Last Wish
The labor had been long and hard for the unlucky mother lying on the bed, and birthing the child had been even worse. The baby had seemed to take its time, wanting to put her mother through as much pain as possible. If that had been its purpose, the child had succeeded.
The mother had lost too much blood to survive. This possibly could have been prevented by having a doctor, but there had not been time. Besides, the doctor had many more important patients to attend to. Patients who had more money. So, they ended up with a midwife. Not a very good one, in fact.
At the moment, the midwife was cleaning off the baby girl the mother had bore. She cooed to the baby, hopefully to stop its insistent crying. It wasn't working.
After a few more minutes, the midwife shoved the baby into the mother's arms and left the room to go to talk to the nervously pacing father about her pay.
The baby's mother still had enough strength to rock the baby and sing to it, at least for the time being. Soon, the baby's cries stopped as it fell asleep.
A small, weak smile crossed the mother's face just as the father burst in. She looked up slowly, with the smile still on her face.
"As my last wish, darling, I want you to name her Christine," she said, with the little strength she had left. Then, she bent down and pressed a loving kiss to her daughter's forehead. Leaning back upon her pillows, she fell asleep for the last time, with her baby in her arms.
The End.