Chapter Forty-Two
On a bright morning at the beginning of March, Mrs M frowned as Abi entered the kitchen looking pale and tired.
‘Not slept very well, lass?’ she enquired as she dried her hands on a tea towel and reached for the teapot.
Abi was still in her nightgown and robe and she shook her head as she held her back and manoeuvred herself awkwardly on to a chair at the table.
‘No.’ She rubbed her back. ‘I’ve had backache all night and I couldn’t get to sleep for it.’
‘Have you now? Well get this down you and some breakfast inside you and happen you’ll feel a bit better.’ Mrs M was well aware of what was happening but not wishing to frighten the girl she kept up a cheerful chatter as she poured the tea and passed a cup to Abi.
‘I don’t think I want anything to eat, Mrs M, thank you,’ Abi answered as she sipped at her drink. ‘I’ll just have this for now and then I’ll go and get dressed.’
‘Why bother if you’re more comfortable as you are? We’re not going out so it’s not as if anybody is going to see you.’
‘Hm, I suppose you’re right. Bertie gone to work, has he?’
Again, Mrs M nodded. ‘Yes, he was up with the lark and off early as usual. Why don’t you go and sit out in the garden for a while? It’s so lovely to see the daffodils and the crocuses coming through and a bit of fresh air would do you the power of good; you’re looking a bit peaky.’
‘Actually, I might just do that.’ Abi rose and turned to the door then gasped with horror as she felt something warm between her legs and looked down to see a puddle of water on Mrs M’s clean floor. ‘Oh, I-I’m so sorry!’ She was clearly mortified. ‘I seem to have had an accident all over your kitchen floor.’
Mrs M chuckled as she hurried over to pat her arm and help her to sit down again. ‘You haven’t had an accident,’ she assured her. ‘If I’m any judge your waters have broken, lass.’
‘What? .?.?.Y-you mean the baby is coming?’ Abi looked so horrified that Mrs M couldn’t help but smile.
‘That’s exactly what I mean, so let’s get you dried off then I’ll go and tell the midwife that you’ve started.’
‘But what if she can’t get here on time? What if I have it while you’re gone?’ Abi gabbled in a panic.
Mrs M shook her head. ‘I don’t think there’s much chance of that happening so stop worrying. First babies have a habit of taking their time. You could be hours yet.’
She helped Abi back up to her room but they had only just reached the top of the stairs when Abi suddenly gripped her stomach and bent over. ‘O-oh!I just had a pain.’
‘That’ll be the contractions starting but like I say, there’s no need to panic, this is only the beginning. Now come along so we can make sure we have everything ready for you and the baby before I shoot off to find the midwife.’
Once in the bedroom, Mrs M deftly stripped the sheet from the bed and padded the mattress with wads of old newspapers she had been saving and a layer of towels before putting the sheet back on. She helped Abi into a clean nightgown then dragged the crib that Bertie had so lovingly carved in from the spare room and placed it beside the bed along with some of the tiny baby clothes she had painstakingly stitched over the last few months.
‘There, that should do it.’ She stood back to eye her handiwork with satisfaction before helping Abi on to the bed. ‘I’m just going to slip off now but the midwife doesn’t live far away so I won’t be long.’
‘But what if she’s out delivering another baby?’ Abi’s eyes were round with terror as she stared at this kindly woman who had taken her to her heart.
‘We’ll wait until the other baby is born and then she’ll come here to you. Now will you stop panicking and try to relax, please. You need to save your strength.’
It proved to be easier said than done and once she heard the front door close Abi wriggled off the bed and hurried to the window to check Mrs M’s progress down the street.
‘Oh, Hugo, this is your baby about to be born and you’ll never see it,’ she wailed to the empty room, yet somehow when she tried to picture his handsome face it was just a blur. Then another pain gripped her and she forgot all about Hugo. She felt as if someone had put a tight band around her stomach and was squeezing it and she began to cry. She had never realised that giving birth would be anything like this. Thankfully she didn’t know that there was much worse to come.
She had no idea how long Mrs M had been gone but by the time she returned it felt like hours and she was pacing up and down like a caged animal.
‘Where is the midwife?’ she cried, seeing that the woman was alone.
‘It’s all right, she’ll be here shortly,’ Mrs M assured her. ‘She’s just popped to see another mother-to-be who is close to her time and then she’ll come.’
‘Oooooh!’ Abi grit her teeth and leant heavily on the footboard of the bed as another much sharper pain gripped her. ‘Ow, that onereallyhurt!’
‘Why do you think they call it labour?’ Mrs M gave her a hug. ‘But just remember, every single one of us entered this world the same way and it’s a pain that is soon forgotten once you see your baby.’
Abi glared at her. ‘Haven’t I told you a million times that I don’t even want to see it?’
