CHAPTER 16
Donald worked hard on his new book. It took him longer to finish it than the two weeks he had estimated earlier, as so much time was taken up with settling into a routine in his marriage. It was with mixed feelings that he watched Marie go back to work at the start of a new school year. It was with mixed feelings that he watched her come back again. It was his understanding that women like to unwind slowly at the end of a working day with a cup of tea or something similar, but Marie wasn’t like that at all. Her idea of unwinding, he soon discovered, was throw herself into a burst of furious activity as soon as getting in the house and he often had difficulty in persuading her to eat the meal he had prepared. Her activities took varied forms. Sometimes it was gardening, sometimes sewing new curtains, sometimes even dragging Donald upstairs before waiting to take her coat off but then leaving a trail of clothing on the way.
At length, he finished the manuscript and sent it off to the publisher, starting work immediately on the next. Marriage suited him, he realised. Never short of ideas, his creativity was now in full flow. The stimulus given by his beautiful and energetic wife raised him to heights he had never before thought possible. Early morning was still the best time for him to work, a time that Marie liked to sleep. His output rose further as he felt the pressure of the clock. He had developed the habit of working until eight, then waking Marie with breakfast in bed, watching her with love as she dressed ready for work, often helping her to fasten what she claimed were hard to reach buttons at the back of her neck, but which she managed very well indeed when he was not there to assist.
The day came when Marie announced she was pregnant, in her inimitable way. She had returned home rather later than usual, throwing her bag carelessly on the floor and wrapping her arms around Donald, kissed him until he went red in the face through inability to breathe properly.
’Had a nice day, dear?’ he gasped. ’Or are you starting it now?’
’Yes and yes,’ Marie replied. ’Come and sit down, Donald Vickers. It’s time you and I had a serious talk.’
She dragged him to the sofa and pushing him down, came to sit on his knee, and looked him straight in the eyes.
’I see you’ve been reading that book I advised you to look at,’ she said.
’Which book is that?’ asked Donald. ’There have been so many you’ve recommended.’
’Oh, you know, that book. The filthy one, don’t pretend to be innocent, I know what you’ve been up to. Donald Vickers, I have news for you. You have got me with child. We are about to have issue. A little one is due. In other words, I am pregnant. Congratulations, young man, you did it right after all.’
Donald beamed with pleasure, caught up in her excitement.
’You mean we did it right,’ he said,
’Nothing to do with me,’ she said. ’I only laid back and thought of England. Er... amongst other things that is.’
’But that’s splendid,’ Donald exclaimed. ’When is it due?’
’I’m very tempted to say in nine months time starting right now, but this one is actually a little more advanced than that. A few weeks only, but started anyway. It’ll be a birthday present for you, if you don’t mind the possibility of its being a little early, or late, as the case may be. I gather these things don’t exactly go by the clock.’
’It’s a long time yet, then.’
’It’ll pass quickly enough. There’s nothing to show as yet, but it won’t take long, in a couple of months or so everyone will know it. In the meantime, my darling husband, I need to rest, so just carry me up to bed, will you? And when you have done that, you can undress me and we’ll see what happens after that. Maybe you can make it twins or do you need to refer to chapter twelve?’
In the weeks and months that passed, Donald took intense pleasure in watching his wife grow larger and larger. In the course of time she became genuinely tired and needed to rest properly. At length she gave up work to concentrate her efforts on the coming child.
’I’d like to return to work one day,’ she explained. ’But I want to see the baby grow. When he starts school, then I might think about going back myself. I don’t think it’s fair otherwise, not if you can afford it, that is. Luckily, we can.’
’What do mean, when he starts school?’ asked Donald. ’It has to be a girl. I promised your mum we’d call the first one after her. A boy would simply be laughed at with a girl’s name. Besides, I’m so pleased with the females in my family, I’m quite happy to fill the house with more of them.’
’Bless you, Donald. You say the nicest things, but it’s not in my power to give you a girl, you know. That’s your side of things. Go and read a book.’
’What, another one? The last time I read a book, you ended up unable to see your feet when standing up.’
’Your fault again, Vickers. You must have read it backwards, or something.’
The baby was born not long after, arriving, as is the custom of infants, at the most inconvenient time of three in the morning. Marie clutched Donald and shook him to wakefulness.
’Out of bed, Vickers,’ she ordered. ’You’ve had your pleasure. Now it’s time to pay for it.’
’What?’ mumbled Donald sleepily.
’It’s time to go. The contractions have started, pretty regular too.’
Everything was ready, had been ready for weeks. It remained only to wrap Marie in a coat over her nightgown and lead her downstairs to the waiting car. Donald made a quick telephone call, picked up the overnight bag and drove her to the hospital. There he waited, until Marie was made ready, then went in with her, holding her hand, talking to her, helping her in any way he could. At intervals, he was asked to wait in the corridor but allowed back inside shortly afterwards. The wait was worthwhile when he saw their child coming out into the world. A girl, a girl with a curious and attractive birth mark on her forehead and with long dark hair, just like her mother’s and just like her mother, beautiful. It was not to be wondered at that both Donald’s and Marie’s faces were streaked with tears of unutterable joy.
Donald walked home in the early hours of the morning, happy and content, feeling as though he wanted to share his good fortune with everyone, but finding himself alone in the streets. He slept for a while, waking up to the sound of the post being delivered. Almost casually he leaved through it. Three circulars, a bill from the electric company and a letter with a London postmark. He put the circulars in the bin, pushed the bill to one side and opened the London envelope. To his delight, he found that his last manuscript had been accepted for publication, at a projected print run that made him blink. A quick mental calculation showed him that he could no longer be described as a poor, struggling author. Not that he was poor anyway. Marriage to Marie had seen to that but it gave a comfortable feeling to know that he was financially independent. Marie would be pleased. So would her parents. In alarm, he gave a guilty glance at the clock. Time to let an old couple know they had the grandchild they craved for.