Trying to return her smile, Vanessa forced down her panic. “Just tell me what to do. I’m here for you. I won’t let you down.”
Anne’s smile slipped, and she clutched her stomach, sobbing as the pain gripped her once more. “It’s coming. Oh, God. It’s coming.”
As her friend groaned and seemed to put every ounce of strength she had into ejecting the small intruder in her womb, Vanessa leaned forward and took the tiny head in her hands, helping to ease it out into the world.
Then, in a slither of fluid and a scream from Anne, she was holding a tiny baby... girl... in her hands.
“It’s a girl,” she breathed. “It’s a beautiful baby girl.”
“Wipe her face,” Anne gasped. “She’s got to breathe.”
Panicked, Vanessa wiped some of the slime from the baby’s scrunched-up face, and the infant suddenly burst out in a howling wail, which was quite possibly the most beautiful sound Vanessa had ever heard.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Vanessa somehow managed, with Anne’s instructions, to complete some very bloody and disgusting tasks. She was rewarded, however, when she managed to put the child in Anne’s arms and then collapsed next to her.
“You did it,” Vanessa said, pushing a damp, limp strand of hair out of Anne’s eyes. “You’re amazing, my friend.”
Anne just stared at her daughter, love shining in her eyes. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
Vanessa nodded. “The most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen.”
“Her name is Felicity,” Anne whispered, her voice fading. “Will you tell Morgan that, Vanessa? That I want her to be called Felicity?”
A feeling of foreboding suddenly built within her. “Don’t be silly, Anne. You can tell Morgan yourself. When he and Adrian find us.”
“And tell him that I loved him. Please? Tell him that I’m sorry I couldn’t figure out how to make him happy, but that I loved him with all my heart.”
“Anne, please, don’t talk like this,” Vanessa said fiercely. “You’re going to be fine.”
Anne just looked at her with those big blue eyes filled with pain. “Yes, but if I’m not, you’ll tell him, won’t you?”
“Of course, I’ll tell him,” Vanessa breathed, feeling as though she were making a solemn vow. “Is there anything else?”
“And my children... all of them. Make sure that they grow up knowing that they were my whole world.”
