The Journey Home

by K'Anne Meinel

  As the months went by it seemed to get worse and worse and Cal had to hire the work around the farm done. Others such as himself who could not serve or who by their being classified in a necessary job such as farming were left behind. He hired the harvesting done, had many of the ducks, geese, and chickens butchered and put up for winter. They simply couldn’t take care of them all. It was an accident but the turkey’s got out and he wasn’t strong enough or quick enough to stop them. Stephanie sneered at him when he told her.

  “Trampled by turkeys!” she said. “A likely excuse.”

  She felt he was a lay about and while he was healing he was that exactly. The added pain from his torn tendons she didn’t count. He should just get on so that he could contribute. He had never met a woman who so infuriated him.

  The only highlight for Stephanie came in the form of letters from Cass. She eagerly looked forward to them and when they arrived she gladly read them aloud to the children and to Cal. It put her in a good mood for days as she carefully crafted a letter in return. She understood that she couldn’t put all of her thoughts into words as Cass might not be the only one to read the letters. Even the little letters addressed specifically to Stephanie were worded in a way that she knew Cass worried that others would read them.

  When she received the pictures of Cass in a ballgown and the copies of the others she felt jealous for the first time. The other women looked sophisticated to her. Cass was unrecognizable but beautiful in her gown. She wasn’t the woman Stephanie had known and loved. She had outgrown the farm. She was out in the world meeting other men and women and Stephanie felt dowdy and alone, very alone.

  It was made worse when Stephanie had to take the cows to be serviced by bull that Marabelle and her husband owned. Cal had said that their own bull was not old enough or mature enough to do the deed. They needed a mature bull and Stephanie ended up taking their own three heifers and Melanie and Ray’s two. Ray had offered but some curiosity about Marabelle who she sensed was more to Cass than she let on made her go.

  “So you’re Stephanie eh?” Marabelle looked her up and down with enough inference that Stephanie realized she was coming up short. She had known that Cass and Marabelle had once been the best of friends but once Marabelle had met and married her husband that their friendship had been strained.

  “I heard that Cass went off to be a nurse,” she stated as they ‘socialized.’ The farmer after releasing his bull into the pasture with the five cows had left the ‘hens’ alone to ‘mingle,’ he had said with a grin.

  “That’s right, she was in Pearl Harbor for a time but now she is in Wiquaqau,” Stephanie tried to pronounce it correctly, Cass had written about her own attempts to wrap her tongue around the difficult and foreign word.

  “Whatever, I’m surprised she would leave that precious farm of hers,” she dismissed.

  “Well Cal couldn’t go so she felt she had to.” For some reason Stephanie was feeling defensive.

  “Maybe she wanted to get away from all her ‘responsibilities,’ she said with an innuendo that she might as well have said that she wanted to get away from ‘you.’

  “Yes Cass is a responsible woman, we all miss her dearly,” Stephanie was trying to keep this civil. They needed the cows bred and while it took a day of work away from her it was a necessary evil. She didn’t however expect to be insulted.

  “I’m sure you do, after all she provided you with a roof over your head for you and your children.” Marabelle was feeling good about this; Stephanie wasn’t as ‘good’ as Cass and she had been. She didn’t measure up.

  Just then someone else came in the yard with one of those new-fangled trucks and Marabelle went off to see who it was and to greet them. Stephanie was never so grateful for the interruption and she ‘meandered’ off to avoid talking with the disagreeable Marabelle again. She knew now that their ‘best friends’ meant a lot more than Cass had mentioned. She also knew how much Marabelle had hurt Cass. Marabelle was all wrong for Cass anyway. She was rude, self-centered, and apparently felt that having a husband with means was more important than being with the one you loved. Stephanie was determined never to let Cass know she knew who her ‘first’ had been.

  It was late, apparently one of Melanie and Raymond’s heifers hadn’t been ‘in the mood’ as it were or rather in estrus and couldn’t be impregnated. They would try again at a later date and if any of Stephanie’s heifers didn’t take they could try again. Stephanie was determined that Cal or Melanie or one of the hired hands take them next time. She didn’t want to deal with that chore ever again. Having met Marabelle she didn’t worry about her ever again.

