midwife » michael gray. [completed]

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

Hannah laughed loudly and placed one hand on Arthur's shoulder. "Tell Linda to come down to the clinic on Tuesday and tell her to ask for me. I will get Linda all signed up and me and her can discuss babies, childbirth and gruesome stuff that I'm sure your ears don't want to hear. How far gone is she?"

Arthur sighed and tried to concentrate. "Three months, three fucking months."

"We can arrange home visits to see Linda every now and again just to check on the baby and because it's you, I will give Linda all of my love and care. I will do my best to make sure that she is okay."

"It is going to be okay, isn't it?"

"Things should run smoothly and Linda is a healthy young woman. She doesn't smoke - "

"She does occasionally when she is stressed out, like with Tommy or something, but I'm not allowed to tell people that so keep it a secret please," he interrupted, grinning slightly.

"Alright, I will." Hannah tried to contain her laughter and remain professional, but she was finding it hard. "You know what I mean though, everything should be okay."

Arthur nodded before giving Hannah a sympathetic smile. "Thank you..." Arthur trailed off as her wrapped his arms around Hannah, startling her for a moment. "For helping Grace in her last moments, Tommy can't thank you enough. He won't ever say thank you because that's not Tommy, but I heard him speaking to Polly and Ada about you and he really is grateful that you were there to help them."

"I couldn't save her though."

"You tried and that's all anyone could do. None of us expected it to happen."

Arthur pulled away before rubbing the back of his head. No other words were spoken between the two of them and Arthur walked away silently, feeling both happy about the baby that was growing in his wife's stomach and disheartened after the small discussion about Grace. It was a heart-breaking situation and Hannah knew that it would take time to get over - both for her and Tommy.

+++

Sneaking over to Michael's office in the dead of night was something that had become a weekly thing when the two of them were busy with work. The two of them would share drinks and Hannah would sometimes help him with the numbers, although most of the time it went straight over her head - she was good at nursing, not figures - and almost every single time, not that should would admit it to anybody, both Michael and Hannah would do no talking and would sneak up to one of the spare bedrooms above the betting shop, away from prying eyes.

If Polly was knocking around and doing some last-minute paperwork for Tommy, then she would also join in on the conversation and they would discuss babies, midwifery and female problems. Poor Michael would listen in on the conversation with confusion as he had no knowledge when it came to children.

However, when Hannah arrived at the office, during the afternoon and two days after her chat with Arthur, she automatically sensed the bad mood that Michael was in - something that was becoming too familiar. When he was like this, Hannah would sit across from Michael and try and make conversation, his only response being short sentences or one-word answers.

There was something on his mind that was bothering him, and she had a feeling that it was something personal and not to do with business. The strain of the business was getting to him and the frequent trips down to London was somewhat putting a strain on their relationship, but Michael was always adamant that nothing was wrong.

"Are you alright?" Hannah asked for the third time as she poured herself another glass of whiskey. It was her third one since arriving at the empty offices and she knew that it would only lead to trouble. However, she was bored rigid and Michael wasn't amusing her. "You are being terribly silent."