Positively Yours (34 page)

‘Can you hear the song playing?' exclaimed Ethan. ‘Listen to the song!'

Grace didn't take her eyes off her baby, but started to become aware of the music.

Pouring out of the radio was a song so appropriate, so apt, that Grace couldn't believe it. If she had read about it in a book she would have thought it was made up. As she looked at her daughter the song played loud and clear. It was the Prince hit, ‘The Most Beautiful Girl in the World'. Grace's little girl had been born into the world with that song playing.

The nurse wrapped the baby in a warm blanket, placed a little hat on her head and handed her to Grace.

She was perfect, she was amazing, and, as the song said, she was the most beautiful girl in the world. Grace's life could now be divided into two. Her life before and after meeting the most precious thing in the world – her daughter. She took one look into the big blue eyes of her child and knew it was love.

Two hours later the night attendant at Ireland's National Maternity Hospital opened the large wooden entrance doors to a woman frantically knocking.

‘I'm looking for my grandchild,' she announced.

He looked down at the woman's slippers, it was then that he noticed she was also in her nightie.

Patsy Slattery pulled her coat tightly around her. She still had one curler hanging down from the back of her head.

‘I'm here to meet my little angel, my first grandchild. I'm here to see Ava Miller.'

The attendant was about to explain their visiting hours, rules and policies to her, but as he saw the determination in
her eyes, and watched her clasp a large bottle of holy water in her hands, he knew not to mess with this woman.

‘I'll let them know you are on your way up,' he said as he watched her run up the stairs. He knew better than to stand between a woman and her first grandchild.

‘
SO WHEN WILL
you return to work?' asked Tom Maloney, as he tried not to stare at Beth's ever-growing belly.

Maybe never, thought Beth, as she sat opposite him.

She looked around his huge office, with its superb view of sunny St Stephen's Green, expensive furniture and paintings.

‘God, I think you can actually see the ducks from here,' she said, as she stood up slowly to look out of the large glass window.

‘Ducks? We're talking about work here. Sit down,' said Tom.

Beth would have liked to ignore his command, but with only three weeks until her due date, she wanted to sit and take the weight off her feet as much as she could.

‘I don't know the exact date of my return. But I'm taking the full paid maternity leave, and to be honest I plan on taking the unpaid, too,' she replied.

‘Even the unpaid? I didn't think you would do that,' said Tom, who sounded shocked. ‘Of course, legally you are entitled to, but what with your job being so sought after, I didn't think you'd want to leave your position for very long.'

‘Are you implying my job could be taken away from me because I'm on maternity leave? You know you can't do that,' Beth replied calmly, staring into his eyes.

‘Of course I'm not.' Tom was flustered. ‘I'm just surprised. You love work.'

‘Not as much as I plan to love my baby,' she replied.

There was silence.

Suddenly Tom's shoulders slumped. ‘OK, let's talk about this properly. If you want to take the unpaid leave from work, then I can personally help you out.'

‘It's not about your money. I don't need it or want it. All I needed was you.'

‘We've been over this a million times. I'm sorry, but I don't want any more children.'

‘I'm not expecting you to become the father of the year, but you have sat in your office, metres from me, every day for the last few months, and rarely asked how I'm feeling. Or how the baby is. What kind of man are you?'

Tom looked ashamed. ‘I'm sorry, I didn't know how to handle it.'

‘And I do?' shouted Beth. ‘I've never been pregnant before. Never been dumped, then had to face working with my ex-boyfriend day in, day out. God, get over yourself. I don't know what I'm doing, either.'

‘I'm sorry,' he said again.

Beth stood up. She'd had enough of his expensive, yet icy, office. And mainly she'd had enough of him. He might look the part, but underneath he was a cold-hearted empty man. She walked out of his office knowing it might be the last time she ever saw it. Beth was beginning to lose interest in her work. The numbers and figures were becoming boring. She was sick of spending her day making wealthy clients even richer. There had to be more than that to life. She had made some bad life choices, but now she was determined not to make the same mistakes again. She was taking ten months' maternity leave off work, and while that was happening she was going to make some big decisions – one of them about her
future at Burlington. But, for now, she was just going to get through her last day in the office.

