Chapter Sixty-One
The nurse who stood beside the doctor noticed us and approached. “We were just about to rouse you,” she began.
I stopped breathing. I couldn’t see Mandy because the doctor blocked my view. “Mandy is responding to treatment. She’s breathing on her own.”
We barely had time to respond before the doctor placed Mandy in my arms. “You have a little miracle here. She’s ready for breakfast.”
I cradled Mandy and collapsed onto the rocking chair. Keith knelt beside me and we shed tears of relief. The dark cloud smothering me the last several days finally lifted. I put Mandy to my breast where she sucked away as if nothing happened. Keith’s parents stayed only a couple more days but Keith still found it difficult being in the same room with them and often went out for a cigarette when the came.
Keith’s parents and my mother returned home a couple days later, but I kept in constant touch with my mother.
On February 25th, my nineteenth birthday, she was pronounced stable and placed on a different floor in a regular cot. My mother returned to London to help celebrate. Frank and Louisa and Aimee all came. I wanted Keith’s parents there also, but Keith was vehemently against it.
“We have to figure out how they can be part of her life,” I said. “I’m not comfortable with her being alone with them and that means they have to visit when we’re around.”
Keith slumped into a chair. “I knew letting them back into my life would be a disaster.”
“They can visit her when she’s with us,” Frank suggested. “At least until you’re more comfortable with the situation.”
Ryan popped in and told Keith the manager of The Borderline was still asking about the band. “I’ve told them what you’ve been through and he said kids are still asking when The Piss Ants are coming back. Their weekends are booked for awhile, but Josh, the booker said he could get us a slot mid-week.”
“You should do it,” I encouraged. “You’ll regret it the rest of your life if you don’t.”
“Only if you’re front and center,” Keith insisted.
“I’m not sure I can leave Mandy yet.”
Louisa interjected. “Go out and enjoy yourselves. She has grandparents to look after her. She won’t be alone.”
Two weeks later we returned to the Borderline where The Piss Ants played to a sold out house. Seeing Keith where he belonged almost brought tears to my eyes as I watched him prance over the stage, ranting once again about Thatcher, even though she was no longer prime minister. As Keith so eloquently said, “She left a bloody hell of a mess to clean up.” As much as I enjoyed myself, my mind was constantly on Mandy. Was she still okay? Surely Louisa would have called us at the club if anything was wrong. I also needed to nurse her.
“Take a taxi,” Keith said to me. “I’ll catch you up in a bit.” He stuffed a wad of money into my hand and we parted with a long kiss.
Finally on March 31, Easter Sunday, Mandy was allowed to go home. She weighed four and a half pounds. I dressed her in a pink Easter frock and booties Louisa made plus the cardigan I’d bought at Harrods before she fell so ill.
Though her eyes color was still emerging, I could already tell she would have Keith’s blue eyes. Her hair, what little there was of it, seemed light colored with hints of red, which surprised me. But we had our miracle baby home where she belonged. I hoped she would continue helping heal Keith’s relationship with his parents, but only time would tell. Now we would embark on a whole new journey, but it was a journey I looked forward to more than I’d looked forward to turning eighteen just over a year ago. I was the luckiest woman alive.
[Click here to view all chapters.]
