Midwives came and went, checking to make sure Grace was comfortable. Most of the time, however, it was just the three women, Mia and Freya talking and telling Grace that everything was going to be all right.
It had been this way for millennia, Mia thought. Women helping each other through the scary and painful process, reassuring and comforting, letting the one in labour know she wasn’t alone. She’d never felt the strength of her sex so strongly.
And yet curiously, she missed Colm more than ever. He wouldn’t have panicked if they’d been together and she’d gone into labour, she knew. He’d have been as calm and capable as ever, as supportive and caring as he had that day he’d helped with her back.
How she wished he was there now to massage her aching shoulders. Briefly she wondered whether to take a couple of the painkillers in her purse, but it seemed wrong somehow when Grace was in such pain. It was stupid, she knew it deep down, but somehow she felt as if she was sharing the experience, helping Grace somehow by sharing the pain.
Colm would get cross at that, she thought with some amusement. She could only imagine the look on his face if she’d told him.
Grace gestured for the mask and Freya passed it to her. Grace clamped it to her face and grabbed Mia’s hand. Mia winced as Grace squeezed it, but she didn’t say anything. Was it her imagination, or did Grace look more in pain than she had with previous contractions?
Grace lifted the mask as the contraction passed. “That hurt,” she panted. “I felt like I wanted to push then.”
Immediately, Freya rang the buzzer above the bed. She smiled and rubbed Grace’s hand. “Don’t look so worried!” she said. “The baby’s on its way—it won’t be long now.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The midwife came in and Freya explained what had happened. Together they helped Grace to turn onto her back. Almost immediately after, Grace had another contraction. The midwife examined her and announced she was ten centimetres dilated.
Suddenly everything changed. The lights—which had previously been dimmed—were turned up and the room became a hive of activity.
“I want Ash!” Grace wailed.
“I’m sorry, honey, he’s not going to make it,” Mia said, wishing she could magic him up with a wand. And where the hell had Liv and Isabella got to? “Your mum’s not here yet, either. Do you want us to go out?”
“No, please stay,” Grace begged. “I want you here.”
So Mia and Freya stayed, and took turns holding Grace’s hand as she brought her baby into the world. It took thirty minutes, by which time Mia was almost as exhausted as Grace from all the emotion and stress of seeing Grace working so hard and living every inch up to her name, elegant and beautiful even when she was drenched in sweat and racked with pain.
When the midwife finally lifted the baby out, wrapped it in a blanket and placed it in Grace’s arms, all three of them were in tears.
“It’s a girl,” Freya said, lifting the blanket to check. “Grace, you have a little girl, you clever thing!” She could barely speak.
“Is she all right?” Grace asked desperately.
“Ten fingers, ten toes,” the midwife said with a smile, wrapping a tag around the baby’s foot with Baby Girl Rutherford written on it.
Mia reached out and gently held the miniature hand waving in the air, amazed at what Grace had managed to do. “Oh she’s beautiful,” she whispered, welling up with tears. “She’s so tiny.”
“She’s lovely,” Grace said, tears streaming down her face. “Isn’t she? Isn’t she the loveliest thing in the world?”
“She’s absolutely perfect,” Freya whispered.
Mia had never felt such a strange mixture of emotions. Pride, relief, envy, sadness, exultation, and a dozen other feelings, all mixed up together, caused by love for Grace and her new family, and a longing to experience something the same.
Colm, she thought, biting her lip. I love you. I miss you. Why did he have to live so far away? Was there any way they could make it work?
Her brain mused on the problem while they cooed over the baby, marvelling at her tiny features as the nurses cleared up the room.
“I’ll just take her off to be washed and weighed,” the midwife said. “I’ll be back very shortly.” She lifted the baby out of Grace’s arms.
“Can you let me know when my mother arrives?” Grace asked. “She should have the baby’s first outfits and some clothes for me.”
“Of course.” The midwife left the room.
