The midwife was quick. She was grinning widely when she removed her fingers. "My dear, you are six centimeters and climbing. We're having a baby. How long until Dee gets here?"
Rayann welcomed the surge of adrenaline those words gave her. Lack of sleep was making her punchy. "Soon, I hope. She'll kick herself if she misses it."
"I'll kick her butt all the way to Canada if she misses it," Judy snapped.
The midwife told the delivery nurse to bring the
delivery cart. She turned back to Judy. "This is going to be uncomfortable — really, just uncomfortable. I'm going to see if I can feel the baby's position. If it's head-down I'll attach a fetal monitor. The last ultra¬sound had it head-down and we'll hope that all this activity hasn't change that."
"Wait," Judy said. "Here comes another one."
Something was different about this contraction. Judy's entire body tensed and Rayann grabbed one flailing hand and put her arm around Judy's shaking leg. "I want to push." There was a desperate edge to her voice.
"I'm not surprised," the midwife said. "Don't push. Judy!" She shook Judy's other leg. "Don't push now."
"Candle-blows." Rayann thought she was going to hyperventilate as she demonstrated. "Please, Judy. Don't push. You're not dilated enough. Remember the class? If you push now it's going to hurt like hell and you don't have any drugs yet. The baby needs more room. Candle-blows. Come on. Do it with me."
She had Judy's attention. Judy began to puff as if she was blowing out a candle and the midwife said, "That's so much better. That's excellent, Judy. There, it's easing up now. The baby is head-down and face¬down — the best of all possible positions. The monitor is on now."
The delivery nurse switched on a machine and turned it so Judy could see the digital display. "There's the heartbeat. Fast and steady, just the way we like it."
Judy was drenched. Rayann offered her apple juice and ice. They'd been joking earlier about how women had had babies in the fields and survived, but Rayann
didn't feel like laughing now. She had had no idea. She knew Judy as well as she would know a sister. And she'd had no idea that Judy could be so strong.
The door opened and Dee rushed in. She was still in uniform, but a change of clothes was in the hospital bag Judy had brought with her. She bent over Judy's head, pressing her cheek to Judy's. "I got here as soon as I could. I was in court. Can you believe this baby's timing?"
"Just preparing us for the future," Judy said. Color was back in her face and half the tension went out of her body.
"Ain't that the truth? I gotta change, honey. And I have to find a place to lock up my gun. I don't want to have to worry about it."
"I'm fine," Judy said. "Drugs are on the way, I'm told."
Rayann started to assure Dedric that she would stay as long as she was needed when Judy gasped that another contraction was starting.
Dedric joined the chorus of voices reminding her not to push. Everyone except the delivery nurse was doing candle-blows to set the example.
When the contraction eased Dedric's pallor sur¬passed Judy's. "Is that normal?" She turned her panicky gaze on the midwife.
"Perfectly normal," the midwife assured her. The on-duty resident also nodded. He'd slipped in a few minutes earlier and stayed out of the way. Rayann knew he was required to be there by hospital rules, but it was obvious he knew that the midwife was in complete control of the situation.
"Christ, honey." Dedric smoothed Judy's brow. "I had no idea you were so butch."
Judy laughed weakly, then sniffed back tears. "Go get out of that damned uniform."
"Yes, ma'am. Don't have a baby while I'm gone, please."
The delivery nurse suggested the locked medicine closet for Dedric's gun. When Dedric came back she was in sweats, and her red hair was down from the efficient ponytail she favored for work. For once she looked human, Rayann thought.
Even though she had missed more than half the childbirth classes, Rayann knew Dedric had made sure that she and Judy practiced and trained on their own. Rayann didn't interfere with the synergy they had going. It reminded her of the way she and Louisa had worked together — almost wordless. A gesture could be an entire conversation.
The anesthesiologist arrived with two medical students in tow. Rayann watched with queasy fascina¬tion as a catheter was inserted into Judy's spine. Within moments, Judy said she felt a flush of numb¬ness.
