Aunt Maureen was the one who flipped out. Addison and I had studied up on all this, including the concepts of Lamaze breathing, so that's what she did on the way to the hospital. Dr. Hobbs, her obstetrician, had been told Addie got drunk at a party and didn't know who the father was. Her previous doctor's records were obtained. While Dr. Anderson had known it was an incest baby, he hadn't put that into the file. His notes just stated that he was concerned about the development of the fetus, and had recommended frequent sonograms to keep an eye on things. Dr. Hobbs had done that, and had more than once asked her why Dr. Anderson had been so concerned. She said she didn't know, unless it was because she'd been so drunk at the point of conception. He said, "Well, the baby is fine, so I guess we won't worry about it." They were both happy.
So Addison went into labor not worried that there might be something wrong with the baby she already loved so much, and which both of us had stroked and talked to inside her belly for literally hours and hours. That I got to be there too, was the result of our cover story about Addison and me. People knew the sad tale of how we came to be at the ranch. And it was also assumed that it must be too soon since the accident for either parent to show up for the birth.
So nobody thought it was odd that a girl might want her step-brother, the only member of her family capable of being there to support her, in with her during labor. Especially since he had helped her train to do the breathing. Aunt Maureen was there, of course, but she left often, usually after a particularly strong contraction. She might have had a whole string of lovers, but she'd never had children. It became obvious that one reason she'd paid such careful attention to birth control was that the idea of going through what Addie was going through terrified her. She could face down a rampaging stallion with no problem, but have her watch Addison work through a strong contraction ... and she was reduced to a wreck.
It was different for me, for some reason. Maybe it's because I was the reason she was there, and having to go through all that. I wanted to be there, to help her if I could, and support her while she delivered our baby.
I'll tell you this. Watching a woman force a baby out of her body is a fascinating thing. She goes through all this pain that is obvious, and cannot be avoided, and comes without warning, whenever it's ready to come. And it happens hundreds of times over hours and hours. She gets worn out, and can't get comfortable, no matter what position she gets in. And if she somehow does find a comfortable position, a nurse tells her she has to move because the baby is being stressed by her being in that position. But through all of that, Addison didn't whine and moan and complain about it. She cried out in pain, but it was just that, an honest response to pain. She didn't tell me she hated me for doing this to her. In fact, more than once she pulled my ear next to her lips and whispered that she loved me!
And then, after all that, when she's wet with sweat, and the cords in her neck are standing out so starkly you could clip a clothes pin to them, and the doctor says, "Come on, Addie, one more push," and she finally flops back and says, " I can't!" In this tortured voice, you feel so helpless. You can't do anything for her except hold her hand, and tell her you love her, and none of that helps, because there's this huge thing stuck in her vagina, and everything hurts.
But the doctor has seen this a hundred times, and he sits patiently between her spread thighs, the only other man in the world who has seen her there, and he wheedles her into giving it one more try, and she grabs the steel railing that keeps her from falling off the table and strains and grunts for a push that seems like it lasts five minutes, not breathing at all while she does it. And the doctor praises her and asks for one more, and she's crying with the frustration of wanting to do what he's asking, but being too tired, and too out of breath.
And then, so suddenly it takes your breath away, the head pops out, and the nurses all make this unique kind of sound of approval as the mother's breath rushes out at the incredible, sudden loss of pressure in her groin. And this time she pushes instinctively, rather than because her uterine muscles demand it, and the doctor's hands do this funny little twisting thing while supporting the baby's head and the little body fairly squirts out into his hands. As this happens, you see the baby's shoulders hunched together, at first, and that baby looks slimy and blue and not quite human, somehow, until suddenly its arms wave and it cries and announces to the world that it liked being in the warm, safe cocoon of its mother's womb, and is not happy about losing that security. It flowers, there in the first blanket to touch its skin. It becomes a real, live, human baby.
Your baby!
And then you watch as it takes too long for the nurses to do whatever it is they're doing to the newborn, and the doctor says, " It's a boy!" which is unnecessary, because you've known that from the ultrasounds for months, but it shocks you into a big, goofy grin anyway.
Okay, I'm back. Whenever I remember those sixty seconds in time, when my son came into the world, it just takes me back.
