Nicola Barker - The Yips

‘Romance?!’ Sheila echoes, amused by Gene’s use of the old-fashioned term.

‘His Line of Heart curved down from the base of the Mount of Jupiter,’ Gene explains, ‘which generally indicates a lack of perception — no judge of character — naivety — the prospect of great disappointment in love — so I said I thought he would find love, but in a completely unexpected way, in a completely unexpected time and place.’

‘Suitably vague and enigmatic,’ Sheila commends him.

‘Then not content with that, he asked me if he would ever marry or have a child.’

‘Please tell me you didn’t …’ Sheila’s wincing.

‘I just told him what the hand said.’

‘What did the hand say?’

‘There were no clear signs either way about marriage, but the hand definitely implied that he would have one child.’

‘Boy or girl?’ Sheila wonders, jaded.

‘The line was very faded so I guessed a girl.’

‘Was he happy with that?’

‘He went very quiet for a minute or so and then he said that he thought that the child Esther — Ransom’s manager — had just had, baby Prudence, was his child.’

‘ What?! ’ Sheila’s eyes widen. ‘They slept together?’

‘Once.’ Gene nods, turning slightly as his mobile phone starts ringing again from inside his jacket pocket in the hall.

‘Wow!’ Sheila’s still coming to terms with this revelation.

‘I know.’ Gene sighs.

‘No wonder you look ill.’ She laughs.

Gene doesn’t laugh.

‘That’s not why I look ill,’ he starts off, haltingly.

‘I’ve just accepted a job in the Caribbean,’ Sheila interrupts.

Gene stares at her, dumbstruck.

Esther is propped up in bed, chatting away on her phone, looking worn but happy (and considerably less bulky), a newborn baby snuggled into the crook of her arm.

‘Girl!’ she’s saying proudly. ‘All a’ ten pound!’

This brief look of womanly contentment falters for a second when she espies her younger sister, Victoria, striding across the ward towards her, her face like thunder.

‘Me better go …’ she murmurs.

‘What a’ hell possess you, Esther?!’ Victoria demands, slamming to a halt at the base of the bed, pointing at the phone, accusingly. ‘That him there?’

‘What up wid you all a sudden, Vicki?’ Esther hastily terminates the call.

‘Him happy now?’ Vicki follows up, still glowering. ‘Him gonna take you back? Huh? Now you done all his dirty work?’

She snatches Esther’s phone and inspects the tiny screen, holding it close to her face, trying to make sense of it.

‘Calm yourself!’ Esther hisses, glancing around the ward, embarrassed. Vicki tosses the phone on to the coverlet, disgusted, then proceeds to draw the curtain around the bed.

‘Me can’t believe you blabbed!’ she yells, once the rest of the ward has been neatly obliterated by a pale swathe of stiff fabric. ‘Me own sister!’

‘Blabbed where?’

Esther places a finger to her lips, scowling, to warn her sister from disturbing the baby.

‘Stuart Ransom! Where else?!’ Vicki bellows.

The baby opens its eyes, with a milky hiccup.

‘Blabbed how?’ Esther stutters, using her nightdress to pat the corner of the child’s mouth.

‘Me need a’ go!’ Vicki starts pacing, manically. ‘Me want a’ go, now …’

She leans over and tries to grab the baby.

‘ Victoria! ’ Esther exclaims, pushing her away. ‘You crazy?!’

‘You not hearin’ me, Esther!’ Vicki exclaims. ‘The man know about Israel! He find out about him son!’

Esther gazes at her, in stunned silence, then: ‘Na-ah.’ She shakes her head. ‘Na-ah.’ She shakes it again.

‘You ever met a girl call Jen in your travel?’ Vicki demands.

‘Jen?’ Esther’s bemused.

‘Blonde girl. Skinny. Work at the hotel?’

Esther’s uncomprehending. She frowns down at the baby as if — by some miracle — this tiny, newborn scrap might contain some of the answers.

‘Well she been minding Israel for the day,’ Vicki runs on, ‘took him to some drum class — some dance class — or so me thought. Turn out she took him to the golf course instead.’

Esther’s chin shoots up. Her eyes widen. ‘Wha’ happen?’ she asks, hoarsely.

Vicki shrugs. ‘Something and nothing.’

Esther leans over, wincing, and gently places baby Prudence into the crib by her bed.

‘Please tell me this some bad joke,’ she whispers.

Vicki shakes her head.

‘What Israel say?’

Vicki shrugs.

‘Who this girl?’ Esther demands. ‘Where she now?’

‘Boot a’ my car.’ Vicki crosses her arms, defensively.

Esther stares at her, brows raised. ‘What she doin’ there, Vicki?’

Vicki shrugs again.

‘You kidnap her?’

‘A’ push her in me boot, an’ a’ drove her here.’

‘You hurt her?’

‘ Wha?! ’ Vicki sucks her tongue.

Esther stares at her, warily, trying to make some loose semblance of sense out of the situation.

‘Him want custody, now?’ Vicki demands. ‘After fourteen long year? Tell me, Esther!’

‘Oh Lord!’ Esther leans forward on the bed, clutching on to her stomach like her belly is aching. ‘It all over — a’ screwed!’ she mutters. ‘A’ screwed now, for sure!’

The baby starts to wail, plaintively. Vicki goes to inspect it.

‘This him pickney, an’ all?’ she asks, pointing, wrinkling up her nose.

Esther shakes her head.

‘Then who this poor baby’s father?’ Vicki demands.

‘Nobody,’ Esther growls, ‘just some random fool.’

‘You got a fool for your baby-father?!’ Vicki sucks her tongue again.

‘Come down here a minute.’

Esther points to a chair by the bed, her expression grave.

Vicki doesn’t move.

‘PARK YOURSELF!’ Esther yells, slapping the seat.

Vicki sits, glowering.

‘Me got something me need to get off me chest,’ Esther starts off.

‘Me already know what you done!’ Vicki springs up again, with a glare.

‘You not know it all’ — Esther shakes her head, speaking softly, mournfully — ‘trust me.’

Vicki scowls and grudgingly returns to her seat.

‘All right …’ Esther prepares herself. ‘All right. So …’

She raises her eyes.

‘Everything okay in here, ladies?’

A cheerful, Irish nurse pops her head through the curtain. Both sisters turn and glower at her, in unison.

‘I’ll take that as a yes, shall I?’

She rapidly withdraws again.

‘All right …’ Esther starts off, then falters, then laboriously clears her throat.

‘Spit it out!’ Vicki grumbles, instantly impatient. ‘Me not got all day, here!’

‘All right …’ Esther shields her eyes with her hand as she speaks. ‘Me never tell Ransom you was pregnant, Vicki,’ she murmurs.

Vicki frowns at her, not quite following.

‘Me never tell him. Ransom never knew.’

‘ What?! Of course you tell him!’ Vicki springs to her feet again, sneering. ‘Of course you tell him! Him left money for the clinic!’

‘Them dollar was mine. Me never tell him. He never knew.’

Short silence.

‘Why?’ Vicki finally demands, still not fully comprehending.

‘We had plans — him and me — we two — then you happen along …’

She shrugs.

‘Plans?’ Vicki echoes.

‘Me had a bond wid him, Vicki, a relationship, a partnership. It was bigger than just …’ She shrugs again.

‘You hook up?’ Vicki’s breathless, winded, trapped in a foreign landscape between fury and heartbreak. ‘Gi bun wid him?’