85: Rebirth

My parents and Dani's parents were waiting with the rest of us. Mom, Anna, and Sylvia, of course, were right beside Dani's bed. They weren't about to let their little girl go through this alone. Debbie and Dolly were both going through sympathy pains and wanted to touch their sister. Dani clutched my hand when Dawn suggested I might want to leave now and let the women handle what women have always handled. I scowled at Dawn.

"I was just kidding," Dawn laughed. "Part of the reason to have a home birth is so the father is right where he needs to be to welcome his child into the world. Danielle, you are doing great, honey. Do you want to squat or use the bath for the next part? Brian will hold you and help you into any position you need." Dani got through another contraction. She relaxed her grip on my hand and I could almost feel my fingers again.

"I think it's time, Brian," she whispered. "Will you get behind me like we practiced?"

When we practiced, our mothers, sisters, and what seemed like half the women in the clan hadn't been in the room with us. But this was my Dani and my baby. My clothes hit the floor and I crawled into the bed to a couple of gasps from assorted women. I got behind Danielle and she leaned back against me. She immediately relaxed as I put my hands on her tummy.

"You are fully dilated and ready to have a baby," Dawn said. "You can push with the next contraction."

"Okay, little one," I whispered. "We are ready for you." Dani looped her arms outside mine and gripped my hands. "I love you, Danielle." Then the contractions began in earnest.

I'd like to say she just pushed and a baby popped out. Of course, life isn't like that. In spite of the fact that she was only in labor a total of about eight hours, a lot of that time, it seems, is spent in pain. All I could do was hold Dani, help her with her breathing, and encourage her. Getting the baby out was all up to her and the baby. The good thing about all that pain is that when she was finished, we had a beautiful little baby girl.

"She's beautiful!"

"She's so tiny!"

"Congratulations!"

"I love you!"

"Oh, my. Can you say 'American Express'?"

"I have a granddaughter!"

"I love you!"

It was pretty chaotic. And messy, of course. As our daughter lay on Dani's chest, lazily sucking at a nipple, Dawn checked her vitals under Angela's watchful eye. I think Angela was more awake and alert for our daughter's birth than she had been for Theresa's. She and Dawn fussed around with a tape measure and a hanging scale.

"Eighteen and a half inches. Five pounds, nine ounces," Dawn announced. She wrote the information on the birth record that would be submitted to the state for a certificate. "Official time of birth, 12:05 a.m. on January 1. Happy New Year!"

Happy New Year. Happy New Life.

As soon as Dawn had things cleaned up, Dani and I were covered, both for warmth and modesty. Our daughter had quit sucking and was content to lie between her mother's breasts as she slept with our hands touching her. I looked up and nodded to Samantha. She took off. A few minutes later, our fathers had entered the room and got their turn at touching the baby and kissing the mom on her forehead. Both Dad and Bart squeezed my shoulders.

"What's her name?" Dad asked.

"I'm hoping you plan to honor your grandmother, rest her soul," Bart said. "Hildebrand is a good name." Sylvia smacked him. Everyone else was uncertain whether to laugh or take him seriously.

"When everyone is here, Dani will tell you her name," I said. We'd talked long into the night about what to name our child. Of course, we had a male equivalent, but Dani was certain she was carrying a girl from the moment she knew she was pregnant. Only two other people knew our decision and they had approved. Over the next ten minutes, all our casa gathered in the room. I mean the master suite is big, but it was pretty damned crowded. When Samantha returned with her parents, Dani was getting pretty tired and ready to just sleep. I had to agree, but we wanted the formal naming in front of our casa. Dani summoned Rose to one side of the bed and Rhonda to the other. They got up on the big bed with us.

"La Madrina. Matrón," Dani said formally. "Brian and I would like to introduce to you and our casa, our daughter: Alexandra Delight Frost." Sly and Lily were crying and Samantha had them wrapped in her arms. Rose and Rhonda placed hands on top of ours on our daughter.

