Bridget Jones's Baby (21 page)
Read Bridget Jones's Baby Online
Authors: Helen Fielding
IGHTEEN
OU
M
ADE
I
T!
9 p.m. Hospital delivery room.
“There you are, one absolutely perfect, beautiful, baby boy.”
Dr. Rawlings handed you to me, and I actually saw her wipe away a tear. “I never thought I'd see the day,” she said in a choked voice.
And there you were, in my arms, your skin next to my skin, not a little turkey in my stomach but a little person. You were waving your miniature fists, trying to speak to me: tiny, perfect, entirely beautiful. You looked straight into my eyes, and, I don't suppose you remember, but the first thing we ever did was rub noses.
“Hello, darling,” I said through my tears. “Hello, my darling. I'm your mum. We made it through.”
Looked up at Mark and Daniel to see that both of them were in tears too.
“It's just, it's all been so emotional,” sobbed Daniel, clutching Mark's arm.
“I know, I know,” Mark managed to get out. “Look, can you let go?”
“Oh, for heaven's sakes, pull yourselves together,” said Dr. Rawlings. “Never heard such a bloody drama.”
The door burst open.
“Bridget!” said Mum, pushing everyone aside to be first. “Do you know, I had just sat down next to Her Majesty when I got the call? I came straightaway. I mean, obviously, some things are more important than the Queen, but then⦔
“Pamela,” said Dad. “Look. Your grandson.”
“Oh,” she said. “Oh my darling. My little boy.”
I gently handed you to her and her face crumpled. “Oh Bridget. He's perfect.”
It was the sweetest thing. Then she said: “Could we text a picture of this to the Queen?”
Miranda burst in with a bottle of mojito mix, followed by a beaming Richard Finch. “Bridget Jones. I'm so proud of you.” He peered at me, worried for a second. “Oh, thank God, the giant boobs are still there.”
Everyone turned up. Tom and Shazzer were hugging each other and everyone in sight. Jeremy got all sentimental with Magda, putting his arm round her. “I'm so sorry, my love. It's all going to be different now. All our babies. All those years.”
“You are still. In. The. Doghouse,” said Magda.
Just then the doors flung open again and Mark and Daniel appeared, looking nervous.
Everyone looked at them. “So?”
“We have to wait,” said Mark. Daniel reached out for Mark's hand. Mark didn't protest, and the two of them sat, holding hands.
“And the winner is!” said Dr. Rawlings, bursting through the doors. “Can I announce it in front of everyone or do you want to be alone? It's rather fun, isn't it?âlike the final of
The X Factor.
”
“I think we're all family, aren't we?” I said to Mark and Daniel. They both nodded nervously.
“All right, then. The father of Bridget Jones's baby is none other than⦔
ND
F
INALLYâ¦
“Mark Darcy!”
“Oh, thank Christ for that,” said Daniel as I handed you to your real daddy. “I mean, don't take it the wrong way, Jones,” he added hurriedly, seeing my face. “Adorable, charming obviously. I just know my limitations. May the best man win!”
Mark was looking at you, bursting with love and pride. “Why don't you ask?” he whispered.
“Daniel,” I said. “Would you like to be his godfather?”
“Well, that's um, absolutely⦔ For a moment Daniel choked up, then he pulled himself together. “That's a brave and bighearted offer. Yes, thank you,” said Daniel. “And since my godchild is a boy, you don't have to worry about me trying to shag her when she's twenty.”
“Right. That's quite enough. Let's all leave the room,” said Dr. Rawlings. “And let Mum andâ¦Dadâ¦finally have some time alone with their son.”
“Dr. Rawlings,” said Daniel, as everyone made their way out. “May I say that I have never in my life seen anyone look quite so sexual in a white coat.”
“Oh, you are such a naughty man,” she said, and giggled.
“Wait,” I said, as my dad was leaving. “You haven't held him yet.”
Dad, or Granddad now, touched your cheek very gently.
“Oops, better not let his head fall off,” said Dad as Mark very awkwardly and nervously handed you over. Then Dad (my dad) looked down into your eyes, his little grandson's eyes.
“Take care of him,” he said, throatily, to Mark. “And of her.”
“Mr. Jones. If I am a fraction as good a father as you have been to Bridget, then I will be⦔
“
He
will be the luckiest baby in the world,” said Dad.
Just then your little fist flailed, hit a switch on the monitor, and knocked a glass of blackcurrant cordial over, which smashed, spilling blackcurrant everywhere. Lights flashed and the machine started emitting an urgent blaring noise as if there was about to be an airborne attack.
Dr. Rawlings rushed back into the delivery room, looking panicked, followed by everyone else.
“Like mother, like son,” bellowed Mark above the din. “Bridget?”
“What?” I yelled.
“Will you marry me?”
“Jones?” yelled Daniel, with a conspiratorial glance at Mark. “I suppose one last shag would be out of the question?”
