When he said he would stay, I was almost overwhelmed with gratitude. He listened carefully to Pearl who explained to him what would happen now. The rhythmical waves of pain that would bring us our child. The brief respites between them to gather strength again. Ma Gala seemed to have decided the best way to deal with his presence was to ignore it. So, I sat in my t*****e-chamber chair and did my best to push our child out into the world, with my husband holding my hand and wiping away the sweat that streamed from me. He had helped me take-off my shift when it stuck to my body, soaking wet. Childbirth is not for the demure. Yet it was easier with Raphael beside me than it had been with my mother and grandmother.
When I cried out, which I did. Often. When I told God I could not do what I mu
