Odd Socks Read Online Free PDF

‘Oh! Mum – could you try Nick again for me? But don’t tell him!’
    â€˜Sure, I’ll just breathe heavily.’ I start hopping up and down in the foyer to warm myself up because it feels like the dampness around the bottom half of my dressing-gown is starting to ice up. Then, as soon as the rear door of the ambulance is closed securely and Bronte is no longer in sight, I shut my door and lean against it. There’s a lump in my throat that was not caused by the cold outside. I delivered a baby! I delivered a baby! And not just any baby either. I delivered my very own gran . . . grand . . . well, my daughter’s baby! I don’t think I’m ready for the ‘g’ word quite yet.
    I’m also not ready to go to bed. Adrenalin is coursing through my body and I feel way too hyped up to sleep. In fact, I wish I had someone here I could talk to, to discuss what just happened and to share the miracle with. Apart from Nick, who, given the fact that he was unreachable in a crisis, deserves to wait a little bit for the news. And apart from Bronte’s father, who is currently cruising around the Solomon Islands and thus doesn’t deserve the news at all. For a brief moment I consider ambushing Stephen before he goes back to bed, but thendecide against it. Mainly because I’m fairly sure adrenalin will be coursing through his body too, although for an entirely different reason.
    But I can’t wait to tell everyone at work about this! And if they don’t believe me, well – I’ve got the proof. In fact, I’ve got more proof than I really need and would have vastly preferred it on a couple of towels rather than spread across my pale moss-coloured, low-pile carpet right in front of the couch.
MONDAY
0655 hrs
    Languidly I reach out, turn off the jets feeding frothy bubbles of foam into the spa bath and lean back, stretching my legs. I take a deep breath of the jasmine-scented air and then smile with sheer pleasure. Because there’s plenty to smile about. I’ve got a lovely home, helpful neighbours, a loving family, a daughter I get along with very well (I’m going to ignore that little outburst earlier, on the grounds she was in extreme pain), great friends, fun boyfriend, reliable job, and now, in addition to all this, I’ve personally delivered the next generation! I start humming ‘She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes’, simply because it feels appropriate, and reflect on the fact that, apart from my lounge-room carpet, life is totally under control and I’m coasting along pretty damn well. One hundred percent content – satisfaction guaranteed.
    I punch my fist in the air and let out a loud ‘yee hah !’ before taking a deep breath and submerging myself beneath the foamy water while I slowly count how long I can stay underwithout resurfacing. One, and two, and three, and four . . . I manage to get to sixty-nine, not quite my all-time record, before I’ve got to emerge and take a big, gulping breath. Then I stretch out again while snowy froth settles cocoon-like around me, and I scoop it up neatly before it can drip off the edge and onto the floor.
    After everyone left, I spent quite some time staring at the birthing area and deciding what to do about the stains. Finally, I came to the reluctant conclusion that I’d probably do more harm than good if I attempted to clean it, so I laid some of the unused towels across to soak up the excess moisture and then left it. I’ll ring some professional carpet cleaners in a couple of hours and get them over here a.s.a.p.
    Then I gave myself a quick wash and shoved my dressing-gown into the bin before, with both breasts on full display, I crawled into bed and tried valiantly to get back to sleep. But it wasn’t any good. As I’d suspected, I was much too high to sleep. Instead I just tossed and turned as I replayed the morning’s events over and