by Caroline Lee
Allison Ravenwing was the woman for him. The fairies proved it.
As he lowered his hands, the lights around him in the bushes and flowers blinked out one by one. The line stretching between his chest and Allison’s heart slowly faded, until he couldn’t see it anymore, even though he could still feel it. It was still there, connecting them.
The look of incredulity on Colin’s face, and the wonder shining in Allison’s eyes made Joshua grin wider than he ever had. Nellie might not believe him, and he still wasn’t sure about Allison’s true thoughts…but that evening, Joshua had made a believer out of himself.
He took a deep breath, and was just trying to figure out what to say, when a jarring noise broke the silence. It was coming from Allison’s purse, and she dropped her arm from around Colin’s shoulders to scramble for it.
“Sorry! Sorry,” she said as she pulled out her phone. “That’s my labor alert, a special code mamas can—” She froze for a moment when she saw whatever was on the screen, then looked up to meet Joshua’s eyes. “It’s Ellie.”
Something akin to joyful panic crested over Joshua. “Is she in labor now?”
Allison’s gaze flickered over the two kids, before she nodded once. He knew she didn’t want to say too much, especially in regards to her client’s privacy, but he knew how exciting it was for Ellie and Will.
Nellie—who’d been fascinated by Allison’s profession since she found out about it—understood immediately. She bounced in place a little, much more excitement in her expression than had been there a moment ago for his performance. “Go on then. Colin and me will be fine.”
Joshua stepped towards them. “We had a really great time tonight, kids.”
Colin nodded enthusiastically as Nellie said, “Yeah, us too. But babies come on their own schedule.” She nodded wisely, and Joshua hid a smile at how grown-up she was trying to appear. “You go meet that baby, but you have to promise to tell me all about it.” She grabbed Allison’s hand as if she could wrench a vow out of her. “Promise? You’ll at least call?”
“No,” Colin said as he wrapped his arms around Allison’s middle. “You’ve gotta come back and visit us.”
The boy peeked out from under her arm to glare at Joshua, and Joshua was staggered by the wave of affection he felt. He smiled at Colin.
“I promise. We both promise.” He met Allison’s eyes and saw her agreement there. “We’ll be back so much, you’ll get sick of us.”
Nellie looked between the two of them—once, twice. Then, with a nod, she released Allison hand. “Deal.”
And then, as Joshua crossed the garden to stand beside Allison, ready to escort her back to River’s End Ranch, the brave little girl nodded one more time.
“Now go catch that baby!”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Their movie plans abandoned, Joshua rode back to River’s End Ranch with Allison. She could tell by the way his right knee bounced up and down and his hand clenched and unclenched on top of it, that he was nervous. They rode in silence for a little while, before she couldn’t take it anymore.
“Are you alright?”
His head whipped around to face her. “Me? What do you mean am I alright?
Allison kept her hands on the wheel and her eyes on the road. It wasn’t so late there were no other cars, but her eyesight wasn’t as good as it used to be. “You seem…jittery.”
A laugh exploded out of him. “Of course I’m jittery! You’re about to meet Will and Ellie’s baby! That’s the most exciting thing I can imagine.”
Was he serious? Allison darted a glance his way, before focusing once more on the road. He sure sounded serious. “Joshua, babies are born every day. I know this one is special, but still…”
She trailed off, not sure how to compare the birth of Ellie’s baby to what she’d witnessed tonight. Both were, in their own way, marvels. She still wasn’t sure what to believe about what she witnessed in the garden tonight, but she could sense the change that had come over him. Whatever he’d been wrestling with as recently as yesterday over lunch, with his questions about his aunt…he’d changed now. It no longer seemed to be an issue for him. From that moment in the garden when the golden lights had swirled around him, Joshua had seemed more sure of himself, more at ease.
At least, up till now.
“Still…?” she prompted incredulously.
