14. Grayson
The summer had brought tourists and their emergency appointments with heat stroke, cuts and injuries and mild illnesses that were signposted to a pharmacist by the reception team. It also brought new babies to Puffin Bay, with a late-night call resulting in me doing something I hadn’t had the pleasure of for years.
“Breathe. Remember to breathe.” It wasn’t the about-to-be-a-new-mother I was directing this at, but her husband. “Finn, I don’t have time to treat you if you faint, so woman the fuck up and breathe. Put your head between your legs.”
I shook my head, checking between Ruby’s legs and seeing a crown of dark hair. “Baby’s almost here. Another few big pushes and you’ll meet them.” Ruby was doing amazing for someone who’s birth plan had not even had a chance of being put into play.
Her waters had broken about an hour ago. She hadn’t had much pain, or so she said, so she’d phoned Clover at two this morning to ask her to ask me whether she should wait until morning.
For whatever reason, Clover had been worried, so she’d sent me over to check. Her sixth sense had been spot on, because Ruby had ended up in fast labour and there was no way she’d have made it into any hospital.
A midwife was on the way as soon as she’d finished up with a more difficult birth, happy when I’d said that everything here was looking straightforward.
Those words hadn’t come back to bite me yet. In fact, the only thing worrying me was the possibility of Finn fainting and cracking his head open.
“Ready. Breathe and push.” My attention focused on Ruby rather than the man who would be paying my bar tab in the pub for the next six months.
She made an unholy noise and pushed, Fleur plying a cold cloth to her head. This baby would be born on the hottest night of the year so far, which would give Finn one excuse if he did faint.
“One more and we’re there.”
That one more came quickly and a squirming jelly covered baby was born, demonstrating just how powerful his lungs were as he took his first breath.
“Ready to help, Fleur?” We’d hatched up a plan between us, something that was fairly easy to do with a woman who’d had twins and spent a lot of time watching documentaries on giving birth.
“Yep.” She smiled at me, tearing up. “Blankets ready. Finn, look after the top end.”
Finn somehow managed to acquire some sense and stood up, in a state of shock still.
“The baby’s here,” he said to Ruby. “You did it. You’re amazing.” His words were shaky, but he was still conscious. We were winning.
The baby was still yelling. “Congratulations, you have a son. Do you want to cut the cord?” I figured I knew Finn’s response.
He looked a little green. “Maybe Fleur - ”
She beamed. “Auntie Fleur does the honours.”
Half an hour later, the after birth dealt with, baby Holland safely swaddled in his mother’s arms and having taken a first feed like a champ, the midwife finally arrived.
“Not much for me to do here.” She shot me a grin. “We should get you on our rota.”
I glanced at the clock. It was just after five in the morning. My first patient was scheduled for eight. Absolutely no point going back to sleep.
I looked at the little baby boy snuggled in Ruby’s arms, her eyes and Finn’s never straying away from the child they’d created.
“Have you got a name for him?”
Ruby managed to look at Finn. “Well? Are we going for that?”
He nodded. “If that’s what you want. You did the hard work.”
She smiled softly at the baby. “Elias. Elias Holland. He’ll have a middle name but we’re not sure on that yet.”
“It’s a good name. I’ll let you get settled into having no sleep for the next six months. If you’re lucky.” I walked over to where they were lying on the bed with the baby, propped up on pillows.
I remembered Luca the day he’d been born. I’d never felt so rich as the time I held him in my arms for the first time and knew then that I’d do anything to make sure he was healthy and happy.
“Take as many photos as you can of today. It’s your only first day with him.” I had those photos. They had Sherry on, obviously. She’d been exhausted, her labour a long one and hard, with a forceps delivery at the end. Ruby’s had been hard and quick, which could send her into shock, hence the midwife would be there for most of the day now, to make sure she was okay.
“Good idea.” Finn just about managed to look my way instead of staring at his son. “Thank you. Thank you for looking after them.”
I laughed. “Thank you for not fainting and banging your head. I’ll see you when we wet the baby’s head.”
“Damn right.”
I slipped away, aware Clover would be sleeping like a cat, waiting for me to come home and tell her how they all were, asking too many questions for this time in the morning.
She was sprawled out across most of the bed when I got in, the fucking cat on the rest of it, including having his head on my pillow, which was better than his arse being there.
