Angel Baby (3 page)

“How long do you think it will take the ambulance to get
here?” Claudia asked as Chase carried her down the long hall running through
the middle of his house.

“There’s a fire house in Shelbyville, which is only ten
minutes from here. I think they have an ambulance crew. Then they’ll have to
take you all the way in to Milltown since there’s no other hospital close by.”

Curled up in the stranger’s strong arms, feeling safe at
least for the moment, Claudia calculated the timing and nodded. She knew this
area. She’d grown up in Milltown, after all, and had been gone less than a
year. But that seemed like another lifetime, and another person. 

Her rescuer carried her into a darkened room and deposited
her gently on a large bed. He flipped on a bedside lamp, giving Claudia a
moment to quickly look around. She was in a very masculine bedroom, with
antique oak furniture including the massive four poster bed on which she lay.
The thick jade green coverlet felt like down. She weakly push at it, trying to get
it away from her body. The thing probably cost more than she made in a week,
and she didn’t want to risk ruining it.

“Wait a second,” Chase said as he saw her struggling to kick
the comforter out of the way. “Let me help you.”

He gently slid the thick fabric out from under her, shoving
it toward the foot of the bed where it slid with a soft whoosh onto the floor.
Claudia hardly noticed when he pulled her heavy coat off her body, then drew
the sheet up over her.

For the first time, he looked unsure. Glancing at his hands,
he said, “You might want...I mean, if you’d be more comfortable without the
slacks...”

“They are cutting into me,” Claudia admitted. “But I can get
them.”

Claudia pushed her pants and underwear down and wriggled out
of them, kicking them out from under the sheet to the floor. There was no room
for shyness, not with what she was about to go through. Then there was the fact
that this stranger might be the only person here when her baby started to
emerge into this world—in which case, he was going to get an eyeful. But she
noted Chase’s courtesy in averting his gaze, at least for now, and genuinely
appreciated it.

Relaxing into the soft, fresh-smelling pillow, she glanced
up at the dark man standing next to her. “You don’t look like a Chase,” she
whispered. “More like a...Galahad.”

A slight grin touched his mouth. Claudia watched as the
strong planes of his face softened with humor. He did indeed resemble some
knight of old. His chestnut brown hair was thick and swept back from his
forehead, and his face was deeply tanned with high strong cheekbones and an
unmarred jaw. His nose was prominent, but that just added to the overall
impression of strength. His eyes...well, Claudia knew from experience that a
person couldn’t conceal what was in their heart because it shone through their
eyes. His were a dark, velvety brown, nearly fathomless, and kindness shone so
clearly from them that she felt safe and secure for the first time in ages.

Until another pain hit her.

This contraction, the worst one yet, washed over her with
unrelenting intensity. Claudia tried to bite her lower lip to keep from crying
out, but Chase urged, “Don’t be brave. Scream if you want to. No one’s here to
be bothered by it.”

He didn’t need to tell her twice. Claudia opened her mouth,
only to moan a little. But as the pain intensified, and she felt the urge to
push the baby out, the moan evolved into a high pitched wavering scream.

“It’s okay, you’re going to be okay,” Chase whispered.

Claudia blew out the corner of her mouth at an irritating
strand of hair that kept drooping over her forehead. She weakly nodded her
thanks when Chase swept the hair back with his fingers. Continuing to clench
his other hand in a death grip, she wondered if she was hurting him, but he
never even flinched. 

“Chase, I don’t think Sarah’s going to wait for the
ambulance,” Claudia panted when the pain lessened.

“Don’t say that,” Chase insisted, a horrified grimace
crossing his face. “They’ll be here any minute.”

Claudia rolled her head back and forth, tears pouring down
her cheeks, panicking at the thought that another contraction would be on her
momentarily. 

“I want my doctor. I want to be in a hospital. I want
drugs
!
My doctor promised me I could have an epidural if I needed it.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I can’t do anything for you except
stay right by your side. I won’t leave you, Claudia. You can trust me. You and
Sarah will be fine, even if I have to deliver her myself.”

Claudia stopped her quiet moaning and opened her eyes,
pinning him with a stare. “You promise? You won’t let anything happen to her?”

