"Damnit, Helen, this town is confusing!" he pleaded. They lived in Middleton but had been trying to visit a friend of Helen's in Lawndale -- Linda something. Jake had been unable to follow the directions to her house, too, and Helen's water broke while Jake contemplated the street signs.
They passed another sign, "Ashfield 5 MI", which caused Jake to shout "Hey!" He pointed out the sign to Helen. "I remember Willow and Coyote talking about a commune named Ashfield which was near Lawndale. They might have a midwife!"
Helen rolled her eyes. "It'll have to do, Jake, I don't think our baby's going to wait much longer!" Her voice peaked at the end of the sentence as another contraction rocked her body.
Jake floored it.
XXXX
Jake led Helen into the building that had Ashfield Visitor's Center on the front. Inside, a woman with honey-colored hair and teardrop-shaped earrings was watching TV with her legs propped up on the desk she sat behind.
"Quick! Where's the midwife?" Jake asked.
"Midwife?" The woman asked blandly.
"This is a commune, isn't it? Our friends Willow and Coyote told us about this place."
The woman smiled then. "Oh, Willow and Coyote. We haven't seen them in a while. I'm afraid Ashfield has been an arts center for a few years now."
"Damnit!" Jake shouted. "My wife's going to give birth any minute now, and there's nobody to help us!"
"Oh, she's going to give birth? Well, I can help you out with that."
"You can?!"
"Oh, sure. I've given birth five times, I know just what to do."
XXXX
Jake awoke the next morning. "Helen, the baby!" he cried out.
"I had the baby last night, Jake," Helen said, a sour tone in her voice. "YOU fainted!"
"Aw," Jake said guiltily. "I...I'm sorry, Helen."
"Oh, it's alright, Jake. I really should have expected it..."
"Are you two Helen and Jake?" came a voice from the door. The man had black hair which spilled down onto his forehead and a little moustache that looked like it had been pencilled in.
He also carried a bawling infant in his arms.
"Is that Daria?" Helen asked.
"Sure is, miss," he said, handing the baby over. I just got back overseas to visit my own little girl. She was just born a week or two ago, herself."
"How wonderful, congratulations!" Helen offered.
XXXX
As he watched the Morgendorffers drive off, his wife joined him.
"You remembered to give them their daughter, right, Vincent?"
"Naturally, Amanda," he reassured her.
"And you gave them the right baby, right? Because I put them in the same crib, but I tied a pink ribbon around Janey's wrist."
"Yes, Amanda, the baby I gave them didn't have a pink ribbon.
XXXX
Inside, in the baby carriage, next to the sleeping newborn, lay a pink ribbon that had come off.
"That's a beautiful girl you have there," he said, changing the subject. "Amanda and I have three ourselves. Two boys, also. We just had Jane a few weeks ago, even."