Lovestruck, p.25
Lovestruck, page 25
‘Woah,’ says Jia Li. ‘So me and Carlos were wrong.’
Becca tips her head, the motion serving as the question.
‘About the text, when it came – in the summer. We said don’t get back in touch with an ex, but here you are, marrying yours.’
‘I know,’ says Becca. ‘It feels right. You know I’ve had this whole life without him – starting the salon, meeting you and Carlos, buying my house. And I thought our paths had gone in two different directions when he moved, but I get the feeling that’s not it at all, they just diverged a bit, running parallel to each other. And because of what we experienced on those parallel journeys, now we’re able to come back together again.’
‘Hmmm,’ says Jia Li. ‘Either that, or it’s all random chance and we’ve got to make the best of it.’
‘Either way, I have a fiancé.’ Becca smiles. ‘And I suppose my little flower girl or page boy is already taken care of?’ She nods at Jia Li’s belly, as Jia Li shifts uncomfortably.
‘Oh, you’re having a long engagement? If this bean will be old enough to walk?’
‘I don’t know, actually,’ admits Becca. ‘Maybe not. There’s no point waiting too long …’
‘Does Carlos know?’ Jia Li shifts uncomfortably again.
‘Do you want me to rub your back?’ Becca asks, and Jia Li considers it as if conceding to the pain is defeat. ‘Don’t be a prick, come on. Get on the floor and turn around.’
‘That’s what got me into this mess,’ she quips.
Becca hoots a laugh. ‘Trust you to be punny at a time like this.’
Becca kneads her hands against the small of Jia Li’s back, and assumes that the noises it elicits mean she’s doing a good job.
‘We still haven’t talked about a birthing plan,’ Becca comments.
‘Don’t have one,’ says Jia Li. ‘Labour pains start, go to hospital, get pumped full of drugs, out it comes. I’m not making it anything more complicated than it needs to be.’
‘And have you … bought stuff?’ Becca looks around, suddenly realising she can see nothing babylike in the house. No clothes, no toys, nothing a person could reasonably expect for an impending mother.
‘A bassinet,’ Jia Li says, and her breathing is harder, now. Becca really must be doing something helpful. She can barely speak. ‘Upstairs. I can get same-day delivery when I figure out what’s important versus what’s … oh God, yes, thank you …’ Jia Li shudders in relief as Becca presses down on her hips even harder. ‘What’s important versus what’s a load of crap.’
‘Very sensible,’ says Becca, resisting the urge to ask why she doesn’t want to go mad in the kid’s department of John Lewis. Who cares if she ends up with a bunch of crap? It’s a baby! Becca understands that Jia Li thinks differently, is a bit more practical, but no onesies? No tiny little booties or bottles? ‘Well,’ she continues, ‘you know you can always send us to get whatever you need.’
‘You and Carlos?’
‘I meant me and Mike, but sure, Carlos too. You’re not short of people to run ragged after you.’
‘Becca?’
‘Mmm?’
‘The pain is getting worse.’
Becca drops her hands from Jia Li’s back in horror. ‘Have I hurt you?’ she says. ‘I’m so sorry – are you OK?’
‘Mmmmm,’ moans Jia Li. She twists so that she’s sitting on the floor instead of kneeling, her back against the sofa. Becca studies her. Should she call an ambulance? Is this what they call Braxton Hicks? ‘Could you get me a flannel?’ Jia Li asks. ‘It helps. They’re upstairs in the bathroom cupboard. Run the tap cold. Really cold.’
‘Roger that.’ Becca pauses at the door and looks back before she races up the stairs. As she’s running the cold tap she hears Jia Li cry out – a low, guttural mooing sound, unlike anything she’s ever heard a person make before. She shuts off the tap and, inexplicably, pulls three thick white towels off the shelf where she got the flannel, too, racing back downstairs to find Jia Li on all fours, panting.
‘Oh Christ,’ Becca says. ‘What’s happening?’
‘I … don’t know …’ Jia Li huffs and puffs. ‘Take my knickers off. I feel like … GAH!’
Becca doesn’t know if Jia Li is serious. Take her knickers off? To do what?
‘Check if my waters have broken. I felt a trickle earlier, maybe it was that. My midwife said it doesn’t always gush out like in the movies,’ Jia Li says. ‘Please, Becca. Just take my knickers off and check!’
