Chapter 59
Friday night after their meal they set about doing as much of the housework as they could in readiness for the Parson's visit on Sunday. Louisa washed as many of the clothes as she could, thinking she would finish the remainder on Saturday. She windows and paintworks were also cleaned. Meanwhile, Martin scrubbed the bathroom and then vacuumed the upstairs.
Eventually they sat with their evening drinks and chatted about their respective work days.
On Saturday morning Louisa smiled when she heard the "Only me," signature greeting of Joan. Time for a sit down and a cuppa, she thought.
"Morning Joan. How are things with you? Do you fancy a drink of tea?"
Joan nodded and put the excess vegetables on the table. "Just some veg for you to use up, tomorrow," she explained. "Marty told me the Parsons were coming."
"Oh, thank you Joan. We're going into Wadebridge this afternoon to get some wine, for Carol, and a few other things for their visit. I persuaded Martin that he needs to socialise a bit more, and that they were the ideal couple to start with, because of their longstanding friendship, together. Martin tried to fob me off with the idea he wasn't sure he wanted to be fraternising with 'the boss', but I poured scorn on that and made him invite them."
"I wondered how you'd done that. Well done. You'll have him being the life and soul of a party before you know it!" Joan giggled as she pictured Marty playing mein host.
They were sat at the table drinking their tea when Martin came in for his morning break. He was closely followed by Pauline.
"Hello Pauline," said Joan. "How are Bert and Al doing after their accident?"
"Actually, Joan, Bert is doing very well and losing weight too! Al's very nearly back to normal with regard to his ribs, although he sometimes forgets and tries to do too much."
Before she could expand on that, Martin interrupted her, "Tell Al to come and see me, if he's not happy with his progress."
"It's not that Doc, he just tries to do things as though he were fully fit. He's doing well, actually." Pauline returned to her desk to ring Al up and chat with him whilst she drank her coffee.
"Auntie Joan, we're going into Wadebridge this afternoon, is there anything you'd like us to get for you?" Martin looked enquiringly at his aunt.
"Well, as you've offered. If I write down the gauge of the wool, and the amount, would you call into the haberdashers and get me some more wool so that I can continue making the outfits for Junior?" Joan made the request, hopefully. "You can even choose the colour yourself," she tempted him!
"Of course we will, and thank you for doing this for us, Joan." Louisa favoured Martin with a 'look' and he knew to keep any objections to himself.
"Yes." Was Martin's response. "I'm going back to my patients. I should be finished around 12:30, Louisa. Barring anything unforeseen, that is."
Louisa nodded and blew a kiss at his retreating back.
She went and got some paper and a pen for Joan to put down her requirements.
They continued to talk and finally Joan said that she must return to the farm as she had plenty of chores to do, herself. "Enjoy your guests, Louisa, and take no notice of Martin. He will be perfectly affable towards them. I've met them before, and I know that they are good people." Joan took her leave, and Louisa returned to doing the housework.
In Wadebridge, that afternoon, their shopping requirements for themselves and Joan were soon accomplished. "Tea, Martin? I'd like a cuppa and a sit down, before we go home."
They went towards the nearest café and ordered their drinks. Louisa, mindful of the upcoming dinner the next day, forwent any cakes or biscuits.
Martin smiled as he watched her gaze follow a waitress taking a selection of them to another table.
"You'll be glad you did that after Junior arrives," he promised her.
She looked at him and was on the verge of ordering some for herself, when reason returned, and she nodded. "Thank you for reminding me. You will be glad you invited the Parsons over, tomorrow. A little bit of socialising will be good for you, too."
"Louisa, I'm only looking out for you!"
She smiled sweetly at him, and riposted "Me too, for you!" She took in his look of discomfort and reached across the table to squeeze his hand. He glanced up at her and watched the merriment cross her face.
"Witch," was all he said.
They finished their drinks and went home.
Following their meal, Martin went to his study to amuse himself with his clocks and Louisa decided to do some marking, so that she wouldn't have to do it after their guests had gone home.
The radio played softly in the background as Louisa worked through the books. Eventually she came to the end of them, so repacked them into her schoolbag. Just as she was putting the kettle on, Martin came back into the kitchen. "Do you want tea, or water, Martin?"
"Ah, water, thank you." He crossed to the dresser to get his glass, and her cup. Turning to take them to her he saw a look of shock on her face and then her hands went to her expanding abdomen.
"Martin! It moved! I felt a kick!" She looked up at him as an expression of joy lit her face.
He reached out to her and drew her into his embrace. "Are you sure it was a kick?"
Louisa nodded, "Definitely. Not as hard as I'd heard they could be, but I'm sure that's what it was!"
"May I?" he asked. Louisa took his hand and moved it to the spot where she'd felt the movement. Sadly, he couldn't feel anything at all. "Don't worry, Louisa. It won't be long before I'll be able to feel it as well." He had seen her disappointment at not being able to fully share this wonderful moment.
They took their drinks back to the couch and sat back, reflecting on their day and the last few minutes. "Shall I ring Joan and tell her, do you think?" Louisa was dying to tell someone else. "We won't see her tomorrow, with Chris and Carol coming. I'd like her to know."
Martin looked at his watch, "I don't see why not. It's still early enough for her to be up. Even with an early call to feed the hens, she doesn't go up to bed before she's seen the news on TV," he explained.
Louisa grabbed her bag and rooted through it for her phone. "Joan? Joan, I've got some great news! I felt the Baby move!"
