damon. He’s a ginger tom. He lives here. At least he did.”
“There is a cat in the building. Huge shaggy thing. Can’t tell one end from the other.”
“That’s him.”
“Seems to be living with the old lady downstairs. I saw ’er this morning letting ’im in. Only she calls ’im Mister Fluffy.”
“Oh, well at least he’s gone to a good home. I was worried he’d been abandoned.”
“SO, ARE YOU thinking,” Ronnie said, starting the car engine, “that Sam decided to leave London early?”
“It would make sense. As far as he’s concerned, he and I are finished. What would be the point of hanging around? I’m surprised he stayed for Christmas.”
They headed out onto the M4. At one point Ronnie took her eyes off the road briefly and looked at Ruby. “Has it occurred to you that the real reason Sam is running back to New York is to escape being implicated in the surrogacy affair? You are forgetting that his name is still on that list you found.”
“But I’ve always thought he was set up in some way.”
“Hmm,” Ronnie said doubtfully, “just like this brother of his was set up.”
“You think I’m being stupid chasing after Sam, don’t you?”
“Not stupid. Just naive. You’re living in hope that this Buddy was telling the truth and that Sam will turn out to be the honest, honorable man you always hoped he was. You’ve been through one hell of a lot recently and I just don’t want you to be let down again.”
They carried on in silence. Ruby gazed out of the window. There was no way that Buddy had been lying to her. She just knew it. At one point she reached into her handbag and took out the list she had stolen from Jill McNulty. Ronnie glanced across at it. “Are you really suggesting that somebody convinced an intelligent man like Sam to sign a blank document? I find that highly unlikely, don’t you?”
“OK, I admit I don’t have the answer, but I know he wasn’t involved in the surrogacy thing. After everything else I’ve found out, I’m certain of it now.”
“I need to pee,” Ronnie said.
“Oh, God, Mum. Not now. Can’t you hold on until we get to the airport?”
“Ruby, I’ve got a baby sitting on my bladder. If I don’t pee in the next few minutes, I’m going to wet myself.”
“I’m sorry. I was being selfish. Are you feeling OK?”
“I’m fine. There’s a rest area up ahead. I’ll be literally two minutes.”
As they pulled in, it started to drizzle.
Ruby insisted on fetching Ronnie’s umbrella from the trunk. She held it over her mother as she got out of the car. As Ronnie set off toward the loo, Ruby walked back round to the passenger door. She was just about to get into the car when she saw her precious Jill McNulty list lying on the ground. It must have slipped off her lap when she got out of the car. Cursing herself, she bent down and snatched it up. It was covered in rain spots.
She was about to put it back in her bag when something—or rather a lack of something—caught her eye. Sam’s signature had quite clearly been signed in fountain pen. So, how come the ink hadn’t run in the rain?
She began rubbing at the signature with her finger. The ink didn’t budge. “That’s because it isn’t bloody ink,” she muttered to herself as a light went on. “It’s print.” Jill had clearly been busy with a scanner and photocopier. Her feelings were tumbling over themselves now. She loathed Jill McNulty and Tom Hardacre more than ever for implicating Sam in their scheme. She was elated that she now had proof that Sam hadn’t been involved in the surrogacy affair, but at the same time, she was furious with herself for doubting Sam.
The moment Ronnie got back from the loo, Ruby demonstrated her theory to her. “My God,” Ronnie said, shaking her head. “So, your instinct was right all along. Sam was never involved with the surrogacies. Come on, let’s get going. I just pray he’s at the airport, because if ever two people needed to talk, it’s you two.”
As soon as they got back onto the motorway, Ronnie hit the gas. Ruby watched the needle on the speedo pass ninety.
“Mum, I know I asked you to step on it earlier, but we do want to arrive in one piece.”
“I know, darling, but there’s another reason we need to get a move on.”
“What’s that?”
“When I went to the loo my water broke.”
“Omigod! Why on earth didn’t you say something?” Ruby insisted they get off the motorway and head back to St. Luke’s. “There’s no traffic, we can do it in forty minutes.”
Ronnie wouldn’t hear of turning back. She said that since she wasn’t getting any contractions, she would drop Ruby at the airport, leave the car in the parking lot and get a taxi back to St. Luke’s.
Ruby agreed, but only if she phoned Phil and got him to meet her at the airport. “At least then you’ll have somebody with you on the journey back.”
Ronnie dialed Phil’s mobile. As luck would have it, he was seeing a client in Hammersmith. He said the quickest thing would be for him to get the tube out to the airport.
“So long as there are no holdups,” Ronnie said, “he’ll arrive just after us.”
Ruby said she hoped Ronnie knew what she was doing. “I may not know much about childbirth,” she said, “but I know how important it is to get to the hospital once your water has broken. If you delay getting there, you risk the baby getting an infection.”
Ronnie told her to stop fussing and insisted she would be fine. She parked the car in the short-term lot at Terminal 4.
As she maneuvered to get out of the car, she stopped and inhaled sharply through her teeth.
“What is it?” Ruby said, grabbing her mother’s arm.
“Nothing. Just the baby moving. Let me sit for a moment to get my breath back.”
