Page 35 of North (The Moral Compass 2)

“So, you’re not going back to France, then?”

“No, well…” My head spins between Sutton and North. Oh, fuck it. “Well, I have to go back to get my things. There is no rush, though, and I will only be gone a few days.”

“Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Owww. Shit, that hurt.” Sutton groans as she rubs the side of her stomach. I don’t get a chance to look at North, but I hear him tapping on his phone.

“Are you okay, Sut?” I ask gingerly.

“Do I fucking look okay? I have three human beings growing inside me, my arse is the size of a small country, and now they decide that they are going to kick the shit out of Mamma just for the fun of it!” she yells. I stand back away from her. Okay, pregnancy hormones on full throttle.

“You know, I’m going to head home. The car is downstairs waiting, and I only came up to see—oh shit, fuck, that hurts.” She bends over holding her stomach, and then North’s worst fears become real. Her waters break. All over the pristine white carpet.

“Don’t you come over here, North! Stay over there. You cannot look at this!” I yell over to where he is now looking out the window on his phone.

“Ah, man, please tell me there is no fucking blood!” he yells back. I start to laugh, but then I look at Sutton and her bright-red face and realise that we are all pretty much in the shit. She’s gone into labour. Early!

It is so weird how North knows things. The call he was on was to the ambulance and within fifteen minutes, both Sutton and I were on our way to the hospital. North follows behind with Sutton’s driver, and West meets us in the specialist maternity unit. Sutton is wheeled straight through a set of double doors.

“Kara, Kara don’t leave me!” she shouts.

“Okay, I’ll be right there!” I look at North who is now very pale and looking like he could pass out at any moment. “Hey, Big Man, sit down here, and I’ll be back in a while. I’ll just go and get her settled, okay?”

He sits down in the waiting area. “Thank fuck you don’t want me to go in there. I can’t do that, Kara. I’d be gone.” He rubs his face and tips his head forward.

North has blood phobia. He passes out cold at the sight of blood, and the thought that he could see blood makes it worse. I get him a plastic cup of water and rub his shoulder.

“I promise I won’t be long.”

Once through the double doors, I don’t feel as confident as I did before. I can hear women groaning in pain and people rushing around. Nurses in dark-blue uniforms are moving quickly around me.

“Are you Kara?” a midwife asks.

“Yeah, I’m here with Sutton Smith.”

“Okay, follow me. I’m Tina, and I’ll be looking after Sutton tonight.” I just nod. Jesus, this is weird.

The room is full of machines, and Sutton has pads all over her belly. The monitor is bleeping like crazy. West looks at me with fury in his eyes. I know right now he blames me for the babies coming early. He has hold of Sutton’s hand and is rubbing her knuckles as another contraction hits.

“Take your fucking hands off me, will you? Holding my hand isn’t going to take the fucking pain away, is it? No! You got me in this fucking state, so you can quit giving Kara the evil fucking eye. Oh, and just so you know, you are never ever,everputting your dick anywhere near me ever again. Got it? Understand?Comprendre?”

The midwife chuckles as she checks a few things on the machine and clicks a few buttons here and there. God knows what she’s doing, but I watch in awe. She is like a machine. Check this, do that, move this.

“So, it’s safe to say those babies are on their way. You’re thirty-two weeks, and it is a little early. We would have liked them to stay put slightly longer, but they look a bit impatient. So, how about we go through those double doors and go and meet your babies?” She smiles at Sutton, and I could just cry.

West is holding Sutton’s hand again as some more people enter the room. Blue overalls and caps and shoe covers are given to West and the midwife as I stand and watch. Everything moves around me in slow motion as they unhook some of the machines and wheel her out of the room.

Oh, I hope everything is going to be okay. I don’t realise straight away, but I’ve crossed my fingers on both hands. The room is quiet, and I realise I am alone, so I head back to North who now looks a lot better.

The clock on the wall says 18:40, and I wonder how long it will take. I don’t want to ask because they all seem so busy, so I check the internet. An hour. One hour. I can’t sit still. I pace, I sit, and I pace some more, all the time praying that they will all be okay. I can’t even think about any other outcome. I watch the clock tick by, and 19:40 comes and goes. North has joined me in the pacing and the muttering, and at 20:10, the double doors fling open to a man who can only be described as a blubbering mess.

“They are girls! I have three beautiful daughters!” he cries. “They are perfect, so tiny but perfect. Sutton is absolutely amazing.”

“Are they all okay?” I ask, and he nods, grabbing both North and me and pulling us in so tight. He eventually lets go, grabs our hands, and leads us back to the delivery area.

“Where’s Sutton?” I ask, and he points to a door.

“She’s asleep. It’s really taken it out of her, and they are monitoring her constantly, but look. Look through this window here. Those three pink blankets at the back? They are our babies. Our girls,” he whispers.

“What have you called them?”

---