"Alexandra Delight Frost," Rose said softly. "Welcome to Casa del Fuego, the Clan of the Heart, and the Tribe of Delight. We all promise to nurture you, love you, and do whatever is necessary to protect and support you. We all love you. We each love you. The River of Life flows on."

We slept the remainder of the night bracketed by Rhonda and Samantha. Xan, as we decided to call her, had been cleaned up, fed again, and put in the bassinet. Sometime around 4:30 in the morning, I felt a little whisper in my ear. Rhonda got up and brought Xan to bed with us. She suckled for a while and then went back to sleep. For the rest of the night, she lay cuddled on my chest with one little fist wrapped around Dani's finger. Our bed was toasty warm.

Dani felt fine, so after we had all showered together, including Xan, we actually went downstairs early in the afternoon. With Lily added into the mix, we had four mothers smothering us with attention. And three sisters, three dads, all our casa and a few little ones. Rhonda was being run ragged with six kids to chase after. Of course, the two babies didn't require much chasing. But who could resist paying attention?

Maddie had gone through the process of acquiring a baby brother and was rather bossy over Matthew and Ellie. She was the oldest and therefore, in charge. Oh boy! Shades of Betts. Matthew had been a little jealous of Ellie when she got a baby sister. He was pretty pleased that now he had a baby sister, too. There were plenty of pictures taken with Dani, Doreen, my two children, and me. Elaine, Liz, Mary, and Nicki had tackled the kitchen while everyone else was scrambling after children and waiting a turn to hold Xan. They served an incredible oyster stew that Nicki declared was a New England tradition.

When dinner was finished, Dani and Xan were exhausted and were led up to bed by her sisters. My sister pushed me back into my big chair and settled on my lap. The rest of the family and casa were still around. Bart had finally pulled out a celebratory bottle of Triple Crown. He, Sly, Dad, and Josh were the primary imbibers, though I noticed the four moms toasting each other, too.

Betts sat on my lap and stared into my eyes. I waited to see what it was that she wanted. We'd had time to talk a little since she got there on Christmas Eve. I was pretty certain we'd passed the stage where she wanted to kill me for having gotten shot last spring. I know, but that makes sense to Betts. When she'd visited in the summer, she simply couldn't talk about it. We'd gone for a ride with her on Princess and me on Toby as we talked. But now she simply looked into my eyes as if she would find some secret buried in my soul.

Then she kissed me. It was a very unsisterly kiss.

"If I hadn't decided that I would only have two children, you would father the third," she said as she hugged me. No one seemed to have noticed her display of affection.

"That would kind of involve..."

"Hush. I know what it would involve. It's not that repulsive," she giggled. "I don't lust after you, Brian. Kissing you didn't make my panties wet. But you are the strongest, bravest, most caring and loving, intelligent, and thoughtful man I have ever met. A woman wants that to be passed to her children. Every woman in your household wants that. Maybe in the whole clan. What I want you to know is that I see it in you. I wish that I had been able to see that strength of character when we were growing up. I know we've put that behind us. We've forgiven each other for being brats. I just want you to know that I've gone a step beyond that and I see you for the incredible human being that you are. Not a brother or a television star or a hero. Simply an incredible human being. And I love you."

"I love you, Betts. And I don't think you have to worry about my traits being passed to your children. We come from the same gene pool, you and I. Perhaps you struggled in a different way than I did, but you have turned into a wonderful sister and mother," I said.

"Thank you. All I have to do now is keep Madeline from becoming a Betts junior to her brother. She's a bossy little bitch."

"I wouldn't worry too much. Look," I said, pointing to where the four older children were playing together. While we watched, the three younger children all stepped up and hugged Maddie. I'm sure it had something to do with what they were playing, but it was a genuine affection among them. The kids were fine.

"I'll try to be back when Dor is ready to deliver again. Take care of the family."

I stayed in the chair most of the evening, but every so often I had to get up and go check on Dani and Xan. They were resting, but not always asleep. Just checking on them made me more comfortable. Of course, there was always at least one member of the clan or family with them. I made sure to kiss my lover and daughter on every trip.

