Author Games: Return To Seasons

Task Seven: Silent Night/SF - RappyTheDinosaur

SONG: Jingle Bells 

District 3 Female - TANSY ORINTHA

He sat silently at his wife's side, his heart thudding hard in his chest as he gripped her weak hand. The boys had all been put to bed, but he knew they weren't sleeping. How could they, with their mother crying out so loudly, with doctors and midwives rushing up and down the stairs? 

She wasn't shouting now. In fact, she was silent. And he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not. She was breathing. And apparently her heart was strong. Labor was just putting a lot of strain on her. He pushed her hair off her damp forehead with a shaking hand. 

This would be their seventh child. The doctors had told them there would most likely be complications, if the child made it to full term at all, but she had insisted that she'd be all right. She wanted to do whatever she could for the child. She'd even stayed in bed for the whole month leading up to the birth. 

"One more push, ma'am," a midwife said gently. 

She nodded, her eyelids fluttering slightly as she took a deep breath and did as she was told. He squeezed her hand tighter, as if his energy could transfer into her somehow and make this easier. Maybe it had worked, because a heartbeat later the quiet tension in the room was broken. A new sound broke through the air, ringing clearer than any bell he'd ever heard. 

"Congratulations," the midwife smiled as she quickly set to swaddling the tiny newborn. "It's a girl." 

She placed the thrashing baby into his arms and stepped out to give the family a moment. "A girl," he repeated, his eyes full of wonder as he stared down at the precious little thing, red-faced and screaming. "She's pretty loud, isn't she?" he laughed lightly. 

"Let me see her," his wife said quietly. She struggled to lift her arms. 

He laid the infant across her chest, watching with love as the two stared at each other. The baby stopped crying for the first time since her emergence into the world, instead choosing to make soft cooing sounds as she looked at her mother. 

"Have you decided on a name?" He asked his wife. 

"Tansy," she said, gently nuzzling her new daughter. "Tansy Saffron Orintha. Do you like it?" 

"That's beautiful," he agreed. "She's beautiful." 

"Take her back, dear. I... I think I need to rest," her voice was faint and her eyes were barely open. 

"Alright." He was a jumble of emotions; elation over the birth of his daughter, worry for the health of his wife. But still he scooped the child into his arms and held her close to his beating heart. 

Down the hall, the doorbell chimed. It was his own mother, most likely, here to meet her newest grandchild. "I'll be right back," he said to his wife. 

"Hm," her head bobbed in a weak nod. 

He hurried down the hall and answered the door, but found no one waiting on the other side. Instead what he found was the small string of bells his wife had hung above the door to ward off bad luck. The wind had knocked them down onto the welcome mat. 

Tansy shifted in his arms, starting to whimper again at the cold breeze that blew in through the open door. 

"Tamron!" The shout of the midwife shot ice into his veins. He knew what had happened before he even made it back to the bedroom. 

He stood in the doorway, shaking and unable to do anything as they pulled the sheet over his wife, obscuring her from view. He couldn't even find his voice long enough to ask if he could look at her one final time.