“I promise. Your baby is going to be fine, and so are you.”

Claudia stared at his face, which was so visibly determined,
so resolute. She needed to see that strength, that determination. Needed more
than anything to believe him and to trust he’d take care of this child who was
so incredibly precious to her.  

“Maybe you should get some towels,” she whispered, resigned
to it. She had to focus on doing whatever she could to help while she was able
to keep a rational thought in her head. “And a sharp knife, and hot water?”

He didn’t ask why, merely went to do as she’d suggested,
which was pretty funny since she was operating on instinct and her memory of
emergency childbirth scenes on TV shows.

Chase returned quickly, gone only the length of one
contraction—oh, she wished she could skip out on one, too. When he returned, he
glanced at his watch. “It’s been nearly fifteen minutes since I called from the
highway. They
have
to be here soon.”

As if on cue, they heard an insistent pounding from the
front door. She saw her rescuer breathe a huge sigh of relief and echoed it.
“They’re here, Claudia. Just hold on, help is here.”

Claudia nodded mindlessly, too exhausted to say a word, and
didn’t pay attention as Chase ran from the room. Feeling a sudden gush of
wetness, she vainly struggled to slide the clean towels over her legs. By the
time Chase rushed back in, with two paramedics in tow, she was in the grips of
another contraction, and was unable to resist pushing.

“Whoa. Looks like we got here just in time,” the female
paramedic said as she pulled back the sheet to examine Claudia. “No time to
move her, the baby’s already crowning.”

Chase hurried to the head of the bed and bent close to her.

“You’re in good hands now,” he said gently.

“I was in good hands before,” she replied, and, as if to be
sure he wouldn’t leave, reached out to grasp his arm.

“Maybe I’d better wait in the other room,” he said as he
tried to pull away.

“No. You promised. You said you’d stay.”

Chase stared into down at the woman on his bed, her eyes
glossy with tears, her face twisted with pain and fear, and was unable to
refuse her. The last place he wanted to be was in this room, watching this thin
woman giving birth to what must be a monster-sized baby, if her belly was any
indication, but he couldn’t leave her.

“You’re not going anywhere, Dad,” the gray-haired paramedic
snapped as she pulled clean towels from the stack Chase had placed on the bed.
“You stay right up there and keep Mom calm.”

Chase didn’t even try to correct the woman’s mistaken
impression. Instead he concentrated on maintaining eye contact with Claudia as
another contraction came and the paramedic ordered her to push.

“Look at me, Claudia, look at me. You’re almost there, it’s
almost over,” Chase assured her, trying to keep her coherent in spite of what
he was sure was unendurable pain. After tonight, he figured he’d rather get a
root canal without anesthesia, from a drunk ninety-year-old dentist using rusty
tools, than be a woman going through childbirth.

“Okay, Mom,” the paramedic said, “I think a couple more
pushes should do it.”

“The baby,” Claudia panted, “is she still facing the wrong
way?”

The paramedic looked startled and assured her, “No, honey,
this is the head, it’s not breech.”

“No, no,” Claudia said. “I mean, at my last visit my doctor
said she was facing front instead of back. I think that’s why I’ve been having
back labor.”

The older woman nodded, looking thoughtful, and said, “If
that’s the case, I want you to be extra careful to control this pushing. You
can’t just shove full strength. This little one’s face is going to come right
across your pelvic bone, and you want to be gentle with that precious nose,
okay?”

Claudia nodded at the woman, looking reassured by her
knowledgeable tone.

“Have you delivered many babies before?” she asked, sounding
like she wasn’t really sure she wanted to know the answer.

“Just four of my own,” the woman replied with a rueful
shrug. “But I’ve been through the training.”

That was enough for Chase. It had to be enough. It was four
more than he’d ever seen born.

“Okay, here we go,” the paramedic said as Claudia moaned and
took two deep breaths.

Chase didn’t watch the paramedics. His eyes never left
Claudia’s face as he whispered encouragement in her ear. He ignored the slight
pinch in his hand as her fingernails dug into his flesh, taking it, wishing he
could take more pain away from her.  

