Diana’s hands flattened on the roof of the car. She closed her eyes, leaned forward and whimpered in helpless fear and pain. She was stranded.
And then an image formed in her mind. It was an image straight out of her dreams.
The grotto. She would be safe in the grotto. She would be warm there. She would find comfort in that little hidden place. Her baby would be born where it was meant to be born and they would both be safe.
“No,“ she whispered to Specter. “I must be going crazy. I’ll have to have the baby right here on the ground.“
She looked about at the dark, uninviting parking area. Not a fetal monitor or an anesthetist in sight, she thought hysterically.
She would use her jacket as a receiving blanket. She rummaged around in the cockpit of the Corvette and found a flashlight. She began talking to Specter as she made her meager preparations.
“There’s this tribe in Africa,“ she told him bracingly, “which has this thing about childbirth being a real macho thing for the women. They have to go off by themselves and have their babies all alone out in the bush. They aren’t even allowed to have any friends around, let alone a doctor or midwife: Tribe’s still surviving, so I guess it must work.
Specter, I’m so scared.“
But Specter wasn’t paying any attention to her. He was staring out into the darkness, watching the pool at the base of the falls. His body was gathered for battle once more. He was eerily silent.
Diana raised the flashlight and swung the beam out over the water. At first she could see nothing in the white foam, and then she saw what Specter had detected.
Eddy Spooner was swimming slowly toward the edge of the pool. His movements were hampered by the heavy rush of water cascading around him. He had an object in his fist. The gun.
Did guns work after they’d taken a dunking? Diana had no idea, but it seemed to her she’d seen movies where the heroes had risen from the water and proceeded to let loose a hail of gunfire over the bad guys.
There was little chance Specter would get away with another attack on Eddy. Eddy would be prepared this time.
The only safety lay in the grotto.
Diana hesitated no longer. She didn’t know if she could make it up the path to the cave entrance but she also knew she had no option except to try.
“Specter. This way. Follow me.“
The dog turned reluctantly from his contemplation of Eddy Spooner and trotted toward her. Flashlight in hand, Diana started for the hidden path behind the falls.
She had no rain gear this time. She would get soaked and the night air was so very cold.
But the grotto would be warm.
“Where do you think you’re goin’, you bitch? Come back here.“
Eddy started to clamber up the side of the pool – a dark, hulking menace from the deep. He moved slowly, awkwardly. Diana took comfort from the fact that he probably couldn’t see her any better than she could see him. If she got into the shadows near the falls, she would disappear from his sight.
She kept the flashlight off until she was behind the falls. Specter was at her heels. She shut her eyes and cried out as another wave of pain went through her. The roar of the water masked the sound of her groan. She wouldn’t be able to stay on her feet much longer. She must be in what the books called precipitate labor.
Specter crowded close and then darted in front of her as if he knew the way and wanted to lead her to safety.
The trip up the path was the longest struggle of Diana’s life. Primitive female instinct alone guided her.
The need to find a safe place in which to give birth was all that mattered now.
At the end, she was clinging to Specter, her fingers clenched in his coat. He had to drag her the last few steps. She knew she could not have made it without him.
But at last they were standing at the mouth of the cave. Diana paused, panting heavily. She did not dare use the flashlight to see if Eddy was following her up the path. She had to assume he was.
She moved into the dark cave and then turned on the light long enough to get her bearings.
“Over there, Specter.“
The dog was already nosing along the floor of the cave, heading for the secret entrance to the hidden grotto as if he, too, sensed safety there.
Soul-shattering pain wracked Diana as she stepped through the hidden portal of the small chamber. She dropped the flashlight and fell to her knees. Instantly she was enveloped in comforting warmth. The heat from the pool was doing its job. She crawled farther into the grotto on her hands and knees. She no longer had the strength to spare to get back to her feet.
Then in the glow of the flashlight she saw Specter turn back toward the cave entrance and she knew for certain Eddy Spooner was, indeed, following.
“In here. Specter. Stay here, boy. We’ll be safe in here.“ She no longer questioned that knowledge, but it was all she could do to get the words out of her mouth.
The dog returned to her side, hovering anxiously. Diana spread her coat out on the stone floor near the hot pool and switched off the flashlight. She couldn’t take the chance that its beam might leak out through the entrance and betray her hiding place.
She fought to remove her clothing. Everything was damp, and she knew that only some of the moisture was from the spray off the falls. The rest was from her own body.
She bit back another scream as the next contraction peaked. She must already be heading into the transition phase, she thought. The pain was getting incredibly intense. She had been told that this stage would be the summit of difficulty.
‘Difficulty’ was another popular euphemism favored by instructors and books on the subject of childbirth preparation.
Translated, ‘difficulty’ meant unrelenting agony. Jennifer from 301 had been right.
A scream of anguish filled Diana’s throat. At the last instant she realized dimly she could not release it. Her cry might guide Eddy to the hidden grotto entrance.
Colby, where are you? I need you now. Come to me. Help me.
Specter crouched near her head, licking her face. Her groping fingers found his leather collar. She unbuckled it, her hand trembling with the effort.
When the next contraction hit she shoved the leather between her teeth and bit down on the scream that threatened to consume her. At the height of the pain she told herself it wouldn’t matter if Eddy walked in, found her, and killed her. At least the agony would be over and done with.
But she couldn’t let her baby die, too. She had to protect Colby’s child.
It was then she devised a deadly little mind game. She would count to ten, she told herself, take the leather out of her mouth and then give way to the scream that would get her killed.