You don’t look so well. Are you feeling all right?” Cleon asked Grace as they sat at the breakfast table the next morning.
She pushed her spoon around in her bowl. “I’m tired and not so hungry.”
“Can I have your piece of toast?” Anna asked. “I’m very hungry this morning.”
Grace handed her toast over to Anna. “Do you want more oatmeal, too?”
Anna shook her head. “I think I’ll be full after I eat the toast.”
Grace offered Anna a feeble smile as she reached for her cup of tea.
“Are you still upset about what happened yesterday?” Cleon asked.
“A little,” she replied with a shrug. “But I think everything’s going to be okay now that Gary has left town.”
“We don’t know if he’s the one who …” Cleon’s voice trailed off when he noticed Anna staring at him. “Let’s talk about this later, okay?”
Grace nodded and pushed away from the table. “Right now I need to get lunches fixed for you and Anna so you can be off to work and I can take her to school.”
“Would you like me to take her this morning?” he asked.
“I’d better to do it since you have to open the woodworking shop.”
“I’m sure your daed’s done that already.”
Grace shook her head. “While you were out checking on your bee boxes earlier, Dad stopped by the house and said he was taking Mom to see the chiropractor this morning. She complained of a headache yesterday, so he thinks her neck might be out of adjustment.”
“Sorry to hear she’s hurting.” Cleon stood and moved over to the counter where Grace had begun making their lunches. “I could still drive Anna to school and then open the shop after I get back.”
“There’s no need for you to do that.”
Cleon reached for his lunch box. “Guess I’ll head to work, then. If you’re feeling up to it, stop down during my lunch hour and we can talk some more.”
She nodded. “I will.”
Cleon gave Grace a kiss on the cheek and started for the door. His fingers had just touched the doorknob when Anna called out to him.
“Have a good day, Papa.”
He turned and smiled at her. “You have a good day, too, Anna.”
By the time Grace returned from taking Anna to school, she’d noticed some pain in her lower back, so she decided to rest on the couch awhile.
She punched the pillow under her head a few times, trying to find a comfortable position, then finally dozed off.
Sometime later she awoke. Finding the sofa damp, she realized her water had broken. Her stomach cramped, and she groaned. “I think I’d better get to the birthing center as soon as I can.”
Figuring her folks were probably back from town by now, Grace headed over to their place to see if Mom would walk down to the phone shed and call someone to give her a ride to the Doughty View Midwifery Center, where many Amish women from their community went to have their babies.
By the time Grace reached her folks’ house, the pains had increased. They were still far enough apart that she figured they had plenty of time to get to the birthing center before the baby came.
She opened the back door and stuck her head inside. “Mom? Are you to home?”
No answer.
“Martha, are you here?”
No response.
Grace stepped into the kitchen and leaned against the counter as another contraction gripped her stomach. When it eased, she moved over to the table to take a seat and spotted a note lying there. It was from Martha, letting Mom know that she’d gone to work at Irene’s.
“I’d better go down to the woodworking shop and let Cleon know what’s happening,” Grace murmured. “I don’t think this boppli will wait until Mom gets home.”
Cleon had just begun sanding a set of cabinets when Grace entered the shop, looking pale and shaken.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, moving quickly to her side. “Has there been another attack?”
She shook her head. “I’m in labor.”
Cleon’s mouth fell open. “Are you sure?”
“My water broke, and I’m having some pretty hard contractions.” Grace grasped the edge of his workbench. “Mom and Dad still aren’t home, and Martha left a note on Mom’s table saying she was going to your mamm’s place to work. So I came here to see if you’d call someone to drive me to the birthing center.”
Cleon nodded. He led Grace over to a chair behind her dad’s desk. “Sit right here. I won’t be long.”
He made a dash for the door and ran all the way to the phone shed. His fingers trembled as he dialed the Larsons’ number, and he felt relief when Donna answered on the second ring.
“Grace is in labor. We need a ride to the Doughty View Midwifery Center,” he panted.
“Ray’s gone for the day, but I’ll be right over,” Donna said.
“We’ll be waiting for you at Roman’s shop.”
When Cleon returned to the shop, he found Grace slumped over the desk. “What’s happened? Are you okay?”
She lifted her head. “Yes.”
“I spoke with Donna, and she’s on her way. We should be at the birthing center soon.”
“I hope so, because the pains are coming quicker.”
“Do you think I should call 9-1-1 and get an ambulance here?”
Grace shook her head. “I’m sure we have enough time to get there before the boppli’s born.”
“That had better be the case, because I’ve never delivered a baby before—just a couple of calves.”
Grace gritted her teeth, and Cleon figured she was having another contraction. “I don’t think you’ll have to deliver this baby, so you needn’t look so worried,” she said.
A horn honked. “That must be Donna.” Cleon helped Grace out the door and into Donna’s car. “I’d better ride in the back with my wife,” he told Donna.
She nodded. “No problem.”
They’d only gone a short distance when Donna’s car overheated and she had to pull onto the shoulder of the road. “I told Ray to check under the hood the last time he filled my car with gas,” Donna mumbled. “I suspected there was a leak in the radiator, but he said he would check things out and take care of it if there was a problem.”
Grace moaned and clutched the front of Cleon’s shirt. “The pains are coming faster.”
Cleon’s mouth went dry. Was he going to have to deliver this baby?
As Ruth headed down the road toward home, her thoughts went to Martin. In just a few weeks they would become husband and wife, and she could hardly wait. She planned to work on her wedding dress this evening, and things were coming together. Cleon’s sister, Carolyn, would provide candles for the tables, and Martha and Sadie had agreed to be her attendants. Martin’s brother, Dan, and the bishop’s son, Toby, would be his attendants.
Ruth’s thoughts were halted when she spotted Donna Larson’s car stopped along the side of the road with the hood up and a curl of steam pouring out. Donna stood beside the car shaking her head.
Ruth guided her horse and buggy to the shoulder of the road, climbed down, and hurried over to Donna’s car. “What’s the problem? Did your car overheat?”
“Yes, and your sister’s in the backseat, about to have her baby.” Donna grimaced. “I left my cell phone at home, so I can’t even call for help. I was hoping another car would come by, but you’re the first person I’ve seen since the car overheated.”
Ruth hurried around to the back of the car and jerked the door open. She was surprised to see Cleon there, red-faced, wide-eyed, and hunched over Grace. “Don’t push, Grace. Not yet,” he instructed.
Grace’s face twisted in obvious pain. “It’s coming, Cleon. The boppli is coming.”
Ruth’s knees nearly buckled as she struggled against a wave of dizziness. She couldn’t just stand here like a ninny; she had to do something to help her sister. The only experience she’d had with birthing was watching one of their barn cats deliver her kittens, so she wasn’t sure what to do.
Cleon didn’t seem to notice Ruth as he continued to coach Grace. “Easy now. We’re almost there. That’s it…. I can see the head…. Okay now, push!”
Unable to watch, yet reluctant to look away, Ruth felt her eyes mist as she witnessed the miracle of birth. A few seconds later, she heard a lusty cry, and a newborn babe lay across her sister’s stomach.
“It’s a buwe!” Cleon cried. “We have ourselves a boy!”
Grace lay exhausted against the seat as she stroked her son’s downy dark head. “Gott is gut,” she murmured. “Jah, God is good.”