Page 17 of The Happy Family

One, keep tabs on Sadie.

Two, prepare for my baby’s arrival.

None of us can predict the future, and I have no idea what it holds for me. But I know what I want it to hold.

In nine months, I want to have my baby in my arms and Reid, Arthur and Ruby around my bed smiling at me.

In nine months, I want Sadie to have either passed away or still be in her coma.

In nine months, I want to have everything I could have ever dreamt of.

Can all those things happen the way I want them to?

Can I really get what I wish for?

I guess only time will tell.

NINE MONTHS LATER

ELEVEN

REID

As I make my way to where my children are waiting for me in this section of this hospital, I prepare myself for what is sure to be another test of my parenting skills. Arthur and Ruby have been through hell over these past nine months and what they need more than anything is some stability. But that’s not always possible and what I am about to tell them now is sure to upend their lives even more. They’re brave kids, but they are still so young, especially when it comes to dealing with news that carries any kind of weight. They’ve already had to process so much bad news over the past few months, bad news about their mother, that I almost wish I had no news to give them at all today. I almost wish it could just be a standard, boring day in which the kids go to school, do their homework and watch television. But it’s not going to be that. Instead, it’s going to be a day none of us is ever going to forget, and as I see my children sitting on the plastic chairs in the waiting room where I left them only a few minutes ago, I swallow hard before delivering the next piece of news that will change their lives forever.

‘Arthur. Ruby. Are you ready to go and meet your little brother?’

My question is met with two very different expressions. My son looks eager, possibly because he is thrilled that there will be another boy in the family, although it will be a while before he can wrestle and play fight with him. As for my daughter, she looks pensive, although it’s very much the way she has looked ever since Sadie’s accident.

‘How tall is he?’ Arthur asks, making me smile.

‘Oh, not very tall yet,’ I reply. ‘He’s only just been born. He needs time to grow.’

‘As long as he’s not taller than me,’ Arthur decides, and at least if he is, it will be many years before I have to deal with that particular challenge.

‘Ruby? Are you excited to meet your baby brother?’ I ask my quiet little girl, the one who never used to be quiet but has withdrawn more and more into herself since her mother’s accident.

‘Yeah,’ she replies unconvincingly.

‘Come on. You can show him the present you bought him,’ I say, reminding her that there is a brown teddy bear in the little shopping bag sitting beside her feet. It’s a bear that Ruby helped me pick out when I suggested we look for something to gift to the new arrival, and she seemed happy to do so at the time. But now she looks more reserved again, although her brother is eager to get going.

‘I can give him the football I bought him,’ Arthur says, not needing a reminder of the ball he has in his own shopping bag. Bless him, Arthur has been talking non-stop about all the games of football he and his brother are going to be having in the back garden, although again, it might be a little time before they actually occur. But I won’t do anything to dampen his spirits, and certainly not when they have already been dampened enough lately.

‘Come on. Let’s go,’ I say as I pick up Ruby’s shopping bag and hold my hand out to her. She tentatively takes it while her brother grabs his bag and rushes ahead, even though he doesn’t know which way we need to go because they haven’t seen Luna since she came in here yesterday. That was when she was admitted after her contractions had started to become frequent, and while I was confident that everything would go well, I still kept the children away until I was sure that the baby was born and healthy. Any more awful news would surely crush them, so I had to be absolutely sure that this would be a positive experience for them. As we head deeper into the maternity ward, I am hopeful that it will be.

‘Okay, I need you to try and keep your voices down when we go into the room,’ I advise my children. ‘Any loud noises might frighten the baby, plus Luna is very tired, so we don’t want to give her a headache.’

‘Can the baby talk yet?’ Arthur asks, and I have to laugh.

‘Not yet. One day soon.’

‘What’s his name?’

‘That’s a good question. Why don’t we go and find him and then Luna and I can tell you.’

Arthur impatiently jumps up and down, causing the football to bounce around in his bag, as we keep moving. His demeanour is in sharp contrast to his sister, who is still silent, holding my hand and walking alongside me, but offering nothing. I miss the little girl she was before her mother’s accident. But I’m glad she is not faring any worse than she already is.

‘Okay, here we are. Get ready to say hello,’ I tell my children, realising this is a momentous moment in my family’s life. A new addition. Another child. More love but more drama. I guess it’s too late to go back now.