Summer, Part II

A/N: Flashback in italics. I opted for American vocabulary here again, as the characters are American. After looking online, I found that “stroller” is slang for “pram”, “diapers” are “nappies”, and “TV show” is “programme”. Just to avoid confusion… An epilogue and maybe even a sequel chronicling their day-to-day lives will soon follow. The baby’s name is pronounced “Ah-day-lah”-- at least that’s my personal preference.

July crawled by ever so slowly, but Kat marked days off the calendar excitedly. “Only a week to go,” she thought. She now spent much of the day in the nursery, re-arranging little knickknacks and folding and re-folding baby clothes, wondering how her baby would look in them. Kat took out a white onesie with the words Short Sheet emblazoned on the front in black lettering, which had been a random gift from The Trio last weekend. While The Trio probably had stolen the item, Casper and Kat were nonetheless touched by the gesture. She gently laid the piece of clothing on her enormous belly. “You know,” she said, talking more to her unborn child than herself, “I remember when you were no bigger than a strawberry…”

A few days later, Kat and Casper visited an obstetrician, Dr. Jack Kerner, at the hospital where Kat worked. He was a young man in his late thirties who seemed a little eccentric, but professional enough. Kat needed a physical examination and a sonogram scan to confirm she was pregnant. Once that was finished, Dr. Kerner told Kat she was about nine weeks pregnant because he could see the heart beating. He had frozen the image of the fetus from the scan on a computer screen, so the couple could see the tiny white dot that was their developing fetus. “So, it’s true then,” whispered Kat, marveling at the screen. “What is? Oh, right,” said Dr. Kerner, which prompted Casper to give him a “What the fuck?” look. “I’ll leave you kids alone,” said Dr. Kerner, and left the room. Casper, who sat in a chair beside the exam table on which Kat lay, leaned closer and peered at the screen. “Wow,” he said, resting his chin in the palm of his hand, and gazed intently at the screen. He couldn’t seem to take his ice blue eyes off the image. After a few minutes, he looked up at Kat and grinned, and Kat returned the gesture.

After making another appointment in a few weeks’ time, Casper and Kat returned home. They decided they would tell Dr. Harvey when Kat was about 14 weeks along, as she was still in the early stages of pregnancy and could miscarry. Casper and Kat decided early on that they weren’t going to find out the sex of the baby. While this made shopping and preparations difficult, the couple remained steadfast in their decision—no matter how often Dr. Harvey begged them to find out. “But…I really wanna know!” he cried, both he and Casper exhausted after figuring out how to assemble a stroller. “Dad, you can wait if we can,” called Kat, lounging on the sofa watching a TV show about working mothers. She seemed to be doing that more and more often these days.

While the men in her life did the hard work like craftsmanship, among Kat’s preparations was reading pregnancy books, eating well, and trying not to go insane from raging hormones. Casper had read in one of the many books Kat bought for him on expectant fathers that pregnant women have wild cravings, but the only thing Kat really wanted was bananas…with chocolate ice cream. Casper knew he would not miss the feeling of getting up at two in the morning to get Kat the bizarre concoction, but as Kat said through mouthfuls of ice cream early one morning in bed, “It’s good practice for you!” Casper rolled his eyes at this remark. Big mistake: Kat had been in a delicate emotional state, and started bawling. It took Casper five minutes to calm her down, and she eventually went back to sleep. This was fine for her, as she was on maternity leave, but Casper had to be up at six. That morning at the breakfast table, a bleary-eyed Casper dragged his feet into the room, and Dr. Harvey said, “Well, I recognize that look.” Casper gave his father-in-law a dry smile as he poured himself a much needed cup of coffee. “Dad,” began Casper, using the name he addressed Dr. Harvey by now, “How did you do it?” Dr. Harvey considered this, and finally said, “You mean the pregnancy or the parenting?” he queried. “Both,” said Casper, taking a seat across from him at the table. “You know, come to think of it, I have no idea how the Hell I survived…but I was there for her all the time and helped as often as I could,” he said in all honesty. “And that’s the best advice I can give you.”

