Abigail shrugged. “Most times. I like to think it is because your head is now fixed on something else, not the pain.”
“I do not know how one can forget about this pain,” Julia muttered then tensed, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly until she relaxed a bit.
Rose wiped Julia’s face with a cool cloth. “You will forget all about it when you hold your child for the first time.”
For a while Julia tried not to fight the pain and breathed as Abigail had suggested, but then she returned to moaning. “Robert should be with me,” she cried and Abigail saw Rose roll her eyes.
“He is gone, Julia,” Abigail said, “otherwise I am sure he would be here so that you could crush all the bones in his hand instead of mine.”
“Sorry, Abbie.” Julia loosened her grip on Abigail’s hand. “I will try to stop.”
“Do not fret over it. At worse, I shall have a few colorful bruises. But you must keep your mind on birthing your child. It is important that you concentrate on getting this baby out and nothing else.”
“I know. I know.”
For a while Julia did as Abbie and Rose wanted. Abbie began to hope it would go well all the way to the end. Then Julia just stopped doing everything that had worked so well for her. Abbie feared something was wrong for a moment, but then Julia moaned again.
“You were doing so well, child. Surely you could see that,” Rose said to Julia.
“I could see that I was exhausting myself for nothing.”
“What do you mean, ‘for nothing’? You are bringing Robert’s child into the world,” said Abbie.
“It does not appear to want to come out now.”
“He or she will be along soon,” said Rose, weariness adding a little bite to her words.
Abbie could see Julia’s stomach move as if gripped by another contraction but the woman showed no sign of being aware of it. She stood up, framed Julia’s face in her hands, and stared into her eyes. They were glazed and Julia stared at something in the corner of the room. A faint smile curved the woman’s mouth and it affected Abbie strangely. She itched to slap it away. She glanced at Rose who was watching Julia and frowning deeply.
“Yes, he will. I am going to have a boy,” Julia said in a singsong voice. “Robert wants a boy.”
“Oh, hellfire and damnation, the girl thinks she sees her husband.”
“Well, I wish her husband would tell her to get back to business,” Abbie snapped, and Rose laughed.
“Never seen anything like it and I have tended a lot of births.”
“Julia!” Abbie snapped out and her friend turned those faraway eyes to her.
For a moment, Julia said nothing then closed her eyes. “I need sleep.”
“Julia!”
“It is all right, Abbie. Robert says our babe will need all my strength soon but not today.”
“Well, that is strange,” Rose said.
“How can she just stop?” Abbie felt Julia’s stomach, holding her hands there for a long time.
“But she has, hasn’t she?”
“Yes, it appears she has. I just don’t understand. I have helped in a lot of births but never seen it start then stop.”
Rose stood up and rubbed at the base of her back. “Maybe you should speak to the doctor you sometimes help out. He has more book knowledge about such things than we do. We just have experience.”
“Well, I will in the morning. I think it might be wise if I grab some sleep while I can.”
As she started out of the room, Rose patted her on the back. “Definitely. This girl has stolen a lot of that from you.”
That was true, Abbie thought as she felt Julia’s forehead and found no hint of fever. Then she undressed and put on her nightgown. As she crawled into bed she decided she would go talk to the doctor as soon as she woke up. She hoped he would have some answers.
Chapter Ten
It took her a while before she got to speak with the doctor. She had to help him clean a wound first, one that had begun to show signs of infection. After they cleaned up he took her to the small room he used as an office. She saw the blanket-covered cot in the corner and decided it must be where he collapsed to sleep at the end of a long day. Abbie wondered if this war had given the man as much doctoring as he had the stomach to take or if he intended to continue when the war was over.
“Drink?” he asked as he poured himself some whiskey.
“A very small one as I believe I will need to stay awake for a long time.”
He laughed and poured her a small amount of whiskey. “What did you want to ask me? And thanks for the help. I think we caught that infection in time.”
“Good. There is too much lost to it.”
“Indeed. So, your question?”
“It is time or very near time for Julia to have her baby. She thought it was time yesterday, but despite having pains and all, it stopped, just stopped. Does that mean something is wrong?”
“No. Women can even have fraudulent labor. I have had the husband drag me out in the middle of the night, rush me to his house and then, by the time we get there, the woman is fine.”
“So she is not having the baby now? Does this wait last long or is it just a quickly passing thing?”
“Sometimes it can happen long before the true time. Those times we usually try to stop it or make the women stay abed with her feet up, both actions I have never decided on the worth of. Sometimes it is a warning and the true time will come along soon after. Point is, it is not usually a sign that something is wrong.”
“All right.” She sipped her whiskey. “So she may well start up again before too long.”
“I fear so. I thought you said you had helped in a lot of births.”
“I have, but they all started and stopped as one hears they should.”
“Ah, well, every woman is different. I have had women scream as if they are being ripped apart and others who sit there calm and smiling, chatting away with anyone who stops by, then suddenly she is a mother.”
“A strange business,” she said, shook her head, and finished the last bit of her whiskey.
“No question about it. Ah, I believe we are about to have some company.”
Wondering why the doctor suddenly looked amused, she turned and saw Matthew. He walked into the office, glared at the empty whiskey glass, and then scowled at her. “What are ye doing?”
“I was talking to the doctor about Julia’s baby coming. I had a few questions.”
“With whiskey?” he grumbled.
“It was courtesy that made him offer and I was in need of something after spending a few hours with Julia. I got the answers I needed and the whiskey was much better than Reid ever offered me or my father’s brew.”
Matthew glanced back at the doctor who was hiding a big grin behind the sipping of his drink and failing to disguise his intense amusement. Muttering to himself, he led Abbie out of the infirmary. He decided it was just luck that kept him from meeting James, Dan, or Boyd as he left.
“Why are ye out wandering around? I thought Julia was having her bairn?”