Page 8 of A Merry Little Christmas

‘Nothing is more important than the health of you and your baby,’ the doctor replied. ‘You have just over three weeks until your baby will be deemed full term, at which point you will be induced. I make that the …’

‘Twenty-eighth of December,’ Cole supplied.

‘I’ll have to be induced?’ The thought that it would all happen to a timetable was quite disappointing.

‘Wouldn’t that be marvellous timing?’ said the doctor. ‘A birthday to celebrate in future in the boring bit between Christmas and New Year. The family will thank you for it.’

‘Um.’ Merry had been planning on spending those few days getting the nursery ready for the baby’s arrival. She simply didn’t have a spare moment before then. ‘I suppose so.’

‘Right then. I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Don’t do anything daft for the next twenty-four hours and, with any luck, I’ll discuss discharging you in the afternoon.’

The doctor reattached the clipboard to the end of her bed and moved to the next patient.

‘We’ve got four candle workshops this month,’ Merry exhaled in frustration. ‘We’ve got a festive shopping night on the thirteenth. Our free gift-wrapping service has just kicked in and the flat needs an overhaul in case we get any last-minute Airbnb bookings over Christmas. Plus, there is all our Christmas shopping to do.’

‘Hmm.’ Cole took her hand and kissed it.

‘Are you listening?’

‘Sort of, I’m also gazing adoringly into your eyes.’

‘Cole!’ Merry said, frustrated. ‘This is a disaster.’

He smiled fondly. ‘No it isn’t. A disaster would have been if the baby had arrived early last night, partly because it would be premature, which might have brought its own problems, but also because I wouldn’t have been there with you to see the birth of our child and for you to squeeze the living daylights out of my hand while you were in labour.’

‘I suppose so,’ she conceded. ‘And at least now we’ve got a deadline to move into the new house by. We have to be settled by the twenty-eighth, so that when baby and I come out of hospital, we can go straight to the new house.’

He stared at her in disbelief. ‘Darling, it can’t be done. The doc just said you need to cancel as much as possible. We’ll have Christmas at Holly Cottage like last year and postpone moving in until the end of January.’

‘No, Cole.’ Her heart began to race. ‘The baby doesn’t have its own bedroom at the cottage.’

‘I know.’ He smiled fondly. ‘But newborn babies don’t need a nursery. He or she could sleep in a drawer if necessary.’

‘What?’ Merry couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

‘We’d pull the drawer out of the chest, obviously. I mean, I’m sure there are rules about shutting babies in a chest of drawers,’ he teased, clearly not picking up on her distress.

Merry’s jaw tightened. ‘This isn’t funny. You promised me we’d be in before the baby came. We have to be in, I mean it. I’ll sleep on the floor if I have to, but when I leave hospital with our new baby, I’m going straight to our forever home. And that’s that.’

The smile slid from his face. ‘I know you had your heart set on moving in before the baby arrived, but I’m sorry, it can’t be done.’

‘You’ve never known what it’s like not to have a home. I have.’ She pushed the bed sheets off her lap and swung her legs round, ready to stand up. ‘All my life I’ve sworn to myself that when I have my own family, I’ll do it differently. My baby is not going to sleep in a drawer. It’s going to sleep in the beautiful cot we bought, which is currently still flat-packed and in its box in the hall, along with all the other equipment we haven’t got room for.’

Merry didn’t have many memories from her childhood, but she did know that her mum had been allocated emergency housing in a small studio flat after giving birth to her. Having a stable home and a family had been Merry’s goal ever since she could remember. Her eyes swam with tears. Now, when her dream was so close, why was it slipping away from her? All she wanted was a welcoming home to bring her first child into, was that so much to ask?

‘Darling.’ Cole rested his hands on Merry’s shoulders. ‘You heard what the doctor said, you’re in danger of going into labour if you’re not careful. If you aren’t going to be sensible, I’m afraid I will be. Leave everything to do with Christmas to me and delegate everything to do with Merry and Bright to Nell.’

Merry hesitated before nodding. As much as she loved and trusted Cole – and Nell, for that matter – when you’d been deserted by those who should have looked after you during childhood, it became very difficult to let down your guard later in life. Cole’s upbringing had been the absolute opposite of Merry’s: an idyllic childhood supported by two adoring parents. No wonder he didn’t understand how important this house move was to her.

Merry’s life was spinning out of control, and right now, she had never felt more vulnerable.

Chapter 3

Nell

‘Help yourself to a drink from the machine,’ said the receptionist, after checking her in.

There were distinct advantages in seeing a private doctor, Nell thought, as she sat down in a squishy leather armchair with a fresh cup of decaf coffee in her hand. Not that she didn’t love the GP surgery in Wetherley where she’d been going for years, knew all the reception team and exactly which chair to avoid with its wobbly leg. They’d only gone private because she and Olek wouldn’t be entitled to fertility investigation on the NHS until they’d been unsuccessful in conceiving for two years and Nell hadn’t wanted to wait that long. Dr Bajek was Polish and Olek’s family had known hers for years, and there was something comforting about embarking on such a personal journey with someone they had implicit trust in.