Jack parked next to Cliff’s vehicle. Before he’d even turned off the engine, Olivia had opened her door. “How’s everything?” she asked anxiously as she stepped out of the car.
“We have a baby girl.”
Olivia brought her hands together and pressed them to her heart. “I’m so pleased. And Mary Jo?”
“Was incredible.”
“You delivered the baby?”
“Not exactly. But I was there.”
Being with Mary Jo had brought back so many memories of her own children’s births. Memories that were clear and vivid. The wonder of seeing that beautiful, perfectly formed child. The elation. The feeling of womanly power. She remembered it all.
“If not you, then who?” Olivia asked.
“Mack McAfee. The other EMT, Brandon, was there, too, but it was Mack who stayed with Mary Jo, who helped her through the worst of it. By the time I arrived, the baby was ready to be born.”
“I’m sure she was happy to see you.”
Mary Jo had been, but she hadn’t really needed Grace; she and Mack had worked together with a sense of ease and mutual trust.
Grace almost felt as if she’d intruded on something very private. The communication between Mack and Mary Jo had been—she hesitated to use this word—spiritual. It was focused entirely on the birth, on what each needed to do to get that baby born. Grace felt moved to tears, even now, as she thought about it.
“Grandma, listen!” Tyler shouted. He pounded on his drum, making an excruciating racket.
Grace covered her ears. “Gently, Tyler, gently.”
Tyler frowned as he looked up at her. “I was playing my best for you.”
“Remember the song about the little drummer boy?” Olivia asked him.
Tyler nodded eagerly. “It’s my favorite.”
“It says in the song that he went pa-rum-pum-pum-pum, right?”
Tyler nodded again.
“It doesn’t say he beat the drum like crazy until baby Jesus’s mother put her hands over her ears and asked him to go next door and play.”
Tyler laughed. “No.”
“Okay, try it more slowly now,” Grace said.
Tyler did, tapping on the drum in a soft rhythm that was pleasing to the ear.
“Lovely,” Grace told her grandson.
“Can I play for the ox and the lamb?” he asked.
“In the song they kept time, remember?”
Grinning, Tyler raced away to show his cousins what he’d learned and to serenade the animals.
“Come in for a cup of coffee,” Cliff suggested to Olivia and Jack.
“We should head home,” Jack said. His arm rested protectively on Olivia’s shoulders.
“I just wanted to make sure everything turned out well,” Olivia explained. “Do you think I could see Mary Jo and the baby for a few minutes?”
“I don’t see why not,” Grace said with a smile.
The two women left the men outside to chat while Grace led the way up to the small apartment. Brandon Hutton sat on the top step with his medical equipment, filling out paperwork. He shifted aside and they skirted around him.
“Mary Jo?” Grace asked, standing in the doorway to the bedroom. “Would it be okay if Olivia came in to see the baby?”
“Of course. That would be fine,” Mary Jo said.
When they walked into the bedroom, they found Mary Jo sitting up, holding her baby in her arms.
“Oh, my,” Olivia whispered as she reached the bed.
“She’s so tiny.”
“She didn’t feel so tiny a little while ago.” Mary Jo looked up with a comical expression. “I felt like I was giving birth to an elephant.”
“It was worth it, though,” Olivia said and tenderly ran her finger over the baby’s head. “She’s just gorgeous.”
“I never would’ve believed how much you can love such a tiny baby.” Mary Jo’s voice was filled with wonder. “I thought my heart would burst with love when Mack put her in my arms.”
“Do you have a name for her?” Grace asked.
“Not yet. I had one picked out, but now I’m not sure.”
“She’s a special baby born on a special night.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Mary Jo said, kissing the newborn’s forehead. Her gaze fell lovingly on the child. “When I was first pregnant…I was so embarrassed and afraid, I prayed God would just let me die. And now…now I see her as an incredible gift.”
Grace had felt that way when she discovered she was pregnant with Maryellen all those years ago. It was shortly before her high school graduation; she’d been dating Dan Sherman and their relationship had always been on-again, off-again. She’d dreaded telling him she was pregnant, even more than she’d dreaded telling her parents.
For weeks she’d kept her secret, embarrassed and ashamed. But like Mary Jo, she’d learned to see the pregnancy as an unexpected gift, and the moment Maryellen was placed in her arms, Grace had experienced an overwhelming surge of love. The birth hadn’t been easy, they never really were, but as soon as she saw her daughter, Grace had recognized that every minute of that pain had been worth the outcome.
“If you need anything,” Olivia was saying to Mary Jo, “please don’t hesitate to call.”
“Thank you. That’s so kind.”
Olivia turned to Mack, who hovered in the background. “Are you taking her to the birthing center in Silverdale?”
He nodded. “We’ll be leaving in about ten minutes.”
“Then I won’t keep you,” Olivia said. “I’ll stop by sometime tomorrow afternoon,” she promised Mary Jo.