really sorry about this, Miss Stone.’ Janey Reynolds had obviously realised by now that, in spite of what Jemima might or might not have told her, there was something very wrong here.
Gemini shook her head. ‘You can be assured that I am well aware that none of this—situation is of your doing.’ She sighed. ‘I think you’d better go and get the rest of Jessica’s things in from the car.’ And there was probably going to be a lot of them for a baby as young as Jessica. ‘I’m sure you must be anxious to be on your way,’ she added flatly, wondering how she was going to cope. But at the same time she knew that Jemima had left her little choice.
Considering Jemima’s dedication to her own career, Gemini couldn’t even begin to imagine what had made her sister go ahead and have this baby. Admittedly Jemima had always been the one who, when they were children, had stayed indoors and played with her dolls, while Gemini had been climbing trees with the neighbours’ sons, but it seemed as though Jessica’s birth was just a mere hiccup in Jemima’s life, a small inconvenience before she resumed following her own pursuits.
Janey hesitated on her way out to the car. ‘Jessica is due for a feed in a few minutes; would you like me to stay and show you how to make the formula up, and give her the bottle…?’
Considering this young woman must have many other things on her mind at this time, Gemini appreciated the offer. And took unashamed advantage of it. It wasn’t going to help anyone if, in her complete ignorance concerning the care of babies, she did it all wrong and made the baby ill!
It looked simple enough as she watched Janey do it—even the nappy changing didn’t seem that horrendous. And immediately after her feed and change Jessica went back to sleep. Nothing to it!
‘Er—I’ll leave you my telephone number, if you like?’ Janey seemed reluctant to go once the time came—obviously realising Gemini was a complete novice when it came to babies, and probably fearing for Jessica’s safety.
Which was more than could be said for Jemima, Gemini inwardly berated. She would take great pleasure in thinking of suitable retribution for her sister over the weekend; this had to be the worst thing Jemima had ever done to her!
Well…almost, she remembered hardily.
And as for taking care of the baby..! If Jemima thought she had landed Gemini with something she couldn’t handle, then she was going to be in for a big disappointment.
‘That’s very kind of you.’ She accepted Janey’s offer, putting her card next to the telephone. ‘But I’m sure I won’t be needing it,’ she added confidently.
Four hours later she wasn’t so sure about that. It had all looked so easy when Janey had fed and changed the baby, but actually putting that theory into practice proved much more difficult to Gemini than it had looked!
For one thing Gemini couldn’t seem to get the hang of holding the baby while trying to feed her at the same time. And then the nappy didn’t seem to want to stay on. In the end she secured it into place by the poppers on Jessica’s bodyvest.
But finally, over an hour later—much longer than it had taken Janey Reynolds!—the baby had been fed and changed and was back asleep in her carrycot, giving Gemini the chance to catch up on some of her own chores before going to bed herself.
But it seemed no sooner had she fallen asleep than she was woken up again by Jessica’s whimpering cry from the spare bedroom. And those slight whimpers grew to enormous proportions before Gemini could wake herself up enough to deal with it.
How on earth did new mothers cope with this for weeks, sometimes months at a time? Gemini wondered as she stumbled about the kitchen, trying to hold Jessica wrapped in a shawl in one arm and warm the bottle with the other hand.
Not that holding the baby stopped her crying. The noise Jessica was making now seemed to go straight through Gemini’s head, reverberating around the kitchen.
But at last the bottle was warmed and she sat down thankfully on one of the chairs around the kitchen table to give the baby her milk. Only to find Jessica didn’t want it, pushing the bottle repeatedly from her lips with her little pink tongue, and beginning that nerve-shattering wail once again!
Gemini’s nerves were already fraught from the crying—now what did she do. Her first instinct was to telephone Janey Reynolds and find out the answer to that. But a glance at the clock showed her it was one o’clock in the morning, hardly a very sociable time to be telephoning anyone!
One o’clock…?
Janey had said the baby fed approximately every four hours, and it was only three hours since Jessica’s last feed, even less than that from when she had first begun to cry.
Was Jessica sick? Did she have a temperature? What—?
‘What the hell is going on here?’
Gemini looked up with a start, staring towards the doorway, wincing as she saw her husband standing there. Just what she needed when she was so harassed, and definitely looking less than her best.
When had he arrived home? Some time ago, by the look of him; he was obviously naked beneath the black silk robe he had belted about his waist, his dark hair ruffled from sleep.
A robe was a luxury she hadn’t allowed herself when she’d hurried out of bed earlier to see to Jessica; she was wearing only pale grey silk pyjamas, and the baby had spat most of her milk down them in her distress!
So much for thinking earlier that Nick would probably never know there had ever been a baby in the house!
Gemini stood up abruptly, stilling holding the baby, whose wails seemed to have turned to hiccuping sobs now. ‘What does it look like?’ she snapped, showing her impatience with the question.
Nick blinked, green eyes narrowing in his ruggedly handsome face. ‘It looks like a baby—but I’m sure this must all be just a bad dream; we don’t have a baby!’
Considering that she and Nick had been married for more than a year now, and had occupied separate bedrooms from the beginning of their marriage, that was highly unlikely.
She and Nick had what could only be termed a business marriage, a marriage that suited both of them. At least, it had a year ago. She wasn’t so sure that was the case now. For either of them. But for different reasons…
‘That’s very astute of you, Nick,’ she drawled mockingly. ‘Although it doesn’t help in solving the problem of how to stop Jessica crying!’ she added raggedly as the baby continued to wail. ‘I wasn’t expecting you home yet,’ she added accusingly.
‘I completed my business early,’ he dismissed distractedly, striding into the kitchen with his usual ease of movement, taking the baby from her unresisting hands, frowning down into the little heart-shaped face. ‘What’s the matter, Jessica?’ he murmured soothingly to the baby. ‘We can’t help you if you—’ He stopped, frowning across at the watching Gemini. ‘Have you tried changing her nappy?’
Gemini watched in fascination as her tall, arrogant husband strolled about the kitchen carrying the slightness that was Jessica. He was one of the most handsome men Gemini had ever set eyes on, possessed of a physical magnetism that she’d been unaware of when they first married.
When had that changed?
She
