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by Dizzy Girl

  “These were in the window last week. It’s Lucy’s birthday soon. I thought I’d surprise her. What do you think?”

  “They’re stunning” I said. “She’ll love them. I don’t think she will be expecting anything quite so nice, in fact. One year she gave me a hand drawn voucher for a night out once she’d been paid. It was two more years before I could redeem the damn thing. It was a good evening. The next day however…” . I pulled a face, as if I could convey how unpleasant the next day had been. I don’t think I managed to do justice to how earth shaking the hangover had been as she carried on.

  “Lucy refused to let me pay any rent, she says once I start getting paid in a month or so we can think again, but right now she’s saving me a fortune. And more importantly, it would be nice to give her something special, it’s been an amazing few months together” Laura said, pointing the earrings out to the shop assistant. I wandered round the shop whilst she chose a presentation box and paid for them.

  The displays of diamond rings were breath taking. The shop had set spot lights into the display case and the jewels sparkled like miniature rainbows. I found myself daydreaming about how it would feel to be wearing an engagement ring from Sunny. The shop assistant handed Laura her bag and asked if I wanted to see anything. There were some solitaire rings that looked like they had half an iceberg set in them. They cost as much as a month of our mortgage, and I couldn’t imagine myself with one of those.

  There was one at the back with a larger stone in the middle, set with small sapphires on either side. I’m not sure how it happened exactly but I found myself trying it on. As beautiful as it looked on display, on my hand it looked tiny and made me feel like I had bananas for fingers. I took it off and sadly handed it back. I wondered what Sunny would think if he saw me eyeing up the rings.

  We were just about to leave when one last display case caught my eye. The majority of the case was filled with ladies wedding rings, simple and elegant. But at the back there were just a few men’s rings. Most were simple gold bands, nice, but not very different. But there was one, in white gold with a band of a darker metal running through it which caught my eye.

  For the rest of the day, through breakfast, lunch, and especially the drive home I found myself thinking about it.

  Chapter Thirty Five

  A large white transit van beeped at me as I crossed the road. I was about to turn around and shout at the driver when I saw that it was Mark. He grinned, pulled over at the kerb and jumped out. He opened his door and showed me the boxes in his living room, all packed and ready to load. “Charlie was worried that I’d never get it all packed and moved today so she made me get started last week” he said.

  “That sounds like a good idea” I said, following his into his flat.

  “I can collect the keys at 2pm, so I’ve got a few of the lads coming at 2.30pm to grab the first of the boxes. That gives me”, he looked at his watch, “two more hours to finish packing.”

  “Have you got much more to do?” I asked, looking around, and then noticing the pictures still up on the walls, and the clothes on the floor.

  “A few bits” he admitted. “Fancy a cuppa?”

  “Is the kitchen packed up?” I asked.

  “I thought I’d do that last in case anyone needed refreshments.”

  “That makes sense I guess” I admitted, “but you do know you need to be out by the end of the day don’t you?”

  “I guess we’d better get started” he said with a shrug. I loved how calm he was, if it had been me trying to move house I’m sure I’d have been in a panic trying to get it all packed. Mind you, I’d probably have started earlier.

  Mark pointed me to a stack of flat pack boxes. I started building and taping them together and passed them to Mark to fill. He would disappear off and bring it back to me filled up. I’d try to label it as best I could and then stacked them up along the wall.

  By half past two we had packed up his room, the bathroom, most of the kitchen and were starting to take his posters down from the walls. Tyrone and Steve turned up just before three, cracked open a beer each and started carrying boxes out to the van.

  By half past three, somehow, the flat actually started to look bare and I started to hope that we might actually be able to finish in time. I looked in the box that Mark had just brought out. It seemed to have clothes, CDs, a mug and a rubber plant in it. I took the pot out before it spilled soil everywhere, labelled the box ‘random living room stuff number eight’ and taped it shut.

