The Wolf Border (26 page)

I think so.

What else can she say amid the banal, undramatic language of the medical world?
How will I be a mother? Will I feel love?
Her identity is checked again. The sheets go up, partitioning her.

Don't worry, the midwife says. Soon be done.

The painkillers seem to have a mild sedative effect too. People are talking to her. She does not know if they have started the operation. There is someone beside her head, trying to get her attention – the ODP, Sam. Sam, with her lively blue eyes and boy's face. Talk of holidays and a recently read book. They are still positioning her, she thinks, there is the sensation of pressure, things moving, pulling, but no real feeling. Then she realises, because of what the consultant is saying, that they have opened her up. She puts her
head back, and her breaths begin to come unevenly.

I'm sorry, she says, though she does not know to whom she is apologising. Kyle? Binny? The baby?

Alright? Sam asks.

No. I don't know, she whispers.

You know, I remember seeing some wolves when I was a kid, Sam says. In a park. There were a load of other animals too. Do you know the one I mean?

Where was it?

Near Penrith, I think.

Setterah Keep, Rachel says.

Yeah, Setterah, that was the name. Did you ever go?

I lived near there when I was a kid. We must be about the same age.

What, twenty-one – good for us, hey.

No. I don't know –

The ODP takes and squeezes her hand, the gesture unequivocal.

Sometimes helps to close your eyes, Rachel. Some people even go off to sleep for a bit.

Do they?

They do. May as well get a nap before the bawling at 4 a.m. starts.

Rachel closes her eyes. How many minutes have passed? She forces herself to breathe deeper, slower.

Good stuff, Sam says. I think I tried to feed them a hotdog once through the bars. I got a right bollocking.

Rachel breathes and tries to imagine a still place inside, the well of the self, where a person is unreachable. There was talk of it at Chief Joseph, in the sweat lodges, the mind was let go there.

You're doing great, Mum.

Rachel breathes. There is darkness, perhaps a drug. And then she thinks,
Where are you, Mum?
She feels something hot slide from her eye. She feels Binny letting go of her hand.
Be brave, my girl
. And she is walking. Through a gate, into the woods, where there are green pathways between trunks and the quiet of the trees all around. The ground underfoot is soft, tides of needles spilled from the pines. She walks into the forest. It is there, where she knew it would be. It is standing on the path in front of her, head turned and lowered, yellow eyes. A creature long and grey. It is standing in the shadows of the branches, earth on its back and on the bridge of its nose, where it has been digging underneath the wire. Small, clever, yellow eyes. It blinks and turns its head and lopes into the trees.

There is the sound of crying, a pitch from a liminal realm, though she is sure she's heard it before somewhere. She opens her eyes and lifts her head. There are surgeons at her waist, draped in blue, busy. The midwife is coming towards her holding a sheet in her arms; two tiny red fists are rising from the folds.

Here he is, the midwife says. He's got a very good shout. He's not sure about being in this world at all, are you?

She lowers the bundle towards Rachel, and Rachel lifts her hand and reaches out and touches the flailing arm. Blood warm. There is still blood on him, and the white vernix. His skin. His dark hair. His mouth is open – soft, asking tissue, like the gape of a bird. His eyes are tight shut as he wails, and there is a tremendous crease in his forehead.

You've got a little hero.

Rachel nods. She cannot stop looking, as if seeing him will confirm it.

Can I have him?

Just a few more bits to do, the midwife says, then I'll bring him back to you for some skin to skin and we can really get going.

She moves away and Rachel rests her head back down. Don't take him, she thinks. Give him to me, he's mine. She watches as he is administered to. Is he alright? He must be alright. They are placing him on the scales, checking reflexes. She wants to get up and go over there, pick him up. The surgeons are at her waist, taking too long. She doesn't care. There seems no need for anything else now. There is no wound. The only wound is life, recklessly creating it, knowing that it will never be safe, it will never last; it will only ever be real.

