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Caught up by his enthusiasm, Tia laughed. ‘The ceilings are too low.’
He gave a careless shrug. ‘So we cut the top off.’ He glanced at his watch and rolled his eyes. ‘Come on, or we’ll be late.’
Tia had to admit that his stamina was awesome. Despite the punishing hours he’d been working, he still looked relaxed and alert. If it had been her, she would have been in a coma!
‘I’m looking forward to having two whole days alone with you. I’m sorry I haven’t been home much lately.’ His dark eyes were watchful and she shifted slightly under his gaze.
‘It doesn’t matter. I’ve been pretty tired, to be honest. I’m usually in bed by nine o’clock anyway if the baby stops kicking for long enough to let me sleep.’
He gave a slight smile and his eyes flickered down to her now rounded stomach. ‘He is wearing his mama out and he hasn’t arrived yet.’
‘Yes.’ She blushed slightly. Since that night when they’d almost kissed, he hadn’t been near her.
They’d continued to talk and share confidences but he’d kept a distance from her and she didn’t know what to do about it.
She’d set the rules but she didn’t know how to tell him that she didn’t want to live by them any more.
No touching.
She must have been mad. She wanted him to touch her so badly it was a physical ache.
Maybe he didn’t want her any more.
Tia was spending more and more time on the antenatal ward where they were always desperate for staff. As it was Christmas, they discharged as many patients as they could, but they were still short-staffed which meant they had to close one ward and merge the antenatal patients with the postnatal patients.
‘Another brainchild of the powers that be,’ Sharon complained, after another argument with the hospital managers. ‘Just because it makes sense on paper, it doesn’t mean that it works in reality. Don’t these people ever think about the emotional side of things? I’ve got women with high-risk pregnancies forced to be side by side with women who have just had bouncing, healthy babies. Talk about cruel!’
Tia gave a rueful nod. It was cruel and she’d seen the yearning in some of the women’s eyes as they’d walked past the breastfeeding room.
Mary, the woman they’d admitted from clinic suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, had spent several weeks in hospital being rehydrated before finally being discharged.
‘It’s such a wonderful relief to have stopped feeling sick,’ she confided in Tia with a wide smile. ‘I just hope it doesn’t start again.’
‘What happened with your job?’ Tia helped Mary zip up her holdall and get ready for her husband, who was collecting her. ‘Did they give you the time off?’
‘With a great deal of complaint,’ Mary said, with a sigh. ‘I can see now that I’m not going to be able to carry on in with my current job when I have the baby. I thought that I could do both—you know, the nanny and the high-powered career—but it doesn’t work, does it? Not if you want to see the child.’
‘No, I suppose not.’ Tia bit her lip as she looked at Mary, wondering what she was going to do herself. Luca had grudgingly accepted that she would work while she was pregnant but they hadn’t discussed what would happen once the baby was born.
‘It’s funny how you change,’ Mary said softly, slipping on her shoes and picking up her coat. ‘I used to think that I wouldn’t give up my job for anyone, but now I think that I wouldn’t give up being with my baby for anyone.’
Tia nodded slowly. ‘I suppose you just have to find an employer who is willing to be flexible.’
Mary laughed and smiled as she saw her husband walking onto the ward. ‘Yes, well, that certainly isn’t my lot! They’re about as flexible as an iron rod. Thanks, Tia. You’ve been really great this last few weeks. Thank Dr Zattoni for me, too, will you?’
Tia nodded and walked with her to the door. ‘Take care now.’
She watched Mary go and then returned to the ward. Her day was incredibly busy and at three o’clock a woman was admitted with premature rupture of membranes.
‘I felt this rush of water down my leg,’ she told Tia, ‘and at first I thought I’d wet myself—so embarrassing—but then I realised that it must be to do with the baby so I rang the labour ward. What happens now?’
Tia gave her a reassuring smile. ‘We need to examine you to see what’s going on.’
‘But it will be a dry birth, won’t it?’ The woman looked at her with scared eyes and Tia shook her head.
‘There’s no such thing as a dry birth, Chloe,’ she said calmly. ‘That’s an old wives’ tale. Women used to think that if their waters broke early the birth would be dry, but your waters will always break before the baby is born, even if it’s a last-minute thing. It doesn’t affect your labour in any way. What it can affect is the health of the baby if your waters break a long time before you go into labour.’
Chloe’s eyes widened as she stru
