Beauty & the Blue Angel

He grabbed a nearby chair and drew it close to the bed. Sitting down, he kept a firm grip on her hand and said, “Sure. What should I talk about?”

“Anything. Everything.” She sucked in a greedy gulp of air. “Just talk to me.”

“Right.” Alex shot a glance to the foot of the bed, where Rita was stacking clean towels and arranging a lamp for the best possible light. Maria was in the other room, probably pacing a trench in Gina’s carpet. He shifted his gaze back to Daisy, smiled and started talking.

His words flowed over her, creating wonderful pictures that took her out of the lovely bedroom, away from the body-twisting agony of labor and into worlds and places she’d never seen before. She could almost see Alex at the commands of a navy jet. She nearly felt the G forces of takeoff and the meteoric rise as the jet climbed toward heaven. She sensed the freedom that flying gave him and she heard the joy in his voice as he described being a member of the navy’s elite flight team, the Blue Angels.

He painted word pictures for her and she saw the incredible stunts he and his team performed miles above the earth. She could hear the oohs and aahs of the crowd as they stared, transfixed, at the intricately choreographed maneuvers the pilots made. And she sensed his regret that his time on the team was over. But the stories he told, the magic in his voice, were enough to take her mind off the torment in her own body, and for that, she’d always be grateful.

“I’ll be reassigned when my leave’s up,” he continued, leaning in close to her, making her concentrate on his words rather than the pain. “Don’t know yet where I’ll end up, but—”

Daisy nearly flew off the bed. A sudden, desperate urge to push grabbed her and she clutched at Alex’s forearm with a frantic grip. “Oh…oh God. Something…something’s changed. It’s different now. And…I think it’s coming and—”

“Rita…”

Already in position, Rita lifted the edge of the thin blanket covering Daisy’s legs, and when she straightened up again, she had a determined glint in her eyes. “Okay, honey. This is it. The baby’s crowning.”

“Oh, God.” Finally. Her child. So close. Daisy’s arms ached to hold it.

“Whatever it is,” Rita added with a quick smile, “it’s got a lot of hair.”

Daisy’s breath hitched and tears stung the backs of her eyes. Her baby. A tiny person. Almost ready to enter the world.

And she had to help.

“Have to push,” she said. “Have to push now.”

“You can’t. Not yet. Just breathe, Daisy,” Rita told her. “Let the baby ease down. It’ll do most of the work now, if you just try to relax and let it.”

“Relax?”

“I know,” Rita said with a short laugh. “Easy for me to say. But you have to try. Pant. Short, sharp breaths. You can do it, Daisy.”

“You can,” Alex said, standing up to lean over her, drawing her gaze to his face. “You’re plenty amazing, Daisy. You can do this.”

She didn’t want to. She wanted to push. She wanted the miracle over already. She wanted the pain to stop and her baby to be born. Oh God, she wanted to get up out of her body and run away.

Daisy twisted and writhed on the bed, planting her feet and rolling from side to side with the pain.

“Just a little longer, Daisy,” Rita said. “You’re doing great. Everything’s terrific. Just a little longer. Be tough, okay?”

“Push,” she whispered between pants as the driving, instinctive urge grabbed hold of her and demanded to be obeyed.

“Soon.”

“Now.”

“Look at me, Daisy.” It was Alex’s voice again, and she turned her head to look at him. Staring into his dark brown eyes, she concentrated on the way the light seemed to fill them, how warmth pooled in their centers and radiated toward her. “Concentrate on me, Daisy. You can do it. It’s almost time. You’ve been great and now it’s almost over. Just stay strong.”

“Alex…” She said his name with an exhaled breath and it felt almost like a prayer.

Seconds ticked past into eternity and Daisy fought her body’s instincts, trying to hold in the life fighting to get out. It made no sense, she thought wildly. It’s time. “Have to—have to—”

“Okay, here it comes,” Rita said, then added the most beautiful words Daisy had ever heard. “Push, Daisy. Push hard.”

She did and felt her body tighten, grow stronger, as if a closely reined-in Thoroughbred had suddenly been turned loose and allowed to run. Pressure built to an unbelievable level until she heard Rita say, “Okay, now wait. The baby’s turning. Pant, Daisy. Don’t push. Hold on, hold on.”

Alex stayed in her line of vision, forcing her to meet his gaze. She stared up at him and wondered how he’d come to be such an important part of her life in a few short hours. He was here. Sharing this moment with her. Making it his own as well as hers. And though she knew that it was only because they’d all been caught up in an emergency and that this sense of closeness wouldn’t last, a part of her wished it could. Wished that somehow Alex and she were connected by more than a chance meeting at a restaurant.

“You’re doing great,” he said, and smiled in admiration. “Just hang on a few more minutes.”

“I can’t,” she said, knowing it was true, feeling it down to her bones. She just couldn’t do this for another minute. It was too hard. Too much. She wanted to stop now. She wanted to close her eyes and sleep. She wanted this to be over.

“Oh, yes you can.” He leaned down closer until his face was just a kiss away from hers. “Daisy, I think you can do anything.”

“One thing you can do,” Rita said loudly from the foot of the bed, “is push. A couple more big ones will deliver your baby, Daisy.”

“I’m tired….”

“I know.” Rita glanced at her brother. “Sit behind her and prop her up. It’ll help.”

He took orders without question. A military thing, he guessed. Easing down onto the bed, he held Daisy against his chest and looked down, beyond the edge of the blankets just covering her modesty. And as he held her, he felt her body tense, felt her strength gather.

“Here it comes, Daisy,” Rita called out, sounding like the cheering section at Fenway Park. “Keep going, keep going.”

Stunned, Alex watched in silent awe as a squirming, furious baby slipped from Daisy’s body, took a deep breath and released an impressively loud screech of outrage. Laughing, Rita held the baby up for Daisy to see, and announced, “It’s a girl and she’s a beauty!”

“Oh, look at her,” Daisy said, and collapsed against him.

Alex wrapped his arms around her and laughed along with his sister as the tiny, squalling piece of humanity let everyone know she thought the world was too bright and too loud and too cold. Rita worked quickly, taking care of the little things that had to be done, then wrapping the baby snugly in a soft towel. Laying the child in the crook of her mother’s arm, Rita went about cleaning up the room while Daisy lay stunned, holding her family in the circle of her arms.