AN OCEAN OF EMOTION
Chapter Eight
Victoria
"Shannon?" I heard my
sister downstairs, looking for something in the cabinets. "Can you come
here a minute?" Over the quiet sound of the fireplace in my bedroom, I
could hear her call back to me. A few moments later, she appeared in my
doorway, holding onto a lid to a pot. "And the lid is for?"
She looked down at her hands.
"I was trying to help Mrs. Miller with supper. I can’t find the lid to the
pot she is using."
"I see. Did she say when
supper is going to be ready? I’m really tired and could use a nap." The
farther along with my pregnancy I was, the more tired I got. I had told Harry
earlier that it took all the energy I had to climb the stairs to our bedroom.
Shannon shook her head. "No,
but I can go ask her."
I nodded and sank back into my
pillows. I smiled at the thought of having Shannon home for a little bit. She
was on winter break from school and had asked Father if she could stay with
Harry and me a little while. Closing my eyes, I felt my body relax for a
moment. It felt good to just lie back with the weight off of my feet and my
back.
"Sleeping already?"
I opened my eyes a bit when I
heard Harry’s voice from the side of the bed. "Not quite. I’m really in a
lot of pain right now."
Harry frowned and motioned for me
to sit up. I struggled to get up, but I did as he began to massage my
shoulders. I still melted when he touched me, and it felt great. "Where is
the pain?"
I motioned up and down from my
head to my waist. "From here to here. It basically hurts all over. I can’t
sleep, nor can I get comfortable. I just hope this gets better."
Harry kissed me lightly on the
side of my neck. "It will be. You know your sister is excited to be here.
She’s looking forward to seeing her nephew."
I looked at Harry. "Still
think it’s a boy, huh?"
He stood up to go back
downstairs. "I know it is. I can feel it." After kissing me again, he
said he’d see me at dinner.
Rose
As I put James to my breast to
feed him, I was reminded of the man from yesterday. Jack had just gotten home
from another trip and I hadn’t had a chance to tell him.
"Jack, I had a visitor
earlier."
He sat down on the sofa next to
me. "Who was it?"
I took a deep breath and exhaled
slowly. "That’s just it. He claimed to be some sort of lost person, but I
doubted his story. He wanted to know where the farmer’s market was. Anyone with
half a brain knows it’s closed this time of year. Something just didn’t feel
right." I looked down at our son. He had his eyes closed, but was still
nursing. I ran my fingers over his light-colored hair. "He has your hair color,
but my eyes."
Jack seemed unmoved by my comment
about the baby. "Did the man try anything with you? What made you think he
was up to something?"
I watched James nurse for a few
moments before I answered. "I don’t know. Have you ever just gotten a feeling
that something wasn’t right, but you couldn’t explain why?" Jack nodded,
and I continued. "I could tell he was looking for more information than I
was trying to give him. I got the feeling he wanted to come inside, but I don’t
know why. It just made me worry. I had Victoria come get James in the event the
man came back. I didn’t want anything happening to him." James had
finished nursing, so I buttoned my dress again. Putting him on my shoulder to
burp him, I achieved that mission, and he didn’t even wake up. "Does any
of that make sense, or am I being paranoid?"
Jack took a long look at me, then
at the baby. "Do you think it was Cal’s manservant looking for you?"
The comment caught me off guard.
"Good gracious, no. How would he even find me? Knock on every door in
every state until he found us? He doesn’t have that kind of time. Plus, with
his money, women will be attracted to him like a magnet to iron. You know that
as well as I do."
Jack still wasn’t convinced.
"I’m going to be off a little bit. Since I’m still training with Harry and
he is waiting on Harry, Jr. to be born, he’s not sailing until after the birth.
If you see him again, let me know. Take me with you if at all possible. I don’t
want anything to happen to you or our son."
I agreed. Jack’s thought about
Cal kept playing in my mind. Why would he search me out when he could have any
woman he wanted?
Harry
The aroma of pot roast with
steamed vegetables filled the house. Mrs. Miller was an excellent cook and once
again, she hadn’t let us down.
"Smells great." I
lifted the lid off the pot with the vegetables and took a whiff.
"Aye. They’re not done yet,
Mr. Lowe. You’re letting the best part of the process out. Will the Mrs. be
joining us?"
I nodded. "She said she
would be. These last few weeks are hard on her."
"Weeks? She could give birth
any minute. You’d better get ready."
I watched as she took off to the
pantry. "Days? You mean I have only days left?"
I was interrupted in my speech
when Tory came downstairs. "I don’t feel right."
I walked over to my wife and
stood next to her. "Don’t feel right how?"
She didn’t answer my question,
but instead, doubled over in pain. "Oh, God!"
"Victoria!" Shannon
screamed from the kitchen. "Tory! Mrs. Miller! My sister!"