“You’re back.” As predicted, she woke straight away.
“I am. Not for long though – I’ve got my first patient at eight.”
She shook her head. “I phoned Mel. Your appointments are being covered by Ronan.”
Ronan had just been taken on by my practice, meaning a better work life balance for me and the other partner. He was also stupidly good looking, which meant members of what Mel had nicknamed my fan club were now wanting appointments with him instead.
“Excellent. I’m not tired now, but I will be later.”
She sat up expectantly. “Well? How are they?”
I grinned. “What do I get if I tell you?”
“Absolutely nothing because I’ll just find out from someone else. So talk.” There was a lot of urgency in that tone.
“Very quick labour, although I think she’s been in slow labour for a couple of days given what she’s described. But they’ve had a very healthy and loud baby boy. Elias. He weighed eight pounds two. Finn did me a favour and managed not to faint.” I sat down on the bed, pulling off my socks and then ridding myself of the rest of my clothes. I’d worn scrubs, calling by the surgery for supplies before getting to Finn and Ruby’s, but everything needed soaking on at least two washes, including me.
“Was he going to faint?”
“I had to tell him to sit down and put his head between his knees. If he’d fainted, he’d have knocked himself out, which I didn’t need.” I shrugged, feeling Clover’s hands on my shoulders. “I need to shower, Clo.”
“I know. Have you delivered a baby before?” Her hands stayed where they were.
“Three others, so this was my fourth. I did a rotation for a couple of weeks in obs and gynae when I was training, so I’ve seen plenty too. Not my specialism, but I can manage when it’s not complicated, and this wasn’t. About as easy as it can get – although Ruby won’t think that, so don’t tell her I’ve said that.” I stood up and headed for the ensuite door. “Shower and a nap. Luca’s at the holiday club today - ”
“I can take him. He woke up when you left – I think he heard your car start. He was excited about the baby, so it took him almost an hour to go back to sleep.” She got back into bed, disturbing Moonshine which I had no issue with, and pulled the thin duvet over her. “I think I’ll take him to holiday club for the afternoon. He can sleep in.”
We discussed the pros and cons of that until the water had warmed up in the shower and I started to douse myself in hot water, the adrenaline fading away now, leaving me exhausted.
By the time I’d finished and I’d dried off, Clover was fast asleep, as was Luca, who obviously climbed into our bed.
I found a space I could fit into, thankful that Moonshine was elsewhere. I was at that sweet spot when you’re just about to drop into a deep sleep, when something huge used my chest as a trampoline then lay on it, an attempt to smother me in my sleep.
I opened an eye and saw one of Moonshine’s. His paws were tucked under his body, which Clover said was a sign of him being content. A gentle purr was vibrating into me, which wasn’t unpleasant. Then he found the audacity to touch his nose with mine and very gently stuck out his tongue and licked my stubble.
I should’ve moved him off. I should’ve sanitised my face. But I decided that because it was a special day he could stay there and I’d manage without full lungs for a while.
Just this once.
The town erupted with the news of Ruby’s baby. Finn’s mother turned up from Ireland, which meant Gully and Roe were on their best behaviour all of a sudden even though their mum, Bernadette, was not. She brought her fiancé and a bottle of gin she thought was superior to what her son made, and laughter and common sense, which were useful for new parents.
Bunting went up around the town. Finn produced a new gin, simply named Elias, to commemorate his birth, which he’d been working on quietly when he wasn’t making lighthouses out of sponge. It turned out he’d distilled two slightly different flavours, one for if they’d had a girl and one for a boy, as they’d made the decision not to find out.
The inevitable wetting of the baby’s head was set for when Elias was ten days old and some order had been restored, or as much as it was going to be given they now had a child.
Finn’s renovated farmhouse was decorated with balloons and flowers, a barbecue set up for his brothers to man although it was Bernadette and Amelie who’d taken charge of grilling the food, and put out a spread of cold food in the kitchen.
Ruby was up and about, Elias either in her arms, Finn’s, or Gully’s, who’d been nicknamed ‘the baby whisperer’ as he’d been able to get Elias to sleep and stay asleep the last three nights in between feeds every four hours .
“It’s because he bores him so much he has to sleep to get away from it,” Bernadette was complimentary about her youngest son. “Gulliver was telling Elias about the plot for his next book and you could see the look of utter boredom on his face.” She shook her head, watching Gully who hadn’t said a thing in his defence yet. “I think you need to change your story, kid.”
