Chapter 26

On December 19th, nine days past her due date, Jesse lay in a hospital bed, in the hospital that stood on the same spot as the old hospital used to, the one in which her older sister, her mother, her mother’s mother, and her mother before her had been born. She prayed for a girl. She knew now that she could love it if it were a boy - she had Michael to help her now, and her nightmares had gradually stopped - but she prayed for a girl.
Her aunt Sandra stood at the foot of the bed, telling her how brave she was, and her husband of three months stood beside her, holding her hand and looking as scared as she was. In the lobby were her parents-in-law, her parents, her sisters, and a few more of the McDougall clan who had already arrived for Christmas. She hadn’t wanted to make a production of this, but at least they weren’t all in the room with her.
In between contractions, her mother peeked her head in. “There’s a girl named Samantha who wants you to know that she and Jasmine just got here, and they’re in the waiting room.”
“Thanks, Mom,” said Jesse.
Jasmine was living with Samantha in an apartment in the city, where the older girl attended university and Jasmine finished high school. Jasmine had been overjoyed when Samantha made the offer after High Teens, and had argued with her parents until they agreed to let her go. Michael and Jesse visited them whenever they were in town, and the girls were no strangers to their stone house. Jesse was happy to see Jasmine becoming a confident and godly woman under Samantha’s influence. She would probably be glad that they were here later, but at the moment she was a little preoccupied.
Michael kept asking her how much it hurt, and she was of half a mind to try to show him. He stopped asking when it got really bad. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do, and she was almost sure that the effort would kill her, but she couldn’t get out of it now. She clung to Michael for dear life when she wasn’t yelling at him, and told him that if she were to die, he could get married again after a while, as long as he didn’t like his second wife as much as he liked her. Hearing her talk like this alarmed him deeply, and Sandra had to assure them both repeatedly that Jesse was not going to die. Michael’s fears were somewhat alleviated by these assurances, but Jesse only screamed back that Sandra was not the one being “split in freaking two!”, and that she ought to know if she were going to die or not.
But when at last the moment came, and Jesse was called on to give her all, she gave it, and she did not die. She was crying, and she was exhausted, but she was very much alive. Michael kissed her, and they both looked wonderingly at their baby girl.