Two Days in Biarritz (42 page)

Damien smiled widely. “That would be great.”

“I’ll give you a call later.”

“Great, I look forward to that Annabel.”

He went back to his Saab to fill it up as Annabel went into the cashier to pay her dues. She waved at him as she jumped into her jeep. She dropped Rebecca off at her friend’s and collected Sam from training. Annabel smiled as she saw the beam on her son’s face. He threw his sports bag on the back seat and jumped in the front of the Jeep in front seat beside her.

“How was practice?”

“Great,” he said as he clicked in his seat belt. “We have a match on Saturday.”

“That’s great, love.” Annabel smiled encouragingly. “I’m so proud of you.” He was coming on leaps and bounds since his father’s return. “I bet you can’t wait to tell Dad.”

Sam shrugged. “Dad doesn’t care about anything that he isn’t into.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is, Mum. We both know what he’s like.”

Annabel slowed the car and looked over to see her son’s expression. He wasn’t complaining – merely stating a fact in an adult-like manner.

“Are you not happy that your Dad is home?”

Sam shrugged again. “I guess when he left at first it made me think that you would leave too. I was confused. I know now that you’d never leave us and in a way there was a lot more peace in the house when he wasn’t around.”

Annabel was flummoxed. Could this be her young boy of twelve years of age talking this way? “I thought you wanted us to be a family?”

“I did but…”

Annabel pulled the car over to the side of the road and fixed her faze
on her son. “All I want is you to feel happy and safe, love – you know that!”

Sam nodded. “I do now. I shouldn’t have got drunk and tried to run away. I was angry with you because I thought that you would leave me. I know now that was silly.”

“Give me a hug,” she demanded gently.

Sam nuzzled his sweaty brow into his mother’s shoulder and let out a deep. “I love you, Mum. I won’t let you down again.”

Happily they drove back to Summit Green and Sam jumped out of the Jeep with great gusto. Their little chat couldn’t have come at a better time. Annabel would address her issues with Colin after dinner. He was usually on time on a Wednesday and the sooner she got to talk to him about it the better. The afternoon wouldn’t go quickly enough. 

* * *

Shane put the wheels down on runway one zero. The first officer had noticed that something was bothering him since they had taken off from Dublin Airport the day before. He parked the aircraft up at terminal B and was polite but distracted with the red cap. He didn’t know how he felt about anything anymore. He just wanted to get back to his apartment and try and work things out in peace and quiet. He hadn’t been able to sleep a wink in the Sheraton at Brussels airport the night before.

“Thanks, Shane,” the first officer said with a smile.

“Do you mind if I slip off? I eh, have to be somewhere at six?”

“No problem. See you again soon. I think we’re on together on Saturday.”

“Are we?” Shane wasn’t usually so off hand. Most of the first officers wanted to be on his roster. “I’ll see you then.”

He walked off the aircraft without acknowledging the air stewards, he couldn’t get home quickly enough. It was a bright day in
Dublin and he put his foot down hard on the accelerator as he wove around the coast road to Howth.

As he took the elevator to his apartment he couldn’t help but picture the heavily pregnant Kate that he had seen the day before. He didn’t know how he felt anymore. She looked beautiful. Her eyes so bright and wide were more stunning with the life she was carrying inside her. She wore her bump like an accessory and it suited her curvy womanly figure so well. He had never thought of pregnant women in a romantic way before but seeing Kate in full bloom that way made him want her even more. But how he wished the baby that she was carrying was his. If they had slept together he would probably think that it was. Maybe that was why she was so adamant that they abstained. He’d never know now, unless he got a chance to talk to someone about her.

He could always try Annabel!

* * *

Colin stamped his foot into the hard granite tiles like a two-year-old having a temper tantrum.

“What exactly are you trying to say, woman?”

Annabel’s body tensed as she felt the goose-bumps rise on her arms. “I told you. I want to set up a business of my own. I was going to do it before you came back and I don’t see why I can’t.”

“We agreed that you wouldn’t do anything like that.”

You agreed that I wouldn’t, she thought silently. “I’ve changed my mind.”

Colin had to think quickly – there was no way that he was going to lose Annabel once more to some idiotic plan that she was incapable of seeing through. “What about money?”

“I don’t need finance. Damien Carlton is going to put that up – it is his premises,” Annabel explained.

“Don’t tell me he’s willing to take you on as a partner with no previous experience, without an ulterior motive,” Colin tittered. “I’m telling you he has his eye on you! The Merry Widower!”

Annabel winced. She wanted to walk straight over and hit him with a blunt implement on the head.

The telephone rang.

“Aren’t you going to get that?” Colin said curtly.

Annabel lifted the handset. “Hello.”

The voice at the other end was anxious.

“Annabel, it’s Shane.”

* * *

Kate braced herself as another contraction shot up her spine. They were only Braxton Hicks but hurt like hell nonetheless. “Boys, your tea’s ready,” she called.

She took the pot of beans off the hob and placed them in the middle of the kitchen table.

Then she heard the pop. Water gushed down her legs. She got such a shock, nothing prepared her for it.

Ciaran froze at the kitchen door. Memories of the night his mum was rushed to hospital flooded his head.

“Can you get the phone, love?” Kate asked as she sat on the chair nearest her and hunched over.

Ciaran took her mobile phone and handed it to her.

Kate dialled her father’s number. His voicemail answered.

