Against All Odds

by Marian L. Jasper

  Zelma bustled in and put her lunch on the table and turned towards Liza as another pain assailed her. “It’s finally started then, Liza,” said Zelma very calmly, “shall I fetch the doctor?”

  “I think it may be a bit early for that, but please don’t leave me, Zelma. I am a little frightened,” said Liza.

  Zelma nodded and sat in the other rocking chair, and for the next two hours she watched over Liza. “I think it would be good if you go to your bedroom now, Liza, I’ll help you and get you settled and then I must go for the doctor and then arrange for the boys to go to Gabriel’s from school. After that I must send word for Patrick, you know that he wants to be with you now.”

  Liza didn’t find it difficult to make her way to her bedroom and Zelma helped as she got ready and lay on the bed. “I’m all right for the moment, Zelma, so if you would like to call on the doctor now, I’d be pleased.”

  Zelma calmly nodded and left. Another moment of fear washed over Liza and she really wished that Patrick was with her. If this was not going to work out well then she wanted to be in Patrick’s arms when the time came. In less than five minutes Dr Tom was with her and she breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Zelma will be back soon,” he said. “She’s gone to the general store to ask Greg to fetch Patrick, and she’s arranging for the boys to be with Gabriel.”

  He looked at her and for the first time he saw fear in her eyes and it startled him. He felt incapable of finding the right words to reassure her that everything would be all right. Kathy rushed in and up the stairs and her being there seemed to ease the look in Liza’s eyes and Dr Tom felt guilty that he had been unable to do that.

  “Greg’s on his way to fetch Patrick,” said Kathy. “I know that he wants to be with you now. Zelma’s seeing Gabriel and she’ll be taking the boys to his house and they’ll probably be staying the night there. Hannah is cooking their supper and will take it to them so that Zelma can be here for you. It’s all organised, all you have to do is concentrate on bringing a little Kelly into the world.”

  Dr Tom was very grateful for Kathy’s matter of fact attitude which had a very calming influence on Liza and if he thought about it, he felt that it was calming him also. He had seen many babies into the world but this one was very different. He noticed that it had gone very quiet in town; it was as if they were all holding their breath, waiting.

  Patrick was organising his duties for the next few days with the captain and Ben when Greg rode in looking for him. They all looked up towards the window having heard someone riding at great speed into the fort and skidding to a halt. The colonel put his head out of his office door and said, “I believe the time has come when you are needed at home, Lieutenant Kelly. I don’t know of any other reason why young Greg Long would be breaking his neck to get here.”

  There was a slight commotion and young Greg burst into the office out of breath. The captain put his hand on his shoulder and said, “I think we’ve got the message, off you go, Patrick and the next time I see you we’ll be celebrating the arrival of your new-born.” So Greg had delivered his message without saying a word.

  Patrick saluted, left the office and quickly made his way to the stables. The soldier on duty had seen Greg riding in and realised that Liza Kelly’s time had come and was already saddling Patrick’s horse ready for him. Patrick thanked him and was very soon riding swiftly towards town. He was trying to not show the panic he was feeling and as he arrived Gabriel was waiting to take his horse from him and stable it.

  “I’m glad you’re here, Patrick. I’ve got the boys with me and Hannah is feeding them at the moment, so don’t worry about them, just get to Liza now,” said Gabriel who was sadly remembering his own experience with his wife during childbirth.

  Patrick bounded up the stairs and into the bedroom and although Tom, Zelma and Kathy were there, his eyes only sought out Liza, who was propped up in bed looking remarkably well, but her eyes were showing some concern. He kissed her and murmured in her ear. Looking up it seemed as if it was the first time he had noticed the others and he nodded to them all. He went to his wardrobe and took out his casual clothes telling everyone that he was going to change into more comfortable clothes and he turned and kissed Liza again, before leaving to go to one of the spare rooms to get out of his uniform.

  He was back in less than five minutes, ready for a long night ahead and it was only then that he asked how everything was progressing.

  “It seems to be going rather slowly at present, which is not something to worry about. It’s only Liza who would prefer it to go more quickly, isn’t that right?” said Dr Tom to Liza.

  “Yes, I would rather like all this to be over now, but it seems that our child has other ideas,” said Liza as another pain swept through her body.

  When it had passed Kathy said that she was going over to the general store to make sure Joe was all right, but on the way, she would call in on the boys at Gabriel’s to see if there was anything they needed from the store. She was planning to come back in a couple of hours unless she was called for before.

  Patrick settled himself beside Liza on the bed and Tom said that he was going to be there for the next couple of hours and if nothing had happened before, he would take a rest once Kathy was back. Zelma took the opportunity to get food for everyone, although Liza wanted nothing.

  The doctor went home when Kathy returned so that he could change and see his children who were already in bed. At midnight he returned and told Kathy that it would be better if she left and returned early the next morning as he felt that she would be needed then, although he promised to send for her if she was needed sooner.

  He and Zelma staggered up the stairs with the two rocking chairs and they made themselves as comfortable as possible knowing that it was going to be a long night. Patrick settled himself next to Liza and held her close to him and helped her through each contraction. They talked to one another quietly throughout the night and Patrick whispered that he thought he would not be able to arouse himself to make love to her that night, unless she would like to help him in that respect. She smiled up at him and said, “If only we could Patrick,” and they both laughed.

