Titled? ~ 4

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Chapter Four

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She had never noticed the midwife practice here. When she had gone to work she had walked the other way and the shops were a left turn before this stretch of road. The only time she could remember going this way was when she had walked to George’s party, but she had been rather focused on Frederick and under an umbrella besides. Signs on windows and doors had not been interesting at all.

She resisted the urge to look over her shoulder as she found the right number and went inside. Right in front of her a girl with a toddler had just entered. She simply followed, without checking if anyone was watching her. The girl went to a desk and said hello, but then she continued on to a waiting room where two more small children were playing so loudly that no one there would be able to overhear what Anna Margaret said. That was good.

“Hi,” she said to the woman behind the desk. “I’m pregnant. I’d like to know how it works here.” It sounded stupid. She disliked sounding stupid. Perhaps they had a website, but she had not had any time to look it up.

Apparently there were lots of women who did not know how it worked, because the woman found this completely normal, because she greeted her without surprise or judgement and simply proceeded to the questions. “Do you live in the city centre?” She pointed at a map on which a part of the city had been coloured in.

“Yes.”

“How far along are you?”

“I’m not sure. Between two and three months?” It was probably very close to three. And that probably meant she should have come sooner. Most people, she assumed, were delighted and got themselves looked at right away.

“Please fill this in,” said the woman, pushing a form towards her. “I’ve had a cancellation. If it’s that late we should probably see if you can be seen right away, if that is no problem for you. In ten minutes.”

“Oh.” This was a little frightening. She finished filling out the form with address and insurance data for the administration. That, at least, was factual and simple. She had been using the address of the new house ever since they had bought it, not having wanted to use the Palace address.

When she was done, another woman had appeared from the office behind the reception. “Iris will see you, she said,” said the woman. “Please wait.”

Anna Margaret did not look forward to going into the waiting room where she might be stared at, so she feigned business on her phone.

The same woman who had first helped her and who she assumed was Iris beckoned her in without using her name a little over ten minutes later. Anna Margaret was grateful for the discretion. She was sure Iris had either recognised her or read her name upside down.

“Did you only just find out?” asked Iris.

“Er, no,” she said, a little embarrassed. “But it was simply not convenient to do something about it.”

Again, apparently, they had seen this all before here. Iris simply took another sheet without questioning or lecturing her. “I’ve got another form here. This is about your health. You have to bring this to every appointment and whoever is seeing you will mark your progress on it. You won’t be seeing the same person every appointment. We work in shifts, because we also work nights.”

She had to answer questions about illnesses and habits, but apart from the fact that they were slightly mad, she did not know if Frederick’s family had any illnesses. It seemed that when it came to habits she was completely fine.

“I think we should do a scan,” said Iris. “We have a machine, not for the medical scans but for seeing how far along you are – and if there’s a beating heart. The medical scan takes place around twenty weeks. Would you like to do it now or would you like to come back next Monday with the father?”

“I may not have time. I’ll do it now,” she decided. Frederick might want to see it, but she might look silly if she needed him there. She had no idea what the usual practice was. And if she did not do it now, she would be thinking about it all weekend.

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Going back to work after the midwife visit was a bit of a problem. She hoped to have got rid of most of her distractedness by the time she reached her office, but she still blinked as she sat down, as if she had no idea what to do.

Soon, however, she was disturbed by a visitor. The Pitbull.

“I have a question,” he said.

“Don’t you always,” she said wearily. He was really the last person she wanted to see right now. She was not sharp enough.

“Actually it’s about your boyfriend.”

She waited.

“Is he still your boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

“One of the green groups is planning to raise a stink about his upsetting the ecosystem in the Royal Domains.”

It took her a few moments to understand those words, but then she pulled herself together. She had to look calm and knowledgeable. This baby thing did not affect her ability to work. The Royal Domains. Right. She thought they fell under someone else. Ecosystems certainly did. Behaviour of royals did not. “And how would he be upsetting the ecosystem?”

“You don’t know?” the Pitbull asked with a shrewd look.

“It’s a dysphemism for which activity precisely?” She tried to remember what the deal was with the Royal Domains. It was not quite private royal property, she thought, but the family derived some income from it and in the old days they were allowed to hunt there.

“You don’t know?”

“Clearly he doesn’t use the same terms in describing his activities,” she said with a tight smile. “So I have no idea what you mean by upsetting the ecosystem.” And she had no idea how Frederick could be doing it. Hunting did not seem to be his thing, yet she did not see what else could be done there. Chopping trees? Riding horses?

“He’s digging a rowing lake.”

“Oh, that.” She was relieved to have heard at least a little bit about it. He had once mentioned a lake and finally being done with all the permits. “Research and permits were all taken care of a few years ago. Permits?” she asked with a significant nod.

“This green group says his activities are seriously affecting the habitat of the grass snake.”

