Chapter Twenty

 

IT WAS after William had been employed at the Belvedere for just over three weeks, constituting his twenty-four days of punishment, that Fiona came to see him one afternoon at the Belvedere where he was working and asked him to be sure to come and see her that afternoon when he was finished work, which was usually around 3.0pm and that she would prefer if he would come to the flat straight away, as the news she had for him was very important. Fiona had also arranged to have an afternoon off at the Veterinary practice, as she was afraid that William might think she was making some excuse for him to come and see her earlier than he was used to doing, but she did have news for him and it was news that she was reluctant to tell him in front of the staff at the Home, even if she felt she was obliged to do so …Fiona knew that as her mother had been taken into hospital three days before with an earlier birth than she had anticipated, William should be told, even if she also knew that her mother didn‘t want him to know. Maya had told Fiona that she didn’t want William to know anything about her hospital visit as she was sure it was only a small examination and she would be out within a few hours. Fiona had therefore debated whether or not to tell William, but she felt obliged to do so ever since they phoned her from the hospital, as the baby wasn’t due for another four or five months and was therefore very premature in delivery. Maya had been detained at the hospital as the little one had also been diagnosed as being an ectopic pregnancy and that news worried Fiona, giving her more reason to think that William should be informed, regardless of how her mother felt. She also wondered if the court order which, William was under would allow him to visit the hospital to see Maya as he wasn’t allowed to visit her at her Muswell Hill flat and she decided to phone Reggie Gardner at the police station to ask his advice. Unfortunately Reggie wasn’t at the station when she phoned and she left a discreet message, hoping that he would understand. It was impossible to ask outright in the event that it might even cause trouble, not only for Maya, but also for Gardner.

Two hours later, around three-thirty that afternoon, Gardner phoned Fiona and told her that the situation was difficult due to the fact that Maya was involved in the arrest of William and that Fiona was the reason why William went to the flat in the first place and committed the offence he had done, nevertheless Fiona was expecting a visit from William that same afternoon and time was passing quickly as she looked at the clock, but she hadn’t been long on her own when the bell rang and she straightened anything that seemed to be out of order before she answered the door.

“Hello William. I hope you are well,” she said, feeling inadequate for words and he smiled as he came into the lounge.

“ I came here as soon as I could and I am sorry if I am a little late, but you said you had something to tell me, Fiona ... this afternoon when we spoke ... Was it something to do with Maya ... your mother?” he asked anxiously and Fiona felt worse.

“Oh … it was just to say that she’s fine ... but missing you, naturally and I’m sure you feel the same.”

William nodded and rubbed his hands as he remarked how cold it was outside for that time of the year and Fiona grasped the opportunity again, to divert from her real reason for inviting William and she asked him if he would have tea or coffee ... or perhaps something a little stronger, she suggested with a smile, but William shook his head.

“I’ll have tea if that’s O.K. I don’t drink anything stronger, but thank you anyway. Is Maya alright? I know you said she’s missing me, but how is she in health. She looked a little pale when I last saw her, but you would expect that, wouldn’t you, after all she had gone through. I wish I could go to see her.”

“Oh! Yes . . .mother is a lot better now,” added Fiona but she refrained from saying that Maya was in hospital, nor what she was in there for. She knew she would have to tell William in time, but she hoped she could avoid that subject for as long as possible and once again wished she hadn’t invited him round so soon, but hardly had she concluded her thoughts than the telephone rang again. She excused herself from the lounge and went into the hall.

“Hello ... hello ... yes this is Miss Munroe-Smith.” There was a long silence before Fiona spoke again and even that was just with a gasp as she replaced the receiver and went back to William in the lounge.

“Are you alright, Fiona?” he asked, “You look upset. Sit down. You look as though you are going to faint. Is there anything I can do?”

Fiona sat down clumsily as she tried to regain her breath. In the next few seconds she began to realize just what her mother had meant to her even if they had their differences when she was with her.

“I should go to the hospital,” she called out. “I should be there by now.

I ... I’m afraid I have some bad news William,” she heard herself being obliged to say, “It’s about Maya, I’m afraid …”

William jumped up from where he was sitting and his face was stern.

“Bad news . . . bad news . . . What news …F …F …F… Fiona. T ... T ... T ... Tell me please.”

Fiona swallowed hard and closed her eyes before she realized that William was stuttering badly again …

“It’s ... it’s about mother and I don’t know if you knew that she was pregnant. Did you William?”

“What ... Maya … p ... p ... p ... pregnant ... but how ... Who is the …f ... f ... f ... father of the child?” he demanded to know and Fiona started to cry. “We must … g ... g ... get to the hospital now without delay,” he said, but Fiona grabbed his arm and made him sit down.

