Page 48 of Her Patron
“What is it?” asked Minerva. “Lady Warner is resting and has asked not to be disturbed unless it’s an emergency.”
“It’s an emergency!” June nearly bowled the girl over. “She’s in labor, dumbass!”
“E – excuse me?”
June was already heading to Monique’s bedroom. Sette remained out in the hall, apologizing to Minerva. “If I may go in there, please. I’m actually an obstetrician when I’m not paying women for sex. I know, I’m a complicated person.”
Minerva was too shocked to say or do anything.
“Can I call someone? Who should I call? Where’s your midwife?”
Sette entered as Monique retorted with, “Would you bug off? I’m not…” She sat up and promptly grabbed the small of her back, pain wiping out her complexion. “I’m not in labor!”
“What’s the nearest hospital?” June asked Sette, as if she would know. “Could you drive her there? We’re too far out to wait for an ambulance!”
“I said I’m not…”
Sette had heard that terrified cry too many times in her life. Usually, in a hospital, but women went into labor all the time at home.
Minerva raced to the madam’s address book on a coffee table and flipped it open. “I’ll call her midwife right now!”
“Unless she lives down the road,” Sette said, going to Monique’s side and helping her sit up, sweat cresting her brow, “she’s not going to make it in time. This baby’s coming fast.”
As the only calm one in the room – let alone the only medically licensed one – Sette soon had to take over.
While she delegated Minerva to call this person and for June to go into the bathroom to grab this and that, she finally coaxed details out of Monique’s mouth. Like how she had been cramping for the past three days and fighting back waves of nausea that she hadn’t felt since her first trimester. When she admitted that the cramps didn’t let up no matter what position she was in, Sette said, “I need to please get you off this bed.”
Sette knew nothing about Monique’s pregnancy, but she knew about many things, like, oh, the signs of active labor. Cramps that didn’t go away, no matter what, were not a good sign. Nor was the water starting to run down Monique’s legs when she finally got up again.
“Holy shit!” June exclaimed, coming out of the bathroom. She would’ve looked comical with her breasts pushing through herblouse and half her ass hanging from her skirt if it weren’t for the severity of the situation. “She’s dying!”
Both Monique and Sette sent her a warning look.
“Hand me my phone, please,” Monique said. “I need to call my wife.”
She may have been in labor, but Sette figured they still had an hour to go before she was ready to deliver. That wasn’t enough time to drive her to a hospital. Nor was it enough time for the midwife to arrive before a baby had crowned its head into the world, but it was enough time to gather her bearings and send Minerva out to find a couple more helping hands. Within twenty minutes, Chelsea and Grace arrived with another maid in tow. Monique grumbled about having an audience, but didn’t tell anyone to leave.
“Shut down the Manoir,” June told Chelsea. “No new clients except to honor appointments. If there’s a problem, come get me. Tell the bouncer that we had to close early.”
Chelsea looked more than happy to leave the scene of a birth. Sette later found out that she didn’t handle “gross” well. Things are about to get gross. Hopefully not too gross, but there was no such thing as a clean delivery.
Sette made Monique walk around her room with her maid’s help. After calling her wife, she started texting, her face reclaiming its poised, no-fuss demeanor. Except for when she had a contraction, of course. Since Sette had to go in and out of the room to delegate responsibilities, she made Minerva track the time between contractions.
She didn’t share any concerns she had, such as the size of the baby and any complications that Monique’s doctor may have foreseen. Sette briefly took over walking duty to give Minerva a break. Really, it was a guise to get Monique to fess up to something before it was too late. The midwife was on her way, but Sette wasn’t counting on her getting there in time. If she didget there and Monique was still in labor… it probably wasn’t a good sign.
Monique said that, aside from a large baby, her doctor never said anything. She had planned on a homebirth, anyway, just not… here. While it was good to know that there may not be any equipment or monitoring necessary, Sette would not be relieved until this was over.
“You’re going to need more towels than that,” she muttered to Grace.
When Minerva took over walking again, June grabbed her girlfriend and hauled her to the bathroom. Somewhere in the chaos, she had changed into yoga pants and a black T-shirt.
“Can you do this?” she asked, hands grasping Sette’s arms. “Maybe it’s a sign that you’re here when this is happening.”
“Hon,” Sette said, letting slip a pet name she hadn’t intended to use on her yet, “I’m already doing it. I’ve seen hundreds of births in my life. I remember every single one. They’re all different, but they’re the same, too. I do need you to help me, though. Can you do that?”
June assured her that she could. We’ll see.
Suffice to say, Sette had not expected to spend her night helping her girlfriend’s boss deliver her baby. Yet once things started rolling, they were impossible to stop. Sette had to call upon her years of being in the delivery room to do this for the first time in, well, years. Luckily, a lot of it was reflexive memory. Things she thought she had forgotten started coming back to her.
