The Mountain Midwife (37 page)

A
SHLEY WANTED TO
go home after hanging up with Hunter and his idea of having Mary Kate live with Heather. She wanted to crawl into a hole. Never had she considered herself self-centered. She had sacrificed her medical degree for the women of Brooks Ridge and her family, after all. Now, with the prize right in front of her, it seemed to have become more of a mirror reflecting how much she was determined to do what she wanted and not, perhaps, what she was supposed to do.

Yet now Heather was willing to take over her practice. Thanks to Hunter’s thoughtfulness, that was possible.

“I should have thought of Mary Kate myself.” Ashley couldn’t stop herself from speaking the words that were a form of self-accusation. “For both your sakes.”

“You’d’ve thought of it sooner or later.” Heather tried to soothe Ashley. “And I could have thought of it sooner. In fact, maybe she needs to move in with me now. I would like the company.”

Ashley started to say she would call Mary Kate in the morning, then suggested Heather do the calling to make the offer. She went home after that to clean house, to be alone, to wonder what she was supposed to do in her future after all.

The next day she got her answer in the form of an acceptance letter from Georgetown. Her wish. Her dream. Everything was falling into place for her. She should be ecstatic, especially with Hunter coming over that night.

But Hunter didn’t come. He called her, though.

“My parents—the McDermotts, that is—are coming down.”

“Is that good?” Ashley scooped up the container of pizza dough she’d made and tucked it into the freezer. The mozzarella would keep for another day or two, as would the homemade sauce she had simmered all day.

Hunter hadn’t answered her question yet. She waited.

Finally he let out a humorless laugh. “It will be, I think. Of course they need to know I forgive them, though that may be something ongoing in my life for a while. Mom, Virginia that is, wants to thank Sheila for me or something.”

“Awkward for you.” Ashley grinned, then sobered. “I’m here if you need . . . a friend.”

“Thanks. I’m sorry to let you down.”

“That’s all right. I got some great news today.”

“Oh?”

“Georgetown.”

“Ashley, that’s great. You’ll be in DC.”

“I know.” She waited for him to mention something about how they could see one another there. He simply said, “I have to go, but I need to tell you something I should have told you last night, but I got Mom and Dad’s message and forgot. When I passed your house
coming back from Mary Kate’s yesterday, there was a truck waiting across the road from your driveway.”

“My driveway?” Ashley pressed her palm onto the counter. “The truck?”

“I think so. He followed me to the hospital.”

“He’s expecting Racey Jean and Jeremiah.”

“So we have to get to them first.” Hunter hesitated. “Why does he want them so badly?”

“If he’s dealing meth, they probably know too much and he’s afraid they’ll turn on him.”

“They may have no choice.” Hunter’s voice hardened. “But I’ll keep them safe if they’ll let me.”

Ashley’s heart thrilled to that edge of protectiveness shining through for siblings he hadn’t even met.

“And you be careful, Ash.” His tone had turned tender.

“I will.” She was thankful she had cats who didn’t need letting out as opposed to dogs who did. Doors and windows were locked up tight when she was at home. If she had to be home alone at night, she would keep her cell near a window upstairs, where she could get good reception in the event someone cut her phone lines again. For now, she would stay at Heather’s.

“I’ll catch you later then.” And he was gone, the connection cut without a word about them getting together.

He was wrapped up in his family issues. He needed to make peace with them and himself. He might not want her in DC, a reminder of this rough time for him.

“It doesn’t matter. I have a whole new career to look forward to, the one I’ve always wanted,” Ashley declared out loud.

Without anyone to celebrate with, Ashley returned to Heather’s house, which was empty with Heather working at the hospital
that night. She carried her cell from the backdoor, where she had gotten a signal for Hunter’s call, to her bedroom, where she set the cell on the window sill in the event of an emergency. She tucked a cordless phone into her pocket and went downstairs to the TV room to watch movies by herself. She fell asleep on the sofa and woke near dawn to her phone ringing. It was Stephanie announcing her water had broken. “You’re early.” Not the brightest response.

Two weeks wasn’t much early for a first baby especially.

“Are you having contractions?”