Days turned into weeks, and before long, it was March, and Kat turned 22. After having a small birthday party in the evening with Dr. Harvey, The Trio (who were meticulously behaved, for once), and chocolate cake, Kat decided to go to bed early. She had received practical new mother items, such as a baby “Bjorn”, a car seat, and large black bag for baby necessities. “So much for a baby shower. I already have just about everything I need,” said Kat before she made her way upstairs. “Didn’t you already have one of those?” asked Dr. Harvey in confusion. “No, Dad. That was a birthing class. One of those one-time-only deals,” sighed Kat. Dr. Harvey shook his head. “Well, honey, let us know when you want a party,” he said. “OK, Dad, sure thing,” said Kat unenthusiastically, and went upstairs. She didn’t have very many friends to celebrate with, so the idea of having a traditional baby shower made her feel a little depressed. She wondered if her Mom ever had a baby shower…

Once Casper and Dr. Harvey had cleaned up from the party, Casper went up to his room and found Kat missing. Slightly panicked, he checked in the bathroom, Dr. Harvey’s bedroom, and the library. Finally, he found her in the nursery, gently rocking back and forth in a rocking chair. “So that’s where you went,” said Casper. Kat looked up and smiled, her hand resting on her belly. She thought he looked very handsome in his navy blue cable knit sweater and jeans, and she told him as much. “You look so beautiful,” he murmured. “You really do. But why’re you all the way up here? Are you alright?” he asked concernedly. “Yeah, I just wanted some time to think,” she admitted shyly. Casper walked over to her and pulled out a small velvet box from his back pocket. Kat opened it and gasped. Nestled in satin was a diamond pendant in the shape of a star burst, which was suspended from a fine gold chain as thin as thread. “It was my Mom’s,” said Casper. “I thought you might like it,” he admitted. “Casper, it’s beautiful,” said Kat in awe. She wore her engagement locket often, and was thrilled to have another piece of jewelry, especially one so significant. She gave him a kiss on the mouth in gratitude.

“You know,” she said, struck by a thought. “Tonight is the fourth anniversary of our engagement,” she said. “And now, we’re having a baby.” Casper walked over to Kat, stood behind the rocking chair, and placed both his hands on her middle. “I know,” said Casper, shaking his head in disbelief. “Who woulda thought?” he marveled.

They stood in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the moment, and this would have continued if the baby had not chosen to kick at that moment. Casper’s eyes widened in surprise and then asked, “What does it feel like?” Kat considered this for a second and said, “Like a gas bubble, I guess…that’s the only analogy I can think of right now.”

Casper wanted to know more. “Does it hurt?” he asked. “No, not really. But I can definitely feel it!” laughed Kat. “I want it to do it again,” he said, grinning. He walked around to face her, and then crouched down on his knees. Looking at Kat’s belly, he placed his hands on the top of her belly and mock shouted, “C’mon! Kick!” which caused Kat to giggle.

Before long, it was April, which marked Casper’s 22nd birthday. Well, to be completely accurate, his 111th birthday. Dr. Harvey gave Casper a vintage brass alarm clock, which made Kat gasp in recognition. “Isn’t that—”she started. “Yep…Great Grandpa Harvey’s. He bought it in Paris in World War I, and gave it to my father, who gave it to me…and now, I want you to have it,” said Dr. Harvey, smiling at Casper. “I…thanks,” was all he could say. “And I thought it might come in handy when the baby comes,” said Dr. Harvey. Casper and Kat exchanged knowing glances. Then Kat handed Casper a small package wrapped in black paper. Casper pulled back the wrapping to reveal a black book with no title. Intrigued, Casper raised an eyebrow, cocked his head to the side and flipped through it…only to find blank pages. Well, almost blank: there were strange phrases such as “Mother’s Maiden Name”. “It’s a book for your family tree,” explained Kat excitedly. “I thought that, since you said you were remembering so much from your past now, and that you wanted an heirloom to give to the baby…” said Kat quietly, smiling at Casper. Casper didn’t day anything, just gave her a kiss on the mouth, which Kat gladly returned. After a few seconds, the couple remembered that Dr. Harvey was in the room, and broke the kiss. Both looked away from each other, embarrassed. “Oh, you kids,” said Dr. Harvey.