  As the months went by the Colonel and Trish got more and more demanding on Cass’s time. They didn’t want her associating with the ‘riff raff’ including her friends from the hospital. They isolated her more and more. Cass tried, but living with her commanding officer was difficult. His wife was worse. She used her position shamelessly and attempted to keep Cass ‘in her place.’

  Cass was angry. The woman didn’t want a baby, by now it was obvious even to Cass. Her ‘hormone’ surges were nothing more than temper tantrums by a spoiled woman who wanted her way in everything. She didn’t like that her body didn’t have the same girlish figure that the Colonel, Dr. Anderson from Harvard had fallen in love with. He was Trish’s ticket to success and no one but no one came before Trish and her husband. Cass was sick of catering to her needs.

  Trish was huge as she finished up her eighth month. The heat had addled her to a degree and the air conditioning unit in the house was kept on all the time. Cass caught a cold from the frigid air and wearing a sweater was awful because as soon as the front door was opened it felt like a sauna. The rains didn’t help her attitude either. They had monsoons in this part of the world and the torrential rains ‘frightened’ Trish who insisted on Cass’s company when the Colonel couldn’t be available. Then Trish got it into her head that Cass was making eyes at her husband now that Trish was big as a cow so she was ‘ordered’ by Trish to make herself scarce whenever the Colonel was home. It made it difficult to give her reports that the Colonel insisted on regarding his wife’s condition. Walking through the couples bedroom Trish’s eyes shot daggers at Cass as she went into the den. Cass was certain these verbal reports were avidly listened to by the paranoid woman.

  The Colonel wasn’t happy with Cass these days either. She had insisted that in an effort to keep his wife from drinking during the pregnancy that he stop too. She had further insisted since the house reeked of the smell and it couldn’t possibly good for Trish to inhale it that he stop smoking in the house. When she cited case studies that proved that these things were true and resulted in low birth rate they finally acquiesced to her demand, but very reluctantly.

  They had just had a fantastic storm when the island was violently rocked by an earthquake. The Colonel ordered that a survey be conducted and sent men to find out the source. The mountain on the other end of the island was declared no longer dormant and they all lived with a new fear. Cass however in speaking with a few of the villagers found that ‘Mount Smokey’ as they called it, but in their own tongue, this was a loose translation they told her with a good natured grin, rocked the island from time to time to let them know that they were of the Earth. It hadn’t erupted in two lifetimes that they knew of. Cass was only partially reassured and she couldn’t calm Trish down about it without revealing she had spoken to someone outside of the house she was now basically confined to with the madwoman.

  Finally, finally Trish went into labor. She had ignored the signs for hours, her aching back, the slight pains, it wasn’t until her water broke as she lay on her bed trying to sneak some bon bon’s, further proof that Cass didn’t ‘like’ her. Her water breaking though sent her into immediate and hard labor. The housekeeper heard her screams and sent for Cass who had a rare day off and was sitting on the beach in shorts and a bikini top enjoying the sun and the escape from her commanding officer and his wife. The storm ha
d blown in interesting shells and mollusks and she was enjoying looking at these odd and rare specimens. She had also borrowed a book and sitting on the sand she enjoyed the serenity of the balmy breezes.

  “Missy Lieutenant, Missy Lieutenant,” she heard the call and looked up from the book she was reading. “Missy Lieutenant, you come now, Colonel Missus have baby now. You come now,” the native called in his pigeon English.

  Cass ran back the entire way, it wasn’t far, not really if you went through a part of the jungle she had explored, but it was still hot and while she had acclimated the cold in the house immediately caused her nipples to pucker under her bikini top. The shirt she had pulled on did nothing to hide it either as it was open and flapping as she came into the couple’s bedroom after stopping in the bathroom to wash up.

