Page 58 of Escape for Christmas
‘Go on,’ Una urged. ‘A little one won’t hurt.’
Hugo smiled. ‘You deserve it, after what you’ve had to deal with, my dear.’
‘I second that,’ said Nico.
‘Maybe averysmall white wine then,’ agreed Sophie, touched by her guests’ concern for her own enjoyment.
‘I’m on it.’ Magician-like, Nico produced a bottle from the side of Agatha’s chair, while Hugo grabbed a clean glass from the sideboard.
‘Oh no, please stop. That’s enough, thanks.’ Sophie put her hand over her glass, preventing Nico from filling it to the top. Unlike her guests, she had to be up early to lay out breakfast.
Agatha pushed herself, rather wobbly, to her feet. ‘Let us raise a toast to our hostess: the indefatigable andlovely Sophie. And wish ourselves all a very merry un-Christmas!’
‘To Sophie!’ the guests echoed. ‘And a very merry un-Christmas!’
Sophie took a sip of the wine. She had to admit it was delicious and she felt her tense limbs relax a fraction. A tiny glass surely wouldn’t do any harm …
‘Help!’
Piotr Nowak dashed into the lounge, white as a sheet. ‘Someone help! It’s Anna. Her waters have broken. I think the baby’s coming now!’
A second of stunned silence was followed by Sophie’s heart rate shooting up. She almost dropped her glass.
‘I, er – I’ll call an ambulance now.’ After the initial shock, she sprang into action.
‘I fear you’ll be waiting a long time,’ said Agatha. ‘Have you seen the snow?’
‘You’re right, but wemustcall them,’ Sophie insisted. ‘They can send an air ambulance.’
‘If it can fly …’ Hugo muttered.
Pete clutched the back of sofa for support. ‘Oh my God, I hadn’t thought of that. This can’t be happening.’
‘How many weeks is your wife?’ Agatha asked.
‘Thirty-eight.’
‘That’s good,’ Agatha muttered, although Sophie failed to see anything remotely positive in a woman going into labour in her bed in a blizzard.
‘I’m sure everything will be fine,’ Una soothed, patting Pete’s arm.
Nico was frozen in his chair. ‘Oh dear …’ he murmured.
Sophie snapped into action. ‘I’ll come with you to check on Anna now. Una, would you mind calling for an ambulance?’
‘Of course. I’ll use your landline.’ She hurried out of the lounge to the office and Sophie followed, shepherding the shell-shocked Pete out of the room.
‘Please try not to worry,’ she soothed, with a confidence she didn’t feel. ‘The mountain rescue and coastguard deal with emergencies all the time.’
‘I hope to God they do. I wish we’d never set out, but we didn’t know the weather was so bad up here, and Anna just wanted to be with her mum.’ Pete stopped outside the door to Sophie’s flat. ‘She’s on her own, you see, and Anna was determined to keep her company.’
‘I understand. It’ll be OK.’
Sophie heard Una giving their details to the emergency operator.
‘What about the children?’ she asked.
‘They’re scared too, as you can imagine, with all the racket Anna’s making – understandably. They’re in your sitting room at the moment. With the cats,’ he added.
