Holiday Homecoming (2 page)

Alisa smiled
when her mother-in-law patted her stomach and greeted the baby.

Jana Bryson
had insisted on coming to stay with them until after the baby was
born, and although she was unwilling to admit it, Alisa was
relieved to have the support. Liam could hire an army of baby
nurses to help them care for the newborn, but Alisa wouldn’t trust
a stranger with her baby. Jana was family, and she was already a
doting grandmother who couldn’t wait to spoil their newest
addition.

“How have you
been feeling, sweetheart?” Jana asked, concern knitting her
eyebrows. “Are you still seeing that midwife or have you come to
your senses and decided to have the baby in a hospital like
everyone else?”

“Mother,” Liam
warned. “I told you before this is not open for discussion. Alisa
wants to have the baby at home with a midwife and that’s the way
it’s going to be.”

“Oh, I just
worry about you,” Jana said, slipping an arm around Alisa’s nearly
non-existent waist as she led her into the family room. “If
something were to go wrong—”

“Nothing’s
going to go wrong, Mother,” Liam said, between clenched teeth. “If
you’re trying to scare us, it’s not going to work.”

“I’m not
trying to scare you. I’ve been in the delivery room, young man, and
I know from experience that things don’t always go exactly as
planned. Even a perfectly uneventful pregnancy can result in
complications during delivery. Take me for example,” she said,
putting a cushion behind Alisa’s back as Alisa lowered herself onto
the couch. “When Liam was born, he was breech, and I thought I
could handle giving birth without the epidural.” She rolled her
eyes. “Good Lord, what a fool I was. By the time I started
screaming and crying for meds, it was too late to do anything about
it.”

Alisa glanced
up at Liam, who stood by the fireplace, glaring at the back of his
mother’s head.

“Do you think
you could save your horror stories for another time?” he asked. “We
have to get over to the Turners’ house for the party.”

“Oh, that
reminds me,” Jana said, jumping up. “I brought a lovely bottle of
wine for them to try. It’s from—”

“How many
times do I have to tell you…” Liam drew a deep breath and slipped
his hands into the pockets of his custom dress pants. “Alisa’s
father doesn’t drink. He’s a recovering alcoholic, remember?”

“Oh, that’s
right,” she said, pressing a manicured hand to her cheek. “Oh well,
maybe Sierra would enjoy it.”

Liam rolled
his eyes. “Sierra is not going to drink a whole bottle of wine by
herself.”

“Well, I’m
sure
someone
will drink it,” she said, fisting a hand on her
hip.

“Yeah, me, if
you keep this up.”

“Now, Liam,”
she said, wagging her finger at him. “You know you’re not to
over-indulge in alcohol. Remember what the doctor said after your
heart attack? Everything in moderation.”

“Oh for the
love of God,” Liam said, ushering his mother toward the door. “I do
not overindulge in anything, but if you keep badgering me, I just
might start.”

“Who’s
badgering you? I’m merely suggesting…”

“Abby,” Liam
said, “help your grandmother with her coat. We’ll be right behind
you.”

Alisa smiled
at her husband’s exasperated expression. She knew he loved his
mother, but Jana was definitely a force of nature. Her opinion was
the only one that mattered, and heaven help anyone who dared to
argue with her.

“You really
want that woman living under our roof for a month?” Liam asked,
helping her up off the couch. “I may have to take up drinking.”

Alisa laughed.
“Be quiet. She’ll hear you.”

“It’s nothing
I haven’t said to her before.”

Alisa slapped
his chest. “Let’s get over to my parents’ house. I’ve been craving
my mama’s cheese puffs all day.”

Liam looked
down at her bare feet. “What shoes do you plan on wearing?”

“I’ll be lucky
if I can even fit these things into a pair of shoes.” Swollen feet
meant she’d had to say good-bye to her favorite designer stilettos.
Another sacrifice she had to make for the sake of her baby. She
couldn’t help but smile when the baby kicked her in response to her
errant thoughts.

“It’s already
coming down out there. The roads and sidewalks may be a bit slick.
I want you to wear something with decent traction.”

