Will wheeled the pram through to the kitchen, which Sheena soon discovered was the main hub of the house as it contained an enormous wooden family table and ten chairs. A woman was sitting on a stool at the kitchen bench; Mary was calling to her husband, who was busy hammering in the backyard, and children were running everywhere. The smell of a freshly brewed pot of coffee filled the air, along with chocolate-chip cookies, which were cooling on a rack.
As Will rushed forward to greet the woman who she quickly realised was not only one of his sisters but also six months pregnant, Sheena clutched her hands to her chest and nodded. This was right. This was what it should be like. All noise and laughter and smiles and talking, everyone mingling with each other but still somehow understanding what was going on. This was family … a
real
family.
Ellie wriggled, eager to be free from the pram, and Sheena instantly unclipped her from the safety harness. Mary was the first to hold out her hands, eager for a cuddle with the baby. Will instructed his mother on the best way to hold her and how to be careful of the bandaging that was still in place beneath Ellie’s pretty cotton dress.
Ten minutes later Sarah awoke on her usual default setting of crying loudly for attention. Thankfully for her, she had plenty of people there just waiting to give it. Stephen begged for a cuddle and, just as she did with Will, Sarah settled almost instantly.
‘She likes the men,’ Sheena whispered to Will, then frowned humorously. ‘That might be a worry one day.’
He chuckled and slipped his arm about her shoulders. ‘We’ll cope.’
We’ll
cope? She tried to remain cool, calm and collected at his words, aware that he might not have even realised he’d said ‘we’. However, it did make her wonder that even if Will was really serious about their burgeoning relationship, was
she
really ready to move forward?
She wanted Will in her life, almost to the point of desperation, but was she really any good for him? She’d loved him so much all those years ago that she’d had to let him go. She’d known he’d wanted a family and that she hadn’t been able to give it to him.
Well, now she
could
give him a family but what if he wanted more children? His sister was pregnant with her fourth child and from the photographs around the house it was clear that his other siblings also had gone forth and multiplied.
There was absolutely no guarantee that she’d ever be able to conceive again. Her doctors had told her that her pregnancy with Ellie and Sarah had been a miracle. Even
they
weren’t quite sure how it had happened. It gave her hope. Hope that one day she’d be able to have Will’s baby.
Will deserved to have a whole gaggle of children. He deserved to live in a house like this, one filled with photographs and toys and miscellaneous paraphernalia. He deserved this life … and she simply didn’t know if she was capable of giving it to him.
L
UNCH
with his parents and his sister Anna was such a laid-back, relaxed affair that instead of feeling highly self-conscious, Sheena found herself laughing along with the others. Compared to the stiff dinner parties she’d occasionally been allowed to attend with her parents, the Beckman clan carried on as though they were from another planet. Or perhaps it was
her
upbringing that had been out of this world? What she was experiencing with them was normal and it was the type of upbringing she was determined to give her girls.
Throughout the morning she’d talked with Will’s sister, asking about Jesse, who was running about the place, and little Lester, who had only been walking for the past three months. She’d watched Mary give Ellie a bottle and had been astounded when Stephen had offered to change Sarah’s nappy.
‘Along with Mary, I’ve raised five of my own and I wasn’t one of those old-fashioned fathers who stepped back and let the wife do everything. No, siree. I was in there, changing nappies, bathing babies, cleaning up messes and fixing toys.’
‘A hands-on dad,’ Sheena had said with a laugh as she’d accepted Sarah so she could feed her. Ellie had been almost done with the bottle and Mary had cradled her carefully, humming a sweet song. Ellie’s eyes had closed, content that everything was perfectly fine in her little world.
‘Have you had enough milk for both of them?’ Anna asked now as she collected Lester and held him on her side, careful to avoid her baby bump.
‘I have. I’ve been very fortunate in that area.’
