She’s doing it again. She’s cutting me out. She’s trying to bewitch Luke.

“Leave me alone!” I exclaim in fury. “I’m not your patient anymore and you’re not having a look at anything, thank you very much.”

Suddenly I don’t care about being in labor. Or pretend-labor. Or whatever I’m in. It’s not too late; I can still have my big confrontation. As everyone gapes, I cast away the gas and air mask and heave myself off the bed.

“Suze, can you give me that bag please?” I say in a trembling voice. “The carrier under the bed.”

“Yes! Here.” Suze hands me the carrier bag. “Is that her?” she adds in my ear.

“Uh-huh.” I nod.

“Cow.”

“That’s a good idea, Becky!” Paula’s saying in bright, uncertain tones. “Keeping upright will help the baby descend….”

“Venetia, I have something to return to you.” My voice is very slightly slurred, which is the fault of that stupid gas and air. And I keep breaking into a smile, which is a bit annoying. But anyway, she’ll get the message.

“Luke doesn’t want these.” I reach into the bag and throw the support stockings at her. They land on the floor and everyone looks at them.

Oh. I’ve got a bit confused.

“I mean…these.” I chuck the cuff link box, hard, and it hits Venetia on the forehead.

“Ow! Shit!” She clasps her head.

“Becky!” Luke remonstrates.

“She’s still after you, Luke! She sent you a Christmas present!” Suddenly I remember my Latin. “Uti…barberi…” My tongue keeps tripping up. “Nam… I mean …tui…”

Fuck.

Latin’s a stupid language.

“Love, are you delirious?” Mum looks anxious.

“Becky, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Venetia looks as though she wants to laugh.

“Just leave us alone.” I’m quivering with anger. “Leave me and Luke alone.”

“You paged me,” Venetia reminds me, and takes the chart from a nervous Paula. “Now, where are we at with this baby?”

“Don’t change the subject!” I yell. “You told me that you and Luke were having an affair. You tried to freak me out.”

“An affair?” Venetia opens her eyes wide. “Becky, Luke and I are just old friends!” She gives her silvery laugh. “I’m sorry, Luke. I realize Becky has a problem with me. But I had no idea she was quite so possessive….”

She looks totally reasonable, standing there in her green medical-authority uniform. And I’m the deranged, drugged pregnant woman in a baggy T-shirt.

“Ven, it’s fine,” says Luke, looking uncomfortable. “Listen, we’ve got Charles Braine coming to supervise. Maybe you should…leave.”

“Maybe I should.” Venetia nods conspiratorially at Luke, and I feel a stab of white-hot rage.

“Luke, don’t just let her get away with it! She said you were lovers! She said you were leaving me for her!”

“Becky…”

“It’s true.” Angry tears are running down my face. “No one believes me, but it’s true! She said the minute you saw each other again it was just a question of when and where. She said you were intoxicated with each other, and it was like Penelope and…someone. Othello.”

“Penelope and Odysseus?” Luke stares at me.

“Yes! That’s it. And you were meant to be together. And that I didn’t have a marriage anymore….” I wipe my runny nose with my T-shirt sleeve. “And now she’s pretending I’m a completely deluded psycho….”

Something has changed in Luke’s eyes. “Penelope and Odysseus?” he says, an edge to his voice. “Ven?”

There’s a prickling silence.

“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Venetia says smoothly.

“Who are Penelope and Odysseus?” Suze whispers in my ear, and I shrug helplessly.

“Venetia…” Luke looks at her directly. “We were never Penelope and Odysseus.”

For the first time ever, I see Venetia falter. She doesn’t say anything, but just stares at Luke with a kind of defiance. Like she wants to say, Yes, we were.

OK, I have to know. “Luke, who are Penelope and Odysseus?” I ask.

I’m really hoping they’re not a PR guy and an obstetrician who get together after the wife is pushed out of the picture.

“Odysseus left Penelope to go on a long journey,” says Luke, his eyes still pinioning Venetia’s. “The Odyssey. And Penelope waited faithfully for him. For twenty years.”

