Angel of the Cove

by Sandra Robbins

  Anna grabbed his arm and steered him back toward the kitchen. “Let her rest a minute, John.”

  She glanced up, and Simon’s heart constricted at the look in her eyes. There was something wrong. He could see it in her face, and he could hear it in her trembling voice. John was too wrapped up in his concern for Martha to notice, but to Simon there was no mistaking the fact this wasn’t going to be a normal birth.

  Simon cleared his throat. “John, did you get a chance to tend to the livestock before you went to get Anna?”

  A look of surprise crossed his face. “When Martha started havin’ pains, I stayed with her and didn’t go to the barn. Then when I got back from Granny’s, I forgot.”

  Simon put his hand on his brother’s back and steered him to the back door. “Why don’t you go check on things now? It’ll take your mind off Martha for a few minutes.”

  John glanced back at the bedroom door. “Yeah, I guess I’d better go to the barn. But you’ll call me, won’t you, Miss Anna, if you need me?”

  Anna smiled. “I will, John.”

  Simon stood at the back door and watched his brother walk toward the barn. Then he whirled around and faced Anna. “All right, tell me what’s wrong.”

  She sucked in her breath. “How do you know something’s wrong?”

  He took a step closer. “It’s obvious to me, but I don’t want John upset. That’s why I sent him to the barn. Now tell me.”

  Anna’s lips trembled as she looked at him. “The baby’s in a breech position, and I haven’t been able to turn him from the outside.”

  Simon frowned. “Is this dangerous?”

  “Yes.”

  He swallowed. “For Martha or the baby?”

  She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. “If it comes down to the two, I would try to save Martha first.”

  Simon exhaled in surprise. “It’s that serious?”

  She bit her lip and nodded.

  Simon walked back to the door and looked outside. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, then turned back to face Anna. “Do you want me to go for your uncle?”

  “I thought of that, but it’s miles there and back. Besides, he might not even be there. He could be anywhere in the mountains taking care of a patient.”

  Simon came back to her and gripped her arms. “Then what are we to do?”

  She looked up at him, and his heart sank at the fear he saw in her eyes. “John is too upset already to be any help to me. I want you to stay with me and help until this ordeal’s over.”

  He nodded. “I’ll be here as long as you need me.”

  Simon sat beside Martha’s bed, his watch in his hand as he timed the contractions. He blinked his eyes in an effort to stay awake and peered at the time. Four o’clock in the morning. He and Anna had been at this for hours, and Martha had progressed little since he first entered the room. According to Anna, Martha must be approaching her fifteenth hour in this ordeal.

  The door opened and Anna tiptoed back inside. She bent over and whispered in his ear. “John’s fallen asleep at the kitchen table. I didn’t disturb him. It’s better if he doesn’t realize how long this is taking.”

  Simon nodded and stood up. “I think I’ll stretch my legs for a few minutes. The pains are now about seven minutes apart.”

  Anna frowned. “They’re getting closer.”

  Simon stretched his arms over his head and yawned before he walked to the far end of the bed. He glanced down at Anna’s instruments laid out on the table. His foot hit a box on the floor, and it rattled. Anna, bent over Martha, seemed not to notice. He reached down and lifted the top. What he saw caused him to recoil in horror, and he dropped the lid back in place.

  Anna turned at the sound and walked toward him. “What are you doing?” she hissed.

  His teeth clenched as he glanced back down at the box. “What is that thing?”

  Anna held her fingers up to her mouth to silence him. “Shh! She might hear you.”

  He grabbed her arms. “Tell me what it is.”

  She glanced back at Martha, took his hand, and pulled him from the room. They passed John, who was still sleeping, and stepped outside the house. Then she turned back to him. “Simon, you shouldn’t have looked in the box.”

  “Tell me what it is!”

  Her trembling hand went to her head, and she smoothed her hair back from her face. “I don’t even want to think about it, but I’m so scared. If Martha’s not able to deliver the baby, I may have to use that horrible thing.”