‘That’s good. With this one.’ she inclined her head towards Lester ‘… my milk dried up within a month. Then again, he was a whopping ten pounds, seven ounces when he was born
and
he was a week early!’
‘A healthy baby indeed,’ Sheena remarked as Anna yawned.
‘I think I’ll go have a lie-down and get the boys to have a rest. If I’m not up when you leave, may I just say that it was lovely meeting you and your girls, Sheena.’
‘Thanks. It was wonderful to meet you, too,’ she said, smiling brightly.
‘Would you mind if we popped into the hospital to visit? I’d love you to meet my husband and my eldest boy. He’ll be sorry he missed meeting you all.’
‘Of course. I’d be delighted.’
Anna nodded and headed off just as Will brought Sheena a cup of tea. He set it down on the table before sitting next to her, putting his arm about her shoulders as she continued to feed Sarah.
‘Ellie’s sound asleep,’ he said, glancing over to where his mother was reclined in her chair, Ellie asleep with her head on Mary’s shoulder. ‘And Dad’s eager to have another hold of Sarah once you’ve finished feeding her.’
Stephen had gone off to help Anna settle her two boys but had already promised to return for another cuddle with Sarah. ‘They really love children, don’t they?’ she said.
‘Absolutely. They’re very involved with their grandchildren and helping out my siblings whenever they need them.’
Sheena turned to look at him. ‘They’re amazing people, Will. You’re so blessed to have them.’
‘We
could be blessed together, Sheena. The four of us. You, me, Ellie and Sarah.’
Sheena swallowed over the lump in her throat. ‘A family?’
‘Yes.’
‘But, Will … what if I can’t have any more children? You deserve to have more, to be a hands-on dad just like your own father and be involved in your children’s lives. I can’t give you that prom—’
Will leaned over and kissed her mouth. ‘You taste so sweet, so perfect,’ he murmured against her mouth, breaking away for a second so both of them could drag in a breath.
‘It’s always like this when I’m with you. So powerful. So perfect,’ she added, her words breathless as she leaned towards him, eager to have his mouth on hers once more. He didn’t disappoint her but he did manage to slow it down a little, to ease the frenzy of the kisses both of them seemed to need so desperately.
She was close. His mouth was on hers, his tongue tracing the edge of her lips, tasting her, tantalising her to distraction. She moaned a little sigh against him and sank deeper into his arms. He held her close, thrilled at the way she was responding to him, elated that he could still affect her in such a way and delighted that he’d been handed a second chance to do so.
‘You can’t always kiss me into submission every time I’m saying something you don’t agree with,’ she murmured, trying not to disturb Sarah, who was almost asleep as she finished feeding.
‘Why not? Don’t you enjoy it?’ He waggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively, and she smiled at him and shook her head.
‘Put your arrogance away and be serious. What if I—?’
A loud, ear-splitting scream filled the air, piercing their quiet solitude, cutting off what Sheena had been about to say. After the scream came an almighty crash, as though a car had just driven through the front of the house.
Will sprang to his feet, heading in the direction of the noise. Sarah jumped, then pulled away, spluttering and crying at being disturbed. Sheena quickly buttoned her top and by the time she’d shifted Sarah to her shoulder and then stood, Mary was by her side, arms opened wide to receive the babe.
‘Ellie’s still asleep. I’ve put her in the pram,’ the experienced grandmother said.
‘Jesse? Jesse?’ They could hear Anna calling throughout the house and a moment later Lester’s cries filled the air as the baby woke from his sleep because of the commotion.
‘Give me Sarah and go and see if Will needs help. Stephen will look after Lester.’
Sheena nodded and handed her grizzling daughter to Mary. Will was moving through the four-bedroomed house like lightning, opening and closing doors to check that everything was all right … until he came to Stephen’s study.
‘The door’s jammed shut,’ he said when he saw Sheena in the hallway.
