Bella Osborne - Wildflower Park – Part Four

Published by Avon an imprint of

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street,

London, SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2019

Copyright © Bella Osborne 2018

Cover illustration © Kim Leo

Cover design © Cherie Chapman Book Design 2018

Bella Osborne asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008258221

Ebook Edition © June 2019 ISBN: 9780008258214

Version: 2019-04-01

For Patty – with love.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Acknowledgements

Keep Reading …

About the Author

Also by Bella Osborne

About the Publisher

Anna watched Sophie hugging her bump as she panted fast. This was it – she was going into labour in Wildflower Park in the middle of a fireworks display. It was dark and cold and the last place you’d want to give birth.

‘Right!’ said Anna and Hudson together, both appearing to want to take charge of the situation. Anna raised an eyebrow. ‘I’ll call Dave. You call an ambulance,’ instructed Anna. Hudson didn’t argue and got straight on his phone.

‘Dave. The baby’s on its way. Where the hell are you?’

‘Crap. I’m stuck in traffic about three miles from home. It’s total gridlock. Tell her to hold on,’ said Dave.

‘You can tell her,’ she said, holding the phone to Sophie’s ear for him to repeat his request.

‘Hold on? You f—’ Thankfully everything Sophie said was drowned out by the stream of fireworks whizzing into the sky.

‘Ambulance is on its way,’ said Hudson. ‘They’ll come to the main entrance. I’m guessing they’ll take her on a stretcher.’ The operator was still on the phone.

‘I don’t want to go on a stretcher,’ wailed Sophie. Anna felt for the ambulance crew; she was a whole lot of person to carry across the park.

Hudson must have been having the same thoughts. He whispered to Anna. ‘Can they manage her all the way from here?’

‘I heard that, you know!’ said Sophie and she started to groan loudly.

Anna swivelled round. ‘There aren’t many other options.’ She surveyed the vast crowd around them as the fireworks continued to crash and bloom above.

Hudson was speaking to the emergency services operator and his expression was grim. He whispered to Anna, ‘Ambulance is stuck in traffic. Gridlock. About three—’

‘Miles away,’ finished Anna. ‘Bugger. Dave’s stuck in the same traffic jam.’ Sophie let out a strangled cry. ‘We have to move her,’ Anna said, turning to Hudson. ‘Either to the main entrance or inside. She can’t stay here.’ Anna pointed to Sophie’s house. ‘That’s her house.’

Hudson thrust his phone at Anna. ‘I’ve got an idea.’ He squeezed his way through the immediate crowd and was swallowed by the darkness.

Anna rubbed Sophie’s back whilst listening to updates from the ambulance service and oohing and ahhing at the fireworks with Petal. It was multitasking at its most extreme.

She wished Hudson hadn’t left her. Every time Sophie winced she felt frightened and helpless. The fireworks display came to an impressive crescendo and the crowd in the park erupted into applause, including the children. With the fireworks over it was dark again and a wind whipped around them. Anna feared for the baby’s safety if it arrived now.

After a few minutes she heard Hudson’s voice over the crowd. The people started to disperse and Hudson emerged pushing a very old wheelbarrow. Sophie looked up. ‘Bloody hell. You have to be joking.’

‘You need to get to hospital,’ said Hudson and he pointed at the wheelbarrow. ‘Cinders, your carriage awaits.’

‘I am not going all the way in that thing.’

‘No, but we might be able to get you closer to the ambulance.’

Sophie’s face registered alarm. ‘I don’t think there’s time. It’s coming.’

Hudson rushed to her with the wheelbarrow, which was full of potato sacks. ‘Come on,’ he said, like it was the most normal thing to hop in a wheelbarrow. Sophie gave him a murderous glare but with a lot of help from him and Anna she clambered on board.

‘If this bollarding thing breaks.’

‘All stops to Birmingham hospital,’ said Hudson, and he set off across the park at an impressive pace.

‘My go next,’ shouted Arlo, clapping his hands.

Anna relayed the plan to the operator and they confirmed the ambulance was making progress and should be at the main gates in a few minutes. ‘Perfect timing,’ said Anna, herding the children after Hudson.

‘Arghhhhhhhhh!’ screamed Sophie.

‘Arghhhhhhhhh!’ hollered Hudson hitting a pothole and almost wrenching the barrow from his fingers. ‘Don’t you dare give birth in the wheelbarrow. I can’t push two of you.’

‘You’re about as funny as haemorrhoids,’ said Sophie, clamping her teeth together and making a strangled screech.

They could hear the approaching siren and it spurred them all on. The gates came into sight and blue lights flooded the entrance.

The paramedics quickly took over and within minutes Sophie was safely in the back of the ambulance. Anna went to get in with Petal in her arms and the paramedic stopped her. ‘Sorry, love, no children allowed in the ambulance.’

‘But they’re her children,’ protested Anna.

‘Doesn’t matter. Sorry.’