Birth in Suburbia, Carol Falaki [electronic reader .TXT] 📗

and I’ve been so afraid to worry you, with the baby coming.”
“Work?”
Like the opening of a parachute after searching for the cord in freefall, Debbie’s relief was tangible.
“I will have that glass of wine after all,” she said, and sat back while Sean told his story.
“Do you remember a couple of months ago? I went on a tour of a site with Bob English?” Debbie nodded, she vaguely remembered, but she had still been at work herself then and there was so much going on.
“He was showing me around, proud of his new development. Those flats are his first enterprise of this sort. He was in advertising before; so he didn’t see what I saw. In some areas of the site the builders were using the wrong materials.”
Sean could see that Debbie was puzzled.
“I’ll explain what I mean. The specifications for the materials are agreed during tendering, this is to ensure the safety of the building when it is complete.”
“But the building inspector checks it out, doesn’t he? Surely he’d notice.” Debbie asked, and then remembered. “That project is one of PANER’s, isn’t it?
“Yes, so I went to James and told him.”
“You didn’t tell Bob?”
“No, I thought I could sort it without affecting PANER’s reputation, and that was my mistake. James said, ‘Leave it with me', and I trusted him.”
“You know my feelings about James,” Debbie couldn’t help retort.
“Yes and you were right. You see, Bob has a partner, and he’s in local government. I didn’t know this until I had a drink with him the other week. Then I went back to the site, on the pretext of looking for Bob. Nothing had changed. They were still using unsuitable materials.”
“Did you tell James?”
“I did, he tried to bribe me with that rise I’ve been after.”
“And you refused it?”
“I did, and then he threatened to implicate Bob. He’s innocent, knows nothing about the scam, and he’s got three kids to think about. So it left me in a predicament. If I reported it I couldn’t carry on working there. In fact it’s likely that exposing this will ruin the firm. We have the baby coming. It has been driving me mad. I have been looking around for another job, I was worried about you, and the new mortgage we have. Then I met Michael.”
“Michael?” this was a revelation.
“You remember the barbecue at Chrissie’s. We got talking. He knew some things I didn’t about James, and Bob’s partner Herbie Hebson, the one in local government. I met Michael, and Bob after that. There’s
a lot more been going on, it involves millions of pounds and we’re going to expose them, tomorrow.”
“How?”
“In Michael's newspaper. I know it’s not much in epic terms, but it’s been one hell of a journey for me. So you see I’m sorry, love. I know I’ve behaved badly. It wasn’t intentional, I was so worried, I didn’t realise how I was affecting you, but I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
Sean took a thoughtful a sip of his drink. No, he hadn’t realised how much his behaviour might have affected Debbie, and it had taken someone like Michael to point it out to him. He thought back to last night. He had been standing in the hallway in Michael’s house when he saw the photograph.
“My wife,” Michael had said. “She died when Jonathan was only six months old. She was knocked down by a car. I had been so wrapped up in work. I hadn’t spent the time with her I should have, she had been through pregnancy, birth and the first months of motherhood, and she was struggling with it, only I was too busy to see. If I could go back in time, I would make it up to her.”
Sean remembered Michael’s words, but did not repeat them to Debbie. Instead he said: “You should see the picture of his wife, Debbie. It’s amazing. Talk about a doppelganger. She was the spitting image of you.”
Debbie had not told Sean she had been to Michael’s house. It had been a secret to which she had
felt entitled, almost tit for tat, but now that she knew Sean’s secret she felt guilty for not having been open with him. Not that she had lied, or done anything wrong.
“I went …” she began, but was interrupted by Sean producing a small square package from his pocket, which was quickly followed by an envelope from another pocket. He placed them both on the table, in front of her plate.
“I know its a few hours early, Debbie,” he grinned like a child in a sweet factory. “But I couldn’t wait. Happy birthday.”
Debbie opened the card. There was a large 30 on the front, that was a bit of a shock, but it was a beautiful card with the sentiment ‘To my darling wife on this special day’, and a picture of red roses, her favourite. Inside Sean had written,
"Debbie, my only love, happy birthday, Sean".
Debbie looked at him. Had he known what she had been thinking? But now, it didn’t matter at all. His grin had become a gentle loving smile.
“Open the present, I’m excited. I hope you like it,” he said, but Debbie could hardly see what she was doing for the tears welling up in her eyes. She fumbled with the knot in the ribbon, tore at the paper and opened the box to reveal a shining gold bracelet. It was delicately engraved with a rose and leaf design, but that was not all, engraved on the inside of the bracelet were the words ‘Debbie - Till all the seas run dry – Sean’.
Sean got up from his seat and came to her,
first to wipe away her tears with his napkin, then to kiss her tenderly on her lips. It mattered little to either of them that they were in the middle of a busy hotel restaurant, and consequently, they did not notice the smiling attention of the other diners.
When they returned home there was a large bunch of yellow roses on the doorstep. The card read: ‘To Debbie, words will never be able to describe our gratitude, fond regards, Michael and Jonathan’. There was an envelope inside addressed to Sean.
“Tomorrow,” Sean said, reading his note. “That’s when it hits the fan. What’s going to happen after that, I don’t know.”
“How will you go into work, with all that going on?” Debbie said. “It’s going to be very difficult for you.”
“Don’t worry about tomorrow, it’s your birthday and you never can tell what tomorrow may bring,” Sean replied prophetically.
The evening had been so full of revelations and joy that it was not until she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth that Debbie became aware that she was having intermittent backache. It was different from the usual discomfort she had become so accustomed to, because her tummy was tightening with it. Although mild in its nature Debbie realised with a pleasant lurch of excitement that it had been going on for some time. When she went to the toilet she saw that she had had a show, the mucous plug that had been at the neck of
her womb had fallen away, this surely was a sign that her cervix was doing something, if only ripening. She told Sean.
“I think we should both try and get some rest,” he said; “looks like tomorrow is going to be a big day.” He brought her two paracetamol and a glass of water and they cuddled up together in bed. Very gently, they made love.