“Sit her up, Dad.”

He helped her up until she was half-sitting, bracing her
back against his arm, his face pressed into her soft, tangled hair. “It’s okay,
it’s okay,” he whispered, not knowing what else to say.

“Says you,” she snapped.

“Here she comes,” the paramedic cried.

Her face red, her entire body straining, Claudia screamed,
pushing hard against his arm. But he never let her go. And as sudden relief
washed over her face, Chase couldn’t resist glancing down, shocked, fascinated,
a little overwhelmed as he watched Claudia’s daughter entering the world.

“Stop pushing now, Mom. Just wait for one more contraction and
we’ll get the rest of her; you’re almost there.”

Claudia twisted on the bed, obviously trying to peek over
her belly, trying to catch a glimpse of her child. Knowing how desperate she
must be feeling, Chase touched her cheek, turning her head so she could see the
mirror above his dresser, which allowed her to watch as her child was being
born.

She stared for a long moment, her mouth falling open, tears
building in her eyes. “I want her. I want my baby.”

“You’ll be holding her in less than two minutes, Claudia,”
Chase insisted. “Just hang on there. You’ve been waiting nine months.”

“Eight,” she insisted wearily. “She’s early, remember?”

“Eight,” he agreed with a slight smile.

“Last one, Claudia, this is it, we’re going to bring her
shoulders out now. Control it,” the paramedic said as Claudia prepared to push
her daughter the rest of the way out of her body.

Though he had figured she’d want to watch, Claudia instead
turned to look at Chase, focusing on his face. Their stares locked, her eyes
unblinking, swimming with emotion. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome.”

For the tiniest instant, he felt a surreal sense that this
was right, that it had been fated for this woman to be giving birth to her
child with only him—a complete stranger—by her side. As if fate had pushed him
up to that cemetery in time to find her, and ensured that he would bring her
here to his home where she would be safe and warm and cared for.

“Here she is,” the paramedic chortled as she held up the
blood-smeared newborn.

Their attention turned to the baby, and he knew Claudia was
holding her breath, waiting for a cry. It came a few seconds later, which was
when Chase realized he’d been holding his breath, too.

Claudia reached out her hands. “Please, let me have her.”

“One more second,” the paramedic replied. “I have to cut the
cord. I’m going to lie her right here on your belly, Mom. Dad, put your hand on
baby’s back so she won’t slip.”

Chase watched as the woman gently placed the baby on Claudia’s
bare stomach. The infant's shrill cries quieted against the warmth of her
mother's skin. As if in a dream he saw his own hand move slowly toward her.
Chase brushed the tips of his fingers with infinite gentleness over the baby's
still bloody shoulder, marveling at the soft, slightly waxy feel of her flesh
and the tenderness he felt for this absolute stranger...and her mother.

Claudia’s fingers moved next to his, and he watched her
tremble as she stroked small circles on her daughter. Chase kept his hand by
hers, telling himself it was to be sure the baby didn’t slip off. In reality,
he knew he couldn’t have pulled away from the infant if his life depended on
it. This new life was utterly miraculous, and he simply wanted to touch her, to
experience the miracle.

 Where moments before there had been agony and suffering,
there was now relief and overwhelming joy. He felt tears prick the corners of
his eyes as he watched Claudia gently caress her baby’s back, and was suddenly
overwhelmed with the power of what he had just witnessed.

A new person had entered the world. And he’d helped her
arrive.

He somehow knew that his life was never going to be the
same.

Nine Months Later

“Claude, she’s gorgeous.”

Claudia laughed at Melanie Shumacher’s exuberance. Handing
over the squirming baby in her arms, she watched as her oldest, closest friend
kissed Sarah's pudgy cheeks.

“She’s a handful, that’s for sure,” Claudia replied as
Melanie led her into the house. Following her friend into her living room,
Claudia dropped the diaper bag onto the scarred old coffee table. She smiled as
she glanced around, noting the ancient green leather sectional from the
apartment they’d shared back in their college days. They’d flipped a coin for
it after graduation, and the winner, Melanie, joked that she was really the
loser because Claudia and Joe had bought a new sofa.