From The Heart Read Online Free Page A

do whatever you think is right for her.’
    ‘Thank you.’ Laura leaned her head on his shoulder. ‘You’re a pet, really. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’
    Despite the presence of the grandmothers, Laura was enjoying being a new mum at home with Kirstie. But because of their financial pressures she went back to work as soon as her paid maternity leave was finished. Both Angela and Caroline offered to look after Kirstie while she was out all day, which threw her into another bout of panic. The poor child would be totally confused by their conflicting views on how she should be reared. She’d probably end up with all sorts of issues afterwards and it would be all Laura’s fault. If it had been an option she would have given up work and stayed at home, but that simply wasn’t possible.
    Caroline had made a few niggly comments about the disadvantage Kirstie would be at with Laura rushing back to the office, especially as it meant that her granddaughter would have to be bottle-fed, which Caroline insisted would lower her natural defences. She told Laura that babies did best with their mother’s milk, and Laura said she knew that but there was nothing she could do about it, they needed her salary. Caroline said that it was fortunate she was around to help look after Kirstie.
    Angela knew all about having to go out to work, because she’d done it when both Laura and her younger sister Celine were small, and she didn’t think it had done them any harm. Made you independent if anything, she remarked, reminding Laura that her own grandmother had done a good job of looking after the two girls while Angela was working. Angela had resigned from her office job when she got pregnant with her third child, saying that it was too much effort to try to do everything. It’ll be fun looking after Kirstie, though, she told Laura. I bet I’ll be a lot better as a granny than a mammy.
    With offers of help from both mothers, Laura was in a quandary. She didn’t say to Jim that she’d prefer Angela to do the looking-after because, being totally honest with herself, she was more in tune with her mother’s down-to-earth approach than with Caroline’s yummy-grandmummy efforts, although she did agree that using natural products was best and she tried very hard to buy organic food whenever possible. (Angela said that organic produce was a waste of money; hadn’t she reared four healthy girls on fertilised and sprayed food? Laura wasn’t sure either way, but she wanted to do whatever was best for her baby.) She was also more confident about her mother’s parenting abilities because she’d seen her looking after Celine, Deirdre and Janice and she knew that nothing panicked her. She thought that Caroline was much more likely to get into a fuss about things, although that was only based on the fact that her mother-in-law was always asking for updates about Jim’s health and well-being.
    Jim, however, was quite happy to think of his mother looking after Kirstie. It would be very convenient, he said, since his parental home was only a fifteen-minute drive when you got on to the motorway, whereas even though Angela was closer, local traffic could cause horrendous delays sometimes. Besides, he said, Caroline wanted to help. He’d have thought, he added, that Laura would want that too, given that their relationship hadn’t always been the easiest. It was good to think that Kirstie was bringing them closer.
    ‘The thing is,’ Laura admitted eventually, ‘I’d really like my mum to do it.’ She’d thought and thought about it and had finally come up with the perfect reason. ‘After all, she’s used to girls. Your mum had two boys.’
    ‘I can’t see that it makes any difference,’ said Jim. ‘A baby is a baby after all.’
    ‘Still . . .’ Laura used her most persuasive voice.
    ‘My mum really wants to help out,’ said Jim obstinately. ‘I think she should have the chance. Kirstie’s her grandchild too, you