"When is Daddy home?" Amelie asked as I tucked her into bed.
"Not until after Christmas angel." I told her, stroking her long dark brown hair out of her face.
"But I miss him Mumma." She whined.
"Me too Amie, but he has to go and see his Mummy in France. Imagine how much you would miss me if we hadn't seen each other for a year." I said. She nodded sympathetically as I leant down and kissed her forehead. "Come on, it's sleep time. I'll see you in the morning. I love you." I said, before kissing her again and then leaving her room. I shut the door behind me and went downstairs, where I found Mum sat on my sofa, reading something on her phone.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, walking over and sitting on the sofa beside her.
"Well, Peter's sorting the girls out, so I thought I'd pop over for a glass of wine with you. Thought you might be lonely, what with Josh being away?" she told me, putting her phone on the coffee table in front of us. Just before Amelie's third birthday, Josh and I moved into Number 13 Coronation Street together. As much as I loved living with Mum, Peter and Michelle, as well as all the kids, the house got so crazy sometimes and I felt like it was finally time for Amelie and I to move out and be together with Josh. He had, over the years, become Amelie's father figure and she adored him.
"I'm afraid you're out of luck on that front, I don't think we've got a bottle in." I told her.
"Well, give me five minutes, I'll pop next door to Dev's, or over to the bistro and get us a bottle." Mum said, grabbing her handbag.
"No, Mum, it's alright. I'd rather have a cuppa, I'm exhausted." I explained. She put her handbag back on the floor by her feet.
"When did you turn into such an old lady?" she asked, giggling.
"Well, running a business full time and looking after an eight-year-old, proves to be pretty difficult in the Christmas holidays." I said.
"Amelie could come and hang out with me at factory tomorrow, or Isla's old enough to look after now, don't you think?" Mum said, placing her hand on my arm as I let my head fall back on the sofa.
"No, it's alright. She was actually the easiest part of today. But trying to explain to my staff why 700 mince pies need to be in town by 1 o'clock proves to be a difficult concept for them to handle." I said, rolling my eyes.
"You really look like you could do with a glass of wine Orlie." Mum said.
"Mum, I'm fine really." I said, taking a deep breath.
"Why don't you take the day off tomorrow? Have a duvet day with Amie?" she suggested.
"Mum, you know it's not that easy when you run your own business." I told her and she nodded sympathetically, stroking my cheek with her thumb.
"You feel hot my girl, are you sure you feel alright?" Mum asked, placing her hand on my forehead.
"Yes Mum, get off." I snapped, pushing her hand off of my head. "I'm just tired." I insisted. Mum stared at me for a couple of moments, looking as if she was hesitating over what to say next.
"Oh my god, Orla are you pregnant?" she asked, looking as if she was bracing herself for me to snap back at her.
"Mum, no, no way." I said.
"You liar Orla. Are you pregnant?" she asked, reaching her arm out to hold onto my hand. I took a deep breath as I rolled my eyes at her.
"I don't know. It only really occurred to me this morning that I might be and I haven't had the time today, until now I guess to think about it." I told her.
"Why don't you do a test now?" she asked.
"Because I don't have one here." I explained.
"Well, that's easily solved. I'll pop out and get you one and while I'm gone, you can get the kettle on." She said.
"Would you?" I asked.