Great, Uggs
with an evening gown. Now that’s a hot look.
Alisa glanced out
the window and saw big snowflakes sticking to the windowpane. “Can
you believe we may actually have some snow for Christmas? How cool
is that?”

Liam laughed
at her enthusiasm. “It’s pretty cool. Let’s go before your cousins
eat all the cheese puffs.”

By the time
Alisa had greeted all of her friends and family, the pains were
more frequent and more difficult to hide. She didn’t want to ruin
the party or worry her husband if they were false labor pains, but
she began to fear these may be the real thing. With only ten days
until her due date, her midwife, Maria, told her it could happen
any day, although first babies were often born full-term, if not a
few days late.

Her Nana
Turner sat down beside her on the sofa and patted her leg. “You
look beautiful, dear.”

Alisa grimaced
when the pain shifted to her lower back. “You’re sweet, but I don’t
feel very beautiful right now.”

Elaine rubbed
Alisa’s back, as though she could sense her granddaughter’s
discomfort. “Every woman feels that way toward the end. It’s
perfectly natural.”

“You mean I’m
not a terrible person because I just want this to be over already?”
Alisa just prayed it wouldn’t be today. She didn’t need an audience
of fifty of their closest friends and family hovering, hoping to
witness the big event.

“Honey, I
haven’t met a woman who doesn’t feel that way by this stage of the
game.”

Alisa had
hoped to talk to her grandmother about her concerns for weeks, but
with the holiday rush at her boutique, she couldn’t sneak away.
That she insisted on working so hard this close to her due date
drove Liam to distraction, but she needed to know that Lena, her
best friend and manager, could handle things when she took some
time off after the baby was born.

“Nana, can I
ask you something?” She grit her teeth and tried to smile as pain
ricocheted through her abdomen, stealing her breath.

Elaine
frowned. “Honey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.
Braxton Hicks contractions, I’ve been getting them for a couple of
weeks now.” She wasn’t going to alert anyone, least of all her
elderly grandparents, until she knew this was the real deal.

Elaine didn’t
look convinced, but she asked, “You said you wanted to ask me
something?”

“It’s about
the delivery. How do you feel about me having my baby at home with
a midwife instead of going to the hospital?” She sighed when she
caught her father’s eye across the room. He was engaged in a heated
conversation with Liam, no doubt trying to change his mind about
their delivery plan. “I know Daddy’s dead-set against it, but do
you think there’s anything wrong with it?”

Elaine
laughed. “Honey, there was a time when we didn’t have a choice.
Heck, I practically delivered my own nephew.”

“Really?”
Alisa was surprised she had never heard this story before. Of
course, if it ended badly, that may be the reason her nana chose
not to talk about it. “Was everything okay? I mean, there weren’t
any complications, were there?”

Elaine patted
her hand. “No, my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. We
were living in a pretty rural area at the time and we got snowed
in. Most people, including my parents, couldn’t afford a car in
those days, so we had to make do. Fortunately, my mama had given
birth to six babies of her own, so she knew what to do.”

Alisa bit her
lip when she would have preferred to release an unabashed moan. She
glanced at her diamond wristwatch. How long had it been since the
last…
contraction
? She had to face facts. She may not have
done this before, but her body was sending her a definite message.
She was in labor. She tried not to panic. It would probably be
countless hours before her baby made his grand entrance, still…

“Sweetheart,
are you sure you’re all right?” Elaine asked, pressing a hand to
her forehead. “You look kind of pale, and you feel a little
clammy.”

“I’m fine, but
I think I need to use the restroom. Excuse me, Nana.” Alisa took
several minutes to get up and make her way down the long hallway to
the powder room. By the time she closed and locked the door, she
barely sat down on the commode before she felt the rush of water
escape.
Oh God, my water broke!
No question about it, this
baby was coming.

Alisa took a
few minutes to wash her hands and collect herself before she called
down the hall for her mother.

Sierra was
there in seconds, but her smile slipped as soon as she saw the tear
on her daughter’s cheek.

Alisa promised
herself she would be strong when the time came, but she feared the
pain may be more intense than she could handle. “Mom, I…” She
squeezed her mother’s hand as Sierra brushed the hair off her
forehead.

