Chapter 31

Later after Ruth and the boys had gone, Louisa was eating her dinner, a takeout dish of pasta and fish. Martin had picked it up for the two of them at another small bistro a block away that he frequented when he was working late. Hospital food was less than appealing and he felt it important that Louisa have a delicious and nutritious meal so she would eat and keep up her strength.

"Uh … Louisa?"

"Yes Martin? This pasta is delicious; you are spoiling me."

"Um … no I'm not. You need to recover and heal from the surgery, and you must build up your milk supply to adequately provide for Joanie. You need a good well-balanced meal in order to do that."

Louisa laughed at her practical husband. She could have been offended that he would refer to something so plebeian as her milk supply. Any other man would take the compliment at face value, it never crossing his mind to discuss his wife's lactation; but she had learned long ago that Martin was not like other men. "Joanie will be grateful for your attention to both the quantity and quality of her food supply", she replied with a twinkle in her eye.

She could see his initial confusion at her comment and a dawning awareness, "Mm … yes. You're teasing me."

She screwed up her mouth in an impish smile, "Yes I am." After eating two more bites of her fish and taking a few sips of the skim milk he insisted she drink, she remembered that he had something on his mind. "So, did you have something you wanted to discuss?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

He took a sip of water and disclosed the problem, "Ruth ran into my mother when she exited the lift this afternoon."

"Oh dear. So much for keeping the children from her."

"That's just it. Ruth said that James recognized my mother, said hello to her in fact. And my mother called him by name."

Louisa looked alarmed, "How can that be? Perhaps she learned the boys' names from the staff and knew that the oldest was called James?"

"Possibly, but how could he know her name. He said "Hello Miss Margaret."

He put down his fork and continued, "I have been thinking. Is it possible that he met her once when you were visiting your mother? My parents live less than ten miles from your mother, you know."

"Really? I don't know how. I am always with them when we visit and I don't know that we have met her. I would remember if we had been introduced to someone named Ellingham. It's not the most common name around." Earlier that afternoon, Louisa had been curious about Martin's mother and had tried to catch a glimpse of her through the blinds as Martin walked her down the hall, but hadn't been able to see her face. She might have recognised her if she had.

'No."

"I can't think of any other place where he would have met her."

They both returned their attention to their dinner. "I could ask my mother if she has a customer named Ellingham. I'll call her after dinner, but we may just have to ask James."

Martin shook his head, "No. I'd rather not discuss it with him. He may have forgotten seeing her and we don't need to remind him."

"I don't know Martin. He is a very curious and clever little boy. He doesn't miss much and he's never been shy about asking questions. If Ruth spoke to her, which I'm sure she did, he will remember and ask Ruth about her. Maybe not tonight because they are still excited about Joanie, but certainly the next time he sees her. We should be prepared with an answer."

"Yes, Ruth and I discussed that possibility. If he should ask, she will say that Margaret was someone we knew in London before she moved to Portugal. I think that should satisfy his curiosity. No need to elaborate."

Just then Joanie began to whimper and Martin rose to tend to her, changing her diaper efficiently, washing his hands and then taking her to Louisa to nurse before settling back to finish his dinner.

"You're good at that," Louisa observed as she propped her arm on a spare pillow and loosened her gown as an impatient infant rooted into her chest.

"Good at what?"

"Changing a messy baby." She grinned at him and winced as Joanie latched on.

"Lots of practice," he replied as he took another bite of fish. "Can I give you a bite of your dinner whilst you feed?"

In a minute." Louisa adjusted her position. "Would you put another pillow behind my back? I'm not quite comfortable."

"Certainly." He pulled a pillow from out of the cupboard and helped her to sit up straighter as he placed the pillow behind her back. "There. Is that better?"

"Much. So … do you think I can go home tomorrow?"

"It's likely. Your incision looks like it's healing nicely. Let's get you up and walking after dinner. If you are stable, I can't see any reason for you to stay in hospital longer."

Louisa sighed, "It will be so good to be home and get back into a routine.'

"Louisa." Martin began, using his authoritative doctor's voice which she hated. "You can't possibly expect to have a routine with a new baby. You know it will take several weeks before she settles in."

Relieved that he wasn't actually going to lecture her on the need to rest or some other perceived requirement, Louisa laughed, "Of course I know that. I was only teasing you."

"Yes, of course you were." He replied with a huff.

"But I do want to go home. Hospitals are very noisy and it's hard to rest."

Shifting the baby to her other side, she cooed, "You're going to be the perfect baby, aren't you my sweet?"

After dinner, after she and Martin had taken a walk down the hospital hall and back, and after her consultant had examined her and pronounced her able to go home, she picked up her mobile to call her mother.

"Louisa, is everything alright? With you and the baby?"