"Try moving your legs," the midwife suggested.
Judy raised them slowly. "It's difficult, but I can still feel them."
"That's perfect. You're going to be able to push and most of the contraction pain will be blocked. Rest in between as much as you can. Drink some more juice and then I'll check your cervix again."
No one said anything about her having to leave now that Dedric was there, so Rayann went around to
the other side of the bed and tried not to get in the way.
The midwife pronounced it time to push. "I want two pushes per contraction, that's a quick count of ten each."
Already Judy was listening better. Clearly, her world had been reduced to what was happening in her pelvis and to the sound of Dedric's voice.
Rayann counted along with Dedric. "Breathe in, out, in, now push. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, breathe out. In, out, in, now push." She counted ten, quickening her pace with Dedric. Judy's exhale was raspy and Rayann quickly arranged the juice so Judy could sip.
"That was excellent," the midwife announced.
"I can't imagine doing that without the epidural," Judy said weakly. "I wanted to do it naturally."
Dedric smoothed her forehead. "I know you did, but it doesn't matter how the baby gets here."
"Another one's coming," Judy said. She pushed the juice away. She clutched Dedric's hand and gave Rayann a ragged smile. "No rest for the weary."
Rayann was swaying on her feet before she realized that Judy had been pushing for nearly an hour. She felt as if she was coming up for air. She had been focused on the baby's monitored heartbeat. It was so much faster than Louisa's had been. For a moment she was back in Louisa's hospital room, then the sound of Dedric's voice roused her from the empty pain.
"I know you're tired, baby, I know you are. But you can do it. One more push. Let's take it one at a time."
Judy pushed away Dedric's hand, then grabbed for
?
it the next instant. "I can't do it without you. Oh God, another one."
Like a thunderclap, Rayann had the first creative urge she'd felt in a long, long time. Her neck prickled with cold sweat as her heart raced. She was exhausted and exhilirated at the same time. She wanted to sketch them, but had no paper. If Judy hadn't for¬bidden it, she would have taken a picture for the memory. It was the way Dedric's neck was arched as she bent over Judy, the coil of their hands just below where Dedric's lips brushed Judy's ear as she counted. Judy's face was grooved with strain and determina¬tion ...
Rayann was so caught in the tableau that she didn't at first register the midwife's excited cry. "You're crowning. That's it, I have a shoulder. Both shoulders! What a beautiful baby!"
Dedric burst into tears while Judy sobbed for breath. The midwife quickly placed the baby on Judy's chest.
It was a girl. Judy had told her that artificial insemination resulted in ninety percent boys.
"She's twice a miracle, now," Dedric said. She was still crying.
"Three times," Judy said. "She made you cry. I've never seen you cry before."
The tiny life gave a throaty yell. Right before Rayann's eyes she changed from a purple-skinned, Crisco-coated, X FiZes-looking alien to a bundle of infant girl. The skin tone was already flushing from purple to pink. The silvery blue eyes opened as her mother's chest provided both warmth and the familiar lub-dub she'd been hearing for the last nine months. She quieted with a little sigh.
The midwife offered Dedric the scissors to cut the cord. "It doesn't hurt, really. Between the two clamps."
&n
bsp; "Welcome to the world, little one," Judy said, then she put a hand on her abdomen. "Oh, what's happening?"
"The afterbirth," the midwife reminded her. "The nurse is going to take the baby to the warmer and do her vitals while you push this out."
"More pushing? I can't." Judy's head fell back with a whimper.
"This is easy. Then I'll do just a little stitching. You'll be glad you had the epidural because by the time it wears off I'll be all done. You might want to have some more juice now."
"What's her name?" Rayann demanded. Why was no one sharing this very important piece of infor¬mation? "I want to know my goddaughter's name."
Dedric ruffled the mass of black hair. "Joyner for Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Melissa for Judy's mother and Melissa Etheridge. And we're going to combine our last names from Kendall and Denton to Kent. So she will be Joyner Melissa Kent."
