Page 65 of The Soul Never Forgets

The following conversation between us consists of back and forth shouting as the boat approaches the dock.

“How soon will it be here?”

“I don’t know all that.”

“What do you know?”

“Sable went to visit her, and she was having pains. They sent for the doctor, and he put her in bed. He said her labor had started. The neighbor girl came down here to send word to you.”

I leap from the deck of the ship onto the dock, leaving the boat in the care of the boys. “Moor her up, boys. I’m going home to see my wife and meet my son or daughter.”

“I’ll drive you,” Mr. Le Blanc says.

“You don’t have to do that. I’m able to drive myself.”

“Sure you are but I want to drive you. I’d like an update on August. I want to know that she is doing all right. She’s the closest thing that Sable and I have to a daughter. And this child is going to be like a grandchild to us.”

“Of course it will be.”

“Heaven help us, Frank, if this baby is a girl. She’ll have all of us wrapped around her little finger.”

“I never had sisters. I don’t think I’ll know how to be a father to a baby girl.”

I’m only twenty-one years old. I’m not real sure I know how to be a father to a baby boy either but at least I was a big brother to three boys. Raising a boy seems like it’ll come easier for me.

“You’ll be an excellent father to a boy or girl. And August will be a wonderful mother. This baby will be loved.”

Mr. Le Blanc is usually a slow driver but not today. He slung me all over that pickup driving from the shop to his sister’s cottage.

The pickup is still in a slow roll when I jump out and make a dash for the front door.

Gussy is lying in bed, Mrs. Le Blanc at her side.

She smiles when she sees me standing in the doorway and holds out her hand. “Frank.”

I go to her and sit on the bed, taking her hand in mine. “You did too much housework and put yourself into labor, didn’t you?”

“I most certainly did not. The doctor said that burst of energy was my body getting ready for the baby to come. It was going to happen today one way or another.”

I guess we’ll never know.

Mrs. Le Blanc steps out of the room to give us privacy, and I place my hand on top of her abdomen. “Has she moved much since I left?”

“No.Hehasn’t moved much since my water broke.”

“Your water broke?”

“About an hour ago.”

“Does that mean she’s about to be born?”

“No. The doctor said it’s still early and it would be a while. But the baby is definitely on the way. There’s no turning back now.”

“You should be in a hospital.” I’m not proud that Gussy has to give birth at home because I can’t pay for a hospital birth.

“Women have been having babies at home since the beginning of time. I’ll be fine.”

“I know but you could have medicine for the pain if you were at a hospital.”

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