CHAPTER 8
In the way pf all holidays, of course, just as we had not just established a routine, but settled firmly into it, the clock ran out and we had to return to the UK. We saw Jenny and Lil off at the airport as we awaited our own flight, and I pondered the eternal Welsh question of how waterproof skin really was. Amina was quiet, which was always an unusual state for her, so I distracted her by dragging her off to grab something to eat, after the non-competition of choice between the tapas bar and a certain burger chain. Once we were settled on a couple of stools, I asked the usual penny-related question.
“Ah, love, just wondering. Where they’re going, aye?”
“Gatwick, I believe”
“Being serious, I am, but that’s sort of part of what I meant. If they do go for it, who picks up sticks? And then there’s Jenny’s job. Lot of loose ends to tie up. Get to their age, and there’s a lot of accumulated baggage”
“We’re not that much younger than either of them, love”
“Yeah, but I am trusting that you have no plans to move on, and I certainly have none. What is simple is that Jen’s in a, sorry, generic job”
She took a bite of tortilla.
“If I’d spotted that, I’d have made a better joke of it. Anyway, transferrable skills, aye? Doesn’t have to be dildos—er, plastic mouldings. Could be anything”
“What if Lil wants to move the other way?”
“Then a lot easier for both, but, well, Crawley?”
“Crazy name, crazy place. At least it’s not Newport”
“Oh god no. Anyway, what are you actually thinking?”
“Simple, really. Job search, sort of. Got a couple of ideas. Just looking to offer her a couple of choices if she wants to come home”
She paused for another bite of tortilla, then looked directly at me.
“Selfishness, as well, love. Lil, aye? I like her, and Jenny as well, and if they decide to make a go of it in England, we almost certainly lose them both. Much more of a draw to travel to see your partner than it is to see a few friends”
Another bite.
“And yes, I know we were, well, that was ages ago, but I don’t want to lose Lil”
“It’s a bloody good job I know you, love”
“Yeah, well. You wouldn’t have married me if you didn’t”
She suddenly snorted out a laugh.
“Then again, if you REALLY knew me, why did you marry me?”
She flicked a glance over her shoulder, clearly looking to change the subject.
“Got a gate. Let’s boogie”
She slept throughout the flight, or appeared to, while I sat and thought. I really didn’t believe there was anything in her tease about old flames, but there was truth buried there. Lil had been a part of our lives, one way or another, for so many years that it would be a real wrench to watch her leave. On the other hand, I had seen something in her eyes she was clearly trying to conceal, and that was fear. It so obviously wasn’t just her Jenny that was head over heels, and I could almost taste her worry. The big Five-Oh coming up, and that abyss of solitary loneliness yawning ahead of her.
Going back to work was a bit of a shock to my system, but it was enlivened by Tom’s nose, which was bright red and peeling.
“So we had a bit of a heatwave, yeah? Doesn’t always bloody rain here! Anyway, talk me through the hols, yours, that is”
“How were the dogs?”
“Happy as happy things, Jen. I mean, they know the place, know the farm dogs, so it’s all incredible shrinking hounds stuff, as usual”
“Sorry?”
“Floof-monster runs into water, comes out as whippet”
He chuckled with happy memories.
“Then shakes herself dry, all over me and Con, and suddenly we have a Floof back, just a wet one. Anyway, we out on Tuesday? Quiz night again, and we’re earlies onto rest day”
“Let me check with her indoors, okay?”
“Of course I--- go ahead, Central”
He made the usual one-sided comments, then grunted.
“Making for there, Central. Buckle in, Jen”
Full disco, both lights and sound, as we headed out to the M4, as best as I could guess.
“Jen?”
“Go ahead”
“Bloody odd one. Police stop, malicious info. Driver had his wife across the back seat, heading for maternity, hospital, aye? Pretty hard police stop, and she’s gone into labour”
“Arse. Any obvious complications?”
“Other than a delivery on the back seat of a car on a motorway hard shoulder? I think that’s enough for our starter for ten”
“Get us there, mate”
“Doing that, love. ETA is about five minutes”
I pulled the Big Green Bag to me to prioritise some kit just as Tom used the ordinary horn to tell some driver they might reconsider their approach in regard to emergency vehicles with wailing sirens and flashing blue lights. He wasn’t quite muttering, but I could hear.
