The Heartbreak Cafe (48 page)

‘
It’s OK Ruth,’ Trish said softly, before turning again to
Emer. ‘You’re right and I’m sorry. I really don’t know. I guess I
never stopped to think … about you or the children. Please believe
me, I’m really sorry.’

Emer
seemed taken aback, and somewhat disappointed that Trish wasn’t
putting up more a fight – any kind of fight in fact. Actually, the
poor woman looked defeated and who could blame her? Ruth thought.
To find that her so-called perfect life in the country hadn’t
worked out after all? She recalled Nina telling them that this
particular woman spent a lot of time lording it over her friends,
and she thought not for the first time, that you never really had
any clue what went on behind closed doors.

Up until
recently, this Emer woman thought she had it sussed, but how wrong
she was. It almost put Ruth’s own problems into perspective. At
least there was a chance she could go back to LA and pick up the
pieces. It would be difficult, especially with a baby in tow, but
she was willing to give it a shot. The problem was that she wasn’t
sure if her heart would be in acting now, but what else could she
do? That life was all she’d ever known.

Just then
there was some kind of commotion from inside the café and Ruth
turned to see one of the waitresses rush to the doorway. ‘Please,
please come inside!’ Alice called to Ruth and Trish who exchanged a
concerned glance. What on earth was happening in there?

Trish
turned to Emer. ‘I’m sorry but I need to go – maybe we can discuss
this another time.’

‘
Oh forget it,’ the other woman said, huffily walking away.
‘There’s nothing to discuss.’

Ruth and
Trish went inside and followed the girl out back to the storage
room where they found Nina sitting on boxes and breathing
heavily.

‘
What’s happening?’ Ruth gasped.

Nina
looked up helplessly. ‘My waters broke.’

‘
You’re kidding!’ Trish exclaimed. ‘I thought you had a few
more weeks to go?’

‘
So did I,’ she said, panicking, ‘but it must be
early.’

Just then
a contraction ripped through Nina’s body and she let out a
howl.

‘
We need to get her to the hospital,’ Ruth
beseeched.

Ella
looked at Nina with growing trepidation. ‘I know. A lot of things
might have happened in this café, but I’m not about to open it up
as a maternity ward.

Trish
headed for the door. ‘I’ll go out front – see if I can find someone
to give us a lift.’

Good luck
with that, Ruth thought silently. What person in their right mind
would risk giving a woman in the throes of labour a
lift?

Poor Nina
was writhing uncomfortably on the chair, panting heavily, while
Ella held a cold towel to her forehead. Wanting to help, but
completely unsure how, Ruth simply held her friend’s
hand.

‘
We’re in luck!’ Trish said bursting back into the room with
none other than …

‘
Charlie,’ Ruth gasped, the words almost catching in her
throat.

He stared
at her. ‘Everyone was talking about it outside. I thought … I was
worried that …’

Immediately she understood. ‘No, no, I’m fine,’ she reassured
him. ‘I’ve still a long way to go – unlike some,’ she nodded in
Nina’s direction. ‘Do you mind?’

‘
Of course I don’t mind. What can I do?’

‘
Seriously no,’ Nina protested. ‘I can’t risk messing up your
car –’

‘
It’s not mine – it’s a display model, and I know a good valet
service,’ he said, winking at Nina and Ruth noticed, immediately
putting her at ease.

‘
Are you sure?’ she said helplessly. ‘Because I really don’t
know how long this will …oww!’ Yet another contraction went through
her and she blanched.

‘
Ella, get whatever we might need, blankets, towels etc.
together.’ Charlie quickly took charge and Ruth watched him,
impressed by his decisiveness. ‘I’ll bring the car round, so she
doesn’t have to go through the café. There’s rear access from here,
isn’t there?’

‘
Yes.’ Ella too was spurned into action and all the activity
seemed to have the effect of calming Nina.

All too
soon, she was being helped into the back of Charlie’s car – or one
of the garage’s fleet at least.