  Mark handed over the next box. I peeked in and found an enormous glass bong. I labelled the box ‘charity shop’ and hoped they would know what to do with it. At four o’clock Charlie and Jason came to see how we were getting on. Mark picked up a box labelled ‘random bedroom type things’ and took Jason out to show him the van.

  “The guys have done two trips already” I told Charlie. “This should be the last one from the flat. Then Mark can go and give the key back.”

  “That’s great” said Charlie. “Thank you for all the help, I don’t know what we’d have done without you.”

  “Don’t mention it” I told her. “Besides, Mark says he’s shouting for pizza later.”

  “Good plan, we can eat from the boxes and unpack our kitchen stuff tomorrow. Jason and I didn’t have too much here and it looks like you’ve packed that already. We knew we were moving at some point so we left most of our stuff at Mum’s. Mark reckons after this trip he can get the guys to go back for one more load and bring that this evening. That way we can get the cot set up soon.”

  “How are you feeling?” I asked her.

  “Massive” she said, grinning. “I’m tired, but I can’t wait to meet this little one. It’s been so different this time with Mark here to look after me. He gets me cups of tea, goes out shopping if I say I want something crazy to eat at midnight. I can’t wait to see him holding his baby. He’s going to be a great daddy. And Jason can’t wait. He says ‘Mum, I’m going to teach the baby to read, I’m going to teach her to play football’. I had to tell him, well, your brother or sister might like football one day but it’ll be a few years yet before they’re big enough, so he went into his room and packed up some of his old teddies for the baby to play with instead.”

  “He’s a very sweet boy” I told her. “He’s a real credit to you.”

  She waved the compliment away but I noticed she had a slight blush, and I think she knew I meant it. Jason danced back into the room saying “Mum, Mark says if it’s ok with you he’ll help me paint my new room.”

  “That’s fine” she told him. “But I can’t promise how soon it will be. You might have to be patient if your baby comes early.”

  “I will Mum, I promise” he said with a groan, as if they’d had this discussion many times recently, but the smile stayed on his face and I knew that in his head he was still daydreaming about what designs he wanted.

  Mark walked back in and grabbed another box. He kissed Charlie and headed back out again but she called him to stop. “Thank you for helping make the move so special for Jason” she said, “but please be careful how much you tell him we can fit in before the baby comes.”

  “I will” he said, kissing her again and heading out. Jason grabbed his sleeve and started chatting to him about the colours he was thinking of choosing as they walked.

  “Do you think the baby will come soon?” I asked her. “I thought you had a couple of weeks to go yet?”

  “I do” she said, “but just in case.” I helped her up and she rubbed her back with her hands and stretched out. “I swear I am running out of room in here baby” she said, talking to her bump. I grabbed another box, handed it to Mark as he came to the door and grabbed one more box myself.

  I passed my box to Tyrone and he stacked into the van. It looked like there was just enough room for the few rugs and posters and we’d be done. Mark lifted his box to hand it to Steve, and as he took his hand out from underneath, the bottom of the box gave way and a collection of
books, pens and something made of black and red fabric fell to the floor. Mark reached for it but Tyrone beat him to it, holding up a pair of silk boxer shorts that said ‘hot stuff’ across the bottom, with flames across the front. Mark blushed and stuffed them in his pocket.

  “Hey, look after those” called out Charlie. “Those were a gift. And you can stop laughing” she said, pointing at Steve. “He is hot stuff, how do you think I got into this situation” and she pointed again at her bump.

  Chapter Thirty Six

  Sunny had managed to get the Sunday off work and we spent the day helping out at the new house. Charlie sent them out with Jason to buy paint for his room. She showed me into the kitchen and put the kettle on. Charlie put the coffees on the table, but instead of sitting down with her feet up, which is what I would have wanted to do if I was eight and a half months pregnant, she grabbed a cloth, got down on her hands and knees and started scrubbing the cupboards.

