A dog lying right in front of the door raised his head and growled when they stepped up on the porch. Piper stopped in her tracks, but Nurse Robbins wasn’t bothered.
“Now see here, Blackie, we’re not having any of that. It’s good you’re guarding your family, but you know me. And this other one is quite harmless as well, I assure you.”
The dog’s tail came up and went down with a whack on the wooden porch.
“That’s about the best you get with Blackie. His welcome signal. We can step over him and go in now.”
“Can’t you just make him move?” Piper eyed the dog.
“He didn’t sound in the mood to move. Come on, Pippay. The old fellow is harmless. About all he has left is his growl, so you can’t blame him for using it now and again.” She pushed open the door and stepped over the dog, then looked back at Piper. “Keep the noise down. Mrs. Whitton’s little ones are probably asleep. But if they get up, you might have to corral them and keep them away from their mummy.”
“What else will I need to do?”
“I’ll let you know. Just remember Suze’s advice about breathing and not fainting.”
An oil lamp flickered on the table, but the moonlight through the window was brighter. Heat from a small stove in the kitchen area had the room extra warm. A big kettle sat on the stove top.
“I hope that’s hot water,” Nurse Robbins said.
“Should I check?”
“Later. First we need to talk to our mother.”
In the corner of the room, a woman pushed up on her elbows in her bed to a near sitting position. “Nurse Robbins, you’re a fine sight for sore eyes. This one appears extra eager to be born. I was feared I’d have the babe before you got here. My other two didn’t come on so fast.”
Piper trailed after Nurse Robbins over to the bed. The woman was young, maybe not much older than Piper but with weariness stamped on her face. Strands of dark hair had pulled loose from her long braid.
“If this one’s in a hurry, then you’ll be glad to soon have the laboring over with and the little fellow in your arms, won’t you, Mrs. Whitton?” Nurse Robbins kept her voice cheery.
“I ain’t arguing against that.” The woman fell back on her pillow. “Babies are powerful sweet but can’t say I enjoy getting them here.”
“But you’ll do fine.” Nurse Robbins pulled Piper up beside her. “This is Pippay. She’s new, just down from the city.” She looked from Mrs. Whitton to Piper. “If dear Mrs. Whitton felt able to get out of bed, you’d see she’s tall and lanky the same as us, Pippay. You find many that match us up here in the mountains.”
“Not so lanky right now.” The woman cradled her baby belly with her hands.
“But lanky again very soon, my dear. How are the pains?” The nurse scooted a chair close to the bed and draped her saddlebags across it, but she didn’t open them up.
With a shake of her head, the woman’s lips tightened in a grim line as her body went tense. Nurse Robbins laid her hand on top of the cover over the woman’s belly. “That is a strong one. Try to breathe in and out, Mrs. Whitton. You know how this goes. You’ve done it before.” The nurse looked over her shoulder at Piper. “Pippay, you must remember to breathe too.”
Piper had pulled in her breath and held it along with Mrs. Whitton. Embarrassed, she let it out.
Nurse Robbins laughed, and as the woman in the bed relaxed, she smiled too. “A first time to be along with the midwife, honey?” she asked.
Piper nodded.
“Surely at your age you’ve seen babies born,” the woman said.
“Well, no,” Piper said. “I have a little brother, but they took me to my grandmother’s before he was born.”
“Smart. To get the young’uns out of the way.” Mrs. Whitton nodded. “My pains came on so fast I didn’t have time to send my ma word. The girls are abed now anyhow. I’m hoping they have a baby brother before sunrise wakes them.”
“How close are the pains, dear?” Nurse Robbins asked.
“I ain’t for sure. I don’t have a timepiece, and I didn’t think to ask Alvin for his pocket watch afore he took off for you.” The woman pulled in a breath. “I tried to count, but I kept losing my counting spot around two hundred.”
“Never mind. I’ll get washed up and we’ll check things out.” She patted the woman’s arm. “Come along, Pippay. You’ll have to wash the trail dirt off you too. But first get some wood for the stove. We need plenty of hot water.”
“I knowed that from last time, Nurse, so’s I had Alvin bring some from the spring and put it on the stove, but I ain’t fed the fire for a while. It mighta gone out.” She started to sit up. “I can fix it, if you want.”
