A Good Mother: A gripping psychological thriller with a heart-pounding twist by Sam Hepburn

Author:Sam Hepburn [Hepburn, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800194151
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2021-05-25T23:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Nine

Then

Bathed in sweat, Donna let out a deep groan and dropped to her knees, one hand gripping the side of the bath, the other clamped around mine as she threw back her head. I thought she was dying.

‘It’s all right.’ The words skidded on my tongue. ‘I’ll call an ambulance.’

‘No!’ A hiss of pain. ‘Get Anja.’

‘What for?’

Donna rocked forward, a shudder catching her bent body. ‘Just get her. She’ll know what to do.’

‘Anja!’ I yelled for our Polish neighbour, glad for once that the walls in our dingy little block were paper-thin. ‘Come quickly. Please! It’s Donna!’

Within seconds Anja was banging on the door. I ran to let her in and dragged her to the bathroom.

Donna, who was bucking and writhing, let out a long slow moan.

‘I’m calling an ambulance,’ I said.

‘No time.’ Anja lurched forward. She pulled down Donna’s track pants, snatched a towel off the bathroom door and thrust it between her legs. The next few minutes unfolded in slow motion as I realised what was happening. Pale sunlight through the frosted window, tendons tightening in Donna’s neck, a rush of watery blood and mucus, a bellow of pain, a baby slithering onto the towel, a gasp bubbling to my lips.

‘It’s a boy, Donna. You’ve had a baby boy.’ Anja moved quickly, scooping him up and lifting him up by his ankles. His arms sprang wide as if to embrace the world. A moment of silence and then his tiny ribcage shuddered out a cry.

‘Here, go to Mamma,’ Anja crooned, swinging him upright and folding the corners of the towel across his body.

Donna let out a low animal grunt, pushed herself up to standing and shook her head. ‘You take him, Nic.’

Her voice was flat. Her eyes lifeless. I put it down to shock and pain. I sat on the edge of the bath and held him as Anja reached for a pair of nail scissors and cut the cord. Then she dampened the corner of a towel and wiped him clean. I watched her face. I watched her mouth.

‘What’s wrong?’

She tutted quietly. ‘He is very small. When babies come early like this, sometimes they get problems with their breathing.’

I stroked one of his tiny hands. ‘I’ll call an ambulance.’

‘No!’ Donna said, suddenly animated. ‘No doctors. I’m not having the authorities poking their noses in.’

The baby let out another cry. High and sharp. She didn’t look at him, she just kept looking at me, watching me as if she was scared I might go ahead and call an ambulance anyway.

‘See,’ she said. ‘He’s fine. Lungs like an ox.’

I clasped him to me and rocked him. ‘Did you have any idea you were pregnant?’

She shook her head, her face suddenly contorting in agony.

‘Take baby outside, Nicci,’ Anja said. ‘Placenta is coming.’

I carried him into my room and sat with him by the window, gazing out across the rooftops while he slept. The sky was pink, the world was stirring, a little life had just begun.

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