Inner Fire and the Light

by Olivia Jean Ecklund
Chapter 15

Joe and Grace sat at their breakfast table. Both were loath to leave their beautiful room. It had been like heaven on earth. Soon they would have to pack up and get ready to leave. Grace had spent an hour taking photos of every nook and cranny.

"Memories," she had said when Joe teased her about it.

The car was due in an hour to return them to the cabin, and they would leave with mixed feelings for they were looking forward to seeing their friends again.

"I wonder how everyone has been adjusting since we left," Grace thought out loud. "I hope Natalie has been OK. I'd feel really awful if she went into labor before I got back."

"Now, Grace," Joe soothed, "You know we've prayed for them and that they are in God's hands. The angels said that things would go well with them... but I will be glad to see everyone again... not that I haven't enjoyed being here with you... " he stopped and leered playfully at her.

"You better not give me any ideas or we won't be ready when the car gets here," she admonished.

They finished packing up and were outside waiting when the limo pulled up to take them home. The drive up the mountain was so beautiful that they didn't talk much. They relaxed in each other's arms and enjoyed looking at God's creation all around them.

Finally, the car entered the gates of "Saving Grace" and pulled up in front of the larger cabin. Out on the lawn in front of the house, the trainer was working with Nick and LaCroix. The men were starting with some simple stretching exercises designed to strengthen muscle tone and loosen them up.

Natalie and Janette sat on the porch watching. Everyone came over to hug the returning honeymooners as Joe and Grace got out of the limo. Natalie pulled Grace aside. "How was it?"

"Girl, it was wonderful! That man of yours sure knows how to pamper people. The tub was like a swimming pool... huge. It was glorious. We nearly lived in it. It's always been a fantasy of mine." Natalie's eyes twinkled. "I know. You told me that once, remember?"

Grace looked at her friend. "Natalie, you told Nick?" she blushed. "Well... Thank you so much. It's more than we hoped for... or deserved."

"You're wrong, Grace. You guys deserve the best of everything. You have been such a good friend to me and to Nick. You've accepted this whole crazy life, and you have a few gray hairs to show for the some of the things we've put you through."

"Gray hairs! Where?" Grace plucked at her hair, with mock distress. "Girl, they were there long before I knew of vampires," She laughed.

The newlyweds returned to the porch with Janette to watch the men as they returned to their workout, while Natalie went inside.

After several more minutes, LaCroix called to Janette, and she came and helped him back to a seat on the porch. "I've had enough for today," he said, "... but it felt so good."

Natalie had also returned to the porch. She touched his shoulder and knelt before him. "Are you okay, Father?"

LaCroix looked down at her, and tears formed in his eyes. She'd never called him that before. It sounded good to his ears.

"Yes, daughter," he smiled. "It was a wonderful work out. When I was in the army, we did a regimen of exercises each day to get in shape. I just need to take it slowly." He patted her hand.

Natalie saw the pleasure in his eyes over the fact that he had been able to accomplish something positive. She turned his hand, pulling it to her lips and kissed his palm. The tears that had formed in his eyes spilled over as she slipped an arm around his neck and drew him close to hug him. "I'm so glad you are here with us, Lucus," she assured him. "So glad."

When Natalie finally drew away from his trembling body, she realized that everyone was watching them. Nick had taken a break to check on LaCroix and arrived in time to catch their interchange.

LaCroix looked at the tear filled eyes of his family and said, "Forgive me. I am overwhelmed with emotion. This humanity is difficult!"

Everyone laughed happily together. There were more chuckles when Nick and Joe had to help Natalie back onto her feet. She was absolutely waddling now.

"Come on," she called, as she led them back into the house. "Lunch is ready."

Nick extended his hand and hauled LaCroix to his feet. Janette took his arm on the other side. "Father, you never fail to amaze me," Nick said.

"How so, Nicholas? You are surprised to see that I have come to love your Natalie?"

"Actually, yes. You opposed her for so long."

"True, but we were on opposite sides then. It was another life time. She has graciously put it behind her. I am grateful to be here with you and be so accepted and trusted by your beautiful wife."

"You and I have so much bad history that you still cannot truly trust me yet. I understand, Nicholas. I must earn your trust. I still have much to confess and ask your forgiveness for."