She blushed slightly. “Sorry. I guess I catch babies all the time, but what I saw tonight in that garden…” She shook her head, not sure if she could articulate it. “It was pretty incredible. Yesterday, you asked if I’d ever seen something like that, something I would describe as supernatural.” Allison remembered the chills that had run up and down her spine when he’d first lifted his hands, and the golden lights had begun their dance. “I guess my answer would now have to be yes. Because what happened tonight, I couldn’t explain away.”
“Not even with fireflies?” he asked, a hint of mischievousness in his voice.
She chuckled a little, remembering Nellie’s explanation. “You know as well as I do that we don’t get fireflies up here. And even if there was some kind of mass migration, I can’t imagine they’d act that way. Coordinated. In sync with you.”
“And what do you think that means?”
“I think it’s possible I believe your aunt’s claims about fairies after all.”
She was staring at the road, but—impossibly—she felt his smile from the seat beside her, it was so loud and beautiful.
“Yeah, me too.”
This time their silence was companionable, until he finally spoke again. “But…a baby is pretty cool, huh?”
She had to laugh out loud. “Yeah, okay. It’s pretty awesome. No matter how many times I catch a baby, the wonder of it still makes me cry.”
“Why do you call it catching the baby? Nellie said that too.”
Allison shrugged, trying to remember if she’d ever explained that to him. “Midwifery is all about nature. Letting things happen in their natural course. Like I’ve always said, a natural birth isn’t for everyone, and shouldn’t be for everyone, but when a pregnancy is happy and healthy, we believe medical interventions aren’t necessary. Midwives don’t do anything to birth the baby—that’s all mama’s responsibility. We’re just there to encourage and support her, and to catch the baby on the way out.”
“Does it always go according to plan? Do laboring mothers ever change their mind?”
“All the time!” Allison laughed. “When you know you can have a pain-free birth, it’s a big decision to not go to the hospital, and I try to keep mamas true to whatever birth plan they wrote up ahead of time. But it’s also up to me to know the signs for when it’s in their best interest to transfer to a hospital, and I’ve got all the training and equipment to do that.” She turned the car onto the highway leading to the ranch. “But Ellie is pretty determined. I don’t think she’s going to transfer unless it’s medically necessary.”
“And Will?”
The question surprised Allison enough that she glanced over at Joshua. “What about him? He doesn’t have to do any of the hard work tonight.”
“Yeah, but…how do the fathers handle it? I think it would be really hard to watch the woman you love go through something like that.”
It wasn’t until he shifted awkwardly that Allison wondered about his choice of words. The woman you love…? Yesterday—had it only been yesterday when they’d shared their first kiss?—he’d called her the woman he was falling in love with, and it had made Allison’s heart soar. Is that what he was talking about here? She wasn’t sure how to answer him, but luckily, he spoke again before she had to.
“I guess it doesn’t really matter, huh? Ellie is the one to worry about now. Not Will.”
The fact that he’d brought it up at all… “Do you think Will could use some support tonight? Their birth plan says he wants to be present, but I’m sure Ellie wouldn’t mind it if he was a little distracted now and then. At least during early labor. Hoveri
ng dads can get annoying.”
“Are any of his brothers planning on being there?”
Allison shrugged, her attention back on the dark road once more. “If they are, no one told me. Would you like to stop by? I mean, I have to go there anyhow, and your car’s there. Would you like to run in and speak with Will a little bit? If he has plenty of other people to distract him, you can head back to your room.”
Joshua went still in the passenger seat beside her. She felt him holding his breath, and wondered at his prolonged silence. Finally, he spoke. “I think… I think I would like to go. I think I’m supposed to go.”
And Allison smiled, silently thanking the fairies.
