Page 20 of The Three of Us
‘Here, talk to Sian, she’ll tell you.’ She hands him the phone and he listens as Sian rushes through what’s happened and explains that she would have gone with them if it was not for poor Flossy who she couldn’t leave alone.
‘I’ll come and get Flossy first then, shall I? Or do you think I should go straight to the hospital?’ For once, Jack wishes he still had a car, but his mum is signalling that she will walk round for the dog and that he’s welcome to borrow their car if he needs it.
He hangs up, and takes a breath. ‘Sounds like she’s broken a bone in her wrist, or maybe more than one.’
‘Oh dear.’ Maureen perches on the arm of the sofa, a tea towel slung over her shoulder. She is a straight-talking practical country woman and not the sort to panic. ‘I didn’t even know a wrist had more than one bone. Probably best that you go up there to the hospital and find out what’s what. They can make you wait for hours sometimes in these casualty places, and our Molly will need someone there with her. We can’t expect Ralph to stay, can we?’ She gets up and turns towards the kitchen. ‘It’s nearly lunchtime. I’ll make you a sandwich to take with you. And a flask. It’s nasty stuff in those hospital coffee machines. Now, I’ll just tell Bill what’s going on and then I’ll pop down for the dog. Come on, Jack, hop to it! If you’re lucky, Molly might get treated quickly and you can still catch your train.’
The car park is a nightmare. It must be all the Sunday visitors, heading up to the wards with their get well cards and bags of grapes. He drives round twice before spotting a space and quickly claims it before walking back to the machine to pay.
The girl at the A & E reception desk directs him through a door into a large square area with curtained cubicles around all four sides. He can hear Molly before he sees her.
‘But is it safe?’ she’s asking, her voice sounding more agitated than usual. Jack can’t make out the reply, but within moments a nurse emerges, shoes squeaking on the shiny floor, and walks over to the central desk where she talks to a porter holding a wheelchair and points back towards Molly’s cubicle, shaking her head.
‘Excuse me.’ Jack approaches the desk. ‘I’m here for Molly Doherty. I’m her husband. Can I go in?’
‘Of course. Just in time, as it happens. Maybe you can talk some sense into her. I’ve tried explaining that X-rays are perfectly safe. It’s only her hand, after all, not her abdomen, and we do need to see exactly what she’s broken. We deal with women in your wife’s condition all the time, and the radiologist will take every precaution.’
Jack stops. ‘Pardon me? What do you mean? In her condition?’ A fear flashes through his mind. Molly is sick. She has cancer or a tumour or something, and she hasn’t told him. Or maybe she’s only just found out. Suddenly he feels pretty sick himself. ‘What exactly is wrong? She’s not ill, is she?’
‘Oh no, clumsy of me, and not very professional. I’m sorry. I meant at her stage of pregnancy, that’s all. Nothing to worry about, but it’s only natural that mums worry, isn’t it? But the baby will be well protected, I can assure you.’
Jack just nods. He can’t speak. This can’t be true, surely? The baby? What baby? No, she can’t be. He would have known, he would have noticed something, she would have said…
He turns away from the desk and takes a moment to think but, in all honesty, he has no idea what to think. Molly is going to have a baby. They are going to have a baby. How long has she known? And why has she kept it to herself? Or has she only just found out, here, today? He wants to feel angry, he ought to feel excited, but all he feels is confusion, and a strange stopped-in-his-tracks sort of numbness. He can’t take it in. Surely this can’t be happening to him. Not again. His mind flashes back to the last time. To Katie, and a pregnancy he hadn’t wanted, hadn’t expected, had no idea how to deal with. It was so long ago now, but it was still etched into his memory as the absolute worst time of his entire life. No. It couldn’t be happening again. He couldn’t let it. Not here. Not now. There must be some mistake. Just stay calm, just breathe, and Molly will tell him it’s all a mistake…
Slowly, he pulls back the curtain. Molly is on a narrow bed, wearing a hospital gown, her clothes piled up on a chair beside her. Her right arm is in a sling and there’s a needle poking out of the back of her left hand, attached to a drip. There is no sign of Ralph.
‘Hello, you,’ she says, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. How much did she hear when he was talking to the nurse outside? Does she know that he knows?
He wants to reach out and hold her but he can’t. There is a huge unspoken lie hovering in the room between them. Is she going to tell him? Was she ever going to tell him?
‘They want me to stay for some more tests. It’s almost definitely a clean break, but they need to make sure. And to check me over… generally. You don’t have to hang around, Jack. I’ve already sent Ralph home for his lunch. I’ll be fine on my own. And if things… well, if they don’t think I’m ready to go, or to travel, then you can still get the train back to London this afternoon as planned, in time for work tomorrow. I’ll stay on here at Mum’s and catch you up when I can.’
‘Check you over generally? What exactly do you mean by that, Mol?’ He stares at her, willing her to stop lying, to just be straight with him. ‘It was only your wrist you hurt, wasn’t it? Nothing else? A bit of plaster of Paris and a few painkillers and you’ll be good to go, surely?’
He waits but she takes her time to answer.
‘Who knows? These doctors are a law unto themselves. It’s all tests, isn’t it? To be on the safe side. Nothing to worry about, I’m sure.’
‘Any luck?’ The nurse has appeared again. She’s looking straight at Jack, not at Molly.
‘Luck? What are you talking about?’ Molly turns her face from one to the other.
‘I asked your husband to have a word, Molly, that’s all. To try to persuade you to let us X-ray that hand. I’m sure he’s just as concerned about the baby as you are, but…’
Jack stays just long enough to see the look on Molly’s face. She has gone very pale. Surprise, shame, guilt, it’s all there in that look. She shakes her head slowly. ‘I’m sorry, Jack. I…’
He doesn’t hang around to hear her excuses.
Chapter 13
Molly
She had not expected to have a scan quite so soon but the fall has worried her, and the doctors, so here she is, lying on a narrow bed with her hospital gown open and her belly exposed as a girl in a white uniform squeezes cold jelly onto her skin.
‘How many weeks do you think you are, Molly?’
‘I’m not sure. I hadn’t actually been to see a doctor yet, or a midwife or anybody. I only realised I might be pregnant very recently, so it’s just been a home test…’