Nurse Robbins pushed her back down. “No getting up unless you need the pot. Pippay will see to the fire.”
“You’re a gift, sure enough, Nurse.” She looked at Piper. “There’s some wood in the box just outside the back door.”
Piper waited until they were in the kitchen area to say, “I don’t know how to fix a fire.”
“It’s not hard.” Nurse Robbins held her hand over the stove. “The fire hasn’t gone out. So you just shove the wood in on top of the coals.” She pointed to an empty bucket. “We’ll need Mr. Whitton to fetch more water if he hasn’t gone off.”
“Gone off?” Piper said. “He surely won’t go anywhere.”
“Maybe not, but some of these fathers get so anxious about a baby coming, they can’t stay still. They have to be off doing something.” She poured some water out of the kettle on the stove into a wash pan and lathered her hands with soap from her saddlebags. “I’ll leave the soap here for you after you tend to the fire.”
When Piper headed for the door, Nurse Robbins added, “If you hear a rattling sound, take a close look before you pick up anything. Wouldn’t want to have to treat you for snakebite.”
Whether she was serious or merely teasing, Piper’s ears were on high alert as she reached into the box. Nothing rattled, so she grabbed a few pieces of wood and hurried back inside.
Nurse Robbins looked up from laying out her instruments. “Open up that little door and use the poker to rake the coals together. Then shove in the wood.” She turned to Mrs. Whitton. “Girl’s never fixed a fire before.”
“Well, imagine that. Not having to keep a fire going.” The woman looked toward Piper. “Don’t burn yourself, honey.”
“I won’t.” Piper felt inordinately pleased when the wood started popping.
When she headed outside with the bucket, the dog gave no notice to her stepping over him and off the porch. “Mr. Whitton,” she called.
“The babe here already?” He spoke right behind her.
Startled, Piper jerked in a breath and then let it out slowly. If nothing else, she was learning to breathe. “No baby yet, but we need more water.”
“I brung water earlier. Filled the kettle to the brim.”
“I know, but Nurse Robbins says we need more.”
“Then I reckon I better fetch some.” With a sigh, he took the bucket. “You wouldn’t think a body would need to drain a spring dry to birth a baby.”
No handy way to get water around here. Every drop had to be carried in from somewhere. Even on the hottest summer days, fires were needed to heat that water. Nothing was easy. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t joy in the struggle. Piper stood still a moment, listening. She never had reason to step outside in the city to hear the night sing.
She shook herself a little and headed back inside. No time for listening to the night right now. Nurse Robbins might need something.
A few minutes later, the man set the bucket inside the door and peered across the room at his wife. “How are you, Rosalinda?”
“Fine, Alvin. Just doing what has to be done.”
“You’ll get me a boy, won’t you, Nurse?” The man looked at Nurse Robbins.
“I can’t be promising that.” Nurse Robbins smiled at him. “I help bring them into the world, but I don’t make them boys or girls.”
“I reckon that’s up to the good Lord.” The man ducked out of sight and shut the door.
“I’m prayin’ the good Lord seen fit to make this one a boy for my Alvin. He is gonna be some disappointed if I push out another girl,” Mrs. Whitton said.
“Come now,” Nurse Robbins said. “Girl babies are a gift and a pleasure. Just look at the three of us. All girl babies once upon a time.”
“True enough,” Mrs. Whitton said. “But my pa lacked some being happy each time a girl got added to the family. Ended up six girls to three boys when Ma quit having babies. I was the fourth girl. Good thing the one before me was a boy or Pa might have pitched me out with the bathwater.”
The woman’s laugh was cut short when another pain pushed through her. She pulled in a breath and let it out slowly.
“That’s the way, Mother.” Nurse Robbins murmured encouragement as she massaged the woman’s belly. She looked at Piper. “Dampen a cloth to bathe Mrs. Whitton’s face.”
Piper did as the nurse said and gently wiped the perspiration off the woman’s face.
With the pain receding, Mrs. Whitton managed a smile. “Thank you, honey. What was it the nurse called you?”
“Pippay, but my name is Piper.” Piper made a face. “Sort of a weird name, isn’t it?”
“Don’t know that I ever heerd of anybody else called that.”
“Your name, Rosalinda, is pretty,” Piper said.
