Two hours later they set off for home, rosy-cheeked and pleasantly tired. Fliss had been right: Adina felt that the fresh air had done her good and hoped she would sleep well that night.
That evening, as she sat reading the newspaper to Mrs Montgomery, the old woman listened intently. It seemed that now the New Year was over there was going to be a massive number of properties built to house the people who had lost their homes during the war. Many of them were going to be temporary pre-fabricated houses in the cities that had been worst affected by the war, and in Hull alone it was estimated that 30,000 would be needed. The new homes had been nicknamed ‘prefabs’ and Mrs Montgomery sniffed as Adina read on.
‘Prefabs indeed,’ she scoffed. ‘Why can’t they just build proper houses?’
‘Because it would cost too much and take too long to build them,’ Theo cut in. ‘Even the prefabs won’t be ready for people to move into until 1948 or 1949.’
‘Well, I’ll just be grateful when we can railroad a builder who’s prepared to mend our roof,’ the old lady said with a toss of her chin, and they all laughed.
‘Yes, but aren’t we the lucky ones to still have our own home?’ Theo said.
Adina supposed that they were lucky in a way. Herself in particular. They had taken her in and kept her with them through her darkest hour, and she would never forget that.
By mid-January the snow began to thaw and the roads and pavements became slushy underfoot. Fliss was like a mother hen, fussing over Adina.
‘Now promise me you won’t go out today,’ she warned Adina each morning. ‘It’s so slippy and I don’t want you falling and bringing the baby too soon.’
‘I won’t,’ Adina would promise, although she was beginning to feel like a prisoner. She had barely ventured out of the house since the day they had taken the sled to the Heath, not that she could have walked very far now. She was tired all the time and more than a little irritable, not that anyone seemed to mind.
By the beginning of February, Adina prayed daily for the baby to put in an appearance. ‘How much longer is it going to be?’ she wailed to Mrs Simmons, the midwife who had come to check on her.
The woman chuckled. ‘Babies have a habit of coming when they’ve a mind to and not before,’ she said cheerfully, ‘but it shouldn’t be too long now. You’re carrying very low, which is a sign the baby is getting into position ready to be born. Have you got your bags packed ready for the hospital?’
‘Everything has been ready for the last two weeks,’ Adina rejoined pettishly as she folded her arms over the huge mound that had used to be her flat stomach.
‘Good – well, if nothing happens before, I shall see you at the same time next week.’ The midwife snapped her little black bag shut. ‘But at the first sign of anything beginning, make sure you get Theo or Fliss to take you to the hospital.’
Theo and Fliss had both tried to talk her into having a home birth but Adina had stood her ground. She felt that she would be safer at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, and so they had gone along with her wishes. She now watched glumly as Nurse Simmons left with a bright smile, and turned her attention back to the book she was trying to read. However, nothing seemed to hold her attention for long at present so she began to wander around the house, rubbing her back as she went.
That evening the baby became very still and Adina was relieved. She had had a dull ache in the pit of her back since teatime but decided that it was probably due to all the extra weight she was lugging around.
She had just had a nice leisurely soak in the bath and was in her bedroom drying her hair with a towel when there was a tap at the door.
It was Fliss: she seemed to be checking up on Adina all the time now. She stopped in her tracks as she stared at the lovely bridal gown that was spread out across the bed.
‘What’s this then?’ She crossed to finger the heavy silk admiringly.
‘I made it when I lived at home for when Karl and I get married,’ Adina informed her, and then she chuckled. ‘Not that I could squeeze into it now, but one day . . .’
‘But I had no idea that you could sew like this,’ Fliss gasped. ‘It looks like something you would buy in Bond Street. It’s haute couture.’
It was a beautiful gown – and Adina knew how lovely it looked on because Ariel had already worn it.
‘I like to get it out and look at it from time to time,’ she explained. ‘It reminds me of Karl.’
Fliss gazed in awe at the dress. The skirt fell to the floor in shimmering folds; Adina had spent hours sewing tiny seed pearls all around the neckline, and Fliss thought it was one of the most stunning gowns she had ever seen.
