Wuthering Dorbikes (aka Bike) Part 562 by Angharad

I sat and talked to Stella for about an hour, her nurse came to check everything and I got up and walked about. I waited for the nurse to finish then walked back towards the nurse’s station. “How long is she likely to be out?”

“I don’t honestly know, it was a pretty gruelling op, she’ll be better in the morning.”

“I have two small children with a friend who’s sitting for me. If there’s not a lot of point in staying, I might as well get home.”

“Yeah, tomorrow will be much better, we’ll call if there’s any change.”

I went back and after kissing Stella on the cheek, told her I’d come and see her tomorrow. As I was leaving the unit, Simon strolled in. “Any change?”

“No. How’s Henry?”

“He did recognise me, but drifted off, so I told him I’d pop in tomorrow.”

“I have to come to get Tom.”

“Hell, is he still here?”

“Until tomorrow.”

“Should we go and say hello?”

“You can, I feel I ought to get back to the girls.”

“Yeah okay, where is he?”

“Cardiac.”

“Of course, I’ll be back in a while, want me to bring anything back?”

“No, oh hang on, can you get some milk?”

“Sure.” I kissed him and we parted. My ticket on the car had expired but no one had noticed. I drove home feeling quite tired and almost shocked. I felt I should have run Pippa back but I was so tired, and she was happy with the taxi, apparently she knows the one driver from their schooldays.

The boys were a bit dopey when they got in the car, but my two were up in bed. I went to see them. They weren’t asleep, and as soon as I walked into their bedroom they asked me how Stella was.

“She is still very ill and so is baby Puddin’.” They pleaded with me to describe the new baby, who would be their foster cousin, although in reality, she would be more of a sister–a baby sister–they’d spoil her to death, assuming she survives long enough to come home.

“When can we see her?” asked Tricia and Mima bounced in her bed agreeing with her.

“When she is well enough to come home, at the moment she is very very small and very very frail. She might still die.” I thought there was no point in beating about the bush. They both groaned and cried when I said this, so I had to calm them down. “Look, girls, she is very ill and very small–it’s not a good combination, it means she will need building up and special care from some specially trained nurses. If and when she gets well enough to come home, they will have to see how she is before they can say yes.”

“But that means she could die and we’d never meet her,” said Tricia.

“I’m afraid that could well be the case.”

“That’s not fair–”

“Life can be very tough at times, young lady, especially for a very small baby.”

“Can’t we go and see her in hospital?”

“Not for the moment, she is too susceptible to all sorts of germs, so we can’t let too many people go and see her.”

“Can we go and see Auntie Stella?”

“Yay, Annie Stewwa,” echoed Mima.

“I don’t know, I shall go and see her tomorrow, if she’s any better I might ask the sister if I can bring you two in to see her. If she isn’t they won’t let me. If I do take you in, you’ll have to promise to be good girls and not touch anything, and that especially applies to you–madam,” I said poking Tricia gently in the chest.

“Okay, Mummy.”

“We wanna stawee, Mummy.”

“Didn’t Auntie Pippa tell you one?”

“Nooooo,” they both shrieked.

“Okay then, once upon a time, in a land a long way from here there lived a beautiful princess…” I slipped away as they both drifted off to sleep and got down just as Si let himself in.

“Your milk, milady.”

“That’s not enough to fill the bath is it?” I quipped back at him and the look of shock on his face was priceless.

“If I’d known you wanted that much, I’d have asked the tanker I just overtook, to come round.”

“I’m only joking, Si.” I took the plastic bottle with six pints of the white stuff and kissed him. “Thanks for getting it.”

“’S okay, anything to eat, I’m starved.”

“I made a new loaf today, please leave enough for breakfast or it’ll be shop bread tomorrow.”

“Oh, alright.” He helped himself to some cheese and tomatoes and wedge of bread. Seeing him eat made me feel hungry, so I got myself some cereal. “That stuff will never put hairs on your chest,” he said disapprovingly.

“Good, if I had a hairy chest my boyfriend would probably leave me.”

“Depends, if it was Rin Tin Tin, he’d probably like it.”

“So you’d like to go out with Lassie, would you?”

“Not really, because Lassie was really Laddie, it was a dog not a bitch.”

“Geez, do they get tranny dogs as well?”

“Only in Hollywood, apparently.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Some zoologist you are?”

“Hollywood has far too many strange life forms for me to be able to know them all.”

“That is perhaps the understatement of the week.” He patted his lap and I went and sat on it. “I’ve missed you,” he said kissing me gently…

Next morning and I’d slept badly; I was a bit sore after Simon tried to show me how much he’d missed me, and I was still worried about the baby and Stella. I awoke with strange life forms in the bed, who’d spoilt their silent invasion plans by yelling ‘Daddy’ as they spotted the extra body in the bed.

I did try to ignore the noise and go back to sleep, but the wriggling as they squirmed next to Simon, was too much and I had to give up and get up. The shower helped me feel a bit more awake, and when two little bodies joined me under the falling water, I wasn’t sure if I was pleased or irritated by their intrusion. Life was going to be busy that day and the moment or two of solitude and calm under the shower was precious.

After drying and dressing both girls in something fairly tidy–we had to go and collect Tom–and he’d be expecting to show them off to the nurses. Plus Si would want to take them in to see Henry and I’d love them to see Stella. Whether or not she’d be pleased to see them, was another matter.

While they all ate breakfast, I phoned the hospital–Henry was awake and eating breakfast, Simon gave me a thumbs up when I announced this. Then when I asked to talk with someone on the special baby unit, they informed me they had someone off sick and could I call back later. Stella, ‘was still quite poorly, but she had been awake and knew I’d been to see her.’ So at least things were stable, for the moment.

I made up a casserole and shoved it in the slow-cooker, after frying the meat and onions together with garlic. It would be done by lunchtime or even better by teatime. It was quite a large slow-cooker, so I was able to put the potatoes in it as well; it would all taste of everything, my favourite type of casserole.

When it came time to get Tom, I had just tidied myself up and prepared to go in the Mondeo, so I asked Simon to move the kiddie seats from the VW.

“Do you need to take the big car? Tom can get in yours without any trouble.”

“I just thought I’d give it a run, but it might need some diesel. Okay, I’ll take mine, I only filled it the other day.”

“I wanna go in Daddy’s racing car,” said Trish–I knew that kid was gonna be trouble.

“I wanna go, too” said Mima eyeing the Jaguar.

“So do I,” I said silently. “Come on, into Mummy’s car.”

“No,” said Trish, quickly followed by Mima. I’d never experienced this sort of dissention before and wasn’t sure how to play it.

I looked at Simon and he looked even more adrift and out of his depth than I was. “Trish, Mima, if you want to come with me to collect Gramps, get in my car, now.” They both ran to Simon and hugged his legs. “Now please, girls, or you don’t come.”

“I wanna go with Daddy,” said Mima.

“Me, too,” Trish agreed.

I walked over to them, “Simon isn’t going to collect Gramps, so if you want to come with me, get into the car, now.”

“Don’t look at me, girls, if I were you, I’d do what she says, she can get very angry and you’ll get no treats until you’re at least thirty five.”

“ ’Snot fair,” said Trish walking towards my car, with Mima following and muttering something I didn’t decipher, but it sounded like it would rhyme with ‘mugger’. I’d packed some more things for Stella while Simon played with the girls after breakfast, it never fails to amaze me, that I do everything for them, and they make twice as much fuss of him.

Am I jealous? Bloody right, I am.