They sat there for maybe half a minute. “OK, I’m fine now,” Ronnie said. They got out of the car and took the lift to the departure area.
Every step Ruby took was causing her pain. As she concentrated on her own discomfort, she failed to notice the taut expression on her mother’s face. It was only when they reached the checkin area—which was pretty quiet, since the mass exodus out of the country had happened before Christmas—and Ronnie said she needed to sit down, that she noticed. “Bloody hell, Mum, you look white.”
“I’ll be fine after another rest.”
“No you won’t. You’re in labor. You know you are.”
“No I’m not. It’s probably just more of those Braxton-Hicks contractions like before.” Suddenly her hand went to her belly and her face contorted. “Ooh, that was a strong one.”
“Mum, don’t be ridiculous. These aren’t practice contractions. You are in labor. We have to get you to a hospital. I’m going to find a member of the ground staff and get them to call an ambulance.”
Ronnie nodded, but didn’t say anything because she was having what appeared to be another and even more painful contraction. “Tell them to hurry,” she gasped. “Please tell them to hurry.”
Her thoughts and feelings about Sam shoved to the back of her mind, Ruby did an Olympian limp toward the information desk. The middle-aged woman in charge told Ruby not to panic, that she would make a call and that the airport ambulance would be along in a few minutes. Ruby described where she and Ronnie would be waiting and ran back to her mother. She heard the commotion before she saw what was going on. A small crowd had gathered round Ronnie. Somebody was shouting for a doctor. “This woman’s about to give bir
th. Is there anybody who can help her?” Somebody else was telling Ronnie not to push. Ruby barged her way through the crowd. Ronnie was lying down on the bench, her head propped up on a pile of coats, crying out in pain and begging for somebody to help her.
“Mum, Mum, it’ll be OK. The ambulance is on its way.”
“Where the sodding hell is it? This baby’s about to be born. And where’s your father? Why isn’t he here yet?”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be here. Mum, please try to keep calm.”
Just then Ruby’s mobile went. Assuming it was her father, she didn’t bother to look at the caller display.
“Rubes, it’s me.” It was Fi. “You’ll never guess what. We’ve just had the most wonderful news. Saul’s got a job. And it isn’t just any old job. Get this, he’s got the lead in…”
“Fi, this sounds like wonderful news, but now isn’t a good time. I’m at the Terminal 4 checkin at Heathrow and Mum’s about to give birth any second.”
“What are you talking about? What are you doing at Heathrow? Is she all right?”
“Not really. Look, I have to go. I’ll phone you.”
“Did you find Sam?”
“No. Fi, I really have to go.”
As she hung up, Phil appeared. He came running over, red faced, sweating and breathless. The crowd parted like the Red Sea to let him through.
“I’ve been looking all over for you. What’s happening?”
“What does it look like?” Ronnie said. “I’m about to have a baby.”
“What? Here? You can’t. We have to get to the hospital.”
Ruby explained that it was too late. Ronnie cried out in pain as another contraction hit. Phil knelt down and took her hand. “Remember all your relaxation techniques. Come on, let’s focus on your mantra.”
“Bugger my sodding mantra.”
“OK, then just breathe with me. Hah, hah, hah, heeh, heeh, heeh.”
“I don’t want to breathe! It hurts! I want drugs! I want an epidural! Now! Please, can somebody get me a doctor?”
“I’m a doctor,” an authoritative male voice said. “Please let me through.” Ruby froze. She knew that voice. It was Sam.
“Ruby?” he said, before she’d even turned round. “What on earth is going on?”
She turned round. As her eyes met his, she was aware of the overpowering relief she was feeling at having found him—not just for Ronnie’s sake, but for her own, as well. “It’s Mum. The baby’s coming.” Sam nodded hello to Phil and crouched down beside Ronnie. “How often are the contractions coming?” Before she had a chance to reply another one came. “Aaagh. I want to push. I want to push.”
“OK, I think I have my answer.”
He took off his jacket and rolled up his shirtsleeves. Then he asked if anybody had any clean towels in their luggage. Somebody undid their suitcase, found a couple and passed them to Sam. He said that he needed to examine Ronnie. To protect her modesty he asked everybody to stand with their backs to her and form a circle around the bench. “Hang on,” Ruby whispered to Sam, tugging at his arm. “You are going to examine my mother internally?”
“I have to.”
“Oh, God! The man I’ve been dating for the last four months is about to feel my mother’s cervix. How modern is that?”
He told her she didn’t have to watch.
“OK,” he announced a few seconds later, “the head’s crowning. Try not to push. I want you to pant for me while I check the cord.”
Ronnie panted.
“Is the baby all right?” Phil said. He was white faced with fear. “Everything’s fine,” Sam reassured him. “One more push, Ronnie. When you’re ready.”
“Uuuuurgggghhhhh!”
“Mum! The head’s out!” Ruby gasped. She’d overcome her squeamishness and was standing beside Sam, watching everything. “Sigmund Freud’s got loads of black hair.”
“Sigmund Freud?” Sam was looking quizzically at Ruby.
She explained it was just a nickname. He seemed relieved. “OK, Ronnie, chin on your chest and one final push!”
