They reached Maggie’s car and Tiger patted the roof appreciatively.
‘Nice wheels, Mags,’ he said, and then got in. ‘And no sign of Jax either, I assume,’ he said as he fastened his seatbelt.
‘No,’ replied Maggie. ‘I’m not sure whether it was in the plan for him to come up, but he doesn’t seem to have done if he’s not at the flat.’
‘He’s not there,’ said Tiger. ‘Thank God. He’s a bit intense for me, you know what I mean. Everything’s a bit serious.’
‘I’ve never actually met him,’ said Maggie, feeling slightly put out that Tiger had done.
‘I’ve only met him the once, but believe me, you’re not missing much,’ he said. ‘I know Angie likes him and all that, but I didn’t warm to him. You wouldn’t either.’
Maggie thought that she would have preferred to have been given the chance to make her own mind up on that, but decided that she had no option but to take Tiger’s word for it, at least for the time being. Now that the baby was here perhaps there would be more opportunities to be introduced.
They drove to the hospital, Tiger talking all the way, telling her about Vietnam, what he’d seen, where he had stayed and who he had met. He made it sound magical and exciting and for a few minutes Maggie was caught up in the romance of it all, until she thought about how Tiger had nothing and no one. Her life wasn’t entirely enviable, but at least she had a home and a job and stability.
Once at the hospital, they followed the signs to the maternity ward and were ringing the buzzer to be let in almost bang on two o’ clock.
They found Angie in a bay at the far end of the corridor. She was sitting up in bed, dressed in a baggy paint-spattered shirt with the baby at her breast. Her auburn dreadlocks were tied away from her face in a cotton scarf. She looked tired but radiant.
‘Hi, you two. Come see what I made!’ she said in a stage whisper.
With delicate movements as if she were touching a butterfly wing, she pushed the hospital-issue blanket away from the tiny infant so that the side of her face, the top of her shoulder and a wrinkled little hand were visible.
‘Here she is. Romany Rose Osborne.’
Maggie took a step closer and bent over to look at the baby. ‘Oh, Ange. She’s so beautiful.’
In truth, it was hard to see much of the baby from that angle but actually, it was the fact of her that was beautiful. Angie had created this tiny, perfect little person and her facial features, whatever those turned out to be, were of no importance next to the miracle of her birth.
‘She’s got my nose,’ said Angie proudly, and Maggie was more than happy to take that on Angie’s say-so.
‘And how was it, the actual birth?’ she asked. She had listened to enough birth stories over the years to have a fairly clear handle on what amounted to a good one and what didn’t, even if her own personal experience was lacking.
‘All over pretty quickly,’ said Angie. ‘No pain relief, of course. I used my pranayama breathing exercises. The midwife said she had never seen anyone so calm for a first birth.’
Tiger was looking a little queasy again, but this seemed to be all the detail they were going to get.
‘And have you got everything you need?’ asked Maggie.
Angie shrugged. ‘They’ve got nappies in here, although they said I should probably get some myself. I’m going to use washable ones, so I’ll buy them when I get home. Jax sent a pack of three babygros so that should do her for now. I’m feeding her myself so what else do I need?’
The question was sincerely asked. Maggie thought of the baby shower parties she had been invited to through work, the mountains of tiny clothes and mysterious equipment that one baby seemed to require. But actually, perhaps Angie was right. Clothing, nappies and food – these had to be the basic needs of any newborn.
‘Well, maybe I can get you some nappies to be going on with,’ she offered, ‘and a couple of extra outfits so you don’t have to wash every day.’
Her eyes scanned the room for Angie’s birthing bag and rested on a tiny beaded tote that was hardly big enough to carry her own day-to-day necessities, let alone what was needed for a stay in hospital for two people, even if one of them was very small. She was reminded of their first day at university, to which Angie had also turned up woefully unprepared. This time it was different, though. She couldn’t just wing her way through this. Now she had a child, there were responsibilities that she had to step up to.