‘But you kissed last night? And you danced?’
‘And it was like a second honeymoon, just like you planned when you picked us in the giveaway. I hate to disappoint you, Beatrice, but the reality is, we’re a mess.’
‘You’re sure he’s not with Atholl at the workshop?’ Beatrice asked, suddenly hopeful.
Ruth shook her head. ‘He can’t be with Atholl. Your fella’s pacing about in the reception telling everyone to be quiet because you’re in here trying to sleep.’
‘He’s not, is he?’ Beatrice’s mouth gaped. ‘Atholl?’ she shouted. ‘Go to work!’
The women were silent for a moment watching each other’s changing expressions. They heard a sharp whistle from behind the door, thethump thump thumpof Echo running downstairs, responding to his master’s call, followed by Atholl’s heavy tread on the reception floorboards as he left reluctantly for a day at the willow workshop.
‘He’s going to fret all day, you know?’ Ruth said.
‘I know. He’s going to fret until this baby comes.’
‘When is she due?’
‘You know it’s a girl?’ Beatrice asked.
The women looked at each other once more. ‘Gene,’ they both said at once.
‘To give the man his due he was weeping a little when he told me. I think Atholl had only just broken the good news. Anyway, I told him I didn’t feel up to cooking calamari this morning, not after all that red wine last night, and he let me off the hook.’
Beatrice smiled. ‘Gene’s very sentimental.’
‘You’ve got an army of people here looking after you; good, kind-hearted people.’
Beatrice nodded. She knew it. ‘She’s due around about the middle of June, the midwife reckons.’
‘Plenty of time to prepare.’
‘Plenty of time to sit around gusset gazing.’ Beatrice rolled her eyes comically.
‘Knickerwatch,’ Ruth added. ‘Been there, carrying the twins.’
‘LikeSpringwatchon the telly, only with knickers?’
‘That’s it!’ They laughed, both of them feeling lighter just by being in each other’s presence.
‘I miss my girlfriends,’ Ruth said, suddenly. ‘They all got very busy when their husbands retired. I should definitely make a list of ways to get them back in my life, and not just for a quick brew or a glass of wine either. We need to get action planning for lives of our own after kids.’
Beatrice agreed. ‘Is there anything you want me to do? Do you want to call one of your sons, or a girlfriend, or…?’ She felt useless. ‘I shouldn’t have got myself involved. This is my fault. I’m sorry. I’ve freaked you both out, made things weird between you and Mark, started you off questioning everything.’
‘No, no you didn’t,’ Ruth insisted. ‘You encouraged me to try, and I did. But maybe this is it for us. We may have clawed back a bit of closeness but we haven’t really talked.’
‘That’s the last thing on the list,’ Beatrice said, and Ruth sighed.
‘Trouble is, that’s probably the hardest thing to do. You’d think after all these years we wouldn’t have much left to talk about, but it’s quite the opposite.’
‘I understand. I was like that with Richard, my ex-husband.’
‘You’re divorced?’
‘Ten years married, three months divorced.’
‘Ah, well youdoknow then. When you’re young and in love people ask you all the time how are things going with so-and-so? And you talk about your dates and meeting his mother and all that stuff, but when you get married nobody thinks to ask. I suppose it doesn’t seem as relevant, or as romantic. What could possibly be going on in the marriage of two old farts that needs talking about? So you stop checking in with friends about your relationships, and then you stop checking in with your own husband about it, and, before you know it, you’re living like strangers.’
‘Strangers who know absolutely everything there is to know about each other,’ Beatrice threw in.