“I’ve always favored it. My ma named me, but then she called me Rosie. But Alvin and me, we decided to use the names we was given on those first breaths and not shorten ’em down.” The woman shrugged. “So I give my own babies shorter names to begin with. Linda’s four and Faye, the baby, is nigh on two.”
“Not the baby much longer. She’ll have to move over for this new one,” Nurse Robbins said.
“Do you have a name picked out for the baby?” Piper asked. “For his or her first breaths.”
“Some folks take a while to name their little ones, but I like having a name in mind. Be easy if it’s the boy Alvin wants. Then it’s Alvin Junior. Not sure what we’ll call him though. Maybe all of Alvin Junior.”
“And if it’s a girl?” Piper asked.
“I’m thinking Robin. Like the bird.” The woman gave Nurse Robbins a shy look. “And after Nurse Robbins here.” Her voice caught as another contraction grabbed her, followed by a second one right on its heels.
“Now you have me hoping for a girl instead of Mr. Whitton’s boy, but either way, let’s get this done.” Nurse Robbins made a tent with the sheet and positioned Mrs. Whitton’s legs.
Labor pains took control of Mrs. Whitton’s body. She clutched the bedposts, but she didn’t cry out. Nurse Robbins kept up a steady stream of encouragement. Push. Wait. Breathe. Push.
Nurse Robbins told Piper to get a soft towel ready. “The baby’s wee head is crowning. Come see. It’s a marvel you shouldn’t miss.”
Piper found the towel, took a deep breath, and stepped to the end of the bed. Mrs. Whitton grunted as the head emerged.
“You’re doing lovely, dearie. Another push and then it will be easy sailing,” Nurse Robbins said.
The nurse gently guided the baby’s shoulders out. The dark hair was plastered to its head and blood and fluids streaked the baby’s face, but Piper didn’t think she’d ever seen anything more beautiful.
Another push and the baby was in Nurse Robbins’s hands. She laughed. “Your Alvin is going to be a happy daddy. You have a boy.”
With efficient movements, Nurse Robbins tied off the umbilical cord, cut it, and then wiped out the baby’s mouth. He screwed up his face with a cry of protest. “That’s the way, young Alvin. Let your daddy know you’re here.”
Mrs. Whitton made a sound between a sob and a laugh as she lifted her head to see the baby. “Is he good?”
“He has all his toes and fingers and looks to be about eight pounds. I’m thinking he’s very good, Mother.” Nurse Robbins took the towel Piper held and wrapped the baby up. “Bath time is coming, but first you need to meet your mother face-to-face. Here, Pippay, show our mother her new son.” She handed the baby to Piper. “Support his head and hold him gentle.”
“He’s beautiful,” Piper said as she placed the baby in Mrs. Whitton’s arms. The baby’s tongue quivered in his wide-open mouth as he kept up his warbling cry.
The woman’s face seemed to melt with love as she stroked her new son’s cheek. “Hush, little baby. You’re in your mama’s arms now.”
Nurse Robbins watched for a moment. “He is a fine boy, but time to finish what we started here. Pippay, cuddle our little man and keep him warm while we do what needs doing.”
Piper picked up the baby and held him close. When she swayed a little to rock him, he blinked and stopped crying for a few seconds as if trying to figure out what was happening.
When Nurse Robbins had taken care of Mrs. Whitton, she looked at Piper. “Look, Mrs. Whitton. I think Pippay is in love.”
Piper grinned. “Who wouldn’t be with such a sweet little guy?”
Mrs. Whitton scooted up in the bed. “Does it make you want to be a midwife, Piper?”
“Not a midwife. A mother.”
“That’s a dream you can make come true,” Mrs. Whitton said. “Babies are easy to make.”
“If you have the right man to help you with the job,” Nurse Robbins said. “Pippay, do you have a fellow back in the city ready to make babies with you?”
“Maybe. But I’m not sure I’m ready to make babies with him.”
“Ain’t no room for doubting there,” Mrs. Whitton said.
“That’s for sure,” Nurse Robbins said, “but enough romance advice for our Pippay. Time to get baby and mother cleaned up.”
Piper placed the baby on the bed beside Mrs. Whitton and went to get a pan of water for Nurse Robbins. But Mrs. Whitton’s words echoed in her mind. No room for doubting.