Mia and Freya stood to one side while the nurses helped Grace up to change her gown and began to run a bath in the adjoining bathroom. Mia felt almost too tired to stand, although it was only just after six. She realised she hadn’t eaten since that morning, as she’d hardly taken a bite of the muffin they’d ordered for lunch in the café.
Just seconds after Grace lay back down in a clean gown, the doors opened and Ash walked in. His face lit up as he saw Grace, and he came forward to give her a huge hug.
Mia and Freya slipped out to give them some privacy. Freya ran up to Nate who was standing outside waiting impatiently, and threw her arms around him.
“I want one,” Mia heard her whisper.
Nate chuckled and murmured something in Freya’s ear, and she giggled and nuzzled his neck.
Mia turned away, the delight and exultation she’d been feeling fading a little at the thought that she didn’t have anyone to hug. Once again she wished Colm was there to share in the event. That was what life was about, she thought. Sharing everything, from your bed to your children to everything else in your life. That was what she was missing.
The doors opened and Ash came out with a huge grin on his face. “I’m going to find my daughter,” he announced, laughing as they came over to hug him. He walked down to the nurses’ station to find her.
Mia sat down and closed her eyes for a moment. Her back ached, and so did her abdomen, and she remembered she had her period. Maybe she’d take a few painkillers just this once. Colm would want me to, she thought, and felt sad again. How long would it be before she stopped thinking like that?
Raised voices echoed along the corridor, and she opened her eyes and frowned. Ash was shouting. Alarm shot through her, and she stood and walked down to him, Nate and Freya close behind.
As she turned the corner, she saw that Grace’s mother, Isabella, had arrived with Jodi and Liv. Isabella looked bewildered, Liv furious, and Jodi was white-faced as Ash yelled at the midwife, his six-foot-four frame looming over her. The midwife was a practical, no-nonsense sort of woman who’d been rather bossy while Grace was in labour, but Mia had been glad of her firm manner at the time. Now, however, the woman looked frightened, which scared Mia almost more than seeing the teddy-bear-like Ash angry.
“What’s the matter?” Mia asked.
The midwife moistened her lips. “A woman came for the baby—she said she was Grace’s mother.”
Mia went completely cold. “She took the baby?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.” The midwife’s eyes filled with panic.
“This is Grace’s mother,” Ash yelled, pointing to Isabella, who looked like she might faint.
“I…I didn’t know…I knew she was about to arrive and I assumed…” The midwife’s voice petered off. She looked like she might be sick.
Mia glanced at Ash, then at Jodi, who was crying, then at Freya, whose face reflected her own fear.
She looked back at the other nurse standing behind the desk, who looked terrified. “Ring the police,” Mia said.
Colm was trying to read, and failing.
He’d attempted to keep himself busy all day—he went into town to get a new pair of jeans, pretending that he wasn’t trying to bump into Mia in the shops and failing miserably as he got depressed when he didn’t see her. Then he called around David’s house and endured half an hour’s teasing about the All Blacks’ victory over the Irish in the rugby the night before. Finally he went
home and tried to watch the Doctor Who series he’d bought in town, only to make himself completely morbid after two episodes.
He didn’t drink, though. He’d had far too much the night before, thrown up most of it, and didn’t think he’d even be able to look at a bottle of Scotch for several months. So instead he lay on the sofa with his book unread, his eyes seeing not the fading light but instead pictures of Mia his mind conjured up, of her laughing, or head tipped in serious thought, or eyes closed in pleasure as they made love, her body soft beneath his.
How was he going to forget her? Maybe over time, when he was back in Ireland and half a world away, the memory of her would fade and eventually he’d convince himself things couldn’t have been as great as he’d remembered, and another girl would come along and he’d be able to put Mia’s ghost to rest.
The thought made him unutterably sad.
So when the phone rang, it was a welcome distraction from his thoughts, and he picked the receiver up with a surge of relief.
