“We’re not even off the dirt roads yet.” She opened her eyes and looked over to him as another contraction started. She looked down at her phone. It said four-seventeen, and it changed to eighteen as she watched.
“My contractions are about seven minutes apart,” she said. “Maybe eight. We have time. I just don’t want to have the baby in the car.”
“We’re not going to have her in the car,” Brandon said. “We’re going to make it, and she’s going to be born in the hospital, right where you want her to be.”
Lenore forced herself to take deep breaths, but what she really needed was a distraction. “Are you sure you’re okay with naming her after my mother?”
She looked over to Brandon and found his grip on the steering wheel so tight. She sometimes forgot that he was experiencing this pregnancy right alongside her, and in fact, he’d been there every step of the way. Every time she was sick, every time she was too tired to get out of bed, he’d been at her side, bringing her meals or something to drink, and taking care of everything on the homestead.
“Of course I am,” he said.
“Julia is just such an old-fashioned name,” Lenore said. “And it’s so common.”
“Baby, she’s your mom,” he said. “I’ll do whatever you want. And I’m fine with the name Julia. I think it’s beautiful.”
Lenore nodded. Names meant a great deal to her, as she was the only one left in her family to carry on that legacy. They’d discussed plenty of names, and Lenore had wanted something that would honor her mother.
“Why don’t you tell me a story about your mom?” Brandon said. “That will distract you while we get there.” He reached across the console and took her hand in his. “Let me worry about the contractions too, okay? All you have to do is sit there and let me take care of everything.”
Tears filled Lenore’s eyes, and she relinquished her phone to her husband, grateful for him in so many different ways. She leaned back in her chair, reclined the seat a little bit, and said, “My momma was a bee charmer.”
A smile crossed her face, and though she experienced eight more contractions before Brandon pulled up to the labor and delivery entrance of the hospital, Lenore felt like time had been standing still just for them.
The contractions were still only five minutes apart, and when a nurse asked her, “Do you feel like they’re getting stronger?” Lenore had to think about it for a moment.
“Probably,” she said. “I’m not sure. I was just so focused on getting here.”
The woman smiled kindly at her. “Well, you’re here now, and we’re going to take good care of you and your baby.”
Lenore nodded, knowing that she had a lot more work to do to bring her baby into the world. But for right then, she sat back in the wheelchair and let Brandon push her where the nurse directed them.
Brandon Rhinehart hadn’t seenthis hour of the night in a long time, but finally, the newborn cries of his daughter filled the air, and the doctor that had been working with them for the past nine months lifted her head and said, “She’s here.”
Lenore started to cry, and honestly, Brandon felt the same. They’d been at the hospital for almost seven hours now, and while her water had broken, she’d reached a point where she wasn’t progressing in her labor, and she’d been given a drug to help her along.
He moved to the end of the bed, where the doctor passed the crying baby to a nurse. She was bright purplish-pink everywhere, and Brandon fell in love with her at first sight.
“Come with me,” the nurse said, a nice woman named Patty that Brandon had been talking to since she’d come on shift at six o’clock.
He followed her over to a little table where they quickly took some blood from Julia’s heel, then wrapped her up tight. The next thing he knew, Brandon was holding her—his darling baby—and the nurse said, “Go show her momma, and then we’ll take her for a bath.”
Brandon turned back toward the bed where Lenore had been laboring so hard. He’d thought he’d loved her before, but he’d been wrong. Being at her side these last nine months had showed him how really strong she was, and how dedicated to him and the homestead, and how much she wanted to build a family with him.
He got up every day simply so he wouldn’t disappoint her, and now he moved over to her bedside. She looked like she’dbeen awake for days, and he hoped she’d be able to sleep all night.
“Here she is,” he whispered.
Julia made a sound very much like a mewling kitten, and he chuckled as he passed her to her momma. Julia snuggled right in to Lenore’s chest, because she obviously knew her mother.
“She’s wonderful,” he said, and he leaned over and placed a kiss to the top of Lenore’s head. “You did so great, baby.”
Lenore smiled up at him, and Brandon had never seen her so happy.
Patty asked, “Would you guys like a picture?”
“Yes.” Brandon pulled out his phone and handed it to her, and then he perched on the edge of the bed and put his arm around Lenore, shoring her up while she held the baby in her arms. He smiled, and Patty snapped the photo.
“We’re going to take her for a few minutes,” she said to Lenore. “Dad’s going to come. He’s going to give her a first bath and give me all the information for the birth certificate.”