“Yes!” I shouted, in joyful, wonderful, overwhelmed reply to both of them.
And that, my little darling, is how I came to be your mum.
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Gillon Aitken, Clare Alexander, Sunetra Atkinson, Helen Atkinson-Wood, MarÃa Benitez, Grazina Bilunskiene, Helena Bonham Carter, Charlotte and Alain de Botton, Richard Cable, Susan Campos, Liza Chasin, Richard Coles, Rachel Cugnoni, Dash and Romy Curran, Kevin Curran, Richard Curtis, Scarlett Curtis, Patrick Dempsey, Paul Feig, Eric Fellner, the Fielding Family, Colin Firth, Carrie Fisher, Piers and Paula Fletcher, Stephen Frears, Jules Gishen, Amelia Granger, Hugh Grant, Simon Green, Debra Hayward, Susanna Hoffs, Jimmy Horowitz, Jenny Jackson, Simon Kelner, Charlie Leadbeater, Tracey MacLeod, Marianne Maddalene, Sharon Maguire, Murillo Martins, Karon Maskill, Dan Mazer, Sonny Mehta, Maile Meloy, Leah Middleton, Abi Morgan, David Nicholls, Catherine Olim, Imogen Pelham, Sally Riley, Renata Rokicki, Mike Rudell, Darryl Samaraweera, Tim Samuels, Emma Thompson, Patricia Toro Quintero, Daniel Wood, Renée Zellweger.
And with special thanks to Brian Siberell.
LSO BY
H
ELEN
F
IELDING
Cause Celeb
Bridget Jones's Diary
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Bridget Jones's Baby
by Helen Fielding
The questions, topics, and other material that follow are intended to enhance your group's conversation about
Bridget Jones's Baby: The Diaries,
Helen Fielding's uproarious continuation of Bridget's adventures, this time as her solo days become numbered with the arrival of an unexpected, but long-desired, new man in her life.
1.
How does the pressure that Bridget feels to have a babyâand settle down in generalâreflect broader issues affecting single women today? How have those concerns changed since we first met Bridget in
Bridget Jones's Diary,
published in 1996?
2.
What's different and/or more challenging about dating life today, in the age of texting? How does this form of communication add humor and drama throughout the story?
3.
What are some of the other social stigmas that the novel addresses through Bridget and her single friends, especially for women in Bridget's age group?
4.
What does Mark's reaction to Bridget at the christening suggest about their original breakup five years agoâwas he angrier at Daniel or Bridget for what he saw?
5.
What does Bridget expect from Mark and Daniel as the potential fathers of her son? Do you think that would have been different if she were having a girl?
6.
Mark describes the baby as the happiest thing that ever happened to him, which came out of a moment of “
unadulterated
passion.” Does the novel suggest that the things one wants most in life, such as this, come about more by happenstance or by deliberate planning? How have you seen that play out in other scenarios in Bridget's life?
7.
How do Bridget's relationships with her parents, especially her father, reflect the values she prioritizes for her own future family?
8.
Bridget is known for her vicesâdrinking, smoking, eating unhealthily, etc.âand her obsessive recording of them in her diary. How are these behaviors different or the same in light of her pregnancy?
9.
Once you know that it's meant for Billy to read one day, what's the difference about this diary? Do you imagine that Bridget was cognizant of its future reader and altered it accordingly, or not?
10.
How does Bridget rely on her friends during her pregnancy when other, more traditional sources of supportâher family or a husband/father for the babyâare unavailable?
11.
Bridget reflects on a quote in
Buddha's Little Instruction Book:
“If you let cloudy water settle, it will become clear. If you let your upset mind settle, your course will also become clear.” How does this idea manifest itself over the course of the novel, including with regards to the series's continuous theme of being loved “just as you are”? What do Bridget's various trialsâthe things that make her mind cloudyâultimately reveal in each instance?
12.
Were you surprised by Mark's or Daniel's behavior when it came to Bridget's doctor appointments, etc., or were their reactions characteristic?
13.
When Mark's assignment at work fails and he turns to painting, do you think his character fundamentally changes, or is painting simply a phase?
14.
How much were you surprised on finding out the baby's real father? What do you think would have happened if it were the other man?
15.
How does this book in the Bridget Jones series build on its original inspiration, Jane Austen's
Pride and Prejudice
? Do you imagine Austen characters would make the same decisions if they lived today?
16.
If you've read
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,
which takes place several years after this novel's conclusion, how did you approach the book, knowing what happens next? And if you haven't, what do you think might happen with Bridget's new family?
Karen Joy Fowler,
The Jane Austen Book Club
Emily Giffin,
Baby Proof
Jojo Moyes,
After You
Patricia Park,
Re Jane
Graeme Simsion,
The Rosie Effect
Curtis Sittenfeld,
Eligible
Emma Straub,
Modern Lovers
Meg Wolitzer,
The Interestings
