Chapter 21

April 2004

After the weekend in California, it was hard for Randy to go back to the snow and the cold of a Spearfish Lake winter. Not only did the weather at home seem detestable by comparison, Randy felt like he ought to be doing something out there, even if he didn't know what. There was nothing to do but to go home and wait for spring to come – and wait for word from Brayton in San Jose.

Sometimes spring comes quickly to the north country, and places like Spearfish Lake; sometimes it comes slowly. While most people welcome the milder weather and the freedom from the months of snow that it brings, there are those who do not, and Randy was one of them. This was not because he was any great lover of winter, but was a hater of spring, and especially the mud season that it brings.

The ground froze deep and hard in the winter, and then in the spring the snow melted on top. The melt water that couldn't run off could only soak into the ground until it reached the still frozen under-soil, turning everything to a soft mush. As soon as the ground thawed thoroughly things would normally dry out quickly in the largely sandy soil around the area, but it could take a couple weeks or more for that to happen. The water that couldn't soak in sometimes formed huge puddles in low spots, sometimes small lakes, and for a while any roads that weren't paved would be nearly impassable. Even many paved roads could only be used with caution, since the underlying roadbed was soft as well, the reason for load limits that time of year.

There was nothing much that could be done around construction sites at that time of year, especially if excavating or heavy equipment use was involved. What really frustrated Randy was to have such nice days that seemed perfect for getting construction jobs under way, only to have the ground so soft that it just couldn't be done.

This spring mud season came early, but it came slowly, with a couple nice days followed by several cold ones, slowing down the process of frost going out of the ground. Fortunately, there were a couple of projects that could be gotten under way, like one of the steel buildings that had to get done before they started on the pellet plant – the slab for the building had been poured late the previous fall, and the steel materials delivered over the winter. What was even better was that the parking lot in front of the building was paved, so with care the smallest and lightest crane Clark Construction owned could be used to help erect the building. Randy poured a number of workers that would soon be needed on other jobs onto the project, in hopes of getting it done quickly while mud season prevented construction elsewhere.

He may have been a little too eager with that; the building was substantially completed before things were dried out enough to work elsewhere, but at least things were getting close. Fortunately, a nice warm weekend came along and sped up the process. By the first of the following week he was able to send the concrete crew over to the site of the second steel building to get ready to pour the slab, and an excavating crew over to Clark Plywood to begin site preparation work on the new wood pellet plant. By the end of the second week of April it was possible to get some other jobs going, and while the construction season wasn't in full swing yet, it was getting closer.

As soon as the roads dried out enough, Randy loaded one of his sea kayaks onto the rack on his pickup and drove out to Chandler Lake. There was still a big pad of rotten ice floating around on the lake, but it didn't block him from getting in the kayak and paddling out to Windmill Island, the first time he'd actually been there. Part of the trip was just to scope the place out and see what it was like, but there were some things that needed to be evaluated in order to complete the estimate. The island proved to be a little more rocky and rugged than he'd imagined, more of a rock outcropping than a pile of sand and stone, and somewhat higher, too. It was clearly going to make for a spectacular home site, but he could see that there were going to be problems with construction that he hadn't anticipated earlier.

On his first day back from California the month before, Randy had presented his idea about building a raft out of 55-gallon drums to access the island. Everybody thought it was a good idea, and Randy and Carlos started to do some detailed calculations to see if it could handle the stress and work and just how it would be built. Now, inspecting the island, there seemed to be a good spot to unload a raft like that. The situation wasn't quite as good at the shore landing but it seemed simple to build a temporary pier. By the time Randy paddled back from his solo trip to Windmill Island several things had settled in his mind – it seemed now like the project really could be done and also the Newtons seemed as anxious as ever to get going on it.

By then, Randy's mind wasn't totally on construction or what was happening in San Jose. Nicole's due date had come and gone earlier in the week, and it seemed likely that she was going to be having the baby any day now. She had started her maternity leave early in March, to take advantage of the three extra months she'd have off from school, and by then she was ready to take some time off. It was obvious to anyone that she was far advanced in her pregnancy; she complained of having to use the bathroom every fifteen minutes, and the baby kicking her almost constantly. "I'm glad we're having this kid," she told Randy not once, but several times, "But as far as I'm concerned, the sooner, the better."