But when they arrived at the Westons’ lovely home, Allison forgot all about the fairies. It was nine p.m. and there were no other cars in the driveway. Were Ellie and Will all alone in there? Ellie’s sister, Dink, was on the birth plan, but she’d been assigned the main role of keeping their mother—whom the girls called Muz—out of the master bedroom. Having met the woman at the baby shower, Allison found her to be charming, despite her inability to keep the English language straight. Still, a woman’s relationship with her mother was complicated, and if Ellie didn’t want her mother there, then Muz wouldn’t be there.
And it seemed like she wasn’t.
Allison marched up the steps to the porch and pushed open the front door. Catching Joshua’s slightly scandalized expression, she smiled. “Ellie and Will have far better things to do right now than to worry about answering the door.”
Turning back to the worryingly dark foyer, Allison called out, “Hello?”
“We’re up here.” Will’s voice floated down the stairs. He didn’t sound very calm.
When they got to the master bedroom, they discovered he wasn’t. Will was pacing back and forth between the window and the door to the large bathroom, his strides long and agitated, and his expression a mask of worry. The cause was easy to determine; Ellie sat on the bed, her hands locked under her bulging belly, tears of terror in her eyes, and their dog crouched beside her.
Allison took a deep breath, smelling the fear and anxiety in the room. This isn’t good. This wasn’t at all the type of atmosphere laboring mamas needed.
“Will!” she exclaimed with false cheer. “I hope you don’t mind that Joshua dropped by to see you.”
Will stopped short, almost tripping over his feet. He looked confused, glancing between his wife and his childhood friend, as if wondering whom he should go to. Allison helped him along.
“I need to ask Ellie some questions, and do an examination. Why don’t you show Joshua all of the neat stuff you’ve done for the nursery?”
Will still seemed reluctant to leave Ellie, but when his wife nodded bravely at him, he went to the door to greet Joshua and escort him down the hall. Right before they left, Will whistled to Indy, who seemed reluctant to leave Ellie as well. She glanced back and forth several times between her two humans, before finally wuffing quietly and following Will out.
Allison breathed a sigh of relief as she shut the door behind him. “Well, things seem to be a little calmer now, don’t they?”
When Ellie turned her terrified eyes to Allison, it was obvious that wasn’t the case at all. Still, it was up to Allison to make sure mama was positive about her upcoming adventure.
“Do you mind if I open a window?” She knew the fresh air was part of Ellie’s birth plan, and it would help get the stink of fear out of the room. “And how about those pine-scented candles I know you’re excited to try? Want me to light them?”
On the bed, Ellie just whimpered softly, shaking her head, and Allison’s heart broke a little.
“Oh, honey,” Allison said, going to the bed and kneeling beside Ellie. She took both of the woman’s hands in hers and squeezed, trying to share some strength. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you ready to meet your son or daughter?”
Ellie squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. Then she seemed to change her mind, and nodded her head frantically, before shaking it, shrugging, and finally bursting into tears. “Oh, I don’t know!” She pulled her hands free of Allison’s and covered her face, rocking back and forth a little on the bed. “I was so sure I knew what I wanted! I was so sure that I could do this! But now…”
Allison was used to mamas freaking out like this. She climbed up on the bed beside Ellie and put her arm around the woman’s shoulders. “But now what, honey? What changed?” Was it the pain?
“It’s dark!” Ellie wailed behind her hands.
The answer took Allison aback, but she blinked and rallied. “That’s because it’s nighttime, Ellie,” she said, squeezing the woman’s shoulders and trying to smile. “Why is that so bad?”
Ellie was taking big gulping breaths of air. “When I imagined my birth, it was bright and sunny outside. I’ve been thinking about this for months, Allison! It would be cheery and bright, and I’d have all of my family and friends nearby, and we would laugh and joke, and they would keep me distracted and comfortable and happy! But now…” Her hands fell away, and she looked around the dark and empty house. “It’s dark and lonely. I don’t think I can do this at night.”
Allison hid her smile. “You can do this at night, honey. You can definitely do this. Everything that you want, we can make happen. We can get your sister and Will’s brothers, and anyone else you want to come sit over here.” Distractions were key. “What are some things you imagined doing while you waited for labor to progress?”
