“I already spoke to my midwife earlier,” Courtney explained. “I’ve been feeling pains on and off throughout the day, but until they reach a certain stage, there’s no point going to the hospital, because they’d probably only send me home again until the contractions are coming more often, and…argh!”
Another searing stab of white hot pain lanced through her abdomen.
“And I’m definitely phoning for an ambulance,” Travis said.
Courtney couldn’t talk, couldn’t answer, couldn’t do anything while the pain rolled through her. When it passed, she looked up to see Travis with his phone clamped to his ear.
“Don’t phone for an ambulance, please,” Courtney said. “I’m not sick and it’s probably still ages until the baby comes. Can you phone a taxi instead?”
“A taxi?” Travis looked appalled.
“My midwife said it’s the best option unless I think there’s something wrong.” With the pain receding, she got up from the sofa. “I don’t feel there is anything wrong. It’s just contractions, and yes, they’re coming faster and I think it’s time to go to thematernity unit, but I don’t need an ambulance. Please, Travis. A taxi is fine.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he hung up and scrolled on his phone to the taxi app. After tapping the screen a few times, he nodded.
“A car will be here in five minutes,” he said. “Okay, tell me what you need me to do.”
“Can you grab that bag from behind the sofa? It’s got all my hospital stuff in it.”
He did as she asked, carrying it to the front door. “What else?”
“Could you close the window in the kitchen?”
He dashed off and returned a few seconds later. “Done. What else?”
“That’s it, thanks. You’re free to go,” she laughed.
Judging by the look on his face, he didn’t like this response. “Where’s your cousin, Rosie? Should I phone her for you, and let her know what’s happening?”
“She’s away for the weekend with her boyfriend. They left hours ago and are probably already down on Dorset.”
Travis’s frown deepened. “Okay, well what about your aunt and uncle? Or your other cousin, what’s-her-name? Give me their numbers and I’ll phone them.”
Courtney shook her head again. “Everyone’s away for the weekend. My aunt and uncle are in Norfolk and Zara’s in Edinburgh. I don’t want to disturb them.”
“Disturb them?” he almost screeched. “Courtney, you’re about to have a baby! They’ll want to know what’s going on!”
“And just as soon as I’m sure this is proper labour and not a false alarm, I’ll tell them. But I’m not about to ring them all up and say I’m having the baby when I might not be. My midwife says that early labour pains can come and go for hours, sometimes days, before full labour begins properly. Once I getto the maternity unit and they examine me, I’ll know whether to tell everyone else. But if the midwife checks me over and sends me home again and I’ve already alarmed my cousins and my aunt and uncle into abandoning their weekend plans and racing home for no good reason, I’ll feel terrible.”
“Okay, okay,” Travis said, holding up his hands in a calming gesture. “I understand.”
Courtney sent him a grateful look. Outside on the street, a car horn tooted and Travis’s phone pinged.
“The taxi is here,” he said. “Let’s go.”
Travis helped her up from the sofa and grabbed her hospital bag from where he’d left it beside the door. Taking her keys from her hand, he locked up and slipped them into a pocket on her bag before walking her to the car that waited on the street.
“Thank you, Travis,” she said as he helped her into the back seat. “Sorry we couldn’t have that fizzy apple juice after all.”
“Never mind that,” he said, shaking his head and getting in beside her.
She stared at him in confusion. “What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?” he frowned.
“Travis, you don’t have to come to the hospital with me.”
A look of total bafflement crossed his face. “Of courseI’m coming to the hospital with you. Do you really think I’d let you go there all by yourself?”
