Page 112 of The Rebound
“She’s a good doctor,” Tomasz says. “I know her from the hospital.”
“So there’s no need for you to come just yet,” I continue. “Once there’s a due date…”
“I’d love for you to be here, Mam,” Louise says earnestly. “For as long as you can be.”
“Of course, I will, my darling. Of course.” She leans forward, peering into the camera. “Everything will be fine,” she says gently, and Louise nods, wilting a little in relief as I look to our other parent.
“Dad?”
My father has been staring off-camera with his arms crossed for the last few minutes. “I’m fine,” he says gruffly.
“It’s not the 1950s,” I remind him. “You’re allowed to cry. Especially if you’re happy.”
But he only waves a dismissive hand, still refusing to look at us.
“I’m very proud of you both,” he says. “You’ll make wonderful parents.”
Louise smiles. “And you’ll make a wonderful grandfather.”
“Too much,” I mutter as he stands, mumbling something about making tea.
“He’ll call you later,” Mam says as he wanders off. “You know how your father gets when he…”
“Has feelings?” I finish.
“Just wait. He’ll be all excited now. Spending all our money. When I was pregnant with you, it was the only thing that made him feel useful. He’d come back every day with toys and books and anything that caught his eye. He brought that dollhouse of yours back from the pub one evening,” she adds to Louise.
“The pink one?”
“Donotask how much it cost. I almost had a heart attack when he told me.”
“We still have it,” Louise says, perking up. “I saw it in the attic last month.”
“Well, now you can give it to your child,” she says. “It would make his year.”
“Hang on,” I say. “What do you mean he bought presents? I never got a present.”
“Because he spent all our money on Louise,” Mam says crisply. “You got to play with them when she was done. Now, tell me,” she continues as my mouth drops open. “What exactly did Dr. Gavin say?”
Louise finally releases me from the couch to talk to Mam, looking significantly more relaxed than before.
I thought I would be relieved to escape and get some fresh air but I’m oddly reluctant as I leave, my mind back in the front room, with my family. It hits me then that if everything goes as I want it to, my parents will come home, Louise will have her baby, and I… won’t be here. Who knows where I’ll be. Who knows, if I go, when I’ll be able to get back. I’ll be one of those people who watches their nieces and nephews grow up on camera.
And while I don’t know exactly how I feel about that, I know it’s not good.
24
It’s another few days before I see Luke again.
That Saturday, Susan and Pat come over for lunch, and for the first time since I got here, he messages to say he’s joining them. I’m waiting by the upstairs window when I see him leave the house and I rush so fast down the stairs I almost trip.
“If you fall and die, I’m not naming my child after you,” Louise yells.
I open the door before he can ring the bell and he grins when he sees me, startled but pleased.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