“Human building activities always seriously affect the habitat of some animal or other. Permits were issued after extensive research –“ Or rather, she hoped it had been extensive. “— and I’m sure the fate of the snake was given ample consideration. Are you seriously bothering me about a snake?”

“Yes, well…” The Pitbull was not impressed. “I’m on a green committee, you know.”

“I’m sure you’re on several committees.” She told herself it was good for someone to be involved. At least he was doing something for his money.

“What we’d like to act against is people in some position of power, or with money, abusing that power or money to get away with things. Also, I’m sure someone would have something to say about unauthorised alterations to the land use in a part of the Royal Domains.”

“Permits were issued.” She rested her elbows on the desk. He ought to know that these things sometimes took years. “You know that I might still have been working in Brussels when this happened. Why don’t you go to whoever was responsible at the time?”

“If no permits were issued, you are responsible.”

“Then I suggest you go to Frederick himself. I’m sure he’ll be able to tell you anything you need to know.”

“I didn’t get the impression he enjoyed helping you out in that manner the previous time.”

“Are you developing some sensitivity?” she wondered.

“You very easily refer people to him.”

“Well, honestly. If you have questions only he could answer, don’t ask them of me. That ought to be self-evident. I thought you would have learned this last time. I don’t really appreciate people who are wasting my time for no reason at all.”

The Pitbull looked innocent. “I’m not sure that’s what I’m doing. I’m helping you. He doesn’t need another scandal on top of the rest.”

“Helping me? That sounds pretty unbelievable for a member of the opposition.”

“Amazing, isn’t it?”

She decided not to question him. “Anyway, I can’t help you. I was not involved. If you want a quick and detailed answer, you should approach someone who was involved.”

“The group is threatening to go public.”

“Let them. I don’t doubt they’ll look foolish. I mean, a snake? And did they have permission to study snakes in the Domains in the first place?”

---

In the afternoon a car came to pick her up to take her to the television studios. She had been there before, of course. It was nothing exciting. They did not generally ask more difficult questions than MPs. On the way she tried to memorise next week’s schedule. Her secretary had printed it out. When the car stopped, she folded it and slid the scan inside it. There might not be anybody searching her bag while she was being interviewed, but one never knew.

A scan was tabloid gold, especially with her name on it. Imagine someone finding it. It would be in tomorrow’s tabloid edition for certain. While at least the timing on it corresponded to what they had said about the length of their relationship, there was always something someone could say about that. Isabelle had had a point. They had moved rather fast.

Of course people who could not imagine that, would imagine they had been in a secret relationship for longer, but that they had chosen to pretend it had started after this event. She would think the same if it concerned someone else, as she had never been in the habit of moving so incredibly quickly.

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When she was finished at the studios she was rather hungry. As she stood waiting for the car, she contemplated pulling a chocolate bar from the machine. It was far from being good food, but it was better than nothing. At long last she decided to check if she had enough small change.

“That was brilliant,” said one of the hosts of the talk show that she had just been on.

She turned. He could not be referring to her managing to extract a chocolate bar from the machine. Maybe he was not even talking to her. Still, there was no one else near enough except the hostess, who had not been doing anything brilliant, as far as she knew. “What was?”

“What you said. It was great. Do you need a ride home?”

“No, thanks. There’s a car picking me up.”

“You could call that off, right? We could go for a drink to evaluate our performance.”

Anna Margaret took a bite from her chocolate bar and pondered this surprising offer. “No, sorry. People are waiting for me.” There was Frederick, who would probably want to have dinner with her, and then the girls, who wanted to go to the cinema again.

“Next time then, maybe?”

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” she said with a smile as she spotted her driver.

“Are you in a relationship?” he asked, but he did not seem to view it as a problem.

“Yes.”

As she leant back in the car she shook her head at the offer. The man had been well in his fifties. She did not care how many women liked him, but he was far too old – and she was taken besides. She did wonder if it was standard procedure to try and take the female guests out. It could not be, since he had not tried it with her before, but why he had tried it now was a mystery to her.

---

The girls were waiting for her already when she arrived at Frederick’s flat. They were watching him cook. She remembered the scan in her bag, but she could not show it to him right now. He set the table for two – apparently the girls had already eaten.

“How was it?”

“I don’t know if you know him, the blonde one? He said it was brilliant, but I suppose that was just an overture to asking me out for a drink.”

“Cheeky.”

“He may do that to all his guests. But it was still odd. I can’t remember him doing it before.”

“You have somewhere to go,” said Charlotte. “You had no time.”

“That too. But I wouldn’t have gone if I did have time either.”

She ate quickly and then hugged Frederick. “I saw the midwife this morning,” she whispered. The girls did not know she was pregnant. Isabelle might not appreciate her breaking the news to them already. She would first confer.

“Yes, I got your message.” She had sent one, but he had not been able to come over at such short notice.

“There’s a scan in my bag, in my schedule.”

“I’ll have a look.”