  Fear rose up in Simon. “How?”

  She began to cry. “You have to dismember the baby with it so the mother can expel the body.”

  “No!” he gasped. “You can’t do that to Martha and John’s baby.”

  “I don’t want to. But what if it means saving Martha’s life?”

  Her body convulsed with sobs, and Simon, feeling completely helpless, stared at her. Slowly he reached out and wrapped her in his arms. She clutched at his shirt and cried into his chest. He pressed his mouth to the top of her head and kissed the golden hair he’d thought so beautiful the first time he’d seen her.

  He stroked her hair and held her close. “Anna, don’t cry. We’re going to get through this. I’m going to be there with you every minute. And I’ll help you with anything you have to do.”

  She grasped his shirt tighter. “Oh, Simon, thank you. I couldn’t stand it if I were alone tonight.”

  He reached in his pocket and pulled out the handkerchief she’d wrapped around his finger that first afternoon and began to dry her tears. “Calm down. We’ve still got a long road ahead of us.”

  They walked back into the house, tiptoeing past John. As Anna opened the door to Martha’s room, she glanced down at the handkerchief in Simon’s hand. She looked up at him. “You still have my handkerchief?”

  He smiled at her. “I told you I would tell everybody you were a good nurse. Martha was the first one I told. Now let’s go see about bringing my brother’s child into this world.”

  A groan came from the bed as Anna and Simon reentered the room. Remorse at leaving Martha alone washed over Anna, and she rushed to bend over her. “Did you think we’d deserted you, Martha?”

  She smiled up. “I think I drifted off to sleep between pains. When I woke up you were gone, but I knew you’d be back.”

  Simon patted his sister-in-law on the arm. “We just stretched our legs for a minute and checked on John. But we’re back to stay for the duration now, Martha.”

  She tried to push herself up in bed, but Anna restrained her. “What do you want?”

  She glanced toward the door. “How’s John doing?”

  Simon chuckled. “He’s doin’ fine. Better than any of us. He’s drifted off to sleep at the kitchen table.”

  Martha smiled and lay back against the pillow. “Good. He worries so about me. It’s best he sleep through all this.”

  Another contraction hit her at that moment, and she gasped with the pain of it. After it had passed, she relaxed and looked up at Anna. “How much longer you think this is gonna go on, Anna?”

  Anna bent over and brushed Martha’s hair back from her eyes. “This baby still hasn’t let me know. As soon as I get the message, I’ll tell you.”

  Martha closed her eyes, a weak laugh coming from her throat. “You’re so sweet, Anna. I cain’t wait for us to be sisters.”

  Anna’s eyes widened, and she glanced up at Simon. He studied her with serious eyes. How she wished it were possible to be a part of this family.

  Suddenly Martha’s eyelids shot upward and she cried out. Anna rushed to the far end of the bed and her heart plummeted to the bottom of her stomach at what she saw.

  Chapter 23

  Simon heard the gasp from Anna’s mouth and turned to see what had caused it. She stood at the far end of the bed, her face white. Martha struggled to raise her head from the pillow but fell back. He rearranged the pillow under Martha’s head and turned to face Anna.

  F
or a moment she stood there as if frozen in fear. Then, slowly, her eyes narrowed and her head tilted. As he watched, a transformation began to take place. Her teeth bit down on her lower lip and she took a deep breath. She squared her shoulders and straightened, her body language now giving the impression of someone who was in control of her emotions.

  “Martha,” she crooned, almost as if she was singing a lullaby, “the baby’s bottom is coming first. Now this is a problem, but Simon and I are going to get you through this.”

  Martha gasped as another pain convulsed her body. “I…I know.”

  Anna raised cool eyes to Simon. “Be ready to do whatever I say, Simon.”

  He nodded and swallowed, in awe of the strength he now saw in Anna. She moved so that he couldn’t see what her hands were doing, but she appeared completely absorbed in the mission before her.

