“Tell me you think this is a good idea?” asked James.
“We are going to see your twin brother and his wife,” said Myrtle. “What can go wrong?”
“I don’t know, but things do tend to turn out differently to what we thought,” said James, checking the twins for the umpteenth time.
“I think we had better go before they start to think we aren’t coming,” said Myrtle.
“Just as long as you don’t think this is a mistake,” said James.
“Of course I don’t think it is a mistake,” said Myrtle. “If I did I’d have said something before getting us and the twins ready.”
“You are sure, you’re not just saying you are?” he asked. Myrtle waved her wand and they were standing outside a small detached house in a leafy looking suburb.
“Are you sure we have the right place?” asked James looking at the front door which was flung open by his identical twin.
“James!” said Mark and looked back into the house.
“If it’s a bad time,” said James.
“It, my wife Rose,” said Mark. “She’s gone into labour.”
“How are you going to get her to the hospital?” asked Myrtle.
“I don’t know, the car went into the garage this morning, I was hoping I’d have it back before this, she isn’t due for a fortnight, but they need to send away for parts, so it could be a while,” said Mark, following Myrtle into the house to find Rose leaning against the sofa and standing in a puddle.
“Have you got your bag ready?” asked Myrtle.
“It’s there,” said Rose, pointing to a bag by the front door and then grabbing at her stomach as another contraction hit.
“How long is it between contractions?” asked Myrtle as another hit.
“Does that answer your question?” gasped Rose.
“I think we need to get you to the hospital,” said Myrtle giving her wand a quick twitch. A second later they were standing outside the maternity hospital and Myrtle was waving to a porter to bring over a wheel chair to help Rose get into the hospital.
“Thank-you,” said Rose as the porter pushed the chair into the lift and everyone else followed. “I don’t know how we would’ve got here without you.
“It’s OK,” smiled Myrtle. “I’m a Fairy Godmother, it’s what we do.”
“A Fairy Godmother! Like in the pantomimes?” Rose asked.
“Yes,” smiled Myrtle as the lift stopped on the right floor and they followed her through to the delivery ward.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea for all of you to come in,” said the midwife. “I think we need to limit this to the husband.”
“If you’re sure,” sighed Rose.
“We’ll just be out here,” said Myrtle. “If you need us just call.”
“Nothing ever goes as planned,” said James, pacing the floor outside the delivery room.
“Hello, James,” said Myrtle.
“What are you doing?” snapped her James, pausing for a moment in his pacing.
“I’m ringing your Father,” said Myrtle, turning back to the phone. “Hello James, it’s Myrtle here. James and I came to visit Mark and Rose, but she went into labour, so we are now at the maternity hospital.”
“You are there now?” James senior asked.
“Yes,” said Myrtle.
“Mary, Rose has gone into labour,” James senior said to his wife.
“But she isn’t due yet,” Myrtle heard Mary say. “Are they sure?”
“The waters broke and we took her to the maternity hospital, she’s in one of the delivery rooms now,” said Myrtle. “I just thought you aught to know.”
“We’ll contact her Mother and then we’ll get over there,” said James.
“I can get you here quicker than any car,” said Myrtle.
“But how would we get home?” asked Mary.
“I can sort that out as well,” said Myrtle. “There seems to be a lot of coming and going, I think you need to be here.”
“Thank-you,” said Mary and with a whisk of her wand they were there.
“Can you get Rose’s Mother here with that thing as well?” asked Mary as soon as she had got her balance back.
“You give her a ring and check that she’s OK with it and I can have her here in a blink of an eye,” said Myrtle as Mary pulled out her phone.
All three grandparents were gathered in the corridor when a rather shell shocked Mark walked out of the delivery room.
“There were three of them,” he stuttered.
“What do you mean were?” asked Mary.
“Were, are,” said Mark. “We thought we were going to have twins and there was a third one in there.”
“How are they and Rose?” asked Myrtle.
“They are all fine and healthy,” said Mark. “It’s just, there are three of them!”
“Can I see Rose?” asked her Mother.
Mark looked at the midwife and she smiled at the assembled crowd.
“Mother and babies are ready for visitors,” the midwife said, standing to one side to let everyone in. “Just remember not to crowd them out,” she added when she realised quite how many people were going into the delivery room.
“Three! We’ve got our hands full with just two,” said James junior to his brother.
“Thank-you for getting us here,” Rose said to Myrtle. “I don’t know what we would have done without you.”
“Glad to be able to help,” said Myrtle.
“Mary said something about you being a Fairy Godmother,” said Rose’s Mum. “She said you could get me here quickly, I didn’t realise quite how quickly.”
“It’s one of the most useful aspects of a wand,” said Myrtle. “Moving people from place to place, quickly.”
“Thank-you,” said Rose’s Mum. “Who’s Fairy Godmother are you?”
“I’m not really here as anyone’s Fairy Godmother, I’m on maternity leave at the moment,” said Myrtle. “My husband, James, is Mark’s twin brother. Mark and Rose invited us to tea.”
“Like two peas in a pod,” said Rose’s Mother looking from Mark to James and back again. “Maternity leave?”
“We did bring our two with us, but we sent them back for my Mother to look after when all this started. You can’t expect them to sleep for ever and there’s enough scope for chaos here without adding two babies in,” Myrtle explained.
“Is your Mum good with babies?” asked Rose’s Mum.
“Not really,” said Myrtle. “I’d better just give her a ring to check up on them.”
“Hello Enid,” said Myrtle.
“This had better be an emergency,” said Enid. “I was just going to meet your Aunty Ivy.”
“It is, or was,” said Myrtle, wanding her babies back to her. “I’ll take care of them now.”
“Right,” said Enid. “I’ll let you know how things go with your Aunty Ivy.”
Mum’s busy,” said Myrtle putting the phone back in her pocket.
“And these are your two little ones,” said Rose’s Mum smiling at them. “It can’t be that long since they were born. Tell me, did us use one surrogate or two and did the poor unfortunate women know anything about it.”
“They are my babies, I carried them for nine months and I gave birth to them,” said Myrtle. “I think we shall go now before I say something that someone might regret,” she added, waving her wand.
“She didn’t mean it like that,” said James as they appeared in their living room.
“How would you know, you don’t even know the woman’s name,” snapped Myrtle.
“There was no need to be rude to her,” shouted James.
“Well, thank-you for your support,” said Myrtle. “She started it, she was rude about our babies and rude to me, suggesting I would do such a thing.”
“It’s the normal way for Fairies,” muttered James.
“And you stood there saying nothing,” said Myrtle.
“What was I to say?” he asked.
“That I wouldn’t do something like that,” Myrtle suggested. “Or do you think I did?”
“No,” said James, a little too slowly for Myrtle. “I was with you for the whole of the pregnancy, I’d have know.”
“So, do you want to go back there?” Myrtle asked.
“I would be nice to see the babies,” said James.
“Right, let me know if you want to come back,” said Myrtle waving her wand.
By Janice Nye © 2021
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