Chapter 25

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"Shelagh. Shelagh." Patrick whispered as he gently stroked her cheek. He watched as she opened her eyes and realised where she was.

"How long did I sleep for?" She asked quietly so as not to wake the sleeping baby in his arms.

"About three hours. You had an exhausting day, you needed the rest."

"Did you sleep at all?" Shelagh asked as she reached out to gently stroke her baby, desperately wanting to hold her but knowing moving her from Patrick's arms would probably wake her.

"I dozed a bit but I was enjoying holding her, I have a feeling when this weather clears and the rest of Poplar hears about her arrival I won't get a look in." Patrick smiled and sensing his wife's need to hold her, he stood and placed the tiny bundle in her arms. "She will want to be fed any minute I imagine."

"How is her breathing? She was so early, have there been any problems?" Shelagh asked.

"Her breathing has been perfect, who knows, maybe we were a bit out with our dates, she's dainty but robust." Patrick told her proudly.

Just then the young lady in question opened her eyes and started turning her head to the side. Shelagh lifted the top she was wearing and put her baby to the breast for the first time. The sensation was nothing like she expected, it was almost painful at first but as the baby began to suck she relaxed and the pain began to lessen.

Patrick watched as Shelagh fed the baby. He had thought she was beautiful when she was pregnant but watching her do this was incredible. He knew how much she had longed to be able to feed Angela, how she felt it was the one area of motherhood where she had failed their daughter. Logically she knew Angela would still thrive without being breastfed but sometimes motherhood defied logic.

"We really need to settle on a name, you know it's going to be the first thing everyone asks." Shelagh said as Patrick stroked the baby's foot.

"Well, we had it narrowed down to Laura and Katherine, which do you think suits her more?"

Shelagh gazed down at her daughter and decided. "Katherine."

"You know Timothy is going to shorten it. Are you prepared for that?" Patrick smiled, he knew his son well.

"I think I'll cope, let's just hope little Katherine Eve Turner is fine with it." Shelagh said testing out her full name for the first time.

"Well if she is as feisty as her mother I'm sure she'll manage to set him straight." He leaned over and placed a kiss on the baby's forehead as she fed. "Welcome to the family Katherine."

….

By the time the weather had cleared it was nearly midnight so they decided to spend the night at the Maternity Home. As much as both of them wanted to go home they knew arriving home with the baby would be a rather large disruption and then none of them would get any sleep.

At 7 am they finally arrived home. Timothy was just coming down the stairs with Angela in his arms when they opened the front door. He just stared at his mother and the bundle in her arms.

"Goodness! Is that what I think it is?" Timothy asked hesitantly.

"If you think it is your new baby sister then it's exactly what you think it is." Patrick smiled as he helped Shelagh and the baby through the front door and out of the cold.

"I thought you were going in to do paperwork mum." Timothy teased.

"Well, your sister had other plans for me." Shelagh smiled tiredly.

"She's early, is everything okay? Is she breathing alright? And what about her hand?" Timothy asked surprising his parents once again with his medical astuteness.

"She's absolutely perfect Tim. Let's go and sit down and you can do a thorough inspection while she is awake and before she wants feeding again."

Angela was reaching out for her mother and Timothy was struggling to keep hold of her. As if they had been doing it forever, Shelagh effortlessly handed Katherine off to her father and took Angela into her arms.

"I missed you my Angel." Shelagh placed a kiss on her head. "Were you a good girl for Tim and Mrs Penney?" Shelagh asked as the little girl happily nestled into her mother's arms and rested her head sleepily in Shelagh's shoulder.

"She wanted you at bedtime mum but once Mrs Penney got her off to sleep we didn't hear from her again. Mrs Penney left about half an hour ago – I told her I would be fine with Angela until you got back."

Timothy and Shelagh sat down and Patrick passed Tim his new sister and went into the kitchen to put the kettle on – he was desperate for a cup of tea and imagined Shelagh probably was too.

"Well Tim, what do you think?" Shelagh asked as Angela snuggled further into her lap sleepily and she watched her son inspect his new sister.

"She really is perfect." Tim said with awe. "Well done mum!"

"Hey I had a bit to do with it." Patrick said as he came into the room with the tea tray.

"Your part was pretty small compared to mums." Timothy said, not taking his eyes off the baby.

"Can't argue with you there Tim." Patrick laughed and placed a cup of tea next to his wife and gently removed a sleeping Angela from her lap.

Angela opened her eyes as she was moved and saw it was her father who now held her and decided that she no longer felt tired and placed a rather sloppy kiss on his cheek. "Kiss me dada!"

Patrick placed a kiss in her neck which caused the toddler to erupt into giggles that caused the baby to start crying. The sound immediately had Angela's attention.

"Baby?" She asked.

"That's right Angela, it's our new little sister." Timothy explained as he handed off the screaming infant to his mother. "Does she have a name yet or are we going to keep referring to her as 'the baby'?" He asked.

"She does." Shelagh said as she held the infant to her shoulder and started to rub her back and talking to her soothingly, immediately calming her. "Her name is Katherine Eve."

Tim smiled knowing the Eve was for Sister Evangelina. "Welcome to the family Katie." Tim stroked the baby's foot.

"Me see baby!" Angela demanded. Tim moved over so Patrick could sit next to his wife and Angela could see her new sister.

Shelagh moved the baby so Katherine now lay in her arms. Angela stared at the baby in wonder.

"Are you going to say hello to Katie Ange?" Tim asked.

"'Lo Katiebaby." Angela said, Shelagh groaned inwardly knowing that name would stick and wondered idly how old Katherine would be before she objected to it.