  At around four o’clock in the morning Liza’s water finally broke, but she lost virtually nothing. Tom frowned and thought that, on top of all else, this was now going to be a dry birth. It was never going to be easy but this was just an added complication.

  Kathy arrived back at seven in the morning and shortly after Ada came calling. It was Saturday and she thought that it would be a good idea if the boys came to the fort for the day. She would give them lunch and afternoon tea and Liza and Patrick said that they were at Gabriel’s at the moment, but it seemed that it would be nice for the boys including Si and there was a very large playground for them. Ada was sure that some of the soldiers enjoyed playing ball with them as they had done it before.

  Patrick went to see the boys at Gabriel’s and they hoped that he had brought news that they had a baby brother or sister, and they were disappointed that they still had to wait to find out. They were delighted that they had been invited to the fort for the day with Si. Gabriel said that he would take them there for lunch.

  “Still nothing then, Patrick,” said Gabriel. “It’s taking a long time, is Liza coping well?”

  “She’s beginning to get agitated and rather tired now, and we’re both becoming a little frightened,” said Patrick.

  “Patrick, you’ve been frightened since realisation of Liza’s pregnancy set in and you have both done a magnificent job hiding that from the outside world. You’d better get back to her as she really needs only you to get her through this,” said Gabriel.

  Halfway through the morning Dr Steele turned up to relieve Tom, allowing him to get some rest. Patrick refused to leave Liza as did Zelma. Kathy was coming and going throughout the morning.

  They heard the boys leaving Gabriel’s for the fort and Liza said that it was nice that they were going to have such a lovely time that afterno
on.

  Liza’s pains had been coming every few minutes and suddenly they stopped. She was becoming exhausted and welcomed the relief, she closed her eyes and almost slept but her logic told her that this was not normal and she called to Dr Steele which drew an immediate reaction. He could still hear the baby’s heartbeat, but it was very slow. Still no other pains came and Liza was beginning to panic, but Zelma came to the rescue with a simple feather and told Liza to open her mouth and she tickled the back of her throat until she retched several times and Liza’s contractions started again.

  Dr Steele looked on in amazement and made a mental note to adapt this treatment for his own use if needed in the future. Zelma saw his surprise. “I’ve seen such a thing before and know how to handle it,” she said in a very matter of fact fashion.

  Liza’s labour had been going on now for well over twenty-eight hours and she was exhausted and didn’t feel that she was getting any nearer bringing her child into the world. Tom had arrived back and he and Dr Steele were in discussion out of earshot.

  Patrick was holding her closely and talking to her with a confidence that he didn’t really feel, when Liza suddenly said, “This isn’t going well, Patrick. This little one doesn’t want to join us in this world. I think you are going to have to prepare yourself and please stay with me.”

  “Just don’t say that, Liza, don’t even think it. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, I promised you that and I always keep my promises,” said Patrick.

  “Sometimes there are promises which just can’t be kept,” said Liza.

  “Never! Not one of mine,” said Patrick. “Now, come on, if you want to get out of bed and walk around a bit, I’ll help you do that.”

  He helped her up and she staggered around the bedroom for a short while, but it did make her feel more determined. For the next half hour she remained out of bed until suddenly she knew that, at last, their child was definitely on its way.

  Tom came in and realised that, finally, Liza was going to give birth and he saw her give a most beautiful smile to Patrick who nodded and said, “That’s my girl.”

  “You may want to leave now, Patrick; Kathy, Zelma and I can take it from here as it could get a little disturbing and distasteful for you,” said Tom.

  “There is nothing that Liza could do which would disturb me or be distasteful to me. I know every part of her and I have seen her in grave difficulties in that area before and if I hadn’t been there to help her through it, she would have died. I’m not leaving her now; I’ll be with her throughout this, strange as that may seem to you. That’s right, isn’t it, Liza?”

  “That’s right, Patrick; thank you,” once again she gave him a wonderful smile as he settled himself on the bed so that he could hold the top half of her in his lap.

  It took another two hours for their daughter to finally be born and Patrick was the one to encourage her to push throughout those two hours. By the end of it they were both thoroughly exhausted but Patrick could see the looks of concern on Tom’s and Kathy’s faces as they looked at the baby. Liza had her eyes closed but was well aware that something was wrong. “Is she dead?” she asked as she hadn’t heard her cry.

  “No, Liza she’s not dead,” said Tom. “But she’s not very well.”

  Liza had a vivid picture of her first child, Jonathan and asked, “Does she have a blue tinge to her, Tom?”

  Tom was surprised that she should ask that. “Yes, she does, Liza, and she’s having some difficulty in breathing.”

  “Oh, just like Jonathan. I must hold her and baptise her. Will you help me please, Patrick?” said Liza.

