Tony Littlejohns: The Hoffmann Plague

Jamie hated seeing her in pain and felt helpless, but he held her hand throughout, wiping her forehead with a damp cloth regularly and encouraging her to breathe and push as Tom advised. Finally, after another hour, with one final push and a scream from Jane the baby emerged. Tom and Karen checked it over and declared her healthy and everything normal. The baby gave its first howl and Jamie and Jane burst into tears: on the sofa in the lounge Emma and Megan heard the sound and they started crying, too. Karen wrapped her up and passed her to Jane, who looked down at this miraculous creation in her arms, tears streaming down her face. Jamie mopped her sweat-covered forehead and she looked up at him with a pain-tinged but incredibly happy smile.

‘Look, Jamie; look what we’ve made! We’ve got a beautiful daughter. I love you so much, honey.’

Jamie was almost speechless, but he mumbled ‘I love you, too, Jane. I’m so proud of you,’ then bent down and kissed her. Jane passed the baby to him and he cradled her in his arms, gazing in wonder at his daughter and bending down to kiss her forehead.

‘Hello, my darling Annie,’ he said. ‘Welcome to the New World.’

© Tony Littlejohns 2018

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This is a work of fiction. All names and characters, other than those in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Most place names and locations are real, apart from a few which have been imagined for literary purposes.