At 1am Debbie was awakened with backache. “Feels like a period,” was her first dreamy thought followed by “Oh yes! Oh hell.”
By 2am she was sure this was it! She woke Sean. “I’m in labour, Sean.”
“What? Are you sure?” then he saw her face. Another contraction had started. “What shall we do? Call the hospital? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, love. I’ll call them, because I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want to go in too soon.
Sean went to the bathroom and she could hear him swilling his face to wake himself up. Her call was answered quickly.
“Hello, delivery suite, Rose Tatton speaking. Can I help you?” A woman’s voice, in an efficient drawl, with an accent Debbie could not place.
“Yes, I think I am in labour,” Debbie said weakly. Although she knew that she was.
“What’s your name please?”
“Debbie Johnson.”
“Address?” They proceeded through all the demographic details, establishing that her pregnancy had been problem free, and during which, Debbie had to stop for a whole minute while she breathed through a contraction. By this time Sean had come to sit next to her on the bed and began rubbing her back. Finally the midwife came to Debbie’s signs of labour.
“How often are they coming?”
“It varies, there were only five minutes between the last one and the one before, but sometimes it's ten minutes, and I’ve had a show.”
“How are you feeling, Debbie? Are you coping so far?”
“I’m all right now, at this moment I mean. I just don’t know when to come in.”
“Has your baby been moving?”
“Yes.”
“Well, Debbie, I would suggest that you have a bath, don’t come in too soon, take some paracetamol.”
“I have already had some, but I’ve got a TENS machine.”
“Okay, have your bath and then put your TENS on. Come in when your eyes are watering, or ring us again if you’re not sure, or any problems. Is that okay?”
“Okay,” Debbie replied and then Rose hung up.


Chapter Eighteen


Edwina: The Night Shift


Edwina Campbell sat at the cluttered desk in the labour ward office. Glad to rest her aching legs she waited for the page to open then, tapping the keyboard lightly with the fingers of one hand, she began to record the birth of the