‘Well perhaps if you try explaining that to him, he might change his mind,’ Bobby snapped, pain making her irritable.
‘Right.’ Charlie stared at her. ‘Oh God. Right. Um… OK, stay calm. I’m a vet, I know about births.’
‘I’m not a bloody calving heifer, Charlie.’
‘All right, you should, um, lie down. Take off your underclothes and lie on the floor.’
‘Would it help you if I was on all fours?’ she asked dryly.
‘There’s no need to pick on me about it. It isn’t my fault.’
‘Of course it’s your fault. It’s your damn baby.’ Bobby took the hand he held out and let him help her lie on the floor.
‘I’ll speak to the guard,’ Charlie said. ‘There must be a way to get you to a hospital. You stay here and… breathe deeply or something.’
‘What if he’s born while you’re gone?’
‘He won’t be born just like that. Labour takes hours. Days, sometimes.’
Bobby stared at him. ‘Days? Did you say days?’
‘It probably won’t be that long. Stay calm, all right? I’ve delivered hundreds of babies.’
‘They weren’t babies, Charlie, they were lambs. Get me a doctor, now. A proper, human doctor.’
‘I’ll do what I can.’
Charlie disappeared to speak to the conductor. Bobby wriggled out of her stockings, girdle and knickers, trying to slow her panting breaths. Another cramp-like sensation tore through her and she cried out.
Her husband reappeared shortly after.
‘He’s going to arrange for a message to be sent to the next signal box.’ Charlie took her hand, and she gripped his fingers tightly. ‘Just hold on, Bob. It’ll be all right.’
Bobby cried out again as her stomach jolted, feeling like it was tearing her in two. Her brain was screaming. She could feel the baby right against the wall of her womb, she was sure. He felt so heavy, and his movement through her body entirely outside her control. Charlie said labour ought to last hours, but it felt like the baby might arrive at any minute. She hoped he would, and end this blinding animal agony that was like nothing she’d ever experienced.
The conductor arrived soon after. Bobby could barely focus, but she could make out the blur of a railway uniform.
‘Oh my word,’ the man said when he saw her lying there, pain-wracked and slicked with sweat. He pulled himself together. ‘Um, a message has been sent to the next signal box to have a car waiting at the station, sir. It will mean an unscheduled stop.’
‘I don’t care what it means,’ Charlie snapped. ‘I just want to get her to a doctor. Why can’t the car come here? Or let me out and I’ll flag someone down.’
‘We’re in the middle of nowhere – in the midst of the Peaks. There’s nothing out there but hills and sheep.’
‘Then get this bloody train moving, can you? That’s your job, isn’t it?’
‘We’ll be moving again as soon as we can,’ the man said stiffly. ‘I’m afraid there has been significant bomb damage to the line.’
Bobby screamed. The pain no longer felt like cramps. Now it felt like being torn apart, limb by limb, organ by organ.
‘I won’t make it,’ she gasped. ‘He’s coming, Charlie. I think he’s coming now.’
‘Is there a doctor on this train?’ Charlie demanded of the conductor.
‘I’ll make enquiries.’
‘Make them fast.’
The man disappeared, and Charlie knelt by Bobby to take her hand.
