The Light Through the Leaves(137)

While Ryan ran for his medical bag, they searched the house for flashlights. Viola’s was gone from her bed stand, and Max had one from her truck. That left only three for nine people.

They were in the living room deciding how to search the property when the back door opened.

“She’s home!” Jonah said.

“No,” Jackie said breathlessly, striding into the room. He was wet and had clearly been running fast. He looked desperate.

“What happened?” Reece asked.

Jackie tried to talk while he caught his breath. “The baby . . . it’s coming. It’s too dark to see anything . . . and now . . . it’s raining. She’s in so much pain . . . I’m kind of freaking out.”

“Oh, Jackie!” his mother said.

“Has her water broken?” Ryan asked.

“Yes. Not long ago. She’s been in labor all day.”

“Where is she? How far?” Ellis asked.

“She’s in that little circle you keep mowed to have picnics. At the edge between the big field and woods.”

Where Ellis had massaged her the day before.

“You’re a doctor,” Jackie said to Ryan. “You would be able to see if everything is going right, wouldn’t you?”

“I can do my best,” Ryan said.

“Will you go look at her?” Jackie asked. “She won’t come to the house. She wants to see the stars.”

“Of course I’ll go,” Ryan said.

Jackie pointed at the blankets and tarps Max was holding. “Those are a good idea. She’s soaked, and I’m afraid she’s getting too cold.”

“Let’s go,” Ellis said.

“I have to run ahead. I need to get back to her,” Jackie said before he jogged out of the room.

Ellis led the group. Max took up the rear to illuminate the trail from behind. The ones who didn’t have flashlights carried supplies.

The rain changed from a mist to a steady drizzle. No one spoke. A great horned owl softly hooted from the northern woods.

“Be careful of the roots,” Ellis said as they entered the forest trail.

Ahead, she heard Jackie’s voice. When they arrived at the edge of the field, Viola was on her hands and knees, wearing only a man’s shirt, having a strong contraction.

Ellis knelt at her side. “I’m here, sweetheart.”

“Mom!” she gasped. “It hurts! I didn’t think it would hurt this much.”

“Let Rose and me help.” She beckoned Jackie’s mother to sit on her other side. They rubbed her lower back. “How does that feel?”

She squeezed her eyes and groaned. She couldn’t answer. Her contractions were almost continuous. But she was unusually quiet.

Max was trying to get the rest of the group to take the edges of a tarp she’d opened. Keith understood. The blanket Viola was on was soaked and muddy. “Hold the tarp up, and we’ll make a clean, dry place for her,” Keith said.

River, Jasper, Huck, and Reece each took a corner of the tarp to make a canopy while Max and Keith spread another tarp and two blankets beneath it. “Will she let us move her?” Keith asked Jackie.

“I don’t know.”

Max heard none of that. She went to Viola, put her hands on her cheeks, and looked closely into her eyes. She gestured at the dry blanket. Viola gave no answer, and Max didn’t wait for one. She wrapped her arms around Viola’s chest, lifted her fully off the ground, and carefully set her down on the clean blanket without getting her muddy boots on it. She stripped off Viola’s soaked shirt and gently dressed her in a clean, dry flannel. Viola seemed in too much misery to notice.

Ellis, Jackie, and Rose took off their shoes and moved to the dry blanket. Jonah joined them.

“Will she let me examine her?” Ryan asked Ellis.

“Ryan is going to make sure everything is okay,” Ellis told Viola. “Jackie will feel better.”

She nodded slightly.

They positioned her on her back to make it easier for Ryan to see. He took off his shoes and sat next to Jackie. Before he did anything, he said to Jackie, “You’re doing a great job. Tell me where she is.”

“She’s fully dilated, and she has the urge to push.”

“Did you discuss pain help?” he asked.

“Yes. She doesn’t want it.”

“Then I won’t give her anything unless she asks.” He listened to Viola’s chest with his stethoscope, then to the baby’s heartbeat. “Mama and baby sound perfect,” he said.

Ellis felt like she could breathe again.

Ryan used his flashlight to see the baby’s progress as Viola bore down with another contraction. “Jackie, do you see? That’s the baby’s head.”

Jackie looked as dazed as any new father.

“Everything looks good,” Ryan said. “She just needs to push.”

Viola continued to be quiet through the pushing.

“You can scream all you want, Viola,” Ryan said.

“She doesn’t,” Jackie said. “This is how she’s been.”

“We don’t care if you sound like a squealing warthog,” River said.

“And we promise not to take videos,” Reece said.

“Shut . . . up!” Viola said, almost laughing through the contraction.