49. PUNCTUAL

"I am so sorry."

He appears, flushed and flustered through the cubicle curtains. His shoes screech on the hospital floor and shatter the silence. And the bubble is burst.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Look."

It feels nice, she realises, when his face lights up and he reaches out to take the brand new baby from her arms. She hadn't anticipated that. When they had first handed her over she wasn't sure she would ever be able to let her go. She hadn't anticipated any of that.

"Hello, precious."

Small enough to fit in a single one of his hands, he holds her to his eyeline, like he sometimes does with a bottle of wine in a restaurant when he forgets his glasses. She has opened her large opaline eyes for the first time since she rocketed into the world, at the sound of his voice. He looks back with equally wide eyes and a curiosity far younger than him.

"My god, Rach. She looks exactly like you."

"I thought that too."

Perhaps she should say something memory-worthy. Hallmark greetings cardy. But everything she conjures up just feels a bit corny. The love is overwhelming. The fear is overwhelming. She is so so tired. She had thought she would have weeks to sleep. Weeks and weeks of leave before she came. He had said that. First babies are always overdue, Rach. Clearly not hers. Theirs.

"Are you okay?"

"I think so."

He stares at her for a moment, as her wide, unblinking eyes find a corner of the blanket and rest there, solid. Then he looks into his hands at almost the exact same pair of eyes, staring just as intensely, at him.

"Uh. Rachel?"

"She's early."

"She's not early. She's punctual."

This makes her smile. She can see it already. Her daughter can do no wrong in her father's eyes.

"But she's so early. I don't have anything ready."

"Yeah. It'll be fine."

"Do you think she's alright?"

She saw him count. Just as she had done. Ten tiny fingers. Ten tiny toes. Tiny little nails and fresh peachy pink skin. How could she ever be expected to let other people touch her? They might break her.

"She's perfect. Beautiful. So beautiful. Punctual. Like her mum. But beautiful."