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“She was rooting around, so I let her have at it. These things are so big I’m surprised she can get it in her mouth.”
He knelt on the floor again to check out the cord. Since the placenta had come out, the cord had stopped pulsing, so he guessed the blood that was in it would be minimal. Tying it up in two places close together, he looked up at Aisling. “Here’s the big moment.”
“Go for it,” she said, happy. He cut the cord, leaving a long tail for the doctor to remove closer to the baby.
“I guess I’ll try to clean this up,” he said. “You lie there.”
He found a clean trash bag for the placenta in case the doctor wanted to look at it, and with sandwich bags over his hands, he picked it up and stuck it in the bag.
He turned the water on to warm up. “How’s she look?” he asked, leaning over the mother and baby.
“She’s snoozing now.”
“Can I take her? I’ll wrap her in a clean towel and help you get cleaned up.”
She didn’t protest, beyond embarrassment. He placed the baby on a towel in the sink and went back to the tub to help Aisling shower. That six-pack of T-shirts came in handy.
Then he stripped his bloody clothes off, changing into dry jeans and a T-shirt. Ten minutes later when the squad finally arrived, they’d find a clean mother—wearing a clean undershirt and boxers with a towel wadded up between her legs—walking to the door, Devon carrying the sleeping newborn.
The crew who’d come were people they trusted, including Rick, who congratulated them, shaking Devon’s hand and kissing Aisling on the cheek. They had her get up on the stretcher on the porch.
“I’ll follow you to the hospital,” he told Aisling.
She looked at him and, with a free hand, pulled him over to kiss, a tear on her cheek. “Don’t be long.”
“Right behind you.”
He waited by her side while they got the back of the ambulance ready for her. They didn’t take their eyes off each other, and finally when it was time to shut the door, she waved. “Hurry.”
He nodded to her, running back in the house for his keys and wallet and locking up the house.
The trip to the hospital was surreal for both of them. For Devon, it was meant to be. There was nothing to think about or worry about or ponder. Aisling and the baby belonged with him, and he believed she felt the same way. It was as though destiny was at work, a scary thought.
In the ambulance, they all congratulated Aisling again, praising her for a job well done. No one questioned the location of the birth, and she assumed Rick had probably regaled them with his premonition that she and Devon were in love with each other, but she didn’t care. At that moment, she loved Devon with all her heart. He was the love of her life.
Lying back on the stretcher, she looked up at the roof and mouthed,I love you, too, Mike. Thank you.
Chapter 9
The days following baby Mika’s birth included placing Aisling’s condo up for sale, getting an offer a day later, emptying out said condo, and rearranging the contents of the mountain house to accommodate her furniture, which was more suitable than the old stuff Marie Lyon had decorated their mid-century modern house with. Plus, Marie’s couch had been ruined when Aisling’s membranes ruptured, soaking the old upholstery with a gallon of amniotic fluid.
“Does this leather stuff look okay in here?” Aisling asked, baby Mika asleep in her arms. “I liked your mother’s design sensibility.”
“I like your furniture,” he said. “The dogs can’t destroy it. I don’t like Tilly getting up, and then telling Ralph he can’t. It’s not fair.”
“Whatever,” she said, shaking her head. “I draw the line at Ralph in our bed when we start sleeping together.”
He went up to her and pulled her gently to him, encircling her and the baby in his arms. With his forehead to hers, he whispered, “And when is that going to happen? Every time I look at you, I want to throw you to the ground and commit acts of perversion.”
“Don’t make me laugh,” she said, pressing her mouth against his shoulder. “I’ll wake up the baby.”
“You laugh, but I’m serious. I’m going crazy. I want you, Aisling.”
“I want you, too. We should wait six weeks, the doctor said. Plus I sort of wanted to get married first, if you were up to it.”
He held her at arm’s length. “You want to get married? Now this is a shock. Every time I’ve mentioned marriage, you’ve changed the subject.”
“I needed to make sure you really love me and it wasn’t just being in the moment of the birth and all that mess.”