“Thanks, Ma. Good to know how much you like what I write.” He bit into a burger, ketchup and mustard dripping out onto his hands. “Elias is the only member of my family who doesn’t just walk off when I talk about my job and you know, all that success I’ve had with it.”
“That’s because he can’t walk off yet,” Roe grabbed Gully’s burger out of his hands and took a huge mouthful out of it. “Not bad that.” He handed it back to him.
Gully carried on eating it. “I grew up with him. I learned resilience and to believe in myself despite the odds.”
Clover mocked a tiny violin being played. “I need that book by the eighth if you want me to do a first pass before the end of the month.”
“Yes, sir.” He mocked a salute, the hand holding his burger dropping down, far too close to Ruby and Finn’s dog who helped himself to what was left. “Fuck.”
“Language around children.” Fleur elbowed him in the side. “Where are presents being left?”
“On the kitchen table – the one Finn made,” someone said.
I figured it was Freya.
The weather was warm and the only clouds in the sky were too far away to be a worry, although by now I knew a storm could come in at any time with little notice sometimes too. The gathering was a casual thing; Ruby hadn’t wanted to take Elias to the Puffin Inn yet, so everyone had come here instead. Luca was playing with his favourite people, and I’d eaten a steak and two burgers already, so all was good.
“Everyone’s impressed with your baby delivering skills.” Clover wrapped her arms around my waist, grinning. “The story about Finn nearly fainting has developed though. Gully’s latest is that you had to do mouth to mouth resuscitation at the same time as catching Elias mid-air.”
I laughed, my hands on her lower back because it wasn’t appropriate to put them on her ass right now. Later.
“Gully can tell whatever stories he wants. Did you manage to speak to that director?”
She nodded. I’d left half an hour before Clover to come here, needing to give her some quiet while she negotiated a contract with a publishing house to do some freelance editing for them. She’d been keen to get the deal she wanted and had been prepared to walk away if they’d added additional demands.
“All done. The paperwork is coming my way in the next few days, but I’ll get a solicitor to look over it – one of the Holland cousins. But they agreed to everything I asked for.” Her smile was big. “Now I need to go and steal the baby.”
I watched her walk across the lawn, barefoot of course, her curls wild and down her back. She’d combed it straight the other day and shown me how long it now was, touching the point where the curve of her ass started. The curls took it to the middle of her back though, and it was still one of my favourite things.
Ruby was in the garden, standing under one of the parasols Finn had us putting up earlier, petrified that Elias would get sunburnt. She handed him to Clover, who took him like she did this all the time, chattering to him, probably in Welsh, I’d guess.
Her face lit up and I caught her taking a big sniff of him, catching that baby smell. When she looked up, she saw me watching her and smiled, heading back over.
“Hey, Elias, meet the man who helped you enter this world. This is Grayson.” She smiled at me, her arms coddling him. “Isn’t he gorgeous?”
“Are you referring to me or the baby?”
She rolled her eyes. “The baby, which you know. You’re palatable though.”
Not palatable enough for her to have eyes just for me, not that I minded.
I liked seeing her with a baby. Had the urge to make one of our own.
“Do you want one of these?” We hadn’t discussed having kids. “With me. Not one made with someone else.”
She laughed softly, touching Elias’ tiny nose with the tip of her finger. “Yes, I think I would.” Then she looked up. “I didn’t know if you wanted more. You have the best kid already.”
“There can be more than one best kid.” I held my arms out to take Elias from her.
He was still tiny and would be for a while yet, but this time next year he could be walking; in six years, he’d be chasing girls around a garden, like Luca was right now.
“When?” she asked the question with the same sort of immediateness that she usually reserved for finding out when take-out was being delivered.
“It takes at least forty weeks plus a bit of practice.” I frowned at her. “How soon do you want one?”
“A year.”
I frowned. “So you want me to get you pregnant in three months time?”
She shrugged. “Is it wrong that I really like that idea?”
“No. Can’t say I hate it. Do you want to get married first?” I wasn’t prepared for this conversation today. Not here.
“I don’t think I’m bothered. It would be nice, but - ” she paused. “Do you?”