They reached the table and everyone started to take their seats. Nick passed by Grace and Joe on his way to his seat next to Natalie. He hugged Joe's neck, slapping him on the chest as his arm wrapped around him.

"Pop, it's sure good to have you back. There's been a really empty spot here."

He wrapped his other arm about Grace and kissed the side of her forehead. "Did you enjoy the rooms?"

Everyone laughed as Grace turned a bright red. She coughed, "Yes, Nick. Thank you. It was wonderful!"

They turned to eat their lunch of salad and cold chicken.

*****

The next few weeks went slowly for Natalie. She could barely get out of bed. She used the lift when she wanted to get downstairs. Often she would sit on the porch with the family and they would talk. Sometimes they would read the Bible aloud and discuss the passages. It was a time of relaxation and waiting. Sydney often followed his young mistress around, but was disgusted when he could find no room on her lap. After tolerating his glares for a while, she finally got the brilliant idea of getting him his own chair to sit beside hers on the porch so she could stroke him as she sat. He would sit purring loudly, reassured of his place in her heart.

Patrick and his wife came twice during those three weeks. They stayed overnight, and Charity started to teach the other ladies how to make baby quilts.

Sometimes, as Natalie lay on the porch divan, Grace would rub moisturizer into her legs and arms. Janette would brush her beautiful, long hair and often sing old world lullabies. Lucus and Nick would tell stories, and Joe would stay busy typing them up on his laptop.

Each afternoon, the trainer came, and Nick, LaCroix, and Joe would go through the stretching and strengthening routines. Sometimes Grace and Janette would join them while Natalie watched, feeling the twins moving inside her.

*****

One afternoon, Nick, Grace and Joe were sitting out on the porch after the trainer had left, watching Natalie's cat. Sydney was pacing around the porch in an agitated manner, and they were wondering what he was upset about.

Natalie had spent the day up in the bedroom resting. Sydney had stayed with her, keeping her company most of the morning. Grace had taken her a light lunch of soup and a sandwich, but she had only sipped some of the soup and said she wanted to try and nap, so Grace had picked up the reluctant cat and left.

Suddenly, a blast of cold wind blew through the porch. Heavy black clouds started to roll in.

Nick turned to Joe, "Looks like a storm's coming. Maybe that's what he's so upset about. You know how these mountain storms blow in quickly and get kind of rough for a few hours. Maybe we'd better batten down the hatches and get the gang inside."

LaCroix and Janette were out on the lawn playing croquet. Joe had laughed at them when they had brought out the game. He thought it was funny that the former vampires knew how to play. LaCroix had told him it had once been all the rage with the rich in the early '1900's. All of a sudden there was a flash of lightning, and a torrent of rain seemed to deluge them. Grace opened the door for the suddenly frantic cat and hurried inside to find Natalie doubled over in pain near the lift. She helped the pregnant woman cross the room to the couch before the fireplace.

LaCroix, having regained much of his strength, grabbed Janette's hand and they raced across the expanse of lawn to the big cabin's porch where Nick and Joe stood, yelling at them to hurry.

Lightning cracked directly overhead, and the shock nearly knocked them off their feet. Their ears rang and their eyes dilated in the blazing white light of the storm's sudden fury. Hail the size of marbles began to fall. The four stood for a moment, open mouthed in shock. A cry rang out from inside the house.

It was Natalie.

The four looked at each other, then raced indoors to find Grace propping Natalie up with pillows. She had one under her knees. Sydney paced nearby watching his mistress.

"Nick, the babies are coming!" Grace cried, as Natalie screamed again.

"Something is wrong!" Nat cried.

Nick looked around frantically at his friends, "What do we do, Grace??

"What are you doing down here, Natalie? What's wrong?" He slipped behind Nat propping her up a bit into a sitting position and began rubbing her back.

Grace ordered, "Joe, go up and get a couple of clean sheets and some towels... Oh, and bring Natalie's medical bag, too. LaCroix, Janette, see if you can get a fire going." She turned back to Natalie. "Natalie, how long have you been having contractions?"

Nat answered, sheepishly, "About 12 hours. I thought they could be Brackston Hicks, and didn't want to get everyone worked up for nothing but about a half hour ago, they suddenly got very hard and close together. It's taken me awhile to get down here for help..." the pregnant woman panted.

