Free The Baby Group by Rowan Coleman

laughing when he made her go ‘oomph’. She kissed her younger son all over his face while he giggled and shrieked for her to stop. She and Robert were the team captains of this wonderful, miraculous family. James, Iris, Alex and Hazel and even Gripper – they were why Robert worked such long hours; he did it for their children and for her. So she couldn’t complain that she missed him. She’d just have to live with it.
    Just then the doorbell went. Frances came into the living room wearing an apron with ‘How to be a Domestic Goddess’ printed on it.
    â€˜They’re here,’ she said.
    Meg hefted James back onto the floor and went to the door. Curiously, despite her bossiness, Frances was really quite shy and although she might happily come and take over Meg’s house without turning a hair, she would never dream of opening the door to people she didn’t know.
    â€˜Blimey,’ Natalie said, holding a Jamaican ginger cake in her hands like an offering. ‘You didn’t tell me you lived in a mansion – this house makes mine look like a bungalow.’
    Meg laughed as she stepped aside to let Natalie, Tiffany and then another woman in, together with three babies in buggies.
    â€˜This is Jess,’ Natalie said, kissing Meg on both cheeks with chilled lips. Tiffany just nodded at her and Jess held out a hand.
    â€˜Sorry for landing myself on your doorstep,’ Jess said. ‘Natalie found me looking vacant in the corner shop and decided I need rescuing from myself.’ She smiled sheepishly. ‘She was right. I think I was on the verge of forgetting how to use spoken language.’
    Meg smiled warmly at Jess. ‘More the merrier,’ she said, as she shepherded the procession of mothers, buggies and babies into the kitchen.
    â€˜Oh, I’ve got mud on your floor,’ Tiffany mumbled in dismay, looking at the tracks her buggy had left across the sparkling tiles. The fact that she obviously felt so uncomfortable and out of place was very evident.
    â€˜Oh don’t worry about it,’ Meg said breezily with a wave of her hand. ‘The dog will be in from the garden in a minute and she’ll mess up the whole place! You can park the babies in here, then if they start crying we can just lift them out, can’t we?’
    Meg caught Frances’s eye and hastily looked away again. ‘This is my sister-in-law Frances – Frances, this is Natalie, Tiffany and Jess.’
    Frances nodded stiffly at the new arrivals. ‘I’ll make coffee,’ she said, turning her back on the group and so excluding herself from having to make small talk.
    â€˜Have you actually baked?’ Natalie asked, sniffing the air as she took a seat at the table. ‘That makes my ginger cake look a bit lame.’
    Meg laughed. ‘That’s Frances, can’t you see – she’s a domestic goddess.’ Everyone laughed except Frances, who remained with her back to the group. Meg bit her lip; she knew she shouldn’t have made the silly joke, not about Frances. But she was feeling a bit awkward and shy herself and just wanted to get the conversation going.
    â€˜Well,’ she said, as Frances lifted little Henry from his tabletop haven and put him on a chair instead. ‘It is very nice to have some decent adult company again.’
    â€˜Hear, hear,’ Natalie agreed, raising her eyebrows as Frances carefully set a tray replete with a cafetière, mugs, sugar and even cream down on the table. ‘And in a nice clean house,’ she added. ‘My place is such a tip between me, Freddie and the electrician – it’s like Armageddon.’
    â€˜Oh that wasn’t Meg, that was me,’ Frances said, with an icy edge. She pointed at her apron. ‘Domestic goddess, see?’
    There was an awkward moment as everyone tried to work if Frances was attempting a joke or an insult. Not even Frances was exactly