Slide

21

Jack stood and picked up some of the towels they had been using.

“I’m going to get some water from the spring so you can clean up, Layla,” Jack said.

Layla nodded without looking at him. She was mesmerized by her baby, a child born in the wild and somehow completely unharmed.

Jack left for the spring while Slide and Ember lingered. Ember continued cleaning the baby, whose umbilical cord looked like it had been cut. She helped Layla wrap him up, then handed him back to his mother. She held him close, the way every mother does when they first see the light that is their newborn.

The sight hit Slide with a devastating rush of grief. That was probably how his mother first looked at him. It was the look of unconditional love shining out like a lighthouse in a storm, no matter your surroundings or circumstances.

Ember stood, rubbing her hand on the towel before reaching out to touch his arm.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

She plucked at his heartstrings with her inquiry. Even during such turmoil, she was able to recall his loss, his pain, the projection of a parental image, and what it triggered in him.

He smiled down at her, then gave her a quick wink.

“I’m fine as long as a Mom here is okay,” he replied.

Layla looked up at them and gave them a bright smile. Slide thought and hoped that she would keep that smile for the rest of her life.

“She’s going to need at least a day of rest,” Ember said. “That’s what Jack said anyway. Her body had undergone a lot of distress. It wouldn’t be prudent to get her on the road so fast.”

Slide nodded, anticipating this. The warm blessing of the birth was brushed away by the cold hard facts, ones that placed Layla at the center of it all. He didn’t like the idea of being a day behind, especially since they had been followed the day before. But he wouldn’t put a new mother and her baby at risk.

Slide made sure that Layla was settled before letting everyone back in the cave. The sun was winking at the tip of the horizon as Layla held her son in her arms, dozing against the cave wall.

Slide and Ember sat with her while Jack slept. They looked at each other as the light crept just inside the mouth of the cave.

EMBER

Ember felt panic burst inside her like an unwelcome guest when she heard Anne’s cries. But Ember was not new to chaotic situations. She had worked with her father and mother at the embassy for years, often acting as a crisis manager even without the title. She had no medical training, but Ember knew she wasn’t stupid either.

The mention of Jack ignited her spirit, and she knew the baby was going to make it out fine. But when she looked at Slide’s face, she wasn’t entirely sure he would.

Ember had to stifle her laughter as she looked up at Slide, whose normally confident expression had melted into the white blankness of a ghost. He looked like he was being asked to deliver the baby himself, which filled Ember with a disproportioned amount of glee.

She rushed over to Jack, feeling ecstatic. Jack was a medic, so he already knew what to do, so she merely acted as an assistant, doing everything she was told.

Layla panted and sweated and screamed for hours, yet Ember remained elated. There was something in her that just knew both the baby and the mother were going to be fine.

Jack encouraged her to push multiple times, and once they were finally able to see the head, Layla’s firstborn emerged into the light of the world, bellowing out in a healthy cry.

Jack handed Ember the squirming baby as he tied off the umbilical cord and then used the scissors from the first aid kit to cut it. It was an easy process, and as Ember held him in her arms, she felt the pulsing flutter of the universe in her hands.

This must be what it feels like to have a child of your own.

Ember held him still, cupping his neck with her hand as Jack removed his link to his mother, then took him from her and placed the child in Layla’s arms.

She began crying uncontrollably as she held the naked boy, her arms shaking with wonder.

Ember looked through the pack that Slide had given her, then removed the blanket. She figured he could share her blanket, then began cutting it up with the scissors Jack had just used. She measured it out so that it was small enough to enclose the child in a comforting wrap.

She used the rest of the fabric to cut out makeshift diapers as Jack cleaned up Layla gently and respectfully. Slide came back in just in time to take a look at the new life.

The sight of him gazing at the baby was beautiful. Ember had never felt an inclination toward motherhood. Her parents’ treatment and disregard for her had dulled that ache. But looking at Slide with his gorgeous face reflecting his awe made her wonder what he would be like as a father.

And how much fun it would be to continuously try for a child.

Jack helped Layla settle in before she fell asleep, the baby dozing off with her. The sight was as divine as anything Ember had ever seen, and she placed it up there with sublime images of the sunrise, mountains, and calm bodies of water.

Slide took some time away from the cave to hunt for food for the group. She hated the idea of it, but she knew it was their practical option for the time being. It was fruitful having him there, as she wasn’t sure anyone else in the group would be capable of or willing to hunt and kill animals.

They all made sure to stay mostly quiet as the day passed, resting and bathing by the spring while Layla adjusted to motherhood. She was easily able to breastfeed the baby, which amazed Ember. The sight was as natural as the vision of the moon.

Ember made more sets of diapers from the remaining fabric of Slide’s blanket. Thankfully, there were a few pins in the kit that she could use as long as they were out in the wilderness.