A Step in the Right Direction

by Treanna

"Sit down, Trixie," Moms told her for the fourth time.

Trixie turned to her with a smile. "I have tried, Moms, but I can’t. Why doesn’t Mart ring?"

Honey looked up from the knitting she was doing. "Babies have their own agenda, Trix, and they will only come when they are ready."

Trixie rubbed her stomach and she felt it tighten slightly. "I wish this one would hurry up and make an appearance. I have had enough of looking like a beached whale."

Honey laughed. "And you think I don’t?"

"But you and Di are so much smaller than me. I am sure this baby is going to be at least ten pounds born."

Moms smiled. "Be patient, Trix. It won’t be much longer."

Trixie sighed. "I am going for a walk. I can’t sit still any more."

"Well, don’t go too far, Trix. You don’t want to miss the first Bob-White baby announcement," Honey told her.

Trixie smiled. "I won’t be long."

Trixie walked slowly towards the clubhouse. Her mind wandered back to past times there and she smiled. She rubbed her back as she remembered finding the old gatehouse and the stolen diamond. She also remembered her first kiss on her sixteenth birthday and the many others since then. She stood by the tree and smiled about when Jim had tripped when she had told him she was pregnant.

The next moment she was sprawled under the tree as a great pain swept through her body. She screamed, but no one was around. As it passed she dragged herself up and felt a sudden gush of water run down her leg as another pain swept over her body.

"Not now," she panted, willing the pains to go away. "I have to get back." She spoke to the tree.

She turned, but every step she took seemed to cause another pain to appear. By the time she was halfway back, she was exhausted.

It was then that she heard laughing.

"Help!" she called out as loud as she could and a moment later Dan and his girlfriend Penny appeared.

Penny was a doctor that had graduated two years after Brian and now worked with him at the hospital. She had been introduced to Dan and they had become firm friends. There was nothing overly romantic between them, but they both had fun together.

Dan put his arm around her and steadied her. "What is wrong Trix?" he asked.

"The baby," was all she could get out.

Penny put her hand on Trixie's stomach. "How far apart?" she asked as another contraction ripped through Trixie. She felt the contraction low and strong and she looked worriedly up at Dan. "Trixie, we need to get you back to the house now. I think this baby is ready to meet you."

"Jim?"

"We'll get him, but we need to see to you first." She then looked at Dan. "Can you carry her?"

He nodded. "Hang on, Trix."

"But I am a whale. You can’t pick me up."

"It’s okay, honey. I have been lifting weights." He picked her up gently into his arms as Penny ran on ahead.

Penny hurried into the kitchen of Crabapple Farm and Moms immediately stood up.

"We need blankets and sheets," Penny panted. "Trixie is in heavy labour."

"An ambulance?" Honey asked and Penny nodded.

"But I don’t think that this baby will wait that long." Then she asked, "Where is Jim?"

"He went for a ride with Brian. I will try and reach them." Honey pulled herself up and headed for the phone.

Just then, Dan walked in with Trixie. Moms also hurried in, her arms full of blankets.

"We will make a bed here," Penny told Moms and Moms quickly lay down the blankets. "Okay, Dan put her down."

Dan gently lay her down.

"Now out." Penny pushed him towards the door. "And don’t let anyone in except for Jim and the paramedics when they arrive."

Dan nodded and hurried out.

Bobby hurried down the stairs when he heard the commotion and was quickly sent outside to join Dan.

Penny knelt in front of Trixie and smiled. "Okay, Trix, I'm going to check you out and see what is happening with this baby, okay?"

Trixie nodded and then grimaced as another contraction wracked her body. "Where is Jim?"

Honey hurried in. "He is on his way, Trix."

Trixie looked up at her mother. "Moms, I am scared."

Her mother sat beside her and took her hand.  "My Trixie scared? Never. After what you have been through the last few years, a simple delivery should not bother you. And Penny and Honey and I are here and Jim will be here soon."

"Trixie." Penny got her attention. "This baby is just about ready to be born. But don’t push until I tell you. Okay?"

Trixie nodded and then as the next contraction took over her body thought she heard horses hooves. Then dimly she heard Honey say, "Thank goodness."

When Trixie could focus her mind again she could see a flash of red and then she was looking into the most beautiful green eyes on the face of the earth. "Jim," she panted as he smiled down at her. "I thought you wouldn’t make it."

"I wouldn’t be anywhere else than here, baby." He told her as he took her hand in his. "Now, how about we bring the newest Frayne into the world?"

She nodded and then tightened her grip on his hand and his voice soothed her through it.

"Okay, Trix, you are ready so when the next contraction comes try to push it away. Okay?"

And she did. And all through the pain and the burning she heard Jim's voice encouraging her and loving her.

And suddenly she heard the most beautiful sound in the world: a baby's cry.

She heard Penny laugh. "Congratulations, you have a beautiful son."

Trixie lay back to rest, but she felt that something was wrong. Everyone seemed to be paying attention to the crying little boy, but she had to let them know that something was not right.

"Penny," she whispered.

