‘I’m high on only Damon knows what. Beaten up. Homeless, because there’s no way I’m going back there. I can’t take care of myself, let alone a baby.’
‘Ellis, there’s plenty of support?—’
‘Yeah? Like the support they offered my mum? They snatched her kids in the middle of the night and dumped them with strangers. I know how social services work. I will have this baby by myself in a back alley before I let them get hold of me. Once you’re in the system, they do what they like with you. Let alone your baby. They don’t listen to people like me!’
Nicky and I had no reply to that. We knew that, for young women like Ellis, we could make no promises that her voicewould be heard, her views and wishes respected. The chances that the system would indeed shunt her onto an overloaded, broken conveyor belt of box-ticking and back-covering was higher than we’d care to admit.
‘What would you like to do?’ I asked, after waiting for another contraction to pass.
‘I want you to work your Bloomers magic and get this baby out safe. I’ll figure out what happens next, next.’
‘How about we call the community midwife, and she can help with a home birth?’
‘How about I just leave?’
Nicky and I stood up, exchanging glances over the top of Ellis’s head. It wasn’t against the law for her to give birth unassisted, but there was a big difference between women like Astrid, who came to Brayden and Silva’s class and planned a ‘freebirth’ with no midwife or doctor present, and a teenager who’d admitted she was under the influence of drugs.
Sensing our reluctance, Ellis got up and started lumbering towards the doorway. ‘I thought you of all people would understand. You’re a doctor. It’s not like I’ve gone to some nutter who wants to make placenta pâté. Besides, after everything, this is the least you can do.’
‘After everything?’ Nicky looked at me. I’d not told her that Ellis still blamed me for Jonah leaving.
‘Wait.’ I followed Ellis into the hallway. ‘How about this? Nicky will monitor you carefully, and if you show any signs of baby being in distress, or something going wrong that she can’t handle safely here, we transfer you to one of the Nottingham hospitals, where there’ll be no risk of Damon.’
Ellis stopped walking, so I pressed on.
‘And I call Jonah.’
Her face disintegrated as she crumpled against the wall. I called for Nicky as I rushed to help her.
‘He won’t come,’ she wailed as we led her into the living room and onto the sofa. ‘He hates me.’
‘You know that’s not true,’ I said, smoothing the hair off her brow as Jonah used to do when she was a little girl. ‘He loves you, and he’s been desperately worried.’
She clenched her jaw. ‘He chose you, didn’t he? A girl he’d not seen in years. Over his own sister. Just like last time.’
‘No. He didn’t choose me. He chose you. I haven’t seen Jonah since the night you left.’
‘What?’ Ellis looked at me, baffled. ‘Why would he do that?’
‘Because he loves you.’
‘But he loves you!’
‘He loves you more.’
She shook her head. ‘I didn’t even really mean it. I was looking for an excuse to be mad at him so I felt less guilty about ditching him for Damon. He made me feel bad, because I knew he was right and Damon would be a disaster. But, I dunno. I guess piece-of-crap-men is just one more toxin I’m addicted to.’
While Nicky helped Ellis to get comfortable I went back into the kitchen and called Jonah. Before he’d picked up, the front door banged open.
‘Mum! Platinum Precious smiled at me! Mu-u-u-u-um!’
I raced out of the kitchen just as Finn and Isla disappeared into the living room. Before I could catch up with them, they both quickly backed out again.
‘Not another one!’ Finn groaned. ‘Does that mean we can’t watch telly?’
‘Can I watch the baby being born instead?’ Isla asked, eyes lighting up as I started herding them in the direction of snacks. ‘I know all about babies now. Silva says I’m a nature-all.’
Fully aware that they’d be stuffed with treats – Silva’s all-natural, organic-only diet had lapsed somewhat since becoming enslaved to the demands of a crying poop factory – I decidedthat extreme times called for extreme measures, and opened the emergency box of Maltesers.
