Free The New Samurai by Jane Harvey-Berrick Page B

took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focussing instead on the talons digging into his skin.
    Then with a long sigh, Sylvie’s grip relaxed. The midwife smiled and Sam felt the blood returning to his arm. He looked round as a purple, slimy-looking baby was placed wriggling on Sylvie’s belly.
    Sam collapsed in a chair, breathing heavily. He stared at Sylvie, stunned by the look of ecstasy on her face. The baby squalled softly.
    “Well done, mum,” said the midwife, her voice calm and pleased. “You’ve got a glorious baby girl.”
    “A girl!” said Sylvie, more tears pouring down her face, this time for joy. “A girl! Oh, Sam!”
    She smiled up at him and he felt tears of his own gathering in his eyes. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and held her hand, gently now.
    “Well done, Sylvie. You were amazing!”
    “Thank you, Sam!” she wept. “Thank you so much.”
    Two health care assistants arrived to clean Sylvie up, and Sam was told to make himself scarce and get a coffee. He wandered off to find a vending machine, his limbs feeling oddly disconnected.
    The hot, sweet drink was reviving. By the time he got back, he was feeling more like himself, though still strangely light-headed. Of course, he hadn’t eaten anything since lunchtime: that was surely the reason. He wondered abstractedly if Elle had enjoyed her meal.
    When he returned, Sylvie was sitting up in the narrow bed, a tiny baby wrapped in white, resting in her arms. The look of astonishment on her face was hilarious and wonderful and amazing. Sam pulled out his phone and took a quick snap while she wasn’t looking: Wayne would really want to see this.
    He sat down next to her and she looked up at him with shining, exhausted eyes.
    “Wow!” said Sam, gingerly stroking one finger down the baby’s cheek.
    “I know,” said Sylvie. “Wow!”
    They sat in silence, marvelling at the funny little bundle who had so suddenly arrived in the world.
    Sylvie was drifting off to sleep when a grey-faced Wayne came careering through the doors.
    “Where… what… is…?” he stuttered.
    “She’s fine,” whispered Sam. “They both are. Congratulations – dad!”
    Wayne gaped like a goldfish and Sam patted him on the shoulder. He sort of knew how he felt. Sam stepped silently out of the room and let the little family be together for the first time.
    As Sam drove home from the hospital, the lightening sky and orangey-pink clouds heralded dawn. There was absolutely no point in going to bed. Instead he stood under the chilly shower as long as he could bear it, hoping the bone-shattering cold would wake him up enough for a day at the chalk face, even if it couldn’t make up for lack of sleep.
    Truthfully, he was still in a state of near shock that had little to do with a sleepless night. Being so close to new life: it had an intensity that had caught him unawares. His mind drifted back to the look of adoration on Sylvie’s face as she gazed at her new baby daughter. She’d seemed a new person: someone entirely unfamiliar to him – she’d been a mother.
    Sam drove to school in a daze and trudged into the staffroom, heading straight for the kettle and the strongest coffee he could find.
    “God! You look awful!” said a voice from one of the overstuffed armchairs.
    He looked round.
    “Thanks, Julie. Good to know.”
    She smiled. “Seriously! Rough night? You look like you haven’t slept.”
    “I didn’t,” he said, then felt his face start to redden when he realised how that sounded, what with the previous day having been Valentine’s Day. “I mean… I was with Sylvie: the baby came early. A little girl – they’re going to call her Bella.”
    Instantly Sam found himself surrounded by the female staff, all demanding details.
    “So you were actually there,” said Julie, wrinkling her nose slightly, as Sam finished his description of their hectic dash to the hospital and the birth itself – the parts he could bring himself to describe. “How