She grabbed Nick's hand and held it so tightly he thought it might break as she struggled not to scream again through a new contraction. "Grace, you are going to have to take a look. Something is very wrong... I think one of the babies maybe backwards. You're going to have to turn it if it is."

"Me? Natalie, I'm a coroner, not an obstetrician. I've never had to deliver any at-risk babies myself. I only assisted in two problem deliveries during my internship, and they were C-sections. That's been years ago."

Her laboring friend cried out again then begged, "Grace, you have to try. You're the only one who can do it."

LaCroix said quietly, "I've done it before."

They all turned to look at him.

Chapter 16

I would like to say again a special thank you to Elise for first beta reading and correcting a million grammatical problems. Also to Linda my sister for also reading for content and Biblical accuracy. She also added her knowledge of child birth. Something I know nothing about. She added some wonderful scenes to the final two chapters.

"I was a surgeon in the 1800's. I have done the procedure, even before it was acceptable. Most women in those days died in childbirth. This baby did not die... and neither did the mother."

Nick was sweating with fear. "You! You saved babies? Why?"

"I was posing as a doctor. That's what doctors do. I'd seen a vet turn a calf. I thought the mother would die anyway so it might be an interesting experiment. It worked." He shrugged.

He took Natalie's face in his hands. "Let me try. I will be as gentle as I possibly can. I remember the event very well. It was one of the most human things I ever did when I was a vampire."

Nick shouted over a new thunderclap, "I don't know...."

Natalie screamed, "Nick, we have to let him try. We have no choice. Grace will have to do a C-section if it doesn't work."

Grace said, "I can do a saddle block for a C-section, but I don't have anything to deal with the side effects and that could be quite dangerous."

Natalie shook her head. Between clenched teeth, she said to LaCroix, "Father, I trust you... God will guide you. Just do it!"

LaCroix ran to the kitchen and scrubbed his hands and arms in hot water and soap. He hurried back and put on the gloves Grace held out to him.

The older woman had prepared Natalie. She was on clean sheets, lying on the bear skin rug. Nick was propping up her upper body.

She moaned, "I wish you had your hypnotic ability." Another contraction hit her and she pressed her lips together trying to suppress the scream, but a low moan still escaped her lips. She was drenched in sweat. The suppressed scream tore at Nick's heart. "Scream, Natalie, if it helps. Come on... breathe the way we were taught... breathe," he instructed using the LaMaze techniques they had studied to try and distract her.

Janette stood off to the side, watching the whole process. She started to pray for her new friend and for wisdom and help for the man she loved that was trying to help her.

LaCroix knelt between Natalie's legs. He examined her as gently as he could, then his lips tightened and he nodded. "She was right. The first baby is not in the proper position. It must be turned. Nick, you'll need to hold her tightly."

"Grace, can you help brace her legs?" He waited until the end of the next contraction, then slipped his hand inside her and up the vaginal wall into the uterus.

Great sobs of pain came from Natalie. LaCroix felt the baby's feet. He slid his hand along the legs and up the spine and shoulders. He supported the baby's head and neck and gently rotated it around, then withdrew. Natalie had gone limp and silent, and he looked frantically into her face.

Grace moved around and took her vitals, then reassured everyone, "She just passed out. Vital signs are okay." She took an ammonia ampule, broke it and waved it under Natalie's nose.

Natalie awoke, coughing and sputtering. LaCroix, pale and sweating from his exertions and the tension, moved back and to the side as Grace took his place.

"Natalie, at the next contraction I'm going to need you to push, OK? Here it comes. Now... push, Natalie!"

Nat took a deep breath and pushed as hard as possible, tears streaming down her face.

Joe held Janette as they watched in nail-biting silence.

Natalie was holding Nick's hand so tightly he thought he heard bones crack. All of a sudden the first baby's head crowned. Grace said tensely, as she worked, "It's crowned, Natalie. Stop pushing while I ease the head out... There we go... Ok, push again..."

The laboring mother strained again, screaming in pain and joy as she felt the baby slither from her body.

The slippery child slipped into Grace's waiting hands. "It's a girl," she cried.

Joe handed her a soft towel, and she wrapped the infant in it, rubbing her gently until she cried with frustration at being in this harsh new world.

