"I'll run these down to Martha and be back up," Ray said, standing outside the bathroom door. Nodding and closing the door, Livy knew she only had a few minutes before the next pain started. Freshly dressed, she knew she'd feel more awake if she freshened up a bit. In her head, she counted the seconds. After relieving herself, forty-five seconds, she washed her hands and splashed her face with cool water, thirty-eight seconds. Still feeling as if she needed something more, Livy took a rag from the cupboard and saturated it with the icy water and washed her legs the best she could. The cool rag across her skin reminded her of bathing after swimming in murky waters as a child.
As she opened the door, she saw Ray straighten to attention and relax again. They exchanged small smiles.
"Martha told me to ask if you were laboring more in your stomach or in your back," Ray said, as if repeating a message from a child.
"These last few have been more in my back," Livy replied. Ray nodded in response.
"Do you want to lay in bed or maybe go downstairs? We could walk some, too, if you think that would help."
"I think I'd like to walk," Livy quickly replied with an intake of breath as another pain electrified her body. She gripped the doorframe with one hand, bending forward and leaning her head against her arm. Her other hand she kneaded into her lower back. She felt two sturdy hands take the place of her own, pushing firmly into her muscles in large, circular motions until the pain was gone.
Picking up the conversation as if it had never been interrupted, Ray continued, "I wish it was a nicer night so we could walk outside."
"We'll just have to make a museum out of the house," Livy responded with a chuckle. When her mother was sick, her doctors had urged her to stay in bed. Her mother, though, refused and pledged to walk as long as she could.
"Come, visit the museum of my life with me," she'd say to her daughter as they strolled around the small house. They'd stare at the same photos day after day, pretending to never have seen them, and stand feet from the sofa as if it were an ancient artifact from Greece or Egypt.
Ray took this idea in stride. He walked her to the bunkroom and showed her the bed, his bed, in which it is rumored the most handsome man in the world sleeps.
"It's said that only the most beautiful of ladies are allowed to know this secret location," he joked.
"And does this handsome man snore loudly?" Livy played along.
"I'm not sure," Ray pretended to puzzle over the question. "Let me ask a specialist."
He quickly stepped to the other side of Livy and donned a Trans-Atlantic kind of radio voice.
"We're here with the specialist on the manner, Mrs. Olivia Singleton. Mrs. Singleton, is it or is it not true that the most handsome man in all the world snores something fearsome when he sleeps?"
"Well, Mr. Singleton," Livy responded in the most speculative archeological manner she could muster. "It is our belief that the man snores on occasion but never loud enough to keep his neighbors across the hall awake." The couple shared a laugh. Livy moved forward to sit on Ray's bed and her husband followed suit.
They sat there, side-by-side, on the sunken mattress, in silence. Another pain came and went and Livy weathered it with Ray's hands kneading her back while her head dug into his chest and her hands gripped at his shirt.
"They're getting stronger," Livy said wearily. Her husband softly rubbed her back as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Getting closer to meeting our baby," Ray said lovingly into his wife's hair.
"Yeah," Livy exhaled. "Are you excited?"
Ray nodded. "Are you?"
Livy nodded. A moment passed in silence. The couple sat like a painting. Had the stars been photographers they'd have sent the photo to hang in every museum in the world.
"Are you scared?" Ray asked quietly.
Livy nodded. More tears flowed down her cheeks. This time, though, she did not wipe them away. She let them flow freely into Ray's shirt.
"Oh, Livy, don't cry!" Ray caressed her cheek with his hand and kissed her forehead. "It will be okay! You'll be the most amazing mother this baby could ever have. And if you have questions, Martha is always here. And I'll be here."
Livy nodded and let Ray sit her up and wipe her tears away with his thumb.
"There. Beautiful as ever," Ray said, kissing her hair once more. "After the next one, should we walk some more? It's probably getting time to decide whether you want to be up here or downstairs."
"Where did your mother have you?" Livy asked.
"Well, Martha was born in the bedroom on the bed that's somewhere in the barn for the rats and the dog. Daniel was born in Wilson at the clinic, and I was born in the living room on the sofa. I was born on a night similar to this, the middle of February, and my mother said she didn't want her baby born into a cold and dark room."
Livy nodded. Another pain came and went. Livy gripped Ray's arms harder than ever, and Ray kneaded his knuckles into Livy's back hard enough to bruise. By the end of it Livy, seemed as if she could sleep for hours.
"I think your mother had a point," Livy said. "I like the idea of a child being born into the warm and the bright rather than the cold and dark."
"Downstairs we will go, then," Ray said, helping his wife off the bed.
Livy went down the first few stairs one step behind Ray. He held her around the waist with one arm and steadied her with his other.
"Ray, I don't think I can make it down," Livy said at the first landing. "Maybe we should just stay up here."
"Well, okay. Are you sure?" Ray asked. "I can carry you the rest of the way."
"No, it's alright. I'll just go lay down."
"Livy," Ray said sternly. "Do you want to be downstairs?"
Livy nodded wearily.
"Put your arms around my neck," Ray instructed. Livy did as she was told. As slowly and carefully as he could, Ray carried his laboring wife down the rest of the stairs.
Sorry if this chapter felt slow. I often feel the slower, more intimate scenes are left out of writing because they slow the pace of reading tremendously. I, however, think they add greater complexity to characters and offer a chance to showcase these complexities. I hope you enjoyed.