On a glorious day towards the middle of August, Maria and Reuben were married and the gloom that had hung over them for weeks was lifted.
As Maria glided down the aisle of the church on her proud father’s arm, Nessie was sure she had never seen a more radiant bride. She was wearing a pale-blue dress and matching bonnet with a tiny veil attached to it that matched her sparkling eyes perfectly and she carried a posy of sweet-smelling freesias.
The couple left the church to a hail of rose petals and rice and then, to much laughter, Maria turned her back and tossed her bouquet over her shoulder. Nessie was shocked when it landed squarely in her hands.
‘Eeh! That means you’ll be the next,’ Molly chortled and Nessie blushed to the roots of her hair. Just for a second a pang of longing shot through her as Oliver’s face floated in front of her eyes but then she composed herself again and hastily lost herself in the crowd. There was no point in wishing for things that could never be.
Later, at the wedding breakfast at a local hotel, which Andre had insisted on paying for as his wedding gift to them, the newlyweds had eyes only for each other, which was just as it should be. Even Marcie had made an effort, although now with her baby’s birth imminent she waddled rather than walked and raised more than a few disapproving eyebrows. Nessie was still no closer to finding alternative accommodation for herself and Joseph either. She had just been so busy that she hadn’t found time to look and now that Reuben would no longer be living with her and Marcie she supposed that the gossips would be having a field day again. But still, I won’t let it spoil this special day, she thought.
Once the wedding meal was over the tables were pushed aside and the dancing began. Nessie found herself in Andre’s arms as he waltzed her about the room.
‘Has anyone told you that you look most becoming today, Miss Carson?’ he asked teasingly and Nessie giggled as she was swept away with the moment. Andre was so kind and handsome that he would have been a perfect catch for some woman. Only she knew what his sexual preferences were and she would carry the secret to the grave for she was very fond of him.
The day passed in a whirl of laughter and dancing, but then just before eight o’clock in the evening as she was dancing with Maria’s father, Nessie glanced towards Marcie and saw that she was rubbing her back and had gone very pale. Instantly realising that something was wrong, she excused herself and hurried across to her. ‘Are you all right, pet?’
‘I … I don’t know.’ Marcie’s eyes suddenly looked huge in her pretty face. ‘I’ve got this pain in my back an’ I …’ She lowered her head in shame. ‘I think I just wet meself.’
Molly had hurried across to join them and the second the words were out of Marcie’s mouth she took control of the situation.
‘Nessie, go an’ get them to fetch a carriage round to the front doors. We have to get her home. An’, Charlie, run for Mrs Felton would you an’ tell her she’s needed. If I’m not much mistaken there’s goin’ to be a birth tonight.’
Nessie felt a little shudder run through her. In just the space of a few short weeks their family would have had a death, a marriage and a birth. The circle of life.
Charlie paled and hared away as if the devil himself were snapping at his heels while Nessie hurried away to find a carriage.
Marcie was sweating profusely now, and by the time they got her home Charlie was already back and told them breathlessly, ‘Mrs Felton can’t come. She’s attendin’ another birth in one o’ the courts an’ she reckons she could be hours yet. What do you want me to do?’
Molly’s brow creased in a frown for a moment as she thought then she told him. ‘Saddle one o’ the horses an’ ride to Haunchwood House. Tell young Dr Dorsey he’s needed. He’ll come.’
Nessie paled at the thought of Oliver attending the birth but by now Marcie was doubled over with pains and she knew they had no alternative. Andre had come back with them too and he was a bundle of nerves.
‘What can I do?’ he asked nervously and Nessie smiled at him. ‘You can be in charge of making the tea and supplying us with lots of hot water,’ she told him.
‘Ah, yes … this I can do,’ he agreed, hurrying away to fill the kettle but he was all fingers and thumbs and she was amused to see that more water splashed onto the floor than went into the kettle.
Meanwhile they were all trying to get Marcie up the stairs to Reuben’s old room. It was a lengthy process as the staircase was narrow and steep and every few seconds the poor girl had to stop to take deep breaths. Eventually they managed it and while Molly helped Marcie to get undressed, Nessie laid some towels on the bed, before the two women finally managed to help a groaning Marcie onto it.
‘Ouch … ooh it hurts,’ Marcie howled as another contraction ripped through her and Molly was concerned.
‘Strikes me it ain’t going to be long before this little one puts in an appearance,’ she whispered to Nessie. ‘First babies usually take their time but this one seems in a rush to be born. Her pains are comin’ thick an’ fast already.’
Nessie frowned. ‘But what if it comes before Oliver gets here?’ she panicked.
