The Heartbreak Cafe

by Melissa Hill

  ‘Honestly Emer, I didn’t know. But either way, it doesn’t matter. It was wrong and I’m sorry but it’s over now, I told him that.’

  Hearing this, Ruth looked at her friend with interest. Somehow she’d presumed that even after finding out that Emer was pregnant, Trish would have carried on the affair irrespective of his wife’s feelings. But perhaps she did have a heart after all.

  ‘Oh, how nice of you!’ Emer trilled, her voice a high falsetto. ‘So tell me this, how am I supposed to pick up the pieces? How do I tell my daughter and my unborn child that their father is a cad who pretends to be working for their future, but is really out with the town whore?’

  ‘Now hold on a second…’ For some reason, Ruth felt duty bound to defend Trish, even though there was nothing to defend. But she had never seen her friend like this before, looking so small and ashamed and very obviously affected by it all. It was clear that despite her bravado, Trish really did have feelings for this Dave, married and all that he was. And learning of his wife’s pregnancy had clearly hurt her a lot more than she’d let on.

  ‘It’s OK Ruth,’ Trish said softly, before turning again to Emer. ‘You’re right and I’m sorry. I really don’t know. I guess I never stopped to think … about you or the children. Please believe me, I’m really sorry.’

  Emer seemed taken aback, and somewhat disappointed that Trish wasn’t putting up more a fight – any kind of fight in fact. Actually, the poor woman looked defeated and who could blame her? Ruth thought. To find that her so-called perfect life in the country hadn’t worked out after all? She recalled Nina telling them that this particular woman spent a lot of time lording it over her friends, and she thought not for the first time, that you never really had any clue what went on behind closed doors.

  Up until recently, this Emer woman thought she had it sussed, but how wrong she was. It almost put Ruth’s own problems into perspective. At least there was a chance she could go back to LA and pick up the pieces. It would be difficult, especially with a baby in tow, but she was willing to give it a shot. The problem was that she wasn’t sure if her heart would be in acting now, but what else could she do? That life was all she’d ever known.

  Just then there was some kind of commotion from inside the café and Ruth turned to see one of the waitresses rush to the doorway. ‘Please, please come inside!’ Alice called to Ruth and Trish who exchanged a concerned glance. What on earth was happening in there?

  Trish turned to Emer. ‘I’m sorry but I need to go – maybe we can discuss this another time.’

  ‘Oh forget it,’ the other woman said, huffily walking away. ‘There’s nothing to discuss.’

  Ruth and Trish went inside and followed the girl out back to the storage room where they found Nina sitting on boxes and breathing heavily.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Ruth gasped.

  Nina looked up helplessly. ‘My waters broke.’

  ‘You’re kidding!’ Trish exclaimed. ‘I thought you had a few more weeks to go?’

  ‘So did I,’ she said, panicking, ‘but it must be early.’

  Just then a contraction ripped through Nina’s body and she let out a howl.

  ‘We need to get her to the hospital,’ Ruth beseeched.

  Ella looked at Nina with growing trepidation. ‘I know. A lot of things might have happened in this café, but I’m not about to open it up as a maternity ward.

  Trish headed for the door. ‘I’ll go out front – see if I can find someone to give us a lift.’

  Good luck with that, Ruth thought silently. What person in their right mind would risk giving a woman in the throes of labour a lift?

  Poor Nina was writhing uncomfortably on the chair, panting heavily, while Ella held a cold towel to her forehead. Wanting to help, but completely unsure how, Ruth simply held her friend’s hand.

  ‘We’re in luck!’ Trish said bursting back into the room with none other than …

  ‘Charlie,’ Ruth gasped, the words almost catching in her throat.

  He stared at her. ‘Everyone was talking about it outside. I thought … I was worried that …’

  Immediately she understood. ‘No, no, I’m fine,’ she reassured him. ‘I’ve still a long way to go – unlike some,’ she nodded in Nina’s direction. ‘Do you mind?’

  ‘Of course I don’t mind. What can I do?’

  ‘Seriously no,’ Nina protested. ‘I can’t risk messing up your car –’

  ‘It’s not mine – it’s a display model, and I know a good valet service,’ he said, winking at Nina and Ruth noticed, immediately putting her at ease.