  Trish looked up to see the tanned and physically fit Cass dressed in shorts, the bikini top, and a thin blouse she was attempting to button up. It looked like to Trish that she had just come from being made love to. “Where were you?” she demanded angrily.

  Cass was taken aback. She had had to fight for her days off, any time that was her own and she had told Trish she was going to the beach, alone. Trish resented any friends she had or attempted to make in her desire to have Cass to herself. Taking into account that Trish was in labor and probably in pain Cass ignored her nasty temperament. “Let’s just see how far along you are shall we?” she tried in her most patient voice.

  “It hurts dammit, it hurts!” Trish complained in a whiny voice. Now that she had Cass’s full attention it made her happier. There was nothing Trish enjoyed more than being the center of attention. It was why she had allowed herself to get pregnant the first time; the accidental loss of that first child had given her a lot of attention and sympathy. The second time she got pregnant though she wasn’t sure it was her husband’s so she had used slippery Elm to get rid of it. The attention she got that time wasn’t just sympathetic; some people had actually pitied her that she couldn’t seem to carry a child to term. She hadn’t like that one bit and determined to prove those people wrong. When Thomas had agreed to come out to this god-forsaken wilderness she had insisted on a few conditions. Finding herself pregnant in Hawaii as they prepared to come out here she had insisted on a few more things. Thomas knew the right people and as they came out here wheels were set in motion to accommodate her demands. This one by god was not only her husbands but it had ruined her body! She wanted it out so she could play the coquette to her husband and his staff. The lack of a social life on this small island was something she intended to change. No baby was going to stand in her way, she wanted it out!

  “Let’s take a look,” Cass said soothingly trying to placate her. She had seen all kinds. Those who stoically bore their children to those who ranted and raved, screamed and carried on. Everyone reacted differently. She had the feeling this was not going to be a good delivery with how selfish this woman was. She had refused to listen to Cass unless the Colonel got involved at every turn. Cass gently tried to pull up the covers and then Trish’s nightgown. She wondered briefly why Trish was still in her nightgown in the middle of the day when she spied the bon-bon’s, a rare treat on their remote island but this woman must import by the crate. She never shared with anyone so the shipment must come directly to her, how they didn’t melt was a mystery to Cass. She shook her head slightly, having food in her stomach was not going to feel good to the thrashing Trish who was fighting the pain in her body instead of dealing with it. She pulled her underwear aside to take a look and was surprised to see the head crowning already. By the amount of water in the bed she must have broken it and gone into hard labor immediately. Cass wasn’t worried.

  “Get newspapers and rags,” she ordered Leona the housekeeper who was hovering anxiously. She had already sent for the Colonel and worried that she would be yelled at for not sending for him first. Cass taking charge was a relief.

  “Come on, let’s get you on the side of the bed,” Cass told Trish as she watched the labor pain come to an end and measured her patients tolerance for it.

  “Why?” Trish rasped, her hair looked unkept and tangled around her head instead of its neat little bun.

  “It will help you get the baby out of you, he’s coming fast, let’s get him out okay?” The foolish woman would know if she had listened to Cass who had tried to explain the birthing process to her but Trish had gone ‘yuck’ and refused to listen.

  “It’s a boy?” Trish asked as Cass helped her to sit on the edge but another pain had her crying out and begging Cass to get ‘it’ out. Once it passed she repeated her question, “It’s a boy?” She knew if Thomas had his son she wouldn’t have to produce another heir for him. It was all he wanted, a son to carry on his legacy.

  “Let’s hope so shall we?” Cass offered. They had insisted she refer to the baby as ‘he’ and she had complied to avoid arguments, it was silly, it could just as well be a girl and willing it to be a boy was not going to change anything.

  “Trish, I want you to push next time you feel the pain,” Cass told her in a firm but quiet voice. It was hard to be heard over Trish’s whining.

  “Push?” Trish asked genuinely confused.

  Cass wanted to strangle her; she knew nothing about giving birth and had refused to listen despite Cass’s attempts. “Yes, I want you to bear down, like you were going to the bathroom,” she explained the best she could.

