Daisy (Suitors of Seattle) (15 page)

When mid-November came, she was still pregnant and ready to scream.  She tried to keep it hidden from Eli, and Jasmine got the brunt of her frustration.  “This baby had better come soon or I’m going to scream!”

Jasmine hurried over to Daisy with a cup of water.  “Sip this.  It calms you.”

“I’m sick of water.  I’m sick of this house!  I need to get out of here, but I hate walking anywhere.  My shoes don’t fit anymore.”

Jasmine smiled as she looked at her sister.  “My feet are bigger than yours.  Why don’t you borrow a pair of my shoes, and we’ll go for a short walk.  Just around the house a few times.”

“I don’t want to just see the house.  I want to go further.”

Jasmine headed toward the stairs.  “I’m going to get you a pair of my shoes, and we’ll walk just as far as you want to walk, and not a step further.”

Daisy waved her away.  “Fine.”

A few minutes later they wrapped shawls around them
selves, and Daisy stepped outside for the first time in days.  “I’m so sick of that house that I’m ready to scream.”

Jasmine nodded.  “I know.”  She had been listening to her sister rant for days.  Why didn’t she remember her other sisters getting this bad while they were expecting?

Daisy kicked at a rock.  “Your shoes are too big.  My feet are swimming in them.”

“At least they’re roomie and comfortable.”

Daisy sighed as she heard Jasmine trying to placate her.  “I’m sorry I’m being Crazy Daisy again.  I’m just so tired.  I never get enough sleep.  The baby feels like it’s going to rip me in two.”

Jasmine rubbed Daisy’s shoulder.  “I wish there were something I could do to help.”

“Oh, Jasmine.  You’ve been the best sister to me.  You’ve cooked and cleaned without any complaint.  You said you wanted to be a good person when you first came here, and you’ve become that.  You’re not the demented nincompoop you used to be.”  Daisy knew if either of them was a demented nincompoop it was her, and not her sister.

“A demented nincompoop?  Did you really just call me a demented nincompoop?”

Daisy shrugged.  “Amaryllis and I called you that all the time.  Well, when we weren’t trying to get Aunt Harriett to agree to sending you off somewhere to be a mail order bride.”

Jasmine stopped walking and stared at Daisy in surprise.  “You wanted me to be a mail order bride?”

“Only if it got you out of Seattle.  We needed you out of our hair until we were happily married.”

Jasmine thought about that for a moment, looking a bit hurt.  “You know, I guess I really can’t blame you for that.  I said some pretty ridiculous things to Amaryllis about both Walter and Alex.”

Daisy nodded.  “You were awful.  You’re much better now.”

Jasmine started walking again.  “You know, I’m not sure how much I like the very blunt Daisy.”

“I’m sorry.  I know I’m terrible.”  Daisy sighed.  “This baby is making me crazy.”

“It’ll be here soon, and then it’ll all be over.”

“Yesterday would be nice,” Daisy said.  “I can’t wait to hold him in my arms, but more than that, I can’t wait to feel like my body is mine again.”  She sighed.  “I make it sound like I hate being pregnant, and I don’t.  I’m just so sore and tired all the time.”

Jasmine nodded.  “I understand.” 

They walked on for a few minutes without saying anything, with Daisy stopping periodically to catch her breath and rub her stomach.  “I keep getting a cramp in my side.  I think we should head back.”

Jasmine eyed Daisy.  “A cramp in your side?  The baby’s not coming is it?”

Daisy shook her head.  “I’m sure I’d know if the baby were coming.”

Jasmine didn’t argue, but she watched her sister carefully as they walked back toward the house.  She was stopping every five minutes to catch her breath and rub her stomach.  Jasmine was pretty sure the baby was on its way, but she didn’t want to alarm Daisy. 

When they reached the house, Jasmine suggested Daisy lie down.  When Daisy didn’t argue, and instead went to her room to do as her sister suggested, Jasmine rushed outside.  Every morning for the past month, Eli had told Jasmine where he’d be working that day, so she could reach him if she needed to.  She tried to remember where he’d said he’d be that day.

James rode up to the house while she was squinting and trying to figure out where her brother-in-law was.  She ran to the horse.  “You need to get Eli to come home.  I think Daisy’s going to have the baby.”

James turned his horse around, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll send him home and then ride to get the midwife.”  He spurred his horse on as he rode to find his boss and friend.

Jasmine went back into the house and began boiling water.  She wasn’t certain why she was boiling it, but she’d read in books that was the right thing to do so she did it. 