“Yes. I do. I’m probably going to ask you, I just haven’t decided how or when yet.” This was true. I had a ring, one made with Welsh gold and a diamond that was surrounded by tiny black tourmalines that reminded me of her hair. It was striking and different, like Clover.
“Oh.” Her eyes shone. “I – don’t know what to say to that. I didn’t think you’d want to get married again after Sherry.” She looked at the baby in my arms.
“You’re not Sherry.”
“I’m not, but you are hot holding a baby like that. Ruby said that about Finn – she thought she’d never want sex again after giving birth, but seeing him hold Elias was getting her back in the mood. Was that too much information.”
“No, just remind her that she can get pregnant pretty much straight away after having a baby, and if she’s thinking like that, Elias is sleeping very well.” He was already a placid baby, unless he decided to cry, which was the new version of an air raid siren for the town.
“I’ll tell Finn to remind her of that.”
“Then don’t bother, because he’s got more of a baby brain than Ruby at the moment.” I looked up at where he was standing looking around as if he didn’t have a clue which planet he’d landed on.
I’d done a home visit the day after Elias was born, which would usually be the midwife’s job, but with them being friends, and since I had delivered Elias, I wanted to check myself. Ruby had been taking everything in her stride, sleeping when Elias slept, letting Bernadette and Finn look after him so she could shower and have even half an hour to herself, but Finn was a mess. He was worried that Elias would break at the slightest touch and that he was going to wake up and find that something awful had happened to Ruby. His fears had poured out as I walked back to my car, and while Ruby hadn’t gone into shock following her quick labour, Finn had.
I waved him over now. “This little man needs his nappy changing and that’s definitely Finn’s job.”
Clover gave me a smile that made me want to call it a day now and go home for an early night. “I’ll leave you to that.”
I still liked to watch her when she walked away. As long as I knew she was coming back.
“Hey. Is he okay?” Finn reached for his son.
I handed him to him. “I think he’s exploded.”
“Fuck.” He lifted him up and smelled his bottom. “Jesus. Yep. No one offers to do this part.”
“Nope. They don’t. How’s it going?”
He nodded and swallowed. “Better. I still have moments when I panic and think something’s wrong but Ruby hasn’t realised that yet and she’s doing amazing. So’s Elias.”
“You sure she doesn’t know?”
“Maybe. She keeps teasing me about not leaving her and Elias alone and that I wake up as soon as she gets up to use the bathroom, but she hasn’t said anything. I know they’re really healthy and well.” He moved Elias in his arms like he’d been holding babies for years, even though he hadn’t been confident at first.
“Have you slept much?”
He shook his head. “No. Less than Ruby because if she’s awake, I’m awake.”
“Okay, that’s the first thing we need to do. Lack of sleep will make you paranoid and anxious. If I come over tomorrow, will you feel that you can sleep?” This wasn’t my first rodeo with this. One of the partners in my medical practice in Bristol had been exactly the same. I’d ended up spending three evenings there so he could sleep and after that, he’d managed to work things out himself.
“Would you do that?”
“Sure. You need to tell Ruby though. And you need to change him before he’s labelled an environmental disaster.”
We walked home just after eight, Ruby back out with Elias in his crib inside and Finn trying not to just spend the rest of the night in there with him. Luca was running ahead of us back home, playing some game where he had to do a running jump every ten strides, which was probably going to result in him breaking something.
Clover’s hand was in mine and her thoughts were elsewhere. I had a good idea where.
“What are you thinking about?”
“You. Babies. Getting married.”
“You’ll have to wait until I ask you.” I was going to have some fun with this. “Could be this year. Could be next.”
Her laugh set my world on fire. “I could ask you.”
“I don’t think so. You already own my balls. Don’t take my man card too.” She did own me, that was clear to everyone.
Even Mavis had told me at the end of her appointment this week that she was happy with how I was ‘looking after Clover’. I’d told her that Clover didn’t need any looking after, to which Mavis had informed me that everyone needed looking after, we just didn’t always want to admit it.
I hadn’t argued. There wasn’t much Mavis was wrong about.
“You have a limit then. If you haven’t asked after Christmas then it happens. I’ll ask you. In front of everyone on a Sunday afternoon in the Puffin Inn.” Her eyes twinkled dangerously.
“Understood.” We both watched Luca make a leap that was about two feet longer than his previous acrobatics.
