A/N: The versions of the chapter title song by Joe Cocker and Van Morrison are recommended.

Just Like A Woman

Wednesday, July 23, 1913

The care of Mary quickly fell into a routine.

Anna relieved Matthew at eight a.m. At that time he would be just finishing feeding her breakfast. He would then leave to get some sleep. Anna would bathe Mary and get her into a clean nightgown.

Mary could not, nor would she, eat large set meals so Anna would feed her bits and bobs through the day and try to get as much fluid into as she could. Mary slept most of the time, but not a sleep of peace, rather a fitful and restless one.

Cora would come in the early afternoon and, while Mary was awake, would read 'Anne of Green Gables' to her.

Throughout the afternoon Robert, Violet, Edith and Sybil would stop by for mostly silent visits.

It was intended that Matthew would return at about five p.m. to take the night shift but Mary would get fretful as the afternoon progressed if he did not show up and so he started coming back at about three. If she was awake he would cool her with a damp cloth while they listened to her mother read. After her mother and Anna left he would feed her dinner and give her her night bath. Then he would read to her ('Pride and Prejudice', when he substituted 'Crawley' for 'Collins' she scolded him and told him he was 'Darcy' ) or they would talk about this and that until she slept. She never slept for more than two hours in a row. Matthew had gotten so engrossed in the storey of Anne that while Mary did sleep he read ahead in the book.

As and when they could Dr. Clarkson and Isobel would stop and check on Mary. On the second day Matthew was back Isobel took Mary's temperature first thing and noticed that it had dropped. She did not say anything to Matthew, she did not want to raise his hopes. She did discuss it with Dr. Clarkson, or Richard as she called him in private, among other things, and they agreed that it was too soon to tell but it looked like the fever might be breaking.

Early Wednesday morning Matthew had just finished wiping some gruel off of Mary's chin when she whispered "I'm wet"

At first he did not understand. "What do you mean wet?"

"Down there" she motioned.

He touched the bed by her middle. It was wet. "Mary, I told you to tell me when you had to pee!"

"It's not pee."

He smelled his fingers. It did not smell like pee. He looked at her. As casual as he could he got up. "I'll go get some clean bedding. I'll be right back" He kissed her on the forehead. "Don't go away". She gave him a weak smile. As soon as he was in the hall he started running.

-0-

Mary screamed, was quiet for three heartbeats and then screamed again. If he had been asked before how Mary would endure labour Matthew would have answered that she would be stoical, only betraying the slightest grimace or giving an occasional discrete grunt. And maybe a rational Mary would have been like that but the mad Mary he was holding down was not. She did not suffer pain quietly.

And she swore. He was amazed that she even knew the words. He had just spent three months being introduced to the genteel art of the private soldier by drill instructors who could use the four basic Anglo Saxon words in every possible permutation in every conceivable grammatical way and he was sure that they would have been impressed by the raw talent Mary displayed. And what she lacked in rhythm and meter she made up for in enthusiasm. She swore at him and Dr. Clarkson and his mother, who was assisting the doctor, and Anna, who was assisting him. She swore at her parents when they showed up.

Mary was also doing her best to tear him to shreds. For someone so weak and fragile she was proving to be quite dangerous. When he could not corral them her hands flailed about; she had already popped him on the nose and one eye, and if those hands of hers latched onto anything it was scratch, claw or pull. He would have lost his right ear if Anna hadn't managed to undo Mary's fingers from it.

And through this maelstrom of a mad, fearful woman in extreme pain he crooned his litany: "I love you Mary; push; let me have the pain; push; you can do it; push; just a little more; push; I love you Mary; push..."

Throughout Matthew kept his focus on Mary's face; he never looked at what was happening behind him. He could hear things, murmurings, the shuffling of feet, the clanging and clanking of what? Forceps? He did not want to know. Occasionally his mother would call for Mary to push harder.

Finally, after what seemed to Matthew to be more that half a day, but was just shy of three hours on the clock Mary gave a final scream and push and then lay back spent. Matthew heard someone, not his mother nor Dr. Clarkson he thought, gasp. He waited for the cry of an infant but there was none. Then he felt his mother's hand on his shoulder.

"Stand up. There's not much time."

Confused Matthew let go of Mary's hand, stood up and looked around. Cora was standing in the back of the room with Robert behind her, one hand on her shoulder. Violet was hustling Travis, the Vicar, into the room. Matthew looked at her.

"My great grand child must be baptized if it is going to be buried in consecrated ground" she explained "Now Vicar, get on with it!"

Isobel gave Matthew the child wrapped in a blanket. He looked at its wizened face, all dark red and blue, it had thick black hair and was making small jerky motions. It was gasping and Isobel handed Matthew a small rubber tube.

"It's oxygen, hold it near its mouth" she explained.

"The Bishop having dispensed with notice we shall proceed." Will these two ever do anything with proper notice? Travis thought "Now who are the godparents?"

Everyone looked at Violet. She looked around.

"Anna and Dr. Clarkson, two are sufficient are they not?"

"But I don't know if..." Travis started to object.

"Get on with it" Violet poked him with her cane "And be quick about it"

"Dearly beloved, for so much as all men are conceived and born in sin..." the Vicar droned on at about four times normal speed.

Matthew felt as he was in a trance as he rocked the child and observed the proceedings as if from afar. Dr. Clarkson was checking Mary's vitals. His mother and Anna were cleaning up Mary and the bed. Robert and Cora were both staring at him and the baby. Violet was goading Travis on as if she were a jockey bringing home a winner at the Derby.

Anna and Dr. Clarkson had to be prompted to make their answers on behalf of the child. And then Travis called on them to name the child. And everyone looked at Matthew.

He shook his head. "Is it a boy or a girl?'"

"A boy" his mother told him. "I'm sorry we should have said"

Matthew bent down so Mary could see the child in his arms. She reached out and touched it on the cheek. "Mary, what name have you picked out for our son?"

"You name him" she said in that small voice of hers.

Matthew straightened up again. He looked around at all of them. There was no help, just anticipation. He took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Matthew John" Again he looked around, expecting objection but there was none, just nods and a smile from Mary.

Travis took out a vial of water and would have poured all of it on the baby's head but a glare from Isobel and a poke from Violet's cane forestalled that and he only poured a few drops on the baby's forehead.

As soon as Travis had made the sign of the cross on the baby's forehead Matthew knelt down beside and put the baby in Mary's arms. She kissed the little boy's head and ran her finger along his cheek.

The moment Travis wrapped up Violet and Isobel shooed everyone out of the room.

Matthew sat on the bed with Mary in his arms and the baby in hers. She crooned a wordless lullaby as they waited.