And that was going to be the really hard part. Because right at that moment Ella wanted everything—and she knew that was way too much to ask.
That evening, when she got home, Ella video-called her parents.
‘Is everything all right, darling?’ Roisin O’Brien asked. ‘You always call us on a Thursday, and today’s only Tuesday.’
‘I know. Mam, I have some news.’
Roisin beamed and asked hopefully, ‘You’re coming back to Ireland and going to work in the hospital in Limerick?’
Ella smiled. ‘Mam, you know I love it here at Teddy’s. No, it’s not to do with work. Is Da there? Because I need to talk to you both together.’
‘Is everything all right?’ Roisin asked again.
‘Yes.’ And no, but she wasn’t going to say that.
‘Joe! Joe, our Ella’s on the computer to talk to us,’ Roisin called.
Joe appeared on Ella’s screen, next to his wife. ‘And how’s my beautiful girl, then?’
Ella felt the tears well up. ‘Oh, Da.’
Joe looked horrified. ‘Ella? Whatever’s the matter? I’ll hop on the plane and be right over. You just say th—’
‘No, Da, it’s fine,’ she cut in. She swallowed hard. ‘Mam, Da—there isn’t an easy way to say this, so I’ll do what you always say and tell it to you straight. You’re going to be grandparents.’
There was a stunned silence for a moment, and then Roisin said, ‘But, Ella, the doctors in London said…’ Her voice trailed off, and Ella knew what her mother didn’t want to voice. The doctors in London had said Ella would never be able to have a child of her own.
‘They got it wrong.’ Ella picked up the scan photo and held it so her parents could see it. ‘I had the scan today—I’m seven and a half weeks. You can’t see a lot, just a bean shape, but the sonographer said everything looked fine and the baby’s heart was beating just right.’
‘We’re going to be grandparents.’ Joe and Roisin hugged each other.
‘You’re not angry with me?’ Ella asked. ‘Because—well, this wasn’t supposed to happen?’
‘So the baby wasn’t planned. It doesn’t mean he or she won’t be loved to bits,’ Roisin said. ‘Lots of babies aren’t planned. It’s grand news, Ella. What about the baby’s da? When do we get to meet him?’
Ella hadn’t even considered that. ‘I’m not sure,’ she said carefully. ‘It’s complicated.’
‘Do I need to come and talk to the lad and remind him of his responsibilities?’ Joe asked, folding his arms.
‘No, Da, and that’s not why I called. I just wanted you both to know about the baby. It’s early days and a lot of things could still go wrong—but I love you so much and I couldn’t keep the news to myself any longer. Please don’t say anything to anyone else in the family, not yet—not till I’m twelve weeks, OK?’
‘All right. And we love you, too, Ella,’ Roisin said. ‘If you want us to move over to England to help you with the baby, you just say the word. Or if you want to come home, you’ve always got a home with us and so has the baby.’
‘Oh, Mam.’ Ella swallowed back the tears.
‘So what does the young man in question have to say for himself?’ Joe asked.
‘He was at the scan with me today. He’s very responsible,’ Ella said, guessing what her father was worrying about. She smiled. ‘He’s trying to wrap me up in cotton wool as much as you do.’
‘With about as much success, I’ll bet,’ Roisin said. ‘You get your independent streak from your Granny O’Connor.’
‘And your Granny O’Brien,’ Joe added, not to be outdone.
Ella laughed. ‘Oh, I miss you both so much.’
‘You’ll be home in a couple of weeks for Christmas,’ Roisin said, ‘and we can give you a proper hug then. Are you keeping well in yourself?’
‘Just a bit of morning sickness.’
‘You need crackers by your bedside,’ Roisin began, then laughed. ‘Hark at me trying to give a midwife advice on pregnancy.’
‘You’re my Mam,’ Ella said. ‘Of course you’ll tell me, and when I get home you know I want to know everything about when you were pregnant with me.’
‘She’ll talk the hind leg off a donkey,’ Joe said.
‘As if you won’t, too, Joe O’Brien,’ Roisin teased back.
‘You sort things out with your young man,’ Joe said, ‘and you bring him home with you for Christmas so we can give him a proper welcome to the family.’
‘I’ll try,’ Ella said. And she knew her parents meant it. They’d definitely welcome Oliver. Her ‘young man’. She couldn’t help smiling. If only. ‘I love you, Da. And you, Mam.’
‘We love you, too,’ Roisin said. ‘Can we have a copy of that photo—our first picture of our grandbaby?’
‘I’ll scan it in and send it tonight,’ Ella promised. ‘As soon as we’ve finished our video call.’
‘Good night, darling,’ Roisin said. ‘And you call us any time, you hear?’
‘I hear. Love you,’ Ella said, and ended the call.
It had made her homesick, and she was tearful again by the time she scanned in the photograph and emailed it over to her parents. Part of her wanted to call Oliver and ask him to come with her to Ireland for Christmas; but he probably already had plans. Plans that wouldn’t include her. She’d just have to take this whole thing day by day, and hope that things would get easier between them.
Oliver brooded about the situation with Ella and the baby for the rest of Tuesday. It didn’t help when he had a text from his mother, asking him if he could please confirm whether he was going to come to the drinks party at Darrington Hall on Thursday night.
He hadn’t been to his parents’ annual pre-Christmas drinks party for years. But maybe it was time he tried to thaw out his relationship with his family. Particularly as he was about to become a father.
How would his family react to the news? He had no idea. Would they expect him to settle down? Would they try to use the baby as an excuse to make him leave the hospital and spend his time working with his brother, instead of doing the job he’d trained for years and years to do? Would it be the thing that brought them back together again? Or would their awkward relationship