‘
Sweetheart, do you want me to call your father?’ Ella asked
rather stupidly, Ruth thought.

This
suggestion seemed to bring a fresh wave of pain. ‘No,’ Nina
replied, ‘I don’t think I could handle all that just
yet.’

‘
Of course.’

‘
Will you guys stay with me?’ Nina pleaded from inside the car,
and although she wasn’t keen, Ruth couldn’t ignore the terrified
look on the poor girl’s face.

‘
Of course I will,’ she replied.

‘
Good idea,’ Trish interjected brightly. ‘But I’ll pass if you
don’t mind – this is more Ruth’s kind of thing really. I’ll keep an
eye on your stuff though!’

Cursing
Trish, Ruth duly got in the car beside Nina and soon after, Charlie
pulled away and headed straight for Dublin.

‘
That’s it Nina, that’s it,’ Ruth said as she held on tightly
to Nina’s hand in the delivery suite of the maternity hospital.
Actually it was more like Nina holding tightly to her hand, and
Ruth was sure she would have broken bones when this was finished.
When they’d reached the hospital, and the midwife had immediately
confirmed that she was about to deliver, Nina hadn’t wanted to let
Ruth go.

‘
I don’t have anybody else,’ she’d said tearfully and how could
Ruth refuse? And if anything, it was no doubt good practice for
her.

‘
That’s it, keep breathing, keep breathing,’ she reassured her,
patting her forehead with a cool washcloth.

‘
Owww!’ Nina yelled.

The
midwife stood at the base of the bed. ‘We’re almost there Nina, not
much longer, one or two more good pushes…’

‘
Ughhhh,’ Nina moaned, red in the face.

‘
That it. Here it comes!’ the woman encouraged and Nina’s eyes
went wide. ‘Good girl, the head is out now, so all we need now is
to push out the shoulders, OK?’

Nina
nodded helplessly and then pushed, struggling for breath. Then all
of sudden, the baby came out and after a brief moment, they heard a
cry erupt.

‘
You did it! You did it Nina!’ Ruth cheered.

‘
I did it, I did it,’ Nina breathed, tears coming down her
cheeks.

‘
Congratulations love,’ the midwife smiled. ‘You have a
son.’

She lay
her head back on the pillows, as if in disbelief. ‘I have a
son.’

Ruth
leaned forward for a closer look when after all the necessary
medical checks, the midwife placed a tiny baby boy in Nina’s
waiting arms. He had a shock of dark hair.

‘
He looks just like you. He’s beautiful Nina; you did such a
good job.’ Ruth said smiling.

‘
Thank you,’ Nina whispered, staring in awe at her
baby.

A few
minutes later, when Nina and the baby were settled, Ruth exited the
delivery room and pulled off her hospital scrubs. To her surprise,
she saw that Charlie was still waiting in the hallway.

‘
Everything going OK?’ he asked, standing up.

‘
Everything’s already gone actually,’ she said, telling him all
that happened over the last hour. ‘A little boy – he’s
beautiful.’

‘
That’s great news – I’m glad we got here in time.’

‘
Yes, nice driving Schumacher,’ Ruth teased.

There was
a brief silence, until Charlie sighed and turned to look at her.
‘So you’re still here,’ he said.

‘
Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘
I guess I thought you’d get the next flight back to
LA.’

‘
I told you – I’m finished with that life.’ Well, at least she
would be if there was perhaps a life in Lakeview waiting for her.
And thinking about the look on his face back in Ella’s when he
appeared in the stockroom, she wondered if there might just be a
chance. But she figured that this time, she really should put all
of her cards on the table. ‘Actually, I can’t go back because I’m
getting sued by the network,’ she added wryly.

‘
Ahh I see, so that’s the reason,’ Charlie said, in a wry tone.
‘You’re only still here because you’re stuck here.’

‘
Come on Charlie, do you think Ireland or LA are my only
options? If I hated it so much here, why wouldn’t I just hop on a
plane and go to London or Paris, and do something there? Being so
shallow and all…’ she added, deliberately goading him. ‘Of course,
the baby wouldn’t exactly make any of that very easy but I’m sure I
could manage. I always do.’

