Early in April after Holly had taken a patient down to the operating theatre she was heading back to the ward when someone tapped her on the shoulder. Plastering a polite smile to her face, she turned, but when she saw who it was, her mouth gaped open in delight.
‘Richard! You’re back!’ They were in the middle of a very busy hospital and it was all she could do to stop herself from launching herself into his arms. ‘But why didn’t you tell me you were coming?’
He chuckled. ‘I didn’t know myself till the middle of last week and I wanted to surprise you. I was going to come round to the flat this evening if I didn’t bump into you at work.’
Her eyes were glued to his face. ‘And your exams?’
He shrugged. ‘Waiting for the results. They should be through by the end of next week but I thought while I was waiting for them I may as well come back to work.’
‘Oh, I’m so glad you did.’ From the corner of her eye, she spotted Matron coming along the corridor so she told him quickly, ‘I’d better get back to the ward but hopefully I’ll see you in the canteen at lunchtime.’ She turned and walked on very sedately, although her heart was hammering with joy in her chest.
That evening she cooked them both a meal at the flat: his favourite lamb chops followed by a rhubarb crumble and custard she had made herself. When they had eaten she ignored the dirty pots and they curled up on the sofa together to catch up on all they had done since the last time they’d been together, not that there was much they hadn’t already told each other in their letters. Holly had dressed in a pretty blue dress and left her fair hair loose, as he had always said he liked it, and now as he ran his hands through it she shuddered with delight. At last she could understand why Ivy had succumbed to Jeremy’s embraces. Love was a heady feeling, but even though they had shared some very passionate kisses, they had managed to stop themselves from going any further.
‘I’ve missed you so much,’ she murmured as he covered her face in feather kisses and his hand stroked her back leaving trails of fire in its wake.
‘Not as much as I’ve missed you,’ he responded throatily.
She giggled. ‘I bet you didn’t even give me a thought with all those pretty nurses about.’
‘There could never be any as pretty as you.’ Suddenly he sat up and straightened his tie. ‘I, er … think it’s time I was going. You’re making me forget myself,’ he told her with a grin.
Long after he had gone she floated around the flat washing pots and tidying up with a smile on her face. She knew now without a shadow of a doubt that Richard was the one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with and she prayed that he felt the same way about her. But only time would tell. For now she was content to spend as much time as they possibly could together really getting to know each other.
It was the third week in April when Holly got home one evening and found Miss May waiting for her. ‘Oh, Holly,’ she looked concerned. ‘I’ve hung back to pass a message on, my dear. Your mother just telephoned the shop, she didn’t know how to get in touch with you at the hospital.’
‘What’s wrong?’ From the expression on the woman’s face, Holly was certain something was wrong.
‘It’s young Ivy. Apparently she’s having the baby. In fact, she might have already had it by now and your mother said to let you know she’ll keep you informed.’
‘Thank you.’ Holly watched the woman bustle away then, making a hasty decision, she flew upstairs, quickly changed her clothes and snatched up a bag. Ivy needed her and she intended to be there for her. In that moment she gave no thought to Richard, who she was supposed to be meeting that evening, nor to what Matron might say if she didn’t turn up for work in the morning. She just knew that she needed to get to Ivy as soon as possible.
Thankfully, when she reached Euston there was a train due to leave for Nuneaton imminently so she hastily bought a ticket and climbed breathlessly aboard.
By the time it chugged slowly out of the station Holly had worked herself up into a right old state and could hardly sit still. Would Ivy be all right? What if something went wrong? A million questions to which she had no answers floated around her head as she stared impatiently from the window.
At last the train slowed and as it pulled into Trent Valley Railway Station she leapt from the carriage before it had barely stopped and set off at a run for home.
‘Holly … what are you doing home?’ Her mother gasped as she almost fell in through the front door.
Emma was taking yet another jug of hot water up to the midwife and was shocked to see her.
‘I got your message from Miss May when I got home from work and I came straight away,’ Holly panted as she tried to get her breath. ‘How is she?’
Emma smiled. ‘It shouldn’t be long now, hopefully. Unfortunately first babies do have a habit of taking their time. The midwife is up there with her and we have the doctor on standby too but we’re hoping we won’t need him. She’s done really well up to now and she’s been very brave.’
Holly flung her coat at the cook who was hovering about like a nervous mother hen.
‘I’ve put her in the room next to mine,’ Emma told her as she started up the stairs and seconds later Holly raced along the landing and burst in.
Ivy was sitting up puffing and panting and the nurse in attendance smiled at her. ‘Hello, you must be Holly. She’s been telling me all about you between pains but I don’t think she expected you to be here.’
Ivy looked up and tears instantly welled in her eyes as she held her hand out to her friend.
‘Blimey, I ain’t half glad to see you,’ she welcomed her in a wobbly voice. ‘This givin’ birth don’t half hurt.’
Holly grasped her hand. It was hot and sweaty and Ivy looked exhausted. She started to pant then and the nurse told her, ‘Lie back down now, there’s a good girl, and I’ll have a peep at what’s happening.’ Ivy sank back against the damp pillows, her face chalky white as the midwife lifted the sheet and peered beneath it.
‘Ah.’ She smiled with satisfaction. ‘I think we’re almost there. Now on the next pain I want you to push down when I tell you. Do you think you can do that?’
