Shelter Mountain (Virgin River #2)(90)

Mel saw the labia separate and the baby’s head crown. He was going to come out quick; he was premature and smaller than average.

The baby’s head emerged. Right away she could see the arrested development, the slightly blue tinge, but his skin was intact—this baby had expired perhaps a day ago. “Once more, Liz, then it’s over.” She edged a shoulder out.

Mel left the limp, lifeless baby boy on the bed between Liz’s legs while John clamped and cut. Then Mel wrapped the baby in its blanket, lovingly and gently as if he were alive, his face showing. His eyes were shut, his arms and legs floppy.

“Give him to us,” Liz said. “Give him to us!”

Mel passed the baby into Liz’s arms. Rick and Liz held him, wept over him, their heads together. While Rick’s shoulders silently shook, Liz’s cries were wrenching. Then Mel watched as they slowly unwrapped him, touched him, examined every inch of him as though she’d presented them with a living baby. Mel’s vision blurred with her tears; she felt them on her cheeks. Inside, her own baby kicked.

Mel gently massaged Liz’s uterus for a few minutes, then the placenta came. As she examined it for completeness, it came to mind that this was where the baby had lived, and died. There was no sense to this. When she looked at Liz and Rick she saw that despite the fact tears ran down their cheeks, they were studying the na**d baby, touching him with soft, loving strokes, holding his tiny fingers in their hands. Mel looked down, overcome.

John’s hand was on her shoulder. He whispered in her ear. “How about I finish up for you here?”

She nodded and moved away. Ordinarily, she’d have insisted on completing the cleanup, but the combination of this sudden, intense loss and her own pregnancy put her in a whole different place. She watched as John examined Liz to see if she needed stitches and covered her up. He checked Liz and Rick to make sure they were okay, though neither of them seemed aware of him. Then he dropped an arm around Mel’s shoulders and said, “Let’s give them a few moments. Come on.”

He pulled Mel out of the room, and once she was outside, she leaned against him and sobbed. John held her while she cried hard tears. While he held her close, he felt her baby move inside her and in spite of his desire to be the strong one, his eyes became wet. At long last she drew a jagged breath and looked up at him. She smiled and wiped some wetness from his cheek. “Thank you for coming.”

“I couldn’t let you go through that alone,” John said.

“I wasn’t alone,” she said softly. “I was with two of the strongest, bravest kids I’ve ever known.”

Doc transported the baby to Valley Hospital, where an autopsy would be performed, but it wasn’t unusual in such situations to find no distinct cause of death. Liz had come through the delivery well, despite the devastating outcome. It took Mel a couple of hours, with John’s help, to get everything situated and cleaned up. John gave Liz a sedative and soon after, she slept. By that time, Doc was back and Rick was stretched out on the narrow bed beside Liz, holding her in his strong arms. Mel offered Rick a sedative, as well. “No,” he said stoically. “I’m going to stay awake for Liz. She might need me.”

It was ten when John left and Mel walked across the street to the bar, each foot dragging in depressed misery. When she walked in, she found that not only had Jack stayed, but Paige, Preacher and Mike were still up, waiting this out for her. Jack stood up from the table.

She walked in, looked at them, and shook her head. “Those poor kids,” she said.

Jack enfolded her in his arms, and for a moment she laid her head against his chest. Then she said, “I’m so cold inside—I need the fire. And a brandy. Just a swallow of brandy, please.”

He led her over to the fire and when she sat there, Paige reached for her hand. “Bad?”

“The baby was gone before she delivered.” To anyone else she might have reported it as very sad. To her intimates, she said, “My heart is in a million pieces, it hurts so bad for them.”

Jack brought Mel a small snifter of Remy. She lifted it to her lips with a shaky hand and took a sip, then put it back on the table. She pulled her coat tighter around her, her back to the fire. “You never know where you’re going to find courage,” she said. “My God, those two kids. They clung to each other and got through the worst day of their lives.”

“At least they’re young,” Paige said.

“Yeah, at least that.”

Then the room was silent while Mel absorbed the heat of the fire, quietly partaking of half her brandy. Then she said, “Jack, I want you to go home and get some rest. I’m going to stay with the kids tonight, in case they need me.”

His back straightened immediately. “Mel, Doc can do that. Or you could’ve asked John to stay—Liz is his patient, after all. You’re—”

“I’m going to stay at Doc’s. And I’d like you to go home and try to sleep. Rick’s going to need you tomorrow.”

“I’ll wait here in case—”

“Please,” she said. “Let’s not argue about this. You must know I won’t leave them now.”

“Mel…”

“I’ve made up my mind, Jack. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Although Preacher offered Jack his bed or at least the couch in his apartment, Jack did as he was told and went to the cabin. Of course he didn’t sleep. On a night like this, he really needed his wife’s belly pressed up against him, feeling his son move around in there, alive. But he understood; Mel was as stubborn as she was strong and had she gone home with him, she’d have worried about Liz and Rick all night.