Outside the storm raged, the shutters rattled, and the rain poured. Inside it was warm and six faces peered at the new little one.

Natalie cried and laughed at the same time. Nick did too. He pressed his lips against her forehead.

"Janette, could you come and take Nick's place so he can cut the cord," Grace asked the awed woman.

Janette slipped into Nick's place, bracing Natalie. Tears ran down her cheeks. She'd never been touched more by any event in her life.

Nick slipped into Grace's place. She showed him how to tie and cut the cord, then handed Nick the baby.

He took his new daughter, with trembling hands, and brought her to Natalie, to lay her on his wife's chest.

Natalie stared at the beautiful, newborn. She had blond hair like her father and a little upturned nose. "You shall be called, Lucy Anne." She looked up and met the eyes of a very surprised and touched ex-vampire master. She saw the tears that sprang to his eyes.

The baby cried, and nuzzled Natalie's chest, hungrily looking for her first meal. Janette helped Natalie with her blouse, and covered mother and child with a warm blanket.

Natalie got an amazed look on her face as the baby attached herself, drawing the first drops of precious fluid into her tiny body.

"Oh, Nick," she cried.

Suddenly a second round of contractions hit. Quickly, Grace took Lucy from Natalie, handing her to a stunned LaCroix. He stood nearby, peering at his new name sake.

Grace turned, "Nick, just stay there. When you see the baby's head crowning, let Natalie know to quit pushing. Place your hands on both sides and gently ease the skin down and around it. Tell Natalie when she can push again. Support the head as the baby emerges and the moment you see the shoulders, take hold of them gently with one hand, keeping the other under the baby's head. As you draw the baby out, slide your hand further down its body until you cup its little bottom."

Natalie cried out and bore down. Grace massaged her uterus through the stomach wall to help it contract enough to start the other child on its way. After several more contractions, the next infant's head crowned. Following Grace's instructions to the letter, Nick finally felt the baby slide out in one quick motion, leaving the awe struck father juggling the slippery little body. Nick cried out, "It's our boy."

Everyone laughed. They'd all known it was to be a boy.

Nick found Joe beside him with another soft towel. Wrapping the newborn in it, Nick held his son, fascinated. Natalie watched her husband as the baby flailed around with his hands finally wrapping his tiny fingers around Nick's large one.

Nick whispered softly, "I love you, Nat! Thank you, my love."

Grace tied and cut the cord.

"Nick, you can give the baby to Natalie and let him nurse. It will help start the contractions to expel the afterbirths and we can finish this up." She got busy preparing for the afterbirths.

Nick moved to sit down near Natalie as she rested against Janette. Her friend was gently washing the tired mother's face with a cool towel that Joe has brought.

Nick looked up at Joe. "This baby will be called Joseph Nicholas."

The big man's face melted with emotion, and tears ran down his ebony cheeks. "I am honored," he said.

Grace coached Natalie through several more contractions and soon the After-birthing was done. She finished cleaning up with everyone's help.

They had decided against moving the new mother upstairs for the time being, and had made a very comfortable bed with a down comforter and pillows. Finally, they put the worn out Natalie onto the temporary bed where she snuggled down and put the babies to nurse. The storm raged outside, but inside everything was safe and warm. The cabin's occupants sat or reclined around watching the little miracles of life take their first meal. Nick sat behind his wife again, caressing her hair and gently touching one baby or the other, bestowing kisses on Natalie's lips every time she raised her face to look into his eyes.

"I love you so much, Natalie. You have made me the happiest person alive." He kissed her again.

"As you have me," she returned. "How did we ever live without them?"

Nick said, "I don't know."

"Listen," Natalie said. "I think the storm is over..."

Everything was still outside. "Sometimes God takes away the storm?s of life, and other times He goes through them with us..." Joe commented quietly to the agreement of all.

After a while, Grace came and took the babies, telling Natalie that she needed to rest. She handed Lucy to LaCroix and Little Joey to Joe. Nick and Natalie watched as the two men became enamored with the tiny beings in their arms.

LaCroix looked at the baby in his arms and said, "THIS, truly is immortality."

Every one murmured their agreement.

The End


By Jeannie Ecklund Gersknightlady@cs.com





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