Eclipse. Lynne Pemberton

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СКАЧАТЬ some reason Serena did not want the midwife to know who she really was. She muttered the first name to come into her head, that of her housekeeper in London.

      ‘Mrs Boyd. June Boyd.’

      When she looked up into Mrs Neil’s eyes they held the same knowing look she had noticed earlier. For a split second their mind’s met; Serena could see that the midwife knew she was lying.

      ‘Come on then, June, let me help you out of your underwear and into the nightie.’

      Serena smiled meekly as if she were a child, when she heard Tom’s footsteps approaching the door.

      ‘Don’t you be coming in here yet, big Tom,’ Mrs Neil shouted. ‘Just wait a minute.’

      She lifted the nightdress above Serena’s head and pulled it roughly over her naked body, leading her towards the bed. ‘Now young lady, you’ve got a tough job to do, so you’d better pull yourself together. You and I have got to bring these babies into the world.’

      Mrs Neil’s obvious authority soothed Serena a little. As she lay on the hard bed with her eyes closed, she could have been listening to her first housemistress at boarding school, the much loved Mrs McKenzie whose bark had always been far worse than her bite. For some reason, not knowing that she couldn’t have been more mistaken, Serena suspected that Catriona Neil was the same type.

      Stretched out on the bed, she stared up at the ceiling and submitted herself to an internal examination by Mrs Neil. A fringed, floral lamp-shade covered the overhead bulb. She tried to concentrate on counting its faded rosebuds, while the midwife probed inside her, pressing hard into her groin. She’d got to fourteen when the intruding fingers slipped out.

      Mrs Neil pulled off her transparent gloves and announced: ‘They are well on their way; it won’t be long.’ Serena sighed and muttered a relieved ‘Thank God!’ under her breath.

      A knock interrupted them, followed by Tom’s voice.

      ‘Shall I come in now?’

      Even Serena managed a weak smile as Mrs Neil opened the door, chuckling, ‘Sorry Tom, we almost forgot about you in all the excitement.’

      Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, Serena prayed for her babies and herself; in that order. She had read somewhere that it helps if you focus the mind on anything but the pain. She tried thinking about the new curtains in the nursery at Redby. She imagined herself floating in the warm Caribbean sea; reliving the day in Port Antonio when Nicholas had capsized their hired catamaran, and she had lost her bikini top. But nothing worked. For the next five hours, the excruciating pain banished every other thought and eventually she gave herself up to all of its agony. Wild, dislocated noises tumbled into her head – her own moans – and she thought she might die.

      ‘Push harder, June, push!’

      Serena wished she had the energy to yell back that she was already pushing as hard as she could. She really felt like telling the other woman to fuck off; but when she did manage to speak her voice found the right words.

      ‘Please help me.’

      ‘Come on love. I can see the head, you’re almost there. One last push.’

      Big Tom was holding her hand, constantly whispering encouragement, for what it was worth. His voice, with its strange accent, didn’t help; she actually longed for him to shut up. The pain inhabited every fibre of her being, it was all she could register. Finally, taking a deep breath, she summoned a new surge of energy and pushed as hard as she could. Then she gathered every last ounce of strength and pushed again.

      One minute later the first of her twins was born.

      Ten minutes later the second baby followed.

      ‘You have twin girls,’ shouted Mrs Neil in triumph.

      Serena, panting, soaked, gave a final push to expel the afterbirth which slipped out easily.

      ‘Thank God,’ she whispered. Aware only of a profound rush of relief, she made no attempt to stem the tears that slipped down her cheeks, trickling across her parched lips.

      Mrs Neil was visibly bubbling with excitement, smiling joyfully at Tom – who looked equally delighted, his face beaming with such pride that he could have been the father himself.

      ‘Are they all right?’ Serena asked the question that all mothers ask.

      Mrs Neil nodded emphatically. ‘They’re very small, but absolutely fine,’ she confirmed, smacking each baby’s bottom in turn.

      With the first cries of her offspring filling her ears, Serena sat up. Turning to Tom, she pointed in the direction of the sink.

      ‘Could you pass me some water, please.’

      ‘Of course miss, you must be mighty dry after all that effort.’

      She swallowed the ice-cold water thirstily, thinking it tasted better than anything in her entire life. Handing back the empty glass, she turned to face Mrs Neil.

      ‘Can I see my babies?’

      It was then that she first noticed a strange look on the midwife’s face. She didn’t know why, but it frightened her. And Mrs Neil had whispered something to Tom that she couldn’t hear. He left the room immediately, and this frightened her more.

      ‘What’s wrong?’ Serena’s panic was echoed in her voice. ‘Are my babies OK?’ she demanded.

      Leaning as far forward as possible, she desperately searched the older woman’s face, trying to discover why she was shaking her head in disbelief, her eyes firmly fixed on one particular baby.

      ‘Your babies are f … fi … fine,’ Mrs Neil stammered, ‘It … it’s … it’s just—’ She could not contain the shock registering in her voice.

      ‘It’s just what?’ Serena’s own voice rose. ‘Is there something wrong?’

      The midwife didn’t look up. She was still staring at the baby closest to her. ‘I don’t know how to tell you this.’

      When she did lift her face, it was filled with a look of astonishment that Serena wrongly interpreted as fear. Voice faltering a little, Mrs Neil eventually explained.

      ‘You have given birth to one white baby, and one black.’

      There was no mistaking her total incredulity. Serena’s mouth dropped open; she was stunned. She continued to stare at the midwife whose features were frozen in an expression of horror.

      ‘Have you gone mad!’ she shrieked, ‘What on earth are you talking about?’

      Mrs Neil shook her head and wiped her face with the back of her hand. ‘I only wish that I had. I really don’t understand what’s happened.’

      The woman sounded almost apologetic, as if in some way she was responsible. She lifted one of the babies and, cradling her carefully, carried her to Serena. ‘Here, look for yourself and you will see that this baby is most definitely not one of us.’

      ‘I don’t want to look.’ Serena was shaking her СКАЧАТЬ