"Oh my! What did it feel like? Was it a kick, or was it just moving around?" Joan wanted the full details.
Louisa explained and then said, "do you want to speak to Martin?" before thrusting the phone at him.
He took it reluctantly, "Auntie Joan?"
"Oh Marty! You must be delighted with this news?"
"Erm yes, although I can't feel it move at the moment because it is still too small. Seeing Louisa's happy face is enough for me, though." He reached out and stroked her face with the back of his hand. "No It will be a few weeks, I think, before it will be a strong enough movement for me to feel. I'll let you know when I do. Good night, Auntie Joan." He switched the phone off and handed it back to Louisa.
She looked at him.
"What? I thought you'd finished talking. What else was there to say? You gave her the details!"
"I'm going for a bath; I'll give you a shout when I'm done." Louisa walked stiffly out of the room, leaving Martin shaking his head over her and Joan's need to talk things over, incessantly.
Later, Martin moved over to drape his arm around her as they lay together. "I'm sorry if I upset you. I didn't realise you wanted to talk some more with Joan."
Louisa turned to him, "Didn't you have anyone at all to talk things over with? No friends, family, other than Joan and Phil?"
"I don't really talk, as you know." Martin swallowed hard, as an unaccustomed sense of loss hit him.
Louisa reached up and pulled him closer into a soft embrace. Before long the outside world ceased to exist.
Sunday saw them both up, making the last minute, preparations for lunch. The wine was in the fridge chilling and the chicken cooking in the oven. Martin had prepared all the vegetables and Louisa had made the stuffing.
The Parsons arrived promptly at 12:30 in order for Carol to introduce herself properly to Louisa and then partake of the wine before lunch.
"Louisa, how are you coping with the baby? I understand it's due in July, and so you will be feeling some movement before much longer." Carol was interested to hear about Louisa's pregnancy.
"I'm doing well, Carol. I've got Dr Lewis in Wadebridge as my doctor, but Martin keeps a pretty close eye on me, also! Louisa's face lit up as she told the Parsons that she'd felt a movement last night. She was disappointed to say that she'd not felt it move since then.
"Don't worry, Louisa. Once it begins to move in earnest, you will be glad when it lays down for a rest. I was kicked from pillar to post with both the boys. Even when I was in bed resting it was as though they were playing football!"
Martin and Chris moved off to one side to continue their man-talk. "How's it been for you, Mart? I expect you'll be glad to see the new arrival after the long wait?"
Martin looked at Chris and debated with himself if he should mention his doubts to, effectively, his boss.
Before he could formulate his reply, Chris went on to say, "I know I was terrified by the thought of being a father. I'd not got any idea what was involved or anything. Felt like a proper Charlie not knowing, when all the other blokes at the ante-natal clinic seemed perfectly au-fait with it all."
"Yes, I'm a bit apprehensive, Chris. I hope that once it arrives and I know what it is, I'll be able then to formulate my plans," Martin started to explain.
Chris let out a snort of laughter. "Plans? You'd better lose any ideas about plans, mate. Even new-borns come with a mindset of their own. You have to learn to go-with-the-flow. Took me and Carol ages to learn what each cry meant. Feed me- change me- play with me– I'm getting a tooth, etc!"
Martin looked in surprise at Chris. "You seemed to recover fairly quickly, from what I saw, Chris. Obviously, Carol was doing the main parenting during the day, but I know you did a lot in the evenings and weekends."
"As I said, Mart, you have to take it one day at a time. It's a learning curve and you just hope you can stay ahead of the curve!"
Although he did not intend any mischief, the comments Chris made filled Martin once again with a sense of his own inadequacy. How would he cope with a new-born given his total lack of experience?
Meanwhile Louisa and Carol had moved on to putting the final touches to the dinner and were ready to plate up. "Martin? Will you come and carve the chicken, please?" Louisa recalled Martin to his host duties.
"Carol, Chris? Please be seated. What vegetables would you like?" Because of the small table size the dishes of food had to remain on the counter top. A selection was placed on each plate and served to them. Martin put the carved chicken in the centre of the table in order to let everyone take their own.
Once their plates were filled and more wine served to Carol, with everyone else having water, conversation became more general.
"Have you got any ideas about names yet, Louisa?" Chris wanted to know.
"We've talked about a few, for either sex. We don't know what we're having because we wanted it to be a surprise. We've decided against giving it either of our names because of the potential confusion. You will understand that our parents' names are unlikely to figure either. However this still gives us a wide choice. Louisa smiled and said the jury's out on what we'll choose. I keep thinking of names which Martin finds totally unacceptable, but I must admit I'm not wildly keen on some of the ones he's mentioned, either."
"Yeah, I remember when we were waiting for our first. Carol and I argued back and forth between Clyde and Cecil! We knew it would be a boy so that did narrow the choices." Chris smiled happily at his wife. She stuck her tongue out at him. "We eventually decided upon David Martin Parsons. Martin became his godfather."
Louisa looked in surprise at her husband, "You never told me that! Have you anymore godchildren I should know about?"
"Er no, I haven't. Chris and Carol have been very supportive of me over the years and I was happy to become David's godfather."
Carol, perceiving that Martin was struggling, changed the subject. "Are you going to continue to work, Louisa?"
"No, I've decided to take my full maternity leave and look after Junior myself over the first year. I've always wanted children and it seems to me that it's what I want to do." She smiled happily at Martin, trying to reassure him.