‘Yes, yes. Call an ambulance. Oh God, does it hurt, darling?’ He rubbed her hand and Rachel shook her head a little. I thought, at first, she was trying to convince him that it wasn’t hurting when clearly that wasn’t the case, but when she got her breath back, I realised she was disagreeing with him.
‘No. We don’t need an ambulance. We should drive. They might not even get up the hill.’
‘Okay, okay, I’ll ask Lydia if we can borrow her car. We know that can make it.’ He went to stand up, but Rachel tightened her hand around his and he stopped.
‘Stay with me.’
‘I’ll go get her, you stay put, Ben.’ I backed out into the lobby just as the doors to the bar opened.
‘This isn’t any of your business, Nick, why are you getting yourself so involved?’ Stephen was saying.
‘I just want to see if they’re okay.’
‘You want to see ifshe’sokay.’
They halted in their tracks and their argument when they saw me. The door swung back behind them, whacking Stephen on the bottom as it came to rest.
‘What’s going on?’ Nick asked.
‘Rachel’s gone into labour and I think it’s happening fast. I’ve got to get Lydia so they can borrow her car to drive to the hospital. So, if you’ll excuse me.’ I made a parting gesture with my hands. They looked wordlessly at each other and then stepped to either side as though I was Moses or Moana.
I managed not to bang through the doors this time but still a few eyes swept over me curiously and then heads bent together whispering. Julius Mundey was watching me like a seagull waiting to swoop for a loose chip.
Dorie was shuffling cards and Noelle was sitting next to her on Stephen’s vacated chair, while Lydia hovered with the mince pies and when I reached them, they all abruptly stopped talking. That wasn’t suspicious at all.
‘Well, what have you done with my grandsons?’ Dorie asked. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes twinkling as she split the deck of cards and allowed them to slide back together again. ‘Putting them to good use I hope.’
‘The chance would be a fine thing,’ I blurted out, too preoccupied with Rachel’s predicament to worry about whatever she was insinuating and what an appropriate response would be. ‘Lydia, Ben has to take Rachel…’ I paused to lower my voice ‘…to the hospital, she’s gone into labour. Can he use your car?’
‘Oh goodness. Yes, of course.’ Lydia waved the tray towards me and then at the table, as though she didn’t know what to do with it. ‘The keys are in my handbag.’
‘Great.’ I knew she wouldn’t say anything else. ‘Aren’t you going to want to go with them?’
‘What would they need me for?’
‘I just wondered how you’re going to get home otherwise. They could drop you off – they’ve got to go down the hill.’
‘I see. No. You need me here. I’ll stay and walk back.’
She was not going to walk back in the middle of the night in knee-deep snow, but I figured that was a conversation for later, not when a woman was going into labour in the hotel toilets. Lydia could always stay over with me.
‘Okay, I’m going to grab the keys for him.’
As I walked to the bar, Noelle followed me, tipping the last of her vodka martini back. I didn’t bother to go behind the counter – I knew the handbag was by the cash register, so I just hopped up onto the foot-rail and leaned over to grab it.
‘How is she doing? Have her waters broken?’ Noelle asked as I riffled through trying to find the keys in the ridiculous contents of Lydia’s bag – honestly, how many pens did one woman need? ‘Are the contractions regular and close together?’
‘I don’t know about the waters.’ Not sure I wanted to know either. ‘But the contractions seem close.’ I shrugged. ‘I’m no expert.’ I eyed Noelle briefly before ramming my hand further down into the depths of the bag. ‘Are you?’
‘I trained as a midwife.’
‘That is a very happy coincidence,’ I exclaimed although I had to note that Noelle’s expression was the most sober I’d ever seen it. ‘And you sayI’ma woman of many talents. Aha!’ I yanked the car keys out, stashed Lydia’s bag back behind the bar and started walking. ‘Are you coming?’ I asked over my shoulder.
She hesitated for the barest of seconds and then she was right there with me, marching for the doors again.
Rachel had made it out of the toilet into the lobby, but she was leaning on Nick’s arm as they moved towards the chair by the table with all the leaflets. Ben and Stephen were missing. Before I could even ask what was going on, the door to the toilet opened and Stephen appeared, propping up a very pale and wobbly Ben.
‘What’s happened to him?’