“Well, she hasn’t waited faithfully for you!” Suze says, pointing an indignant finger at Venetia. “She’s had affairs all over the place!”

“Venetia, did you tell Becky we were having an affair?” Luke’s stentorian voice makes us all jump. “Did you say I was leaving her for you? Did you try to break her confidence?”

“Of course I didn’t,” says Venetia coldly. Her eyes are hard but her jaw is trembling slightly, I notice.

“Good.” Luke’s tone is still scathing. “Well, let’s make it crystal clear once and for all. I would never have an affair with you, Venetia. I would never have an affair with anyone.” He turns to me and takes both my hands. “Becky, there is nothing whatsoever between me and Venetia, whatever she might have said. We dated for a year. As teenagers. That’s it. OK?”

“OK,” I whisper.

“How did you break up?” Suze says with interest, then flushes as everyone turns to look at her. “It’s relevant!” she says defensively. “You should be open about past relationships! Tarkie and I know everything about each other’s old flings. If you’d told Bex, instead of…” She trails off.

“Maybe you’re right.” Luke nods. “Becky…maybe I should have explained what happened between us. How it ended.” His face twists fleetingly. “Venetia had a pregnancy scare.”

“She was pregnant?” I feel sick at the thought.

“No. No!” Luke shakes his head vigorously. “She thought she might be, briefly. But anyway, it…clarified things. And we ended it.”

“You panicked.” Venetia’s voice is suddenly throbbing, as though she can’t control a long-buried anger. “You panicked, Luke, and we lost the best relationship I’ve ever had. Everyone was jealous of us at Cambridge, everyone. We were perfect together.”

“We weren’t perfect!” He looks at her incredulously. “And I didn’t panic—”

“You did! You couldn’t cope with commitment! It frightened you!”

“It did not frighten me!” Luke shouts, exasperated. “It made me realize you weren’t the person I wanted to have children with. Or spend the rest of my life with. Ever. And that’s why I ended it!”

Venetia looks as though he hit her. For a few seconds she appears speechless — then her eyes focus on me with such aggression that I shrink away.

“And she is?” she demands with a savage gesture. “This mindless consumer little…girlie is who you’re going to spend the rest of your days with? Luke, she has no depth! She has no brain! All she cares about is her shopping, and her clothes…and her girlfriends….”

The blood has drained from my face and I feel a bit shaky. I’ve never heard such vitriol.

I glance over at Luke. His nostrils are flared and a vein is beating in his head.

“Don’t you dare talk about Becky like that.” His voice is so steely, even I’m a bit scared. “Don’t you dare.”

“Come on, Luke.” Venetia gives a mocking little laugh. “I grant you she’s pretty….”

“Venetia, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Luke says evenly.

“She’s beyond frivolous!” cries Venetia. “She’s nothing! Why the hell did you marry her?”

There’s a tiny intake of breath around the room. No one moves for about thirty seconds. Luke looks a bit stunned to have been asked such a blatant question.

God, I wonder what he’s going to say. Maybe he’ll say for my brilliant cooking and repartee.

No. Unlikely.

Maybe he’ll say…

I’m a bit stumped, to be honest. And if I’m stumped, Luke must be too.

“Why did I marry Becky?” he echoes at last, in such a strange voice that I think maybe he’s suddenly wondering himself, and realizing he made a terrible mistake.

All of a sudden I feel a bit cold and a bit scared.

And still Luke hasn’t said anything.

He walks over to the sink and pours himself a cup of water as everyone watches nervously. At last he turns. “Have you spent time with Becky?”

“I have!” says Suze, as though she’s going to win the Jackpot prize. Everyone turns to look at her, and she colors. “Sorry,” she mutters.

“The first time I ever saw Becky Bloomwood…” He pauses, a tiny smile at his lips. “She was asking a bank marketing department why they didn’t produce checkbook covers in different colors.”

