The Rock'n'Roll Romance Box Set (Pam Howes Rock'n'Roll Romance Series) (101 page)

  
Roy
did as he was told and threw himself into
the back of the Jeep. Sammy handed him the towels and told him to spread them
across the seat. Then she and Sean helped Livvy to clamber up next to
Roy
.

  
‘Me and Tina will go home now,’
Sean said. ‘The doors have shut behind us anyway, so we can’t go back to the
party. Call as soon as there’s any news.’
 

  
‘We will, thanks for your help,’
Jane said as she and Sammy climbed into the front of the Jeep.

  
‘Get your foot down, Jane,’
Roy
said as Livvy yelled again.

  
‘Ow-ow-ow-ow-SHIT! ’ she
screamed, clutching
Roy
’s hand.

  
‘It’s okay, Livvy, it’s okay,
I’m here,’
Roy
said soothingly as Jane sped off down the
road.

  
‘For fuck’s sake,
Roy
,’ Livvy yelled. ‘It’s not okay - it hurts
like hell - and the water’s still running out all over Jane’s car!’
 

  
‘Don’t worry about that, it’ll
clean up,’ Jane said. ‘I wish I had a blue flashing light so we could skip
through the lights.’ She headed towards Sean and Tina’s place to collect the
case.
Roy
chatted to Livvy to try and keep her mind
off her pains, which suddenly seemed to be coming very quickly.

  
‘I don’t think we’ve time to get
to the hospital,’ Jane whispered to Sammy.

  
‘We have to, she’s booked in
there,’ Sammy replied with a look of panic.

  
‘That baby’s going to be here
any minute. I’m telling you,
Roy
will be delivering it himself.’ Jane stopped
the Jeep next to a phone box and turned to look at Livvy’s distorted face.
‘Call an ambulance and the hospital, Sam. Let them know she’s on the way.’
 

  
‘I need to push!’ Livvy yelled
as Sammy leapt out of the car and ran to the phone box.

  
Jane climbed over the seats into
the back. ‘Get behind her shoulders,
Roy
and support her properly while I have a look
what’s happening.’

  
Looking worried to death,
Roy
moved quickly, pulling Livvy round so that
she was lying against him. She was crying and sobbing, saying she wanted to
push as Jane peeled off her wet trousers and underwear and gasped with shock.

  
‘She
does
want to push,
Roy
the head’s crowning.’

  
‘Is it? Oh, Jesus Christ!’
Roy
said. ‘What the fuck does that mean? You’ve
had three, Jane you must know what to do!’

   
Jane looked at his stricken
face. ‘Yeah, Roy, but I was at the other end!’

  
Sammy ran back, opened the
passenger door and climbed aboard, taking in the scene. ‘The ambulance is on
its way,’ she told them.

  
‘So’s the baby, the heads nearly
out,’ Jane replied. ‘We’ll just have to cope the best we can.
Roy
I’ll need your T-shirt to wrap it in. Pull
it over his head, Sam, if you can reach him.’

  
Sammy knelt up on her seat and
leant over. She yanked
Roy
’s T-shirt off as Livvy screamed again and pushed hard at Jane’s
instructions.
 

  
Roy
held Sammy’s gaze, his eyes echoing the fear
in hers. He whispered silently, ‘Please, God, don’t let me lose another child.’

  
At fifteen minutes past
midnight
, Harley Nicola Cantello slithered into the
world, seconds before the ambulance arrived. Jane breathed a sigh of relief as
the tiny bundle opened her rosebud mouth and wailed in protest. For her father
it was all too much and he fainted clean away.

  
Jane wrapped the baby in
Roy
’s T-shirt and laid her on Livvy’s stomach.
Sammy, tears pouring down her cheeks, was unable to move, frozen into a
kneeling position on the front passenger seat.

  
The two ambulance attendants,
who looked in on the scene, smiled as they congratulated a tearful Jane on the
safe delivery. They cut the cord, checked the baby’s airways and delivered the
placenta before
Roy
came round.

  
Sammy smiled at her pale-faced
husband as he struggled to sit up. Livvy was still lying against him and she
tilted her head backwards.

  
‘Hello, Daddy,’ she smiled
wearily. ‘It’s another Special Girl for your harem!’

  
Jane lifted his daughter, who
was now wrapped in a clean white sheet, and held her up for
Roy
’s inspection. He smiled as the crumpled
little face, with the mop of jet-black hair and dark button-eyes, studied him unblinkingly.

  
‘She looks a bit annoyed,’ he
said.
 

  
‘Are you surprised?’ Jane said.
‘It’s not a very dignified start for her.’

  
‘She looks exactly like Nick and
Jason did,’ he said softly, looking at Sammy.

  
‘Doesn’t she just?’ Sammy
agreed, tearfully.

  
‘Hold her, Sammy,’ Livvy urged.
‘She’s
your
daughter too.’

  
Sammy took the baby from Jane
and gazed in awe. ‘She’s beautiful. Thank you, Livvy. Thank you
so
much.’

  
‘You’re very welcome. I just
hope she helps you put the past to bed.’

  
Sammy smiled tearfully and
nodded, too choked for words.

  
‘Right then, let’s get this
little lady and her Mummy to the hospital,’ the elder of the two attendants
spoke up.

  
‘She’s booked into The Melville
Private Maternity Home and they’re expecting her,’ Sammy told him.
  

  
. ‘What about you, Dad? Aren’t
you getting in with them?’ asked the younger attendant as Livvy and Harley were
settled comfortably in the ambulance.

  
‘Err,’
Roy
hesitated and looked at Sammy.

