Homecoming by Catrin Collier Page B

nights.’
    â€˜Lucky you. I wish Roy and I could go out more than once in a blue moon.’
    â€˜If ever you need a babysitter …’
    â€˜Between Judy and the neighbours I’m never short of a babysitter. Just a husband who works regular hours. I’d forgotten what a bind police shift work can be. Now where was I?’ Joy thought for a moment. ‘I find it difficult to talk to anyone over two years old these days. I’m so used to spending all my time with Billy, I get the urge to show everyone picture books or talk about Moo Cows and Bunny Rabbits. So beware, your brain could go the same way.’
    â€˜You were telling me about the nursing home,’ Katie prompted shyly.
    â€˜Of course I was, it’s a splendid place, but be sure you allow the staff to wait on you hand and foot after the baby’s born. Make the most of your ten days there because, once you get home, between seeing to the baby and John, and running the house, you won’t have a minute to yourself.’
    â€˜I’m looking forward to that part.’ Katie set her orange juice on the coffee table.
    â€˜You’re not worried about the actual birth, are you?’ Joy asked.
    â€˜Just a bit. You hear such terrible stories.’
    â€˜Invented and spread by old wives who enjoy scaring young girls because it makes them feel important. Thank you, Helen.’ Joy took the bottle of Pony Helen handed her and poured it into her glass. ‘I won’t say having a baby is easy because it’s not, they don’t call it labour for nothing.’
    â€˜Is there a lot of pain?’ Katie asked apprehensively.
    Joy thought for a moment before answering. ‘Yes, but it varies enormously from one woman to another. It’s also a peculiar pain, it hurts at the time but once you’re holding your baby for the first time you forget all about it.’
    â€˜And that’s how you felt after Billy was born.’ Helen sat on the arm of the sofa.
    â€˜And Judy. If I hadn’t forgotten what it had been like to give birth to her, I might not have had Billy.’
    â€˜And you honestly can’t recall the pain now,’ Helen pressed.
    â€˜Only the good bits,’ Joy asserted. ‘Holding Judy and Billy for the first time, seeing what they looked like after spending so many months wondering whether I was going to have a girl or a boy. It’s a feeling like nothing else I’ve ever experienced and impossible to explain, other than to say it’s wonderful.’
    â€˜Then Billy’s not going to be your last baby?’ Katie ventured.
    â€˜I think having Billy was pushing it a bit at my age, not that I’d mind having another one,’ Joy said quickly, ‘but I think it’s time you girls did your bit to repopulate the world. Katie’s baby needs a few playmates and now Jack’s home …’
    â€˜Excuse me, I have to check there’s enough food laid out in the dining room.’ Helen left the sofa and went to the door.
    â€˜Trust me to put my foot in it,’ Joy murmured guiltily.
    â€˜Now Jack’s home I’m sure they’ll try again,’ Katie sympathised.
    â€˜I hope you’re right.’ Joy looked through the open door into the dining room. Jack had slipped his arm around Helen’s waist, as he carried on talking to Martin and John. ‘They look happy together.’
    â€˜Helen was worried that Jack would have forgotten her. I told her there was no chance of that but I’m not sure she believed me.’
    â€˜From the way she’s looking at him, she does now.’ Joy took an oyster pattie from a plate Lily was handing round. ‘These are good, you must give me the recipe.’
    â€˜I will.’ Lily glanced at the door. ‘I hear Judy.’
    â€˜At last. I was worried she had stopped off to buy another salon on the way here,’ Joy quipped, and not entirely humorously.
    â€˜You