Chapter 10
The heavy lumbered tread on the stairs alerted Lisa to Rita’s arrival. She burst into the guestroom without knocking, her face flushed bright red, her eyes squinting in disbelief.
‘Your husband said you’d had another one,’ she accused Lisa.
‘Isn’t he lovely? The spitting image of his brothers.’
Meg’s second carrycot was on its stand a few feet from the bed Lisa was lying on. The midwife went over to the cot and pulled back the covering to look at the child. ‘Out for the count, I see.’ She turned suspicious eyes on Lisa. ‘I really find it almost impossible to believe.’
Lisa smiled sweetly through the panic flooding her brain. ‘It is extraordinary, and so little trouble.’ What could the woman make of it? She couldn’t deny the child, and how else could she explain his presence?
‘Medical history, I’d say.’
Panic turned to consternation as Lisa chose her words with the utmost care. ‘Well, hardly that,’ she said as casually as she could. ‘It’s quite well recorded, about further births at a later stage.’ She couldn’t resist a slight sneer. ‘I did mention there was still a bump - and that it was moving.’
Rita Connolly, if she heard, ignored this latest piece of information. ‘I suppose I ought to examine you.’ She opened her bag and pulled on plastic gloves.
‘Dr Witherton’s been in.’ Lisa drew the bedding around herself protectively.
‘Just to make sure you’re all right.’ In her peremptory way she was already tugging at the sheets covering Lisa.
Lisa held them tight. ‘It’s not obligatory, is it? I’m a bit tired now. And I expect you want to get on, in any case.’
‘Of course, Mrs Wildmore.’ Seeing the clenched hands holding back the sheet Rita stopped, her lips pursed. ‘It’s just – ’
‘As I said: Dr Witherton’s been in to see me. He was very happy with everything.’
This was quite true. The GP had called in briefly to see that all was going along well. He’d made no further mention of the fact that the expected single infant had turned into two, and certainly hadn’t suggested to Lisa that he should examine her.
‘I’ll leave all that to Roger. He’s your doctor, after all. He’ll be back tomorrow,’ he’d nodded at Lisa. ‘And I’m afraid I’m leaving for Majorca myself first thing. You’ll begin to think none of us can stay the course.’
And that visit, naturally, had been yesterday. Late in the day, on the doctor’s way home.
Deprived of Lisa, Rita was busying herself checking the new infant. ‘The oddest thing of all is the way the umbilical appears to be at the same stage as that of the other two. I suppose Dr Witherton put on the elastic. Except for that, I can’t tell the difference between him and the others.’ The midwife looked doubtfully at Lisa. ‘Can you?’
Lisa took a deep breath. ‘He’s very gentle,’ she said, love for the baby suffusing through her body. ‘Extraordinary how differences in temperament show at such an early stage.’
Rita snorted as she busied herself assembling the baby bath.
Lisa was astonished at how easily the holidays, and the general confusion, had allowed her to fudge the issues. Rita Connolly herself was off today. Next time a midwife was due to call - that evening or tomorrow morning, Lisa judged - it would be Susan Andrews. And before that visit Lisa would insist Alec get Gilmore over.
‘I know how busy you are,’ Lisa went on. ‘And that you’re due for your summer break. And Friday’s your specially busy day as well, you said. Sorry to hold you up at all.’ Lisa looked at the midwife and pulled her lips back in a travesty of a smile. To her relief it seemed to work.
‘I’m always glad to come when I’m really needed,’ the midwife said quickly, still checking over the infant, clicking surprise. ‘I’ll just see to him.’ She looked faintly embarrassed. ‘I don’t think I’ve got time to bathe the other two as well. They’ll survive a day without, I’m sure. Susan will arrange something for tomorrow.’
‘Of course,’ Lisa agreed smoothly. She was only too relieved. The uncanny similarity to Janus, and that child’s loss of bloating, was better not pursued. Lisa settled back against the pillows. ‘Don’t worry at all. My husband will organise additional help in a minute. He’ll hold the fort until she gets here.’
Alec’s vital meeting in Bristol that morning, with potential Flaxton clients from the States, could be delayed, but hardly cancelled. Doubler had finally passed the stringent Food and Drug Administration laws. Nigel Carruthers, Flaxton’s chief executive, was keen to sign up American distributors, and to alert them to the outstanding test-site performances of Multiplier. Alec, Lisa knew, could not possibly let Flaxton down today. She wondered how they could arrange outside help while Alec was taken up with business.
‘Everything OK for a couple of minutes?’ Alec put his head round the door, acknowledging Rita with a bare nod. ‘D’you think Meg will lend a hand until reserves arrive?’ he checked with Lisa anxiously. ‘I simply have to get these figures straight.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Lisa soothed him. ‘Meg’s always over for Seb as soon as she can get away. She’ll take over.’