  
‘Go on,
Roy
. We’ll follow in the Jeep,’ she said.

  
‘Are you sure?’ he whispered.

  
‘I’m positive. They can’t go
alone. What would it look like? Go on!’ Sammy pushed him towards the ambulance
doors. ‘See you soon.’

  
He climbed in and sat down
besides Livvy, taking Harley in his arms as the doors closed and the ambulance
sped off into the night.

***

Livvy looked up at
Roy
and smiled. ‘What do you think of your daughter, Mr Cantello?’

  
‘She’s gorgeous, absolutely
gorgeous,’ he replied, tears running down his cheeks. ‘I’m so proud of you, Livvy.
I can’t believe how quickly she came.’

  
Livvy smiled. ‘I was actually in
labour all day,’ she confessed. ‘But like I told the others, I wasn’t going to
miss your show for anything. I sat through it, counting contractions and deep
breathing.’

  
‘You crazy girl! You could have
given birth in the theatre. Did you enjoy the show in spite of the pains?’

  
‘Very much,
Roy
, it was brilliant. It’s been quite a night
all round, hasn’t it?’

  
He kissed the baby’s head. ‘You
can say that again!’

***

 
‘So, how do you feel now?’ Jane
asked as she and Sammy followed the ambulance.

  
‘Stunned! I’ll feel better when
I’m with
Roy
again. I had to let him go with her, didn’t
I? I feel sick at the thought of it. Supposing he decides he wants to be with
them now. I mean, going through all that together may bring them close again.’

  
‘He won’t want that, believe me.
He did very well, considering he’d only just finished the show. He’s probably
worn out now and desperate to get home.’

  
‘What about you, Jane? You were
wonderful back there. I can’t thank you enough.’
    

  
‘Oh, it was nothing,’ Jane
replied modestly. ‘Livvy did most of the work. I still can’t believe how
quickly she gave birth.’

***

Livvy and Roy were taken to a private suite where Livvy was made comfortable
while Harley was examined by a pediatrician who declared her a fit and healthy
six pounds four ounces. The hospital staff had been made aware of the situation
regarding the baby’s parentage and when Jane and Sammy arrived they were taken
immediately to Livvy’s suite. After a last cuddle all round for Harley they
said goodnight to Livvy and promised to visit tomorrow.

  
On the way back to the theatre,
Jane reflected that the whole trip had taken less than ninety minutes, but had
felt like a lifetime. Meantime, Eddie had sent Katie and Dominic home in a taxi
with Jon and Jess. Tim, Pat and their sleepy daughters had also left for home.
Only Eddie, Phil, Carl and Cathy, along with Frank Ja
mes
, remained.

  
The theatre management were
waiting to lock up and go, but let in Jane, Sammy and Roy who were greeted with
enthusiasm.

  
‘We’ve decided to go to our
place for a nightcap,’ Eddie told them. ‘You can tell us what happened when we
get there. Just tell us one thing to tide us over. Boy or girl?’

  
‘Girl!’
Roy
announced a big grin from ear to ear.

***

Livvy traced her finger around her daughter’s face and smiled. She was
waiting for Roy and Sammy to collect one-week-old Harley and take her home.
After today there would be no further contact with her baby. She’d signed a
document, drawn up by
Roy
’s solicitor, and a cheque for fifty-thousand pounds was sitting in her
handbag.
Roy
said it would help her get on her feet in
Glasgow
. Well that much was true, but it still felt
like blood money. She was planning on calling her friend Sheena once she was
back at Sean and Tina’s place. Sheena would put her up for a few weeks while
she decided what she wanted to do.
 

  
Maybe Sheena would want to
reform their duo and sing in pubs and clubs.
Roy
had also given her a few contact numbers and
the tapes he’d recorded with her singing solo. It would be up to her, he’d
said, whether she tried to get an agent interested. He could help her no
further.

  
Harley stirred in her arms and
opened her eyes. ‘Hello, baby girl. You’re going home soon with your new Mummy
and Daddy. They’ll take great care of you. Your big brother Jason will spoil
you rotten. You’re a lucky little girl because you’ll never want for anything.’

  
Tears dripped onto the baby’s
face and she blinked. Livvy gently wiped them away with her fingertips. ‘Your
Daddy will tell you all about me one day. Why I left you behind with him. But
trust me, this is for the best.’

  
There was a gentle tap at the
door and
Roy
popped his head around, followed by Sammy ‘You
okay, Liv?’ he asked.

  
‘I guess so,’ she replied.
‘She’s all ready for you. She’s wearing Tina’s new outfit and I’ve packed all
the other gifts in that bag over there.’

  
Sammy picked up the small
holdall. ‘You are sure about this?’

  
Livvy nodded. ‘Sean and Tina
will be here in ten minutes to take me home. Best if you go before they arrive.
Tina said if you change your mind,
she’ll
have her!’ She smiled through her tears.

  
‘I’m sure she would,’ Sammy
nodded. ‘She’ll be able to come and visit whenever she wants to and we’re going
to ask her and Sean to be Godparents, along with Ed and Jane.’

  
‘Well that’s lovely. They’ll be
thrilled to bits. Right then, here you are,
Roy
.’ Livvy handed him the shawl-wrapped bundle.
‘Tell her that I did this for
her
.’
She turned away as he looked into her eyes. She could see something there and
she didn’t want to acknowledge it. ‘Just go now, please.’

  
‘Livvy!’
Roy
put his hand on her shoulder. ‘Thank you.
I’ll tell her all about you as soon as she’s old enough.’