"What a regal name," Rayann said. "It carries the tradition of women athletes in your name."
"Joyner is a little prettier than Dedrickson."
Judy sniffed. "Dedrickson is a lovely name. A bit of a mouthful for a first name, but still lovely."
Dedric was smoothing Judy's forehead. It took only a little pushing until the afterbirth appeared and Judy closed her eyes. "I want to sleep for a week."
The midwife chuckled. "Sleep's over, Judy."
As if to confirm that, Joyner Melissa Kent wailed from the warming table.
"You can get out the camera now, Ray." Judy was watching Dedric hurry to the warming table.
Her photography was not anything special, but Rayann knew that the snap she got of Dedric offering her little finger to Joyner to clasp would be one they would cherish forever. It was an astonishing thing — before her eyes a baby had come alive and two of her closest friends had transformed.
As tired as she was she spent forty minutes with a sketchpad at home, trying to catch the essence of what she had witnessed before it was lost to sleep. She was out of practice — nothing looked quite right.
Unable to hold her head up any longer, she oozed into bed. Teresa from work would be able to draw it right, she thought. She had gifts Rayann could envy.
10
"I guess I would say that no two days are the same." Teresa let the high-school student scribble more on his notepad. "The pace can be frenetic but the atmosphere is creative. And nothing stays the same. I don't know, maybe that's just my effect on places. Liman's hasn't reorganized the management structure in years, but they just did it yesterday. I have a new boss and my old boss was promoted. And she just got here like, eight weeks ago."
"Do you make a lot of money?"
"Enough," Teresa said. "Not as much as at other
agencies. I mean, a commercial artist can go right to work for lots of agencies and probably make more. But as someone else who works here said, I don't have to use my best creative ideas to sell cigarettes to kids."
She answered a few more questions and then saw the kid to his next interview. She liked talking to a young person about what she did. Rayann had set everything up through the closest public high school.
She resisted the impulse to pop her head into Rayann's office and tell her that she thought the interviews were a great idea. Rayann was no longer her direct boss. The art department had been broken into three areas — art, video and sound. Those depart¬ments now all had new heads, promoted from within. Combined with copywriting, they were all managed by Rayann as the company's first creative director. It was how most ad agencies were organized on the creative side. Liman's had been an anomaly, maybe because Amy and Philip had liked it that way.
Rayann had also brought in a major new client, a regional chain of hardware stores. Their work was already spread throughout the department. The local business trade paper had covered "Liman's New Face" in the most recent issue. Teresa had snagged the front page for herself, thinking she might send it to her father. She smoothed Rayann's picture, then folded the page into her backpack.
There was no coffee, and Henry was gone for lunch. She had once made more while he was gone, but the invectives against whoever the idiot was that had messed with the coffee kept her from ever doing that again.
She decided to go out for a Snapple. She'd brought
her lunch because she wanted to save up for her own place, but one Snapple wouldn't make or break a security deposit plus first and last months' rent.
"Teresa, hang on."
She turned toward the sound of Jim's voice — he was just leaving Rayann's office.
"What's up?" Jim was just as easy to work with as a boss as he had been as a coworker.
"The video shoot for the hardware ad — they're redoing the entire storyboard. And it needs to be done fast because the technicians and talents are just standing around getting paid for nothing."
"Do we need to work tonight?"
"No. You, Tori and Rayann need to get on a plane to Phoenix. That's where they're shooting — and losing money. You're on a flight in about ninety minutes. No time to go home first."
"Crap." Her jeans hadn't been precisely clean when she'd grabbed them that morning.
"You do have about thirty minutes before the cab comes to take you all to the airport. Ray said to get yourself a change of clothes from whatever source and she'll reimburse you. Within reason, of course. Tori has probably already hit the shops."
"Casual Corner on Kearny. I'm there." She scooped her paperback, keys and wallet into her backpack, then pulled her laptop out of its docking station. She zipped it into its case and scooted down to the street. A sudden business trip was a nuisance — and an exciting opportunity.