“Honey, what
is it? Is it the baby?”

“My water just
broke,” she whispered. She looked down the hall, hoping to find her
husband. “Can you help me to a bedroom? Then tell Liam I need him.
Oh, and someone will have to call Maria.”

Sierra gripped
her hand and slipped an arm around her waist as she led her to the
bedrooms in the opposite wing of the house. “Honey, are you sure
you don’t want to go to the hospital?”

“I thought you
supported my decision to have this baby at home?” Alisa cursed the
tears sliding down her cheeks. She didn’t know if they were
prompted by pain, fear, or indecision, but she wished they would
stop. She wanted to be strong, for her husband and baby, not a
weak, sobbing, screaming mess.

She watched
television shows and saw women giving birth under water, welcoming
their baby into a calm and soothing environment. That’s what she
wanted. Okay, maybe she could live without the water, but she
wanted to know her baby was being born in a comfortable
environment, surrounded by people who loved him or her, not a cold,
sterile hospital room being passed around by doctors and nurses
wearing surgical masks.

“I do… if
you’re sure that’s what you want,” Sierra said, ushering Alisa into
her childhood bedroom.

“We should put
something down on the bed,” Alisa said, looking at the plush duvet
and decorative pillows with concern.

Sierra
laughed. “We’ll worry about that later. Your water already broke,
and my guess is we have a little while to go before the big
event.”

“My purse is
on the table by the door. Maria’s number’s in there. Can you call
her for me and ask Liam to come in?” Alisa eased onto the bed and
sighed as she leaned back against the pillows.

“Of course,
and don’t worry about a thing,” Sierra said, plumping the pillows
behind her head. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

“Mom, could I
have something else to wear?” she asked, looking down at the
expensive designer dress she’d bought in honor of the evening.

“Sure, I’ll
bring in one of your father’s old t-shirts.” Sierra laughed. “They
always hit your knees. Remember you used to wear his favorites as
sleep shirts and he’d get so mad when he couldn’t find them?”

Alisa smiled
as she reached for her mother’s hand. “Daddy’s not going to like
this, is he? He’s going to want me to go to the hospital to have
the baby.”

Sierra winked.
“You let me worry about your father. If anyone can talk him down, I
can.”

Alisa was
lying in bed, trying to breathe through another contraction while
gripping a stuffed white teddy bear her father had given her after
one of his tours, when her best friend, Lena, appeared at the
door.

“Hey.” Lena
paused in the doorway, looking uncertain. “Your mom looked a little
stressed. I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

Alisa reached
out her hand, inviting her friend into the room. Lena had been a
part of her life since Trey and Sierra welcomed the homeless,
pregnant teen into their family at the tender age of fifteen.

“I’m glad
you’re here,” Alisa whispered. “I could use a friend.”

Lena sat down
in the chair beside the bed and took her friend’s hand. “Are you
sure you don’t want me to get Liam?”

“My mom is
going to tell him.” Alisa tried to shift her body to relieve the
pain in her lower back. “God, it hurts so much.”

“I remember,”
Lena said quietly, fixating on their joined hands.

“Oh, honey,”
Alisa said, squeezing her friend’s hand. “If this is too hard for
you, you don’t have to stay.”

“No,” Lena
said, shaking her head. “It’s okay. There’s nowhere else I’d rather
be right now.”

Lena had given
her own baby up for adoption the day she was born. Jay and Victoria
Spencer raised her daughter, Ava, and Lena felt blessed to remain a
part of her life as a friend and confidante.

“Do you ever
think about it?” Alisa asked. They didn’t talk about Lena’s
pregnancy often. She knew from experience some events were too
traumatic to relive, even with your best friend.

“Of course I
do. Sometimes I’m sitting there with Ava, eating popcorn and
watching a girlie movie, and wonder what it might have been like if
I’d tried to raise her.”

Alisa couldn’t
imagine what it would be like to live with those questions plaguing
you. “You did the right thing. Allowing Jay and Victoria to raise
her was the most selfless decision you could’ve made.”

Lena smiled
and blinked back the tears. “In my mind, I know that’s true, but
it’s my heart that’s still having a hard time accepting it.”