She heard a gasp come from Daisy and Eli’s room, and she ran to check on her sister.  “Are you all right?”

Daisy nodded.  “I…I think my water just broke.”  She was soaked on the lower half of her body.

Jasmine smiled.  “Let’s get you into a nightgown.”

“But we have to get Eli so he can’t get the midwife.  We can’t have a baby with just the two of us.”

“I already sent for Eli when I realized you were in labor.  He should be here any minute.”

“You knew?  Why didn’t you tell me?”  Daisy couldn’t believe her sister would hide that from her.

“I didn’t want you to worry any more than you needed to.  Eli is going to worry enough for all of us.”  She helped Daisy slide the clean gown over her head.  “I’m boiling water, but I’m not sure why.”

Daisy laughed.  “Did you read about that in a book?”

Jasmine shrugged.  “Sometimes Amaryllis left them lying around the house.”

“You’re allowed to read books, you know.  And not just because Amaryllis didn’t pick up after herself.”  Daisy started to slow walk through the house. 
In the book she’d read about what to expect during labor, it had suggested that walking would speed things up.

She didn’t let herself worry while she walked, leaning on Jasmine’s arm, because she knew that Eli was already in a panic knowing she was having the baby. 

When the door slammed open, he rushed inside, and swept her off her feet.  “You can’t walk around. You’re having a baby.”  He carried her through the house and into the bedroom, depositing her back onto the bed.  “You need to stay there.”

Daisy propped herself on her elbows.  “Books say I should walk, so I’m going to walk.”  She moved her legs over the side of the bed, and carefully got back to her feet.  “Don’t get in my way!”  She glared at her husband, knowing he’d put her right back to bed if she let him get away with it.

He grumbled, but took Jasmine’s place, letting her lean on him while she walked.  The walked into the kitchen, around and around the table.  She would pause every time a contraction came upon her, and then they would walk some more.  “You need to rest!”

“I need to walk!  It makes it go faster, and we both know you want this over and done with, so you can stop your worrying!”  Daisy wasn’t about to listen to him when he told her to rest over and over.  She was ready for the baby to come, and she was going to do everything she could to speed up his arrival.

It seemed like hours before the midwife arrived.  When she saw Daisy up and around, leaning on her big husband’s arm, she smiled.  “I’m glad to see you walking.  That’s the best thing to make the baby come faster.”

Daisy didn’t say, “I told you so,” to Eli, but it was all she could do to keep the words inside.

Mary, the midwife, led her back to her room and had her lie down so she could check the progress of the baby.  “How far apart are your pains?”

Daisy shrugged.  “A minute or two, I think.”

“Good.  How long have you been having them?”

“Jasmine will know.  She noticed them before I did.”  Daisy still couldn’t believe Jasmine had been so focused on her that she’d realized she was in labor before she had known it herself. 

Mary went to check with Jasmine and came back into the room.  “All right.  You’re getting close.  Do you feel like you can keep walking?”

Daisy rolled to the side of the bed and carefully got back to her feet.  “Yes, I can.”  She walked out to Eli and leaned on him as she resumed her walk.

Mary took Jasmine into Daisy’s room and the two of them prepared the bed for delivery.  Jasmine wasn’t going to be in the room with her, but she was going to be an important part of the delivery.  They’d decided weeks before that it would be Jasmine’s job to keep Eli from going insane.

It wasn’t long before Daisy was back in bed, and Jasmine was sitting with Eli telling him silly stories about things their sisters had done over the years.

Eli was shaking when Mary finally came out of the bedroom he shared with Daisy.  She was holding the baby and rushed to the basin to wash it.  Eli rushed over to see the baby.  “How’s Daisy?”

“She’s fine.  I still need to clean her up, but the baby needs to be washed.”  She looked at Jasmine.  “Can you finish with the baby while I take care of your sister?”

Jasmine looked at the tiny baby.  She’d not been present when any of her sisters’ babies were born, and had been too young to remember Iris’s birth.  She nodded tentatively.  “I think so.”

“Just bathe her.  It’ll be fine.”  Mary waited until Jasmine’s hands were gripping her new niece before rushing back into the room with Daisy and closing the door firmly behind her. 

Eli stood by and watched as Jasmine washed his new little girl.  “I thought it would be a boy.  I don’t know what we’re going to call her.”

Jasmine smiled.  “I’m sure you and Daisy will come up with something.  Just don’t call her Ivy.  Too silly.”

