Page 5 of Return to the Waratah Inn

“How does it feel to be a mother?” Bindi asked as she arranged some fresh-cut flowers in a vase on the table by the bed.

Kate shook her head. “Wonderful. I’m still trying to process it. Everything happened so fast. I can’t believe I had a baby on the verandah at the inn.” She reached out a hand to lay it gently on the side of the cot.

“Do you want the TV on?” Reeda asked.

“Yes, please. It’s pretty noisy in here, and I’m sleepy. Maybe the television will help me get some rest by blocking out the ding of the lift every five seconds and the crying babies.”

“Good idea. We should all leave you then,” Reeda replied as she reached up to turn the overhead TV set on. “And let you sleep.”

“Thanks. That would be great.”

Alex looked at her with a question on his face.

Kate reached out a hand to him, he took it and squeezed it. “Could you stay? I’d feel better knowing you’re watching over him while I sleep.”

He nodded. “Of course—I’d love to.”

“Sleep when the baby sleeps,” Bindi replied. “That’s what they say. Right?”

“I think so,” Kate replied. “And I need it.”

Bindi and Reeda kissed her goodbye, took one last look at the baby, and then left the room. In the quiet, Alex sank into the only chair in the room and shuffled it closer to the cot. “What should we name him?”

“I think it should be Noah Charles,” Kate replied. “We talked about a few other names, but that one stuck in my mind. I hope you don’t mind naming him after Charlie, or Jack, as we know him. He’s missed out on so much of our lives…”

Alex nodded. “I don’t mind at all. I like it. Noah Charles it is.”

“Can you turn up the TV?” Kate asked.

He stood to turn the volume knob. “I have no idea where the remote is.”

“It’s fine,” she replied with a yawn. “I don’t care what’s on as long as there’s a constant noise.”

The local news came on then, the music announcing the headlines from Seven Nightly News with Chris Bath. The newsreader, a woman with a brunette bob that barely moved, looked into the camera with a serious expression reflected in her heavily lined brown eyes.

“In breaking news, the French government has announced that Diana, Princess of Wales, died this morning as a result of a car crash in a Paris tunnel. Mother Theresa has offered prayers for Diana from her own deathbed at the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India.”

Kate gasped and sat up straight in bed. “What? How awful.”

She and Alex exchanged a look of disbelief as they listened to the details of the story. When the broadcast was over, Kate rolled onto her side to stare at her perfect baby boy, Noah Alexander Cannon. She wouldn’t take this moment for granted. Life was fleeting. Anything could happen, and there was no way to control it. This little piece of her heart would go out into the world and walk around someday, and she didn’t know how she would manage to cope with that. But for now, he was right here with her, they were safe, everything had gone well, and she could sleep.

She closed her eyes just as the door to the room quietly clicked open. There were curtains around her bed, but Kate heard the sound of footsteps across the tiled floor. Then Mima and Jack’s faces appeared through the gap in the curtains.

“Come on in,” she said with a weary smile. “I was about to sleep, but I can wait a few more minutes.”

“We don’t want to disturb you, love,” Mima said.

Jack’s hair was freshly combed to one side, and he shuffled closer, shyly tugging on his grey moustache. “You look good, Katie.”

“Thanks, Jack. I feel good. Tired, but well.”

Mima leaned over the cot and grinned at the baby sleeping there. “He’s a cutie pie. There’s no denying it.”

“He’s a unit,” Jack added.

“His name is Noah Charles. We named him after you, Jack.” She watched his reaction, her heart in her throat.

He looked at her, his eyes brimming. “Noah Charles?”