Ivy gave a feeble nod and as the next excruciating contraction built she winced and clamped her mouth tightly shut but she didn’t cry out loud. Beads of sweat stood out on her forehead and dribbled into her eyes and Holly had never felt so useless in her life. She had assisted midwives on a number of deliveries in the maternity ward back at the hospital but she realised now that it was a different thing entirely when it was someone you cared about giving birth.
‘Right now,’ the midwife urged encouragingly. ‘Push with all your might!’
Ivy’s chin rested on her chest as she did her best to do as she was told but her strength was waning now. Even so the midwife seemed pleased with her effort. ‘That’s it, good girl, now rest till the next one comes along and then I want you to do the same again.’
The same process was repeated seconds later and this time the woman smiled her approval. ‘Well done, Ivy. I can see the baby’s head now. You’re almost there.’
‘I … I don’t think I can push any more,’ Ivy whimpered. She was clutching Holly’s hand so tightly that it had turned white.
‘Of course you can,’ the midwife told her in a no-nonsense sort of voice. ‘One more mighty push should do it and it’ll all be over, then you can meet your baby.’
‘You can do it,’ Holly told her, adding her voice to the midwife’s. ‘Come on, Ivy, don’t let us down.’
And so as the pain became so bad that Ivy was sure it was going to rent her in two, Ivy made one last gargantuan effort and was rewarded when she felt something slither out of her into the midwife’s waiting hands.
Holly dared to look then as tears of joy streamed down her face. ‘Oh, Ivy, you’ve got a little girl and she’s beautiful,’ she breathed as the nurse laid the child on the bed. She quickly cut the cord and it was only then that Holly realised with a shock that was like a smack in the face that the child wasn’t crying.
Ivy must have realised it at the same time because she lifted her head weakly and swiping the sweat from her eyes she shrieked, ‘Why isn’t she crying? What’s wrong?’
Totally ignoring her the midwife swung the child in the air and after dangling her upside down she gave her a sharp slap on the back. Still only silence save for the sound of the logs spitting on the fire and the tick of the clock on the shelf. Emma had joined them now and she began to wring her hands anxiously. The nurse almost threw the baby onto the bed and pinching her nostrils together she began to breathe into the child’s mouth. Still silence. She turned the child and slapped her smartly on the backside and suddenly the baby opened her mouth and her protesting wails echoed around the room.
‘Oh, thank God.’ Holly felt almost faint with relief. She had feared that the child was dead but she was certainly making her presence known now.
With a broad smile the nurse wrapped the baby in a towel and laid her on her mother’s chest before Ivy could protest. She had been adamant that she didn’t even want to look at the child when it was born but now the strangest thing happened. Her arms cradled the baby instinctively and the look of shock changed to one of tenderness as she stared down at the indignant little face.
‘Well, hello there,’ she whispered with a look of awe on her face. ‘You certainly gave us a scare then, didn’t you?’
Holly and her mother both simultaneously sighed with relief. It was beginning to look like Emma wasn’t going to have to search for any adoptive parents after all.
‘Right, that’s enough of that for now,’ the midwife teased as she took the baby from Ivy’s arms after a few minutes and plonked her into Emma’s. ‘We need to get this afterbirth delivered and get you cleaned up, so madam here can go for a bath too.’
Emma was only too delighted to do as asked as she skipped from the room with Holly close behind her.
In the kitchen the child was bathed and changed into the tiny clothes Emma had laid ready as Cook and Holly cooed over her. Even Holly’s grandfather ventured into the kitchen to take a peep at the new arrival.
‘Hmm, she’s got a good pair of lungs on her,’ he commented and hurried back to his study to leave them to what he called ‘women’s stuff’. Even so his eyes were damp as he thought back to the night his late wife had given birth to Emma and the utter joy he had felt as he had caught his first sight of her. He hadn’t been able to believe that he could produce someone so perfect, nor believe now that he had been such a fool as to hold Holly at arm’s length for all those years, just because her mother had chosen to disobey him when she met Holly’s father. He sighed. There was nothing like old age and the awareness of your own mortality to force you to confront unwelcome truths about yourself. He just hoped it wasn’t too late to make it up to her.
Once the baby was clean and dressed, Holly carried her back upstairs to her mother while Emma followed with a large tea tray and some shortbread biscuits.
Ivy had washed and changed by then and she held her arms out for her baby immediately, and Holly and her mother exchanged a relieved glance.
‘I thought you might be a bit peckish after all that effort so I’ve brought you some biscuits,’ Emma told her.
‘Peckish? I’m bloody starvin’,’ Ivy declared in her own indomitable way. ‘Just pass the tray over here!’
They all laughed as she balanced the baby in one arm while snatching at the biscuits with another.
‘And when you’ve had your fill it’ll be time to give the baby hers,’ the midwife warned as she washed her hands in the bowl Emma had placed ready for her, but Ivy didn’t even flinch let alone protest.
Minutes later the baby was suckling at her mother’s breast and Ivy had a blissful smile on her face.
‘So what are you going to call her?’ Holly could hardly drag her eyes away from the happy picture.
Ivy frowned. ‘Well, seein’ as I weren’t plannin’ on keepin’ her I haven’t given it a lot o’ thought, but somethin’ will come to me.’
‘Does that mean you are planning on keeping her now then?’
Ivy grinned sheepishly as she glanced up at her friend. ‘Too bloody right I am! She’s just perfect, ain’t she?’
‘Absolutely,’ Holly and Emma agreed in unison and then they were all laughing again.