Ronnie took a deep breath and held it. As she pushed one last time, her face turned scarlet and she dug her nails hard into Phil’s hand. “Keep pushing,” Sam urged. “…Keep pushing…And again…OK, it’s here. It’s all over, Ronnie. Good job. You can relax.” A few moments later the baby let out its first tiny, squeaky cries. As the crowd clapped and cheered, Sam wrapped the baby in a towel and laid it on Ronnie’s chest. “What is it?” somebody asked.
Phil, who was looking overwhelmed and more than a bit vacant, mumbled: “It’s a baby. It’s a little baby.”
Sam suggested gently that he might like to check what kind of baby it was. “Oh, yes,” Phil said. He opened the towel. “It’s a girl! It’s a girl baby!”
Ronnie lay gazing at her new daughter, her eyes filling with tears. “Hello, little baby,” she said.
Ruby knelt down next to her father. “She’s beautiful,” she said, tears filling her eyes, too. “Just beautiful.”
By now the paramedics had arrived. They quickly took control, wrapped the baby in a foil blanket and got Ronnie onto a stretcher. “You’re going to need a few stitches,” Sam said to her, “but otherwise everything’s completely OK.”
“Thank you,” Ronnie said to Sam, taking his hand. “Thank you for being there and for being so wonderful.” She turned to Ruby. “I don’t want you to come in the ambulance. Your dad and I will be fine. Now then, I think you two have some talking to do. Lack of communication is the main reason relationships break down, you know. Active listening, that’s the key…”
“Mum,” Ruby chuckled, “you had a baby five minutes ago and already you’re therapizing.”
She grinned. “It takes more than childbirth to put me off my stride.”
Ruby kissed her mother good-bye and said she would see her later on that evening.
A few minutes later Ronnie, Phil and the baby were on their way to the nearest maternity hospital. Since Sam had missed his flight to New York, he and Ruby headed for the Terminal 4 Starbucks.
“You were brilliant back there,” Ruby said.
Sam’s face broke into a smile. “Thank you.” He opened a packet of sugar and watched the tiny cascade of crystals sink into the froth on his cappuccino. “So, why did you come looking for me?”
“I know about Josh and the trial,” she said, putting her coffee mug to her lips. “I happened to be watching CNN. Then I phoned Buddy and he told me the real reason you went back to New York.”
He didn’t seem particularly surprised. “I guess I knew you’d find out eventually. It was just a matter of time.”
“So, where have you been? I phoned Buddy. He had no idea where you were. We’ve been so worried.”
“I went to stay with friends in Devon. I got the train back this morning. I kept meaning to phone Buddy and Irene, but a bit of me just wanted to forget everything for a few days. I didn’t want to discuss Josh and the trial. I just wanted to be normal.” He began stirring his coffee. “I’m sorry I lied to you about why I went back to New York. I hated myself for doing it. I still hate myself, but I had no choice.”
“Of course you had a choice,” she came back. “You could have trusted me.”
“Right. So I should have taken you out for a romantic dinner and over the seared tuna I should have turned to you and said: ‘Hey, by the way, my brother’s a convicted killer and there are people out there threatening to kill his wife and kids, but this won’t make any difference to our relationship, will it?’”
“But it wouldn’t have. Sam, I don’t care if your brother is the spawn of Hannibal Lecter, it’s you I’m having a relationship with, not him.”
“Josh is innocent, you know. He got involved with some bad people. He was a drug dealer for a time. He did some bad things, but he isn’t a murderer. I believe that with every ounce of my being. The whole family does.”
She drained her coffee mug. “I just hope he realizes how lucky he is to
have all of you,” she said.
“I just wish this whole Josh thing hadn’t affected us the way it has.”
“You know what hurt the most?” she said. “The way you left me. You made it look so easy. It was as if you didn’t care.”
“It wasn’t remotely easy. Walking out on you was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It almost killed me to leave you, but all the time we were together I was scared for you. These goons wouldn’t have stopped at threatening and intimidating Kim. Eventually they would have gotten to you. What happened that afternoon in Richmond Park convinced me of that. By then they were on to me. I couldn’t risk you getting hurt. And by then everything got complicated. I’d started lying to you. You thought I was having an affair. You suspected I was involved in the surrogacy thing. It all got too much for me to handle.”
“But you could have let me decide for myself if I wanted to be with you.”
“And what would you have said?”
“I would have said that we were in this thing together and that I loved you.”
“You would have risked your life to be with me?”
“Tell me something, if the tables had been reversed, would you have risked your life to stay with me?”
“Absolutely.”
“The same goes for me.” She reached out and took his hand.
“I couldn’t let you do that,” he said.
“And look where that’s got us.…Talking of evidence, I can now prove that you had nothing to do with the surrogacies.”
“You can? Well, that’s more than I have been able to do. I went to see a lawyer—along with the two other foreign doctors involved—but he wasn’t much help. He said that without concrete proof that we’d been set up, there wasn’t much he could do. I tried to find Jill and Hardacre to confront them, but they’re on extended leave. So, I’ve just been sitting here waiting for you to go public and for my professional reputation to be shot to pieces.”