Babies in Waiting by Rosie fiore Page B

what was on her plate: all the women were too busy fussing over the baby. The poor sleepy little thing was being passed from woman to woman. They were all asking Patti about her eating and sleeping . . . did she have any teeth? Was she sitting up properly yet? Lily looked increasingly miserable, especially when gravelly Sarah bounced her energetically on her knee. ‘Who’s a gorgeous girl then?’ she rasped, putting her face close to the baby’s. She probably reeked of smoke and wine too. Lily’s little face crumpled and the corners of her mouth turned down like a comedy clown’s. She drew breath in and began to wail. The women all laughed, like this was the funniest thing they’d ever seen. Patti leaned over and took her back from Sarah.
    ‘Silly girl. Want to go to your Uncle Ben?’ Patti dumped the baby on Ben’s lap. To Gemma’s surprise, Ben wrapped his arms comfortably around her. The baby stopped crying immediately, rested her head on Ben’s chest and put a fat little thumb into her mouth. She looked at everyone else in the room with big eyes, blinking slowly. Within a few minutes, she had closed her eyes and was sleeping quietlyin his arms. Gemma could barely breathe. She had never loved Ben as much as she did in that moment . . . he looked so masculine and tender, gently holding the beautiful baby girl.
    Gemma hadn’t had much to do with babies: as an only child, she had not experienced the arrival of younger siblings, and as Samantha and David didn’t go in for extended family occasions, she barely knew any of her cousins. She stared and stared at Lily and couldn’t believe how tiny and perfect she was: her fat little hand, with its impossibly tiny pearly nails, resting on Ben’s arm, the flushed curve of her cheek, her candyfloss hair. She leaned close to Ben and smelt the sweet scent of Lily’s baby shampoo. She was desperate to hold her, but she was much too shy to ask if she could. She made do with lightly stroking the back of Lily’s hand. She had never felt such soft skin.
    Ben held Lily until Patti and the other women were ready to go home. Patti gathered up a big bag of baby stuff, then handed Ben a blanket. He wrapped it gently around the baby and carried her out to the car. Gemma helped Hannah to clear plates and put them in the kitchen.
    ‘Well, that was all right,’ Hannah commented, loading plates into the dishwasher.
    ‘It was lovely, thank you,’ said Gemma. ‘Let me do that. You shouldn’t work on your birthday.’
    Hannah needed no further persuasion, and she poured herself a glass of wine and sat down at the counter. She was a bit drunk, and clearly in the mood to get chatty.
    ‘You’re a super girl, Gemma. Really. Haven’t seen so much of you lately. It’s nice to have you back among us.’
    Gemma didn’t know what to say, so she nodded and kept rinsing plates and loading them into the dishwasher. But Hannah continued to talk. ‘Ben seemed a bit funny when I asked him to invite you. I hope things are all right with you two.’ Mercifully, she didn’t seem to expect a response to this. She raised her glass to Gemma. ‘Anyway. I hope you had a nice time.’
    ‘I did, thank you,’ Gemma said, but she felt sick and cold. So Hannah had invited her. It hadn’t even been Ben’s choice. He’d obviously just gone along with it.
    When he came back, he was smiling. Hannah said good night and went into the bathroom. Ben sat down on the sofa and put his arm around Gemma. ‘Do you need to go home?’ he asked.
    ‘No, I can stay if you’d like me to,’ she said hesitantly. She didn’t know what she’d do if he said no . . . her parents thought she was sleeping at Lucy’s, so she could scarcely go home. What would she tell them?
    ‘Nah. Stay. You’re all right,’ he said. He pulled her nearer and started stroking her upper arm. Gemma knew what that meant. He wanted sex. That was fine with her – if he wanted to have sex with her, maybe he did want to be with her, and