Penny was immediately at her side.

"What is it, Trix?"

"The baby isn’t born."

Penny nodded. "Look, Jim is holding his son."

Then she looked in shock as another contraction wracked Trixie's body. She put her hand on her stomach and opened her eyes wide. She looked at Honey. "Get Brian in here NOW!"

Honey struggled to her feet and hurried to the door. She opened the door and called in her husband. Brian hurried in.

"What is wrong?"

Penny looked at him. "There is another one."

Brian immediately looked at his sister's face and then nodded to Penny.

"Jim, give that baby to Moms. Trixie needs you here."

Moms took the tiny baby and moved away as Brian sat beside his sister.

"Trix, look at me."

She looked up. "I don’t understand?"

"Honey, you are having another baby."

"But I only have one crib."

He smiled. "I am sure Jim will buy you another one."

"I am so tired."

"I know, Trix, but this baby is not going to be born without your help. Now, you keep your eyes on Jim and listen to me and we will have this baby born in no time. Okay?"

Trixie nodded and then turned her eyes to her husband. His voice again soothed her as the contraction again tore at her body.

"Jim what are we going to do with two?" she whispered.

"Have a lot of fun." He smiled down at her.

But this baby decided to make it harder for her. And after another ten minutes she was exhausted. She lay back after the next contraction and shook her head. "I can’t push anymore. I can’t."

"Trix, you have to."

She shook her head as tears began to flow.

But then she heard Jim begin to sing. The same song that he had sung to her stomach from the day she had told him she was pregnant. And as he sang she gained new strength to push.

Hush little baby, don’t say a word
Papa's gonna buy you a mocking bird
And if that mocking bird don’t sing
Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring.

By the time a lusty cry was heard in the Belden kitchen, there was not a dry eye in the room.

"It’s a girl," Penny said with tears in her eyes.

"No more," Trixie panted.

Brian laughed. "No more, sis. Just the two."

It was then that the wail of the ambulance was heard.

"Better late than never," Moms said with a laugh.

Trixie was cleaned up slightly, put on a stretcher, and put into the ambulance. Brian and Penny checked over the babies and pronounced them perfect. They were put in the ambulance next to Jim, who could not wipe the smile off his face.

Honey appeared next to the ambulance. "Room for one more?"

"We can go in soon," Brian told her. "I am just going to help Moms clean up."

"I think that maybe we should go now."

Brian took one look at her face and hurried over. "You are joking. Why didn’t you say anything?"

"You were a little busy. And the contractions are not that close together, yet."

"Then I had better get you into the car and get you to hospital, too."

"I will stay and help clean up," Penny offered. And Brian smiled as he led Honey towards his car.

Moms then appeared from inside. "Mart just rang and Di just gave birth to a little boy a few minutes ago.

Two hours later, Madeleine Belden gave birth to a seven-pound, four-ounce girl.

*     *      *

"Okay, Frayne, what is this all about?"

Jim turned to his wife. "Patience, shamus."

Trixie adjusted the harness slightly and kissed the head of her daughter. "It had better be good."

Jim ran his hand gently down her face, reached down and kissed her and his daughter, and then his son who was  asleep in the harness on his chest.

When he neared the clubhouse, he pulled out a blindfold.

"You’re joking."

He shook his head. "I promise I won’t let you fall."

She wasn’t totally convinced about the blindfold, but she allowed him to put it on her.

She then held onto his arm as he led her towards the clubhouse. He stopped and then reached for the blindfold.

"Take a look, baby."

Trixie looked around at the sea of faces smiling at her. Then she noticed the stepping stones and the little bridge that was across the roots on the tree. She saw that each stepping stone had a footprint and a name on it. She read them all.

There was Brian Belden, Honey Belden, and Brianna Maddy Belden, which was   accompanied by a tiny footprint. Others were marked Mart Belden and Di Belden and there was another tiny footprint with the name Peter Martin Belden. The next ones were for Jim Frayne, Trixie Frayne and there were two joined stepping stones with the names, Matthew James Frayne and Katie Helen Frayne.

"How did you get their footprints?" Trixie asked in amazement.

Jim smiled. "I have my ways, but now it is your turn, sweetheart. Your concrete is soft and ready for your footprint."

She held onto Jim as she slipped out of her shoe and gently put her foot in the soft cool concrete. Jim handed his son to Brian as he knelt down and gently washed his wife’s foot and dried it, kissing it gently before putting her shoe back on.

Trixie then noticed another couple of stepping stones. She read them out loud. "Dan Mangan and Penny Mangan. What!"

Dan smiled. "I thought it silly to put Penny’s maiden name when I asked her to marry me last night and she accepted."

Trixie hugged them both and then turned around to smile at the beaming faces around her.

"A new generation of Bob-Whites," she said.

"Let’s hope that our daughters don’t have the same flair for getting themselves into trouble as my wife and sister did," Jim commented.

Trixie looked at her best friend and sister-in-law. "You never know with genetics."

Trixie laughed and Honey laughed with her.

Everyone else groaned.

The End