‘You’ll wear it one day,’ she assured Adina kindly. ‘But come on now. It’s time you were having a lie-down. We don’t want you overdoing things.’
She helped Adina to refold the dress and transfer it back into the suitcase and then fussed over her as she turned the eiderdown back and plumped up the pillows. Once she was satisfied that Adina was comfortable she crossed to the door and waggled a finger at her. ‘Now if you need anything during the night you just call, OK?’
Adina nodded as she settled back against the feather pillows. She hadn’t been sleeping well for a while now as she was so enormous it was hard to get comfortable.
Something woke her during the early hours of the morning and she lay there disorientated for a moment trying to think what it was. And then she felt the damp sheet beneath her and gasped in horror. She had wet the bed! Something she had not done since she was a very little girl. Struggling to the edge of the mattress, she stood up and began to strip off the wet sheet. It was then that a sudden pain ripped through her. It was so sharp that it almost took her breath away, and her eyes widened in shock as it finally began to subside.
Could this be the baby coming? Deciding to be on the safe side, she put her dressing-gown on and lumbered down to the first floor where Theo and Fliss slept. She hated to disturb them but was so nervous that she did not want to be alone. After tapping softly at the bedroom door she heard sounds of movement from within and seconds later Fliss peeped out bleary-eyed and yawning.
‘I . . . I think the baby may be coming,’ Adina told her. Instantly Fliss was wide awake and, grinning from ear to ear, she flew back to the large double bed and shook Theo’s arm.
‘Theo, wake up,’ she urged. ‘Adina thinks she has gone into labour. We need you to get her to the hospital.’
The midwife had also discussed the possibility of having a home birth, but Adina had refused. Now she wasn’t so sure and she told Fliss so as the latter helped her back to her room. Suddenly the thought of giving birth amongst strangers was terrifying and she wanted to stay with her friends.
‘Well, I suppose I could always send Theo round to the midwife’s house in Chalk Farm to ask her if she’d deliver the baby here,’ Fliss said. ‘Are you sure that’s what you want?’
Adina nodded. The pains in her back were excruciating and she was very afraid now.
Theo was up and dressed within minutes and whilst he rushed off with his hair uncombed to try and locate the midwife, Fliss sat Adina in a chair at the side of the bed and deftly changed the sheets.
Half an hour later, Theo was back, panting as if the devil were on his heels.
‘Nurse Simmons is on her way,’ he informed a relieved Adina. ‘She said she just had to get dressed and then she’d come on her bicycle. What would you like me to do now?’
Fliss looked more nervous than Adina as she chewed on her nails, but eventually she told him, ‘Well, I don’t know much about this sort of thing, never having given birth myself, but I believe we’re going to need lots of clean towels and hot water. If you go and fetch the towels, Theo, I’ll run down and get the water on the go.’
Without a word Theo turned on his heel and rushed off to do as he was told. Fliss then patted Adina’s hand distractedly and hurried away down two flights to the kitchen to fill the kettle and any other utensils she could find. When s
he was satisfied that they were all heating up nicely she rushed into the hall where she could hear the doorbell ringing. It was Nurse Simmons.
‘So how is Mother coming along?’ she asked jovially.
Fliss wrung her hands. ‘I have no idea. I’ve never done this sort of thing before,’ she said in a small voice. ‘But shouldn’t you be getting upstairs to Adina? She’s in a lot of pain.’
‘Don’t look so worried,’ the nurse chuckled as she slipped her coat off. ‘Nothing is going to happen in the next two minutes. First babies usually take their time. It could be hours yet. Now I’m going to need clean sheets, towels and as much hot water as you can supply me with.’
Fliss hurried away to grab an armful of sheets from the enormous walk-in linen cupboard as Nurse Simmons strode purposefully towards the stairs. By the time she delivered them to the nurse, the latter was bending over the bed and examining Adina, so Fliss hastily averted her eyes.