  Trish wrinkled her noise at the indelicacy of the whole thing. “I don’t think I can,” she confessed, she was taken by another pain and fell back on the bed to writhe and sob about it.

  “Come on Trish, you can do it, just bear down, gravity will do the rest for you,” Cass encouraged her. She pulled her back into a sitting position trying to maneuver her to the edge so the baby would come out over the rags that Leona had brought.

  “I can’t,” Trish whined. “Get it out, get it out, do SOMETHING!” she roared at Cass.

  She was a mess; a wet, perspiring despite the cold, whiny mess and it was this mess that her husband saw as he walked in. “Can’t you do something for her pain?” he asked reasonably. “Oh my darling, my dear, I’m here, I’m here,” he attempted to soothe Trish and take her in his arms, and Trish while relieved to see the Colonel there now blamed him for the situation she found him in.

  “GET OUT, GET OUT, it’s YOUR fault I’m in this state!” she screamed.

  He looked at her startled and turned to look at Cass. She grinned ruefully. “She won’t even remember she said that later,” she told him cheerfully. “I need your help though, I’m glad you’re here.”

  “My help?” he asked with plenty of trepidation in his voice.

  “Yes, I need you to help me deliver the baby, your wife isn’t helping and we have to get the baby out.”

  He looked at Cass and his wife distastefully. He didn’t enjoy medical ‘things’ and was always absent when certain patients came in his hospital. To have this type of ‘thing’ in his home really was intolerable and now Cass was asking him to help? “I thought you could do this sort of thing on your own?” he said with an authoritative voice as though that would change the situation.

  Trish had a particularly nasty labor pain, her screaming, thrashing, and begging ‘to get it out’ were unnerving.

  “Colonel, we have to get the baby out, and get it NOW, you can argue with me later but now we have to get this baby born. I need you to hold its head as it comes out so it doesn’t break its little neck as it falls to the floor!” Cass ordered him and to his surprise he found himself crouching down between his wife’s legs as she sat on the edge of the bed.

  “Where will you be?” he asked concerned as Cass got up from positioning him and showing him what to do, putting his hands in a catch position as he held the head to guide it.

  “I’ll be right here,” she answered as she got up on the bed behind Trish and pulled her against her. Taking her hand she felt the position of the baby and feeling another contraction come on top of the last on
e she pushed down.

  Trish fought her with all her might but she was no match for the farm girl. Cass’s work toughened muscles held her effortlessly as she pushed the baby from Trish’s body. With another contraction she pushed it even further from Trish’s body and into the Colonel’s hands. He found to his surprise a baby in his large hands and held it up to show Trish and his wife. It was a girl. Cass noted that absently as she held Trish and pushed once more to expel the placenta from her body.

  “No more, no more,” Trish said weakly as she threw up on herself, the bon-bon’s making an appearance. Cass was not pleased to have vomit on her arms but she pulled her shirt from her body and wiped it off as she let Trish fall back to the bed and she got off of it.

  The Colonel looked down on his daughter with awe. This was his daughter. He had made this. He wasn’t disappointed that it wasn’t a boy; instead he felt a sense of ownership. They could have another child, a boy child, later. He made the decision unilaterally without discussing it with his wife then and there. He had no idea that Trish had other ideas on the subject.

  Cass grabbed the water that Leona had brought to wash the baby. Leona had also fetched her bag and Cass smiled her thanks as she reached in for anti-septic and poured it into the water, washed her own hands and arms making sure the vomit was gone before handing the basin to Leona who hurried off to the bathroom with it. Meanwhile Cass examined the gunk covered baby. She was perfect and Cass clamped the cord in two places and cut it and then proceeded to expertly wash the baby in the now clean basin. The baby started with a hiccup and then into a full throated cry as Cass cleaned her up. Wrapping her in swaddling clothes that Leona had brought from the babies room she handed the baby not to her mother who lay exhausted on the bed, not to her father who hovered impatiently waiting, but to the housekeeper who stood there surprised.