“Ha! Ha! KIDS!” shouted a chorus of three voices. The Trio had arrived in a torrent of wind from the ceiling. “Hey!” shouted Casper. “How come you guys didn’t screw up Kat’s party?” he yelled indignantly. “Screw up? SCREW UP! Well, you were the one doin’ the screwin’, blubhead, if ya’s knows what I mean,” roared Stretch, whose remark was greeted by a round of high fives from his brothers and eye rolls from Kat and Dr. Harvey, but Casper was fuming. “Well…” he said, calming down. “Did you do anything…particularly nice?” asked Casper. “Sure, we did. We gotcha’s a little somthin’,” said Stinkie. Fatso pulled something out from behind his transparent back, and shouted, “Ta da!” Stretch slapped Fatso on the cheek. “Shuddap, this is Stinkie’s time to talk,” he grumbled.

“Baby’s Day Out on DVD. Everything you wanted to know about parenting,” said Stinkie, tapping the DVD case with his index finger. “Is in here!” Kat snorted in laughter. “Really?” she wanted to know. “No, just thought you might need a moment to realize what life would be like if WE raised your kid.” Kat blinked and said, “You mean three idiots?”, and The Trio nodded enthusiastically. “We’s don’t wanna get saddled with’s tha little glow worm. We’re too busy scaring the shit out of people,” said Stretch. Kat and Casper thanked them for the unusual gift. “We also got you a diaper genie,” said Fatso. Kat shouted with glee and raised her arms in the air in happiness. “Really? Yes! I’ve been meaning to get one of those!” Kat yelled. “Wait…did you steal it?” she said, lowering her arms down to her sides and eyeing them suspiciously. “Us? Steal? Never…we just, uh, found one.” Casper sighed. “OK, guys, we believe you. Thanks.” The Trio batted their eyelids. “Aw, shucks,” they said in unison, and made their exit by flying through the ceiling again.

Three months later, there was only a week left in the pregnancy. The nursery, untouched for a century, now looked like new. Everything had been arranged just as it was when Casper was a baby: the crib stood in the centre of the room, a chest of drawers and a changing table (a modern innovation that Casper’s mother would have loved to use) sat side by side against one wall, and a white rocking chair rested near the large bay window which looked out onto the sea. Upon Kat’s insistence, a small white bassinet was placed in Kat and Casper’s bedroom for nightly use until Kat felt secure enough to leave the baby alone in the crib.

Casper and Kat had thought of a few names, either from a member of the Harvey or McFadden family, or ones they simply liked. They couldn’t decide, and eventually decided to wait until they found out the sex of the baby after the delivery.

Now there wasn’t much left to do but wait…and wait Kat did. “This is driving…me…crazy!” shouted an exasperated Kat late one afternoon. She was alone in the house, terribly frustrated, and a few days overdue. The overnight bag of supplies that would accompany her to the hospital sat dormant in her bedroom. Kat was feeling stressed, even though she was told countless times that what was happening was normal. “Well, with first time mothers, some babies just need a little more time to…cook in the oven, as it were,” said Dr. Kerner over the phone when Kat called on the brink of tears one day. “Don’t get yourself worked up. Things will happen when they happen. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a baby to deliver…well, at least I did ten minutes ago,” he said absentmindedly. Kat was beginning to have second thoughts about having this guy deliver her baby, and she hoped he would have his act together when the time came. It was times like these she really wished her mother were here. There were so many things she wanted to know from another woman’s perspective.