"Oh, my girl, for you, anything." Mum said, stroking my cheek before getting up from the sofa and grabbing her handbag. "I won't be long." She said, before leaving out the front door. I got up from the sofa and went into the kitchen, where I filled the kettle and then unloaded the tumble dryer, folding the clothes on the kitchen table as I waited for the kettle to boil. As I folded Amelie's clothes, it made me think about how tiny she had once been. A little bundle of cuteness and how in the last few years she had grown up so much. She was now 8, she was in Year 3 at school, and she absolutely loved to learn. She was chatty and funny, and I never felt like I was alone when I had her by my side. The past few years hadn't been easy, while the bakery had been doing well, and we were expanding across Manchester, Josh had qualified as a doctor and was working in the emergency department at Manchester General. We'd moved out of Mum and Peter's, my sisters were becoming teenagers, which came with a whole heap of problems and Amelie had taken it all in her stride. She was often the last child at after school club, as Josh or I raced to get her, and she spent countless hours of the school holidays sat in the office of the bakery across the road. It was then that I wondered whether Josh and I having a baby now was a good idea. When everything in our lives was already so crazy and busy, was this the right time to add a baby into that? We had had the same conversation not long after Amelie started school, deciding that life then, was not the right time as we were both so busy. But Mum was right, as much as the bakery was my business, I could also make the decision to step back a little, take the time off to have a baby and spend that time with them. Something I always wished I did more of when Amelie was a baby, and the business wasn't as big as it was now.
I finished folding the clothes and poured boiling water into two mugs as Mum came back through the front door. I always forgot she had a key and even though she didn't come and go as she pleased; it was nice to know she could pop round whenever.
"Here, I'll finish that. You go and take this." She said, handing me the test after putting her handbag on the kitchen table.
"You sure? You don't think I should wait until Josh is home?" I asked her.
"No, it'll be a nice surprise for him when he gets home. A late Christmas present." She said, nodding. I agreed and went upstairs to the bathroom where I took the test.
When I was finished, I put it in the back pocket of my jeans and popped my head around Amelie's door. She was fast asleep with her duvet falling onto the floor. I tucked it over her and kissed her forehead.
"I love you, my girl." I whispered, mimicking what Mum has always said to me. I have always been her girl and Amelie has always been mine. I shut her door again and went back downstairs, where Mum had returned to the sofa, with a steaming cuppa on the coffee table for each of us.
"Well?" she asked as I walked around the sofa. I pulled the test out of my pocket as I sat down on the sofa beside her. I held onto Mum's hand before turning the test the right way up so I could read it. "Congratulations Orlie." Mum said, putting her arms around me.
"Thanks, Mumma." I said quietly, resting my head on her shoulder.
"This is good news, isn't it?" Mum asked as she pulled away from me.
"Yeah, yeah, of course. I just have been so busy; I can't believe I didn't realise I was pregnant. It's not like this is the first time." I said.
"Hey, you've been running a very successful business and looking after your daughter. You know now, that's the most important thing." Mum told me, stroking my hair as she kissed my head.
"I can't believe Amelie's going to be a big sister." I said, looking at the pictures of the shelves across the room. They were filled with pictures of Amelie, Josh and I over the last eight years, with a couple of my family and his as well.
"She'll be such an amazing big sister Orlie. Just like you are." Mum said. I smiled. I couldn't quite imagine Amelie as a big sister, or having another baby in our lives as it felt like such a long time ago that she was a baby and that we had a baby in the house.
"Josh is going to be so excited. He's wanted this for such a long time." I said, imagining his face when I tell him the news when he comes home. "For such a long time, he's been there for Amelie, but having his own baby, our own baby. I don't know if I'll be able to wait to tell him."
"Oh, Orla you have to wait. I can only imagine his face; you'll want to see his reaction when you tell him the news." She said.
"I know, it will be harder for me to keep it a secret when he phones." I tell her. "I'm glad you're here though Mum. I'm glad someone was here, and I wasn't just finding out on my own, not like last time."
"Hey, I'm always here. I may not have been with you when you did the test last time, but I was there, with you every step of the way with your pregnancy with Amie, and beyond. But this time, Orlie, you don't need me. You have the most amazing man, who loves you and your daughter, and your baby." Mum said, getting slightly teary as she spoke.
"I wonder what it will be. Part of me can't imagine our family without lots of girls, but maybe that means it's time for a boy." I said to Mum.
"I bet Josh would love a boy." Mum said and I nodded in agreement.