Page 14

ROSIE

“Hi Pammy,” I say to the nurse behind the desk. I’ve been here so often, I know most of the staff by name. She looks up at me with a smile that freezes when she spots the large man lingering behind me. “This is my…friend.”

Jackson steps forward holding out a hand. “Jackson, lovely to meet you.”

“Uh, uh,” Pammy stutters. “Sign here please.” She hands over the sign in sheet and I scribble both our names down. She leans over the counter, resting on her arms and thrusting her chest out, her low cut blouse straining at the action.

She opens her mouth to speak but I cut her off.

“How is she today?” I ask Pammy, dragging her gaze away from Jackson.

“Oh uh,” Pammy stammers, suddenly remembering how to be professional. “She’s having a good day.” She offers me a small smile before her gaze darts back to Jackson like a ping pong ball.

“Great, I know the way.” I clasp Jackson’s arm and tug him down the hall .

“What’s the rush, pretty girl?” he asks from behind, whispering in my ear. “She was only being friendly.”

“I don’t usually shove my tits in someone’s face when I’m being friendly.”

“You can do that to me if you like, friend .” He isn’t going to let me let that go.

I roll my eyes as I walk down the carpeted hallway. I wasn’t jealous. I just don’t want the father of my child to be harassed by perfectly ‘friendly’ nurses.

He’s teasing but we have become friends of sorts in the past few weeks.

He texts me almost daily and he’s been at my house every Saturday night and even a few weekdays if he can get away.

He’s dragged me to nearly every historic home within driving distance and I follow him around as he tells me facts as he learns them from the audio guides.

I never would have imagined that I would be friends with Jackson Harper but I also never imagined I’d be carrying his baby either.

We’re just two friends who are expecting a baby in five months time. It doesn’t need to be more than friendship, although I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of me that ached to feel his mouth on mine again.

We walk past an array of doors, each one propped open as families visit their loved ones.

It’s still a foreign concept to me, visiting her here instead of the home she lived in for my entire childhood.

But once my granddad passed, my parents said she was too vulnerable to live on her own.

I thought they meant that she could move in with them, especially since my room has been empty since I moved out nearly ten years ago.

But her house was sold and she was moved in here before I even had a chance to shop around for her.

The door is propped open but I don’t step inside, staying out of sight around the corner for a breath .

Jackson comes up behind me, his chest lightly pressing against my back. His hand comes to lightly rest on my arms and his head rests lightly on my head. “You okay, pretty girl?”

I tilt my head to look back at him, his cap pulled low over his eyes and his dark curls resting on his shoulders. He looks at me with gentle eyes, that charming sparkle still glinting from the corners.

I nod before gently pushing the door open. “Nanny? It’s Rosie.”

She’s facing away from us, sitting in the wing back flannel armchair overlooking the garden. In her lap is a heap of yarn and a crochet hook clutched in her shaking hands.

“Rosie!” she exclaims and I release the breath that was trapped in my lungs. She looks the same as she did the last time I saw her.

Smiling, I cross the room, falling to my knees at her feet as I take her shaking hands in mine. “How are you Nanny?” I push her gray hair back from her eyes as I take her in. Age spots and wrinkles line her face, but her warm chocolate eyes are the same ones I’ve looked into my whole life.

“I’m better now you’re here, sweetheart.” She pulls her hands out of mine and raises her crochet hook, “I went wrong, you have to fix it for me.”

Laughing I tug the hook out of her hands. “I will, but first I need you to meet someone.”

I glance over my shoulder at Jackson. He’s lingered by the door giving us a moment but steps forward at my nod.

“Well, aren’t you a treat,” Nanny says, her eyes widening. “I see my granddaughter’s got my taste in men.”

“ Nanny. ”

Jackson laughs as he approaches, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to the wrinkled back of it. “Lovely to meet you Betty. I’m Jackson. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Nanny clings onto his hand, not letting him go as she turns to me. “Don’t tell me you’ve had a man like that in your bed and you’ve been talking about your old Nanny.”

