Was he still having nightmares? she wondered, then mentally kicked herself for worrying about a man who had wiped her out of his life without a second look. He frowned down at her for a long moment, before clenching his unshaven jaw and silently stepping around her to stalk off down the corridor. As he passed the kitchen, Katie heard Sarah’s voice.
‘Oh! Hi, Sam, Rob’s in his … well, I …’ Sam didn’t even pause to glance at Sarah, he just carried on past her and into the office at the back of the house, slamming the door behind him.
‘Sarah Davis,’ Katie said in a low voice, tucking Finlay onto her hip and storming into the kitchen, narrowly missing Baby Thomas, who was sitting on the floor playing with a wooden spoon and a saucepan. ‘If this is some sick attempt to get us talking, it’s really backfired on you.’ Sarah in her wisdom had taken the exact opposite stance to her mother when it came to The Katie and Sam Saga. She was not of the opinion that Katie should let sleeping dogs lie and accept Sam’s rejection. For some reason she was continually badgering Katie to keep ringing him, keep trying to see him. She said she knew that Sam cared about her; she said there was more going on with him than she could share and that Katie shouldn’t give up on him.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Sarah snapped, shooting the office a furious look before turning back to the pots on the stove. ‘I’m the size of a house. I need to cook and freeze a week’s worth of food. I needed you here. It’s got nothing to do with –’ Sarah paused for a moment, grabbed hold of the kitchen counter with one hand and her stomach with the other whilst deep breathing and letting out small grunts ‘– him,’ she finished, once she’d straightened up. Katie’s wide eyes were focused on Sarah’s stomach, which she could see visibly change shape as the smooth muscle of Sarah’s uterus relaxed. All thoughts of Sam were a distant memory.
‘Sarah?’ she asked cautiously. ‘How long have you been having contractions?’
‘What?’ Sarah snapped. She was now moving around the kitchen like a mad woman, stirring pots, extracting dishes from the cupboards. ‘I’m not having contractions, just some Braxton Hicks: nothing to worry about. I can’t be having contractions yet, I …’ She stopped again and clutched her stomach. This time the grunting was even louder and lasted for nearly a minute. ‘… haven’t finished cooking yet, and the washing …’ She stopped again and this time her face went red with the grunting.Christ, Katie thought,she’s pushing.
‘Sarah,’ Katie said gently, trying to keep the mounting panic out of her voice, ‘You’re having a babyright now, okay?’
‘No, I … argh …’ Sarah’s face clouded over with pain and she gave a low feral growl from the back of her throat. She waddled over to Katie, who put Finlay down on the floor with another wooden spoon before Sarah grabbed onto both of her shoulders, rested her forehead against Katie’s, and started panting.
‘I’m having a baby,’ she eventually managed to get out between her pants.
‘Everything’s going to be fine,’ Katie told her, trying not to wince at the force of Sarah’s grip on her shoulders as Sarah started to squat slightly and her face went an interesting shade of purple. ‘Rob!’ Katie shouted. ‘Get your arse out here right now!’
‘You said “arse”.’ Katie turned to see Benji and Jack standing in the doorway, both pairs of wide eyes watching their mother as she continued to grunt and pant.
‘Yes, yes, I did,’ Katie agreed. ‘Now, Benji, go and get your dad, tell him Mummy is having a babyright now.Jack, you go and get me some towels.’ Both boys’ mouths dropped open before they spun around to do Katie’s bidding. In moments both Rob and Sam were filling the doorway, with Benji in between them. Jack barrelled through and dropped some blue towels at Katie’s feet.
‘I want …’ Sarah paused to grunt. ‘… pink …’ More grunting. ‘… towels …’
‘Honey, it’s not going to make any difference what colour towels we use. By now the deal is sort of done. You know that, right?’ Rob said as he walked over and started rubbing her back.
‘I want pink towels!’ Sarah screamed, shrugging Rob’s hand off and gripping Katie’s shoulders even more firmly.
‘Baby, come on. Let’s –’
‘Don’t youdarebaby me, you great big toxic sperm …’ Sarah broke off again and let out an animalistic growl as her face flushed back to an alarming shade of red. ‘… generating machine. You’ve done enough bloody damage.’
‘Right then,’ Katie said, trying to turn slightly to catch Sam’s eye but still in Sarah’s shoulder-death-grip. ‘Why don’t you take the children out of here, Sam? Upstairs maybe?’ Sam, who had been surveying the scene with growing horror, moved at lightning speed, gathering up all four of the children and practically carrying them all away.
‘Hospital,’ Sarah said through gritted teeth. Katie glanced down and felt her face drain of all colour.
‘I don’t think we even have time to get you to the living room Sarse, leave alone to the maternity unit –’
‘Argh!’ Sarah shouted, squatting down even further.
‘Rob,’ snapped Katie at a now very pale-faced Rob, who had to Katie’s exasperation taken a small step back in horror. ‘Take her trousers and knickers off.’
‘W-what?’ he stammered, and then, at Sarah’s next half-human scream, he leapt forward and did as he was asked. Ten minutes later, and with Sarah leaning back into Rob’s chest on the floor of the kitchen and Katie at the ‘business end’, Baby Oliver was born, pressed into Sarah’s waiting arms and promptly wrapped in a bright pink towel. Katie glanced up at Rob, who she could tell was somewhat bracing himself for Sarah’s reaction. After a few moments gazing down at Baby Oliver’s scrunched-up little face, Sarah looked up and back at Rob and smiled hugely.
‘Look what we made,’ she whispered, and Rob encircled both of them in his big arms, grinning back at his wife.
‘Even my toxic evil sperm has its uses,’ he told her, and she rolled her eyes until they were resting again on the little bundle in her arms.
‘I’m just going to check on the others a sec,’ Katie murmured, pulling away from the three of them to leave them in some peace for a while.
‘Thank you,’ Rob said as he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down for a kiss on the cheek.
‘Love you, K.K.,’ Sarah told her. Katie straightened, her eyes shimmering with tears, and gave them both a little finger wave before she moved to leave.
Just as she was about to go through the kitchen door, she heard Sarah call out: ‘Give him a chance, okay?’ Katie stilled with her hand on the doorframe and her back to them. She heard Rob muttering at Sarah to ‘Just leave it alone,’ and she turned her head to look over her shoulder and give them both a shaky smile. She decided that you did not argue with a woman who’d just given birth on her kitchen floor to her fifth boy, so she gave a small nod instead.
‘Okay, honey,’ she lied, before turning away and darting out into the corridor.