  Martha groaned. “Anna?”

  “Yes, darling, take it easy. I need you to bear down with your contractions now.”

  Martha writhed on the bed as another pain hit.

  “That’s good, Martha. I have her legs out now.”

  Martha’s eyes lit up. “Is it a girl?”

  “It’s a girl.” The muscle in Anna’s jaw twitched and she took a deep breath. “All right, we have another little problem. Her arms are over her head and aren’t going to deliver on their own. I’m going to give her body a half turn to try to deliver the first one.”

  She worked in silence for a few moments, then nodded her head. “And now a half turn to get the other one. I don’t mean to hurt you, Martha, but we have to do this as quickly as possible.”

  Martha gripped the side of the bed. “D-don’t w-worry ’bout m-me.”

  Anna worked silently for a moment longer before she looked up. “Now Simon, I need you to help me with the head.”

  He moved closer to Anna, his eyes growing wide at the sight of the baby’s lower body lying with its stomach resting on Anna’s upturned left arm, its head still enclosed. Her right hand rested on the baby’s shoulders.

  “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

  She glanced up. “I have two fingers of my left hand in the baby’s mouth. I’m going to apply some downward pressure on the jaw. I want you to press on the lower part of Martha’s abdomen to help me deliver the head.”

  Simon placed his hands where she directed and began to press down as Anna’s right hand fingers gently flexed the back of the head toward its chest. Slowly the hairline of the head appeared. Simon’s heart pounded as Anna raised her arm when the mouth and nose emerged. She looked up at him, a huge smile beaming on her face as a loud wail filled the room.

  She nodded toward John’s shirt, which hung on a chair next to the wall. “Put that on the bed for me.”

  Simon rushed to do as she said and watched as she laid the child in it. Before he realized what was happening, she had clamped the cord and wrapped the baby in the tradition of the mountains.

  From the other end of the bed came Martha’s soft whisper. “Give her to me.”

  Anna handed the baby to Simon. “I can take care of Martha from here on out.”

  His arms tightened around the baby as he gazed down into the face of his brother’s child. With a smile he placed the bundle in Martha’s arms and watched her wrap the baby next to her body.

  Anna was still busy, but he couldn’t watch anymore. He knew there were other things to be done, but he was unable to help her. Her hands worked quickly, intent now on aiding his sister-in-law’s body to begin the healing process from her great travail.

  Sharing this experience with Anna and Martha had left him in awe of the miracle of childbirth. He couldn’t count the number of animals he’d assisted through the years on the farm, but now he had been privileged to be a part of bringing a human life into the world. He gazed upward, a silent offering of thanks ascending to the Creator of the universe.

  “Simon.” Anna’s voice startled him.

  “What?”

  “Get that pot of blackberry tea I brought in a little while ago. Give Martha a big cupful and see that she drinks every drop. We don’t want her to hemorrhage at this point.”

  He turned to the table where the pot sat and did as she asked. By the time he had gotten Martha to drink all the tea Anna had completed her work. She bundled up the bedding and placed a clean covering over Martha.

  Then she stepped back beside Martha and smiled down at the two. She turned shimmering eyes toward Simon. “Why don’t you invite your brother in to meet his new daughter?”

  Simon threw the door open and laughed at the sight of John standing just outside, his head turned as if his ear had been pressed against the wood. Simon grabbed him by the arm and drew him inside. “Come see the baby.”

  John rushed to the bed and fell to his knees beside Martha. He buried his face in the cover and began to cry great gulping sobs. “I been so scared, Martha. I never been that scared in my life.”

  Martha patted his head. “John, I’m all right now, thanks to Anna and Simon.” She pushed his head up. “Don’t you want to see our daughter?”

  Slowly John raised his head and stared at the baby in Martha’s arms. “A girl? We got a little girl?”

  He stared at her a minute and then turned to look at Anna, his eyes wet. “Thank you for takin’ care of my wife and little girl. I ain’t never gonna forgit you for this.”