‘That’s fine,’ the woman said encouragingly as she pulled Adina’s nightdress back down.
Fliss scuttled away like a frightened rabbit to see if any of the water was boiling yet and almost bumped into Theo on the stairs. He looked nearly as terrified as she did.
‘How is she?’ he asked.
‘Fine, I think. Did you take the towels in?’
‘No.’ He looked embarrassed. ‘I didn’t like to, so I left them on the landing outside her door.’
‘Right, then you go and fill the big jug I’ve put ready in the kitchen with boiling water and bring it up here and I’ll run back and take the towels in.’
Ten minutes later, the midwife had everything she needed. ‘Why don’t you two go back to bed now?’ she suggested. ‘I’ll fetch you if anything happens.’
They shook their heads in unison, knowing they would never get back to sleep now with a new life about to come into the world.
‘We’ll be in the drawing room if you need us,’ Fliss gulped, and grabbing Theo’s elbow she hauled him away.
Upstairs, Nurse Simmons eyed the girl on the bed curiously. She was a pretty little thing and she wondered if she was related to Theo and Fliss. They certainly seemed very fond of her – but where was the husband? The girl was wearing a wedding band and she had already called out for someone called Karl, so the woman could only assume that she was married. Unless he had been killed in the war, that was, and she was a widow, otherwise he would have been here surely? So many babies she had delivered over the last few years had been born without their fathers ever seeing them. It was enough to break your heart.
Adina’s back suddenly arched as a strong contraction gripped her and the nurse approached the bed, glancing at the clock on the bedside table. It was one forty-five and it looked as if it was going to be a very long night.
Chapter Thirty-Four
By eight-thirty the following morning, Fliss and Theo had been joined by Beattie and old Mrs Montgomery in the drawing room. Theo had paced the floor like a caged animal all through the night, glancing up towards the ceiling as if his thoughts could somehow hurry the birth along.
No one had wanted breakfast although Beattie had already made endless pots of tea since she had arrived.
Fliss looked as if she might burst into tears at any second and sat right on the edge of her seat, ready to fly upstairs should she be needed.
‘For God’s sake, Theo! Will you please sit down?’ Mrs Montgomery said irritably. ‘Anyone would think you were the expectant father, the way you’re carryin’ on! You’ll wear a hole in the carpet at this rate.’
Theo was just about to do as he was told when a penetrating scream from above faintly reached them. Fliss became a shade paler still, if that was possible, as they all glanced at each other. And then the waiting continued until at last the door opened and a weary Nurse Simmons smiled at them as she wiped her hands on her apron.
‘It’s a little girl,’ she told them. ‘And mother and baby are both doing well. She’s a bonny little thing, as I think you’ll agree when you see her, and Mum did really well for her first baby. She’s got some courage, that one. Now, who would like to go up first? I don’t want her tired out, mind.’
‘We will,’ Theo and Fliss said together and hastily followed the midwife as she set off back up the stairs.
The sight that met their eyes when they entered Adina’s bedroom took their breath away. The midwife had washed both mum and baby and changed the bed, and now Adina was settled back against her pillows with a wide smile on her face and a tiny bundle cuddled to her chest. Her face was so serene that it brought tears to Fliss’s eyes and a rush of envy the like of which she had never experienced before. She knew then that she would have given the whole world to be in Adina’s place.
They approached the bed as Adina pulled aside the snow-white shawl that Beattie had knitted as her gift to the baby, and they looked down on a mop of blonde hair. The child looked nothing like Adina and they could only assume that she took after her father. Her hair was so fair that it was almost white, and her eyes were the colour of bluebells. Her skin was like porcelain and Fliss was sure that she had never seen such a beautiful child in the whole of her life.
‘Oh, Adina,’ she breathed. ‘She’s absolutely lovely.’
‘Perfect is the word,’ Adina replied as she stared at her brand new daughter in awe. She felt as if she might burst with pride and could scarcely believe that this precious child was really hers.