Becca does as instructed and, regardless of the damp in Jia Lia’s knickers, it’s the way in which her friend is crouched that tells her it is very obvious that the baby is on the way right now, this very second.
‘Is that the head?’ Jia Li says, panting and sweaty.
‘It looks like it might be, soon,’ Becca says, frozen. This is terrifying. Surely that can’t be natural, a woman’s body stretching that way. ‘You’re like …’ She moves towards her friend, unsure if she should be looking at something so private. She’s scared.
‘Becca, get to it, babe,’ Jia Li tells her. ‘Don’t be a priss about it.’ She moans again.
Becca drops to her knees, handing Jia Li the cold flannel, and faces the issue head on, holding up a hand, her thumb and forefinger a measuring stick. ‘Your … vagina … is about this far apart. Dilated? You’re this far dilated.’ Becca holds up her fingers about seven centimetres apart.
‘Buggar,’ says Jia Li. ‘Buggar, buggar, buggar. OK.’
She moans again. Becca feels useless.
‘An ambulance!’ Jia Li instructs. ‘Alexa!’ She has a voice activated speaker on her sideboard. ‘Call 999!’
Alexa calls the emergency services and Becca explains her friend is in labour. The man at the end of the phone tells Becca she’s doing a great job, which isn’t true but now isn’t the time to argue. He says an ambulance is on its way, but there’s roadworks on the A road and there’s been an accident just outside of town, so he can’t say how long it will be.
‘You need towels, to keep Mum calm, and have her sit however is comfortable – all fours can be best. We’ll be there as soon as we can.’
‘Is that it?’ Becca asks, panicked.
‘I’m afraid so,’ the man says. ‘We’re coming. I’ll stay on the line if you need me.’
Jia Li and Becca look at each other.
‘OK then,’ says Becca, a sudden feeling of calm washing over her. She can do this. She has no choice. Jia Li, and this baby, are in her care. ‘Let’s have a baby.’
‘Bec,’ says Jia Li, reaching for her hand. ‘I’m scared.’
‘But I’ve got you, OK?’
‘OK.’
‘Now flip over on to all fours again.’
As Becca runs upstairs to get more towels, she asks her Apple Watch to call Carlos.
‘Too early,’ he mumbles down the line. ‘Bye bye.’
‘Carlos, don’t hang up,’ Becca implores, and she’s relieved to hear he doesn’t. She gets towels, more flannels and a couple of pillows off Jia Li’s bed. The Moses basket is already set up, a woven thing on a wooden rocking frame, white frills and single teddy bear inside. Becca stares at it as she says, ‘Come to Jia Li’s. She’s in labour and I am freaking out. The ambulance is on its way but there’s an accident blocking the road. Can you run here, Carlos? I need you.’
‘I’m on my way,’ he says, and then the line goes dead.
Downstairs Jia Li is in a contorted yoga pose, on her knees and elbows so her head is pressed to the floor and her arse is in the air.
‘Honey,’ soothes Becca, rubbing Jia Li’s back. ‘Carlos is coming, OK? Is that all right? I can keep him outside in the hallway, or in the kitchen.’
‘I don’t care,’ she replies. ‘Call Dave, too. Tell him it’s his.’
‘What?’ says Becca, stunned. ‘It is?’
Jia Li moans again, and through more pants reveals: ‘I’ve always known. I was just afraid.’
There’s a knock. Carlos. Thank God he only lives two streets over.
‘She just told me to call Dave,’ Becca says, registering the waft of last night’s alcohol radiating off his body. ‘She said she’s always known, she was just afraid.’
Carlos nods. ‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘We have that in common.’
‘What?’ Becca asks, remembering there’s an elastic on her wrist and so tying up her hair.
‘Nothing,’ says Carlos, slipping off his coat. He’s sweating; panting too. Jia Li moans again and he looks at her.
‘I know,’ Becca tells him. ‘Go and wash your hands, and then come through.’
30
She Texts Back
Carlos is incredible – far calmer than Becca.
‘Right then,’ he says, rubbing his hands together as he enters the room, as though he’s excited about the joint he’s got roasting for lunch, not about to deliver an actual baby in an actual living room with no actual qualifications. ‘Jia Li, hello, my darling. Way to keep us all on our toes.’