“Hello?” he said.
“Colm?”
He recognised Mia’s voice immediately, and delight flooded through him. “Mia. Honey. Hi.” Then he registered the strange tone in her voice. “Are you okay?”
“Not really.” She cleared her throat. “Grace had the baby.”
He went cold. “What happened? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine—well, she’s not fine but… I mean the birth was fine, and the baby was fine… It’s not that…”
He heard her swear softly to herself. Something had happened—he could sense it. He forced his voice to stay calm. “It’s all right, honey, take it slowly. Tell me what happened.”
“The baby’s gone,” she said huskily.
“Gone?” He blinked.
“A woman came in pretending to be Isabella—Grace’s mother. She was late, you see, and the midwife was expecting her, and she didn’t know what she looked like, so when the woman said she was Mrs. Fox, she didn’t think to question her. It’s not her fault, really, she’s awfully, awfully upset, but Ash, he’s so angry…”
“Fucking hell.” He clenched his fists. “The stalker?”
“It must be. The midwife’s done one of those sketch things with a police artist, and it’s in the news and everything, but the baby’s gone, Colm. And she’s so tiny, Grace only held her once… And Grace is usually so strong, but this…” She swallowed, and Colm actually heard the gulp.
“You want me to come over?” he said softly.
She hesitated. “The thing is…they have no idea where she’s gone. She could have gone to the airport, or taken a car and driven out of the city. She could be anywhere. Colm, I was wondering… I know it’s asking a lot, and you said you didn’t want to use it again, but…would you try it? You know, your gift? Hold the baby’s blanket or something?”
He clenched his teeth. Selfishly, disappointment and hurt swept over him. She didn’t want to see him because she needed him. She wanted him to help find the baby.
He didn’t want to use his ability. The anger he’d felt when he’d first learned the man he’d hoped was his father was dead had faded a little, but his determination to never again trust his special talent hadn’t disappeared. He’d felt foolish and embarrassed that his daydreams had led him to that lonely cemetery. His reasons for thinking that Robert Green was his father were no more substantial than the rainbow he’d seen arching briefly in the misty sun across the graveyard. He was done with the psychometry, or whatever it was called. It contains the word psycho for a reason, he’d told himself. Never again.
But stronger than his reluctance to use it was the urge he felt to yell at Mia for putting Grace’s needs above his own. Unreasonable, he knew. Cruel. Childish even. But none the less real for that.
“If I failed,” he said hoarsely, “I’d feel terrible. I’ve never used it for something like that, Mia. I don’t think I could cope if I couldn’t get anything, or even worse, led the police to the wrong place.”
But even as he said it, his own words when they parted—It’s just going to make it harder when I do eventually go—and her answering response—Well, that’s fucking cowardly—came back to haunt him. She’d been right then, and it was no less appropriate now. He was a coward. Afraid to use his ability in case he got it wrong. Scared to give them hope in case he let them down. As frightened of failure now as he had been all the years he’d refused to use it, just as he was afraid to commit himself to her in case it all went wrong.
“Colm…” she whispered, and he heard the despair in her voice. His head cleared. He had to try.
“I’ll—” His voice broke like it used to when he was thirteen, and he cleared his throat and tried again. “Of course I’ll come.”
She exhaled in a rush and he could almost feel her relief down the phone line.
“Which hospital are you at?” he asked. She told him, and he said, “I’ll leave now and be there in ten minutes.” He paused. “Mia?”
“Yes?”
He took a deep breath. “I love you.”
He hung up.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Mia paced the floor impatiently as she waited for Colm to arrive. Her heart had been pounding since she’d first seen the look on the midwife’s face, but now she felt as if she’d been running, it was racing so hard.