‘Jesse?’ Anna came into the hallway from one of the rooms where she’d put Lester down for a nap. ‘Where’s Jesse?’ She was as white as a sheet. ‘He fell asleep with me on the bed but he’s not there. Will?’ Anna was starting to panic as Will and Sheena tried to push open the door to Stephen’s study.
‘It’s jammed,’ Will said. ‘Something is blocking the way.’
‘We’ll have to get in through the window,’ Sheena said. She could hear Sarah still crying in the front room and Mary singing to her. Lester was crying in one of the nearby bedrooms and Stephen was attempting to calm his grandson down. Anna looked so pale that Will quickly helped her to sit on the floor.
‘We’ll find him. We’ll sort everything out,’ he reassured his little sister, before heading outside to get a ladder. Sheena stood in the hallway, and the noise surrounding her started subsiding. She heard a small whimper coming from Stephen’s study.
‘Jesse?’ she called with calm authority. ‘Jesse? Can you hear me?’
Another whimper was her only reply but it was proof that he was in there and as they were unable to open the door, it was logical to surmise that something had fallen down, pinning Jesse and blocking the doorway.
‘Jesse, I want you to stay very still. OK? Just like a statue. Uncle Will and I are coming to get you.’
‘Jesse? Jesse?’ Anna was panicking and there was the hint of mild hysteria in her tone. Sheena instantly turned to face the young mother.
‘Anna.’ She placed her hands reassuringly on Anna’s shoulders, trying to calm her down. If Jesse heard the panic in his mother’s voice, it might make him more upset and he could do things that could cause him further damage, especially if he was pinned under something heavy. ‘He’s in there. I can hear him. My guess is that he’s trapped beneath whatever is blocking the door but it’s of the utmost importance that we keep him calm and still until Will can get to him. You can speak to him but you
must
remain calm and controlled.’
‘Yes. Yes.’ Anna tried to breathe in and out more slowly. Stephen appeared in the hallway a moment later, a pink-cheeked, wet-eyed Lester in his arms.
‘Sheena!’ Will called from the front of the house. ‘Sheena, I need you out here.’
‘Coming,’ she called, then turned to look from Stephen to Anna. ‘Jesse needs to stay calm and still. Just talk to him, let him hear your voices. Reassure him.’
‘Right you are, Sheena,’ Stephen replied, nodding wisely. Sheena quickly headed out the front door, where she found Will positioning a small stepladder near the partially open front window, which was situated a metre and a half from the ground.
‘I can’t get it open too far due to the locks on the window but it should be wide enough for you to squeeze through,’
Will said.
‘OK.’ She instantly climbed the ladder, glad she’d decided to wear trousers instead of a skirt, and shifted sideways, putting her foot up on the window ledge. Pushing aside the curtains, she shimmied and squeezed her way through the small gap, almost getting stuck a few times and knocking over something that had been positioned near the window, but within a few minutes she was through.
‘The bookshelf has come down,’ she called as she turned and unlocked the window from the inside so that Will could push it open the rest of the way and climb through to help her. ‘Jesse? It’s Sheena. Uncle Will’s friend. Just stay still, sweetheart,’ she called calmly, still unsure exactly where the little boy was.
‘Good heavens!’ Will said as he climbed through the window, almost tripping over a mountain of books on the floor. ‘Dad. I’m going to need your help in lifting this bookshelf.’ Will spoke in a tone that was calm and controlled yet the hint of urgency was evident in what needed to be done.
‘Right you are, son,’ came Stephen’s calm voice.
‘What’s happening?’ Anna said from the other side of the door. ‘Is he all right? Jesse?’
At the sound of his mother’s voice, another whimper sounded from beneath the pile of rubble and Sheena quickly scrambled in that direction. Within several seconds Stephen was through the window and into the room, both he and Will shifting around to position themselves on either side of the large wooden bookcase.
‘Can you see him?’ Will asked, almost ready to lift.