  ‘Are you sure?’ she said helplessly. ‘Because I really don’t know how long this will …oww!’ Yet another contraction went through her and she blanched.

  ‘Ella, get whatever we might need, blankets, towels etc. together.’ Charlie quickly took charge and Ruth watched him, impressed by his decisiveness. ‘I’ll bring the car round, so she doesn’t have to go through the café. There’s rear access from here, isn’t there?’

  ‘Yes.’ Ella too was spurned into action and all the activity seemed to have the effect of calming Nina.

  All too soon, she was being helped into the back of Charlie’s car – or one of the garage’s fleet at least.

  ‘Sweetheart, do you want me to call your father?’ Ella asked rather stupidly, Ruth thought.

  This suggestion seemed to bring a fresh wave of pain. ‘No,’ Nina replied, ‘I don’t think I could handle all that just yet.’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Will you guys stay with me?’ Nina pleaded from inside the car, and although she wasn’t keen, Ruth couldn’t ignore the terrified look on the poor girl’s face.

  ‘Of course I will,’ she replied.

  ‘Good idea,’ Trish interjected brightly. ‘But I’ll pass if you don’t mind – this is more Ruth’s kind of thing really. I’ll keep an eye on your stuff though!’

  Cursing Trish, Ruth duly got in the car beside Nina and soon after, Charlie pulled away and headed straight for Dublin.

  ‘That’s it Nina, that’s it,’ Ruth said as she held on tightly to Nina’s hand in the delivery suite of the maternity hospital. Actually it was more like Nina holding tightly to her hand, and Ruth was sure she would have broken bones when this was finished. When they’d reached the hospital, and the midwife had immediately confirmed that she was about to deliver, Nina hadn’t wanted to let Ruth go.

  ‘I don’t have anybody else,’ she’d said tearfully and how could Ruth refuse? And if anything, it was no doubt good practice for her.

  ‘That’s it, keep breathing, keep breathing,’ she reassured her, patting her forehead with a cool washcloth.

  ‘Owww!’ Nina yelled.

  The midwife stood at the base of the bed. ‘We’re almost there Nina, not much longer, one or two more good pushes…’

  ‘Ughhhh,’ Nina moaned, red in the face.

  ‘That it. Here it comes!’ the woman encouraged and Nina’s eyes went wide. ‘Good girl, the head is out now, so all we need now is to push out the shoulders, OK?’

  Nina nodded helplessly and then pushed, struggling for breath. Then all of sudden, the baby came out and after a brief moment, they heard a cry erupt.

  ‘You did it! You did it Nina!’ Ruth cheered.

  ‘I did it, I did it,’ Nina breathed, tears coming down her cheeks.

  ‘Congratulations love,’ the midwife smiled. ‘You have a son.’

  She lay her head back on the pillows, as if in disbelief. ‘I have a son.’

  Ruth leaned forward for a closer look when after all the necessary medical checks, the midwife placed a tiny baby boy in Nina’s waiting arms. He had a shock of dark hair.

  ‘He looks just like you. He’s beautiful Nina; you did such a good job.’ Ruth said smiling.

  ‘Thank you,’ Nina whispered, staring in awe at her baby.

  A few minutes later, when Nina and the baby were settled, Ruth exited the delivery room and pulled off her hospital scrubs. T
o her surprise, she saw that Charlie was still waiting in the hallway.

  ‘Everything going OK?’ he asked, standing up.

  ‘Everything’s already gone actually,’ she said, telling him all that happened over the last hour. ‘A little boy – he’s beautiful.’

  ‘That’s great news – I’m glad we got here in time.’

  ‘Yes, nice driving Schumacher,’ Ruth teased.

  There was a brief silence, until Charlie sighed and turned to look at her. ‘So you’re still here,’ he said.

  ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

  ‘I guess I thought you’d get the next flight back to LA.’

  ‘I told you – I’m finished with that life.’ Well, at least she would be if there was perhaps a life in Lakeview waiting for her. And thinking about the look on his face back in Ella’s when he appeared in the stockroom, she wondered if there might just be a chance. But she figured that this time, she really should put all of her cards on the table. ‘Actually, I can’t go back because I’m getting sued by the network,’ she added wryly.

