"Hi, Celia. Yes erm. Is Caroline with you?"
"What do you want John? We're having some quality family time together. Where is Lawrence?"
"That's the thing you see. I don't exactly know where Lawrence is. You see we had a little…disagreement and he left. He said he was going to…walk home. I knocked next door to see if he had reached home but there was no reply. So…."
"What?"
Celia's face gave away her consternation at John's shortcomings.
"You have Lawrence to look after for one night and you can't even do that properly. You really are a walking disaster aren't you?"
"I did try to ring Lawrence on his mobile but he appears to have switched it off. He doesn't want to talk to me, obviously."
"John, he may have gone to his friends, Angus. Have you tried there?"
"Celia. Could I come in please?"
"No John, you can't. This is for you to sort out yourself. When you left Caroline to live with that….. Well, she coped with everything on her own. She didn't ring you to sort things, she didn't rush round to ask for your help. She simply coped on her own. You need to resolve this yourself for once. Show Lawrence you're a half decent father. Caroline has other things on her plate. Good day."
Celia closed the door in John's face giving him a clear indication he was on his own. What she didn't tell John was Lawrence had sent her a text earlier telling her he was going to Angus' house for the night. Lawrence knew Kate had had a false alarm and didn't want to disturb his mum and Kate with his father's arguments.
Alan joined Celia just as she closed the door.
"Is everything alright love?"
"Yes. John just needed details of where Angus lived. How is Kate doing?"
"Oh. Caroline is w' her now. I think it won't be long before the little one will be on her way."
At that moment Caroline came to see who was at the door.
"Mum, who was it at the door?"
"Oh no-one important love. Now, how is Kate doing?"
"She's okay. I'm just going to ring the midwife to let her know we're on our way. Could you sit with Kate while I go collect her bag please mum?"
"Of course I can. Don't be too long will you."
Caroline left by the rear door and entered her dining room. She looked through the far window and swore she saw John's car reversing off the driveway. With her mother's words about not being too long ringing in her ear she walked quickly to the hallway to collect Kate's bag.
She turned and walked down the hallway only to hear a noise from upstairs in the area of Lawrence's bedroom. She called out to her son but received no reply and was about to walk back to her mother's flat when she heard another louder noise from her son's room. Her instinct told her Lawrence was in his bedroom and not where he should be.
She placed Kate's bag back down on the stairs and ran up to Lawrence's room. Before entering the door she heard her son's sobs. She gently knocked and called out his name. Receiving no reply she entered his room to find him on his bed with his head in his pillow.
She went over to the bed and pulled her son up into her arms. Lawrence buried his head into her neck and sobbed uncontrollably.
"Shhh. It's okay Lawrence. Whatever has happened?"
"I hate him mum. I hate him so much. One night. That's all I wanted, one night with him being sober and being a dad."
"Lawrence. Your father loves you but he has problems of his own. He doesn't know what to do with his life. He's feeling lost. I know you are too at times."
Lawrence pulled away from his mother and wiped his face trying to remove any traces of the tears he'd cried. He quickly diverted the subject. "How's Kate doing?"
"Well, Kate is having contractions. Do you want to come to the hospital with us or stay with your granny and Alan?"
"Yuk. Babies, no thank you. I'll stay with gran and Alan."
"Okay. Come on then or your gran will crucify me as I promised I wouldn't be too long."
"Where have you… Lawrence, what are you doing here? I thought you were at…."
Lawrence interrupted Celia mid flow. "Yeah, sorry gran. Change of plans. Where's Kate?"
Lawrence winked at his gran so she wouldn't let slip to his mum he had lied about going to Angus' house. Celia mouthed to her grandson that his father came looking for him. Lawrence placed his finger to his lips to stop Celia letting the cat out the bag.
Caroline joined her fiancée on the sofa in Celia's sitting room. Kate appeared to have just recovered from her last contraction and was looking very flustered. Caroline placed the bag on the floor and took Kate into her arms. She felt her lover lean heavily onto her shoulder. Caroline stroked her girlfriend's hair in an effort to sooth her mood.
"It's okay. I'm here with you now Kate. Have you checked how long between your contractions?"
Kate pulled away from Caroline's shoulder and looked into those bright blue eyes.
"I tried but I was too busy trying to get over the pain and I forgot. I'm sorry. I'm not going to be a very good mum, am I?"
Kate began to cry with the emotion of everything that had happened in the last two days. She fell back into Caroline's shoulder. Caroline placed her arms around her partner and drew her in as close as her baby bump would let her and soothed her whispering how fantastic she thought she was.
"Kate. If there is one thing I know for sure right now. It's that you will be a fantastic mother to our little girl. You are so kind and gentle and understanding I have no doubt."
Kate pulled back and smiled at her lover with wet tears on her cheeks. She loved this beautiful blonde who only a year previously had seemed out of her reach. She felt so privileged to share her life with this incredible vision. Caroline took a tissue from her blouse pocked and gently wiped Kate's tears away.
"I love you Kate. So very much."
It was then that Kate felt the next contraction hit and cried out looking at her lover's beautiful face. Caroline's eyebrow rose slightly startled at the quickly diminishing time between contractions. It had only been a matter of a few minutes since she had entered the room and witnessed the end of Kate's last contraction. Caroline calmly organised things quickly ringing the midwife not wishing to startle Kate.
At the hospital Caroline and Kate were shown into a room where they were given some privacy. Kate felt settled having only just recovered from another Contraction. The frequency was steady around 4 minutes. Caroline stood to Kates left at the side of the bed holding her hand whilst the Midwife, Louise ran through some questions with Kate standing to the right side of the bed.
Kate had her legs in the stirrups and the midwife checked how far along Kate was. She listened to Kate's tummy through her stethoscope and reassured Kate of a strong and regular heartbeat. She moved to the foot of the bed between Kate's legs.
"Kate. You're very close and I need you to wait until the next contraction hits and then push when I tell you. Okay?"
Kate nodded and turned to face Caroline smiling. Caroline gently moved a strand of Kate's hair which had fallen into her eyes. She took a small towel which she had brought in Kate's bag and wiped her fiancée's brow. Caroline mouthed 'I love you' to her lover.
Kate felt the contraction hit and her face showed the pain increasing as she tried to manage the pain. Louise saw the contraction coming and then spoke to Kate very loud and clearly.
"Right Kate, I need you to push as hard as you can until I tell you to stop. Okay?
Kate nodded through the pain.
Kate listened and repeatedly used her breathing exercises before finally at 25 minutes past 4 in the morning Flora Grace arrived into the world with strong lungs, screaming and crying.
Caroline was so overwhelmed by the arrival of their new child to the world with all her fingers and toes and a gorgeous button nose. With tears falling down her cheeks and a huge smile on her face Caroline took Flora wrapped in a blanket from Louise. She passed her to Kate who was also crying and smiling at her partner. The midwife made her excuses giving the women their privacy with their new bundle of joy.
Kate gently stroked Flora's head tracing the black tiny hair on her head. She took hold of her hand and watched her tiny, perfectly formed fingers clamp around her own finger.
Caroline moved in closer to her beautifully glowing partner. She placed a hand on Flora's bottom as Kate held her to her chest.
"You're a mother now Kate."
Kate looked up to Caroline and kissed her on the lips. "I know. Thank you Caroline, you truly are magnificent."