Once safely portioned out, I took a seat opposite them.
‘The woman in the living room is having a baby, and for lots of reasons she’s decided to have it here. Auntie Nicky’s with her, so that’s okay, but she also would like someone she knows really well to be with her, like Silva wanted Daddy when Platinum Precious was born.’
‘Like the baby’s daddy.’ Isla nodded sagely.
‘Yes. But she doesn’t see the baby’s daddy any more, so he can’t come.’
‘Then what about her mum and dad?’
‘Her parents have both died.’
‘Aw, that’s sad!’
‘So, she’d really like her big brother to be there.’
‘Ew!’ Finn screwed up his face. ‘You’d better not want me there when you have a baby, Isla.’
‘Anyway, Ellis does want her brother there. But you need to know that her brother is Jonah, who you met once before. He came here for an antenatal class for Ellis, actually,’ I went on as Finn and Isla wrinkled their foreheads in confusion. ‘And you saw me with him and thought he might be my boyfriend.’
‘Him!’ Isla stood up, hands on hips, as though she’d just unmasked a murderer.
‘Okay.’ Finn shrugged. ‘Can I go and play football?’
‘Can I play too?’
‘You’re in goal,’ Finn instructed as they slipped out of the patio doors.
Shaking my head, I picked up my phone. After eight years, the unpredictability of my children could still catch me out.
‘Libby?’ Jonah sounded breathless. I felt a rush of warmth that he’d not blocked or deleted my number.
‘Ellis is here.’
‘What?’ He instantly sharpened. ‘At your house?’
‘She’s in labour and is refusing to go to hospital. Nicky’s with her,’ I added quickly, sensing his spurt of panic. ‘Everything’s fine so far, and we’ve agreed that if anything starts to look different then we’ll take her to City Hospital.’
‘She’s booked in at King’s Mill.’
‘Which is why she thinks Damon’s waiting for her there.’
There was a brief silence where I felt him trying to hold himself together. I knew he’d succeed. This man had been through far worse.
‘How is she?’ he asked after a while, his voice sounding strained.
‘She’s really hoping you’ll come.’
‘I’m already in the car. How is she really?’
‘She’s… here, not with Damon. Which is something.’
‘It’s everything.’ He sighed. ‘There is literally nowhere I’d rather she be than with you and Nicky right now.’
I didn’t tell him that she was still high from only Damon knew what. Better to let him discover that when he wasn’t hurtling along country lanes trying to reach his baby sister.
48
My rational head didn’t mind at all when I opened the front door and Jonah hurried straight past me to the living room, where his sister was squatting on one of our birth balls watching a Netflix dating show.