‘This is from all of us, Beth. Best of luck,' said Susan, as she stood at the top of the office canteen.

‘We're really gonna miss you,' added Graham O'Reilly, as he put a protective arm around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Beth stood forward, accepted the envelope from her friend, and thanked all her co-workers. She couldn't believe how fast the last few months had gone, and that in another few weeks she was due. She'd insisted on working right up until the end, as she wanted to have as much time as possible afterwards with the baby, but she had to admit that in the last few weeks it had been hard to get out of bed early, and she had dreaded fighting her way through the packed Dublin streets every day. She had also found it hard to fit into the maternity work suits that she'd had custom-made by a dressmaker. Even though they'd been specially cut to fit her, they had had their limits when it came to a very large bump. She was looking forward to lie-ins and her tracksuit for the next few weeks. Nothing else seemed to matter when you had a little person kicking inside you, or when you were wrecked from a bad night's sleep. Work had always been so important to her, but over the last few months she had seen how she had focused way too much on it, to the detriment of her relationships with family and friends. But today her colleagues had been kind enough to buy her a gift and were all wishing her well.

Beth opened her present. Inside was a card and two vouchers. One for Mothercare, and another for a health spa.

‘So, one gift for the baby and one for you!' said Susan, giving her a hug. Beth would have been lost without her the last few months. Susan was still the only one of her co-workers who knew it was Tom's baby. Tom had been working in America
a lot recently, and so Beth had been spared having to see him every day. But it had still been the hardest few months of her life. Beth had always done well at everything she had put her mind to: from school work and college exams to getting a great job and working her way to the top. But her relationship with Tom had been a failure. All she had ever wanted was a good strong man by her side, and instead she had chosen a selfish coward. She was still upset at how things had turned out, but after months of hating him, she knew she had to try to let things wash over her, and instead just focus on keeping well, and being prepared for the baby.

She had a lot to do the next few weeks, between preparing the nursery in her apartment and looking for a nice crèche. Secretly she was hoping not to go back to work, but in case she had to she didn't want to be caught out, the way she had been with her choice of doctor and ante-natal class. This time, she was going to be one of those ultra-organized women, and book her unborn child into the best crèche she could find. She might even book him or her into a good school right this moment!

Beth took one last look around the busy office, thinking of all the work it had taken to get there. She was proud of what she had achieved. But when she looked at the window she was very glad that it was now her turn to be on the other side of the glass: one of those people taking a child by the hand and bringing them to see the ducks. Afternoons in the park would be her plan now. It was a far cry from the stock exchange, but she didn't care. Motherhood, here she came!

BETH WAS SITTING
watching the newest George Clooney film when she started to feel unwell. It was so hot in the cinema that there was sweat pouring down her face. She gulped down her large Coke.

‘Are you OK?' asked her friend Laura.

‘I'm fine, just a little hot, and these seats were never built for a six-foot, extremely pregnant woman.'

Laura laughed, and then turned back to the large screen.

Beth was now two days overdue, and had decided not to sit at home waiting for the baby, but to enjoy her last few days of freedom. Ever since she'd finished work she'd been meeting friends, shopping, going out for dinner and cinema trips, and taking long walks down the pier. Today she had finished organizing the baby room, gotten her hair blow-dried, had lunch with her dad, and was now mid-way through a cinema date with two of her school friends, Laura and Michelle. But she wondered if maybe she had pushed herself and her extremely large belly too far.

‘I think I'm gonna have to leave,' she said to Laura. ‘Even the sight of the divine George Clooney can't stop me feeling that I'm about to burst out of this seat. I need to stretch my legs.'

Both Laura and Michelle looked at her, alarmed.