He said he loved me. She shook her head, trying to concentrate on what was important—that he’d agreed to try to use his ability to find the baby, that there was hope for Ash and Grace, who were falling apart. She hadn’t told Grace, aware that she shouldn’t give false hope in case Colm couldn’t see anything, but Ash had overheard her phone call and asked what was going on, so she’d told him. His face had lightened, but he’d nodded when she suggested he keep it quiet for now.
He’d told her that he’d tried to ask for help from the Other Side, from his spirit guides or whoever it was he talked to when he carried out his work, but said it was as if he were watching a fuzzy TV—that nothing was coming through, probably because he was so anxious. He was angry and upset that he couldn’t help Grace, that he couldn’t find his daughter when he’d helped so many people in the past, but he was level headed enough to know he was doing his best and that he had to remain calm, for Grace’s sake, if nothing else.
Colm loves me… She shook her head again. Concentrate, Mia. In the big scheme of things, her love life was at the bottom of Things That Are Important. All that mattered now was that Colm arrive and try to see if he could get any information from the blanket the baby had been wrapped in, which the midwife had put to one side after changing the baby into an all-in-one.
Still, the glow that had warmed her when he said the words refused to die down.
She paced the floor impatiently, knowing Freya and Nate were watching her. Liv had taken Isabella home with her to rest. Isabella had been distraught at the disappearance of her granddaughter, full of guilt and knowing that if she’d answered one of Mia’s phone calls, she would have been at the hospital earlier, and this might never have happened. She’d had to be sedated, and they’d decided it was more upsetting for Grace to see her mother so distraught, so Liv said she’d take her home and put her to bed for a while.
Jodi had remained, white faced and silent. Her tears had dried up, though, and she was now sitting in the private room Grace had been moved to, holding her hand while Ash came and went, talking occasionally to the police officers before returning to his wife.
It felt like forever, but in the end it was only eight minutes before Colm arrived at the doorway to the maternity ward, stopped there by two police officers, who confirmed with Ash that Colm was who he said he was before letting him through.
Stable door and bolted, Mia thought distractedly, nevertheless glad of the uniforms surrounding them all at that moment. Who knew what the crazy woman would do? Dump the baby and come back with a knife in her hand? She tried to not to cry at the thought. Although the woman was a psycho, Mia was sure the woman wouldn’t hurt the baby. In
her twisted mind she probably thought she was looking after it for Ash or something, and as she obviously idolised him, she would probably take care of his daughter, maybe even pretending it was her own.
She wasn’t going to think about it. It made her feel sick.
She watched Colm come through, stop in front of Ash and hold out his hand. They shook, saying nothing for a moment, stoic as many men are in times of emergency.
Then Ash said, “Thanks for coming.”
“I’ll do my best,” Colm said.
Ash nodded, and then Colm turned and his eyes searched the lobby. His gaze fell on Freya and Nate standing talking quietly to one side, and he flashed them a quick, sad smile, before his gaze moved on to Mia.
She hesitated, wondering if he’d be cool or detached—she knew she’d upset him by implying she only wanted him there to help with the baby. She’d been frightened of telling him she needed him in case he turned her down again.
But he walked forward to her, put his arms around her and hugged her tightly.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, although she wasn’t sure if he meant for their argument or because of the baby.
She nodded, trying not to cry. There would be time to talk about themselves later. For now, she had to concentrate on Ash and Grace.
He stepped back and squared his shoulders. “Okay. I’m ready.” He glanced at the police officers who were watching him curiously. He was obviously aware Ash had told them of his ability. “What will happen if I get anything through? Will they believe me?”
“Ash is friends with someone up high on the force,” she said. “And it’s a baby, Colm. They’re willing to try anything.”
He nodded. He looked nervous. “Okay. There’s a blanket?”
She led him across the lobby and into a large room with chairs and a TV, presumably somewhere the new mothers could hang out in between feeds and baths. It was empty now, coming up for eighty thirty, the only light from a lamp in the corner.
He turned as Ash came in, carrying the blanket.
Talking Sense: Sensual Healing, Book 3 Page 18