The Chronicles of Narnia - The Rebirth

Chapter 2 : The Sunset

St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, July 3th, 1999.

I've been sitting on this terribly uncomfortable chair in this shell-wall waiting room for hours. The atmosphere was agitated or if I can say excited as every time I went to a hospital. A maternity so alive was a joy for all, and after all, it was a place where life was at its beginning. I was in the company of my son-in-law, George, and my grandson, Samuel, aged thirty-six and three respectively. Samuel was sitting on the floor in front of me and playing with his little cars. This little red-haired boy was laughing and tweeting waiting for his future little brother, my second grandson, to arrive.

It had been an extremely warm day here in Manchester, certainly as in the whole country. However, the heat did not bother me, I preferred it to the cold of the English winters and while the day was finally ending, the heat gradually came down.

I turned my head from Samuel to look out the window at the beauty of the landscape that was breathtaking. The sun was setting to embrace the city's skyline in colors perfectly mixing orange and pink. The city of Manchester was smaller than London but I liked this new life since my husband died. I lived in a small cottage in the countryside of Manchester and my housekeeper kept me company during the year. Every summer, my daughter, my son-in-law and their family came to spend the holidays at my home and that's why the delivery was taking place in this hospital in Manchester and not in London.

There, my son-in-law was a judge and my daughter, a doctor until the birth of their children where she had decided to stop her professional activity to be with Samuel and the unborn child. My little Lucy had met George in London when the young man was visiting his mother in the last months of her life. This meeting was due to chance and Lucy had been able to comfort George and revive his happiness. They had come to know each other, and shortly before his mother's death, George had asked for my daughter's hand, and she had accepted with confidence and joy. She loved him and that was all that mattered to her, especially at the age of thirty. But it is true that we now live in a very evolved world, too much for me, I admit. After all, at the age of seventy-one, I have a lot of trouble understanding the world today. My daughter who works and who doesn't get married until she's thirty... Well, what do you want? It is so and my love for my daughter will not fade for this reason. Lucy was the first of my three daughters and my fourth child, and she looked very much like a young woman I knew during the Second World War, a person for whom I had great affection. Christ, why does it last so long? I gave birth seven times and it had never been so long. I looked up at the clock, and seeing that we had been sitting here for almost six hours, I stood up and asked my son-in-law:

"How much longer are we going to wait?

- I don't know, Ms. Foster... With Samuel it was only two hours.

- Mmm... I'm going to find a nurse to find out."

I went out of this waiting room darkened by the falling evening to call a nurse and ask her what was going on. She remained polite and replied only that it was necessary to wait. I did not understand what could be so long but I resigned myself to return to my son-in-law and his son.

After ten minutes, a doctor appeared in the room and called out to George, he looked gloomy. A nurse appeared after him holding an infant crying. George then got up and the nurse introduced him to his son, once in the arms of his father the baby calmed down and began to smile at him. George was looking at his son with a smile on his face, but something was bothering him but also me. Why was the baby here and not with his mother ? George had looked up at the doctor while I had lowered mine to this little being. The old doctor then nodded, with a sad and meaningful look. Lucy had not survived the delivery. I fell back on my seat and saw George's gaze disintegrate, our hearts had just broken. Tears flowed down my cheeks as Samuel approached me to comfort me. Surviving one of my children was terrible but I could not let my son-in-law and his two sons, so I pulled myself together and looked at George. The latter had started staring at his son with foggy eyes.

"Your mother had chosen your first names so... Welcome among the living my little Sebastian Edmund Brinks..." he finally said, tears beading on his cheeks despite the smile for his son.