Chapter Twenty-One: Perfect Love
"Darling, are you sure I shouldn't stay home with you today, just in case?"
Michael was finishing up his rushed breakfast, and for the fifth time that morning, Sarah said reassuringly, "I'll be fine, Michael. I promise I'll call you every two hours, like we've been doing for the last week and a half, and in between if anything happens." She walked over to him and lifted his chin up, kissing him full on the mouth. "Okay, sweetheart?"
Michael looked at his wife suspiciously, but sighed and kissed her back saying, "Alright." He kept going as he stood up and grabbed his briefcase. "But at the first sign of anything-"
Sarah cut him off and led him into the living room. "I won't repeat myself again. You just hurry yourself to work and don't worry about me." She reached around his neck and kissed him again, then again. "I'll be fine." Before he could say anything more, she pushed him out the door. "Have a good day, darling!"
Michael huffed as he scattered down the steps, and turned back to blow his wife one last kiss. "I guess I should know by now not to argue with you. Take it easy, Sarah." He didn't dare say anymore to her, for her eyes had flashed dangerously at him. He hurried to the car and took off for work, already quite behind.
Sarah watched from the doorway, smiling as she sighed in exasperation at her husband's nerves, hands on her hips. She glanced down at her stomach and said, "At this rate, Daddy will be a more nervous wreck than me when you make your appearance." She chuckled lightly as she withdrew and shut the door.
Sarah wandered over to the couch and picked up her latest read, muttering, "Though I'll admit I'm weary of waiting." She smiled again, looked down at her stomach, and said sternly, "So I'd advise you to hurry up!" With that, she sighed, putting her feet up on the coffee table. "May as well finish this book- seems that I've all the time in the world to do so."
Michael was getting extremely agitated- it was nearly lunch time and Sarah should have called at least once by now. Twice if she was sticking to the proposed schedule. Nothing had come from the office. Lucky for him, all of his students understood what his problem was, and several had convinced him to call Sarah as soon as the dismissal bell rang for lunch.
"Professor Armstrong, go call your wife right now. We don't mind. Anyways, we can finish up by ourselves."
Michael's head jerked up at the sound of his name, and he listened. "It touches me that you're concerned, Samantha, and thank you, but I really shouldn't-"
"You should." The young girl's voice was firm and resolute, and her eyes showed pure determination- quite like Sarah, in so many small ways.
"The bell rings in five minutes. I'll do so then."
The second the bell went off, Michael was out the door and down the hall like a shot. All the while, he continued attempting to reassure himself. Nothing's happened. Sarah's okay. She's just outside on the porch with a book, or taking a bath, or resting, and time got away with her.
But try as he might, it wasn't working. He wouldn't be satisfied till he heard his wife's voice telling him there wasn't a thing wrong, and that she'd just gone out for a short walk in the meadow.
Before he knew it, he was in the office, dialing the number, then listening to the phone ringing on the other end. After a few rings, Sarah finally picked up.
"Sarah! Sarah, darling, are you okay?"
Sarah jerked awake at the sound of the shrilly ringing telephone. She rubbed her eyes quickly and grabbed the phone on the table next to her. "Yes?" She said, fighting off a yawn. The sound of Michael's frantic voice was like a douse of cold water over her head. She was fully awake in an instant.
"Oh, darling, I'm so sorry! I was reading and I suppose I fell asleep."'
"Are you sure you're okay, Sarah?"
"Just sleepy. But I'd like to fold a load of laundry, then while dinner's in the oven, take a long, hot bath."
"You do that, sweetheart. But my classes end early today, I'll be home by two."
Sarah let out a happy sigh. "Oh, good. I'm looking forward to seeing you, Michael. Love you!"
Michael chuckled. "Even when you're tuckered out, you've got that feisty streak. I love you darling, and I'll see you in a few hours."
Hanging up the phone, Sarah yawned again, stretching her arms above her head. She looked at the book she'd been reading, and said, "Moby Dick never did appeal to me." She ran her hands through her hair, then added as an afterthought, "Except for the fact that it positively lulls you to sleep." She sniggered to herself, then stood up and hurried into the laundry room upstairs.
Michael couldn't remember being more relieved in his life. He hung up the phone he'd been using, waved to the secretaries on his way out of the office, and chuckled to himself. Sarah sure managed to get him worked up over sort of nothing, but not really nothing. He moved swiftly down the long hallway to his classroom, and nearly passed Samantha as he did so. He didn't notice her till she called his name.
