Midnight

Chapter 38

Nellie woke happily, only aware that Sweeney was lying next to her, covering her in warmth. She had no memory of last night, so she smiled lightly as the baby stretched in her stomach.

"Hey, baby," she whispered.

Sweeney stirred and turned over, pulling her closer in a way that would have been nice except that it flattened her stomach uncomfortably against her legs.

"Easy, dearie," she said, shaking him off. He opened his eyes blearily, looking confused.

"Why I am down here?"

"I've no idea love, but I promise that you were here before I woke up. I didn't abduct you in the middle of the night."

"No, I know..." He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and shook his head as if to clear it of cobwebs.

"Oh, that's right. You woke me up screaming in the middle of the night. Nightmare." Nellie frowned, a tiny wrinkle creasing her forehead.

"Did I? Sorry about that." She yawned and laid back against her pillow, sighing in contentment.

"Why don't you stay here and rest for a bit and I'll make breakfast today?" Sweeney suggested, although he looked a bit scared at the prospect of setting foot in the kitchen.

Nellie sat up immediately.

"Oh no. No, no, no-no-no! You are not babying me again. I am perfectly capable-"

"Then show me. Get out of bed right now and go down to the bakehouse." Nellie paled, thinking of the steep iron stairs. But she wasn't about to be beaten.

"All right then!" Swinging her feet around so they dangled off the side of her bed, Nellie swiveled her torso with difficulty so all parts of her body were facing the same direction. Then she pushed her hands against the mattress until she was supported by her feet and not the bed.

But her ankles, already swollen from what she'd put them through so far, complained loudly. She fell back on the bed with a slight gasp, covering her eyes against Sweeney's inevitable smirk.

Sure enough, when she peeked between her fingers, the smirk was firmly in place. He turned and headed for the kitchen, satisfied.

Nellie rearranged herself comfortably, stuck her tongue out at Sweeney's retreating back, and stroked her stomach.

"He beat us this time, didn't he?" she murmured. "But we'll get him next time." She felt the usual uneasy twinge that twisted just below her ribs whenever she thought too much about the baby. Because, of course, that brought up the issue of parentage, and-

Ooh. That wasn't nervousness.

There it was again, a cramp that was almost pain, but not quite. They were coming faster now, more of them.

"Sweeney..." she called. He didn't hear.

Suddenly, a ripping, vicious pain tore through her like a bolt of lightning. She rolled sideways into fetal position, moaning. The sheets beneath her were wet.

"SWEENEY!" She heard the pounding of Sweeney's footsteps, but it barely registered as anything more than just another heartbeat.

There was another pain that forced on her back, uncontrollable screams still tearing through the room.

"Nellie, Nellie, what am I supposed to do? Oh God, what the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Get it OUT!"

"Okay, okay..." He waved his hands helplessly, eyes darting around the room. "Do you know a-a midwife, somebody..." His only answer was another terrible scream.

Nellie's eyes were squinched together so tightly, she thought they might have become welded shut. Her fingernails were forcing blood from her palms and the room suddenly seemed unbearably hot. She was single-minded, one objective had crowded out everything else: it was time for the baby to come and she had to help it.

But even this was slipping away beneath the immense pressure. Even feeling Sweeney slipping off her bloomers didn't give her goosebumps. That baby's a fighter, she thought indistinctly, she's got me in her definitely. Nellie pushed, trying to help her.

"Nellie, Nellie, I don't know what to do!"

"And you think I do?" she yelled at him. "You've had more experience than I have with this!"

"We had a midwife then!"

"So go find one!"

"Wait, wait-" Nellie pushed again, the effort squeezing another shout from her rough throat.

"Nellie, I see something!" Nellie could feel it, whatever it was he was seeing, feel something large and round sliding forward. The pressure was releasing, slowly but surely. With one last, monumental push-

Sweeney was yelling in triumph, sliding the baby free, severing the cord with her butcher knife. Nellie started to sob, tears mixing with the sheen of sweat smothering her face, holding her arms out wordlessly. He snuggled the baby, purple and wrinkled but wailing heathily, into her chest.

"Ohhh," she sighed, freeing one breast for the baby to suck on. "It's a girl, Sweeney."

Sweeney let out a strangled sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

"Will you clean her up for me?" Nellie asked, offering the baby's tiny body to him. He nodded, taking an extra sheet from the corner and leaving to get water from the pump.

When he had left the room, Nellie allowed the full impact to settle in. So many emotions all at once- joy, apprehension, pride, a strange sadness that she didn't quite know the reason for.

But when he brought it back, wrapped snugly in the sheet and sleeping, there was no doubt who the father was.

She had night-black hair twisted into tight corkscrew curls and long, fernlike lashes. When her eyelids fluttered up, they revealed two eyes the pure melting brown of chocolate. Even just born, her skin was pale as alabaster.

"Oh, love, she's yours! She's yours!" Nellie started crying and laughing again, so overjoyed. She finally had the only thing she'd ever wanted.

"What- what should we name her?" Sweeney seemed slightly shell-shocked, but happy.

Nellie considered, tracing the lines of her beautiful daughter's face.

"Letty," she said at length. "Short for Letitia.

"It means "a father's joy."