Jia Li shoots him a look but doesn’t say anything. She’s breathing deeply, at Becca’s instruction.
‘May I?’ he says, and Jia Li nods.
‘Yup,’ Carlos says, taking a look. ‘You’re having a baby all right. Has anyone googled this?’
‘Oh yeah,’ snipes Becca. ‘We watched a YouTube video and then thought, sure, why not give it a try?’
Carlos looks at her. ‘I sense your sarcasm,’ he says, ‘and with all due respect that’s not helpful. I’m actually serious. I don’t know how much this thing has to … you know … stretch. I don’t know how we get a baby out, do you?’
A voice comes through the Alexa: ‘Is Mum OK?’
Carlos eyes Becca as if to say, Is that God, or … ?
‘The Alexa,’ Becca tells him, and then replies: ‘She’s OK!’
Becca looks at Jia Li, who has her eyes closed as she breathes in, breathes out. In a vicious whisper she says, ‘Hey. Don’t panic, anyone. We’re not delivering the baby. The ambulance will be here.’
‘The ambulance is still eleven to fourteen minutes away,’ the godlike voice comes from the Alexa.
Carlos pulls out his phone and punches at it with two fingers. He shakes his head. ‘This says after seven centimetres it’s game on, and that’ – he nods towards Jia Li – ‘is more than seven.’
‘So what do we do?’ Becca will follow Carlos’s commands. Right now, he is her Jesus, her Jay-Z, her path and holy light.
Carlos nods, the information percolating in his head.
Through the Alexa they are asked: ‘Is the door unlocked, or propped open if you can’t take it off the latch?’
‘No, but I can do that,’ shouts Becca, already in the hall.
‘I say we get more sheets and towels – everything she has,’ Carlos muses. ‘Jia Li – how are you feeling, darlin’? Can we get you anything?’
Jia Li snorts. ‘Oh no,’ she pants, her tone dry as white wine, despite the circumstance. ‘I’m peachy.’
‘Water, maybe,’ he directs Becca. ‘In something she can’t knock over. Jia Li? I suppose asking if you want anything to eat is pointless?’
She takes a breath, and as Becca commandeers an old Evian bottle out of the recycling she braces herself for a torrent of abuse. What she isn’t expecting is for Jia Li to ask for an energy bar.
‘I can’t do this,’ Jia Li says, pushing the energy bar away after all. ‘I can’t do this.’
‘You can, and you already are. Look at me, OK? I’m here. It’s you and me. That’s it. I love you, and nothing is going to go wrong.’
Jia Li nods, her bottom lip wobbling, and Becca moves to hold her hand. ‘Gah, the sheets,’ she remembers, releasing herself and running back upstairs.
‘Here,’ she says, when she’s back. ‘I found a mattress protector too. I’m just thinking …’ Becca gestures to the wool of the carpet.
‘Great,’ says Carlos and, as Becca starts putting everything down to protect the house from as many bodily fluids as possible, he reaches out, takes her hand, and in a sweet, tender voice says: ‘Becca. You’re doing great too.’
It makes her inhale deeply, steadying herself.
Jia Li screams out.
The voice from the Alexa says: ‘OK, Jia Li, this is all happening very fast. Try not to push. Just breathe, all right?’
‘I can see the baby’s head,’ Carlos says. ‘I think she’s going to have this baby really soon!’
‘Then you’ll need to guide it out, OK?’ the instructions come. Carlos looks at Becca. He swallows.
In response, Jia Li screams again.
Becca mops her brow as Jia Lia whimpers, ‘I need to lie down.’
‘Let’s move you then,’ Becca says, and together they shift her round so that Jia Li is sitting between Becca’s legs, leaning her back against her breasts, holding each hand. Jia Li and Becca breathe together, and Becca focuses on Carlos’s face, the angular line of his jaw, his day-old stubble, his long, thick eyelashes against his cheeks as he looks down, brow furrowed.
Jia Li makes a low groan through gritted teeth and Carlos shouts, ‘It’s coming, Jia Li! Well done! Keep breathing!’
Jia Li takes a deep breath in, her eyes scrunched closed, breathes out, and then there’s a knock at the door and a cheery, ‘Hello?’ It’s Dave.
‘Shitting hell,’ he says, when he turns the corner and sees what’s happening.
