Tom spent the afternoon hovering outside the squat that Sheila and Bobby lived in, hoping she might come out and he could try to talk some sense into her. Hours passed and there was no sign of anyone coming or going, until a gang of lads arrived, around five. They spotted Tom and paused to give him the stink eye. Then one of them swaggered his way over to Tom.
‘You that doc?’ he said.
Tom nodded. He took a guess, correctly as it happened. ‘And you’re that Bobby.’
They sized each other up.
‘We don’t need you or your kind around here. Fuck the fuck off,’ Bobby said.
‘I just wanted to check that Sheila was OK,’ Tom said.
‘The first time I ask nicely. The next …’ Bobby looked behind him and nodded. Two lads walked towards Tom.
Tom held his hands up and said, ‘I’ll leave. But tell Sheila I’ll be in the usual spot if she needs me.’
He was still fretting about her and her unborn baby when he settled down to sleep later that night. Bobby’s pupils were so dilated, they were big black dots in his eyes. What if she went into labour in that squat, with only him to help her? Oh, Cathy, what a mess. He closed his eyes and remembered another baby, another time …
Mikey came into the world screaming with defiance and attitude.
‘A bruiser, like his father,’ Tom said with pride to Cathy who, despite her herculean efforts in labour, was as jubilant as he was at the arrival of their little man.
Tom had found the past couple of hours particularly difficult. Not that he was in any way comparing his discomfort to his wife’s, but as a doctor he knew too much. Every monitor, every check-up made him nervous. What was this baby doing to Cathy? Why was her blood pressure so high? Why wasn’t labour progressing quicker? Of course Tom had kept all of his worries to himself. Instead he quizzed his new colleague, Annemarie, who’d begun working alongside him a few months back. He fretted and he made bargains with God that involved a delivery from a stork of a perfectly formed, healthy baby, with no pain or suffering for Cathy.
In the end it all went perfectly to plan. And Cathy took every pain in her stride, remaining focused on one thing only – the safe delivery of their child. Tom realised with acute clarity that this woman was a thousand times stronger than he would ever be.
When Mikey was placed on Cathy’s chest, skin to skin, Cathy’s face changed. Tom felt privileged to witness it. He had felt pride in his life many times – when he graduated from medical school, when he watched his bride walk down the aisle towards him and their new life, the first time his medical intervention resulted in a saved life. But this moment, in that small labour suite that smelled of blood and sweat, was the proudest of all.
They settled into their new normal very quickly. Weeks became months and Tom and Cathy continued to be besotted with their life. They had listened to friends bemoan the state of their marriages once kids came along. It wasn’t like that for them. Instead, it was as if Mikey solidified the love they had for each other.
Of course Tom and Cathy fought the odd time. They could go weeks, months sometimes, without so much as a cross word, then something small would trigger one of them off. Tom knew that he could be a grumpy sod sometimes. He liked a bit of a barney. Felt good to let off some steam, shout a bit.
Cathy would say, ‘Don’t be a dick. It doesn’t suit you.’
Tom would in turn make her remember that he was indeed a charming fecker.
And so, their lives went by in a happy flash.
Until they didn’t any more.
He opened his eyes and blinked back tears. He felt … anger? No. His rage was long gone. Disappointed. Yes, that was how he felt. Disappointed in himself. In Cathy. In how their life had ended up, him on this bench, with only his memories and nothing else. Before he could allow the darkness to overcome him, Bette Davis barked and ran up the footpath to greet DJ and his two pals from the hotel, Cormac and Anna. And a thought jumped into his head that surprised him. If he wasn’t on this bench, then maybe he would not have met Ruth and DJ again. Curious, that.