Theo was temporarily lost for words and simply reached out to touch the tiny hand that curled over the edge of the shawl. His eyes were full of tears and he smiled at Adina, who seemed to understand the many emotions that were tearing through him. It had been much the same for her when the midwife had first shown the baby to her. She suddenly felt as if she had waited her whole life for this moment and knew that nothing else would ever compare with it.
‘M . . . may I hold her?’ Fliss asked, and somewhat reluctantly Adina put her tiny bundle into the woman’s waiting arms.
‘Oh Theo,’ she murmured, as he put his arm about them both.
Adina experienced her first pang of alarm. They looked like a little family standing there, but this was her baby!
‘Right, I suggest you get a nice hot cup of tea sent up for Mother now,’ the midwife told the couple, breaking the spell. ‘And hand the child back to Mum now, please. We don’t want anything to interfere with mother and baby bonding.’
Adina sighed with relief as Fliss relinquished the baby back into her arms, then the couple left the room as the midwife began to tidy up and prepare to leave.
‘I shall be back to see you later in the morning,’ she told Adina. ‘Meanwhile, make sure you do as I told you. I don’t want you to even think of setting foot out of that bed. You need your rest now and there are enough people here to look after you. Do you hear me, young lady?’
‘Yes, Nurse Simmons. And thank you so much,’ Adina replied meekly.
With a final smile the midwife left the room and now for the first time since the birth Adina had her few special moments alone with her daughter.
‘Hello, bubbeleh,’ she whispered. ‘I am your mummy and we are going to be so happy together. One day your daddy will come for us, but until then it will be just us two.’
Although she was feeling Karl’s absence more than she could say, she somehow knew in that moment that the most important person in the whole world was now lying in her arms, and she swore softly to herself that nothing and no one would ever part them.
‘So what are you going to call her then?’ Fliss asked later that day as she placed a tray of food on Adina’s lap.
‘I thought I would call her Dorothy,’ Adina replied.
Fliss clapped her hands with delight. ‘That’s lovely!’ she cried. ‘And we can call her little Dottie for short.’
Adina experienced a pang of resentment. Dorothy was her baby and she should decide if her name was to be shortened or not. But then she felt ashamed. Fliss and Theo had done so much for her; in fact, she did
n’t know how she would have managed without them. It was only natural that they should want to be involved. They obviously adored the child already. Theo had been out briefly and come back with the most enormous teddy bear that Adina had ever seen. She had no idea where he had managed to get it from but was sure it must have cost a fortune. He had not stopped beaming all day and was walking about looking like a cat that had got the cream.
The baby had barely whimpered and was so good that none of them knew she was there.
As yet, Mrs Montgomery had not seen her as Fliss had insisted that Adina should sleep. Adina wondered how she would react to the child. Would she resent the fact that the baby was hers and not her son’s?
She found out early that evening when the old woman came into the room, leaning heavily on her son’s arm. Adina had just fed the baby and now Dorothy was sleeping contentedly on her mother’s chest with her long eyelashes curled on her cheeks.
‘You can leave me now.’ Mrs Montgomery flapped her hand dismissively at her son as she settled down into the bedside chair, and with a wink at Adina, Theo quietly slipped away.
‘So, that’s all the messy stuff out of the way then,’ the old lady said abruptly.
‘If you mean the birth – yes, it is,’ Adina replied.
‘So now what?’
‘What do you mean?’ Adina was beginning to feel apprehensive and it showed on her face as she held the child tighter to her.
‘Well, what have you got to offer her? How will you provide for her? Don’t you think she deserves a father?’
‘She has a father,’ Adina said steadily. ‘And I’ll manage somehow.’
‘Huh! Easier said than done with the world the way it is at the moment,’ Mrs Montgomery said shortly. ‘The war may be over but it will be years before things are back to normal.’
Adina remained silent, determined not to get into an argument as the old woman peered closely at the baby.
‘She’s a pretty little thing, I’ll give you that,’ she muttered, ‘but now let’s talk sense, shall we? How about I make you a cash offer to go back home and leave the baby here with us?’
A Band of Steel Page 27