Chapter 17: Precious
Gale has been searching for Katniss and Peeta all day. Her mother has arrived and there is no sign of them at the house. After checking their room, Katniss' mother tells Gale that she thinks Katniss may have gone into labour. They need to find them. Gale gathers some of the Peacekeeping force to check the village and directs others to fan out around the area to look for them. Gale, himself, starts to check the areas around the Victor's Village as he thinks Katniss would not have gone too far from here. Haymitch decides to stay with Katniss' mother until they get any word.
Gale walks into the graveyard where Prim is buried and looks around. Close to the edge of the graveyard, where it joins with the woods, he notices something lying on the ground. It is a blanket that somebody has dropped. It looks familiar. Suddenly, his hunter's instincts on high alert, he hears a sound. It is not a sound he has heard in the forest before. Keeping very still, he listens again. It is the sound of a new born baby crying.
Crashing through the woods, Gale comes across a scene he will never forget. In an open area, on the spongy moss, he sees Katniss lying wrapped in coats and a small fire burning nearby. Peeta is lying beside her. Then he hears it again. Katniss stirs and takes baby Prim closer in her arms "shhhing" her and kissing her head. Gale moves forward.
"Katniss…"he says.
Katniss looks up at him with a tired smile and invites him to come over to her. She opens up the blankets and Gale sees the miracle that Peeta and Katniss have created.
"Meet Primrose Everdeen Mellark" she says.
"Katniss, she's beautiful" he says.
Peeta begins to stir and sees Gale standing beside Katniss.
"Congratulations, Peeta" says Gale.
Peeta gets up and thanks Gale, for everything.
"Katniss your mother is here and we have all been worried about you. We need to get you and baby Primrose back to the house. It is getting very cold out here."
It was cold. Night was falling again which meant they had been out in the woods for about sixteen hours. Gale says he will arrange for Katniss mother to come down to the woods to tend to her. He leaves them while Peeta cradles baby Prim and Katniss quickly washes in the stream nearby. When she is ready, and after her mother arrives, Peeta hands baby Prim to Katniss' mother. He gathers Katniss in his arms to carry her back to the house. Baby Primrose is not crying. Katniss has already fed her and now she is fast asleep.
When they get to the house they find Haymitch has set a fire and Peeta brings Katniss to their room. Katniss' mother brings baby Prim to her and, after checking everything is OK, they leave the family alone for the night so they can rest. Peeta is exhausted, too.
Visitors gather from the next day onwards and Katniss is revelling in her role as a new mother. She has come out of the ordeal very well and Peeta could not be more proud of them both. Primrose seems to be a good baby who loves to eat, sleep and rest in her parent's arms. Everything feels complete.
One day, Peeta surprises Katniss. When Primrose is about six weeks old he comes home from the bakery and tells her he has cooked a special treat. He hands it to her and tells her not to bite into it too hard, that is has a special centre. Katniss takes it from him and bites gently down on it. Her teeth hit something hard and she says:
"Peeta, there is something hard inside this cake".
"I know" is all he says.
Katniss places it in one hand and uses the other to break away the rest of the cake. She wants to see what is inside. Katniss can't believe what appears. It is a ring! Not just any sort of ring, but an engagement ring!
"Oh my God, Peeta!" she cries.
Peter responds by getting down on one knee. This time it isn't for the cameras. "Katniss Everdeen, will you marry me?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" is all Katniss says.
He pulls her up from the sofa and takes her in his arms. This is what he has wanted for a long time, and thought he could never have. Now, he not only has Katniss, but their precious baby daughter as well. He gently places the ring on her finger. It is a perfect fit.
"I love you, Katniss" he says kissing her before leading her up the stairs.
"I love you, too" she says, choking back the tears, as she allows him to lead her to the place where dreams are made.