When the Bough Breaks by Connie Monk Page A

too. The nearest telephone was in the village street, so he reversed his motor car the length of the lane and parked by the kiosk.
    â€˜The ambulance is coming out from Deremouth. I want you to have an X-ray. I shall follow the ambulance in my motor car to be there to see the result.’ he said as came back into the bedroom. His voice was big and over-cheerful.
    â€˜Why an X-ray? Is there something wrong with our baby? I can’t feel it moving.’ Desperately Kathie wanted to sound calm, but it was impossible to hide her terror as she waited for his reply.
    â€˜The heartbeat is strong,’ he reassured her.
    So why the X-ray? Kathie and Dennis looked at each other helplessly.
    â€˜Is there room in the ambulance for me?’ he asked.
    â€˜It’s most unusual.’ For a moment the doctor hesitated as he looked from Dennis to Kathie and then back again, his mind working on the right action. ‘Most unusual. But I think perhaps it might be a good thing if you were to come along. Come in the motor car with me. I’ll let you know the outcome, Mrs Cox. Perhaps we’ll be delivering Mrs Hawthorne home and you’ll be needed after all.’ He was a kindly man and he could see the fear in Kathie’s eyes. In his opinion she was too old to be giving birth for the first time. A girl of twenty, now that was what he considered ideal, the body young and supple. But this one must be well into her thirties – his assumption was evidence of what her hard life had done to twenty-nine-year-old Kathie. ‘Now then, my dear, can you manage the stairs or shall we see if they can get you down on a stretcher?’
    Kathie took a deep breath and made sure she spoke clearly despite the dreadful feeling that she was being torn apart. ‘I walked up, so I can walk down. But why do I need an X-ray?’
    â€˜I want us to be sure of the baby’s position,’ the doctor said with little regard to the truth. However, the answer stilled some of her fear.
    For Kathie that evening was lost, but for Dennis, waiting on a hard bench, it seemed endless. They had arrived at the hospital just as the winter daylight was fading and the lamp lighter was working his way along the street. As Kathie had been carried away to where he supposed the X-ray machine was, Dennis had been told to wait and someone would come and tell him what was happening. In fact Dr Knight appeared from the sister’s office after not much more than ten minutes. Immediately Dennis was on his feet.
    â€˜What’s happening? Is the X-ray done? Is she in labour?’
    â€˜Mr Hawthorne, the result is much as I suspected. Your wife is already under sedation so Sister will bring the consent form for you to sign.’
    â€˜Sedation? Consent? For what?’
    â€˜The birth is not due for more than a month, but it is imperative the surgeon performs a Caesarean immediately.’ Then, seeing Dennis’s mystified expression, he explained, ‘An operation to take the baby. Have no fear; early though it is, it appears to be a large embryo. The real cause for alarm is not the birth; it is your wife’s condition. The X-ray confirms what I feared: there is a large tumour in the womb.’ Whatever Dennis had braced himself to hear, the doctor’s words seemed to strip him of the power to think. ‘The only thing to do is to remove her womb – a total hysterectomy. How long the tumour has been developing or whether it has spread I can’t tell you, but she couldn’t be in better hands than Mr Freeman’s. Ah, here comes Sister.’
    â€˜When?’ Dennis was incapable of putting a whole sentence together.
    â€˜As I say, she is already under sedation and being taken along to the theatre. The baby will be delivered and please God it’s the fine healthy specimen I anticipate. You’d better read this before you sign, although I fear there is no other way but to perform the