When Jasmine was finished, she carefully put on the diaper that she’d laid out for the baby and one of the little gowns Daisy had carefully stitched.  She then carefully swaddled her in the quilt she and Daisy had pieced before taking her to Eli.  “Do you want to hold her?”

Eli shook his head, holding his hands in front of him and backing up.  “I’d break her.”

“No you won’t.  Sit down.”  Jasmine waited while Eli sat, before placing his daughter into his arms.  “She’s beautiful, Papa.”

Eli stared down at the tiny baby.  Her hair was dark, like her mother’s, and he wished he could see what color her eyes were.  “She’s so small.”

Jasmine smiled down at them.  “I’m going to go and see if Mary needs my help.”  She knocked on the door and carefully slipped inside. 

Mary was just finishing up.  She’d helped Daisy into a fresh gown, and had left a small pile of linens in the corner of the room.  “Where do you want those?” she asked Jasmine, assuming she’d be the one to do the laundry.

“That’s fine.  I’ll take care of them.”  Jasmine looked at her sister who was sitting up in bed.  “She’s beautiful, Daisy.”

Daisy smiled.  “I only got to see her for a second.  Did you put her in her cradle?”

“Eli is holding her, trying to figure out what to name her.  I told him that Ivy is not an acceptable name.”

“No flower or plant names for us.  I hadn’t really thought about a girl name.  I guess Eli and I will need to talk.”

Mary smiled.  “I’ll check in on you tomorrow and make sure you’re doing all right.”  She smiled down at Daisy.  “You did very well for a first tie mother.”

Daisy sighed.  “I didn’t feel like I did well.”  Her eyes kept going to the door, wondering when Eli was going to bring the baby to her.

Mary slipped out to send Eli in.  “Everyone is fine.  I’ll be back tomorrow to check on both of them.”

Eli tore his eyes away from the baby.  “Can I see her now?”

“Of course.  She’s waiting for you.”

Eli stood, his arms cradling the baby carefully.  “Thank you.”  He rushed off, leaving her to find her own way out.

When Eli entered the room, Jasmine discreetly left, leaving the new family alone while she fixed a quick supper for them all.

Eli sat on the bed beside Daisy, leaning over and kissing her over the baby.  “She’s so beautiful.”

Daisy smiled.  “She is.”  She held her arms out, and Eli placed the baby into them, and they both sat staring at her for a moment.  “What are we going to name her?”

Eli shook his head.  “No flower names.  Jasmine said.”

“No.  No flower or plant names.”  She couldn’t think of any names, though.  Nothing was coming to mind at all.

“Maybe Dinah?  I’ve always liked that name.”

Daisy thought about it for a moment before nodding.  “Dinah.  I like it.”

Eli reached out and touched Daisy’s cheek.  “Thank you for not dying.  I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”

Daisy laughed softly.  “Of all the things I thought my husband would say to me after I had our first child, ‘Thank you for not dying,’ was not one of them.”

He sighed.  “I don’t know a lot of flowery words.  I’m a simple man.”

“I don’t need flowery words.  I just need the man I love.”

Epilogue

Daisy looked between her mother and her Aunt Harriett.  “I can’t believe you two traveled all this way without any of the children.”

Harriett laughed.  “I have a good nanny, and Max is home with them.”  She was holding her new great niece and smiled happily.  “She’s a beauty.”

“Thank you.”  Daisy was surprised her aunt had been able to wrestle the baby out of her mother’s arms without stabbing her in the eye.  Mary didn’t tend to let her grandchildren out of her sight.  “Has Jasmine talked to you yet?”

Harriett’s eyes met Daisy’s.  “Has she met someone?  Here?”

Daisy nodded.  “She wanted to start courting in September, but I told her she’d have to wait until she talked to you.  I have no idea who it is, though.”

Mary frowned.  “I don’t want another one of my daughter’s to move to Montana forever.  Jasmine was just coming out here temporarily.”

“I don’t know what to tell you.  She did meet someone, though.”

Harriett smiled.  “I’ll talk to her.  I’ve been trying to figure out how I’d find someone in Seattle to marry her.  Her reputation for mischief is too strong.”

“She’s changed.  I actually like her for the first time in our lives.”

“I can see she has.  She’s fixed meals for us and acted like a good hostess.  I hope whomever she has in mind will work out.  Even Jasmine deserves happiness.”

Daisy smiled.  “Especially Jasmine.”

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