  ‘Ahh I see, so that’s the reason,’ Charlie said, in a wry tone. ‘You’re only still here because you’re stuck here.’

  ‘Come on Charlie, do you think Ireland or LA are my only options? If I hated it so much here, why wouldn’t I just hop on a plane and go to London or Paris, and do something there? Being so shallow and all…’ she added, deliberately goading him. ‘Of course, the baby wouldn’t exactly make any of that very easy but I’m sure I could manage. I always do.’

  ‘So you are leaving then?’ he said, staring straight ahead.

  ‘I don’t know yet,’ she said honestly. ‘There’s a lot to sort out.’

  He shook his head. ‘When I saw those pictures … of you and that asshole, I wanted to put my fist through the wall.’

  ‘I know and I can only imagine how it looked to you, but surely you must know by now that that’s the way the media works. Everything is spun and slanted and …skewed. It was a set-up Charlie, and maybe you don’t believe me, but I’m telling you the truth. And the truth is that Troy Valentine is a brain-dead moron who is never, ever going to be involved in this baby’s life.’

  ‘You really mean that.’

  ‘Of course I do. Come on, you know how I feel about all that, why would you just assume that I’d go back to LA and take up with him again. It’s insulting.’

  ‘I know, but then again, when it comes to La-La-Land I’ve never really understood the spell it holds over you.’

  ‘Held, Charlie, held. I’m finished with LA. Period.’ They both laughed at her unintentional Americanism and then to Ruth’s disbelief, he reached for her hand.

  She stared at him, her breath frozen in her chest.

  ‘And what about Peter Jackson – and that Oscar?’ he asked, rubbing his finger lightly over her skin.

  ‘They can give it to Scarlett – she needs it more than I do,’ she said haughtily and he laughed again.

  ‘You’d really consider giving up all that for a boring old life in the sticks?’ he asked then and her heart almost stopped.

  ‘I know that life with you could never be boring.’

  Charlie leaned forward and pulled her into a passionate kiss. She threw her arms around his neck as he kissed every inch of her face, her eyes, her mouth, her neck.

  ‘I love you. Never do that to me again,’ she said in between kisses. ‘I need you, we need you.’

  ‘I won’t I swear. I promise I’ll – ‘

  ‘Oh for crying out loud!’ Ruth and Charlie broke apart at the sound of the voice and turned to see Trish striding down the hallway, a bunch of flowers in her hand. ‘Don’t you two ever stop with the melodrama? Hepburn and Tracy eat your hearts out.’

  Chapter 38

  The following morning, after a surprisingly good night’s sleep, Nina was in the maternity ward welcoming the first of her visitors. She was sitting up in bed, and was wearing a pale pink nightgown with her dark hair tied up in a small ponytail. She felt great and couldn’t stop smiling.

  She still couldn’t believe that the tiny baby lying in the crib beside her bed was truly hers. And she especially couldn’t believe that she’d actually considered giving him up. How could she when he was so beautiful?

  She immediately thought back to her and Jess’s conversation last week in Dublin, whereupon Jess had confessed that she herself was adopted but had been reunited with her birth mother a few years before.

  ‘Giving your baby up doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll never see it again,’ she had told Nina kindly. ‘And doing so definitely doesn’t make you a bad person. My birth mum had her own reasons for giving me up and in her shoes, I’d probably have done the same thing.’ She smiled but didn’t elaborate and Nina didn’t like to ask. ‘My adoptive parents are wonderful and gave me a wonderful life, the kind of upbringing my mother wanted for me. I wanted for absolutely nothing and while I might have liked a brother and sister, it wasn’t an option for them. So speaking from experience, if you really feel you can’t give this baby the life you think it deserves, then yes you should consider adoption, but at the same time are you absolutely sure you couldn’t raise it on your own?’

  Today Nina realised Jess was right; millions of women over the years had managed it without partners and she was sure she could too – especially when there were so many people willing to help. Yes, it would be hard but she would make it work.

  Now Jess herself took a couple of tentative steps towards the baby’s crib. ‘Little thing like that sure required a lot of work, eh?’ she said, and Nina caught Brian’s eye and laughed.

