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.Now, everything was happening too fast.Already, the anaesthetist was asking her to roll over.He wanted to stick a needle into her spine.But it was too soon.‘Could you wait just a minute?’ she muttered, but the anaesthetist took no notice.He rubbed her back with something cold and she felt the prick and sting of a needle.She pictured the anaesthetic sinking into her, spreading to her heart, her arteries, her veins.Soon the entire bottom half of her body would be numb.‘What happens now?’ she asked, but everyone seemed too busy to answer her.Had they forgotten she was here?Could someone smile? Please, don’t ignore me.The medical team began to erect a green cloth as a screen around her stomach.Mattie’s heart raced.Any minute now the doctor would make his incision.This felt all wrong.It was too clinical.Like an operation.Not a birth.Behind her a door crashed open.‘Oh, thank God,’ cried a voice.‘We’re not too late.’Mattie turned her head and saw Beth’s friendly face.And there was Jake!Oh, gosh.Oh, wow! He looked wonderful.Familiar and yet strangely alien in a hospital cap and gown.‘Who’s this?’ Dr Smith, the obstetrician, looked up from whatever he was doing and fixed Jake with a steely stare.Jake’s face was unusually pale as he snapped to attention and took a step forward.‘I have to be with Mattie.’‘He’s her boyfriend,’ Beth announced and then she made a hasty amendment.‘Her partner.’Dr Smith’s grey eyes looked surprised but Jake was already standing at Mattie’s right shoulder and he reached down and clasped her hand.‘I’m…I’m the surrogate father,’ he said.Several masked faces turned to look at Jake, amusement dancing in their eyes, but the doctor simply nodded, businesslike once more, as he turned his attention to Mattie’s abdomen.Mattie looked up into Jake’s face and saw his heart shining in his eyes.She tried to speak, but a thousand emotions rose to fill her throat and she could only manage a strangled sob.He smiled with aching tenderness as he bent down to her.‘Hi there.’‘Hey.’He squeezed her hand.‘Just keep smiling, sweetheart.’She was smiling straight into his eyes when she felt the cutting sensation on the other side of the screen.A flash of fear sliced through her, but Jake dipped his head and she felt the reassuring warmth of his lips on her brow.There was a pulling sensation somewhere in her middle and suddenly a voice cried in triumph, ‘It’s a boy.’Gloved hands held a baby high and Mattie saw his gleaming creamy skin, his perfect limbs and his little scrunched face, capped by dark, unmistakably red hair.Her face broke into a broad grin.‘Oh, the little darling.He looks exactly like Tom.’She heard Jake’s abrupt laugh—half excited, half scared—and felt his hand gripping hers more tightly.Already, another doctor was pulling out the little girl but, before Mattie could see her properly, she was whisked away.‘What’s the matter?’ Mattie called after them fearfully.‘Don’t worry.She’ll be all right,’ Beth hastened to reassure them.‘She just needs resuscitation.’‘Can’t she breathe?’ Jake’s voice was raspy and rough, as if he was scared too.‘She’ll breathe.But there was always a chance the smaller baby would need help.It’s why Dr Smith insisted on a Caesarean.’‘Are you sure she’s OK?’Beth patted Mattie’s shoulder.‘I’m sure, honey, but I’ll go and check for you.Be right back.’It was all over.Mattie’s incision had been repaired.She’d been reassured that the baby girl was fine, although she needed careful monitoring and would stay in an incubator for the next twenty-four hours.Jake had been outside, making the necessary phone calls, and now there wasn’t a lot for him to do as he followed Mattie out of Theatre and into Recovery, where a male nurse hovered over her, watching her intently and taking her blood pressure every few seconds.Or so it seemed.Mattie looked bright and happy as she held up her end of the conversation with the nurse.It was Jake who was completely lost.He felt dazed, like the time he’d been thrown from a horse and found himself on the hard ground, totally winded and looking at the world upside down.It was so hard to believe he’d actually witnessed the successful birth of two brand-new tiny human beings.They’d survived.Mattie had survived.None of his fears had been realised.He should be feeling euphoric.Instead, he still felt tense.The excitement was over and the babies had vanished into some distant nursery where perhaps, even now, they were being met by their parents.This was it—the moment when Mattie had to face the fact that she was alone.Lost? Needing him?Yeah, sure.Right now she was chatting happily to the male nurse who apparently needed to know every last medical detail of her surrogacy.Jake watched her cheerful smile and the way she waved her expressive hands as she talked animatedly to this other guy and his tension grew claws, took a stranglehold.He needed to be alone with her.There was so much he wanted to tell her, but he might as well grab a coffee, visit Roy, do anything rather than hang around here like a fifth wheel.He took a step towards the trolley.‘Mattie?’She stopped in mid-sentence and turned.Her eyes were shining.‘Hi, Jake,’ she said as if she’d just remembered his presence.‘I thought I might push off now.’‘Oh.’ The word fell from her lips softly and a flood of pink rushed into her cheeks.She looked worried, held out her hand to him.‘But I haven’t thanked you.’‘I haven’t done anything.’‘You have.You came.You were here.’ The glow in her eyes took on a damp sheen.Her lower lip trembled.‘You were perfect.All along you’ve been perfect.’ She spoke as if the nurse wasn’t there listening to every word.‘And I’ve made so many terrible mistakes.’Jake was sure he’d swallowed a golf ball.Mistakes? What was she talking about?Beside them, the nurse cleared his throat and Mattie shot him a cool glance.‘Could you give us a moment, please, Ben?’‘I’m supposed to observe you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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