‘
So you are leaving then?’ he said, staring straight
ahead.

‘
I don’t know yet,’ she said honestly. ‘There’s a lot to sort
out.’

He shook
his head. ‘When I saw those pictures … of you and that asshole, I
wanted to put my fist through the wall.’

‘
I know and I can only imagine how it looked to you, but surely
you must know by now that that’s the way the media works.
Everything is spun and slanted and …skewed. It was a set-up
Charlie, and maybe you don’t believe me, but I’m telling you the
truth. And the truth is that Troy Valentine is a brain-dead moron
who is never, ever going to be involved in this baby’s
life.’

‘
You really mean that.’

‘
Of course I do. Come on, you know how I feel about all that,
why would you just assume that I’d go back to LA and take up with
him again. It’s insulting.’

‘
I know, but then again, when it comes to La-La-Land I’ve never
really understood the spell it holds over you.’

‘
Held, Charlie, held. I’m finished with LA. Period.’ They both
laughed at her unintentional Americanism and then to Ruth’s
disbelief, he reached for her hand.

She
stared at him, her breath frozen in her chest.

‘
And what about Peter Jackson – and that Oscar?’ he asked,
rubbing his finger lightly over her skin.

‘
They can give it to Scarlett – she needs it more than I do,’
she said haughtily and he laughed again.

‘You’d
really consider giving up all that for a boring old life in the
sticks?’ he asked then and her heart almost stopped.

‘
I know that life with you could never be boring.’

Charlie
leaned forward and pulled her into a passionate kiss. She threw her
arms around his neck as he kissed every inch of her face, her eyes,
her mouth, her neck.

‘
I love you. Never do that to me again,’ she said in between
kisses. ‘I need you, we need you.’

‘
I won’t I swear. I promise I’ll – ‘

‘
Oh for crying out loud!’ Ruth and Charlie broke apart at the
sound of the voice and turned to see Trish striding down the
hallway, a bunch of flowers in her hand. ‘Don’t you two ever stop
with the melodrama? Hepburn and Tracy eat your hearts
out.’

The
following morning, after a surprisingly good night’s sleep, Nina
was in the maternity ward welcoming the first of her visitors. She
was sitting up in bed, and was wearing a pale pink nightgown with
her dark hair tied up in a small ponytail. She felt great and
couldn’t stop smiling.

She still
couldn’t believe that the tiny baby lying in the crib beside her
bed was truly hers. And she especially couldn’t believe that she’d
actually considered giving him up. How could she when he was so
beautiful?

She
immediately thought back to her and Jess’s conversation last week
in Dublin, whereupon Jess had confessed that she herself was
adopted but had been reunited with her birth mother a few years
before.

‘
Giving your baby up doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll never see
it again,’ she had told Nina kindly. ‘And doing so definitely
doesn’t make you a bad person. My birth mum had her own reasons for
giving me up and in her shoes, I’d probably have done the same
thing.’ She smiled but didn’t elaborate and Nina didn’t like to
ask. ‘My adoptive parents are wonderful and gave me a wonderful
life, the kind of upbringing my mother wanted for me. I wanted for
absolutely nothing and while I might have liked a brother and
sister, it wasn’t an option for them. So speaking from experience,
if you really feel you can’t give this baby the life you think it
deserves, then yes you should consider adoption, but at the same
time are you absolutely sure you couldn’t raise it on your
own?’

Today
Nina realised Jess was right; millions of women over the years had
managed it without partners and she was sure she could too –
especially when there were so many people willing to help. Yes, it
would be hard but she would make it work.

Now Jess
herself took a couple of tentative steps towards the baby’s crib.
‘Little thing like that sure required a lot of work, eh?’ she said,
and Nina caught Brian’s eye and laughed.

The two
looked relaxed and happy in one another’s company and Nina
suspected that Jess’s scare had given them both a huge fright, and
concentrated their energies on what was most important, their love
for each other.