“I…” She looked up at me, her eyes glassy as a smile lifted the corner of her mouth. “I can see hair, Clover. My nibling is coming right now.” Maggie stripped off her sweater and carefully set it on the least gross corner of the mattress. “Okay, baby wrap is ready to rock. Let’s get this baby out!”
Tears welled in my eyes, and I made some ridiculous sound, sort of crying through a moan as the squeeze of my contraction surged up. Pushing felt good, though. It gave me something to do with all this tension. I gave it all I had with each one, bearing down and doing my best not to scream as my child came closer and closer to being born.
“The head is right there, Clover. You can do it. Don’t give up.” Maggie felt like an angel kneeling in front of me, and she held my thighs open as I did my thing. “That’s it! Yes, yes, yes!”
I felt the extreme pressure suddenly stop.
“Head is out!” Maggie gasped. “Holy shit, you’re a superhero.”
It was so odd, and I breathed and breathed, waiting for the next surge. Maggie’s attention was entirely pinned on the baby, and I felt her hands there, ready to catch.
“Shoulders next. I don’t see the cord around their neck or anything, so I think you’re good. You can do this. Come on, Clover, you’re about to be a mommy.”
Another wave of sensation, not as intense as before but so purposeful. I wrapped my hands around the back of my thighs and curled into myself, pushing. Almost, almost. I sucked in air through my nose, going again, and then…
“You did it! A baby girl!”
All the pressure and pain was gone in an instant, and my sweet, shiny, new baby was out in the world. A cry left me, and I looked up at Maggie to see her crying too. She held the smallest little bundle wrapped in her sweater. Tears dribbled down my face, and I held out my arms.
“Holy shit, you’re a mom.” Maggie could hardly speak through the thickness in her voice. “I’m an auntie.”
I took off my shirt so we could do skin-to-skin before accepting my child from Maggie, pullingheragainst my chest. “Hello, sweet baby.”
Time had blurred around the edges. Maggie curled next to us, lending her body heat while I cuddled mydaughteragainst my chest. The placenta would probably come soon, but for now, I was relieved to have a few moments to breathe.
“We need to keep her clean.”
Maggie nodded.
We needed to get out of here. This was no place for a newborn or a recovering mother, and I prayed that my mates got here soon.
“Maggie…what if no one comes? No one knows where we are,” I whispered, gently rocking my newborn baby in my arms.
Not even an hour old, she was so fragile, and I was terrified. This new type of fear gripping me was almost painful. I imagined many brutal ways to deal with the people upstairs. The sheer rage over the fact that they had put my baby in danger made me a kind of feral I wasn’t used to.
Maggie stared intently at the baby, her face shifting between several emotions. “We can’t wait around for someone to save us, can we?”
“I don’t have much choice.”
“Ireallydon’t want to leave you, but you’re right that if we’re getting out of here, it’s probably up to me. The next time someone comes in here—if it’s one person on their own—I’m going to rush them.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?” I asked, my voice weak.
“Exactly what it sounds like. I’ll shove that motherfucker into a wall, and hopefully he’ll hit his head and it’ll give me enough time to get out and get help.”
“If I get the opportunity, I’ll get out of here with the baby, but mostly we’re depending on you.” I held my daughter close and kissed the top of her head.
“So…it’s a plan?”
“It’s a plan,” I confirmed. If we had anything to cut the cord with, I’d have forced Maggie to take the baby so she could get to a doctor faster, but she’d have to stay with me.
We moved quickly—and bywe, I meant Maggie. She gathered up my clothing and helped me get dressed whilekeeping the baby close to me. We didn’t want to leave anything behind, not that we’d brought much with us.
Maggie wrapped her arm around me and pulled me tight to her.
“This wasn’t how it was meant to happen,” I said, a sob gathering in my throat.
“I know,” Maggie soothed, gently running her hand through my hair. “Soon, you’ll be back home in your cushy mansion with your pretty princess car and your daughter and beautiful nest, and everything will be okay.”