December. She has become the servant of winter. The early darkness keeps her home, wrapped up warm by the fire, the lights blazing. She nurses the baby. There are colossal yellow clouds above Annerdale, loops of sleet, and serious snow on the fells. She does not go out. The last few months the world has come to her: deliveries of food and equipment, the midwife and healthcare worker, the men in her life, work. She nurses the baby; he takes an hour to feed, falling asleep halfway through, waking, continuing. She reads while he suckles. The cottage keens in the wind, the woods outside creak and rub. If it weren't for the double-glazing, the wifi, and mobile signal, she might be in another century. Outside, too, there are wolves, no longer medieval – she can hear them calling occasionally from the enclosure, or imagines she can.

By 3.30 p.m., the sun has almost gone, its pale sump sinking on the horizon. Black wind at night, howling back, demonic almost. And rain, beginning to solidify. She worries about snow as she never worried before, worries about becoming trapped. She is unused to the long darkness – this first winter back in England is shocking, brutal, how could she have forgotten. Daylight feels incredibly valuable, if only she could access it. She leaves lamps on downstairs overnight. The baby sleeps in the Moses basket by her bed, within arm's reach. At 4 a.m. she nurses him, while
the darkness rolls past. It feels like the end of the world. Needles in her breasts and great pressure as the milk lets down. To have chosen love-enslavement to this little being means forfeiting everything.

He is Charles Caine, a family name, though no one knows it. To give a title to another human being is to acknowledge history, or to refute it – to say, we err, but forward we go, improving, hopeful. A full, dark head of hair. Long legs. One of his ears is folded over inside, like a shell, in some cultures lucky, in others, a bad omen. He is exceptional company; that is to say, he demands everything of her and is given it. She nurses him. She changes him. She nurses him again. He likes the firelight, turns his head towards the flames. He is beginning to differentiate colours now, beginning to smile, though many of his expressions remain less happy as he tries to absorb the world's visceral information. He dreams, grimaces. She nurses him, at one hot breast, then the other. He is at his most immaculate afterwards: composed, bow-mouthed, his chest rising and falling, fists clenched as he sleeps. One in three hours given over to active care, she was told: a low estimate. She has buried the bellybutton stump next to the quince tree.

She can carry him for longer periods in the sling now, without the ache in her abdomen and back. He lies against her side like a warm, external organ. Below, the scar itches. A majestic scratch, still red, but unbelievably small given its yield; one buckled section where the suture alignment was off, or hurried, closed by a junior – it doesn't matter. Now and then there are sharp electric jolts as something knits back together, or nerves resurrect. The memories of those first days are hazy. The limping, stooping walk, with a nurse on her arm, to the cot to change his nappy, down
the ward corridor. Sitting on the toilet, terrified to shit. Cramps as she first tried to nurse him. Small bodily triumphs she could not have imagined to be so meaningful. In the kitchen drawer is the thin subcutaneous cord with its blue beads – a surgical trophy, removed by Jan, that she has not thrown out. Her flesh sags over the wound, but is retreating daily.

She nurses the baby by the fire and reads reports sent to her by Huib and Sylvia. Ra and Merle have found their range and are tracking the herds. They have denned; a good indicator for mating come February, the coordinates almost exactly central in the enclosure. She makes a note – the pups would then be due late April, perhaps early May at Britain's latitude, a sixty-day gestation. The abandoned deer carcasses in the enclosure weigh less than a third of their original body weight; they are being stripped, efficiently. She reads but it is hard to concentrate. Charlie is mesmeric. He draws the eye, for no reason, like a newly unwrapped gift. Everything else retreats – there are no other stories. The story is the child. She puts her mouth on the soft fusing crown of his head. She wishes he would sleep so she could sleep. She wishes he would wake, prove that he is alive and animate, see how his eyes find and recognise her face.

Just enjoy it, Huib tells her when she phones. Our guys are doing fine.

