Weeks turned to months and Élisabeth grew rounder, with occasional sips of Bones' blood to ensure good health for her growing child. There seemed to be no lasting effects from her near miscarriage but Bones was playing it cautious.
She had thrown herself into making baby things, hemming a muslin sheet into diapers, the slips into diaper shirts and two gowns, and the woolen skirt into a tiny jacket.
Liliane had surprised her with two grey woolen soakers, with Bones looking on in faint astonishment at how teary Élisabeth had become at the gift.
Bones hadn't spent much time in the company of infants, other than the ones he had grown up around, nor with women in a family way. He laid his hands on her belly and listened to the child's heartbeat every few weeks, feeling the kicks that were more forceful each time.
He wondered what he should do when her time came, whether he would be able to find and green-eye a midwife or if he and one of the girls could fulfill the role. He decided to make quiet inquiries for midwives, and learned they were really fairly easy to come across.
A bit of his gaze had the middle-aged woman believing that Èlisabeth was his wife, the other girls sisters and cousins they'd taken in after their home had been destroyed. Irène Dupuis called once around a month before Èlisabeth's expected time, examining her carefully and questioning how her pregnancy had been, and deemed her healthy. "Summon me when she cannot speak during the pains."
Bones and the girls sat in the kitchen, windows thrown open to let a breeze in. It was stuffy and warm and Èlisabeth alternated stitching on a small shirt and mopping her neck with a cool cloth. The others were engaged in assorted sedate pleasures, and Bones was reading. Heat and cold didn't bother vampires the way it did humans, but this was still the most comfortable room in the house just now.
Time had brought familiarity and none of the women feared him anymore, though he still fed from Liliane's wrist. He sensed that the intimacy biting her neck would bring would cause her discomfort, so he made do. Blood was blood and she did not shirk her side of the bargain.
Ancille worried over Èlisabeth like a hen, especially when she held her swollen belly through a round of pains that always petered out after she fell asleep.
Èlisabeth laid a hand to her midsection, panting, eyes closed. In a moment she breathed easier, opening her eyes. Five sets of eyes watched her and she shook her head. "Watched pot," she said. But it wasn't long before another pain gripped her. In a short while she stood and grabbed the broom. "This place needs a good sweeping," she said cheerfully and left the room.
"It's her time," Ésmee observed quietly, "and she wants to be alone in it for a bit."
Dawn found Èlisabeth keening through contractions, arms around Bones while they swayed. He had come upon her gripping a chairback and swaying, but when he reached her, she looked so frightened he had rubbed her back, and somehow she'd melted into him. He realized that he had saved her life, and that of her babe, and now he was a comfort.
I'm about to learn more about childbirth I believe, he thought.
Just after eight AM, Ésmee went out to summon Irène Dupuis, who returned with her around an hour later. She came into the house to see Bones and Èlisabeth still swaying, Bones' hands on Èlisabeth's hips. During a contraction he squeezed, which Èlisabeth said eased the burning ache in her back.
"Natural, aren't you?" Irène said after watching Èlisabeth endure two pains.
"She can't bear to lie down, but this she can do," Bones said, squeezing as Èlisabeth's breath hitched in another contraction.
"Well, I've only had men at one or two births before, but I guess you're staying." Irène washed her hands and then carefully felt Èlisabeth's belly through the duration of a contraction. "Baby's moving down but I think it's facing the wrong way. Makes the pains worse in the back."
Èlisabeth nodded. "Hurts worse there than in front."
Irène nodded thoughtfully. "Have you a long, sturdy shawl or even a bedsheet?"
"Èsmee?" Bones said. In a moment, Ésmee appeared with a sheet.
"All right, put this around your belly," Irène said, standing behind Èlisabeth. They placed the sheet as a hammock and Irène lifted gently, pulling Èlisabeth's belly up slightly. She held it through another contraction, murmuring "blow out candles or growl, don't scream," when Èlisabeth began to clench at Bones' shoulders. Soon the three were swaying in time, Èlisabeth's forehead on Bones' chest, growling up the peak of each contraction and then blowing out hard as it tapered off.
Five pains later, Irène relaxed the sheet and felt Èlisabeth's belly again. "That helped some. Less pain in your back now?"
They waited through another contraction, Bones squeezing her hips again, and she nodded. "A bit."
"Good. Can you get down on all fours?"
Èlisabeth's managed it with some assistance, then bit off a wail when another contraction hit. "I don't like this," she said with panic in her voice.
"Hold on, we're helping that baby come faster. You want this to be over soon, yes?"
Reluctantly Èlisabeth nodded.
Irène put the sheet around her belly again and jiggled it, small movements that Bones could not fathom the point of. Irène caught his puzzled expression and smiled. "This helps give the baby space to move around, and hands and knees sort of naturally encourages them too. The baby was facing her front, but it should face her back. It's turned some, hopefully this gets it the rest of the way."
Bones nodded. Èlisabeth's noises announced another contraction, and Irène told Bones to squeeze her hips again.
"There, let's see how that did," Irène said after a while. "Oh good, much better."
They helped Èlisabeth to her feet and she clung to Bones again, swaying and growling through her pains. After a time the tone of her vocalization changed, growing deeper.
"What do you feel like you need to do?" Irène asked, though it seemed to Bones that she already knew.
"I don't know. Down." Èlisabeth was holding onto Bones heavily now, panting between the pains.
"Do you have the urge to push?"
"I… I might." Suddenly she was clawing at her drawers one handed. She got them off and squatted, Bones supporting her from behind. She groaned and her waters ruptured, soaking the floor.
Bones saw Irène glance at it and nod once. "Clear," she murmured to herself. "Good, Èlisabeth, now listen to your body, your body knows how to have a baby."
Èlisabeth nodded once as another contraction came, drew a breath and pushed. Her hands found Bones' knees on either side of her and braced the heels of her hands against them as she pushed her baby lower. Bones still supported her, murmuring encouragement.
A half an hour passed, and Irène put her hand up. "Stop, pant, like this." She showed Èlisabeth the short, panting breaths to take. "Your baby is nearly here. Push easy and pant so you don't rip."
Bones cringed internally at that and was pleased when Èlisabeth did as she was told. Granted, a bit of his blood and she would be good as new but still.
Èlisabeth keened, her pants becoming a wail and then Bones saw that her baby's head had been delivered.
"Excellent! Once more." Irène said as another contraction began. Bones could feel the power that Èlisabeth gathered and then gave one more herculean push.
"It's a girl!" Irène said, holding up the newborn baby.
Èlisabeth sagged against Bones, who looked at Irène. "Shall I carry her to bed?"
She nodded. Bones scooped Èlisabeth up, and Irène placed her baby in her arms. The infant was slightly bloody, covered in a white, waxy looking substance, and making little gurgling cries.
"She's a girl. She's alive." Èlisabeth said to Bones, her eyes full.
"Indeed. She's as beautiful as her mother."
Hours later, Bones entered the bedchamber where Èlisabeth lay with her little girl. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired and sore, but, Bones. Look at her. Isn't she perfect?"
"She is. I'm so glad she turned out all right."
"Her name is Marguerite Pénélope." She smiled at him shyly.
Bones stared at her for a long moment. "My mum's name?"
"Yes. I'm honored for my child to bear the name of the woman who bore you. I'll never forget your kindness."