‘Titch is in labour. The baby’s early. Come on, quick.’
Hot, who was still tied to the pram, jumped up at his master’s leg and started barking his head off.
‘You look after our two,’ Rosa ordered. Josh immediately took the baby from her and put him over his broad shoulder, then released Hot from the pram handle and lifted him with his free hand onto a chair next to him, facing away from poor Titch to give her some privacy. Rosa snatched the other two blankets from the pram and took them over to Titch, to put under her head to make her more comfortable. Ritchie had managed to get a signal and was now on to the emergency services telling them that he was at the business end of the proceedings and that he could see that the baby’s head was crowning.
Rosa took the young woman’s hand again and held it tight.
‘You’ve got this, my gorgeous, brave mate,’ she encouraged her, then dared a joke: ‘Sorry it’s not as comfy as the dog bed in the shop. You really have got to stop making a habit of this.’
‘Ooooooh, huff huff huff.’ Despite the cold, Titch was now sweating badly and panting. ‘Shut the fuck up, Rose.’
Both Rosa and Ritchie burst out laughing, relieved that Titch was still very much herself, despite the circumstances.
‘Precipitate labour,’ Josh shouted across the hall, with a now calm Little Ned hanging over his shoulder, making happy snuffling noises as he felt so secure with his daddy’s voice and smell. ‘It will be fine.’
‘What are you on about?’ Rosa asked.
‘Precipitate labour – it means a fast labour,’ Josh said knowledgeably, while Ritchie, barely listening, was whispering in his wife’s ear, telling her how much he loved her and how proud he was of her, before crawling back to check on the patch of hair he could see at the birth opening. If the ambulance didn’t come soon, he was beginning to feel terrified that the baby might not emerge. Might get stuck somehow. Ritchie Rogers had, beneath his usual kindly exterior, never been so frightened in his whole life. This was his baby, and his wife – and he didn’t know what to do.
‘It means when a baby is born within three hours of your contractions starting,’ Josh was prattling on, repeating what he’d read in all the pregnancy books he’d studied. ‘About two in one hundred women whose labours have started naturally will have one.’
Then Titch roared, drowning his voice, when a mighty contraction began and seemed as if it would never end unless she pushed – at which point the blessed blue lights of an ambulance could be seen flashing outside.
Realising help had arrived, Rosa gave a relieved laugh and took Little Ned from her husband. Sitting down beside a quivering Hot, she said, ‘Quick, Dr Smith. Put your stethoscope down and open the bloody door, will you?’
CHAPTER 51
Rosa ran up the Corner Shop stairs as fast as her little legs would carry her and banged on the glass lounge door. Titch was lying flat out on the sofa with a throw over her and a cushion under her head, and Ritchie was gently rocking a little bundle wrapped in a soft white blanket.
‘I can’t believe it’s a girl,’ Titch grinned. ‘All eight pounds of her – no wonder it bloody hurt.’
‘It always hurts, doesn’t it?’ Rosa said.
‘But no stitches, so that’s good at least,’ Titch said.
‘I couldn’t wait to meet her properly,’ Rosa cooed.
‘I did suspect a boy, to be honest.’ Titch then added, ‘She’s long, just like her dad.’
Ritchie turned the baby around and cradled her in his arms so that Rosa could see her face. ‘She’s going to be a model, I reckon,’ he said, gazing down lovingly at his baby daughter’s tiny pink rosebud-like face.
‘Aw, she’s adorable – got your blonde hair by the look of it, Titch. I couldn’t tell when she shot out. Well done Dad, too. I’ve never been so relieved to see anyone in my life when you turned up, Ritchie.’
‘What is it with me giving birth to my children on floors?’ Titch wondered.
‘And with me always there to be a very scrappy midwife,’ Rosa reminded her, ‘well, until our hero Ritchie took over.’
Ritchie leaned down and kissed Rosa on the forehead. ‘If you hadn’t had to go and put the key back, goodness knows what would have happened. I would have gone to find her but…it’s not worth even thinking about.’
‘Mary felt Titch’s pain,’ Rosa explained.
‘Did she?’
‘Yes, it happened just as I was collecting Little Ned after the rehearsal, so one of us would have found you, mate, whatever.’
‘Josh was right about the precipitation labour thingy. How did he know about that?’
‘He literally has read every baby book known to man.’ Rosa grinned. ‘He so wanted to come and see you now, but I thought it would be easier to visit alone. The whole Smith Family, which includes Hot, might be a bit much today.’
‘You know me, everyone’s welcome. Mum can’t get up the stairs, so we are going to go to her this evening. She’s itching to meet her too.’
‘I bet she is. Has she still got Theo, then?’
‘No, he’s in his cot having a nap. He loves his baby sister, well, so far so good anyway.’
‘Come on, I need to hold her.’
Rosa sat at Titch’s feet on the sofa as Ritchie carefully put the baby in her arms.
‘I can feel all my pregnancy hormones surging up to my face.’ Rosa burst into tears. ‘Just look at her. Does she have a name yet? I know you were struggling with girls’ names.’
‘Like I said, that’s because I did truly believe she was a boy.’
Ritchie looked at Titch and smiled. They had both been waiting for this moment. ‘You tell her,’ Ritchie urged.
‘So, Rosa Smith, I have great pleasure in introducing you to Elizabeth Rose Rogers. Lizzy for short.’
Rosa was speechless.
‘I wanted to call her just plain Rose, but Ritchie rightly said it could be a bit confusing as we spend so much time with each other, but you’re in the middle and it is most definitely in your honour.’
‘I am very honoured,’ Rosa managed.
‘If she’s even half the woman you are, Rose, well, she’ll be one extra-special daughter.’
‘Stop it. I need to get a grip, but thank you.’ Rosa blew her nose.
‘Good. Now that’s sorted, when can I book you in for some babysitting?’ Titch said bluntly.
Rosa’s tears turned to laugher as she pretended to make a phone call, ‘Oh hi Gladys, is that you? Yes, yes, a new-born now, that’s right. You can take her? Excellent. Her name is Elizabeth Rose.’
CHAPTER 52
Rosa left Titch and Ritchie cooing over their baby at the Corner Shop and came down the hill towards the beach. She saw Lucas at the sea’s edge, randomly picking up stones and throwing them into the water and could immediately tell that something was wrong. As Josh had written down all feed times and would be coping perfectly well with Little Ned, she wandered across the damp grey sand towards the waves. The beach was empty aside from a family and their dog venturing into the South Cliffs caves. The dull December day was making the sea look dark grey and uninviting, and even the gulls seemed less vocal than usual.