‘You’re about to be a dad,’ Becca tells him, and Jia Li gives her biggest breath yet and Carlos guides the baby out as Dave hits the floor, hard and fast, so only his feet are visible from where they all are.
Becca waits for the baby to cry. Nothing comes.
‘Carlos?’
‘Becca.’
The way he says it makes her understand, immediately, that something has gone wrong. She slips out from under Jia Li, whose eyes are closed in exhaustion, and quickly sees that the umbilical cord is around the baby’s neck.
‘Operator, are you still there?’ Becca cries in the direction of the Alexa. ‘What do I do if the umbilical cord is around the baby’s neck?’ The words are out before Becca realises how alarming that will be to Jia Li. Jia Li opens her eyes and locks her gaze on to Becca’s as they all listen to the emergency services voice say: ‘If the umbilical cord is around your baby’s neck, do not try to tie or cut the cord. The cord must stay attached until help arrives. See if you can ease it over the baby’s head slowly, or loosen it enough to form a loop so their body can slip through.’
‘You can do this, Carlos,’ Becca says, once the person on the speaker has given his instruction. Carlos nods at her, holding the tiny, blood-covered baby so lovingly it makes Becca’s breath catch in her throat. She takes a towel, and doesn’t realise she’s holding her breath until Carlos does it – he gets the cord off.
‘OK. Thank God,’ he whispers, looking at Becca, tears in his eyes.
‘Is it OK?’ Jia Li says, and by way of reply the baby takes its first gulp of air and lets out a shriek, and they all laugh in a strange relief.
‘Let’s wrap your little guy up,’ Carlos says, ‘and careful of the cord. Jia Li, you need to pass the placenta too. Operator: how long after birth does the placenta come?’
Even the tiny baby seems to turn to the speaker, the voice of their new commander-in-chief, as he says, ‘A birthing person should deliver the placenta within thirty to sixty minutes after the baby––’
‘Got it,’ Carlos says, knowing how important the placenta delivery is but also knowing that, in this very moment, there’s something more important he needs to focus on.
He gently passes Jia Li the bundle of towel containing her child and she says, full of love, ‘It’s a boy.’
Carlos nods. ‘Tiniest little wiener I’ve ever seen, but yes,’ he tells her, ‘it’s a boy.’
‘Hello?’ comes a woman’s voice from the hallway. ‘Ambulance service. Is there a woman in labour here?’
‘In here!’ Carlos and Becca trill in unison, and it’s enough to make Dave come to.
‘Are you all right sir?’ the paramedic says as she comes through.
‘Yeah,’ Dave says, groggily. ‘I think I fainted.’
‘Did you hit your head?’
‘Maybe?’
‘OK,’ clucks the paramedic. ‘We’ll check you out, sir, OK?’
The woman appears in the living room then, looks at Jia Li and the baby and the mass of towels and sheets and nods. ‘Well, better late than never,’ she declares. ‘Could we get some room, please?’
Becca kisses Jia Li’s head. ‘I’m so proud of you. Congratulations, Mama,’ she says.
She heads out to the front of the house with Carlos. It’s only when they’re both sitting on the front wall that they realise they’re both sobbing.
31
She Doesn’t Text Back
‘Carlos!’ Becca shouts as she walks into the salon. Carlos is already there with a client who Becca will style later, turning around mid-foil. ‘Jia Li had the baby! Early!’
He looks at her, screwing up his face as if her joke isn’t a funny one.
‘I’m not kidding,’ Becca says. ‘Her mum just called me, like five minutes ago. Her funny feelings at the pub last night were labour pains.’ She hoots a laugh of disbelief. ‘I’m laughing because I know they’re OK,’ she says. ‘Like, look at me – I’m shaking!’ She holds out a trembling hand.
‘What?’ asks Carlos. ‘Are they both OK?’
‘Absolutely fine, her mum says. They have to stay in hospital for a few days, but it’s an actual miracle. Apparently, Jia Li called her mum before bed, and her mum said she just knew something wasn’t right. Drove over to take her to A & E – and boom.’
Carlos pauses, tears welling in his eyes.
‘But they’re OK?’ he repeats, his voice wavering. The sight of his concern melts Becca’s heart: his wide, worried face, the size of his eyes.
‘They’re OK!’ repeats Becca. ‘It’s a boy. Haoyu. A teeny tiny five pounds and two ounces.’