  The two looked relaxed and happy in one another’s company and Nina suspected that Jess’s scare had given them both a huge fright, and concentrated their energies on what was most important, their love for each other.

  ‘Well he’s lovely but you can keep it,’ Trish commented. ‘As it is, there’s no chance of me going down that road any time soon,’ she said, and although there was bravado in her tone (as always) Nina knew that deep down she was still hurting over the situation with Dave. A couple of minutes before, she’d looked terrified at Jess’s appearance, obviously worried that Emer’s friend would deck her, but of course Jess did no such thing. Nina wondered how things were between the two women these days.

  ‘Trish, I really can’t wait to see you when you have a baby.’

  Her friend’s eyes widened. ‘So does that mean you’re sticking around?’

  She turned her attention back to her son. ‘Yeah, I’m sticking around,’ she said softly.

  ‘Knock, knock, Mummy,’ Ruth trilled coming into the room, closely followed by Charlie.

  ‘Congratulations Nina,’ he said softly.

  ‘Thank you – we might not have got here in time if it wasn’t for you.’

  ‘My pleasure.’

  ‘Pleasure?’ Trish repeated disbelievingly and they all laughed.

  ‘Seriously, thank you both. Now come and meet my son,’ she said to Charlie, who stared in amazement at the little person fast asleep alongside her.

  ‘What are you going to call him?’ Ruth asked.

  ‘I’m not sure yet, actually.’

  ‘You didn’t have anything in mind?’

  ‘Not really,’ she said and Jess knowingly met her gaze, understanding that she hadn’t picked out any names because she was trying to distance herself from the baby in case she went ahead and gave it up.

  Ruth smiled and looked lovingly at Charlie, who seemed transfixed by the tiny baby. ‘Do you want to hold him?’ Nina asked

  ‘No no, he’s so tiny I’m afraid I’d hurt him.’

  ‘Better learn fast honey!’ Ruth quipped and the others laughed. She smiled at Nina. ‘Won’t it be brilliant, our kids growing up together?’

  ‘Does that mean that you’re sticking around too?’ Trish asked and Ruth nodded and smiled at Charlie.

  ‘Well if I could just give you mums one piece of advice,’ Jess piped up, a grin on her face. ‘
Try and give poor Trish a bit of a break on the baby talk if you can.’

  ‘Thank you! Clearly, a woman after my own heart,’ Trish said, not realising that this was far from the truth and that Jess herself was already on the road to motherhood. ‘But what about Glamazons and the Peter Jackson movie?’ she asked Ruth then. ‘Surely you’re not giving up your chance of Oscar glory for life as a boring old housewife?’

  Charlie and Ruth exchanged smiles. ‘Well, actually Charlie thought a little gold statue might be a nice addition to the baby’s room, so I’m going to try and do the movie after all,’ she grinned and Nina smiled, pleased that the couple had come to some form of compromise about Ruth’s career.

  Just then, another figure appeared in the doorway and she looked up, expecting to see Ella who hadn’t yet been in to visit her. But to her surprise (and considerable confusion) stood her mother.

  Cathy paused on the threshold taking in the scene around her, before her gaze finally focused in on the tiny baby lying alongside her daughter.

  ‘Mum…’ Nina whispered. ‘What are you doing here? How did you …?’

  ‘Hello darling.’

  Charlie put an arm around Ruth’s shoulders and with a brief nod at Nina the two of them left the room. Jess and Brian followed them out, Jess offering Nina’s mother a small smile. Trish got up from the chair next to the bed and walked towards the door. ‘Hey Mrs Hughes,’ she said, glancing sideways at Nina, who recalled that Trish didn’t know Cathy’s current married name.

  ‘Hello …Trish is it?’ the older woman replied. ‘Forgive me, I’m still trying to catch up with recent events.’

  ‘Join the club,’ Trish said as she left.

  There was silence as Cathy – who with her dark hair and petite frame looked like an older version of Nina – approached her daughter. She took a small step forward. ‘You could have told me,’ she said quietly.

  ‘Funny I was just about to say the same thing to you.’

  Cathy inhaled deeply. ‘You mustn’t be angry.’