not wanting Mr Jenkins, the immaculately clad bow-tied consultant, to see her with stained jeans.
‘Do I look all right?’ she asked ridiculously.
‘Fine. Now listen …’ Simon was saying urgently as they heard the unmistakable sound of Mr Jenkins’ deep voice in the corridor. ‘No matter what has happened, we still have each other, darling. Hang on to that.’
She could not speak.
All she could think of was her baby, her baby with the trusting grey-blue eyes so like her daddy’s and the soft curly fair hair so like hers. The little girl who had learned to walk only recently, who had held out her little arms as she stumbled towards her. They would count the number of steps and then cheer and applaud her.
She could not lose her.
Her eyes were fixed on the door as she watched the handle turn.
She would know from his face.
TEN
Adele
B EFORE R ORY ARRIVED on the scene and long before baby Alexander, Adele Bond was engaged to James.
Her parents, Richard and Louisa, and his, Michael and Jennifer, greeted the news with great shouts of delight, her mother producing a bottle of champagne at once to toast the happy couple. The two older couples had known each other for ever, it seemed, and they had always secretly hoped that one day the ‘children’ would get together.
So, after a few detours, she and James had finally obliged.
James, tall, lanky, with a permanently surprised look, was a junior doctor working back at the hospital at home now and Adele had moved in with him a year earlier. They had a poky flat in a built-up area close to the hospital – a purely temporary arrangement, they hoped – and had settled into a busy routine with James working his socks off in A&E. He rarely talked about his work and she never questioned him much although she could always tell when he had had a particularly bad session.
‘I’m so glad for you, darling. It’s high time you two made it official,’ her mother said to her, eyes shining in delight, as they snatched a quiet moment together in the kitchen on the day of the announcement. ‘Your father and I were beginning to think you’d never get round to it although, you know me, I’ve never minded you living together.’
Adele laughed for clearly she had.
‘Well, let’s say I’ve grown used to it then,’ her mother said, giving her a look. ‘I like to think I’m as broadminded as the next woman – one has to be these days – but I still believe it’s better to be married before you start a family. All this business of getting married and having your baby in the photographs with you is just a little too liberal for me to take.’
‘We are not getting married so that we can start a family. I haven’t changed my mind about that,’ Adele told her, annoyed because becoming a grandmother was all her mother seemed to think about.
‘You will,’ Louisa said firmly. ‘By the way, my friend Harriet’s daughter-in-law has just had a baby boy. Rufus Duncan, a whopping ten and a half pounds and a red-head just like his daddy. She had a fearful time. Honestly, you would think in this day and age that they could make childbirth a little more palatable, wouldn’t you?’
‘Rufus Duncan?’
‘Yes, awful isn’t it?’ Louisa smiled. ‘However, each to his own. And I suppose it will suit the red hair. The day after Rufus arrived, I went with Harriet into town. She’s discovered this wonderful little boutique run by a Frenchwoman and she spent a fortune on baby clothes. I daren’t tell your father how much. They have these darling little cashmere sweaters, baby size, £40 each. The child will want for nothing. They have such sweet little garments these days, Adele. I can’t wait to start collecting things. I shall be in there as soon as you are pregnant.’
‘Oh, Mother, please. You know how I feel.’
‘I know how you think you feel. We all feel nervous about it. It’s all these television programmes where you see the poor mother writhing in agony.
‘Do I look all right?’ she asked ridiculously.
‘Fine. Now listen …’ Simon was saying urgently as they heard the unmistakable sound of Mr Jenkins’ deep voice in the corridor. ‘No matter what has happened, we still have each other, darling. Hang on to that.’
She could not speak.
All she could think of was her baby, her baby with the trusting grey-blue eyes so like her daddy’s and the soft curly fair hair so like hers. The little girl who had learned to walk only recently, who had held out her little arms as she stumbled towards her. They would count the number of steps and then cheer and applaud her.
She could not lose her.
Her eyes were fixed on the door as she watched the handle turn.
She would know from his face.
TEN
Adele
B EFORE R ORY ARRIVED on the scene and long before baby Alexander, Adele Bond was engaged to James.
Her parents, Richard and Louisa, and his, Michael and Jennifer, greeted the news with great shouts of delight, her mother producing a bottle of champagne at once to toast the happy couple. The two older couples had known each other for ever, it seemed, and they had always secretly hoped that one day the ‘children’ would get together.
So, after a few detours, she and James had finally obliged.
James, tall, lanky, with a permanently surprised look, was a junior doctor working back at the hospital at home now and Adele had moved in with him a year earlier. They had a poky flat in a built-up area close to the hospital – a purely temporary arrangement, they hoped – and had settled into a busy routine with James working his socks off in A&E. He rarely talked about his work and she never questioned him much although she could always tell when he had had a particularly bad session.
‘I’m so glad for you, darling. It’s high time you two made it official,’ her mother said to her, eyes shining in delight, as they snatched a quiet moment together in the kitchen on the day of the announcement. ‘Your father and I were beginning to think you’d never get round to it although, you know me, I’ve never minded you living together.’
Adele laughed for clearly she had.
‘Well, let’s say I’ve grown used to it then,’ her mother said, giving her a look. ‘I like to think I’m as broadminded as the next woman – one has to be these days – but I still believe it’s better to be married before you start a family. All this business of getting married and having your baby in the photographs with you is just a little too liberal for me to take.’
‘We are not getting married so that we can start a family. I haven’t changed my mind about that,’ Adele told her, annoyed because becoming a grandmother was all her mother seemed to think about.
‘You will,’ Louisa said firmly. ‘By the way, my friend Harriet’s daughter-in-law has just had a baby boy. Rufus Duncan, a whopping ten and a half pounds and a red-head just like his daddy. She had a fearful time. Honestly, you would think in this day and age that they could make childbirth a little more palatable, wouldn’t you?’
‘Rufus Duncan?’
‘Yes, awful isn’t it?’ Louisa smiled. ‘However, each to his own. And I suppose it will suit the red hair. The day after Rufus arrived, I went with Harriet into town. She’s discovered this wonderful little boutique run by a Frenchwoman and she spent a fortune on baby clothes. I daren’t tell your father how much. They have these darling little cashmere sweaters, baby size, £40 each. The child will want for nothing. They have such sweet little garments these days, Adele. I can’t wait to start collecting things. I shall be in there as soon as you are pregnant.’
‘Oh, Mother, please. You know how I feel.’
‘I know how you think you feel. We all feel nervous about it. It’s all these television programmes where you see the poor mother writhing in agony.
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