Molly giggled and patted her cheek. ‘Bless yer, there’s nothin’ to fear,’ she promised. ‘It wouldn’t be the first baby I’ve had to deliver. We women from the courts can’t afford doctors an’ we often deliver each other’s, so if the worst happens I’ll deliver it meself.’
A tap came at the door. ‘There is hot water outside the door,’ Andre shouted, then he was off down the stairs like a shot from a gun. Keeping them supplied with hot water was one thing, but he couldn’t imagine having to be present at a birth.
The minutes ticked away and a little while later Nessie let out a sigh of relief when Oliver barged in carrying his large black bag.
‘I … I’m so sorry we’ve had to bother you of an evening,’ Nessie faltered as colour stained her cheeks. ‘But Mrs Felton is busy with another delivery and …’
‘It’s fine,’ he assured her as he flung his jacket over the back of a chair and rolled his sleeves up. ‘I am a doctor after all. Funnily enough, I delivered another baby this morning. A lovely little girl.’ Then hoping to distract Marcie he began to wash his hands and asked, ‘What would you like, Marcie?’
She was panting between pains as Molly had advised and she scowled at him. ‘I don’t care what it is … I won’t want it.’
‘Ah, you say that now but you’ll feel differently when you set eyes on the little soul,’ he soothed. ‘Now lie back and relax while I examine you, eh?’
Very gently he pressed his hands around Marcie’s bulging stomach, then lifting her nightdress he murmured, ‘Hmm, I don’t think you’re going to be very much longer at all. Just pant between the pains and try not to push until I tell you to.’
‘I am pantin’, ain’t I?’ Marcie screeched as another pain took her breath away.
Molly meanwhile was preparing to leave. ‘I’ll pop back to the reception an’ tell Reuben an’ Maria what’s goin’ on,’ she offered. ‘They looked a bit bewildered when we suddenly all made a beeline for the door.’
‘Tell them we’ll let them know what she’s had just as soon as we can,’ Nessie said and Molly scooted away, leaving the mother in the doctor’s capable hands.
‘Now then, why don’t you go down and persuade Andre to make us all a nice cup of tea?’ Oliver suggested, noting how pale Nessie looked. ‘There’s no need for you to be here for the birth if you’re squeamish. I’m quite capable.’
‘I want her here, ahhhh …’
Oliver grinned as Nessie gulped. ‘I … I’ll just go and organise that tea then I’ll be back,’ she croaked.
True to her word she was back within minutes with a laden tea tray. She poured a cup for Oliver who was timing how far apart the pains were on his gold hunter watch. ‘Still eight minutes between each one,’ he observed before lifting his cup and saucer. ‘Still a way to go but it shouldn’t be too long.’
Nessie meantime had taken a seat at the side of the bed and Marcie was holding her hand tight as if her life depended upon it.
The minutes and the hours ticked away and then finally, just after midnight, Oliver told his patient, ‘Push now on your next pain as hard as you can.’ If what Marcie had said was true it would be his niece or nephew he was delivering but he was trying not to think of that. Earlier on, when Charlie had arrived at the house to fetch him, his mother had overheard who it was that he would be attending and she had flown into a flap as he prepared his bag with all the instruments he might need.
‘That could be my grandchild that’s about to be born,’ she said, much to the annoyance of her husband. ‘Perhaps I should come and be present at the birth too?’
‘I hardly think that would be very appropriate, Mother,’ Oliver had said firmly. ‘Particularly when the girl was sent away with a flea in her ear because she told you it was George’s child.’ He had promptly left, leaving his mother to wring her hands and pace up and down until Johnny Dorsey felt he would explode.
And now the birth was imminent and Oliver shut his mind to everything but delivering the baby safely.
Sweat ran down Marcie’s face as she strained to do as she was told and she gripped her sister’s hand so tightly that Nessie herself whimpered with pain. When the pain had passed Marcie flopped back against the pillows and Oliver nodded his approval.
‘Well done. Now on the next pain do the same again. We’re almost there.’
‘I can’t,’ Marcie yelped. ‘I’m exhausted.’ But all the same as the next pain tore through her she pushed till the veins in her neck stood out like ropes.
‘That’s it,’ Oliver shouted jubilantly. ‘I can see the head. One more good push and the baby will be here.’
This seemed to spur Marcie on and with the next pain she leaned slightly forward and pushed with all her might. She felt something warm slither out of her to lie on the towels between her legs and then Nessie was laughing and crying all at the same time.
‘Oh, Marcie, you have a beautiful little boy,’ she cried as Oliver deftly and expertly cut the umbilical cord. The baby began to wail as Oliver wrapped him in a towel and prepared to hand him to his mother, but she turned her head away and refused to look at him.