“Dad, my water’s have broken. I need you to mind the boys. Ring me when you get this message.”

She rang Annabel’s mobile next.

“Hello?” Annabel answered.

“It’s Kate. My water’s have broken, would you be able to bring me into the Rotunda?”

“Of course. I’ll be right there. Where’s your dad?”

“I don’t know. I’ve left a message on his voicemail.”

“Just hang on.”

Annabel hung up and returned to her landline. “Shane I can’t talk now. That was Kate on my mobile – her waters have broken. I have to go. I’ll call you back.”

“Where are you off to?” Colin asked.

Annabel rushed past him with her handbag and car keys in her hand.

“Kate’s gone into labour and I’m bringing her to hospital. The dinner is in the oven – make sure you feed the kids.”

“I’m not finished talking to you!” Colin frowned.

“Well I’m finished talking to you,” Annabel said taking a solid step back from her husband. “I’m taking that retail unit and opening a coffee shop whether you like it or not. Now out of my way while I bring my friend to hospital.”

Colin was beside himself with temper.

“Annabel, Annabel,” he called.

She was gone.

* * *

Kate was in labour. Shane looked at the phone before he put it back down. From what Annabel was saying she had tried to protect him. Did she really think that he wouldn’t want her if she had someone else’s baby? He wondered what had been going through her head during all the time they had spent together. He wondered if he knew her at all.

Sitting in his apartment on his own wasn’t going to help Kate or him self. He had to do something – he had to make a grand gesture. He grabbed his car keys and drove as if his life depended on it. He didn’t know what kind of a reception he was going to get but he knew that it was what he had to do. He pressed hard on the pedal of his BMW and it swiftly brought him to Greenfield Close.

He pulled up across the drive and jumped out of the car. He ran up to the front door and knocked loudly. It opened and David was on the other side.

“Hi, Shane,” he said, his mouth open wide in shock. He had been expecting his granddad. “Mum’s in the kitchen.”

Shane walked straight in to find Kate sitting on the chair in an uncomfortable position.

“Shane!” she said in surprise.

“I was on the phone to Annabel when you rang. Is there anything I can do?”

“You could give me a lift.” Tension and pain were etched across her face.

“What about the boys?”

“Annabel can mind them when she arrives.” Kate turned to her sons. “Boys, only open the door to Annabel or granddad and stay with them until I ring, okay?”

They nodded and watched as Shane took her arm. Kate had her overnight bag packed and was carrying it in her free hand. The doctors had told her that it was likely she would go early.

“The seats a bit low,” he said, as he helped her into his BMW. “I didn’t have this kind of situation in mind when I was buying it.”

She smiled up at him as he shut the car door.

Kate grimaced and yelped every so often and Shane looked over every time.

“Nearly there,” he said reassuringly, putting his hand on her thigh.

Kate smiled silently. In her wildest dreams she might have imagined herself and Shane in this situation but now that it was actually happening it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

The car jerked to a stop outside the main entrance to the
Rotunda Maternity Hospital.

Shane dashed around to the other side of the car to help Kate out and guided her into the building.

“You can’t leave that there,” a grubby little man in a green uniformed jacket said.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Shane said snappily. Kate had never seen him so flustered.

The receptionist sat up as they came to the main admissions desk.

“Kate Cassaux, I’m a new patient of Dr Lennon’s.”

“Certainly, Mrs Cassaux. Can you fill out this form please and take a seat.”

Shane was beside himself. “She’s in labour,” he snarled at the receptionist.

“She’s plenty of time to fill the form out, believe me,” the pert little receptionist said as the smile disappeared from her lips.

“It’s okay, Shane,” Kate said putting her hand on his arm. “I’ll be fine. You’d better move the car before you get a ticket.”

Shane couldn’t fathom how she could be so calm while suffering the pains. “Do you want me to stay with you after I park the car?”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Kate said, her doe-shaped eyes looking widely into his.

“I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t mean it.”

“Okay, then. But you’ll have to pretend you’re the father. They’re very strict.”

“I’ll be back in two minutes.”

Shane ran out to his car and left Kate filing in the forms. He hadn’t a clue what he was doing.

* * *

“And who brought your mum to hospital?”

“Shane.”

Annabel was surprised. But the boys didn’t look like they were making it up.

“Where is your granddad?”

“He’ll be here soon, mum said.”

“I’ll wait until he arrives.” Annabel tried Kate’s number again but her phone was turned off. It was times like this that Annabel hated mobile phones. It had become so easy to contact anyone anytime or place that when they weren’t available it was infuriating.

Annabel was putting the kettle on when she heard a key turn in the door. The familiar tread of heavy boots and steady steps came from the hall. Damien’s silhouette b
ecame visible through the glass-paned door.

“Annabel,” he said with surprise on entering the kitchen. “Where’s Kate?”

“Gone to hospital apparently. We were too late. Shane got to her first.”

“Shane?”

Annabel nodded. “Do you want me to mind the boys?”

“No, it’s fine. I can’t seem to get through to Kate on her phone,” Damien said, scratching his head.

“I’ll try and ring Shane,” Annabel said as she picked up her mobile and dialled his number.

“Hello?”

Annabel could sense the tension and nerves in his voice.

“Hi Shane, it’s Annabel. I’m in Greenfield Close with the boys. Does Kate want me to come to the hospital?”

“No, I’m here with her. I’ve already been admitted and they won’t let anyone else in now. I’ll call you later.”