Chapter Forty-Six

Maeve

"No news is good news," Loncey says to me yet again as I chew on my lip and keep my eyes fixed on the double doors I am told they hurried Jenna, Marty and their baby through. We arrived less than a half hour after the ambulance, a good two hours ago, but still we haven't received an update.

It all happened so quickly. Not just the birth but the chaos afterwards as the paramedics managed to help Jenna down the stairs and into the ambulance wearing just her dressing gown. Marty followed barely two steps behind her, carrying his daughter all wrapped up in towels. My dad threw their bags into the ambulance after them and then they were off, leaving the four of us standing and staring at each other in shock. But somehow we gathered ourselves and got in the car and made it here.

With his head tipped back against the wall, Dad is dozing in a chair to my right and next to him Ma has her head buried in a magazine but she's had the same pages open for many long minutes. Loncey is sitting on my left and they've generously given me their arm to hold and rest my head on. I'm not tired, as such, at least not to sleep. I feel physically exhausted from what I witnessed and I'm mentally drained from swinging between thinking the worst to hoping and fuck it, even praying for the very best. And I know I'm not the only one because my mother has been tellingly quiet for the last hour or so, and while my dad may look like he's sleeping, his knuckles are still pale with how fiercely he's gripping his phone in his hand.

And Loncey. Loncey has stayed with us through it all. Distracting us with stories about Jessica, with questions about Dublin and what they should see and do, with enquiries about my father's former business and far more knowledge about yoga than I thought they had once my Mam shared how that's her favourite pastime.

But now, even Loncey is quiet, other than whispering a few reassuring words to me. They must be bored to tears.

"I'm sorry this isn't the fun first day in Dublin you were hoping for," I say to them as I sit up straight in my chair.

"Are you kidding me? I just witnessed new life being born!"

My phone buzzes in my hand. I've barely looked at it other than messaging Jake and Arabella to keep them updated. I hold it up and see Jake's name displayed.

"Stand by," I say more to myself than anyone, and then I answer it.

"What's happening!? I need to know!"

"Jake I texted you twenty minutes ago with an update," I explain.

"Exactly. That was twenty minutes ago! A lot can happen in twenty minutes!"

"Well, nothing has happened in the last twenty minutes here," I say.

Jake groans. "I can't believe I'm not there."

"You will be soon. She'll still be all tiny and cute as a button then."

Jake's voice drops. "I'm sure she will but actually, Maeve, I wish I was there for Jenna."

My heart warms. "I know. She wishes you were here too. Actually, where are you right now?"

"Cape Town. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. I'm currently watching Rami do his meditation on our hotel room balcony, topless I hasten to add. And yet I'm fucking miserable. I don't want to be here. I want to be there!"

"How many more—" I don't finish my question because the double doors push open and Marty is standing there, looking like he's just been dropped off by aliens. He looks at us with wide eyes and a slightly parted mouth. I study every centimetre of his face looking for a hint that everything is okay, looking for a sign that the baby's okay. That Jenna is okay.

And finally, it comes. He meets my eyes and he smiles. Broad, bright and unapologetic. It's a classic Marty smile and for the first time in my life, I think it's the most brilliant grin in the universe.

I'm not the first to stand. Mam is up on her feet and halfway to Marty before I'm out of my chair and my dad is not long after her.

"Oh, my boy," I hear Ma say before Marty pulls her into a hug. "Are you okay?"

"I'm grand, Ma," he says into her hair. "Everything is grand."

"They're both okay?" Dad says and I've never heard more hope in his voice.

"They're both okay," Marty confirms and my heart, my stomach, my whole body feels like it leaps a mile in the air. "Our little girl… she's perfect. And Jenna… she's fucking perfect too."

Mam steps back from Marty and Dad is quick to shake his hand, pulling him into an embrace. I feel Loncey's arm curl around my shoulders as we both watch.

"Do you want to come meet her properly?" Marty asks.

We all chorus in the affirmative but then I hear another squeaky voice.

"Oh, shit, Jake!" I bring the phone back to my ear.

"What the fuck, Maeve!"

"Sorry, Jake, Marty just stepped out and well, Jenna's okay." I look at Marty and he nods confirmation again. "Both the baby and Jenna are doing fine."

"Thank fuck for that." Jake's exhale reverberates down the phone. "Can we switch to a video call so I can see her too?"

"Sure, I mean, yeah," I lower the phone and ask Marty, "Is it okay for Jake to be on FaceTime as we come in?"

"I think it would make Jenna very happy." Marty nods.

I hold my phone out, the screen and front camera facing forward and after I tap a button, Jake's face pops up on the screen. His cheeks are a little red with sunburn and his hair is lighter than when I last saw it.

"Look at you, Uncle Jake," I say."Good to see you too, Aunty Maeve." He grins back.

"Let's go." I keep the phone up as I follow Marty back through the double doors. He's holding Mam's hand and Dad looks at me before wrapping his arm over my shoulder. Turning back, I catch a quick glimpse of Loncey standing still back near our chairs.

"Well, come on with you!" I call out.

"No, Maeve, I should stay here. This is for family."

I step out of Dad's embrace and walk back to Loncey, the phone still held out probably as much out of habit than anything else.

"But you are…" I pause as the next word suddenly feels too heavy to speak. I try again. "I feel like you are my family. Is that wrong?"

Loncey's face breaks into a big smile and they don't look like I've said anything wrong at all. "That's not wrong. That's… awesome. But really, Maeve, this is your family's first time meeting me. I don't want to intrude and—"

"Are they coming or what?" Da calls out to me from the double doors and I watch Loncey lose their trail of thought.

"See, we want you here, with us," I say.

"And I want to meet my niece!" Another squawk erupts out of my phone.

"Okay, well," Loncey shifts their weight from one foot to another, "let's go."

"Hi, I'm Jake, by the way. You're very attractive," Jake says, a lot less angry now.

"Loncey. A pleasure to meet you. You're also very attractive."

"Well, funny you should say that, I upgraded my skincare routine recently and I—"

I spin the phone around to face me again. "Shut up, Jake. Let's go meet our niece."