‘That’s a fancy word,’ she teased.
‘I’m a fancy man, didn’t you know?’ he said as he walked towards the back door.
‘You can borrow my top hat,’ she called out to him as he left, and she could hear him chuckling as he walked past the window, down the side of the house and towards the garden.
Amanda sat at the table and clutched the sketchbook, wishing she knew what he was thinking about her and Moongate. It was the middle of July now and summer would end before they knew it. If Simon didn’t show any feelings by then, she would know the idea of them together was just a dream. But what an amazing dream it was…
*
Diana – 1960s
Diana woke from the anaesthetic. Her mouth was dry and her eyes hurt but she remembered what had just happened. She turned her head to see a nurse standing on the side of the bed.
‘Where is my baby?’ she asked, trying to lift her head from the bed to see if the baby was in a crib nearby.
The nurse looked at her watch and then at Diana. ‘Stay here,’ she said as though Diana was planning on making a run for it.
Diana dropped her head onto the pillow and let out a deep breath, which hurt.
She had been cut so the baby could come out. She could feel it, across her belly.
The door to her room opened and a different nurse, younger with a jolly face, smiled at her.
‘New mum, are you? You’ve got the little beauty, the red-headed princess, don’t you?’
‘It’s a girl?’ Diana was thrilled at the news. She hadn’t minded either way but the news pleased her more than she thought it would.
‘Yes, and with a crop of red hair like I never did see. Everyone is talking about it in the nursery – she’s quite a beauty,’ said the nurse. ‘I was going to bring her around for you to try nursing her. Have they sat you up yet?’
Diana shook her head and the nurse came to the end of the bed and kicked something and then started winding.
‘It will hurt but you will get used to it and we can get you something for the pain,’ she said.
Diana would have borne nails in her feet for the chance to finally meet her daughter, and she gripped the bedsheets as she came to a reclined sitting position.
‘Righto, let me get the little beauty and bring her to you.’
The nurse bustled out of the room while Diana smoothed her hair down. Although she knew it was silly, she was nervous to meet her daughter.
She sat waiting, looking at the clock in the room, watching the minutes go by. Ten minutes passed and then twenty minutes and then half an hour. Diana wished she could drink something and tried to reach for the call button but couldn’t find it along the side of the bed.
Finally the door opened and she smiled expectantly to greet her child.
Instead her parents stood in the doorway. Her mother looked as though she had been crying and her father looked stern.
‘Diana,’ he said, and he almost pushed her mother into the room and closed the door behind them.
‘Where is my child?’ Diana asked, feeling panic rising inside her.
‘Diana, we need to talk to you,’ he said from where he stood at the end of the bed.
‘Where is she?’ Diana wanted to scream but her throat was too dry.
‘Diana, your father did what he thought was best,’ her mother said, but her father put up his hand to silence her.
‘Diana, we have given the child to a couple who cannot have any children. They are adopting her.’
Diana heard herself scream now. ‘No, no, bring me my child,’ she sobbed. ‘You can’t do that,’ she said. ‘It’s not legal.’