“Out of the fucking way, you stupid, blind bastard! Right… Jen?”
“Yes?”
“Just coming up. The police have a van there, so hopefully a bit more working room than a car back seat”
“Thanks, mate”
I could read his mind: if mother-to-be was that far gone, she wouldn’t be climbing into our workspace. He braked sharply, and then I was out and fast-walking up to said van, as a couple of coppers murmured comments that all added up to ‘Thank fuck’.
“Hello, love! I’m Jen. I’m a paramedic, and my mate Tom will be with us shortly. What do I call you?”
“I’m… Natalie… and… shit… that’s… my husband… Will… sorry. Breathless”
“Not to worry, Natalie. Just need to do some checks, vital signs, aye? You local?”
“No… Swansea… bitch woman!”
One of the coppers whispered “Malicious complaint”, and I closed that bit of my mind down, because the fucking baby was crowning.
“Tom!”
“Got it here, Jen”
He passed through a mask, clearly rigged for good-old gas-and-air, and after I had attached it to Natalie’s face, I started setting out the kit, including snips and ligature thread. I kept talking to her, the usual meaningless rubbish, as her speech disappeared and breaths shortened, before we ended up in the traditional exhortations to ‘push’, and then things got very busy indeed, once again in that traditional way, until I suddenly had a wriggling bundle in my hands. Clear the mucus plug from the mouth, check the breathing (“WAH!”) and tie off the umbilical, before finally placing a little boy on Natalie’s chest.
“You have a son, love”
Once I had finished the necessary clean-up and bagged the placenta, I left her with her husband, both of them weeping for Wales. As I rose from the van’s bench seat, I checked my watch: where the hell had forty-eight minutes gone? I took a few more to stretch outside the van, keeping close to the barrier as traffic thundered past. Tom brought me his flask, pouring a cuppa.
“Off to St Dai’s?”
“Think so, mate. Looks fine so far, but it’s her first, so best get a proper look-see. Any idea what the ‘malicious‘ crap was about?”
He winced.
“Yes, actually. Seems that Will was heading home, going to their local hospital, aye? Road works, and a queue. Some woman did the usual drive all the way down the closed lane and tried to force her way in, queue jump, aye? He wouldn’t let her”
His mouth twisted.
“So the police get a call about a paedophile with an abducted baby in his car, they do a full-on hard stop on that basis, and some fucking cow gets to smirk”
“Oh for fuck’s sake! They got any leads?”
Tom shrugged.
“None at all. Apart from the front and rear dashcam footage Will has, with her number plates clearly visible, and the recording of her 999 call”
“Oh dear!”
“How sad, never mind? Yup. Shall we crossdeck the patient, and get rolling? Just going to radio a sitrep”
We found out later that the baby was now William Thomas Bryn etc, as calling him Jennifer might have raised a few eyebrows. I managed to handle the disappointment.
Our trip to the quiz night was a Rubicon in itself, for Lil was back from the town named after an infestation of insects, and Alwen was courting. I wasn’t subtle, I will admit, but she was blushing.
“It’s, well, you know I don’t just work here?”
“I know that, yes”
“Well, there’s a pub, it’s close to Nana Deb’s. Been working there for… It’s where I met the girls who knew Marlene”
I paused, trying to find the right words, but they weren’t there. Try a simpler approach.
“What happened, love?”
She checked up and down the bar for customers, as Tom waved at me to rejoin the quiz team, but I was doing my own triage. She spent some time polishing a glass, then looked up at me.
“I went home, for the first time in ages, and, well, wasn’t good”
“You went home as what they wanted, or as yourself?”
She drew in a few long, slow breaths, then looked back at me.
“I thought ‘fuck it’ and went as myself”
“And?”
“I didn’t end up staying long. Came straight back, thought I’d, you know, clear my head by going back to work. Harry—-the other landlord?---he had some slots available. There’s… The pub’s just up the road from Nana Deb’s place, like I said, it’s where I met her girls… and they had some lads with them, from college, and, well…”
She straightened up behind the bar, making another check for customers and seeing Ox moving in.
“Cleared my head, Jen. I mean, I always knew I was a girl, but… Now I know I’m a straight one”
Another quirk of her mouth.
“Maria’s a bit pissed off”