Lately, Kat had been thinking about how much giving birth would hurt. She still hasn’t decided if she wanted a drug-free labour or a birth aided by an epidural. Casper was being very helpful in managing her stress by massaging her shoulders every night, and attending to her every whim. His co-workers at the architectural firm had sent flowers and champagne to the house to celebrate the impending arrival, and Dr. Harvey kept busy trying to help “baby proof” the drafty old manor, as well as keep The Trio in therapy so as not to bother Casper and Kat. Dr. Harvey seemed to be adjusting quite well to the fact that he would become a grandfather very, very soon. “You know, you were six days overdue,” he told Kat at dinner one night. Kat now had to sit sideways at the table, as she couldn’t fit underneath it anymore. “I was?” she asked incredulously. “Yep. Your mother had to drag me to the hospital and beg to be admitted,” he said. “She and I had just about enough, and we decided it was high time for you to make your grand entrance,” he stated mater-of-factly, looking at her over his silver-rimmed glasses. “Of course, your mother’s water finally broke after we got to the hospital, so maybe you decided you were ready,” he said, winking at her.

Just after lunch the next afternoon, Kat was again alone, sitting on the sofa watching old cartoons, her pulled up in a ponytail and wearing a maternity top and sweatpants, her ensemble of choice for the past two months when at home. She decided to get up and get a drink of water, and made her way to the kitchen. After pulling a plastic cup from the cabinet mounted near the sink, she filled the cup with water from the tap and had a drink. Suddenly, she had a feeling that something wasn’t right. She looked down and noticed that one leg of her sweatpants had a dark grey trail running along one end. At first she was confused—she knew she didn’t spill any water on her clothes. Then she realized what was happening—her water had broken, and the baby was on its way. “Oh, God…try not to panic, try not to panic, try not to panic…” she began chanting under her breath, as she gingerly made her way out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room. She was beginning to feel pain. Once inside, she grabbed the overnight bag near the bedroom door, and tried to think straight. She couldn’t drive in this condition, so how was she going to get help? Dr. Harvey had gone out to buy groceries an hour ago, and Casper was at work. And who knew where The Trio were…

Kat made her way over to the nightstand beside the bed, and picked up the phone. Meanwhile, Casper was at sitting at his desk at work, checking and promptly deleting spam e-mail on his lunch break. He enjoyed working on blueprints, but hated wearing the same old charcoal coloured slacks, white button-up shirt, and blue tie five times a week. He gazed at the photograph of Kat in her wedding dress that sat on his desk, next to one of Kat and Dr. Harvey. His colleague in the next cubicle over, Rodger was looking up YouTube videos of laughing pandas, Ally McBeal, or something equally pointless. Rodger was a bit slow on the uptake of things, which was evident by the repeated viewings of the “Dancing Baby” video from Ally McBeal. Casper sat slumped forward with his chin resting in the palm of his hand, his blue eyes glazed over. Suddenly, the phone rang, which caused Casper to bolt upright in his chair. He grabbed the receiver, barely registering the caller ID, and nearly shouted, “Hello? This is Casper McFadden.” His heart skipped a beat when he recognized the voice on the other line. “Casper!” whispered Kat. Her voice sounded strained, as though she were in severe pain. “Kat! What is it? Is it—” Casper prompted. “Mmm-hmm,” was all Kat could say. “I’m coming,” Casper promised. “OK, good,” said Kat, trying to sound calm, “because it’s coming. I’m at home and I’ll stay here as long as I can,” she said. “Don’t worry, I’m coming,” said Casper again as he hung up the phone.