“Fifteen minutes apart. They—” She began to whimper. Over the phone, Ashley heard her husband coaching her to breathe, to hold on to him.

Ashley closed her eyes. Stephanie was always so together, she couldn’t imagine her falling apart during the early stages of labor.

“I don’t think I can go through with this, Ash.” Stephanie was sobbing. “Maybe I should go to the hospital and have medication after all.”

“You certainly have a right to do that. I can call Dr. White and get him ready to receive you, but why don’t you try to rest. I’ll be over shortly.”

“Okay. Okay. But you won’t be hurt if I go to the hospital after all?”

“Hurt? No.” Ashley laughed. “I’ll get to go back to sleep.”

That made Stephanie laugh. “Thanks for that. I’ll wait for you to get here.”

Ashley didn’t hurry getting dressed. Stephanie had hours until she delivered. If Stephanie had been less panicky, Ashley might have gotten a couple more hours sleep. But Stephanie needed extra support, so Ashley dressed and headed out with her equipment. As she
pulled out of Heather’s driveway, she glanced around for the truck. Though he didn’t know Heather’s house. But this boyfriend—Beau, Sheila had said his name was—might watch the road out of town. So Ashley made sure her locks were down and drove a little too fast for the road and darkness. No headlights showed in her rearview mirror, but once or twice she thought she caught the rumble of another engine behind her on an empty stretch of highway. She stepped on the gas and whipped around the last curve, sped down the hill, and floored it onto the highway.

Stephanie’s house was only a mile off the expressway and along a paved road dense with trees. She and her husband had chosen to live there for the land. They wanted to raise their children in a more rural setting. Not that their house looked like anything one would find on a farm. It was more of a suburban mansion with lots of windows and angles that attempted to make it blend into the countryside. This dawn, it looked like a birthday cake for an octogenarian, so many lights blazed in the windows. The front door opened before she came to a full stop and Colin Murray charged out. “I think the baby’s coming.”

“What?” Ashley raced around to the back of the Tahoe to collect her gear.

“I’ll get this. You go in to examine her.”

Ashley sprinted up the sidewalk and took the front steps in a bound. She had only been there once to look over the facilities and what would be the birthing space. A bedroom on the first floor fortunately. She ran down the hallway, then slowed to saunter into Stephanie’s room.

She sat propped on pillows with her blond hair flowing around the shoulders of her blue silk nightgown. Good grief. Birthing in a two-hundred-dollar nightgown. But she looked spectacular.

“Hi.” She offered Ashley a half smile. “Sorry about the hysterics. I think—” She leaned forward, holding out her hands.

Ashley went to her and Stephanie wrapped her arms around her. She rocked through the pain, her face buried against Ashley’s shirt. When the contraction passed, she leaned back and wiped her forehead with an Hermès scarf. “Wow, you’re strong.”

“Practice. Now let me examine you.”

Stephanie was nine centimeters dilated and the head was down. Ashley felt the bulge of the skull.

“It’s not going to be long.” She mock-frowned at Stephanie. “First babies usually take a long time. You don’t have time to get to the hospital, so this is it.”

“Is it okay? I mean—” Another contraction took over.

In an instant, her husband was beside her, letting her hold on to him, murmuring encouragement to her. Career-minded couple or not, their love was so strong it was almost bottleable.

Ashley blinked back tears and turned away to collect the fetal monitor and get her birthing supplies set up. Stephanie already had protective paper on her bed and a pan ready for the placenta. A soft basin was set up for bathing the newborn, and a fresh nightgown for the mother and blankets for the baby were laid out on a table.

“Hardly anything for me to do.” Ashley made the joke to cover up her extra-emotional state.

She strapped on the Doppler monitor. The swishing sound cut with the fast beat of the baby’s heart spilled into the room. No unusual distress from the baby. Mom seemed to have calmed. Ashley removed the monitor, but kept it close at hand and sat down to watch and wait.

“Have you decided how you want to deliver?” she asked Stephanie.

They had discussed various positions, but Stephanie hadn’t decided.

“Soon.” She gasped. “Oh, why didn’t I go get drugs?”

“Because you don’t need them.” Colin kissed her cheek.

Ashley dropped to her knees and examined Stephanie again. “Looks good. But you don’t want to deliver on your back, do you?”