Lisa had the feeling of dèja vu, a scene rehearsed and now played out. Meg had offered to take Seb every morning for a couple of weeks after the twins were born. Lisa had accepted gratefully; it made her feel less guilty about not having time for him. Now she’d simply ask Meg to keep him until teatime for a few days. Lisa was sure Meg would be willing to do that.
But there was one thing which nagged at her, one thing she could not shake from her mind however hard she tried. She wanted the triplets - manacled, flashed through her mind - permanently identified. The sticky plaster could come off at any stage.
‘You don’t, by any chance, have any identification bracelets with you, do you?’ she asked the midwife.
‘I do see what you mean,’ Rita chuckled. ‘Not really. I can send Susan round with some.’
‘Enjoy your holiday.’
‘The best of luck,’ Rita called to her, bumping the door open with her ample rear. ‘You’ll need it.’
Lisa forced her facial muscles into one last smile, then fell back against pillows piled high, exhausted. The doctor. She still had to convince the doctor. Her strength seemed to have deserted her. Tears came. Floods of relief welled over her lower lids and on to her cheeks.
‘Gone, has she?’ Alec was bringing her a tray with cereal, toast and marmalade, Seb in tow. ‘Poor darling. You look completely bleary-eyed. That battleaxe is the limit. Did she upset you?’
‘Said she was too busy to bathe the other two.’
‘What? Lazy slob. She bumbled about for ages.’
‘Couldn’t get rid of her,’ Lisa agreed. ‘Just kept on going over the same ground. I suppose I’ll need an extra pair of hands for a day or two. Perhaps Social Services could send round a home help.’
‘Already organised.’ Alec grinned, pleased with himself. ‘I’d better ring the agency for a nanny.’
A nanny? Through her exhaustion Lisa could see the dangers looming up. A nanny would know immediately if there were to be another - splitting. How could she stop it happening again? A sudden horror that Jeffrey might also have reproduced himself left her blood drained from her face. How could she check?
‘You’re really white, darling. Didn’t she even make sure that you’re OK?’
‘Are the twins - the other two triplets - all right?’
‘I’ll go and check.’
‘If you could bring their cots in here,’ Lisa suggested.
‘You want them all in here with you?’
‘That’s right.’
‘You won’t get any peace.’
‘If you wouldn’t mind,’ Lisa directed firmly. It was extraordinary how everybody seemed to think they knew better than she did.
‘You’ll get completely overdone.’
‘It’s all right, Alec. I’m fine. Native women just carry on after childbirth.’
But Jeffrey wasn’t Janus, she calmed herself. In some strange way she knew that only Janus could split. There was no reason for it, but she knew that neither Jeffrey, nor James, would cause that sort of problem.
‘You’re not a native woman, Lisa,’ Alec said impatiently.
He did, however, bring the other children through. Two cots, two babies, still sleeping. Lisa breathed a sigh of relief.
‘When’s Meg due, did you say?’ Alec asked, aligning the last cot at the far end of the room.
Lisa’s blood began to ebb again. Meg. Now there was a real stumbling block. Meg was likely to ask for details, prod for specific answers. She was far more of a threat than anyone else.
‘Round half-past ten,’ she said, faint, subdued.
‘You need a sleep,’ Alec said gruffly.
Somehow she had to avoid seeing Meg, at least until she could get her act together. ‘I tell you what, darling. When the home help arrives, why don’t you take Seb round to the Graftleys? It’s on your way, and you can tell them the news.’
He smiled. ‘Good idea. It’ll save Meg a trip.’
‘Stay with more bother,’ Seb told them, settling down beside Lisa. ‘Like bother.’
‘When you’ve been to see Auntie Meg.’ Lisa smiled at him, her heart aching at sending him off. ‘Why don’t you fetch your clothes and I’ll put them on for you.’
As the little boy trotted off she turned to Alec. ‘Ask Meg to come back with him when her twins are napping,’ she suggested. ‘I’ll tell her all about it then.’
Something was trying to surface in her mind. She put Seb’s T-shirt on back to front in her confusion. What? Why was she so sure there’d be no further infants? Had she, after all, really given birth to James?
A loud tempestuous knocking at the side door brought Lisa out of her reverie. ‘That must be the home help, Alec.’
‘Say goodbye to Mummy, Seb. I’ll get back as quickly as I can make it, darling.’ He bent down and kissed her, a full kiss on the lips. Had she misjudged him? Was he actually pleased to have four sons?
Seb in his arms, Alec dashed out. Almost immediately there was a demure rap on the open door of the guestroom.