“Rodger!” shouted Casper, as he practically flew towards the cubicle next to his. “I need you to do something very important for me.” Rodger looked up from watching an illegally downloaded version of Shaun of the Dead. “I need you to tell my supervisor,” began Casper very slowly, “that my wife is having a baby, and I need to go home. Do you think you can that for me? Please?” Rodger stared at Casper a moment, his ginger hair glinting in the fluorescent light from the ceiling. “Tell your supervisor you’re gonna be a Daddy. Got it,” said Rodger, grinning toothily. “Thanks, buddy,” said Casper, giving Rodger a quick pat on the shoulder and running off to find his car amongst the myriad of employee cars.

“Damn it, damn, damn it!” Casper swore. It took Casper a good five minutes to find the car in his panicked state. Upon laying his eyes on his decade-old deep blue VW Jetta, Casper unlocked the door as quickly as he could, and hopped in. After buckling his seatbelt and backing up, nearly crashing into another car in the process, Casper sped off down the rural road towards Friendship, going as fast as the speed limit would allow.

Meanwhile, Kat was in agony. Dr. Harvey had arrived ten minutes after she called Casper, dropping the bags of groceries in his shock of seeing Kat doubled over on the sofa. “I want to stay here,” whimpered Kat. “Casper’s on his way,” she said. “We’ll stay here as long as we can, but it probably won’t be much longer,” Dr. Harvey told his daughter. “How far apart are your contractions?” he asked as he seated himself next to Kat, rubbing her back. “About…every ten to fifteen minutes,” said Kat through gritted teeth. “Then you still have a long way to go, but still…” Dr. Harvey trailed off. “Listen, honey,” began Dr. Harvey soothingly, “if he’s not here in five minutes, then we’re getting in the car. You know it takes a good 35 minutes to get to the hospital. We probably should have left—” said Dr. Harvey, who was cut off by the sound of a car door slamming in the front drive way and in seconds Casper barreled through the front door, panting. “I’m…here… let’s…go…” he gasped. “Oh, thank God,” murmured Kat as Casper rushed to her. “Let’s take my car. The keys are still in the ignition,” said Casper. “Good, because we had better get a move on,” said Dr. Harvey, grabbing the overnight bag with one hand and the doorknob with the other, and the three of them exited the house, Casper carefully helping Kat out the door.

Dr. Harvey was the first to reach car, and got into the driver’s seat. Casper took the initiative to get into the backseat with Kat. Dr. Harvey waited until Casper had strapped Kat safely into her seat before speeding off towards the hospital in Damariscotta. The car sped by small towns, rural landscapes and coastline, but all Kat could focus on was the intense pain. Casper was unsure of what to do—he felt so out of place, and hated seeing Kat in so much pain. He decided the best thing he could do for her would be to hold her close to him and try to keep her calm and soothe her. Besides the occasional cry of agony, Kat kept relatively calm, collect and quiet. After what seemed like endless hours, they finally arrived at the hospital.

It took seconds to get out of the car, and before long Kat was in a hospital room, wiling away the hours in a hospital gown and on a fetal monitor. Once Kat had decided to go the natural route, she tried to get through her contractions sanely. Casper sat behind her and rubbed her shoulders to keep her calm. Dr. Harvey came in periodically to check on her and Casper, but found the Psychiatric ward very fascinating. He told everyone this…or tried to, at least. He made the mistake of coming to check on Kat while she was in the middle of a terrible contraction. The pain and pressure were so intense she wanted to scream. “Guys, did you see the schizophrenic—” began Dr. Harvey, but was cut off by his daughter’s anguished scream. “Get the Hell out!” screamed Kat. Dr. Harvey put his hands up in surrender, and slowly back out of the room. Casper, who had been trying to nap, bolted upright in the chair he occupied next to Kat’s bed, but then fell back to sleep. He couldn’t blame her for snapping like that. The books he read said it would be painful…but no one said it would be torture.