“Daddy, did you see that? Mu – Clo, did you?” He tugged at her, having doubled back to us.
Clover looked at me, probably wondering if she’d misheard. She hadn’t, but it seemed that Luca was talking as if it hadn’t happened.
I wouldn’t bring it up with him later, I’d leave it to him. He’d asked a few things about Sherry this week, mainly checking that he didn’t have to go to Bristol and giving me a long list of events that were happening that he just couldn’t miss.
Sherry had sent him a birthday present and card, and then sent a text message asking me to wish him happy birthday from her. Unlike previous years, I hadn’t sent an angry text back questioning why she wasn’t going to say it in person. I’d stopped resenting her for what she’d done, and while I would always be pissed on behalf of Luca, we had to deal with what we’d got.
Which was Clover.
“I wonder how quickly you can leap up the stairs. I think I should time you. What do you think?”
That turned out to be a pretty fantastic idea from Clover.
Another fantastic idea was her choice of nightwear when I walked into our bedroom. I paused, slowly closed the door and kicked a heavy door stop in front of it which was the just in case, and then I stared.
“What the fuck?”
She smiled, kneeling up on the mattress which let me get a better view of what she’d put on.
“I thought you’d like this. I thought tonight was a good night to show you too.” She lifted her hair up with one hand which had the effect of the thin, almost transparent cotton pulling against her tits, through which her nipples were clearly visible.
“It’s like something from the Victorians. But see-thru.” I couldn’t take my eyes off her. “And very very short.” She was wearing a Victorian style nightdress, with long sleeves and a lot of lacy stuff at the edges, but the cotton was thin. It was designed to more than hint at what was underneath. “What made you think I’d like that?”
“You’re male. Very male.” She eyed where my cock was pressing against the sweats I’d put on when I’d put Luca to bed. “And I know you like the whole virgin-innocent thing, and I know you have a thing about getting me pregnant – you had that look before when we talked about it that made me think you were going to do me against the big oak tree in Finn’s garden.”
“Not disagreeing with any of that.” I pulled my T-shirt off over my head and threw it on the floor. “Lie back against the pillow. I’m going to show you exactly what happens when you’re dressed like that.”
She pretended to look scared and then burst out laughing. “I shouldn’t say I’m looking forward to it, should I?”
“Clover, you should always look forward to this.” I caged over her, taking her mouth with mine and dominating it, resisting the urge to touch her straight away. Her nipples pushed against the nightdress, her legs only parting for one of my knees to fit between. “I promise I’ll make it feel good.”
She giggled. “But it looks so big.” Her hand slipped between us and she palmed against my cock through the thin material. “How will it fit?”
I half laughed and half groaned, dipping my mouth to suck a nipple through the material, pushing the nightdress up her thighs and exposing her pussy. “You’re a bad girl teasing me like this.” I’d read a few sentences from one of the romance novels that she and her friends passed around and I’d started teasing her with that line. “Shall I show you what happens to bad girls?” I kneeled up, moving her legs apart further, getting no protest. Roughly, I cupped my hand between her legs. “So fucking wet.” I pushed a finger inside of her. “And tight. That’s no line, by the way.”
“Good to know, now I’d be grateful if you’d fuck me like the very good girl I am.”
I should’ve laughed at her words, but the sight of her laid out in front of me, that flimsy material not hiding anything made it impossible.
“You look like a fucking goddess, Clover Carew. My fucking goddess.” I added an extra finger, watching them move in and out of her, feeling her tense around them. With my other hand I slid off my sweats, seeing her gaze land on my cock.
“I still wonder how that fits.”
“Let me show you.” I snatched my pillows and put them under her hips, rising her up, then scooted closer, entering her hard and fast and full. “This is how I’m going to get you pregnant.” I lifted her leg higher, starting a pace that was going to mean this would be quick for both of us. “I’m going to fill you up with my cum over and over until I knock you up and everyone will know you’re mine when you’re carrying our child.”
“I like that. I like that idea.” She raised her arms and grabbed the pillow under her head, holding on as I carried on fucking her. “Fuck, Gray, I’m going to come.” Her body bucked, her tits bouncing, the site fucking incredible.
I lost it then, coming inside her, saying her name and knowing that it wouldn’t be long before I’d be following through on that promise.
Which would include a ring.