‘No,' Beth said. ‘Before you ask, I'm not in labour. I just feel the need to stretch and get out of this roasting hot over-packed cinema. Listen, I'm going home. Enjoy the rest of the film. I'll talk to you tomorrow.'

The girls protested, but Beth assured them she was fine, and then left the dark cinema.

She drove home, and had never been so glad to see her bed. She climbed in, fully dressed. Too tired to remove her stretchy pants and large T-shirt, she lay down, enjoying the relief of letting the bed carry the weight of her unborn child. Suddenly her phone beeped. It was a text from her dad. She felt guilty. Her dad had made her sleep in his house the last week, in case she went into labour during the night. He had her hospital bag in his car, and was all ready to go in case of a middle-of-the-night emergency. He hadn't drunk alcohol in weeks in case he had to drive her into Holles Street. But tonight was his best friend's sixtieth, and so Beth had insisted he take a night off from baby watch and enjoy the party, and, more importantly, a few drinks. She had promised she would get one of her friends to stay the night with her after the cinema, but she'd lied. She didn't want or need someone else staying with her, she was fine. And to be honest, she was glad to be alone. Her dad and friends were all being so kind and helpful, but she hadn't had five minutes to herself in weeks. She replied to her dad's text, telling him she was fine.

Beth got herself a large glass of water and tried to relax. But she couldn't, she still felt so uncomfortable. Eventually she got up and turned on the TV. She watched a couple of old episodes of
Friends
, but she couldn't concentrate even on that light-hearted comedy. Instead she felt a sudden urge to make sure the baby's room was organized. She walked in and began folding and refolding Babygros, blankets and cardigans. She dusted down the bookshelves and was just
about to remake the cot bedclothes when she felt a wave of nausea come over her. She felt so sick that she ran to the bathroom. She couldn't keep anything down. Finally she crawled into bed. She lay back, pushed aside all her pregnancy books, and tried to sleep. Eventually she managed to doze for a few hours. But even her sleep was interrupted by indigestion.

At 3 a.m. she got up. She was wrecked, really not feeling well. Could I be in labour? she wondered, as she tried to flick through the labour check-list that the hospital had given her. Her waters hadn't broken, and she didn't think she had labour cramps, although her stomach didn't feel right. She didn't know what to do. She needed to ask someone who knew, someone who could tell her if what she was feeling was labour, or just the usual pregnancy pains and aches. It was at times like these that she wished she could have had even one day with her mum. Her mum would have known what to say and do. Instead Beth tried to walk off the pain. She began pacing around her apartment, but hadn't gotten as far as the kitchen when she suddenly doubled up. She had a really bad period pain. Then it was gone, and she felt fine, but it came back again almost at once. She just about managed to reach her bed. Oh God, I'm in labour, she groaned as she lay down. It was now 4 a.m. She couldn't ring her dad, who would be fast asleep after a night of wining and dining with his friends, and there was no way he could drive, either. But Beth knew she needed to get to hospital. I should have made my friends stay over, she cried. She began panicking. She had no one to help her.

There was no other option, she picked up the phone and began dialling.

Ten minutes later there was a loud bang at her door. It was a struggle for Beth to get to it, but eventually she undid the locks.

‘Are you the lady in labour?' asked an oldish man, looking hot from running up the stairs. He was the taxi driver. ‘I'm Joe.' He went on: ‘Christ. I was just about to knock off work when they rang saying I had to collect you first. We had better get you to Holles Street as fast as lightning. Are you all right?'

Beth thanked God her local taxi company had sent someone kind. She certainly had not planned to be driven to hospital by a complete stranger, but Joe would have to do. Once she knew what was happening she could ring her dad, but in case it was a false alarm there was no point in waking him at this ungodly hour. And she remembered the midwife telling the ante-natal class that most people thought they were in labour before they actually were.

‘OK, well, I promise I'll get you into the hospital as fast as I can. Now, where are your bags?'