I blush crimson as Jackson laughs. “Nanny,” I hiss. “Stop it.”

“So, Jackson, how long have you and my favorite granddaughter been together?”

My eyes just about pop out of my head. Granted, I’ve never even brought any friends to see Nanny apart from Anya, and I’ve never introduced her to any boyfriends before but still. I said friend, didn’t I?

Jackson opens his mouth to say God knows what, but I interrupt. “We’re not together , Nanny. We’re friends.”

Jackson, still holding her hand, leans forward and whispers conspiratorially, “I’m working on it.”

Nanny giggles– giggles !

“What are you working on there?” Jackson asks, gesturing to the yarn on her lap.

“It’s going to be a baby blanket for Glenda next door’s great-grandson. I’ve nearly finished but I’ve gone wrong somewhere so I had to unravel it all.”

She picks it back up with shaking fingers but instead of offering it to me, the person in the room who actually knows how to crochet, she shoves it in Jackson’s hands as he takes a seat in the opposite armchair. “You have to pull at the yarn until these rows of stitches come undone.”

Jackson studies it intently, before using deft fingers to undo the stitching. “I’ve got it, like this?”

He offers it to her for approval. “Make sure you don’t go too fast or you’ll lose count and go too far. Careful! Don’t let the yarn tangle. ”

“Like this?”

“No, no.” She snatches the growing messy bundle of yarn from his hands. “Here give that to Rosie, you’ll just make it worse.”

He raises his hands with an amused grin tugging at his lips. “Maybe I should start off with something simpler.”

Nanny reaches into her basket and pulls out a large hook and a ball of chunky green yarn before putting a loop in the end, “Here, hold the hook in your right hand and weave the yarn through your fingers like this…” Turning his hand, she brings the yarn over the inside of his pinky finger and back around his index. “This will help you keep the tension…”

I settle on the end of her bed as Jackson listens intently to his crash course in crocheting. I can’t help the smile that pulls at my lips as he patiently listens to her instructions and teases her until she lets out a bit of that girlish giggle I have never heard before.

He’s so good with her, she’s half in love with him already. I feel my eyes start to water as my hand comes to my stomach. He’s going to be such a good dad.

“I don’t see you fixing that over there,” Nanny barks and I jump to attention with a laugh, unpicking the stitch.

“Betty, you’re running a sweatshop over here. How much are you selling these for?”

Nanny laughs again. “Don’t be silly, I don’t sell them.”

“You should consider it, especially with all the free labor you’ve got. You’d make a fortune.”

Nanny waves him off. “I just like making these for my family and my friends. I made Rosie’s blanket when she was a little girl.”

“I still have it,” I say with a smile. Granted, it’s in tatters and stored carefully in the drawer where I keep my pajamas, but it’s one of my most prized childhood possessions and I’ve always wanted my child to have one of their own.

Glancing at Jackson, I can almost read his mind as he sends me an encouraging wink.

“Nanny, I need to tell you something.”

I take a deep breath and stand from the bed, resuming my position on the floor. Jackson’s behind me, his knee gently resting against my arm, and I use his strength as I turn to my grandmother. “Nanny, I’m uh…that’s to say, we’re–”

Nanny glances between us both, her thin brows quirking. “Spit it out, sweetheart.”

“I’m pregnant,” I say with a rush.

Silence. I bite my lip as I wait for her to say something.

She glances between the two of us before letting out a shocked squeal. “Are you really?” She clutches my hands in hers, bringing them to her chest as she clamps her mouth shut, holding back tears.

“Yeah,” I nod, tears brimming in my eyes.

“Here,” Jackson says, pulling the sonogram out of his pocket. “We got this a few days ago.”

Nanny gasps in delight as she pulls the picture closer to her, a lone tear dropping down her cheek. “Oh my Rosie. A baby.”

She tugs me to her and I try not to collapse against her familiar weight.

I have to remind myself that she’s more fragile now than she was when I was a child but I can’t help burying my nose in her neck, her perfume stinging my eyes.