“Baking,” Ellie said with a half-hearted laugh. “I was going to bake! Can you imagine something so silly? I think I was just too naïve, Allison. I think—”
With a moan, she bit down on whatever she was going to say, and grabbed her lower back. Without even having to think about it, Allison began counting the seconds of the contraction. It was still fairly short, and they must be spread out. She would know more when she examined Ellie, but she suspected they still had quite some time to go yet.
“I think baking is a great idea,” she tried to say soothingly, but the mother-to-be cut her off.
“I can’t bake right now! It’s pitch black outside! All the normal, sane people are in bed!” She shook her head. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
Oh dear. I don’t want to do this anymore was a common enough refrain among birthing mothers…but usually towards the end of early labor. For Ellie to be thinking that now, when the contractions were still five minutes apart, wasn’t a good sign.
Allison took a deep breath and did her best to inject some positivity into her voice. “I know this isn’t exactly as you planned it, Ellie, but you know babies come on their own schedule, and this is just practice.”
“Practice?” sniffed Ellie. “For what?”
“For when this little person arrives. He or she is going to rule your life, and you’re going to be more than happy to let them.”
Ellie sniffed again. “Yeah, I guess so.” She offered a watery smile.
Allison’s cautious optimism grew. “I know that you like to plan things, and you like to be in charge. But it sounds like this baby inherited that from you.” She smiled at Ellie. “This baby has decided it wants to come now, even though that screws up your image of the birth. That’s because he or she knows their mama is strong enough to keep going anyhow, even if her plans have changed slightly.”
As Allison spoke, Ellie’s back had slowly begun to straighten. Her chin had come up, and a look of confidence and determination had appeared in her eyes. But the moment she opened her mouth—to agree, Allison was sure—another pain gripped her.
Moaning, Ellie collapsed over her belly once more, reaching for her back. Knowing exactly where the pain was, Allison used her knuckles to massage either side of the base of Ellie’s spine.
Ellie shook her head. “I’ve changed my mind,” she whimpered. “I don’t think I can do this.”
Allison refused to be worried. This was a common mantra, and she knew the key was distracting the laboring mother.
“Have you tried walking around during the contractions? I told you that most women seem to find that helpful. Or how about the birthing ball? I see it’s over there, all ready to go.”
Ellie’s birth plan stated she wanted to try laboring on her hands and knees—using the big, oblong exercise ball in the corner—and the rebozo, which Will had already hung from a hook in a ceiling beam.
With a noise somewhere between a sigh and a growl, Ellie hoisted herself out of the bed, and began pacing. Allison bit her lip as she watched. She really did need to check Ellie’s progress, to see if she’d dilated any further… But at this point, Allison knew Ellie’s feelings were more important. She tamped down her nurse’s instincts and focused on her woman’s instincts instead. “Ellie, honey—”
That was when the door opened, and Will and Joshua returned, Indy following close behind. Will stopped stock-still, right inside the bedroom door, as he saw his pacing wife’s tear-streaked face. His own expression was panicked when he turned his eyes to Allison.
Panicked mama I can handle, but panicked dad, too? Allison hid her sigh as she went to Will. She flicked her eyes to Joshua; wasn’t he supposed to be distracting Will?
But to her surprise, while she was busy explaining the situation to Will, Joshua crossed the room to take Ellie’s hand. Whatever he was saying to the laboring mother seemed to be working. Ellie’s shoulders were straightening, and she was nodding slightly. Unable to contain her curiosity, Allison sidled closer.
“…and just think how special, how marvelous it’s going to be to hold your son or daughter for the first time. Just think of how it will feel to hold that little person in your arms, and to look down into his or her eyes and see part of your soul staring back. He or she will be your legacy, Ellie, everything that you will live for. Unconditional love and pride, in one tiny package, so ready to enter this world and meet his or her mommy.”
