Chapter 21
‘Are you hungry?’ Sam asked later that night when they emerged, blinking into what felt to Sive like a whole new world.
Sive considered it and discovered she was. ‘Starving!’
‘Pizza?’ He tilted his chin at the little Italian on the corner where the company often ate after rehearsals.
She nodded. ‘Perfect.’
They were subdued as they ordered and ate, both lost in their own thoughts. Sam seemed as stunned by what had happened between them as Sive was, but it was clear they were both on the same wavelength and had no regrets as they exchanged smug, knowing smiles while they ate in silence.
‘So who else knows you’re pregnant?’ Sam asked eventually.
‘Just Mimi, Aoife, and Ben. Oh, and Ben’s parents.’
‘Not even Jonathan and Rocco?’
She shook her head. ‘I didn’t want to risk you hearing it from someone else. I wanted to tell you myself. But I had to tell Ben first.’
Sam nodded. ‘That’s why you wanted to see him the other night. The project you’ve been working on together …’
‘Is Bean, yes. Anyway, now Ben knows, I can tell everyone.’
‘What about at the theatre?’
‘There too. I was going to wait, but tech week starts next week and I don’t want everyone thinking I’m a flake if I don’t have my usual vim and vigour.’
‘I’m sure they wouldn’t think that.’
‘Andrea would. She’s already accused me of slacking off.’
Sam rolled his eyes. ‘I wouldn’t pay much attention to what she says.’
Sive finished her pizza and pushed her plate away with a satisfied sigh. She yawned and laid her head on the table momentarily, her eyes drifting closed.
‘Tired?’
‘Exhausted.’ She lifted her head.
‘Sorry.’ Sam wiped his hands with a napkin and gestured to the waitress for the bill.
‘Don’t be. It’s a good kind of tired.’ Her limbs were like liquid. She felt drowsy and sated in every possible way. ‘But my bed is definitely calling.’
She was in a daze as they walked through the crowded streets of Temple Bar, the night punctuated by blasts of music from pubs and the wail of sirens.
They held hands all the way to the tram stop, and on the journey, Sive closed her eyes and laid her head on Sam’s shoulder.
They walked to Sive’s house together and said goodbye at her gate with a last, lingering kiss.
Sive floated into the house on air. She found Aoife in the living room.
‘So? You told Sam?’ Aoife pointed the remote at the TV, muting it. ‘Mimi said you stayed back at the theatre with him.’
‘Yeah.’
‘And? It went okay?’
Sive nodded happily. ‘We’re officially dating!’
‘Well, congratulations! So what happened?’
‘Um … sort of … everything,’ Sive admitted sheepishly.
Aoife’s eyebrows shot up, her eyes wide. ‘Not … in the theatre? Please tell me we don’t have to sterilise the stage floor.’
‘Not on the stage. In the green room.’
‘You defiled the green room?’
‘Don’t worry. We took precautions.’
‘It’s a bit late for that.’
‘I mean with the sofa. No one will even know we were there. It was romantic. There were candles and props and—’
‘La, la, la,’ Aoife sung, covering her ears. ‘I do not want to hear about what you were doing with props.’
Sive giggled. ‘Nothing untoward, I promise you.’
‘Well, I’m happy for you.’ Aoife removed her hands from her ears. ‘And it was … good?’
‘It was amazing!’
She went public about her pregnancy the next day.
She just told a couple of people and then let the news trickle down through the company.
By the end of the week everyone knew. It was a relief having it out in the open, so no one would think she was being uppity or standoffish if she went straight home once rehearsal was over or retired to the green room to rest between her scenes instead of staying to watch theirs.
She started going to the pub again occasionally, sharing pots of tea with Shay and Donal, who were both in AA and glad to welcome another member to their teetotaller club.
Everyone was so kind and supportive. Alan and Cara tweaked her rehearsal schedule so she could take more breaks.
The Tiny Tim chaperones offered lots of tips and advice and provided copious supplies of ginger biscuits.
Irene immediately set to knitting Sive a baby blanket, though Sive suspected she’d started it before the official announcement, while Maria and Ciara raided their attics and offered her cots, carriers and buggies they no longer needed.
She was glad everyone knew about her condition before tech week, so they wouldn’t think less of her if she found it even more gruelling and exhausting than usual and her reputation as a trooper could remain undamaged.
She and Sam had also come out as a couple, which was just as well because they couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other or rein in their goofy smiles whenever they were together.
Sam was very into PDAs, constantly holding her hand or putting an arm around her.
They were probably being nauseating, but fortunately everyone seemed very happy for them.
