Delphine heard Hope coming down the hall. She dabbed at her eyes before standing, holding on to the bedframe as a contraction tightened her stomach.
‘How are you progressing?’ Hope asked.
She grimaced. ‘Not as fast as I’d like.’
‘Would you like to go for a little walk, or we could always just sit?’ Hope said.
Delphine nodded. ‘I think I’d very much like to walk. It might hurry things along.’
Hope held out her arm and Delphine slipped her hand through it, happy to have her to lean on as they walked down the stairs and then out the door. Another contraction stopped her for a long minute, before they continued on.
‘You know, you’re the only woman I’ve had here who’s had a baby before,’ Hope said as they strolled. ‘Would you like to tell me about your other births?’
‘The first one was fast, much faster than anyone expected, which meant that the doctor only just made it in time to catch him.’ Delphine laughed. ‘I always whispered to my son that he was in a hurry to meet his mama, because when he was born his little eyes fixed on mine, as if he’d been waiting to see me.’
‘And your second child?’
‘Took her time,’ Delphine said. ‘It was absolute agony. I was pushing for hours.’ Delphine paused again, her fingers tightening around Hope’s arm.
‘Have you,’ she asked, catching her breath once it was over, ‘ever given birth?’
Hope didn’t say anything straightaway, walking Delphine around the garden, but when she finally spoke, her words were much quieter than before.
‘It seems that you’re not only my first mother who’s birthed a child before, but also the first to ask me that question,’ Hope said. ‘I’ve been asked whether I have children of my own, to which the answer is no, but no one has ever asked me whether I’ve given birth.’
Delphine squeezed her arm. ‘I’m sorry, I should never have asked you something so personal.’
‘No, it’s a perfectly understandable question, given that you’re in the throes of childbirth yourself. I think my other girls have been so terrified of what’s to come that they simply haven’t thought to ask.’
Delphine paused again, realising that the contractions were closer together now. Hope had noticed, too, because she rubbed Delphine’s arm and nodded before they eventually began to walk again.
‘Many years ago, when I was a much younger woman, I was pregnant,’ she said. ‘I, well, I lost the baby. It simply wasn’t meant to be.’
‘And you never fell pregnant again?’ Delphine asked.
‘I had complications during the birth, and…’
Hope looked away, and once again Delphine wondered if the question had been too personal. She would never have usually asked such a thing, but she’d become so close to Hope inthe time she’d been there. And Hope was guiding her through something deeply personal herself.
‘Many young women, any women really, who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant, are not often treated with the respect and care they deserve,’ Hope said when she finally turned back. ‘I’ve met so many women over the years, and most of them share the same story.’
Delphine had a different twinge of pain in her side, and rubbed her hand there in an effort to relieve it.
‘They don’t want the baby?’ she asked.
‘No, oftentimes they do want the baby, or at least they would want the baby if their circumstances were different,’ Hope said. ‘But the one thing they all have in common is that they’ve been let down by men.’
Delphine nodded, knowing what Hope was trying to tell her. She guessed she was no different—Florian hadn’t let her down, but Giovanni had. She would never have gone looking for comfort elsewhere if he’d treated her as a husband should.
‘Some of my girls have been raped, and their parents don’t want the shame of dealing with it, or perhaps they don’t believe them. Others have been left by a man as soon as they discovered the pregnancy, and some have fallen for false promises. But at the end of the day, they’ve all had a man take something from them.’
‘Is that why you started this place?’ Delphine asked. ‘To help those women?’
‘I started this place because I knew what it felt like to be pregnant and unwanted. The doctor did things to me without asking first what I wanted, and he made a choice about my body that changed the course of my life.’ Hope cleared her throat, and Delphine felt a sudden longing to comfort her, just as another contraction took over her body.
‘I…’ She groaned and bent forward, her hands on her knees, grappling with the pain. ‘I think it’s time.’
She would rather have heard more about Hope’s story, to better comprehend how she’d come to do what she did, to have the resources to dedicate her life to women and babies, but suddenly she felt as if her insides were being torn in two, and she had the most overwhelming urge to push.
