**MUM, I’LL COME!**
Exiting the maternity clinic, Nicole slumped onto a bench and pulled her phone from her handbag. After a few rings, Daniel answered.
“Dan, why didnt you meet me?” Nicole asked, her voice heavy.
“Im on my way, love! Traffic!” Daniel blurted. In the background, frustrated voices and car horns blared.
“Ive already left,” Nicole said. “I couldnt stay there any longer.”
A sigh echoed down the line. He understood.
“Ill wait,” Nicole muttered before hanging up.
Tucking her phone away, she took a deep breath and glanced around. A crisp autumn breeze scattered golden leaves from the trees, and the sun cast a gentle warmth, as if giving its last embrace before winter. It was the tail end of an Indian summer. Mothers strolled with their children, soaking up the fleeting warmth while little ones tumbled laughing into rustling piles of leaves. The playground by the clinic was packedcruelly so, it seemed.
Nicole felt a lump rise in her throat. She would never bring her own child here. Because she would never have one. This had been her fourth miscarriage. This time, she hadnt even been seen at a standard clinic but at a specialist maternity centre. Daniel, her husband, hadnt spared any expense. Yet the doctors could only shrug. Nicole and Daniel were perfectly healthytheyd even checked their compatibility. The diagnosis remained: “recurrent pregnancy loss of unknown cause.” Her consultant, with pitying sincerity, had advised her to have faith.
Her thoughts shattered as someone sat beside her. An elderly Romani woman, clad in a long, patterned skirt and headscarf, her ears weighed down by heavy gold earrings.
“Youre sad, dear?” the woman asked plainly.
Nicole nodded.
“I see your little one didnt stay this time either,” the woman continued.
“How do you know?” Nicole asked, stunnedthough she suspected the woman had contacts at the clinic. Now would come the talk of curses and crossed palms…
“Your dreams hold the answer. Each time, before losing the child, you have the same dream. Look there for the clue. A curse lies on you, girl. The child will show you. When you break it, another dream will come, and youll know its over.”
Nicole gaped. Shed never told anyone about the dreamsnot even Daniel.
Before she could reply, the woman stood abruptly and walked away, oddly enough, without asking for a penny.
***
A week earlier.
The same train station platform, split into twoone side bright and welcoming, the other dark and grim. Nicole stood on the border, like a few other women, waiting.
A trains horn sounded, and suddenly it roared past, wind whipping Nicoles hair. The doors opened, and childrenboys and girls no older than threespilled out, rushing into the arms of waiting women.
On the dark side, children of all ages boarded reluctantly, tears streaking their faces.
Nicole peered into the windows. A little girl with fair hair and green eyes waved sadly, one hand hidden behind her back. A surge of love overwhelmed Nicole, and she lunged forwardonly to be blocked by a conductor in a pristine white suit.
“She must come out on her own,” the conductor said.
The girl mouthed, *”Mummy, Ill comejust later!”*
*”When?”* Nicole cried.
*”When you free the bird!”* The girl revealed her hidden hand. On her palm sat a blue tit, impaled by a needle, blood dripping. With a sigh, the girl withdrew as the train pulled away.
***
“Nic, snap out of it!” Daniels voice brought her back.
She blinked, finding herself at home, staring at a painting of a winter scenea rowan branch laden with red berries, two blue tits perched on it. This had been a wedding gift from Daniels ex, Marianne, as a peace offering after her spiteful phase.
Nicole frowned. Something glinted on one bird. She lifted the paintingand there, hidden on the back, a needle pierced the canvas, its tip skewering the blue tits side.
“Marianne did this,” Nicole whispered.
Daniel scowled. “Shes not *mine*.”
“Its a curse. Thats why I keep losing them.”
She told him about the dreams and the Romani woman.
***
An hour later, they found the woman waiting by the clinic.
“You knew?” Nicole asked.
“I knew youd return,” the woman said. “Did you find the thread?”
“With the needle still in it,” Nicole said bitterly. “Can you help us? Well pay you.”
The woman smiled.
***
Five months later.
The same station. The same platform. But this time, Nicole stood on the bright side, heart pounding as the train arrived.
The conductor stepped out, radiant in white. And thenher. A fair-haired girl with green eyes, sprinting into Nicoles arms at last. Two hearts beat as one. A few more months, and theyd never part again.
**Sometimes, the unseen ties that bind us are the ones we must break to be free.**