  Patrick looked so sad, but of course he would help her, he said and he got up and took his daughter from Tom and brought her to Liza and they both went through the process of baptising her and naming her Margaret Bernadette. She handed their daughter to Patrick as another contraction assailed her and Tom and Kathy helped with the afterbirth. They both looked at it and called Zelma over; it hadn’t completely come away from her, which could mean that when it did it could cause a haemorrhage. They just had to wait and see. Even this final part of the birth was not going well, thought Tom.

  Patrick carried his daughter over to Tom and Kathy and Zelma washed and dressed Liza and made her comfortable whilst Tom examined Margaret closely. “Liza and Patrick, I’d like to get a second opinion from Dr Steele, but I think you can see that you lovely daughter is not very fit, and the blue colouring around her mouth means that she has a heart problem. The blood is not pumping around her body properly and it’s only recently that such children are known as ‘blue babies’. She is going to need a great deal of care and attention.”

  “You know she’ll get that, Tom, but we are going to also need a great deal of advice,” said Patrick.

  “Liza, tell me about your first child. You say he was born with a blue tinge to his skin. Did nobody advise you what to do about him,” said Tom.

  “He was born three months early and only lived for twenty to thirty minutes, so no advice could possibly be needed. It’s only now that I realise that Margaret has the same problem. It was naturally thought that Jonathan’s death was because I had him at only six months and of course, you know that my first husband had died not long before I had him, which also seemed to be a reason why he was born early,” said Liza.

  “Liza,” said Patrick. “She’s so small but she is beautiful and she looks just like you, even with her blue lips.”

  Liza settled back comfortably against the pillows and put out her arms to hold her baby daughter properly for the first time. She looked at her closely, kissed her and lay on her side watching her for a while before they both went to sleep.

  ***

  Earlier Gabriel had put the three boys into his buggy and driven them to the fort. They were going to spend most of the day there and have lunch with Ada and the colonel and then later on they were to have tea with Bea, the captain, Rachel and little Judith.

  Gabriel was grateful that their friends at the fort were ‘doing their bit’ to help whilst Liza was having her baby. He loved all the children, but his powers of entertaining them were limited and prior to this he had always had Zelma to help.

  He was also quite pleased because Hannah was busy that day and of course Zelma was with Liza and although he was quite capable of feeding himself and three children, it was not his greatest asset, therefore he was looking forward to Ada’s cooking but he did wonder whether he would have room for Bea’s afternoon tea. His capacity seemed to be a great deal less than three small boys could eat in a day.

  Naturally most people at the fort were very concerned for Liza and Patrick but they were not making their concern obvious in front of the boys, but many a question was asked quietly of Gabriel.

  They all enjoyed their lunch; Ada and the colonel were happy to have the boys with them and Gabriel was pleased that Felicity was not with them at that time. He had seen her around and heard some of her comments, especially those which were unfairly aimed towards both Liza and Patrick. She seemed to have become friendly with Laurie Cuzins who was also the friend of Corporal Shaw and had once been Frank Wyley’s lady friend.

  When their lunch was over, a game loosely based on cricket was organised and many were going to take part. The boys and Gabriel were going to be on one team with Sean, Captain Graves, Ben and Corporal Shaw on the other. The colonel, Ada, Bea, Rachel and many others were supporters.

  Jackets were discarded and sleeves were rolled up and the game began. The boys had perfected the way they could run rings around Liza and they were hoping to do the same to their opponents. There was a great deal of laughter and shouting as all the rules of cricket were flaunted. There were cheers, groans and applause from the supporters and the boys found that they were up against opponents who also knew how to play the way Patrick had shown them.

  A buggy swept into the parade ground sending everyone running in all directions. It came to a halt and down stepped Felicity followed by Laurie Cuzins. She beckon
ed to a soldier who had been watching the game and instructed him to take her shopping to her house, and then told another soldier to put her buggy away. The colonel was furious and was at her side in two seconds. “You take your own shopping into our quarters and when you have done that, you put the buggy away yourself. You do not instruct soldiers to do your bidding, do you understand?”

  She appeared taken aback and embarrassed, but she picked up her goods and went to her quarters followed by her friend, Laurie. They both came out again and were making their way towards the buggy when Felicity noticed Matthew with his cricket bat in hand and he looked up at her and all she could see were Liza’s green eyes and her annoyance became hatred and she pointed to him and said in her shrill voice, “I’ve heard that your mother is dead, or if she isn’t, she will be soon, just like yours,” and she then pointed at Si, and then turned and pointed at Rachel and said, “and yours.”

  There was a stunned silence and the next noise to be heard was a resounding slap as the colonel hit his daughter across the face, she nearly fell but he grabbed her and slapped her hard again and this time he let her fall.

  Even her good friends Laurie and Corporal Shaw were horrified at what she had said to the boys and Rachel. All the adults were milling around the boys, Gabriel was trying to tell them that there was no truth in what she had said, but even he didn’t know at that time whether Liza had died. Bea was comforting Rachel and Ada was crouching down to Matthew and John. Sean and the captain didn’t know which child to comfort the most, but the children sorted what they wanted themselves. Si put out his arms to Matthew and John and they went to him and he stood in the middle with an arm around each; Rachel moved quickly over to the three and faced them and put her arms also around Matthew and John, so that they were standing in a circle looking after one another.