Jonathan and Rocco had been delighted with the news and were very solicitous, not letting her carry so much as a serving plate the next time they came to Sunday dinner. Rocco had acted surprised, but Mimi suspected he’d already guessed – ‘He’s such an old woman like that.’
‘Irene knew too. They should form a knitting circle – make bootees together while they gossip about who might be pregnant.’
Tech week began with the usual mix of excitement and trepidation.
It was the first time the actors saw the set and as was customary, they spent some time walking around, familiarising themselves with their marks and routes across the stage as they muttered lines of dialogue under their breath.
Sam couldn’t resist checking out the props table and rearranging it a little to his satisfaction.
The set was gorgeous and everyone looked brilliant in their costumes, the whole instantly conjuring the atmosphere of Victorian London. Sive loved this stage of rehearsal when the show really started to come together.
‘Wow, it all seems so … real,’ Sam said, looking out at the auditorium.
‘I know! Exciting, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah,’ he said on a shaky laugh.
‘Are you okay?’ Sive frowned, realising he seemed nervous.
‘It’s just hit home there’s going to be an audience out there,’ he said, nodding at the rows of seats. ‘A paying audience. And I’m going to be up here on this side of the curtain.’
‘Nervous?’
‘Bricking it.’
‘Don’t worry.’ She patted his arm. ‘That’s perfectly normal. But it’ll be all right on the night.’
Rehearsal was intense, scenes repeated over and over again while adjustments were made to lighting and blocking was tweaked. But somehow Sive managed to summon the energy to keep it lively and fresh each time.
Halloween fell right in the middle of the week, but Aoife and her sisters were determined to celebrate it as usual.
Fortunately, rehearsal didn’t run over time on the night and it was just after seven as Sive, Sam and Mimi got off the tram in Ranelagh.
As they walked home, they couldn’t resist stopping occasionally to admire the Halloween decorations that adorned every house.
Railings were festooned with billowing cobwebs, ghosts loomed out of the darkness, seeming to float in the night air, while pumpkin lanterns glowed invitingly from front porches.
The air was alive with the squeals of excited children, gaggles of pint-sized witches, skeletons and fairies roaming from house to house, while parents hovered by the gates.
‘Just think,’ Mimi said, ‘next year Bean will be here and that can be us!’
‘She’ll be less than a year old,’ Sive said.
‘Well, obviously we’ll have to carry her. But you’re not seriously telling me you won’t dress her up and take her trick or treating?’
Sive grinned. ‘Don’t be silly. Of course I will. Can’t wait!’
‘Bean’s a girl, then?’ Sam asked. ‘I thought you didn’t know yet.’
‘Oh, I don’t. We’re just treating her as one for now, for ease of reference.’
They got to the house just as a group of children were trotting down the path with their swag.
Aoife and Sive had put up their Halloween decorations during the week, a signal that trick-or-treaters were welcome to call.
They found Aoife in the kitchen chopping a mountain of kale, while pots bubbled on the stove, filling the room with steam.
‘Great, you’re here,’ she said, turning to them. ‘I was worried you’d get stuck in tech and Rocco, Jonathan and I would have to polish all this off by ourselves. Sam, could you take up the spuds and mash them?’
‘Aye, aye, captain.’ Sam saluted her, then rolled up his sleeves and set to work.
‘Mimi, can you check the sausages? They’re in the oven.’
‘What can I do?’ Sive asked.
‘Um … you could light the candles?’
The table was laid for six, an orange runner in the centre set with little pumpkin candles. ‘This looks great,’ Sive said just as the doorbell rang. ‘I’ll get that.’
‘Witch’s hat on the sideboard,’ Aoife called after her.
Sive grabbed the hat and pulled it on as she left the room. She picked up the big bowl of fun-size chocolate bars from the console table in the hall.
‘Trick or treat!’ A chorus of children’s voices yelled as she opened the door.
She admired their costumes and told them how great they looked as she held out the bowl for them to help themselves.
She was impressed by how well-behaved they were, just taking one piece of chocolate each and thanking her politely before trotting back to the gate.
She was just about to close the door when Rocco appeared, a cat carrier in one hand.
‘Trick or treat!’ he yelled. He put the cat carrier down in the hall and pulled Sive into a hug. ‘Can I?’ he asked, pulling back, his hand hovering over the bowl that Sive was still holding. ‘I’m starving!’
‘Well, just one. You don’t want to ruin your appetite.’
He tore the wrapping off a mini Snickers and shoved it in his mouth.
‘And you brought Kit Marlowe!’ Sive said as he bent to open the door of the carrier.