“It’s not just the pregnancy, William. Mother was taken into hospital in the last few days to have the baby ... and that’s what I was going to tell you when I invited you round to my flat this afternoon, but it’s more than that.”

William came forwards and grabbed Fiona by both arms.

“In the last …f ... f ... few days,” he gasped “M ... M ... M ...Maya went into hospital in the last few days,” he snapped, and all the stammering that he thought he had conquered returned in that moment “ My God Fiona … w ... w ... why … d … d … didn’t you tell me before this. I would have …g …g … gone there to see her… you know I would. Tell me ... Tell me, Fiona. Tell me what’s wrong. I ... I ... I ... must know . . .” he screamed.

“I don‘t think you would have been allowed to go to see Maya, William, even if she was in hospital, as the court order would ... ” Fiona swallowed her words and didn’t know what else to say, but William cut her short in the middle of her sentence,

“Court order be … d ... d ... damned,” he shouted, I’m going now to the hospital and I … d …d … don‘t care about any b ... b ... b ... bloody… c ... c ... court order any more.”

“Wait ... wait for a moment, William ... Please wait …there is something ... something more you should know. Maya’s child, a little girl, was malformed when she was delivered by Caesarean Section this afternoon and was found to be dead. That was the news I just received from the hospital,” she said softly and William collapsed back into his chair as Fiona tried once more to explain. “You see, William the child; a little girl was an ectopic birth and there were bound to be problems. There always is in cases like this.”

“Exotic birth . . .? What do you …m ... m ... mean, Fiona? Tell me please?”

“No William not exotic, but ectopic and that means the child is born outside of the mother’s womb. It is rare but unfortunately it does happen.”

“But Maya ... what is … h ... h ...happening to Maya now. Can I go and s ... s ... see her?” William pleaded like a child and Fiona put her arms around him.

“My darling,” she said having uttered the words before she realized what she had said ... “William darling, Maya herself bled profusely and the surgeons couldn’t save her either. Her placenta ruptured, you see and she died within minutes of the child being born . . .”

“Placenta ... placenta ... what is that Fiona? I’d ... d ... don’t understand.”

Fiona looked around the room hoping for some possible explanation to such an awkward question.

“The placenta ... well, it’s a circular organ in the uterus of pregnant woman which nourishes and maintains the foetus through the umbilical cord ... and this is ordinarily expelled from the womb after birth. It is no longer functional after the birth, you see.”

William stared at Fiona in silence for a few moments before he let out a horrific scream and started to dance around the room.

“I don’t understand a … w ... w ... w ... word of what you are … s ... s ... saying Fiona ... I only know that I love her. I love Maya. I loved her m ... m ... m ... more than anyone would know,” he cried, “I … n ... n ... not only loved her, I adored her. She was m ... m ... my life Fiona and she meant everything to me ... C ... c … Can you understand that?”

Any exuberance about a new born baby in the family and any joy she could have shared with her mother and her mother’s new partner went out the window as William spoke. Fiona sat biting her nails and wondering what she could tell William in order to give him some sort of consolation . . . Perhaps she had been too radical in her explanation of what had happened . . . but she found it difficult to explain when she was dealing with such a delicate subject as childbirth and when you don’t exactly know what the other person knows about the subject either ... especially William Bright and childbirth. She already had alerted him that she had news for him that afternoon, but things had happened so quickly and the news had changed so drastically, that she wished then that she hadn’t asked William to come to see her that same day … It would have been easier, even if only slightly, if she had delayed William’s visit, but by the time she thought about that it was too late ... and what was worse, when some time later that afternoon, she had telephoned Gardner to tell him the latest news and to ask if William’s court order could be rescinded, or adjusted in some way, to allow him to go to the hospital, but Gardner wasn’t sure himself what could be done in the circumstances.

“It would be O.K. I think ... If the baby was being born, but as it is, it may be a bit too late for that and anyway, we can’t be sure that the baby was his, can we?”

Fiona wanted to assure Gardner that the baby was indeed William’s but she couldn’t go into all the detail that she and her mother had so recently discussed and beside, Reggie Garner being a man wouldn’t want to hear the facts as Maya described them.

“I think we can be sure that William IS the father,” was all she would say and hoped Gardner would accept that explanation and do what he could to help William go to the hospital, but her fears were unfounded because a few minutes later the telephone rang again for Gardner to confirm that there would be no trouble if William went to the hospital and now that Maya was dead, there was even less of a problem for the visit. William was just approaching his twenty- third year and had been with Maya for the last three years.