Delivery

Copyright Oggbashan February 2021

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.

When Rebecca tested positive, but symptomless, for Covid, it was very hard for both of us while she had to isolate. We had been hugging and kissing every evening and now we couldn't.

I did what I could for her but we both knew what we really wanted to do was be in each other's arms.

I lived in a small flat on part of the ground floor of a badly maintained Victorian building. The other floors were occupied by six single people who could only afford the low rents for sub-standard accommodation.

Rebecca was also on the ground floor, She was a nurse at our local hospital working with Covid patients until she tested positive and had to self-isolate. I am, or rather was until recently, a trainee manager on a trainee's pay but I had just finished my training and been made a manger on a drastically increased pay. I could now afford somewhere better to live. I hadn't started to look because I knew Rebecca needed me.

When Rebecca's period of isolation ended she couldn't return to work. She was in the last month of her pregnancy and the father had been a hospital administrator who was already married but had been deceiving Rebecca (and his wife). He hadn't admitted to Rebecca that he was married until she was six months pregnant and expecting to marry him in a couple of weeks. His wife started divorce proceedings and he was dismissed from his job. He didn't want to marry Rebecca who he abandoned.

When Rebecca found out that she had been abandoned, she cried all over me, the person who had shown more care and consideration for her than anyone.

That Friday had been great for me. The family solicitor had told me by letter than I had a substantial inheritance and some personal items from my grandmother who had died two months ago. I had just been told my training had been successfully completed and I would be a manager on Monday, on a manager's pay. I was about to go out to celebrate when there was a knock at my flat's door. I opened it. As soon as I saw Rebecca's face I just opened my arms. She accepted the hug and sobbed against my shoulder. Eventually over a cup of weak tea, while sitting on my lap she showed me the email she had been sent. Daryl, who she had been expecting to marry in two weeks' time, had told her he was married, had been fired and was already at his parents' house two hundred miles away. Although he would probably be divorced, he didn't want to see Rebecca again.

"Harry? I loved him," Rebecca said. "We were to be married. But he betrayed me. I'm six months pregnant. When the baby is born, I won't be able to work. I was going to be a housewife and now I'm going to be an unemployed single mum. I wanted to get away from this grotty place but now I'm going to be stuck here for years..."

What could I say? It was true. Rebecca might not even be able to afford the low rent on her present flat. I just hugged and kissed her while she raved and ranted about Daryl.

Rebecca patted her growing bump.

"Daryl fucked me," she said. "Now he has really fucked me up. I suppose I can claim maintenance but he will be an unemployed and disgraced person who probably can't get a job that would pay him enough to support me and the baby. My parents are in Scotland and they have not got much, certainly not enough to afford to look after me and the baby. All I have is one friend, you, Harry, and that's all you are - a friend."

"But as a friend, Rebecca, I won't abandon you. Whatever I can do? I will, even if that's not much."

Rebecca snuggled against me.

"Harry, just having you next door, knowing that if I want to cry, you will be there for me? You seem to be the only sane thing in a depressing world."

"Rebecca? I was going to move out soon..."

Her face fell.

"...but not now. You need me far more than I need to find somewhere better. I'm staying - for you."

"You'll do that for me, Harry? Just as a friend? I wish I could say I love you for it. I can't. My love died today with that email. I feel nothing, nothing at all, except your arms around me. I'll be back on duty tomorrow. I hope I can get through the weekend without breaking up too much but can I come to see you each evening?"

"Of course you can, Rebecca." I said.

+++

From that evening on, until Rebecca tested positive for Covid and had to isolate, every evening I had a delightful woman sitting on my lap with her bump growing. We just hugged most of the time but sometimes she would kiss me. I enjoyed her company but I knew I was her emotional support. Whenever one of her Covid patients died, Rebecca would cry all over me. I knew she needed me, far more than I needed her, but I was enjoying the physical contact every day.

Her isolation was hard for her, confined to a small grotty flat but we spoke on the phone at lot of the time and I did her shopping, leaving it outside her flat's door before ringing to say it was there.

