Chapter 5 #2
‘Oh my God, do you really think so?’ Jessie grasped the leaflet like her life depended on it, a huge smile breaking out on her face.
‘Just get in touch as soon as you can, to make sure you get a spot for Iona.’
‘I’m going to be calling the moment we’re out of here, trust me!’
‘If you give me Iona, you can make the call now, and I’ll get everything ready for your blood test and other checks for when you’re done.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I’m a dab hand at getting on with things with a baby in my arms, it comes with the territory, although midwives don’t get nearly as many opportunities to cuddle babies as people think we do. So you’d be doing me a favour by letting me have a cuddle with Iona.’
‘Thank you so much, I could kiss you!’ Jessie’s laugh was genuine this time and Hope smiled too, taking Iona from her mother and feeling the solid weight of the baby in her arms. She smelt of baby shampoo and fabric conditioner, and Hope already knew it was going to be hard to hand her back.
At moments like this, her thoughts always drifted to her biological mother, and how difficult it must have been for Laura to hand Hope to someone else, despite being certain it was the right thing for both of them.
She’d told Hope that thought had given her comfort, but Joe hadn’t even known he had a child out there somewhere.
Maybe that was kinder; she still didn’t know, and she couldn’t think about it right now anyway.
Instead, as Jessie made the call to try and secure a place at Little Acorns for her daughter, Hope turned away, pushing all thoughts of her biological father to the back of her mind.
It was a strategy that had enabled her to get through the past few weeks without bursting into his office and announcing who she was.
She just wasn’t sure she could hold out forever, and she was every bit as uncertain that she wanted to.
‘How was clinic this afternoon?’ Anna flipped the lid off a box of doughnuts as she spoke.
Toni, one of the other midwives, had introduced the team to the delights of Americanos, a 1950s American-style diner that sold the most amazing glazed doughnuts Hope had ever tasted.
Every time there was an opportunity to indulge, it seemed the team took it, and today it was a birthday celebration.
Ella was Anna’s deputy at the unit, as well as being her best friend, and Anna had ordered thirty-six doughnuts in honour of the occasion.
All of the daytime team were gathering together at the end of their shift.
‘I had a great afternoon, thank you. I love the chance it gives to build relationships with the mothers-to-be, and I really hope I get to deliver some of the babies whose progress I’ve checked today.’ Hope selected a doughnut from the box that Anna was holding in front of her.
‘Oh, you will, don’t worry about that.’ Toni reached for a doughnut too. ‘When you’re working across the community as well as the hospital, that’s a given.’
‘Although working in a holiday destination like Port Agnes, you’ll probably get your fair share of delivering babies for people you’ve never met before too.
’ Jess shot a smile in Hope’s direction.
‘I helped deliver twins at St Piran’s yesterday for a lady whose husband had brought her away for a babymoon, when her waters broke all over the kitchen floor of their Airbnb.
She was only thirty-two weeks, but thankfully mother and sons are all doing well. ’
‘Never a dull moment around these parts, that’s for sure, and I still think it’s the best place I’ve ever worked,’ Ella added, and Hope found herself nodding in agreement.
It was early days yet, but whatever happened when it came to Joe Carter, she was glad she’d taken the job here.
The majority of the team at the Port Agnes Midwifery Unit also worked at the hospital, although the same wasn’t true in reverse, because the hospital team was much bigger.
Both teams had been very welcoming, but there was something about the midwifery unit that felt extra special, almost like she was part of a family, which made her miss Tenby and her own family a little bit less than she would have done otherwise.
‘That must be why you want to spend your birthday hanging out with us lot then, Ella.’ Toni raised her eyebrows. ‘What else are you doing to celebrate?’
‘Mum has insisted on throwing a little tea party after I finish here, like she did when I was little. She can’t seem to let go of the tradition even now I’m married with children of my own.
’ Ella rolled her eyes, but she was smiling all the same.
Her parents ran Mehenick’s Bakery on the harbour in Port Agnes, which was famous for miles around.
It was one of the first places recommended to Hope by her new colleagues at the hospital, but she’d already heard about it from Laura.
She’d told Hope that on one of the dates they’d had during that fateful holiday in Port Agnes, Joe had bought them both sausage rolls and iced buns from Mehenick’s, and they’d gone for a picnic on the beach.
She’d said it had tasted like the best meal she’d ever eaten, back then.
So, of course, Hope had wanted to check the bakery out as soon as she could, visiting straight after her interview with Jess and Anna, which had taken place at St Piran’s, treating herself to an iced bun and thinking about all the things Laura had told her.
She’d been sure then that it would only be a matter of time before she wanted to find the final missing piece of the puzzle.
The day of her interview had been less than three months ago, but it felt far longer than that now.
‘It’s so lovely that your mum still wants to do that for you.’ Hope looked towards Ella as she spoke.
‘I think it’s an only child thing.’ Ella was still smiling.
‘But you’re right, it is lovely, and Mum does the same thing for all of us – me, Dad, the children and even my husband, Dan.
The only time I take over and organise a family celebration is on Mum’s birthday, but we’re all off to Center Parcs at Longleat next weekend.
Even Dad is taking three days off from the bakery.
Unheard of! That’s one upside of me being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I suppose; we’ve all learned the importance of seizing the day and doing what we can, while we can, because no one knows what tomorrow will bring, do they? ’
‘No, they don’t.’ Anna put an arm around her friend’s shoulders. ‘But you’re doing brilliantly.’
‘I feel incredibly lucky that things are so stable and that I still get to work here.’ Ella rested her head against Anna’s for a moment.
‘Sometimes I feel a bit sad that I can’t take on a role at the hospital too, or help out with things like the infertility support group any more, but I’m so grateful every day that I can still help women bring new lives into the world. There’s no better job.’
‘There really isn’t,’ Anna replied. ‘But I don’t want you to ever worry about not doing enough, because this place would be nothing without you. We’re so glad we’ve still got you here and that’s reason enough to celebrate with another doughnut, isn’t it?’
‘Definitely, I’ll raise a cheers to that.
’ Jess took a second doughnut from the box and pressed it against the one Hope was holding, as though they were clinking glasses.
‘And we’ve got Hope now too, who is going to help me out at the infertility group when Anna starts her course, which is yet more proof what a great addition she makes to the team. ’
‘I’ll toast to that too, although maybe a third doughnut will be one too many…’ Ella wrinkled her nose.
‘I will if you will,’ Toni said. ‘It’s the birthday girl’s wish after all, so that virtually makes it the law and I’m the sort of friend who’s willing to make that kind of sacrifice.
’ She reached past Jess and took another doughnut from the box, making the others laugh, and a sense of belonging washed over Hope again.
She hadn’t realised how important it would be to feel like she belonged somewhere else, when she uprooted herself so far away from home and she was incredibly grateful she’d found it.
If that wasn’t enough of a reason to indulge in another celebratory doughnut, she didn’t know what was.