Grace was glad her daughter wasn’t planning to throw herself around underwater while heavily pregnant.
‘That all sounds well thought out.’
‘And in just under eight weeks’ time, it’s the twenty-week scan. To give ourselves something to look forward to, and because there’s still so long to go, we’re going to have a gender reveal party!’
Her daughter had never been big on patience, but at least there was some animation in her voice.
‘It’s so exciting. You have a scan, they give you a piece of paper with the sex written on it in an envelope, and you give it to a close friend or relative without opening it, which will be Brad’s sister for us. They bake a cake or get a confetti cannon, something with the inside in the right colour, blue or pink, and then you invite friends and family to watch you cut it open or pull the string and you all find out together!’
‘Yes, I’ve seen them on Instagram.’
Privately, Grace thought the whole thing was a bit naff. What was wrong with waiting until the baby came out, and finding out then? What was the rush to know so early? She and Phil had been more than happy not to know beforehand.
‘And you’re sure you don’t want to wait until your baby is born?’
‘Mum, don’t be so old-fashioned! Everyone’s doing it. We can plan beforehand, buy the right clothes, decorate the nursery, and focus on imagining what our child will look like.’
‘Obviously it’s up to you, darling. If that’s what you both want.’
‘It is. And we’ll set up a link so you can watch too.’
‘Great.’
Grace tried to make her smile look genuine. It was weird constantly looking at yourself as you spoke. It was wonderful to be able to see her daughter in person, but it also meant she had to monitor her facial expressions pretty closely. It was a whole layer you didn’t need to worry about on the phone.
‘There’s something else as well…’
Lottie took a long look at her boyfriend, who nodded, and they both stared into the screen.
‘One thing we really, really, want is to have you out here, Mum, for the birth, and the weeks before and after the baby arrives. We’ve already paid for an open ticket for you. We’re hoping you can come for a month.’
Grace swallowed.
‘Oh, that’s too far too generous. You should be saving your money. Babies are expensive.’
‘Don’t be silly. You’re my family. You, Flo and Jilly. We’re hoping that they can get some time off to come over too, as hopefully it will coincide with their Christmas break. We’re a small but mighty team. I couldn’t do it without you all.’
‘Then it’s a lovely gesture, thank you.’
In truth, Grace wasn’t sure she’d want to spend a whole month out there, and she still had her pupils back in England to worry about, but the details could wait. The fact that they wanted her to be involved was paramount.
The ring of a doorbell in Australia paused their chat.
‘That’ll be Brad’s aunt and uncle, Di and Josh.’ Her daughter’s eyes were bright. ‘We’ve asked them over for a meal, and we’re going to put the scan picture on Di’s plate. They’ve got no idea. They don’t have kids, so they’ll be like honorary grandparents too.’
The list of people who would be intimately involved with this baby seemed to be growing by the minute. But it would be lovely for Lottie to have lots of people around.
‘I won’t keep you then. Congratulations and love to both of you, and we’ll speak next week.’
‘Yeah, love you lots.’
‘Love you too.’
As soon as the screen went blank, Grace crawled onto her bed and shut her eyes. The most important thing was that this child arrived safely. Her daughter was knocking on for thirty-eight, so it was time she got on with it. But would Grace ever get to know her grandchild properly if he or she was living on the other side of the world?
It wouldn’t be like bringing up the girls, seeing them change and grow, day by day. She’d be lucky if she saw this child a couple of times a year.
She was desperately sad to think that Phil would never get to know his grandchild, but was she going to fare much better? Obviously, these were horrible, selfish thoughts, not to be voiced out loud, but Grace couldn’t help but think about how different her vision of being a grandparent had been. She’d imagined her and Phil taking the kids for a weekend to give their parents a break, pushing them on the swings as they screamed to go higher, eating ice-creams together and putting blobs of it on each other’s noses, and finally snuggling on the sofa with them in matching pyjamas at the end of a busy day. But conjuring up pictures in her mind was pointless. She had to stop torturing herself.