Not that she doubted it. Annerdale is a utopia for Ra and Merle: plentiful biomass, no other packs to compete with or species of similar prowess. The temperature, though low and dropping weekly, is mild compared to the bitter Romanian winter. She checks the project website, reads the messages – there has been a flush of positive responses to the release, the scales seem to have tipped. Much of the criticism has evaporated – the wolves are a success for not
being a catastrophe, like the Olympics, or a piece of public art. Only the faithfuls continue to complain. The security reports from Michael have been similarly good. There's been no more trouble around the fence periphery, and it is too inclement to protest by the main gate. Thomas passes on personal congratulations from the Prime Minister. She takes this with a pinch of salt. After the Scottish vote, Sebastian Mellor is desperate for good press, progressive policies – especially in the regions where there is growing agitation for devolved powers – and the project qualifies.

Lawrence visits almost every weekend, a couple of times with Emily. There seems to be an accord between the two of them. They bring gifts, clothes, food. Her brother is wildly in love with the baby. Bup, he calls him, inexplicably – some private pet name.

Hello, Bup. How's Bup? Come here, Bup.

He picks him up, holds him out, dangling and kicking in the fleece bag, examining him, then drawing him close into his chest. Emily is practical around the house – cooking, offering to clean, minding the baby while Rachel takes a bath. The sad truth is she's a natural, a childless natural; Charlie sleeps contentedly on her shoulder, against the cashmere jumper, her silk scarves dampening with his drool and possetting. Rachel passes her a muslin cloth, but she doesn't seem to care. If it is painful, holding in her arms something so longed for, she doesn't show it. Rachel admires her for that, begins even to like her. She has passed the test of her son, which is now the main test. She thoughtfully brings Rachel a breast pump, in order to freeze and save milk.

Rachel watches her and Lawrence. They appear stable, if slightly too polite with each other, their eyes occasionally locked in silent communication. They do not squabble in front of her or give anything away. It seems fine, but Rachel is aware that the
true state of their relationship cannot be known by an outsider. Still, they are together, and she finds she is relieved.

Alexander, too, has been a regular visitor. He comes in without knocking, bringing enormous shanks of meat wrapped in plastic layers, given to him by farmers by way of thanks for difficult surgeries or merciful euthanasia. In the freezer are vacuum bags of yellow-tinted breast milk alongside primitively home-cut steaks, lamb legs – a bizarre mammalian cache.

You need 500 more calories a day, he tells her.

I never stop eating, she says. I feel like a prize pig.

Intermittently, she roasts pork and beef joints, becomes distracted, forgets to take them out of the oven, then eats them well-done, dry to desiccated. One evening, Alexander arrives with a guest. She hears the stomping of boots in the hallway, female chatter. She is nursing the baby, bra-less, her T-shirt pulled up.

Here in the kitchen, she calls.

He puts his head round the door.

I've got someone with me.

Right, she says. 'Fraid I can't move.

There is not much she can do; the baby is midway, being slow as usual. She reaches for a tea-towel and drapes it modestly over her left side. Alexander walks in with his daughter, Chloe. The girl is clearly related – even pre-puberty, she is big, and tall, with her father's forehead and mouth. She has on an unfashionable anorak, purple, unzipped, a jumper with crocheted dogs on it, wellies. Every inch the daughter of a country vet.

Hi, Rachel, Chloe says.

Hi, Chloe. Nice to meet you. Come in.

The girl takes a step inside.

Wait! Boots off, madam, her father instructs. Hope you don't mind us dropping in.

Rachel shakes her head. Chloe heels her wellies off and stands them tidily by the door. She comes into the room and looks at the baby, what can be seen of him under the towel. He is slipping off the nipple and falling asleep. Rachel shifts him in her arms, moves her T-shirt back down, and tosses the tea-towel onto the counter.
This is Charlie.

Can I hold him? Chloe asks.

Whoa there, Alexander says. ‘Hi, Rachel, can I hold him.' That was a bit quick.

Chloe shrugs. Rachel smiles at her.

Yes, of course you can. Do you want to sit over there and I'll pass him to you?

The girl moves to the neighbouring chair, sits, repositions her bottom several times in quick succession, forward, backward, side to side, and readies herself for the load.

Coat off, her father instructs.