She rocks me back and forth gently. “You’re going to be an incredible mother, sweetheart. ”

Pulling me back, she wipes the tears from my cheeks. “This baby is going to be huge,” her eyes widen as she glances at Jackson .

Jackson hollers as I bark a wet laugh and wail, “I know!”

“Well, I better get started on your blanket! Oh and a hat and booties and a little jacket.”

“She’s going to be head to toe in Betty Taylor originals.”

Nanny squeals. “It’s a girl?”

“Yes,” Jackson says firmly.

I roll my eyes. “We don’t know yet but he’s convinced.”

“I have a feeling,” Jackson says, “I’m very fond of the Taylor women.”

Nanny giggles again before digging through her basket for new colors, “Well I’ll do cream for now until we know and then I’ll make more in different colors, but if Daddy says girl I’m saying girl too.”

Jackson clasps his hands together. “Put me to work Nanny.”

My phone buzzes in my pocket, my brow scrunching as I realize it’s my old boss calling. “I’ll be back,” I tell the room. I step outside into the corridor and pull the phone to my ear. “Kathleen?”

“Rosie, my love! How are you?”

Kathleen left the post house to go freelance, and the last I heard from her she was trying to get a short film into a festival.

“I’m good, how are you?”

“Great! Listen, I’m actually crewing up for my next short film. It’s a small one, with only a female and non-binary crew. The budget’s small and it’s definitely more of a passion project, but I wanted to know if you’d be up for editing it?”

“Oh!” I wasn’t expecting that at all. I haven’t edited a short since my university days, working as an assistant ever since. “When are you filming?”

“We’re still prepping at the moment and, as it’s low budget, we’re looking to shoot nearer the end of the year, around December.”

I do my mental math. I’ll be around seven months then. Though it’s not like I’d be needed on set or anything, and I do have all the software I need at the flat. Low budget is low budget, but I should really be jumping at the opportunity to make a bit of extra cash before the baby comes.

“I’d love to,” I tell her, laughing at the squeal of excitement that echoes down the line.

“Yes, I knew you’d say yes! You’re going to love the script. I’ll send it over to you. I can’t wait to work with you again. It’ll be like the good old days.”

We reminisce for a few more minutes until she has to run and I return to the room, unable to stop the grin on my face.

“Rosie, help him, he’s all fingers and thumbs.” Nanny says as she glances up at me.

“How is it going in here?” a nurse asks when she arrives a few hours later to find all three of us in a circle around Nanny’s chair, streams of wool piled between us.

“I’ve been hearing all the laughter from down the hall and we all want to know what’s so funny.

” I usually spend a few pleasant hours with Nanny, catching up on our days or knitting quietly.

I’ve never laughed as much as we have today.

“I’ve been trying to learn, but these two keep distracting me,” Jackson complains, lifting his jumble of wool.

Nanny playfully swipes at him with a wrinkled hand. “You keep winding us up.”

“Visiting time is nearly over,” the nurse says kindly. I tug down on the disappointment in my chest as I press a kiss to Nanny’s cheek.

“I’ll see you soon, Nanny,” I tell her, folding away the knitting .

“Okay sweetheart,” she says before turning to Jackson. “It was lovely to meet you, Jackie.”

“The pleasure was all mine, Betty.” He presses a kiss to her hand.

“Will you come back again?”

“If you’d like me to.”

“Well you need to finish this blanket,” Nanny says gesturing to her basket of wool.

“I’ll get some practice in.”

I tug my jacket on and Jackson does the same.

“Enjoy the Strictly results, Nanny,” I tell her as I cross to the door.

“Praying for Thatcher.” Jackson crosses his fingers and winks at Betty as she laughs.

When we leave the home, the sky is dark and there’s a distinct chill in the air.

“So, friend, ” Jackson says as he opens the car door for me. “That was nice.”

I roll my eyes but I can’t stop the smile tugging at my lips. Yeah, it was really nice.