It was probably a heck of a lot warmer and dryer in Phoenix. She bought a pair of chinos, a layered Henley top, undies and socks. She spied Tori waiting at the curb when she turned the corner. Tori was
laden with a Macy's bag, her commuting satchel and laptop case. She was breathing hard.
"I ran all the way back because the charge card authorization was down. It took forever. Henry was just here. He said Ray is on her way down."
"Does this happen a lot?"
"Well, I've been in this business a little over eighteen years and no, it doesn't happen a lot. But with big, new clients anything is possible."
"What did you do before advertising?" Tori looked well into her fifties.
"I was a housewife. I have three beautiful children — the youngest is about your age, I'd guess. When their father paid off the last of his law school loans he decided someone younger was better suited to host his clients."
"That sucks." Thank you, God, she thought, for making me a lesbian.
"It wasn't fun. He could afford to buy the kids' affection every other weekend and I got to be the one they hated for enforcing rules like curfews. Now that the kids are older they like their father a great deal less, so I guess I won in the end." She sighed.
"But it wasn't a war you wanted to wage."
"No, not at all. It was years before I stopped hoping we would reconcile. I loved the jerk." She shrugged. "I have no idea why I'm telling you all of this."
"I asked. I'm nosy."
"You're a good listener."
"I don't know about that. I have two ears like everybody else." Teresa laughed awkwardly.
Tori was serious. "No, I noticed it in meetings. Believe me, I've been in brainstorming meetings where
everyone wants red and the artist is an artist and keeps picking up a green pencil. You don't do that. You listen. You synthesize. You are very good at it."
Teresa ducked her head. She was not used to such lavish praise. "Thanks. I'm not sure it's all that special —"
"You're just like my daughter. I know she learned her self-esteem problems from me, because for a long time I thought I deserved to be cast off like a used coffee filter. She never believes praise."
"Okay, I'll try hard to believe it."
Tori was warming up to her theme. Teresa had to admit she liked it. "Remember the RTR session? Their first display ad. We
were done in six drafts. The last three were copywriting edits. Do you remember?"
"Yeah." Teresa shrugged. "Everyone was really clear about what they wanted."
Tori chortled. "In the proverbial pig's eye. I've seen meetings like that go into thirty drafts just for the art. You have a special talent, Teresa. Why do you think you're going on this trip?"
"Because I'm available?"
Tori rolled her eyes. "Or you're good at what you do. Oh — there's the boss."
Rayann joined them carrying a large satchel in one hand, her laptop case in the other and a cell phone held between shoulder and ear. "I'm really sorry," she was saying. "I was really looking forward to it, too. I'm getting in a cab now. Uh-huh. When I get back. Probably Sunday. I will want full and complete delivery of my cuddles and kisses upon return. Love to Dee." She set down the computer case and caught the cell phone before it slid to the sidewalk.
Teresa tried to look as if she hadn't heard a word. So there was someone in Rayann's life. There hadn't been any clues so far. And why should she care, anyway?
Tori shifted her bags. "What did you have to cancel?"
Rayann sighed. "I was going to babysit my new goddaughter." She pressed the cell phone to her heart. "The new woman in my life."
Teresa chewed her bottom lip. So she was back to square one on understanding anything about Rayann's private life.
"Children do that, don't they?" Tori's expression included Ray in a club that Teresa couldn't yet join. "It doesn't matter what shape your heart is in, they just make themselves at home."
The airport shuttle pulled up. As they piled in, Teresa missed some of what Tori and Rayann were saying. When they were settled, Rayann was ad¬mitting, "And already my attitude has been changing about lots of things. Suddenly I feel entitled to have an opinion about schools and curricula. Crime and punishment — that changed overnight. The day after Joyner was born I heard some ghastly news report about this man who had sexually molested several grade-school children. All I could think was... kill the bastard. Just kill him. He doesn't deserve to live. And he'll just keep doing it, so kill him now. And I've been opposed to the death penalty all my life. Where did that come from?"
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