"Professor Armstrong!"
Michael jerked his head around and stopped in his tracks. "Oh, Samantha! I didn't see you there."
The young redhead laughed. "That's fine, sir. Is your wife okay though?" Her head was cocked and her tone slightly concerned. "She's due any day now, correct?"
"Yes, she is. And she's fine." Michael gave her a reassuring smile. "She's been reading Moby Dick- why, I'll never know- and it put her to sleep."
Samantha's eyebrows were knit together and an expression of dislike on her face. "I should say so! I devour every book there is, but I never could get through Moby Dick."
Sarah was going through the closets when Michael got home. He found her in their room, and he said incredulously as he snuck up behind her, "Why, might I ask, are you cleaning again?"
Sarah whipped around, one of her formal party dresses in her arms. On hand was over her heart, and she said breathlessly, eyes sparkling at Michael, "Oh, I just got an urge to do some cleaning and organizing." She hung the dress back up in the closet carefully, then turned back to her husband, kissing him hungrily. She pulled away, imploring gaze upon him. "But honestly, don't frighten me so!"
"I'm sorry, my dear. Will you allow me to get on bended knee and apologize?"
"Oh, shut up and let me hold you." Sarah wrapped her arms tightly around her husband, resting her head on his shoulder. "I missed you, Michael." She softly nuzzled him lightly with her nose, arms still around him.
"And I love you more than anything, Sarah Louise." He held his wife close.
The embraced didn't last long, however, for Sarah broke away, exclaiming happily as she rested her hand on her stomach. "Michael, the baby's kicking again, see?" She placed his hand where hers had been, eyes glowing. Michael could only smile as he felt his baby kicking Sarah persistently.
"Even though that baby keeps you up all hours of the night now, kicking, turning, and whatnot, your eyes always light up- every single time for the last four months." He pulled her to him again, kissing her forehead lovingly. "But I know exactly how you feel- such a small, wonderful miracle." He smiled down at her. "Now, why don't we go into the kitchen where you can sit down before the baby starts another infamous exercise session."
Sarah laughed warmly, eyes dancing. "You can say that again."
It was late, the sun had gone down, the temperature cooled off, and the crickets were singing. Michael was dozing as he read, and Sarah was trying to sleep fitfully. She finally just rolled onto her left side, facing the window, and grimaced. Her back had been hurting continually worse since she'd gotten up that morning, off and on. She'd not slept well as she could have in the last few months on account of the nightly kicking she received from her child, but even as she grew weary of it, it always made her joyful beyond words. That was how she'd endured it all. The simple joys of becoming a mother overrode all of it's disadvantages. By a rather large margin.
Sarah exhaled slowly and closed her eyes again, trying to relax. She let out a strangled gasp and clutched her pillow as an unbearably sharp pain shot through her lower back. It was all she could do to keep from crying as she turned over carefully, waiting for it to wear off. Once it did, she gripped Michael's arm and shook him, saying urgently, "Michael, darling, wake up. Michael, it's time to go!"
Michael's brain was only half registering any sounds, and it was the pain inflicted by Sarah's long nails digging into his arm that woke him up. One glance at Sarah's contorted face told him all he needed to know.
As Michael flung his book onto the bedside table and grabbed his clothes from earlier that day, Sarah said, "Michael...call Johnathan and Eva and then the doctor."
"Sarah, there's no time-"
Sarah's eyes were blazing. "I'm alright for the moment, just bloody hell call them, Michael, and then Dr. Foster!"
She then made her way carefully off the bed and headed into the living room to grab her coat. Her packed suitcase had been in the back seat of the car for a week. She couldn't help smiling to herself at Michael's jitters. She picked up her purse, which was hanging on the front door, and sighed whispering, "It's time." She laughed quietly to herself as she ran her hands through her hair and headed down the front steps.
Michael sat next to Sarah's bed, stroking back her hair from her forehead and rubbing her hand, which was gripping his tightly. It'd been an hour since they'd arrived at the hospital, and the contractions were becoming longer and more painful and frequent.
"How are you doing, darling?" Michael kissed Sarah's hand lovingly.
Sarah slowly exhaled, eyes closed, then said, smiling slightly, "It has to get worse before it gets better, Michael. It's nothing I can't handle." She sighed, resting her left arm over her eyes.
At that moment, Sarah's doctor walked in, attempting to straighten his white coat and hold onto his papers as he did so. Sarah put her arm down and smiled at him, saying quietly, "Good evening, Doctor."
