“I should never have come to the wedding,” Libby said, shaking her head. “I should have listened to my mum; she told me it was too risky.”
“Hey, calm down,” Dylan said gently, and Libby felt hishand squeeze her shoulder. “I’m sure this will be a false alarm, but let’s get you checked out anyway.”
Libby nodded, but as she did, she remembered Peggy’s words.When your time comes, you’ll know it’s for real.When the bus approached the next stop, she stood up to get off, and as she did, she felt another sharp stab and let out a yelp.
“Is everything all right back there?” Patience called out.
“Yes, everything’s fine,” Frank called back. “It’s just possible that Libby’s in labor.”
A murmur went along the bus.
“We’ll get off at the next stop and get a taxi, nothing to be alarmed about,” Frank said.
A woman who was sitting in the front row had stood up and was moving back toward them. “I’m a nurse. How many weeks are you?”
“Thirty-six,” Libby said.
“And when did your contractions start?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve been uncomfortable on and off all evening, and then I had what felt like a contraction when I was dancing. Do you think it’s Braxton-Hicks?”
“How often are they coming, darling?”
“I’m not sure. Every three minutes or so,” Libby said, and as she spoke, she felt another wave of pain.
“Trafalgar Square,” the electronic bus announcement said, but Libby could barely hear it over her own groan.
“That wasn’t three minutes.” The nurse was shaking her head.
“Do you want to get off here?” Patience called back.
“There’s no time for a taxi; we need to get her straight to hospital,” the nurse said. “These contractions are coming too close together.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake!” a man sitting a few rows in front of them shouted. “Hurry up and get off; some of us want to get home.”
The nurse turned and glared at him. “Sir, either we drive this young lady to the hospital now or she’s going to give birth right here on this bus. It’s your choice.”
He started to grumble again, but Patience had stood up from her driver’s seat and turned to face the passengers. “All right, everybody off here. This bus is on diversion!”
CHAPTER
49
Libby felt another jolt of searing pain and clenched her fist to stop a scream coming out. Why was this so painful already? She’d watched enough episodes ofOne Born Every Minuteto know it wasn’t supposed to happen this quickly, especially the first time. This had to mean something was wrong.
The nurse, who’d introduced herself as Nikki, had moved to the other end of the bus and was having a muttered conversation on the phone. All the other passengers had been ushered off at Trafalgar Square, so the only people left were Dylan and Frank, the latter watching her now with a concerned expression on his face. When he saw Libby looking at him, he gave her a reassuring smile.
“No need to worry; everything is in hand,” Frank said. “The 88 has never let me down before, and it won’t today.”
Libby glanced out of the window and saw they were crossing Shaftesbury Avenue. Why were they going so slowly? They needed to move faster.
“It’s okay, breathe.”
She heard Dylan’s voice in her ear, calm and low. He had one arm behind her and was gently massaging her shoulder.
“This can’t happen now, Dylan. It’s too early.”
“It’s all right. Try and relax; we’ll be at the hospital soon.”
