Rebecca sat meekly for a second. The car fell silent.
‘Jesus,’ Hans said. ‘I’m going to be a father.’
They all smiled at each other then, catching Hans’s reflection in the central mirror. Holly’s contraction started to kick in again, and Rebecca lost feeling in her fingers.
‘Yeah,’ Holly said. ‘Well, you’re on nappy duty till he’s twenty-five, so good luck with that! It’ll give you something to do with all the sex we WON’T BE HAVING! Arrggghhh!’
Hans put his foot down, just a touch. He had to navigate down the mountainside and keep on the road with his nerves jangling, and Holly screaming for his testicles as tribute. It felt like another five years passed on that drive. When the medical centre finally loomed in the windshield, even the baby surely sighed with relief.
‘That’s my girl! Nearly there!’ Hans said, being as supportive as he could.
‘Shut up!’
‘I love you!’
‘Naff off!’
They took the side road, and the car park came into view.
Rebecca tapped out a couple of texts to cover the café and stop people worrying, and Hans drove straight into the car park.
‘We’ll never get a space Hans, drive to the entrance. I’ll park up for you.’
Hans turned the corner. Luke was standing in front of an empty parking space. When he saw Hans, he waved him in, passing him a ticket through the open window.
‘Thanks mate,’ Hans parked up and scooping Holly up into his arms, he strode off to reception.
‘Hans, don’t you drop me on this floor!’
Holly had her arms around his neck, and he stopped for a second to kiss her on the lips.
‘Not a chance,’ he said softly, striding off once more as if she weighed nothing. ‘Let’s go have a baby!’
‘Baby!’ Holly shouted, pumping her fist up in the air as they left Luke and Rebecca standing alone. He looked behind him at the waiting wheelchair.
‘I thought she might have needed this.’ He took hold of the handles. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I have to go.’ She was blindsided again. Luke was right here, being all knight in shining labour.
‘Rebecca.’
‘I’m Holly’s birth partner. I have to go.’ She headed inside, feeling her cheeks explode like a tomato. She felt like everyone was looking at her. Why is he here? She headed straight to where Holly was getting booked in. Hans was rubbing her back whilst she leaned against the counter. He saw her come up and gave her a sheepish look.
‘Don’t kill me yet, I want to see my son first. He came back yesterday. Mina put him up.’ Wow. Mina hated everyone. She’d had him as a houseguest, even after bin-gate? Rebecca smirked. Typical Luke. Lovely Luke. Lost to me Luke.
‘Here Holly,’ Luke pushed the chair towards Holly, appearing at Rebecca’s side, and he and Hans settled her in. A midwife came to speak to them, and before Rebecca knew it, she was walking away from Luke again, into the delivery suite with a nervous Hans. Just before the doors closed, she turned to look at him, but the corridor was empty.
*
It was a very different woman that emerged from that delivery suite. Rebecca felt like she’d been there a week, but everything had happened at warp speed. She’d seen things that she could never un-see, and she had a whole new respect for her own pelvic floor. She’d left the happy new family in their own little baby bubble and caught a cab back to Fir Tree Lodge.
Pulling up outside, she saw that the café lights were still on. Getting out of the cab, she dragged herself inside to see what the carnage was. Unlocking the door, she saw that everything had been squared away.
‘Thank you, Eloise,’ she said to the ceiling as she tried to uncrick her neck. Holly had a lethal headlock.
Heading to the flat door, flicking off the lights as she went, she heard the radio and felt a pang for Luke. He’d only lived here a week but this past month she’d felt like he was everywhere. She’d thrown herself into work, spent time with her friends, done more skiing than she had ever done. She couldn’t get off the slopes these days, it calmed her. It was the only place where her heart didn’t feel like it was being slowly crushed.
Locking up, she went into the kitchen. Flicking the music off, she took a bottle of wine from the fridge and poured herself a good measure.
‘To you, little one,’ she toasted, clinking her glass against the right boob shaker.
‘Everything went well with the baby?’
She jumped, splashing half her glass down herself.
Luke was standing in the doorway. ‘I didn’t mean to surprise you. Eloise was pretty busy, I came to help. I told her I could finish clearing up, so she could get back to the kids.’
‘You scared the hell out of me!’
‘Sorry. Again. I’ll go now. I made you a sandwich, in the fridge. I thought you might be hungry.’
She opened the fridge. He’d bought her some snacks too, the stuff she liked. She’d not even seen it before.
‘Luke?’
He appeared again.
‘Yeah?’
‘Where are you staying?’
Luke shook his head. ‘Not sure yet, to be honest, I was going to go to Mina’s but—’
‘She’s a lot, isn’t she?’
Luke looked relieved that he wasn’t digging her out. ‘A bit. She’s not a fan of houseguests. Hans did say I could stay there, but with the baby, I don’t know.’
‘You can stay here.’ She took a gulp of wine. ‘It’s Hans’s place. They need their space, new family and all. It’s just for a week or so right, till the comp?’ Hans had filled her in post crowning.
Luke nodded slowly. ‘Yes, I’m flying home the day after.’
That was that then. He was here for the comp. To finish what he and his parents had started. She couldn’t find fault with that, as much as it saddened her heart.
‘That’s settled then.’ She went to head to the bathroom, wanting to shower off the day and gather her thoughts