Since returning from California, Randy had tried to get home for lunch every day, or, if that weren't possible, now and then at other times when he could. When she'd been home in the summer in the past he hadn't even tried to maintain such close contact, but that was different. Randy was an EMT, although not terribly active at it considering the crush of other affairs. He was slowly working on his paramedic certification when he could find the time, so he felt he knew more about childbirth than the average guy. It wasn't that he was worried about Nicole or anything, he was just, well, concerned. He'd been around women in labor enough that he had some reason for his concern, and he thought that despite the stories Nicole didn't totally know what she was in for.

Late on Friday afternoon Randy, Carlos and Ken were working on what they hoped were the final revisions to the estimate on the Newton's house, which were, of course, considerably more complicated than normal. By then most of the serious issues had been ironed out, and just details remained, but the project came to a screeching halt, at least as far as Randy was concerned, after his cell phone rang. "My water just broke," she told him. "And I've been having mild contractions. I called Shovelhead, and he thinks it's time we headed down to Camden General."

"Be there in a few minutes," Randy said.

"No need to rush," she told him. "I think we've got plenty of time."

Randy clicked the cell phone off and turned to the other guys in the new drafting room, which had earlier been Brent's office. "Nicole thinks the baby is on the way," he announced. "So I'm out of here. Iron out what you can and I'll review it on Monday, but we've got to get this off to the Newtons as soon as we can. See you Monday, most likely."

"Take it easy," Ken told him. "First babies usually take a while."

"Yeah, but I've seen times they haven't," Randy replied as he headed for the door, leaving his notes and paperwork scattered on the table.

Randy didn't waste any time as he drove to his house on Hannegan's Cove. Nicole already had a small bag packed for the hospital – it had been ready for a month – and in a few minutes they were in her Chrysler, heading south. It was a familiar trip, and although Randy tried not to hurry there were times he caught himself driving over eighty. Finally, south of Blair he set the rarely-used cruise control at around sixty and felt like a turtle could outrun them.

There was little talking in the Chrysler on the way to Camden General. Randy tried to talk about the Newton house a little, but it was clear that Nicole wasn't very interested in that; not having done this before she was understandably a little nervous. They still didn't know if they were going to be having a boy or girl, and once again they reviewed the question of a name for the baby. Either Brent or Sabena had been settled on a long time before, and they pretty well decided they didn't want to make any last minute changes. From Randy's history as an EMT there didn't seem to be a big rush; he'd worried that he might have to deliver the baby himself, and while he was prepared to do it if he had to, he really didn't want to.

But there still didn't seem to be any big rush when they pulled under the awning of the Emergency Room entrance, where maternity admitting was done. He helped Nicole from the car, not that she needed it much, and an attendant helped her get inside while Randy parked the car.

Even in an emergency situation it always seemed like it took a while to get the paperwork done, and the paperwork seemed even slower this time. Randy didn't know a great deal about the hospital past the emergency room, but a nurse went with them up to maternity, where Nicole was settled in.

Time passed. Although sunset came later now thanks to Daylight Savings Time, it still seemed like it took forever. Finally Nicole suggested that he go get something to eat, and reluctantly Randy took her up on it. He headed down to the hospital cafeteria; he'd been there before and didn't think the food was particularly good, and such was the case this time. It didn't take him long to eat, and soon he was back up in the delivery room, waiting things out and trying to support Nicole.

Over the course of the next few hours he was to call his father or mother several times to keep them abreast of progress. It had previously been decided that they wouldn't come to the hospital, at least not too early, since there was no point in waiting around doing nothing, and Randy had promised to let them know when things began to look imminent. The plan didn't work; about the second time he called his father's cell phone his mother answered and told him that they were on the road to the hospital themselves, as also were Nicole's father and mother. Myleigh and Trey were soon there as well, and they brought word that Danny and Debbie would have been there except that it was awfully late for Sky – but they'd said to call with any news, anytime.