At midnight, Annie laid aside the seventh Christmas-tree robin she had knitted and stretched, easing her back as she sat beside Sophia, who was propped against pillows, resting between ‘bouts’, as Tilly had just called them. She’d come to check on the ‘brood mare’ and Sophia replied, ‘Just this once I will smile, but if anyone says that again, I’ll draw blood, is that clear?’
Outside the door, Bert laughed, then bellowed, ‘You get yourself out of there, our Tilly, or the missus’ll do us all a good turn and finish you off.’
‘I reckon I should tick you off for that, Bert,’ Steve Oborne said, also from the other side of the door, slurring and sounding a bit wobbly. ‘But there’s no way I’m going to, for she’ll do a better job when she next sees you. But you take care our Sophia, there’s a good lass. We’re off now.’
Tilly touched Sophia’s hair, which was damp with sweat. ‘Aye, never fear, my lass. ’Twill be over with the dawn when they’re in your arms, which is when the hard work begins. But we’re here. It’s that rabble outside the door who are going but wanted to say goodbye.’
‘They’re? You said they’re?’ Sophia gripped Tilly’s hand in panic. ‘Two? Twins? You tell my husband I’ll kill him if he ever comes near me again.’
Tilly laughed. ‘I meant all of ours, each and every babe.’ She looked round at Annie, then Audrey and Maud. ‘Don’t say Eva’s right?’ she whispered, her eyes wide.
Annie grimaced, her eyes showing her uncertainty, but her words were too quiet for Sophia to hear. ‘Course not. Get the men on their way home, and no, they’re not to check on the bairns to get the latest odds, for they’re sleeping.’ The two women smiled at one another.
Leaning over Sophia, Tilly said, ‘As the day wakes, you’ll be part of the gang, right and proper, sweet Sophia.’
As another pain came, Sophia held her hand tightly and Tilly just waited, her fingers whitening. All the women were counting, and then as the wave eased they checked the clock. They would call the midwife again when the pains were down to ten minutes apart. They were seventeen. Sophia opened her eyes, and looked up into Tilly’s. ‘Mum called me sweet Sophia too.’
Tilly eased her hand away, ‘Aye, lass, that’s because you are. She’d be right proud.’
There was a weak smile in return from Sophia, who muttered, ‘There’ll only be the one.’
‘We all say that,’ smiled Annie. They fell quiet, listening to the men murmuring on the landing, then Sophia looked wild-eyed as she tensed. Surely it wasn’t seventeen minutes since the last one?
Audrey was watching the clock while she wiped the sweat from Sophia’s forehead. ‘Fourteen minutes,’ she mouthed to Annie and Maud.
‘It will pass,’ Annie soothed as Audrey replenished the enamel bowl of water from the jug on the side table, dabbing Sophia’s forehead. The women knew it could swing back to seventeen minutes, so Annie returned to her knitting as the men clumped away.
Down in the kitchen, Viola and Sandra kept water simmering as Tilly had instructed, though they still didn’t know why, beyond that sterile water would be needed. Viola whispered to Sandra, ‘I don’t really want to know why, do you?’
Sandra’s look of horror was enough. Reginald and Ralph helped the Factory Girls clear up and now Viola left the pan simmering, and told Reginald, as he arrived, carrying a tray of empty plates and glasses, that Eva had pulled her down onto the bed and asked how the betting was going.
Reginald just laughed, and said, ‘I don’t mind just so long as Sophia is all right, and so is our child.’
It was two in the morning before the party was cleared away. The co-op sat around the table in shifts, drinking tea until three, which was when Annie came down to snatch a drink. ‘May I go and sit with her?’ Reginald asked.
‘Of course, but best to say nowt of sore feet and tiredness, eh. Not sure it went down well last time,’ Annie suggested.
Everyone looked down at their tea, or busied themselves with something, but the sniggering couldn’t be contained. Ralph looked confused. Annie scowled at them all, which made it worse.
‘Lord, they’re all punch-drunk,’ she said. ‘So, up you go when you’re ready. Remember what I said last time. She’ll likely be snappy, because she’ll blame you. She might even be rude. When it gets messy, we’ll turf you out.’ She looked around the table, her hands cradling her cup. ‘I reckon it were a grand party. Did you enjoy it, Viola?’
Viola waved her ring hand. ‘Oh aye, best evening of me life.’