“Hands . . . knees.”

“All right then, let’s get you up.”

Between Ashley and Colin, they got Stephanie on her hands and knees on the floor. Crouching behind her patient, Ashley wondered how her grandmother had done this into her seventies. Then the head crowned, and she knew how—nothing was more beautiful than childbirth.

It was also hard and messy.

“Showtime, Steph. Now don’t push.”

“I have to.”

“No, you don’t, not right now. Let’s take this nice and slow.”

“I can—”

Ashley eased out the head. “Difficult part number one over.” She supported the head with one hand and eased the shoulders with the other. Stephanie was sobbing and laughing in turns.

Colin crouched beside Ashley close enough she felt his breath on the back of her neck. She glanced back at him and smiled.

“Sorry. It’s just amazing.” Awe filled his voice.

Stephanie called him an affectionately rude name and he laughed.

“Difficult part two over.” Ashley eased the baby’s second shoulder out, then looked at Colin. “Do you want to catch your baby?”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course.”

“I might drop him.”

“You won’t.” Ashley moved aside just enough so when Stephanie pushed and the rest of the baby slid into the world, Colin could catch his child and be the first to hold him. Immediately, the baby began to wail in that mewling sweetness of a newborn.

“It’s okay? It’s alive?” Stephanie fired one question after another and tried to turn.

“Don’t move,” Ashley said. “I have to cut the cord.”

She clamped the cord and cut it. “Colin, do you want to wash the baby while I take care of the messy business?”

He nodded. He couldn’t speak for the emotion flowing from him in twin rivulets of tears.

“Colin,” Stephanie called. “Is everything all right?”

Colin remained speechless with emotion.

“Everything is great.” Ashley did the speaking. “You have a boy. I’ll weigh and measure him in a moment. Now I need you to push so we can get rid of that placenta.”

Stephanie pushed. The placenta emerged intact with as little fuss as the birth. Leave it to Stephanie to make things come along with little trouble.

“Colin, will you help Stephanie get cleaned up and back into bed?” Ashley stood, her leg muscles a little cramped, and joined Stephanie’s husband. “I’ll take over here. I think she needs you right now.”

He nodded and went to his wife. “He’s perfect.” He gulped. “You’re perfect.”

Ashley’s heart shredded into a million scraps of confetti. She wanted someone to say that to her after their baby was born.

She worked to make this an amazing experience for the couple—the family—all around. The baby cried, wanting Momma. Ashley finished bathing him, measured and weighed him, then wrapped
him in a warmed blanket. Colin had Stephanie in a clean nightgown and settled onto the bed with a dozen pillows behind her. Ashley laid the baby in her arms. “Let’s see if he’ll nurse.”

Unlike many women with their first baby, Stephanie didn’t need Ashley to show her how to get the baby to suck. She had done her reading and already knew. The perfect couple’s perfect son began to nurse at once. Watching the process from the corner of her eye, Ashley cleaned up the room and her equipment, packed her things in their cases, and moved to the doorway. “I’ll leave you three now. If you need anything, holler, and take the baby to a pediatrician in a couple of days.” She hefted her cases and started for the door.

“Help her, Colin,” Stephanie directed.

“Stay with your wife and baby,” Ashley said. “I can manage.”

She let herself out and drove back to Brooksburg into a gloriously sunny morning. She had been at Stephanie’s for less than two hours, but she felt utterly drained.

She had a lot of babies to deliver over the next six months. Too many. She tried to limit the number of due dates in one month to four, but some months she had six because she couldn’t say no when the woman’s reason for wanting a midwife was so strong or even no reason except that was the way she wanted to go. She couldn’t say no, yet she was going to say no to all of them for her birthing services beginning now. She wouldn’t be around to catch the babies of ladies who got pregnant now and beyond. Heather would do well. Ashley needed to move along. This was good. This was right.

She was giving up her chance at having a husband who would tell her she was perfect after she delivered their first child.

“There are more important things than husbands and children,” she said to herself.

Helping people mattered. She was trying to help Racey Jean and Jeremiah Davis. She was going to help Rita, keep her from being alone during her birth. And now she had Heather to groom and get settled into her new role.