Free Ivy Lane: Winter: by Cathy Bramley Page A

Lane for months.
    ‘Promise me we’ll still be BFFs when the baby comes,’ I whispered as she returned my hug.
    ‘Promise,’ she said, kissing my cheek. ‘And I don’t think we’ll have long to wait for that to happen,’ she added in a faint whisper close to my ear.
    Which didn’t sound at all worrying . . .
    I glanced at her sharply but she gave me a don’t-say-a-word look.
    ‘How are you feeling, father-to-be?’ I said, releasing Gemma to kiss Mike.
    ‘Excited, nervous and scared witless.’ He shot a smile of pure adoration at Gemma.
    ‘Aww,’ said Gemma and I at the same time.
    ‘You go in, love, I just want a quick word with Tilly,’ said Gemma, nudging her husband towards the door.
    ‘A quick word,’ said Mike with a frown, ‘it’s too cold out here for you.’
    She rolled her eyes and he reluctantly left us to it.
    ‘He’s right,’ I said. My lips had started to go numb and as Christmassy as it was on the porch, standing under the mistletoe might actually be construed as looking a teeny bit desperate. ‘Let’s go in.’
    ‘Oof!’ Gemma bent forward, leaning her hand on the porch railings, and started to pant.
    ‘Gemma?’
    She held her hand up to silence me. I shut up and stared.
    As soon as she was able to talk again she glanced over her shoulder to check we were still alone. ‘Tilly, don’t say a word, but I’m in labour,’ she hissed.
    Only Gemma could come up with a sentence like that.
    ‘Well, yes, I gathered that much,’ I hissed back. I began to breathe rapidly with her. I had a woman in labour right here. It was all I could do not to scream for Mike, for help, for anyone, but she’d asked me not to. ‘Are you completely mad?’
    ‘Oh, I’ll be ages yet,’ she said airily now that the contraction had passed. ‘There’s no need to panic and if I’d mentioned it to Mike, there’s no way he’d have let me come to the party.’
    ‘Well, no and rightly so, I’d say.’
    ‘Oh Tilly, you are sweet,’ she smiled breathlessly, ‘but this is my only Christmas party and I bought this maternity tent-dress especially for it and if I’d gone into hospital I’d have missed out on wearing it. But don’t worry. I’ve organized for Mia to spend the night at a friend’s and I’ve got my hospital bag in the car. We’ll just go straight there from here. It’ll be a doddle!’
    ‘And very lovely you look too,’ I said. ‘But I’m really not sure this is the best place for you.’
    ‘Oh it is,’ she said, widening her eyes. ‘At home I’d just be pacing around worrying. The party will take my mind of it for the next couple of hours.’
    She scrunched up her face and bent over again as another contraction hit her. She reached into a pocket in her coat and brought out a little controller.
    ‘Full blast this time, I think,’ she muttered.
    I recognized the white square in her hand from research into my own pregnancy, it was a TENS machine, designed to give gentle pain relief. I frowned. I hoped it was up to the job of disguising full-on labour from everyone including her husband at the party.
    ‘Are you sure about this?’ I said as soon as the pain passed.
    She nodded and took my arm.
    ‘Merry Christmas, everyone!’ she yelled as we walked into the pavilion together. She turned to me and tapped her nose. ‘Mum’s the word.’ She winked at me, sucked in her breath and went over to join Mike.
    Thirty minutes later I was on my second mulled wine and had really started to enjoy myself. I’d had several compliments about my dress and many more about the party itself.
    ‘I love the Secret Santa idea, Tilly,’ said Vicky, clinking her wine glass against mine. ‘Cheers!’
    ‘Cheers,’ I responded and took a warming sip. Vicky was looking ravishing tonight in a red velvet blazer, black trousers and spiky heels.
    ‘It’s always a bit awkward trying to second guess who on the allotment will give you a Christmas present and who won’t,’ she added. ‘This is a