I helped Tory to the couch as
Shannon stayed in the doorway of the kitchen. Mrs. Miller appeared, wiping her
hands on her apron as she came to my wife.
"Tell me about the
pain." I watched as Mrs. Miller asked Victoria the question. The only
thing Tory did was turn her eyes to Mrs. Miller. "Ah…I see." She
stood up and looked at Tory closer. "Looks like it’s your time now. Come
on. Let’s get you upstairs. Shannon, go next door to the Dawsons’ house. Stay
there until we come to get you. Harry, take her over, please. Let them know
what is going on. When you get done there, come back."
I slowly nodded as I watched Mrs.
Miller take Tory upstairs. I looked down at Shannon. "Ready?"
She had a wild look in her eyes.
"What’s wrong with my sister? Is she all right?"
I led her to the back door and
down the steps, heading to Jack and Rose’s house. "She’s going to be fine.
In a little bit, you can come back and meet your new nephew."
I knocked on the side door of
their home. Jack answered. "What’s wrong?"
"Victoria is about to have
the baby. Can you keep an eye on Shannon until I come back? Mrs. Miller doesn’t
want her in the house."
Rose appeared next to Jack as I
spoke. "Is everything all right? Is Victoria all right?"
I repeated what I had told Jack.
"Can you come over if need be? I don’t know what I’m doing."
Rose nodded and handed James to
Jack. Shannon went inside with Jack after he promised her that she could hold
James.
Rose grabbed her coat and
followed me back to our house. As we entered the door, I could hear Tory groan
in pain from upstairs. Rose and I made our way upstairs and stopped at the
partially closed door. "Tory?" I pushed open the door and saw her on
the bed. Mrs. Miller was next to her.
"Come in. Please, come in.
You’d better get ready. She’s going to go fast. Mr. Lowe, stand beside her.
Mrs. Dawson, you on the other side. Keep her calm until I get back and do not
let her push." Mrs. Miller ran out of the room and down the stairs.
Rose looked at Tory. "Only a
little bit longer! Hang on."
Victoria just stared at Rose.
"Get…it….out." Her words were labored and pain-filled. She winced in
pain as another contraction took over her body. Her legs flattened against the
bed as she moaned again. "Oh, God…oh, God."
Mrs. Miller came back into the
room with a few towels and a small pot of water. "Okay. On the next pain,
push."
Victoria nodded and went to lie
back on the bed. At the instant the pain hit, another moan came out, she closed
her eyes, and pushed. "You’re doing great. I can see the head." Mrs.
Miller got a towel wet from the pot and put it on the bed.
Tory looked at me, then at Rose.
"I don’t feel right." She did look pale. Her forehead was covered in
sweat. Her skin was cold and clammy. "I just don’t feel…" She faded
off as another pain came over her. Again she pushed.
"One more. Come on, Mrs.
Lowe. One more. The shoulders are almost out. They are a bit hung up, but one
more push, one more big push, and you can see your child."
Victoria’s eyes closed as she
sank back into the pillow. "Tory? Tory?" I shook her. "Wake
up!"
Rose shook her as well.
"Mrs. Miller!"
Mrs. Miller looked up from where
she was. "Pinch her. Hard. She’s got a bit of blood loss. She has just
passed out from it. Pinch her or hit her hard enough to get her back up. She’s
got to push this baby out."
I couldn’t hurt my wife, so I let
Rose do it. Rose pinched Tory hard on the arm twice before Victoria’s eyes
fluttered open. I put my hands on her cheeks. "One more. Please. Don’t
give up. I need you. Our baby needs you."
Weakly, she responded, "I
don’t know. I don’t know."
Another pain hit Victoria and
with Rose and me helping her out, our baby came out. I looked at Mrs. Miller.
"It’s a girl." Mrs.
Miller had gotten up and gone to the window to clean our daughter. I walked
over to where they were. "Congratulations, Father." After a few
silent moments, our daughter let out an ear-piercing wail. "She’s doing
fine." Mrs. Miller kept her for a few more minutes and then walked back
over to the bed. After wrapping her in a sheet, she gave the baby to my wife.
"So much for what you
felt." Victoria looked from me to the baby, then back at me.
"Disappointed?"
"That our baby is a girl?
Oh, never. She is healthy. She’s crying. She’s perfect." I took a good
look at our daughter. Her fingers and hands were so small. Her eyes were closed
as she rested against Tory. "What about a name? Since she’s a girl, you
name her."
Tory looked at me. "Really?"
I nodded. "I’ll name the
next one."
Tory closed her eyes and thought
for a minute. "Anna. Anna Rose."
Rose looked at Tory, then the
baby. "After me?"
Victoria slowly nodded.
"You’ve been there for me. It’s only fitting, right?"
I put my hand on the baby’s head.
"Welcome to the world, Anna Rose."