They got through their muffins and their drinks, Giles used the toilet and Nadia checked her phone for the umpteenth time but still no news.
They asked at the enquiries desk and found out where Monica had been taken. They got lost no less than three times despite signposting around the hospital and soon enough, they were in a corridor and Giles spotted his dad sitting at the end.
Head in his hands, Archie looked spent and Nadia felt her world twist on its axis.
If something had happened to Monica or the baby, she’d never forgive herself.
23
It was Saturday morning and Nadia was a bundle of nerves as she and Giles made their way along the corridor in the direction of the maternity ward. It felt more like she was meeting two new people for the very first time, and it was a case of putting one foot in front of the other and hoping this went well.
She would never forget the way she’d felt seeing Archie in the corridor at the hospital last night, his exhaustion evident. It was as though he didn’t have an ounce of energy in his body. She’d quickened her pace, she braced for bad news and he looked up with tear-streaked cheeks and said, ‘It’s a girl.’
He’d hugged Giles when his son had raced over to him, he’d held his son tight and kissed the top of his head. ‘You have a little sister.’
Archie did his best to recount the drama in a way that wouldn’t be too scary in front of Giles – the baby, posterior, hadn’t turned with manual manipulation and it was only after an epidural when the doctors were almost ready to do an emergency c-section that the baby, named Bella, turned of her own accord and an hour later made her entrance into the world.
The family was back together again, the four of them were a complete unit, and Nadia felt almost like an intruder until Archie asked whether there was any way she could look after Giles overnight.
‘You’d trust me?’
He looked at her as if that was all that was needed. But he added, ‘Yes, Nadia. I trust you.’
‘I want to see Mummy,’ cried Giles. He hadn’t said anything about possibly staying with his auntie who he’d only met recently. Was that a bad sign? Or was he just focused on seeing the mummy who he’d been missing since she left them behind in Switzerland?
Archie still had Giles in his arms, the little boy clearly needing the closeness as much as his dad did. ‘Mummy is resting. How about we let her sleep and you see her tomorrow?’
But Giles shook his head vehemently.
‘Why don’t you go in quickly,’ Nadia suggested and as she rubbed Giles’s head, told Archie, ‘Just let him see her, then I’ll bring him back tomorrow morning.’
‘Okay. Would you like to come in with us?’
‘Not yet. You two go.’ She wasn’t ready and they needed to be a family of four first before anything else complicated the situation.
Nadia waited and Archie brought Giles back soon enough.
‘Mummy is very sleepy,’ Giles told her, but he seemed satisfied he’d got to see her and he’d certainly perked up about the idea of staying with his auntie. ‘Daddy says I’m going to your house. Where do you live? Do you have an extra bed? Do you have spare covers?’
She couldn’t help but smile. ‘Yes, of course I have an extra bed. Plenty of bedding too. And my house is in Whistlestop River, not too far from the airbase.’
‘What about my pyjamas?’
‘I’m staying here tonight,’ Archie interrupted, ‘so if you like, you can take my key to the Airbnb, get everything you need and head back here tomorrow morning to return it. If that fits in with you.’
‘Of course.’
Giles was raring to go after that and so they went to the Airbnb, a cute little place in the countryside on the outskirts of Whistlestop River, picked up a few things and then headed for her place. She was still unsure how this would go – she hoped he wouldn’t have a wobble come bedtime.
She found aSpidermanmovie on demand and after a late fish and chip supper, they settled down to watch it together, Giles’s eyes growing heavier and heavier throughout the movie until the credits rolled and he was slumped against Nadia’s arm. She woke him to clean his teeth and settled him into the spare bed, leaving the door open just a crack with a little bit of light.
He came downstairs an hour later and this time, they stayed up talking without the television on. He was worried; he might not have shown it during the film, or when they’d been eating, or in the adventure that was staying at someone else’s house, but he was showing it now.
‘Is my mummy going to be all right?’
‘She’s going to be just fine.’ She lifted up her arm and he came to settle by her side for a hug. ‘And you have a sister. That’s pretty special.’ She gulped at the sound of her own words, the meaning they had for her as well.
She’d ended up making them both a hot cocoa and as soon as he finished his, Giles grew sleepy and he was so comfortable, she settled him on the sofa with pillows and a blanket before she went on up to bed herself.