  I took a mouthful of coffee, then felt lazy and grabbed another cloth and joined her on the floor.

  “Can I do this so you can rest?” I asked her.

  “It’s ok. Call it nesting. Besides, the midwife said being on all fours like this gives the baby space to get in a good position ahead of the birth” she assured me.

  “If you say so, but please don’t go into labour on me. Mark will tell me off for not looking after you better whilst he’s out.”

  Charlie laughed and moved on to the next cupboard. “I’ll tell you what, how about I clean down here, and you bring the boxes marked ‘kitchen’ down from the spare room.”

  “Deal” I said, going upstairs to grab them. Charlie’s boxes from her mum’s were easy to spot. They were neatly stacked and labelled. I spotted boxes marked ‘kitchen- pans’ and started to take them down. Charlie pointed to where she wanted them and I opened the box and started putting them away.

  Charlie sang as we worked, starting with ‘summer time and the living is easy’, moving onto to ‘I say a little prayer’, she captured the mood perfectly of the excitement and joy of their first proper home together. Her voice was beautiful, light and tuneful. I hummed along to a few songs, but mostly I just wanted to listen and the time passed quickly. We had cleaned and unpacked most of the kitchen by the time the guys got back.

  By lunchtime the first coat was already on the walls so we put jumpers on and had a picnic in the garden. Charlie decided that they’d have one more night at her mum’s until the paint fumes subsided. Sunny and Jason kicked a ball around in the garden and Mark said that he had one more errand to run and disappeared off before we could find out what it was.

  Charlie went upstairs to unpack and I went to help too, partly to feel useful and partly because she promised me that she’d carry on singing. Most of the house appeared to have been redecorated before it was put on the market, and so Jason’s was the only room which they were painting now. Charlie and Mark were taking the largest room upstairs, and the pale pink walls and salmon coloured carpet complemented the bedspread that Charlie had brought from home. I moved the furniture around until Charlie was happy with the bedside tables and drawers sat, and then brought boxes to her room for her to sort through.

  She pointed to the corner. “I’ve got Jason’s old cot in the loft at Mum’s. Once we’ve got some more of the boxes out the way Mark is going to go and get it and set it up here.”

  I brought in a box with ‘bedroom’ written on the side in Mark’s writing. I passed it to Charlie who opened it and found a bottle of shampoo, a mug and a book inside. “I think I’m going to have a bit of re-training on my hands”” she said. I took the mug down to the kitchen and carried the t-shirts that we’d found in his last box of ‘random kitchen stuff’ back up.

  There was a loud knock on the door. I waited to hear if Sunny opened it, but he must have been still outside playing football as the knock came again. I left Charlie unpacking clothes and went downstairs to find Mark outside, a huge moses basket in his arms. It was made up with frilly sheets than shone white in the sunshine. There was a big yellow teddy at one end that looked like it might well be bigger than a new born baby.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t get my keys and I didn’t want to put it on the floor to get dirty” he said. “There’s a stand in the car, can you grab that for me please?”

  I found a folded wooden base in the car and carried it into the house. I was about to walk into Charlie’s room to give it to her, but from the top of the stairs I could see the moses basket on the bed and Charlie hugging Mark and kissing him. I put it down quietly in the hall and went back downstairs.

  By dinnertime Charlie looked exhausted. Mark sent her up for a bubble bath, let Jason watch a film in the living room and Sunny and I went out to grab a takeaway for tea. By the time we got back Charlie was back down again. “Excuse me for being in my old tracky” she said, pointing at her tracksuit trousers.

  “I think you’ve earned that right” I said.

  Mark spooned her out some rice and curry. “This is the chicken korma” he said.

  “Don’t you have anything hotter?” she asked. “I think I’ll be ready to see if this little one wants to come out soon. I’m starting to get uncomfortable now. I don’t think I’ve slept properly in weeks, though that might have been the stress of moving too.”