She shrugs out of the anorak and hangs it on the back of the chair. Lanky arms to go with her legs, but not graceless or malcoordinated. She'll be good at sport, Rachel thinks, probably the star shooter on the netball team. Chloe puts her feet on the crossbar of the table so that her thighs are flat – no doubt the correct position for holding orphaned lambs. There's a high degree of confidence to her – the confidence of a ten-year-old. She lifts her arms in a receiving position and Rachel passes over the baby.

He might be a bit burpy.

Charlie stirs as she releases him, but doesn't wake. Chloe takes him, not entirely supporting the head, and with a slightly loose
grip – the baby sprawls either end. She tightens her arms so that he is bunched in her lap. Good enough, Rachel thinks. Chloe looks up at her father, smiling, missing her front teeth. I'm holding a baby, the look says. This is her boyfriend's daughter. If only every introduction were as easy, Rachel thinks.

Have you eaten? Alexander asks. We thought we might take you to the pub with us. I promised this one some chips.

And Cumberland sausages, Chloe says.

Obviously.

Rachel is about to turn him down, leaving to go anywhere with the baby seems laborious, then changes her mind. The cottage and the winter darkness have begun to close in. She must keep sounding ahead, get used to travelling with Charlie.

Chips sound pretty good, she says.

The baby's things are packed and he is fitted into the carrier and into the car, the seat belt secured – an elaborate ritual for a five-minute drive. Rachel sits on the back seat with him, her hand over the blanket. Chloe sits up front with her father, her legs crossed on the seat. She jabbers freely on the ride, tells Rachel about her school – she is one of the oldest children in the village; there are only twenty-nine pupils. The school is in danger of shutting and the district is constantly campaigning to keep it open. She herself has written to the local MP.

There are too many old people instead of young couples with kids, Chloe explains, leaning round the seat. I'm good at maths and library.

This one is a brainbox, Alexander says.

Sounds like it, Rachel says.

Dad and I have good conversations because we only see each other half the week.

Alexander reaches over and musses her hair.

Hey!

Chloe takes her hairband out, smooths her locks back into a ponytail, and refastens it.

I might be a brainbox but I still smashed my teeth out, she says. They weren't even baby teeth! I've got to wait till the dentist makes me new ones.

Well, it won't be long, her father says. Meanwhile, no more galloping Sorrel down the fell, you maniac.

I wasn't galloping, I was barely cantering. Sorrel is my horse, Chloe explains. It wasn't his fault I fell off.

I should hope not, Rachel says.

She listens to the father–daughter chatter. It is interesting to see Alexander parenting – all of a sudden there is a new side on display. He seems adept, suited. He's no walkover, but neither is he untrusting – if his daughter is allowed out riding alone.

The Horse and Farrier is festooned with lights when they arrive, like a cheerful galleon, very inviting in the gloom. The bar is busy. They find a quiet table in the back dining room by the fire and Rachel keeps the carrier next to her chair. Charlie wakes up, shouts; she lifts him and holds him against her, and he settles but remains awake. Chloe dangles a multicoloured scarf in front of him and he concentrates hard on it. Their meals arrive.

Want me to take him so you can get stuck in? Alexander offers.

That's OK, thanks.

She picks up her fork and begins. She is getting good at one-handed cutlery use. They eat a vast meal, slabs of battered fish looming off the edges of the plates, a wheel of sausage, huge cut chips, extra vegetables. Dozens of sachets of ketchup are squeezed empty by Chloe and strewn over the table, red dashes everywhere
like a battlefield. It is good to be out. The meal takes on the air of celebration, a feast. Chloe has a few sips of Alexander's beer, as does Rachel. He watches her across the table, clearly pleased with the way the meeting is going. They have not slept together properly since the birth, trying a few times and abandoning the act. Yet he still comes, exhibiting connubial patience; she doesn't know why. The answer is not complicated, were she to consider the question properly.

Dad says maybe I can ask you to see the wolves sometime please, Chloe says between mouthfuls.

It's the
please
that charms Rachel most.

Yes. Definitely. Next time I go into the enclosure, I'll take you along. We can either use the radio transmitters to find them, or if you fancy a challenge we'll track them ourselves – old school.