Part 17 (1/2)

'And?'

'The blue line appeared.'

'And that means?'

'I'm pregnant.'

Jesse turned to face her, moving her from his shoulder to the soft pillows. He looked down at her pale, worried face and felt a wave of fear and exultation.

'Really?'

She nodded. 'I need to see Dr Cosgrove to confirm it, but I think I am. I've been feeling really sick for about a week and this morning I actually was sick so ...'

'Wow.' He put his hand on her flat tummy. 'h.e.l.lo, you in there. It's your daddy.'

Greer giggled and the look of worry was replaced with relief and love for her husband.

Dr Cosgrove moved his strong brown hands over her tummy and pressed gently, feeling for a thickening of her womb. He had known Greer since her mother was pregnant with her. He stopped his probing and left Greer lying on the ancient wood and leather examination table to get a tape measure from his desk drawer. He found the yellow booklet of tide times and, checking his watch, slipped it into his pocket. He was due to have an afternoon fis.h.i.+ng trip with his son and he didn't want to be late. He retrieved the tape measure and stepped back to Greer, lying p.r.o.ne on the bed. 'Right. Let me just make some measurements and we can work out roughly when your baby is due.'

'So I am pregnant?' asked Greer, daring to hope.

'You certainly are.' He measured from her pubic bone to a point below her navel. 'You can pull your dress down now and come and sit down.' He walked to his desk and made a squiggle in pencil on her notes. 'When was your last period?'

Jesse hadn't been to the doctor since he was a baby and certainly didn't feel the need to sit in on the business between Dr Cosgrove and Greer. He'd made his excuses and had gone to a meeting with his father and father-in-law to discuss business.

Greer heard his key in the lock and said hurriedly into the phone, 'Mummy, Jesse's home. I've got to go ... Granny!' She heard her mother laughing as she put the receiver down.

Jesse closed the front door and, walking past Greer, went to the kitchen to put the kettle on. Greer followed him. 'So, ask me.'

He threw a teabag into his favourite mug and wrinkled his brow. 'Ask you what?'

'Jesse!' Greer was standing looking at him in sheer disbelief. 'You've forgotten where I was today?'

He reached for the kettle and poured the steaming water into his mug. 'At your mum's?'

Her bottom lip trembled and she turned, but he caught her before she got away and spun her round. 'I'm sorry. I was teasing.'

'Not funny. I've been waiting to tell you.'

He pulled her to him. 'Is it a girl or a boy?'

She punched his chest. 'Whatever it is, it's due on October the seventeenth.' She smiled up at him dreamily, 'A honeymoon baby. That's what Mummy said.'

He let go of her and went to the fridge for some milk. 'So you've told your mother then?'

'Don't be cross. I couldn't not tell her.'

'So I can tell my mum and dad now, can I?' he asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

She went to him and put her arms round his waist, leaning against his back. 'Of course. Let's invite them for supper.'

Jesse knew how uncomfortable his parents felt in Pencil Cottage, and how hurt his mother had been when Greer had repainted the bathroom and chiselled off the penguin tiles in favour of plain white Italian ones. He decided that discretion was the better part of valour. 'You don't want to cook. You need to put your feet up a bit. Let's take them to the Hind.'

Greer quietly cheered inside. Her in-laws were nice, but she had very little in common with them, and Ed didn't seem to enjoy her cooking anyway. 'Good idea.'

It seemed the whole of Trevay were delighted with news of the baby. Greer thoroughly enjoyed the fuss that was being made of her and played it up to the hilt. On nights when Jesse was at sea, Elizabeth would come and stay in the small spare bedroom that was destined to become the nursery. She held Greer's hair from her face when she was being sick; she ma.s.saged her stick-thin ankles in case they got puffy, and she fed her exquisite morsels of goodness but not too much, as neither of them wanted to let Greer gain more weight than was necessary.

Mickey was happiest of all. 'Jesse, mate.' He bear-hugged him when he'd got the news. 'I didn't know you had it in you!'

Jesse adopted a macho pose. 'Plenty of lead in my pencil.'

'Pencil? You mean that tiny little thing?' The young men wrestled affectionately for a moment, as they always had done. When they broke apart Mickey asked, 'Fancy a pint? Or have you got to get on home to the missus?'

'I don't have to ask her for permission, you know,' swaggered Jesse. 'Barefoot and pregnant and tied to the sink. That's the way it is in my house.'

Mickey grinned. 'Yeah, right. Just don't let Greer hear you say that!' They were walking back from a day's work on the harbour and heading towards the Golden Hind.

Settled in a favourite corner of the dim bar, they each took a sip of their pints and sighed with pleasure in unison.

'So when's Jesse Junior due?' asked Mickey, wiping the froth from his lips.

'Middle of October.'

'Were you trying for a baby this quick?'

'No. We hadn't really spoken about it. And I thought these things took a bit of trying for.'

'She wasn't on the pill?'

'With the wedding and everything, Greer said she hadn't had time to get to the doctor's and you know she hadn't needed anything like that before, so ...'

'You were her first?'

'Yeah.'

Mickey took a mouthful of beer then said, 'I was Loveday's first, too.'

Jesse tried not to react to this, but he spilt his beer a little onto his jeans. 's.h.i.+t,' he said, rubbing the damp patch into the fabric. When he'd gathered himself, he looked straight into Mickey's eyes. 'Were you? When was this?'

'The night you came home from honeymoon.'