The man was checking over the papers he had with him, and looked up and grinned at Sarah, saying, "Well, where's Sarah Armstrong's feisty streak?"
"I assure you, it's here. Just not to be seen for a while."
Her doctor chuckled, going over to the small sink. "I'm just going to scrub up, then have a look at you to see how things are going."
"Professor Armstrong, it's about time you went into the waiting room."
At the words of the nurse, Sarah's sweaty face jerked over to her husband, eyes somewhat fearful. "Oh, please, no, let him stay." Her brilliant blue eyes battled the nurse silently, but she fought off the pain of a contraction and said fiercely, "He's staying!"
"There's Sarah's feisty streak!" Dr. Foster walked back in, gloves in hand.
"How amusing." Sarah's eyes were blazing again, and her doctor wisely took the hint.
"We don't generally allow it, but your husband can stay- I think you'd maul me otherwise."
Sarah's teeth were clenched, eyes shut tight, her breathing getting hard. Through her teeth she nearly growled, "You bet I would." She had an iron grip on Michael's wrist.
"It's time to get down to business, Sarah."
Michael watched his wife as she started bearing down, groaning and gasping for breath. He quietly offered her gentle smiles and words of encouragement, still holding her hand.
Dr. Foster, meanwhile, was busy on his end, guiding Sarah in her breathing and pushing. He said loudly over Sarah's gasps and groans, "You're doing great! Scream if you want, it might help! The baby's crowning now."
Michael could only watch in amazement as his pretty wife just bore down more forcefully. It was amazing at the strength she had. He stroked her forehead, saying, "You're almost there, sweetie, almost there. Keep going."
The pain was excruciating, but the most wonderful pain Sarah had ever felt in her life. It was amazing. If she didn't have a job to do, she would have just stopped to marvel at it all. But she did have a job to do, a job to get done. When she heard Dr. Foster's words of praise and news that the baby was crowning, she bore down as hard as she could. She trusted the words Michael was saying quietly to her, trusting that her job was nearly finished.
She gave one last forceful push, and her doctor said, "It's out, Sarah, it's out!"
Seconds later she heard a piercing, somewhat strangled scream, and smiled, laughing and crying. She wrapped her arms around Michael, who'd bent down to kiss her.
"How do you feel, sweetheart?" he asked, stroking her jaw line. Michael's eyes showed pure love for his wife.
Sarah sighed happily. "Exhausted, Michael. but wonderful. Never better." Her eyes were sparkling.
The residing nurse walked over to the bedside and placed the baby in Sarah's arms when her husband withdrew. "You've got a beautiful, healthy daughter." She smiled and said, "Congratulations."
Sarah was only speechless as she looked at her baby, then up into her husband's face, tears of joy streaming down her face.
Michael took in the sight of his newborn daughter, heart filling with love. He looked to his wife, who was watching him with joy in her eyes, and said huskily, "Sarah, she's beautiful."
"She's perfect." Sarah lifted her chin as Michael bent down to kiss her again, smiling like no other.
Dr. Foster walked over and gave a satisfied nod. "You did an amazing job Sarah. No medications of any sort, practically all by yourself." He smiled at the couple, watching the tender exchange of emotions, then said, "And who might this healthy little seven pound, five ounce, nineteen inch beauty be?"
Sarah glanced over at her husband, who nodded, big grin on his face. She said to her doctor, "Dr. Foster, meet Mikayla Robyn Armstrong."
It was a week later, and Johnathan and Eva had driven up to see Sarah, Michael, and the baby.
"Oh, Sarah, she's the most precious thing I've ever seen." Eva was cooing softly over Mikayla, whom she held in her arms. Eva looked over at her husband. "Isn't she, John?"
Johnathan gently stroked Mikayla's cheek, and smiled up at his sister. "My little sister's growing up. She is beautiful, Sarah, Michael. You should be proud."
Sarah was sitting on Michael's lap in the lounge chair, looking on at her daughter proudly. "I can hardly believe she's mine. Really ours. Sometimes I just have to touch and hold her to make sure she's real." Sarah trailed off, watching her baby contently. She laughed. "It was all so worth it, but I will admit it's nice being able to fit into all my old clothes again!"
Eva chuckled. "I felt the same way with Ruth and Laura, but I'd never trade it for the world."
"No, I wouldn't dream of it." Sarah's eyes were sparkling, her beautiful smile in place, arms wrapped around her husband. "I couldn't ask for a more perfect daughter, loving husband, or caring family. I have all I'll ever need."