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“What is it?” Heather asked.
The hem of her cotton dress rested on her thighs. Two hours ago, he hadn’t even met this woman. He couldn’t possibly do this. “The doctor wants me to check on the baby. She thinks I might be able to see the head.”
Heather’s big eyes got bigger. “I can’t believe I’m going to have my baby right here in an elevator!”
“Tell me about it.”
He braced himself for tears. Instead, much to his surprise, she smiled weakly. “Talk about a great story when she’s growing up.” Then her humor faded. She looked at him, then down at herself. For the first time since her labor started, color stained her cheeks. “I don’t think I can get my panties off on my own.”
“Right.” He cleared his throat. This would be easier for both of them if he pretended this was a completely normal situation, something that had to be done but wasn’t the least bit personal. Without looking, he reached under the full skirt of her dress and peeled off her underpants. He folded them neatly and set them in the corner. “Uh, I’m supposed to check on the baby,” he said, not able to meet her gaze.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize.”
“I feel like I do. You sure didn’t ask for this.”
Her voice was so small he couldn’t help looking at her face. She bit her lower lip, then panted through another contraction. This time, he could see her stomach twisting and rippling as her body truly labored to bring forth life. Her face contorted in a grimace.
“Under normal conditions, you might have trouble explaining how you came to be with a strange, half-naked woman in an elevator,” she said, gasping. “So you’ll have a story to tell, too.”
“I can’t wait,” he told her.
Another contraction ripped through her. She screamed out, then gripped his hand with a strength that nearly snapped a couple of bones.
“If this doesn’t scare you into practicing safe sex, nothing will,” she managed to say, her face covered in sweat. “Look, Jim, I’m in way too much pain to be embarrassed right now, so go ahead and look for the baby. I just want to make sure that my child is safe. Please?”
He nodded, then steeled himself against the inevitable. He peered around the side of her knee. “I can’t see anything.”
A sharp sound filled the elevator. He looked at Heather. Despite the pain and her gasping breath, she was laughing. “You kept your eyes closed. You’re going to have to open them to see something.”
He felt like a moron. “I don’t think I can.”
“Of course you can. Pretend I’m a giraffe and this is National Geographic.”
She didn’t look like a giraffe, but he didn’t intend to let her down. He knelt between Heather’s feet, then pushed back her dress and studied her body.
He straightened and grabbed the phone. “I think I see the top of the baby’s head.”
“Damn,” Dr. Moreno muttered. “She’s determined to deliver quickly. Wouldn’t you know it? Okay, Jim. Tell Heather not to push even though she wants to. As the baby begins to appear, apply a very gentle pressure to keep the head from coming out too fast. Don’t force anything, don’t pull.”
He repeated the instructions back to make sure he understood them, then did as the doctor had instructed. She took him step by step through the process. Heather resisted the urge to push, working hard to control her reaction to the intense contractions.
“I can’t,” she screamed. “Make it stop. Let me push.”
“Don’t do it!” Jim ordered. “Stay with me, Heather. We’ve come this far. Just trust me. You’re fine. Relax and breathe. Breathe with me. I’m right here. I’ll catch your baby, Heather. I’ll be right here. Just a little bit more.”
Ten minutes later, he set a tiny, red squalling baby on her mother’s belly.
“It’s a girl,” he said, not quite able to believe he’d actually helped bring a child into the world.
Heather tried to raise her head enough to see, but she was too weak. “Is she okay?”
“Ten fingers and ten toes,” he said as he stared at the messy, naked, incredible creature squirming and squawking with life. “And she’s just as beautiful as her mother.”
The doctor gave him a few final instructions and said that she would be standing by when they finally got the elevator working. As Jim hung up the phone, Heather started to cry. For once, the sight of a woman’s tears didn’t bother him. He understood completely, and if he hadn’t been so tired and excited at the same time, he might have shed one or two himself. This wasn’t a moment either of them could have described to someone else. They’d done something extraordinary together and there weren’t any words to explain it. So instead of speaking, he moved next to Heather and pulled her into his arms, shifting her so that she could gaze down at her baby. As she tightened her hold on her child, he tightened his hold on her.
“Thank you for not leaving me,” she said as she cradled her infant. The baby girl quieted, safe in her mother’s embrace.
