The Mountain Midwife

by Laurie Alice Eakes

  “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.” Sh
e 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.

  She crawled into bed and slept for half the day. No texts came through on her phone. No calls came through from the home phone. It was the weekend and only emergencies warranted calls. Keeping her updated on his family issues apparently wasn’t a priority or consideration for Hunter. She wished she had an excuse to call him. She didn’t want to just make contact in case he was with his family and didn’t want the interruption, especially if he had told them no more about her than how she helped him find Sheila Brooks. Maybe he was using this opportunity to end matters between them. Except she didn’t think Hunter worked that way.

  And she shouldn’t worry about it right now. They still must find Racey Jean and Jeremiah.

  Monday afternoon she was home seeing patients, four of them in varying stages of pregnancy, when an ancient suburban pulled up in her drive and Rita stepped out.

  “Is everything all right?” Ashley sprinted toward this solitary woman who had never come to her house for care.

  “I’m all right.” She waited until Ashley reached her before she spoke again and then in a low voice that wouldn’t carry to the two women still getting into their cars. “I hear you’ve been looking for a couple of kids.”

  CHAPTER 29

  ASHLEY FOUND HUNTER at the hospital. He looked tired yet peaceful, and when she walked into Sheila’s room, his shoulders straightened and his smile bloomed. “Ashley.” He rose to greet her with both hands on her shoulders, just short of embracing her. “My parents”—he glanced toward Sheila—“my other parents just left.”

  “They were here?” Ashley indicated the hospital room.

  Hunter nodded. “The three of them talked for nearly an hour. Made their peace, I guess. They told me to leave. I was going to call you once I was sure Sheila is settled.”

  “Is she? That is—” Ashley caught her teeth on the inside of her lip.

  “What is it?” One hand still on her shoulder, Hunter guided her into the hall, pulling the door to behind him. “Is something wrong?”

  “No, that is, not yet.” She took a deep breath to calm herself. “It’s Racey Jean and Jeremiah. One of my patients knows where they’re hiding.”

  “Your network worked.” Hunter’s eyes widened behind his lenses. “Can we find them?”

  “I can, but—” She moved out of the way of an aide pushing a cart piled with plates that smelled more like industrial dishwasher detergent than food and lowered her voice. “Hunter, your brother and sister are wanted by the law, so I should rightfully contact the sheriff’s office with this news.”

  His brows went up. “Then why haven’t you already?”

  “Because one of my patients found them camping in the woods by her house and gave them shelter. If I send the sheriff’s office there, she’ll get into trouble.”

  “And we’ll be breaking the law by going ourselves.”

  Ashley crossed her arms over her chest. Hunter was right. But Rita trusted Ashley enough to give her the information she’d been seeking. Better to get Racey Jean and Jeremiah away from her and have them turn themselves in. Maybe Hunter could persuade them to do so. If not, Ashley could be in a great deal of trouble.

  She dropped her arms to her sides. “I have to risk it to protect my patient.”

  Just as Gramma had done, to a greater degree, to protect Sheila Brooks and the baby who had grown into this man before her.

  “Then let’s go.” Hunter slipped his hand beneath her elbow.

  “Don’t you want to say good-bye?”

  “She’s sleeping.”

  They headed toward the elevator. On their way past the nurse’s station, Hunter paused to tell the woman on duty that he had to leave for a while, but he’d be back.

  She looked at him with compassion. “We’ll keep her comfortable, Mr. McDermott.”

  “That’s all you can do.” Hunter gave her his devastating smile. Though she was old enough to be his mother, she blushed.

  Ashley didn’t quite manage to suppress a giggle. “I see you have the nurses charmed.”

  “I’m just being polite.”

  Ashley snorted, but the elevator arrived with several people aboard, so she said nothing. Then they reached the lobby and the parking lot and another reality set in.

  “Have you seen the truck lately?”