Reginald came round and kissed her cheek, looking relieved that this was something he could do that wouldn’t get him into trouble. ‘And one of ours, to have you accept our oaf as your husband, and us as your family. Sophia was delighted when I told her, but then she … Well, she was busy, so hasn’t had a chance to tell you.’
He looked pale again.
Stan patted his shoulder. ‘Brace up, lad, can’t have you wilting on us. So up those stairs, but quietly. Don’t wake the bairns, stamping about.’
Reginald looked into his cup. ‘May I finish my tea first?’
Ralph’s slap on his back was too hearty, and the tea slopped. Reginald looked around, blinking. ‘Perhaps I’ll go, promising not to stamp around, not to talk about my very, very sore feet, and what’s more, I’ll take my tea with me.’
Stan grinned, then stood up. ‘Let’s be getting home, lads. I could do with a bit of shut-eye. You coming, girls?’
Fran looked towards Annie, who nodded. ‘Oh aye, this isn’t the first time nor will it be the last we’ve seen the dawn in and a new babe at the same time. Just make sure our Ben’s asleep in the attic room. William should be in the box room. If they’re awake and smoking together, tan their behinds. Remember, there’s a meeting here at three, for we have to get on with the pantomime planning.’
They straggled up the steps to the yard, with Ralph bringing up the rear. ‘I’ll see you off the premises, can’t have riff-raff lingering about.’
When they reached their bikes, Ralph pulled at Stan’s arm. ‘Wait, please, all of you.’ Only then did he tell them what Smythe had passed on to him, and which Ralph had whispered to the co-op already. Stan drew deeply on his cigarette, his face grim. ‘I should have known. I’ll bliddy kill the beggar.’
Sarah shook her head. ‘No, you won’t, not before he’s told Smithson that he took the words of a worried mother and turned them into summat else. He’d better tell us who the damned woman is too, because she started it and needs to come clean.’
Stan dropped his cigarette stub, grinding it to dust beneath his boot and nodding. ‘You’re right. We need a plan.’ The snow hadn’t settled, though the wind was still bitter. They huddled together, thinking.
At last Ralph muttered, ‘How about this? We leave Massingham at eight, cycling to catch him early, because he’ll do most of his work at night and’ll be laying in his pit. If he’s not there, but on his ‘rounds’ we’ll find out from Thomas Suffolk where he is.’
Alfie, having come out to look for Ralph, had listened in, and said, ‘You’re not going without me.’
The marrers all turned. ‘Oh yes we are. You might be needed to take Sophia to hospital. Sorry, lad.’
At that, they all fell quiet. Sophia? Hospital? Lisa? The home? Suddenly they all felt exhausted. ‘By,’ murmured Stan, ‘how do our mams do what they do, the hours they work, the worry about so many things?’
‘That’s why we’ve got to do something to sort out this mess and get our Lisa back, so that’s one problem solved,’ said Sid.
The girls were dragging their bikes from the garage.
Stan tipped his cap at Ralph. ‘We’ll be waiting at your turn-off and head to Lower Thetford. He’ll not hear us getting close. Not till we knock down his door, anyway.’
‘We girls might have to be backup here,’ Fran said, ‘for there are the bairns to look after and keep out of the way of the new babe.’
Ralph waved, then pointed to Alfie’s quarters above the garage. ‘Best get some sleep, just in case you’re called.’ He tried not to sound worried, but it didn’t work.
Alfie merely shook his head and gripped Ralph’s shoulder. ‘That’s not going to happen. You’re staying up, I reckon, with Sandra and Viola, so I’ll be there, too.’
Ralph sighed with relief. ‘I hoped you’d say that, or I’d be stuck with two bossy women.’
The marrers, including the girls, were laughing quietly as they cycled away, but in every one of them anxiety still lodged down deep, and not just for Lisa.
At four in the morning, Annie called Laura, the midwife, from the telephone in Reginald’s dressing room. She reported: ‘Labour pains moved to nine minutes, all of a rush.’
‘Right you are,’ Laura said, calm as always. ‘Best if Alfie swoops down for me. Quicker than pedalling up the hill on me bike.’
That was all, but the message was clear: quick, quick.
Annie got rid of Reginald by sending him off in search of Alfie with the message. He tore off, Annie hurrying after him and calling from the top of the stairs, ‘You stay down there. It’s not your role to clutter up the place when there’s real work to be done.’
She distinctly heard, ‘Oh dear heavens, I’m too old for this.’
