Chapter 1

Jenna smiled at the chirping birds above her, invisible in a canopy of leafy green sugar maples, as she took in a lungful of the clean air.

Feeling much younger than her fifteen years, she trailed the stick in her hand along the bushes next to the slender, meandering creek as she made her way back to the house. It was only her third day at her Aunt Wendy's house, and already the noise and grime of New York City had disappeared under rural Pennsylvania's warm, blue sky. She looked around and sighed happily. No crowds... no sirens... no broken glass in the street-it was paradise!

She ran the rest of the way up the gentle grassy incline to her aunt and uncle's back yard, and marveled as she let herself in through an unlocked screen door. This, she thought as she passed through the kitchen on the wood floor, was where she belonged. She decided then that she was a country girl at heart. She had a wonder and love for nature, and her Aunt's big house in the quiet, wooded neighborhood, (where it was hard to even see some of the other houses!) seemed like a place she would one day live and raise a family. She liked her Uncle Bill, too. He was about ten years older than Wendy, but really nice. He worked hard as some sort of supervisor for the electric company, and seemed to treat her auntie really well.

Her Mom had sent her here for two reasons, and she was grateful for both: get her sweet, beautiful daughter out of the city for at least part of the summer and experience a different environment, and have her help her sister Wendy with the new baby. Jeremy! Jenna thought as she hurried up the stairs to see if Aunt Wendy needed help with Jenna's new cousin. He was only a month old, and so incredibly cute.

She peeked her head into Wendy's open door, and, not seeing anyone, headed back downstairs. Just then, she caught sight of her aunt's long brown hair, silky and swept to one side, hanging over the back of a rocking chair in one of the spare bedrooms.

She stuck her head in and then pushed the door open. "Aunt Wendy, I-"

"Shhh," her aunt said with a soft, apologetic smile. "Almost asleep..." she whispered as Jenna rounded the chair to Wendy's side. Her face lit up as she saw baby Jeremy nestled up to Wendy's breast. His little lips sucked her bare nipple, then fell slack as sleep overtook him, and then sucked again, his hunger instinct keeping the motion going.

Jenna was instantly drawn to the tender scene, before she realized that she might be intruding. She felt bad walking in on her aunt's partial nakedness. Her mother's younger sister had lowered one shoulder of her nightgown to feed the baby.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Aunt Wendy!" she whispered, "I'll wait 'til your done."

"No... stay," her aunt said quietly, nodding toward the bed next to her rocking chair. "It's ok honey."

Jenna sat on the edge of the bed and stared at her miniscule cousin. She was transfixed by his pink lips, half open against Wendy's nipple and painted with a thin film of his mother's milk--his chubby little face, and his tiny fingers, curled in semi-sleep against Wendy's bared breast.

"I think he's had enough now," Wendy said, looking down at him. "And he's out." Her voice was a bit louder, as apparently Jeremy, once he fell asleep after feeding, left the world behind.

Jenna giggled softly. "He's sooo adorable."

Wendy smiled at her niece. It was her mother's smile, Jenna noticed, full of openness and warmth. She watched as Wendy pulled her shoulder strap back up, stood slowly, and walked Jeremy to his crib. She lowered the sleeping infant down, covered him, and returned to the rocking chair.

"I like to stay in the room for a while after he's done. He seems to sense when I leave, and sometimes he'll wake up. I stick around until he's real deep asleep."

Jenna looked over at the crib, enjoying Jeremy's sleeping face through the wooden spindles. Then she looked back at her aunt.

"Does he always fall asleep after a feeding?"

"Usually, yes. His little tummy gets full and he's off to dreamland."

Jenna giggled again. Wendy beamed at her. Jenna had silky brown hair, just like her and her sister, and was pretty as a picture. The boys, Wendy thought as she shared a smile with her niece, must be ga-ga over her already, with her body blossoming now. She had a gentle sweetness about her, in addition to being a well-mannered, courteous girl... What more could anyone want in a family houseguest? Jenna wanted to help with the baby, the house, and could hold conversations at the dinner table with her and Bill to boot. She was a bright young lady, whose intelligence sparkled in those dancing brown eyes of hers.

"I hope I have a baby as beautiful as that one day," Jenna sighed. "Do you think I would be a good mother?"

"Oh, you'll be a wonderful mother, sweetie. Of course, you've got quite a while to think about that!" Wendy opened a drawer and took out plastic funnel with an attached yellow pump, and a container.

"Yeah, I know." Jenna watched as Wendy again dropped one side of her dress off her shoulder and exposed her breast. Her aunt then started pumping her breast milk into the funnel, which channeled the fluid into the container.

"How come you do that when you can feed him the regular way?"

"Well this is for those times when my nipples might be too sore, or if I want to rest, Uncle Bill can feed him."

"Ohhh," Jenna nodded.

They both fell silent for a moment, Jenna watching Jeremy sleep, while Wendy expressed her breast milk into the container.

"It must be such a beautiful, safe feeling for the baby," Jenna said thoughtfully, "I mean, I think it's so cool we all started out like that, being able to take our food right from our mommies."

Wendy admired the young girl's appreciation for nature. "It's a beautiful feeling for the mother, too."