  “No, but he might have just gotten smarter, if he is interested in seeing if we lead him to my brother and sister.”

  Eyes scanning the parking lot, Ashley thumbed the key fob for the Tahoe. “Then I should contact Jason at the least.”

  “And your patient?”

  Ashley leaned on the side of her vehicle, suddenly weary with a burden like the entire five-thousand-plus pounds of the SUV weighing upon her shoulders. She couldn’t make that decision, but she had to. Keep Rita safe from any kind of prosecution when she had trusted Ashley, or Racey Jean and Jeremiah’s safety when they were the fugitives, but Hunter’s siblings.

  “I told her I wouldn’t tell the sheriff.” Ashley spoke more to herself than Hunter.

  “It’s her safety, maybe,” Hunter pointed out.

  Ashley nodded and pushed herself away from the side of the SUV. “All right. You drive. I’ll call Jason.”

  And if Rita ended up in trouble for helping out two confused kids, the women of the mountain might not trust Ashley again.

  THE HIGHWAY WAS quiet, as much as any major expressway could be, for the first ten miles they headed north out of Brooksburg. The road was quiet in the sense that no black pickup followed them. After Ashley called Jase, the inside of the Tahoe was unnaturally silent in comparison with the sheriff’s deputy’s yelling at Ashley over the phone a few moments earlier.

  “You get home, or back to Heather’s if you must, and stay there.” He issued the order at full volume. “You have no business interfering in police business and everyone’s lives. Stop trying to be some kind of hero to impress some city guy.”

  “I’m trying to help someone who came to me for help.” Ashley tried her soothing-the-distraught-father tone, but it didn’t work on Jason.

  He shouted a few more things until she simply disconnected. “He or someone is on their way, but we’re heading out of county, so they have to get permission or call them or something.”

  Hunter nodded but said nothing. He concentrated on the signs along the road, seeking the one Ashley had told him would indicate where he needed to exit.

  Ashley rested her head back and closed her eyes. This wasn’t going well. Rita, Jeremiah and Racey Jean, Jason, and the owner of the black truck, probably the boyfriend, aside, she was with Hunter at last and he wasn’t speaking. They hadn’t talked much since he called to let her know the McDermotts had come down
to see him. If she and Hunter had begun a fragile relationship, it was probably over before it truly began. Being with his Fairfax County family would remind him that smart enough to get into med school or not, Ashley was from the wrong kind of world. And yet she thought him beyond that sort of snobbery with which he had come to the mountains. Maybe he simply realized they couldn’t start or continue a relationship at this time in their lives.

  But it didn’t stop her from loving him, from hurting being so close to him and feeling like a continent lay between.

  “Ashley?”

  She jumped at the sound of his voice at last.

  “Yes?” She opened her eyes and turned inside the confines of her seat-belt harness so she could look at him.

  He was going to talk.

  “Check your side mirror and tell me what you see.”

  “Oh, sure.” She scanned the rearview mirror. The sun had dropped below the mountains to the east and people were beginning to turn on their headlights. They flickered behind like opening eyes. Most were low to the ground, car headlights, commuters heading home. But one set rode high, not quite a semi, but higher than an average pickup’s.

  She sagged back around. “Looks like a jacked-up pickup.”

  “I thought so.” He increased their speed. “How far to the turn?”

  “Another mile.”

  “Can we go another way?”

  “It’ll take longer.”

  “It’ll give your friend Jase time to catch up.”

  “I don’t think he’s my friend anymore. But we might need him.” She leaned so she could peer back between the front seats. “Why is he following us around?”

  “From what Sheila says, that’s Racey Jean’s boyfriend, Beau. He’s cooking meth and Jeremiah has helped him distribute it.”

  “And Racey Jean?”

  “She fell for all the things Beau bought her and moved in with him. Sheila was too sick to stop it.”

  “So they’re both witnesses to what Beau’s been doing.”

  “Which may keep them from being in more serious trouble, or get them killed.”