"Of course, mum." She had called her mother briefly the previous night to tell her all about the baby's birth, how unexpected it had been and how they had ended up with a C-section, but she was tired and hadn't had time to go over all the details, waiting till another time to do that. "I'm going home tomorrow, thank god."

"Good to know," Miriam replied.

Louisa continued, "I know it's late, but I wanted to ask you something. I was wondering … Oh no, Joanie's crying." She paused a moment, "It's okay, Martin has her. I need to ask you something."

"She has such a sweet cry, doesn't she?" Miriam replied.

"Yeah she does, but Mum I need to ask you something quick before I have to feed her again. She's just like her brothers, always hungry."

She caught Martin's eye as he was tending to the baby and smiled, then returned to her mum, "Martin's Dad is sick and his parents have come back to London for treatment. James saw his mother today in hospital and he seems to know her. We don't know how he could possibly have met her before, but they live close to you and I thought perhaps she is one of your clients."

"I don't have any clients with the last name of Ellingham. Of course, I don't know everyone's last name. We operate on a cash basis and I only know most of my ladies by their first names."

"Her first name is Margaret."

"Have you asked James?"

"No not yet. He was here to visit me and see Joanie and we didn't have time to question him."

"Well he's the one you should ask."

"Of course, but I just thought you might know."

Louisa could hear the impatience in her mother's voice, "If I knew Martin's mum was one of my ladies, don't you think I would tell you? Really Louisa."

Louisa sighed, "Of course you would. I just thought."

"But now that you mention it, one of my ladies, Margaret, has gone off to London with a sick husband. Don't know her last name, but she's always asked about you and the children. Now, that's not unusual. Most of my clients ask after you. She probably told me her full name the first time she came, but I don't really remember – she's just Margaret, my Thursday at 2."

"I'll bet that's her. Thanks mum. Got to go. Joanie's ready to feed … again. Oh my poor nipples are getting sore already. … not any fun."

'Rub them with a cabbage leaf – works a trick."

Louisa rolled her eyes, grateful that her mother couldn't see her reaction to her advice, "Right. I'll keep that in mind. Bye mum."

"Oh Louisa, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Tell Martin to send me some photos. I need to see my new granddaughter."

Louisa laughed, "Yes you do. Look for them tonight."

Martin had been standing next to her bed as she was ending her call. As soon as she rang off with her mum, he passed the baby to her and then asked if Miriam knew his mother.

"She has a client named Margaret who has gone off to London with a sick husband. She doesn't know her last name, but I would guess it's your mum."

Martin was incredulous, "How can she not know a customer's last name? it would be on her credit card wouldn't it?"

"Mum only takes cash as payment. I guess it's easier."

"And probably underreports her income for tax purposes," Martin muttered.

"Martin! What are you saying?"

"Never mind, it's not important. What's important is how we handle my mother. I don't want her spending any time with the children. How can we prevent that?"

"There's no need is there? We're going home tomorrow."

"She wanted to drop by our home for a visit … bring a gift for the baby. I told her no, but that's unlikely to stop her."

It was Louisa's turn to be dubious, "Do you think she would just drop by our home, unannounced? That's so rude."

"It's quite possible if I refuse to allow her to visit."

"Does she even know where we live?"

"if she doesn't already, she will find out. The woman is nothing if not resourceful."

Louisa turned philosophical and said, "I guess everyone has relatives they would prefer to disown, but we can't always do that."

"Yes, we can."

"Martin!"

"I see no need to indulge her whims."

"Well, if you really think she's likely to show up on our doorstep, maybe we will have to invite her over … when you are there. Get it over with. And then escort her out after a few minutes. Maybe that would satisfy her."

"It might. Let me think on it."

Martin sat down next to her on the bed just as Joanie was finishing her evening meal. "Let me wind her."

As Louisa passed Joanie over to Martin she said, "By the way, Mum would like some photos of Joanie. Can we take a few and send them to her tonight?"

"Of course. I'll do that right after she's winded while she is still awake. You could hold her. I'd like that, a mother-daughter photo." He replied matter-of-factly, as he paced back and forth patting the baby on her back. As he reached the doorway, she burped spitting up a small amount of milk, and he wiped her chin. He turned back to give Joanie to Louisa and noticed that Louisa had tears in her eyes which she was trying unsuccessfully to blot. "Louisa, what's wrong. Are you in any pain? What can I do?"

"I'm fine. I'm just so happy. Must be my hormones making me cry." She smiled at him and decided there was no need to tell him that his comment about wanting a mother-daughter picture had touched her so.

She straightened herself up against the pillows and reached her arms out for the baby, "Give her here." As she loosened the swaddling around the baby, she burbled to her daughter, "Okay Miss Joanie, are you ready for your first photos?" She propped the baby in her arms facing Martin and chuckled to herself, "It probably is just my hormones acting up."