During the next few hours, there were occasional visitors from nursing colleagues of Kat’s, but Dr. Kerner was nowhere to be found. A maternity nurse came in every few hours to see how far along Kat was dilated. She asked for some kind of pain killer every time, going through a veritable mental pharmacy, but to no avail. Casper thought back to when his own mother had gone through childbirth. She couldn’t have any pain killers, either. Then again, his father wasn’t even allowed in the room, due to decency and society dictations. Casper considered himself lucky to be able to be with Kat during this time.

Fifteen pain and pressure-filled hours later, Kat was finally ten centimetres dilated. Five minutes later, Dr. Kerner came in, smiling and dressed in scrubs, ready to deliver the baby. “OK, kids. Let’s get this show on the road,” he said. Dr. Harvey was so nervous he decided it would be best to wait outside. Back in the room, two nurses Kat didn’t recognize stood nearby and offered additional support for both the doctor and Kat, counting from one to ten for each push. Kat pushed and pushed for an hour, her hands gripping her thighs. With much encouragement from Casper, she finally heard cries from a tiny pair of lungs. Her eyes were squeezed shut from pushing, so she did not see the baby being born, and Casper was too busy holding Kat and looking at her. Dr. Kerner held up the newborn for Kat and Casper to see. “It’s a girl! Congratulations!” he shouted jubilantly. Kat was so happy she became teary eyed. “A girl…a girl…” she murmured under her breath. Casper craned his neck to see where they had taken the baby. Dr. Kerner had cut the umbilical cord, and the two nurses were cleaning off the baby and taking measurements. Kat was very sweaty and looked beyond exhausted, but beautiful. After a few minutes, a nurse brought over the new baby, who was swaddled in a blanket and wearing a cap on her head. “She weighed in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and was 20.8 inches long,” said the nurse as she handed the baby to Kat. The baby had a mass of dark hair and blue eyes, and beautiful pale skin.

“What will we named her?” asked Kat, gazing down at her new daughter. Casper tried to think of some of the girl names they had liked. “How about…” began Casper, looking at the baby. “Adela?” he asked. “I like that,” said Kat. “And Amelia. Adela Amelia McFadden.” With that, that was the name of the newest McFadden, and Casper was proud to have the name printed on the birth certificate.

A few minutes later, Dr. Harvey came in beaming and holding a vase full of yellow flowers. “It’s a girl,” shouted Casper triumphantly. Dr. Harvey walked over to his daughter to see his new granddaughter. “And what’s her name?” he asked, looking down on the baby. “Adela Amelia McFadden,” said Kat quietly. “She would have liked that,” mused Dr. Harvey.

In two days’ time, Kat and the baby went home to Whipstaff, where The Trio was waiting with a cake. Casper and Kat spent the next several weeks getting up every two hours. Casper would roll out of bed and bring the baby from the bassinet to Kat so she could be breastfed. Casper would often sit and watch from the chair near the bed, keeping the nearby rocking chair unoccupied for Kat’s use —watching Kat feed their daughter gave him a happy, warm feeling, unless he fell asleep first. Casper was able to take two weeks off to help and spend time with Adela. During the day, Casper changed a lot of diapers so Kat could get some rest. Dr. Harvey enjoyed holding his granddaughter and playing with her. It had been many, many years since he had a baby to care about, and he obviously enjoyed spending time with her.

Adela slept fairly well during the night, but would wake up screaming every so often, hungry for her mother’s milk. One such night, Kat woke up…only to find Casper cradling the baby and trying to keep her quiet. Casper looked so handsome with a baby in his arms. It was an endearing sight that made Kat smile into her pillow. She pretended to be asleep, enjoying watching Casper bond with his daughter through her eyelashes. That couldn’t fool Casper. “You might as well join us,” he said. Kat got out of bed and walked over to where Casper held the baby. Kat gently took the baby, sat down in the rocking chair, and proceeded to feed the baby. Casper pulled over the nearby chair and sat down. The two of them looked down on their daughter, happily enjoying the moment together. These early days were ones they would treasure always.