Princess's Secret Baby(83)

                This was real.

                ‘This isn’t pain,’ Leila said later at the hospital as she                     refused an epidural.

                Pain was what others did to others.

                This was physical.

                The need to bear down.

                The need to have her husband’s face beside hers telling her she                     was almost there but the knowledge she could do this too.

                ‘A girl,’ James said as if they didn’t know that already.

                And she looked at her baby that lay on her stomach. Even though                     she may not have been ready for a photo shoot, with her shrivelled skin from                     being ten days late, she was the most beautiful girl either had seen. Her feet                     were blue but already turning pink as Leila examined them as well as her                     once-perfect round nose, which was now flat from the delivery.

                Leila watched James’s shaking hand cut the cord.

                Pink now, she was already searching for food and Leila did not                     think that her child was greedy as she brought her to her breast.

                For a brief moment she wanted to call her mother and share the                     happy news and she told James the same thing.

                ‘I’m scared she might say something to spoil it.’

                ‘I’ll call her if you want,’ James said.

                ‘I don’t know,’ Leila said, and she looked at her tiny                     defenceless baby. Two minutes after James had done the same to their infant,                     Leila shook her head and finally she cut the last piece of that                     cord.

                * * *

                She was beautiful, James thought as he looked at Leila                     sleeping.

                They were beautiful, he amended as he looked down at                     his daughter.

                A black-haired mother and a black-haired baby, both of whom had                     owned James’s heart from the moment their eyes had met.

                As Leila slept he stood holding his baby and could not believe                     that she was here or even imagine a world without her anymore.

                She was wrapped in a little blanket and had on a hat, but James                     had taken it off so that he could see her curls. He examined her little nose,                     which Catherine had explained was a bit squashed from the delivery but would                     soon be fine.