In the big chair, my cónyuge, novia, and compañera all took turns snuggling with me.

"I love seeing you in your green gi," I whispered.

"My father was shocked, I tell you. Shocked," Nicki giggled.

"What about your mother?"

"She just rolled her eyes."

"Don't you just hate it when parents do that. I thought it was supposed to be the kids who rolled their eyes," I laughed.

"I think she started it about the same time I did. Only I grew out of it," Nicki agreed.

"Ah. Mockery is the highest form of flattery, they say."

"You mock me! And I will not be mocked!" We laughed, cuddled, and kissed a little.

"How is the novel coming?" I asked. I noted that even though Nicki hates morning, she always reserved the first two hours after she got up to sequester herself and write.

"Okay. I have her up to her senior year in high school and her first boyfriend. Presumably he is her boyfriend. She alternately loves him and hates him. I think she has killed him and marked up a rose three times so far," Nicki said. "Erin read the first fifty pages and assigned me to a critique group where I have to share what I've written. One by one, each member of the group has been killed by Sharon. She has an entire wall of black roses."

"It sounds obvious that she just imagines killing all these people," I said.

"It is, until one of them turns up dead."

"Oh shit!"

"No kidding. But did she do it? Or just imagine she did?"

"I have to go to work," Angela said.

"I wish you didn't have to go in on a holiday," I answered. Her work was at Methodist Hospital and I had a feeling she would be emptying bedpans all night.

"At least I didn't have to work New Year's Eve," she said. "Mom did and it wasn't pretty. She's an emergency room nurse. You would not believe the bizarre injuries in a college town on New Year's Eve."

"Yeah. I suppose she sees everything that happens right after, 'Hold my beer and watch this.' We can be pretty stupid at times."

"It beats seeing your daughter's lovers come in riddled with bullet holes." I looked at Angela. Dinita had been on duty after the shooting? Why did I never know this?

"I should visit your mom," I said. "Thank her."

"Why do you think your parents have stayed at her house so often the past several months? Don't push it, Brian. I only just found out no one had told you she was in the emergency room when you were brought in," Angela said. "I know I've been a little distant this fall because of school and all, but I do still love you. No matter what. Each time I empty a bedpan I remind myself that someone did that for you."

"I love you, Angela. It's somehow comforting to know that emptying bedpans reminds you of me." She looked at me and sputtered out a laugh. We kissed and she hustled out the door.

"Tomorrow and Monday are still holidays," Courtney whispered in my ear.

"Dad once said a holiday was a day you didn't have to wear a tie to the office," Jennifer said. "Poor Brian still has to do his first show of the New Year."

"Ah. That has been taken care of," I said. "The alternate Woods have given me the week off to be with my new family member. Speaking of which..."

"You just came back downstairs," Courtney said, pushing me back. "Don't worry, lover. We get the next shift tending to the mommy and baby, so we'll go up with you when it's time. We love you."

"And I love you," I said. I kissed first Courtney and then Jennifer. Then the three of us tangled our tongues together as I held my cónyuge. "Rhonda has declared a Casa Holiday for Monday," I finally continued. "Maggie is directing Monday's show. Believe it or not, Amber is stepping in for Elaine. It should be very interesting. She has the right kind of outgoing personality to be able to handle it."

"Is she funny?"

"She has good material. I think this will be perfect for her. It might even put her on track for the kind of career she wants. Who knows?"

"Then can you spend a little of your time off playing with our little pussies? We miss you so much, Brian."

"I cannot think of anything I'd rather do after I hold my new baby and her mom than to play with your little pussies. Or anything else you'd like played with," I added as I lightly patted Courtney's bottom.

Monday night, after considerable convincing on the part of my lovers and even a little push from my daughter, I went to the finals of the Hoosier Classic. The Lady Hoosiers had done well against Yale the night before and I knew Whitney was a little disappointed that I didn't attend the game, even though she said she understood.