Page 83 of The Half Sister

‘Make yourself comfortable and we’ll see what’s going on in there.’

He dims the lights as Kate lies down and her hand veers to her side, where it’s normally clutched tightly by Matt. But today it just falls listlessly into the abyss before she places it down on the bed. A single tear runs into her ear.

‘So how have you been feeling?’ asks Dr Williams.

‘Emotional,’ says Kate, honestly.

‘Ah, that is a universal symptom, I’m afraid,’ the doctor laughs. ‘And how’s your diet? Are you eating any better?’

‘Not as well as I’d like,’ comes a breathless voice.

‘Ah, you made it!’ says Dr Williams, through a wide grin. ‘Just in time.’

Matt immediately takes Kate’s hand in his. It feels warm and reassuring – her safe place in a storm – the very thing she needs most right now. He looks down and smiles at her. ‘I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,’ he says.

‘Thank you,’ mouths Kate, and Matt catches another tear that escapes towards her hairline before kissing her forehead.

‘Okay, so there’s baby,’ says Dr Williams, as a beating heartbeat reverberates around the room.

Matt’s face crumples as Kate looks up at him and in that moment, she knows that no matter what, they’ll find a way to get through this together. Because now there is so much more at stake than just him and her.

‘Have you got time for a coffee?’ Matt asks tentatively, as they step out into the sunshine afterwards.

Kate looks at her watch. She doesn’t know whether she wishes she did or not.

‘I promised I’d pop to Mum’s,’ she says. ‘Lauren’s meeting me there.’

‘Is it about...?’

She nods, neither of them needing him to finish the sentence.

‘Okay, but we obviously need to talk,’ says Matt. ‘Shall we catch up later? If it stays like this, maybe you can get off work early and we can go up to Greenwich Park.’

Kate smiles at the thought. They’ve always enjoyed lazy Sundays there, lying on a blanket, looking down on the ever-changing city they love. Kate can picture her head resting in Matt’s lap as he runs his hand over her swollen belly – the two of them excitedly talking through their birth plan.

They’d not really had conversations like that, not since the very beginning, when they’d naively thought that they’d get pregnant immediately. Though they probably wouldn’t be having conversations like that tonight either, as there were more pressing issues that needed to be discussed.

‘I’m sorry,’ says Matt. ‘I shouldn’t have...’

‘No,I’msorry,’ says Kate, cutting him off. ‘I’m expecting you to be telepathic. It’s not your fault.’

He nods and for a moment they stand there in the middle of the hospital concourse, as if weighing up the right thing to do next. Normally, in this situation, they wouldn’t think twice. They’d casually lean in towards one another and share a chaste kiss – a ‘see you soon’ peck that would send them both on their way, satisfied. But, right now, it feels as if there’s a six-foot brick wall between them.

‘Right then,’ says Matt awkwardly. ‘I’ll see you later then.’

‘Let’s aim for seven-ish,’ she says, keen to head off. She wants to be the first to get to her parents’ house to give her mother one last chance to be honest before Lauren shows up.

‘Oh, my darling, that’s wonderful news,’ shrills Rose as she hugs Kate to her. ‘Truly wonderful.’

The moment isn’t how Kate imagined it would be. After all that they’d been through to get pregnant, she dreamt of her and Matt announcing their news together at a celebratory family gathering. Not on her own, on her mother’s doorstep, earlier than she’d wanted to. But if Jess hadn’t have forced her hand, she wouldn’t be in this position.

Rose holds Kate at arm’s length, looking at her as if through new eyes. ‘You are going to make the most amazing mum,’ she says.

‘It’s funny,’ says Kate, as tears immediately spring to her eyes. ‘I’ve waited all this time, but now it’s here, I feel nervous and a little bit scared.’

‘That’s only natural,’ says Rose, as she leads her inside and into the living room. ‘But I promise you, as soon as this little one comes along, it will all fall into place.’

‘How will I know what to do?’ asks Kate.

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