It was a cold December night, when the carriage's wheel broke off, and the driver recommended they use his cabin for the night. As William opened the carriage door to help Julia out, he said "come on, Julia" as he grabbed her hand, which she squeezed hard, "William!"
He looks at her, "sorry about this...but let's get to the cabin, will eat and sleep. In the morning, we'll head to Muskoka"
She squeezes his hand even hard, "we better" as he winces in pain as they walked to the cabin.
As they continued walking, Julia felt a sharp twinge in her lower back, "ow!"
"Julia?"
She breathed out, "I'm ok, just a little sharp pain. I'm ok"
He nodded, as they reached the cabin, opened the door, walked her to the table so she could sit, as he started up a fire and looked around for food.
Within a few minutes the cabin was finally warm, and William had found, some bread in a cupboard, and cheese and milk in a icebox, and made Julia a plate, when she screamed out in pain and he heard water splash on the floor, "Julia?"
She looked down, "William...my water broke" as a contraction ran through her back, "ahhh"
"But...it's too early...your still 2 weeks from your due date"
"Well this baby is ready to come!" she said as she felt another contraction and reached for him
"Ok, breathe, breathe" he said as he grabbed her hand until the pain went away
She took in a deep breath, and said, "I'm ready for my dinner"
"Right" he said and gave her the plate of food, as he made a plate for himself.
When they finished dinner, they decided to get some sleep, but the contractions kept her awake, as she kept doing her breathing exercises.
It was morning as they decided to get ready to leave, before William reheated the fire, when Julia felt a even more intense contraction and groaned in pain, as he turned, "oh, Julia," and approached her.
She leans over a chair and groans again, "there coming closer, William"
He looked outside, "right, we need to get you out of here. I can unhitch one of the horses from the carriage and..." as he is about to leave, she pulls at his arm and digs her nails into his arm, "NO! YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" she yelled at him and groaned in pain again, as her nails kept digging into his arm, "ah...ok, ok, I'm not going."
As she screamed through the pain, she knew the baby was going to come soon, as William remade the bed, so she could lay down on it. As she is about to lay down, another contraction goes through her body, as she clutches the bed post, "does it hurt?" he asks
She looks over at him, and wanted to punch his face, "William, I have been shot 3 times, had rabies and been buried alive. This is much worse" she shouted at him, as she sat down and reached for him and told him she would guide him through the steps to deliver their baby, when another contraction went through her as she digged her nails into his neck and breathed through the pain, "William, I need to push"
He nodded and helped her out of her boots and bloomers, and laid her down, as he took off his coat, she spread her legs, "ok, see how far dilated I am"
He looked down and found it weird seeing her womanly area like this, "I see a head"
"Ok, going to start pushing" as she took a deep breath and pushed and pushed.
A few minutes later, she was so exhausted, sweaty and out of breath, "push" he said, as she shook her head, "I don't want to do this, William"
He looked at her, "you are doing so well, Julia. But please, keep breathing and I just need one more push. One more push"
With all the strength she took a deep breath and pushed, and suddenly the pain was gone as she heard the sound of a baby crying and gasped, as she saw William wrap the baby up with her shawl.
He lifted their baby up and showed her, "you did it...its a little girl"
All she could do is cry and was so happy it was a girl.
William looked at his daughter, and then back at her, "what do I do now?"
All she could do is cry and laugh, when the driver came in as she quickly closed her legs, and congratulated them.
Out of breath, all she could say is, "let's go, home"
"Oh, you don't want to go to Muskoka, still?" William asked
She shook her head, "let's take our little girl home"
He nodded and realized they, "oh, we don't have any baby clothes"
The driver said, "oh, I have some spare baby clothes here" as he went over to a drawer, "they were my granddaughters when she came here to visit. But she's 2 now and won't need them."
William nodded, "thank you"
"Your welcome. Take your time to get ready and I'll be outside at the carriage" and walked out the door
While Julia rested for a bit, and put her bloomers and boots back on, as William cleaned up the baby and put on the clothes, and were ready to go.
As they headed home in the carriage, Julia fell asleep as William held his little girl and kept looking at her and couldn't believe how much he loved her already, as he caressed her cheek, "you are so beautiful" he said as her small hand grabbed his finger as he smiled, "yes, I'm your daddy. Yes, I am" and gave her a kiss, "you have your mommy's blue eyes, but my forehead and nose"
As he went on about what he was going to teach her and the stories he had to tell, she fell asleep, as he looked at Julia who was snoring and then back at his daughter, he smiled and said, "my life is fully complete"
It was later in the evening, when William fed, bathed and changed her, while Julia had a shower and put on her robe and nightie. She felt strange without the baby bump, but realized she can finally drink again and see her toes.
As she stepped into the living room, she smiled and saw an image she has always wanted...seeing William hold their child as he looked up at her and told her how he couldn't stop looking at their daughter's eyes.
He didn't want to put her down, but Julia wanted to hold her again, and both agreed that she was absolutely perfect.
Then William suggested a name, but she laughed it off, "I was thinking, Susannah, would be lovely"
William's eyes filled with tears and knew it was perfect, "welcome to the world, Susannah Murdoch"
Julia looked at him and kissed him, "I love you"
He kissed back, "I love you, too"
They smiled at each other, than at Susannah and knew their family was complete
THE END
