She was quiet for a moment, and her voice came out in that same soft tone. "I thought maybe Sarah Rebecca."
Sarah after the woman who'd meant so much to her. "Is Rebecca…?"
"My mother's name."
"Ahh." He’d wondered about her parents, but she hadn't spoken of them. That might be a question for later though. "So you think the babe will be a girl?"
She turned her face toward him, though she kept her head pressed to the grass. The firelight flickered in her eyes. "I don't know. I just haven't been able to come up with any boy names I like."
Did he dare ask the obvious? His mouth formed the words before his mind could decide. "What about its father?"
Her face was impossible to read with all its shadows. "I suppose he could carry Neil's name." She turned toward the ground again. "Neil would have liked that." Her voice didn't seem to hold any softness or sentiment. Had she locked those feelings away in her grief? Or had theirs not been a marriage of love? Perhaps convenience.
He couldn't remember the last time he’d wanted to know a person’s story as much as he did this woman's. Now wasn't the time to ask.
She let out another groan and inched her knees forward, tucking them under herself. She straightened her arms in front of her, lifting her shoulders up like a cat stretching. Yet the tension radiating from her held not a shred of relaxation. He moved to her side, but what could he do? The book had said that to calm a laboring woman, he could rub her back or wipe her face with a damp cloth. Katie wasn't hysterical like the guide had said some women became, but maybe she would appreciate some of those same touches.
He reached out to rub her back, but his hand faltered midair. He forced himself to finish what he began, resting his fingertips on the back of her dress. She was a mixture of softness and tension, and he made his hand move upward toward her neck, then around and down to form a full circle on her upper back. Had he ever touched a woman like this? Not since his mother, he was nearly certain.
His chest ached from not drawing in a full breath, so he forced his body to relax as he continued the motion. No matter how strange or uncomfortable this felt, if it helped her even a little, he would do it.
Her warmth seeped into his cold hand, easing up his arm and relaxing his muscles. Katie’s body seemed to tense even more, if that were possible.
"Oh, oh, oh. No." She groaned, or maybe moaned, the words, their agony seeping from her deepest parts. "I can't. I can't."
He moved his other hand to join with the first, stroking his thumbs up her back to her shoulders. "You can. You're doing remarkably. You can do this."
She whimpered, and her breaths came in quick bursts.
Lord, help her. Please!
This round of pain seemed to last an hour, but finally subsided, her body easing one breath at a time. She sank to the ground, face down with her arms outstretched and her knees curled up underneath her.
He continued to work his hands over her back, at times rubbing a large circle, then using his thumbs to stroke out the knots around her shoulders.
Did she want him to stop? Perhaps she couldn't rest with him moving around so.
He slowed his hands until they rested motionless on her back.
"Don't stop." Her voice barely held enough strength to reach him.
With that question answered, he resumed the movement. "Tell me if I'm doing something that hurts."
"It all hurts." She groaned the words, then her body tensed again. Another pain must be coming on.
She pushed up, nearly knocking his hands aside as she rose on all fours. "I think she's coming. It's…" The words faded in a growl as she curled her back and half-groaned, half-howled a throaty cry.
His heart leapt into his throat.God, what do I do?The book had said the head would come first—crowning, they called it. The babe couldn't come with her up on her knees like that. It would fall to the ground, and who knew how badly that would injure such a fragile body.
"Katie, can you lie down? The baby."
With another groan, not as loud this time, she collapsed onto her side, panting for breath. Had this pain subsided? It didn't seem as long as the other recent ones, though maybe harder.
"You have to check." She struggled for air. "If you see…the baby."
No. As much as he'd been trying to prepare himself for this. He couldn't do it.
She must have sensed his hesitation, for her eyes opened and she glared at him. "Aaron, I need to know if the baby’s coming out."