‘Mrs Wildmore?’
‘Do come in.’
‘I’m Maureen Donahue.’
‘Hi Maureen. It’s really sweet of you to come at such short notice.’
‘I didn’t mind. It’s ever so exciting, isn’t it?’
As though on cue the triplets demanding their ten o’clock feed brought conversation to an abrupt end. Lisa carefully directed Maureen to bring the babies to her, one by one, and then to change and burp them.
By the time the babies were in their cots again it was already noon. The front door bell rang out.
‘That’ll be Dr Gilmore.’
He arrived, bronzed from his holiday but out of breath.
‘I hear you’ve sprung a surprise on us,’ he greeted Lisa.
‘An extra one was a bit over the top,’ Lisa agreed, smiling at him. Rita must have finished her rounds very quickly and sent her notes in. That was unusually efficient.
‘You’re still feeling weak?’
‘Weak?’
‘The twins are a fortnight old, aren’t they? Most modern mothers get up a day or two after the birth, you know.’ He laughed indulgently. ‘I know, you’re trying to put off the evil day when you’ll have to do all the work yourself.’
Twins? So he hadn’t heard about the triplets yet.
‘The most recent one was only born this morning,’ Lisa rushed out at him. ‘Actually I’m feeling fine, nothing to it at all. Rita Connolly’s been in already and dealt with everything.’
‘You mean you only had the second twin this morning?’ He looked completely baffled, rummaging through his bag. ‘I know we’re not brilliant at notes in the practice, but that’s a bit too much. I’ll have to talk to the office staff.’
‘Another baby after the twins, Dr Gilmore.’
He looked completely blank.
‘I’ve got three babies - triplets! The latest one arrived this morning. Look.’ She pointed to the three carrycots lined up at the far end of the room. ‘There they are.’
He simply stood and gaped at her, then turned his head in their direction.
‘Do sit down.’
‘Yes, thank you; yes.’
Hearing Maureen moving about nearby Lisa called to her to make more tea. By the time she turned back to the doctor he’d composed himself.
‘I’d no idea, Mrs Wildmore. No idea at all. I do apologise. I thought the notes said twins.’ He stood, his back to the window, irresolute, frowning, confused, then wandered towards the cots.
‘Proverbial peas in a pod,’ he grunted. ‘Rita looked them over and everything?’
‘Indeed she did,’ Lisa assured him. ‘She’s off herself tonight, as you know. Susan’s coming in later.’
‘Susan’s back, is she?’ The relief was audible. ‘No problems, then.’ A new thought seemed to cross his mind. ‘But Rita was here to assist you, I take it?’
‘She was an enormous help. I really don’t know how I’d have managed without her. She came at once, as soon as my husband called her,’ Lisa burbled on, determined to complete the spiel she’d rehearsed until it felt like second nature. ‘And my husband simply had to get to Bristol for a meeting, you see. My friend Meg has taken on looking after my little boy.’
He evidently hadn’t heard a word of any of that. ‘No problems with the birth?’
‘It was very easy,’ Lisa trilled on. ‘They’re all three quite small, of course,’ she breathed, then stopped the flow when she saw Maureen Donahue bringing a tray with tea which she placed beside Lisa’s bed. ‘Milk and sugar?’
The doctor turned from the cots, beads of moisture on his forehead, wiping his face with a handkerchief. ‘You certainly sound chirpy.’
‘It is a big thrill. A family of four in no time, after all that trouble with infertility.’
Another deep frown as the GP tried to come to terms with the odd situation. ‘These drugs,’ he said, nodding gravely. ‘Wonderful what they can do, of course. Sometimes there are unexpected side effects.’
‘Chocolate biscuit?’
‘I really must get on. So much to do after my holidays, you know. Some of my patients simply won’t have anyone else.’
‘Of course.’ Released from the problem of convincing a doctor about what had happened, Lisa wondered whether she dared ask him about identification bracelets.
‘Perhaps your lady help can let me in later,’ Gilmore suddenly suggested.
He’d worked out something was wrong, after all! That dopey look had hidden his real understanding. Lisa braced herself for battle. ‘You’d like to come again?’
‘I hope you won’t think it an imposition, you must be overwhelmed.’ He smiled ruefully. ‘But I would so like my daughter to see the babies. Triplets in the practice, and identical. I don’t think we’ve had a set in my time before.’
‘Any time,’ Lisa said. ‘And if you could ask Susan to bring identification bracelets. They’re so alike, you see. We don’t want to mix them up.’
‘Of course,’ he beamed. ‘No problem about that. I can let you have those right away.’ To Lisa’s amazement he took three plastic bracelets out of his bag. ‘Not very fashionable, I’m afraid, but they’ll do the job.’