‘I think I can see his foot. See? Just there.’ She pointed to an area in the middle of the room where she’d managed to shift a few of the books out of the way but couldn’t do any more until the bookcase had been lifted away.
‘Yes. Good. It’s all right, Anna. We’ll have him out in a jiffy,’ Will called reassuringly to his sister. Sheena could hear the love and reassurance in his tone and her heart swelled with pride for this man. He was so good, so caring, so loving to those around him. He was
her
Will. She didn’t want to let him go, not ever, but … could they work things out? Would he be happy with only Ellie and Sarah? Two girls who weren’t biologically his children?
Will looked over at his father and nodded once, the two men not needing any other words to communicate what had to happen next. Together they hefted the large bookcase out of the way and instantly Sheena scrambled to where Jesse lay buried beneath the books and papers that had been in the bookcase, pushing them out of the way in order to get to the little boy.
‘There you are. Keep still. You’re all right,’ she murmured, desperate to reassure the little boy as her hands felt over his limbs, checking his body. Once the bookcase was upright and out of the way, Stephen opened the door to let Anna in while Will came and knelt down on the other side of his nephew.
‘How is he?’
‘Check his right leg for me,’ she instructed as she pressed her fingers to Jesse’s carotid pulse. ‘Hey, there, Jesse. Can you hear me?’
Her answer was a whimper but the little boy didn’t open his eyes. ‘Pulse is strong. Breathing is good. Bit of a lump on his head where it connected with the shelf.’ She lifted his eyelids to check his pupils and he whimpered and turned his head away, moaning, more in annoyance than in pain. ‘Ahh … we have cognitive function.’
‘Oh, Jesse. Jesse. You scared Mummy,’ Anna said as she rushed into the room, almost tripping over the paraphernalia that was littered about the place, but Stephen was by her side, steadying his pregnant daughter. Mary stood in the doorway with a quiet Sarah securely in her arms, Lester clinging to her leg.
‘Don’t touch him just yet,’ Will said when it appeared Anna was ready to scoop her boy up into her arms. ‘Just let Sheena and I make sure he’s OK. Almost done.’
‘I’m so glad the two of you were here,’ Mary murmured. ‘See, Anna? No one better than two trained doctors and one of them your big brother to help out and take care of Jesse. It’ll all be fine.’
‘Although it does appear he may have broken his leg,’ Will told his sister. ‘I’ll need to see an X-ray to confirm it but—’
‘What? An X-ray? Is it that bad? Will he need to go to hospital?’ Anna started to breathe more heavily and Sheena instantly looked at the expectant mother, concern for Anna’s blood pressure now starting to worry her. ‘I need to call Jeff. He needs to know what’s happened. Oh, my poor Jesse. A broken leg. X-rays. Hospitals.’
‘He’s fine, Anna. Fine. Just a broken leg and as I’m an orthopaedic paediatrician, I’m the perfect person to look after him. He’ll be just fine,’ Will reiterated. ‘Mum, do you have any children’s paracetamol? Or ibuprofen?’
‘Can you give ibuprofen to a child his age?’ Anna asked.
‘You can if you’re an orthopaedic paediatrician and know the correct dosage,’ he returned, and winked at his sister. ‘I’m here, Anna-banana.’ At the use of the childhood nickname, his sister gave him a watery smile. It was the most perfect thing he could have done. ‘I’m not going to let anything happen to my precious nephew.’
‘Come on, love,’ Stephen said, helping his daughter to her feet. ‘Let’s give Will and Sheena some room. Come and sit down and put your feet up. We don’t want your blood pressure rising too far.’ Stephen looked at his son before he left, mouthed the word ‘Ambulance’ and received a nod from Will.
A moment later Mary returned, minus Sarah and Lester, who were apparently now with Stephen, bringing not only medication but some bandages as well. Jesse had opened his eyes but was more than content to lie still and have everyone make a fuss of him. Sheena took the bandages and searched around for something stable to act as a splint.