Anyway, the reason I said the nurses were taking too long was because Addison, who had been braver and stronger than I could ever be for the last sixteen hours, was so tired that the only strength she had was to try, feebly, to sit up while she turns into a whining girl again and uses her pouting voice to ask, "Where's my baby?!"
There is nothing like watching a woman being handed her baby for the first time. He was still crying, but as soon as his naked skin touched hers, he quieted. Maybe it's smell. That's the only thing I can think of. A baby knows its mothers scent, and that calms him.
"You can try to nurse him," said a nurse, standing beside Addison's head, "but he probably won't take the nipple for several hours. He isn't really hungry right now. It's all too strange for him."
And then they had other things to do with Addison. She had to keep pushing to get the placenta out, and they took the baby off to clean him up, and ink the bottom of a foot and put that on paper and whatever else they do to babies. And suddenly Aunt Maureen and I weren't needed any longer, so with a hurried grab at her hand I told Addie we'd see her later. She smiled tiredly and we left.
Aunt Maureen and I left the hospital and went to a diner, where we had our first good meal in what seemed like days. After we ate, we went back to the car, an old Lincoln Continental that Aunt Maureen's father had purchased new. She'd taken good care of it and it was still in mint condition. She hadn't batted an eye at putting her niece into the back seat while she was in the process of having a baby, to take her to the hospital. When we got in, she didn't start it. Instead, she turned sideways in the seat and looked at me.
"So what are you kids going to do now?"
"Go back home, I guess," I said. "I mean, that's the plan, as far as I know it."
"Aren't you going to college?"
"I sent in some applications, but all this ... other ... happened and we ended up here, and all our plans got kind of shelved."
"So you're going to go back to Hastings and work at McDonald's or something?"
"That doesn't sound so attractive," I sighed. "Mom and Dad say I should go to the Tech when I get back, and start college that way."
"You do good work, Bobby. You're a natural with horses. Why don't you stay here?"
"Mom's going to help Addie with the baby," I said. "Addie has to finish school."
"That doesn't mean you have to be there too," said Aunt Maureen.
I think I looked shocked or something. She laughed.
"Can't stand the thought of being separated? You know that's what got you into this mess in the first place."
"I know," I said. " I don't know what to do."
"Want to know what I think?" she asked.
"Sure."
"I think you should go to college. Get yourself an Ag degree. And then come back here and help me run the ranch. One of these days I'm going to get tired of all the work, and want to relax a mite. And I'm not going to live forever. I ain't got no kids to leave the place to. I'd hate for some shark assed big corporation to buy it at auction and then sell it all off in pieces."
She frowned at the thought, but then her face relaxed.
"Then, after your sister finishes school, she can either join you at college, or come back here and work. Martha's in the same fix I am. She's gonna quit workin' one of these years and then I'm gonna need a new cook. Addie's good in the kitchen. The two of you could end up owning this ranch."
"You'd give us the ranch?" I asked, my voice cracking.
"I'd sell you the ranch," she corrected. "Part of the deal is I get to stay here until I croak. I'm gonna need somebody to take care of me in my dotage."
I opened the door. "I need to go talk to Addie."
She laughed. "Give the girl time to catch her breath. If I'd gone through what she just did, I doubt I'd want to see your ugly mug right away."
"She loves me," I objected. "She told me so a bunch of times in there."
"Be that as it may," said my aunt. "Now's not the time to hit her with something like that. Let's let her get her feet on the ground. And you're right. She does need to go back home for some help with that baby. I know nothing about the little rug rats, and don't want to learn. At the same time, you need to make plans. You're a man now, Bobby. You're gonna have to make your way in the world, one way or another. I know the popular thing these days is for kids to hang around the home place when they should be out doing something useful, but that don't mean you have to sign on to that plan. I've got friends at the University of Minnesota. I s'pect I can get you a seat there, and quite likely a scholarship too. It all depends on whether you're willin' to do the work to earn a shot at ownin' this ranch."
I closed the door again. My mind was whirling.
She let me think about it for two more hours and then said it was time to go back to the hospital and see Addison.
I knew I would have to have made some decisions by the time I saw my sister again.
And then it would be her turn.
TBC....on the next Chapter