When her period of isolation ended with no symptoms,. I think it was only the size of her bump that saved me from being raped by Rebecca. She was all over me because she had been missing the physical reassurance I had been giving her.

For the last two months of Rebecca's pregnancy we had been having all our evening meals together, taking it in turns to prepare the meals until the last two weeks when she just sat at the kitchen table and watched unless she was preparing vegetables.

Rebecca was worried about the birth. She knew the ambulance service was stretched to capacity by the second Covid wave. Although the hospital was only a mile away she was afraid she wouldn't get there in time. I reassured her. Whatever time of day or night I could take her by car, and when the baby was due, if needed I would take leave from work.

A day before the due date my phone rang at 2 am. I knew that it would be Rebecca.

"Harry? I'm having contractions..."

"OK. I'll be ready in less than five minutes."

I was. I loaded her in my car and took her to the maternity wing. I got her booked in and then parked my car. When I returned she was propped up in bed and being examined. The midlife was reluctant to let me stay since I wasn't the father, but Rebecca insisted.

Half an hour later the contractions were coming fast. The midwife announced that the birth might be possible within five minutes but she was summoned away by several bells. Five minutes came and went and Rebecca knew she was nearly there. She pressed her bell but no one came.

"It's coming, Harry!" Rebecca said with an effort as she pressed her bell again. I stood at the foot of the bed and cradled the baby as it emerged. I cleared the mouth and nose of mucus and was pleased that they baby cried loudly.

"You have a daughter, Rebecca," I announced as I put the baby on Rebecca's body.

A midwife arrived and looked carefully at the baby before dealing with cutting the cord and waiting for the afterbirth.

"Well done, lad," the midwife said to me. "You may not be the father but you were great. I'm sorry I couldn't be here but we had three breech babies at once. But Harry did everything right."

"Thank you, Harry," Rebecca said as the midwife moved her daughter to suck at a breast. "You may not be her father, but you saved her. Say hello to Harriet."

"Harriet?" I queried.

"Yes, Harriet," Rebecca said firmly. "If she had been a boy, she would have been Harry. Her name is to remind me that Harry has been there for me all these months even though he says he is only a friend. I think he is more than that. I love you, Harry."

Rebecca closed her eyes. I took her hand.

"Rebecca, I love you." I said.

Her eyes opened. She looked at me.

"What did you say, Harry?"

I gently squeezed her hand.

"I said I loved you, Rebecca."

She smiled. It was a tired smile but it lit up her face.

"Thank you, Harry."

"And that's not all, Rebecca," I said. "Will you marry me?

"

"What! You can't! I've just given birth to another man's baby and you want to marry me?"

"Yes, Rebecca. You need a husband who will look after you, and Harriet needs a father. So? Will you marry me, please?"

"You're sure?"

"Of course I am. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't mean it. Please?"

I was still holding her hand. I felt in my jacket pocket and produced a small box.

"This was my grandmother's ring. She left it to me because it was too large for my mother but it will fit you. Her name was Harriet too. I was named after her. Please?"

"Yes, Harry, I will."

I slid the ring on to Rebecca's finger. She held it up to her face.

"I still can't believe it, Harry. You really want me?"

"Yes, Rebecca, and Harriet."

"OK, Harry. We're engaged. What now?"

"Now? You and Harriet need some sleep. It has been a tiring night. I'm going to get me some revolting hospital coffee and then I'll be back."

"Don't go without a kiss, my fiancé."

We kissed. The midwife returned. Rebecca held up her hand to show the ring.

"He's an idiot, but I love him. He has just proposed."

"Congratulations to both of you, But now? You need to rest, Rebecca. I'll take Harriet away for the usual checks. She'll be back in five minutes."

I stayed until Harriet was returned and then they both went to sleep. The hospital coffee, was, as I had expected, awful but it was warm and wet.

+++

Three months later, My wife Rebecca and our baby Hannah were living in a small modern estate house. Thanks to Grandmother Harriet we owned it outright.

Rebecca was learning how to be a full-time housewife and mother and enjoying it, now Harriet was sleeping most nights.

Rebecca had set up a zoom group to support new mothers and pregnant women, using her nursing skills and contacts.

She was happy. So was I.