  Anna hugged him. “I’m glad I could be here to help.”

  John looked at Simon. “Brother, she’s a fine woman.”

  Simon smiled. “I know.”

  Anna’s face flushed, and she looked down at the floor. Simon stepped to the bed and bent over to look at the baby again. The red-faced infant clenched her fists and screamed out.

  John smiled and touched her tiny fist. “I reckon I got me two beautiful women now.”

  Simon nodded and turned back to Anna, but she wasn’t there.

  Anna backed slowly from the room as John and Simon bent to gaze at the infant lying in Martha’s arms. Even though the window remained open all during the time she’d been there, the air in the room closed in, threatening to suffocate her. She had to get away from the fear that had consumed her since she first entered Martha’s room.

  In the kitchen she ran through the back door and into the yard. Her feet skimmed across the grass, wet with dew, until she reached the smokehouse. With a cry she ran behind the building and fell to her knees. She clasped her hands to her chest and stared across the fields just becoming visible in the early morning light. A new day was dawning, and new life had come into the world.

  Her body began to shake at the memory of the fear that overwhelmed her during the long night. When she’d first examined Martha she had been sure the birth would end in tragedy, but it had not. The thought of what she might have been required to do washed over her, and she cried out. Could she have done it if it meant saving Martha? And what about the next time she encountered the same circumstances?

  She clenched her fists, raised her hands over her head, and shook them. “No. I can’t do this again.”

  She bent forward until her forehead pressed against the ground. She lay there, sobbing. And then someone knelt beside her. Gentle hands touched her shoulders. The voice she’d come to love whispered in her ear. “Anna, what’s wrong?”

  She straightened and looked into his eyes, then threw her arms around him and pressed her face against his chest. His arms came around her in a protective embrace.

  “Oh, Simon. I was so afraid.”

  He laid his cheek on the top of her head. “I was too, but you were wonderful. Martha was fortunate to have you here with her. We can never thank you enough for what you did for her.”

  She pulled away and shook her head. “I was foolish to think I could ever work in Bellevue’s maternity ward. I don’t have what it takes to be a nurse.”

  He frowned at her. “What are you talking about? You did what you were supposed to do, and because of you Martha and her baby are alive.”

&n
bsp; “But I was afraid.” She began to cry again.

  He smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I was too, but you stepped right in and did your job like you’d been doing it for years. You looked like you’d delivered dozens of breech babies. Your uncle couldn’t have done it better.”

  Her body jerked in a hiccup. “Really?”

  “Yes. How did you know what to do?”

  The hours she and Granny had spent practicing on the rag doll popped into her mind, and she suddenly realized God had prepared her for the moment when Martha would need her. “Granny taught me.”

  His fingers under her chin tilted her face up. “Granny was right. God has given you a gift for this work. I saw it today. Don’t ever doubt yourself.”

  She swallowed and looked into his eyes. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there. Thank you, Simon.”

  His arms tightened around her, and he drew her closer. “I want to be there with you all the time.”

  Her heart pounded so she thought it would burst. “Simon…”

  “I love you, Anna. God brought you to the Cove for me. I’d prayed He would send me someone to share my life. The minute I saw you I knew you were the one He’d chosen for me.”

  “But…”

  He shook his head. “There’s no use arguing about it. I love you, and I know you love me too, whether you want to admit it or not.”

  How she longed to voice the words he wanted to hear, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She reached up and stroked his cheek.

  He closed his eyes at her touch. “Anna, be my love.”

  As if of their own accord, her arms encircled his neck and drew his face toward her. With a little gasp he crushed her against him, his lips covering hers. Her heart soared as she welcomed his sweet embrace.

  They clung together for a few moments until she pulled away. “We can’t do this.”

  She stood up and he rose to face her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “Anna, I know you want to go to New York. But you can be a nurse right here in Cades Cove. The people here need you. I need you. Please don’t leave me.”