“You see?” Venetia tosses a hand impatiently, but Luke doesn’t even flicker.

“The next year they did produce checkbook covers in different colors. Becky’s instincts match no one else’s. Becky has ideas no one else has. Her mind goes to places no one else’s does. And sometimes I’m lucky enough to go along with her.” Luke’s eyes meet mine, soft and warm. “Yes, she shops. Yes, she does crazy things. But she makes me laugh. She makes me enjoy life. And I love her more than anything else in the world.”

“I love you too,” I mumble, a lump in my throat.

“Fine,” says Venetia, her face pale. “Fine, Luke! If you want a shallow little airhead—”

“You have no idea, so shut the fuck up.” Luke’s voice is suddenly like a machine gun.

Mum opens her mouth to protest Luke’s language — but he looks so livid, she closes it again, looking nervous.

“Becky’s a lot more principled than you ever were.” He’s regarding Venetia with contempt. “She’s brave. She puts other people before herself. I couldn’t have got through the last few days without her. You guys probably know what trouble my company is in at the moment….” He glances at Suze and Mum.

“Trouble?” Mum looks alarmed. “What kind of trouble? Becky never told us!”

Luke turns to me, incredulous. “Becky, haven’t you said anything?”

“I knew something was up,” Suze gasps. “I knew it. All those phone calls. But she wouldn’t say what it was….”

“I didn’t want to spoil the party.” I flush as everyone turns toward me. “Everyone was having such a lovely time….” I break off, realizing I still haven’t told him. “Luke…there’s something else. We’ve lost the house.”

As I say the words I feel a wave of crushing disappointment again. Our beautiful family house, gone.

“You’re kidding.” Luke’s face darkens in shock.

“They’re selling it to someone else. But…it’ll be fine!” Somehow I force a bright smile. “We can rent a flat somewhere…. I’ve been looking on the Net — we’ll easily find somewhere….”

“Becky…” I can see it in his eyes too. Our dreams, destroyed.

“I know.” I blink back the tears. “It’ll be fine, Luke.”

“Oh, Becky.” I look over, and Suze is practically in tears too. “Have our castle in Scotland. We never use it!”

“Suze.” I can’t help a half-giggle. “Don’t be silly.”

“You’ll come and live with us, love!” Mum chimes in. “You won’t rent any nasty flat! And as for you, young lady…” She turns on Venetia, her face pink with outrage. “How dare you upset my daughter when she’s in labor!”

Shit.

I’d forgotten about being in labor.

“God, of course!” Suze claps a hand over her mouth. “Bex, you haven’t made a peep! You’re amazing!”

“My darling, you are such a star.” Luke looks absolutely awestruck. “All this, and you’re in labor….”

“Oh…er…it’s nothing!” I try to sound modest. “You know….”

“It’s not nothing — it’s incredible. Isn’t it?” Luke appeals to the student midwives.

“She is pretty special,” agrees Paula, who has been following the exchange with Venetia with a wide-open mouth. “That’s why we’re all observing her.”

“Special, huh?” Venetia suddenly says. She comes over and looks me up and down, her eyes narrowed. “Becky, when exactly was your last contraction?”

“Er…” I clear my throat. “It was…er…just now.”

“She’s a Scientologist,” puts in Paula eagerly. “She’s managing the pain silently. It’s wonderful to watch.”

“A Scientologist?” echoes Luke.

“It’s my new hobby!” I say brightly. “Didn’t I tell you?”

“I never knew you were a Scientologist, Bex!” says Suze in surprise.

“Is that the Moonies?” Mum demands of Luke in alarm. “Has Becky joined the Moonies?”

“Well, now.” Venetia’s eyes gleam. “Let’s have a look at you, Becky. Maybe this baby’s ready to be delivered!”

I edge away. If she gets to examine me, I’m basically dead.

“Don’t be shy!” Venetia is advancing on me, and in panic I hurry round to the other side of the bed.

“Look at that mobility!” one of the student midwives is saying admiringly.