  Mark squeezed her shoulder. “I’ve got two more days off to get sorted here, but after that I’ve saved all my leave for after the baby is born.”

  “I’m off tomorrow too” Sunny said. “If we get another coat of paint done tonight, we can get Jason’s room set up while he’s at school.”

  “I wanted to get him some new sheets to go with it” Charlie said, “but I ran out of steam.”

  “I’ll get some tomorrow” I told her. After we’d eaten I walked her and Jason back to her mum’s as the painters got working again.

  It’s amazing how well you sleep after a good day’s work. I didn’t even stir when Sunny got home. The next morning was dry and bright. The leaves were starting to fall and I crunched them as I walked to work.

  At lunchtime I walked up the shopping centre and found some sheets for Jason. They had sets of bedroom accessories too and I added a lampshade, bin and bedside table. I had fun squeezing it all behind my desk and making sure it didn’t get broken on the train ride home. I went straight to the new house to drop the shopping.

  Jason greeted me at the door. “Come and see my room aunty Amy” he said, grabbing my hand and dragging me in.

  Sunny and Mark had painted it claret and blue, and there a large West Ham United crest painted on the wall opposite Jason’s bed. Jason high fived Mark and Sunny and Charlie looked on with a smile. “This little one better like football too” she said, rubbing her belly.

  “It’s lucky that a little birdy told me that you liked West Ham too” I told Jason. I gave him the bags I’d brought and he pulled out the claret and blue sheets. When he found the lamp shade and other bits with the crest on too he dropped the bag and ran over to give me a hug.

  “Thank you Aunty Amy” he said.

  “My pleasure” I told him.

  Charlie hugged him and said thank you to Sunny and I for all our help getting them settled in. We all walked back downstairs and were just saying goodbye at the door when Charlie put her hands on her belly and groaned.

  Chapter Thirty Seven

  “Are you ok Mum?” Jason asked. The rest of us just stood there, watching. Charlie took a deep breath, then straightened up.

  “Yes, I’m fine, just a Braxton hicks I think. I’ve been getting a few today.”

  “You didn’t tell me” Mark said, taking her arm and guiding her back inside to a chair. We all trailed back inside again.

  “I didn’t want to worry you. It’s probably nothing.”

  Mark walked upstairs and we heard his voice drifting down calling out “I’ll just get your bag and the baby’s bag out ready just in case.”

  He came back down again a minute later with two enormous suitcases. “Whe
n you said you were going to help me pack them I didn’t realise you were going to pack all my stuff” Charlie told him.

  “I didn’t want you to need anything” Mark said, putting the bags in the hall and stopping to give her a kiss. Sunny and I said our goodbyes again and walked back to the door. Charlie stayed in the chair and Mark came to show us out.

  “Thanks again mate” Mark said, shaking Sunny’s hand and then pulling him in for hug, man style. They shared a bear hug with plenty of back slapping. We waved goodbye, turned left out of the gate and started walking home. I reached for Sunny’s hand and held it as we walked. The streetlamps cast a yellow glow on the street, and despite it not being quite seven pm yet it was dark and the streets felt empty.

  “You doing ok kid?” he asked.

  “I am” I assured him. “Tired though, what a busy few days. I fancy some dinner and then a nice hot bubble bath.”

  “On your own or with company?” he asked.

  “Well, now that you mention it, a little company might be nice. You can wash my back. Amongst other things.”

  He started running.

  “What’s the rush?” I called out.

  “I need a bath, urgently” he replied. I ran after him, and we made it home in record time. He opened the door and as we stepped into the hall he kissed me. I ran my hands under his t-shirt and over his smooth stomach and chest. He dropped gently kisses on my neck, sending little electric shivers up and down my spine.

  He lifted me and carried me, as you’d carry a bride over the threshold, into the bedroom. We never did get as far as the bath.

  I woke up at six, feeling rested but ravenously hungry. I made coffee and toasted bagels and carried them back through to the bedroom.