'I wasn't sure at first,' she answereo him calmly. 'There's plenty of time, Hal.'
'We're not taking any chances on that, Karen.' No ... no chances on anything bad happening to the babies, Karen thought grimly, then berated herself for the thought. She wanted them born safe and soundly too. Hal's concern was only natural. Having alerted Dr Grayson that she was in labour; he was a whirlwind of activity; pulling clothes on, getting David up and dressed, hushing the little boy's excitement, helping Karen into a dressing-gown and half carrying her down the stairs.
Another contraction hit her during the drive into the hospital, and so sharp was the pain that she-cried out. Hal instantly braked the car and pulled over to the side of the road. 'Go on' she gasped, trying to employ the breathing exercises she had practised.
'Karen ... '
'Go on,' she insisted. 'It's all right.'
He drove at maniacal speed, casting anxious glances at her all the way. David was unnaturally quiet--probably frightened, Karen thought fleetingly, but she had to concentrate on her breathing now. Do it right. Do everything right. She had come a long way and the time was almost over. She had to satisfy Hal, make him happy.
He was relieved to hand her over to the professionals at the hospital, waiting only for the assurance that Dr Grayson and Professor Bellamy had been told of Karen's arrival at the hospital before he left with David. Hal promised he would be back as soon as he had taken David to owen, but Karen felt deserted and terribly alone, watching him stride away from her.
She was wheeled into a preparation room. White uniformed people flocked around her, but she felt alienated from them. They were normal, going about their everyday business. She was locked into a world of rhythmic pain which they didn't share. She meant nothing to these people; they were only interested in the miracle that her body was about to produce.
She was moved to another room. A clock hung on the wall above the end of her bed, an old-fashioned clock that ticked, and Karen watched it as if her life depended on it. The minute hand crawled around, measuring her contractions as fifteen minutes apart. Ten minutes. It seemed an interminable age before Hal returned.
An intense wave of gratitude washed through her. She would not be alone any more. Hal had shared her pregnancy as intimately as any person could, and she needed him to be with her. He took the chair by her bed and held her hand.
'Is there anything I can do for you, Karen?' he asked softly.
'Just stay...' Another pain sliced through her and a tortured groan broke from her throat. She bent forward, trying to ride with it, and her hand gripped Hal's with knuckle-white intensity until the contraction receded. 'Stay with me. Please!' she gasped, her eyes begging for his patience.
'My God!' His face was white. 'How long does this go on for?'
'I don't know. Please, Hal ..'
'Of course I'll stay with you. Do you think I'd let you go through this by yourself?'
'Thank you,' she whispered.
He shook his head and there was pain in his eyes when he spoke. 'Do you still think I'm a callous monster, Karen?'
'No ... no ..'
He heaved a sigh of relief, but the pain in his eyes seemed to deepen. 'I wish ..' Again he shook his head. 'I seem to have done everything wrong with you. And now there's nothing I can do. I feel so damned useless.'
'Not useless. I ... I need you.' I love you, I love you, her heart cried, but she could not lay that burden on him. He was feeling guilty. She understood that it was not easy for him to witness her pain. He had wanted her pregnant, made her pregnant, only ever anticipating the end result, not the ordeal of labour that brought it about. Karen had sat through it with Kirsty, yet the memory in no way compared to what she was suffering now.
Hal was telling her when to breathe, calming her, wiping her forehead. She was barely aware of Dr Grayson and Professor Bellamy as they examined her.
'Can't you give her something?' Hal burst out, strained beyond endurance. 'She can't go on like this! It's not right!'
'I can give your wife an epidural injection, Mr Chissolm,' Dr Grayson answered calmly, 'but you must understand it will relax her and slow down the labour.'
'If it gives her relief ... '
'No no ..' Karen cut in urgently. 'Don't want slowing down. Might hurt babies.'
'To hell with the babies!' Hal grated fiercely. 'You're not going through any more of this, Karen. You matter more to me than any children ever could!'
The words thudded into her mind, echoing, echoing, gathering a power that made the pain meaningless. She mattered to him, more than the babies! It wasn't just guilt. He really did care about her. And she loved him, loved him, loved him. She wanted to give him his children.
'I can bear it. Please ... let me.'
Anguished grey eyes questioned hers feverishly. 'Are you sure, Karen?'
'Yes.'
He turned to the doctors. 'How much longer?'
'Water breaking now,' the doctor remarked matter-of-factly.
And the pain changed. Where before it had sliced through her, now it dragged at her body. She hung on to Hal, frightened by the tearing length of this new torture.
'I'll never put you through this again, Karen, I swear it,' he muttered grimly.
She couldn't speak. Only her eyes spoke, needing him, needing his love and all that he was, being with her for better, for worse, in sickness or in health, till death ... ?
'I love you.'
Had she imagined that hoarse whisper? The grey eyes were filmed with tears. She saw his mouth form the words again.
'I love you.'
Soft, beautiful words, words of intense emotion, torn from his heart, wrapping around her, seeping into her soul.
'One big push now, Mrs Chissolm.'
Dr Grayson's voice held an extra edge of excitement, piercing the haze in her mind. Hal's eyes begged for it to be over. She pushed and felt a rush of release. There was a flurry of activity at the other end of the bed. A baby cried. Hal did not look; he was concentrating entirely on her. And the baby didn't matter. Only the love in Hal's eyes mattered.
He stroked her cheek and leaned over and kissed her forehead. Karen wanted to reach up and pull his mouth down to hers, but another shaft of agony rent her body. Soon ..it had to be over soon, she thought. Wildly. Long, pain-ridden moments, but Hal's love sustained her through them. Then again the sensation of release and another baby cried.
Their twins had been born! The wonder of that thought spilled joy on top of joy. Hal loved her and had given birth to their children. Her throat was jmpossibly dry, but she croaked out the words. 'What ... what sex are they?'
'Girls, Mrs Chissolm. Two beautiful, identical, perfectly healthy little girls. And a good size too, no humidicrib needed for these lusty infants!' the doctor assured her in a tone of triumph.