‘I don’t want to hold him. Give him to Nessie.’
Oliver and Nessie exchanged a worried glance but Oliver did as Marcie requested, suggesting, ‘Why don’t you take the little chap down by the fire and get him bathed and dressed? By the time that’s done I’m sure his mum will be longing to hold him.’
Nessie found Andre on the stairs waiting for her when she left the room. He had heard the baby cry and his face was glowing as he asked, ‘What did she have?’
Nessie lifted the towel from the baby’s face for him to peep. ‘She had a little boy and he’s quite beautiful.’ She was sure then that she would never forget the look on Andre’s face for as long as she lived and it touched her deeply, for it was a mixture of yearning, delight and envy.
‘He is as you say quite beautiful,’ he breathed in awe. ‘Perhaps if I had not been born as I am I too might have had a child one day.’
Unsure what she should say, Nessie carried the baby down to the kitchen where she bathed him gently and dressed him in the clothes she had prepared in the previous months. Marcie had made no effort whatsoever to prepare for his birth so it had fallen to her to buy the necessary things he would need. The only thing they hadn’t got as yet was a cot but she had lined a drawer with a warm blanket in readiness. Once he was clean she and Andre sat together on the sofa admiring him. He had a shock of fair hair that settled about his head like a halo and deep-blue eyes.
‘I suppose I should take him back up to his mother and check on Joseph,’ Nessie said eventually. Knowing that the wedding might have been too much for him she had left Joseph in the care of one of the women who helped to run the soup kitchen but now he was tucked up in bed and fast asleep. She was hoping that Marcie would show a little more enthusiasm in her baby now. The child was growing restless and no doubt he would need his first feed very soon.
Andre nodded, although his eyes never left the baby’s face. He was clearly smitten with him. ‘Of course, and I shall make us all another nice strong cup of tea.’
Nessie grinned. He had made so many cups of tea over the course of the night that she felt as if she might drown in it, but she knew that this was his way of making himself feel useful.
‘I’m sure Marcie will be ready for one,’ she agreed and very carefully she carried the baby back up the steep, narrow stairs.
She found Oliver washing his hands and he smiled as she entered the room. Marcie was lying on her side and he told her, ‘All sorted. She’s done marvellously. How is the little chap?’
‘All nice and clean and ready to meet his mammy,’ Nessie said loudly but Marcie made no attempt to turn towards them. Her smile faltered as she glanced towards Oliver but she approached the bed and said brightly, ‘Here he is, Marcie. I think he’s getting hungry. Why don’t I lie him in the drawer and get you washed and changed then you can feed him?’
‘Go away, I don’t want to see him,’ Marcie croaked.
Seeing the concern on Nessie’s face, Oliver took control of the situation. ‘Let’s put him in the drawer by his mother while we go and get a cup of tea, eh?’ He could see that the baby was getting hungry and surely Marcie wouldn’t ignore him if she was left alone with him? Taking the baby from Nessie he carefully placed him in the drawer then he led her from the room.
Downstairs in the kitchen Nessie paced up and down with a worried look on her face. They could hear the baby crying upstairs but Marcie had clearly made no attempt to lift him.
‘Why won’t she look at him?’ she fretted.
Oliver sighed. ‘This happens sometimes but if we leave her alone with him for long enough she’s bound to get fed up with him crying and feed him.’
Nessie wasn’t so sure. Marcie could be very stubborn when she wanted to be but she supposed Oliver knew what he was doing. He was a doctor after all.
They sipped at the tea that Andre had made for them as the baby’s cries grew increasingly louder and then Nessie saw Oliver stifle a yawn.
‘How thoughtless of me,’ she said. ‘You must be worn out. Why don’t you get off home now and get some rest? You’ve done your job and we’re very grateful to you but I can handle everything now. But before you go I must pay you for your services.’
‘There will be no charge,’ he answered quietly as he drained his cup and rose from the table, but her chin came up in that determined way he found so endearing.
‘I shall pay you,’ she insisted and, still in her finery from the wedding, she went to the shelf in a swish of silken skirts and took some money from the tin there which she pressed into his hand.
He sighed but didn’t attempt to argue. He knew her well enough by now to know that it would be useless.
‘Thank you, I shall call in sometime tomorrow to check on mother and baby but should you need me before then don’t hesitate to send for me.’ He paused as his eyes found Nessie’s as if there was something else he wanted to say but then, clearly thinking better of it, he inclined his head towards Andre and left. They sat on, listening to the baby’s cries getting ever more frantic, and each one seemed to pierce her heart. And then suddenly they stopped, as if by magic, and they stared at each other with smiles of relief.
‘Hopefully everything will be OK now,’ she muttered, praying silently that she was right.