Gracie. Marie Maxwell
wheelchair that was a condition of her visit.
‘I’m sorry my dear but you can’t, not yet.’
‘What do you think? She looks so small …’
‘She is small, but I’ve seen far smaller, that’s for sure. We just have to wait. She’s still with us at the moment and where there’s life, there’s hope.’
The woman continued to stare at the incubator, taking in every detail of her daughter. She was perfect from head to toe and she was certain she was alert and aware, unlike how she had imagined she would be when they had given her the news of her condition.
The tiny baby moved her head and her eyelids flickered.
‘She’s looking at me, I can see her eyes …’ her mother said, her hope rising.
‘I’m sure she is, she senses you’re here,’ the nurse said as she moved around the wheelchair and then turned it slightly. Her expression was serious as she looked down at her patient.
‘Now, I have to talk to you. I don’t want you to get upset again but we think it would be a good idea for her to be baptised. Just in case. Your priest came to visit while you were still groggy from the operation so you may not remember the conversation …’
‘Baptised?’
‘Yes, as I said, just in case. He’ll baptise her as soon as you say the word; I can ring him for you. Have you chosen a name yet?’
‘Yes, but …’
As she tried to interpret the meaning behind the words, the nurse jumped forward and looked closely at the baby in the incubator. The little girl’s chest was heaving up and down as she struggled for breath.
‘I don’t like the look of this, something’s wrong. I’m going to get the doctor …’
With those words, the young nurse was away out of the door.
All that the woman could do was stare at her tiny child in the incubator and pray.
Please don’t let my baby die.
Please don’t take another one away from me …
New Years’ Eve 1953/1954
The young couple in the middle of the crowded dancefloor clapped and shouted excitedly along with everyone else, as the countdown to New Year was dramatically broadcast across the room by the band leader.
‘… Five, four, three, two, one …’ he bellowed into the microphone and then, as the chimes rang out across the ballroom a loud roar went up, and streamers were thrown out over the heads of the revellers, who all quickly formed into circles, linked hands and started singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’.
At the height of the excitement, the young man leaned over and spoke to the woman beside him.
‘I can’t hear you …’ she mouthed back before cupping her ear at him. ‘It’s so noisy.’
‘I said, will you marry me?’ he shouted at the top of his voice.
Gracie McCabe stopped still and stared at her boyfriend. ‘Pardon?’
Across the ballroom all the hands dropped as the music stopped and the singing slowly faded away. Some couples fell into each other’s arms and kissed, while others stood awkwardly, not sure what to do at that very special moment.
‘Last chance, McCabe. Will you marry me?’ Sean Donnelly repeated as loud as he could, this time with his arms spread wide and a big smile on his face.
‘Oh flipping hell, Sean, I don’t know what to say!’ Gracie McCabe laughed and put her hand up to her mouth.
‘Last chance …’
‘I suppose I might just marry you Sean Donnelly, but you have to do it properly; propose I mean, so as I know you really mean it, that it’s not just the beer talking. You’ve had more than a few tonight!’ she pulled a face and giggled. ‘Mind you I’m not one to talk, I’ve gone a bit overboard on the port and lemon meself.’
Laughing, he grabbed her hand and pulled her through the mass of people, over to the side of the dancefloor where it was less crowded. Turning to face her, Sean went down on one knee and took a red leather ring box out of his jacket pocket. He flipped the lid and held it out to her.
‘Gracie McCabe … for the very last time, will you marry me?’
Caught up in the excitement of the moment, Gracie jumped up and down on the spot. ‘Yes, yes, of course I will, yes …’
He took a delicate diamond ring from the box and slipped it onto her finger.
‘Do you like it?’ he asked.
Gracie held her left hand up in the air and waved it around. ‘Oh Sean, it’s beautiful and it fits just perfect …’
Beaming, she spun round on the spot, making the full skirt of her black and white polka dot frock flare out and show a lot more of her petticoats and legs than she anticipated. Gracie stopped and pulled a face.
‘Oh God, I’m making a fool of myself again … but I love it, Sean, I love it’.
She looked down at the ring and studied it for a moment. It was a classic engagement ring, pretty and dainty with a small diamond mounted high on the shoulders, which were diamond chips set in gold.
‘And I love you,’ he said, as a round of applause broke out around them. ‘Let’s tie the knot as quick as we can, I don’t want us to be having to wait a second longer than we have to. I want us to be married; I want us to be together forever.’
As Sean stood up, she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him.
‘I’m so happy, thanks for asking me, especially tonight. We can start the New Year as a proper engaged couple,’ Gracie said emotionally; she blinked hard as the tears prickled at the back of her eyes.
The band started playing again but the pace of the music had slowed right down, and the atmosphere in the ballroom changed from celebratory to romantic as the Last Waltz was played. Sean took Gracie’s hand and pulled her towards the dancefloor. ‘Come on, we have to dance to this tune and remember it forever. It will be our song, we can play it at our wedding and on our anniversaries …’
The sprung dancefloor moved as a swarm of couples took to the floor for the last dance in the glittering ballroom that was filled to capacity with couples of all ages dressed in their finery for the occasion.
As the lights dimmed and the music of Glenn Miller echoed around the walls Gracie smiled and followed her new fiancé onto the floor. She’d often fantasised about being married and having a home and family of her own. It was what she wanted most, and in one instant it had all become a reality; Gracie McCabe was going to be married. She was to marry Sean Donnelly, the hotel chef she had known and worked with for so long.
She hadn’t initially been that attracted to him, even though she liked him as a friend and occasionally went out with him, but he’d been persistent over the years and slowly but surely he’d grown on her. Gradually, she had become comfortable with him. It had only been in the previous few months that Sean had become more intense and Gracie had started to take him seriously. She could imagine him as a good husband and father, providing well for his family, and that was what she wanted, all she had ever wanted.
Everything that had gone before was suddenly irrelevant. The past that could easily have destroyed her had in fact made her stronger and she was ready to move forward in her life with Sean Donnelly.
Sean had to be at work early the next day, so as soon as the music stopped and the lights went up in the ballroom again they grabbed their coats from the cloakroom