As Annie hurried back to the bedroom, Audrey met her at the door. ‘I’m worried. I reckon we need Dunster an’ all, for what if it is twins, as well as a rush? I just have a feeling.’
Annie made the call. Mrs Dunster said he was on his way back from an emergency at old Mr Trouter’s, but the minute he came in, he’d set off again.
As dawn was hinting it would break, a perfect little girl was placed in Sophia’s arms, and all tiredness was forgotten. ‘She’s a tiddler,’ declared Laura, after weighing her on portable scales. ‘Just six pounds.’
Reginald stared in awe as he stood by his wife. He reached forward, touching her cleaned-up hair. ‘I’d forgotten how small they are. Just to think, Ralph was …’ he hesitated, turning to his son standing in the bedroom doorway ‘… about this size.’
Dunster shook his head. ‘No, he wasn’t – a ten-pounder, he was – but the next one might be similar.’
Sophia shook her head just as Reginald smiled at her. They both said, ‘There won’t be a next one.’
Dunster raised his eyebrows. ‘Actually, dear old things, there will be, and very soon. There is another heartbeat.’ While Reginald blanched, and Sophia gaped, the doctor saw Ralph checking his watch. ‘Holding you up, are we, Ralph?’
‘Oh sorry, miles away and a bit shocked. Can’t quite juggle my thoughts. Two? Wonderful. I can’t quite … I want to stay, but I must meet the others at eight, and it’s seven thirty. I’ll tell them that a sister has arrived for wonderful me. Don’t worry, we’ll be back for the panto meeting at three. Oh Lord, I don’t want to leave until number two is here, but I simply must.’ He looked at Annie, who knew where he was going and nodded her thanks, but added, ‘Phone in to find out all is well. Oh, and everyone, Melanie has won her bet, of course.’
Annie flapped him away, he nodded, and disappeared. Dunster had a word with Laura, both checking their watches, then he examined Sophia. Finally, looking up at the new parents, Dunster said, ‘It’s almost upon us. Little rascal was hiding behind the other. I should have put money on with Melanie, but we had no idea, had we, Laura? I’m afraid young Eva is going to clean up on this after making side bets with Tommy and others.’
Audrey Smith swooped down and snatched the baby from Sophia’s arms as pain gripped once more. Annie thought Reginald was going to faint. She dragged him from the room and into the corridor, where she was amazed to see the bairns were all sitting cross-legged. They leapt up. ‘Can we see her, please, please?’ Melanie asked.
Annie shook her head. ‘Sit. Not yet. Mr Reginald has come over queer.’ Viola came out of Eva’s bedroom, took one look at Reginald and helped to lead him to the spare room while Annie whispered the news.
‘Oh no,’ whispered Viola. ‘I’ve lost me bet.’
Reginald was looking from one to the other. ‘I’ve lost a bob.’
‘Never you mind, Father-in-law,’ soothed Viola. ‘All will be well.’ Though her voice was calm, her eyes asked a question. But Annie didn’t know any more than that Dunster seemed perky enough.
Half an hour later, Sophia, still too shocked to speak, was holding both babies: two girls, identical. Reginald, however, was holding a goblet of brandy, sipping it, when Sophia, finding a thready voice, asked Maud to hold one of her babies, leaving her a free hand to snatch the goblet out of Reginald’s hand and take a gulp. She looked round at them all. ‘Oh, shut up. It’s good for shock.’
Dr Dunster stepped out into the corridor to see Viola and Sandra busy shooing the children into Eva and Melanie’s room. He stepped back in. ‘One of you, please, to the drawing room, where there are goblets for us all, but what use are they without the decanter?’
Maud slipped away as Sophia said, ‘So, will you four co-op members be godmothers? Please. Two for each of our girls. Maud, Audrey, Madge and Annie. With Tilly everyone’s auntie. You take your pick.’
Reginald rubbed his hands together. ‘Oh, that’s a wonderful idea, and please thank the girls for their lemon cardigans. They certainly have their mothers’ talents.’
Annie smiled. ‘Do please tell them that, if you will, Reginald, but we have to be there when you do.’ The three women laughed, and poor Reginald simply looked even more confused, especially when Maud brought him the baby she had been holding.
‘Open your arms, lad.’ His panic was writ large as she placed one of his daughters in his arms. ‘Be a man, Reginald,’ she whispered, ‘for they’ll run you ragged, but today they’ll adore you. You need yet another nanny, you know.’
As he enjoyed the brandy that Maud had brought up, Dr Dunster asked, ‘But what will you call them?’