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Holding her soft, rosy cheeks between his hands, he said, “Abby, look at me now. I’m not leaving you. I’m going to the other room to phone the doc. I’ll be right back in less than a minute, okay?”

He wasn’t sure she understood, as she was having another contraction, so he pulled away and hurried to the phone, snatching the handset. When a
groggy Petey answered, he shouted as Abby moaned in pain, “Find the doc! Abby’s in my cabin in labor. Get him here now. She’s going to have this baby now.”

He hung up the phone and raced back to Abby. She was in absolute agony as she lay on her side, sweat
glistening her forehead. She was gripping the mattress so hard he could see her knuckles whiten. He could hear the door and footsteps and voices behind him, and then Abby grabbed his arm.

“Oh, no, I have to go to the bathroom. Please help me,” she said.

Eric slid arm around her back to help her up. “Okay, I’ll carry you.”

“No, put her down,” interrupted Larry. “Lie down, Abby. That’s probably the baby pushing.” The doctor dropped a bag on the chair. His hair was sticking up and his eyes were bloodshot. Obviously, he had just woken up. “Abby, I need you to lie on your back. Come on, knees up, Abby,” he said. Then he spread her legs and pulled on gloves, and Eric, for a moment,
was struck by her near nakedness as the doc examined her. The intensity of her pain was increasing, and the doc shouted at her, “Don’t you dare push yet! Breathe out. Pant like a dog, like this.” Larry glanced up with look of worry, “Grab some towels. I can feel the baby now. She’s fully dilated.”

Eric grabbed all the towels from the bathroom and dumped them on the bed beside Larry, who lifted her bottom, sliding the towels underneath. Eric could see a fair bit of blood now. He knew having a baby was nothing easy, but he’d never seen a woman give birth. He had no idea what they went through.

“Okay, Abby, on the next contraction, I want you to push,” Larry said. Her legs were trembling as he pushed them wide. “Get behind her.”

Eric lifted her shoulders and sat on the bed with her, leaning her against his chest. He took her hand, and she yelled and screeched, moaning over the strength of the contraction.

“I need to push,” she shouted.

“Push, Abby, on the next contraction,” Larry said, and then she strained against the captain, pushing and screaming while she did. “The baby’s head is crowning. It’s almost over, Abby.”

Her body took over, and she gasped and panted for breath. Then she screeched again, pushing, and her hand squeezed Eric’s so strongly he almost winced.

The doctor yelled, “Stop!
No more pushing. The head’s out. Pant like a dog, that’s it. Blow out.… You’re doing good, girl.”

She groaned, and her expression
was filled with so much pain. “Oh, Eric, it hurts.”

“I know it does. You’re almost there. Just hold on to me.” He rested his cheek against her head as the doctor eased the baby’s shoulders out.

“Okay, Abby, a little push. We’re almost there.… That’s it.”

The baby cried as Larry placed her on her tummy, the cord still attached. Eric
was absolutely shocked by how tiny she was, with dark hair and covered in blood. The doc wiped her with a towel.

“It’s a girl, Abby, a beautiful girl.” Larry tied and cut the cord while carefully wrapping the baby in a towel. Eric slid out from behind Abby and shoved a couple pillows behind her, and the doctor slipped the baby in the crook of her arms.

Eric sat on the edge of the bed, and Abby gazed at her baby with a look of awe. Eric touched the baby’s head. He’d never felt this sense of fullness in his heart. It was bursting, and he felt his eyes mist. “She’s her mother’s image, a beautiful girl,” he said.

Abby’s entire face took on a surreal look as she gazed at him with such an abundance of emotion. It called to him, and he couldn’t help but lean down and kiss her forehead.

“Abby, we’re not quite done. I need you to give a little push to deliver the placenta, that’s it,” Larry said. Abby was clutching the baby, and she winced. “I know it hurts, but we’re almost done. There’s a small tear, but it doesn’t look like you need any stitches.”

After the doctor delivered the placenta, he got her cleaned up. That was when Abby started trembling, her teeth chattering away.

“Just her body cooling. Perfectly normal, Abby,” the doc said.

“I’m so cold,” she said. She held her baby, and Eric strode over to the locker against the wall in the small bedroom and grabbed the last brown blanket from the shelf. He flicked it open and covered her.

“How’s that?” he asked, tucking the blanket around Abby and the baby.

“Abby, I just need to check her out. I’ll give her right back.” Larry reached down and lifted the baby. Abby tried to sit up and winced. “Let me finish with your girl, and then I’ll get you something for the pain.”

Eric sat beside her again on the bed and pulled the blanket up around her. “Just lie there and rest. I think you’ve done enough work for now.” Her smoothed back her hair, and they exchanged a look. There was no way either wanted to be anyplace else.

“Have you got a name for this girl yet?” the doctor asked from where he listened.

“Rachel. I’ve always loved that name.”

Eric looked over at Abby, smiling. “That’s a beautiful name, just like her mother’s.”

The doctor handed Rachel to the captain while he reached into the bag for some ibuprofen. He strode into the bathroom and filled a glass with water, and he gave the pills to Abby along with the glass. She swallowed and wiped her mouth.

“It’ll help relieve some of the ache,” Larry said. Abby nodded and pulled the blanket up over her shoulders. She was still shaking. “I’m going to get you another blanket,” the doctor said as Eric stood beside the bed, holding the tiny miracle in his arms. He stared at the round face and tiny mouth, the pink lips and tiny little hands that waved around. Abby’s eyes were starting to droop, and Larry reached down and touched her arm.

“Okay, we should probably get them moved back to sickbay right about now, get them settled before Abby falls asleep.”

Eric shook his head. “No, Larry, just leave them here for the night. Please, just make sure we get some dry bedding up here and something to put the baby in to sleep.”

Larry grinned and gestured to the baby in his arms. “I didn’t know you liked kids, or babies. You look quite comfortable.”

Eric wasn’t sure how to respond, and he couldn’t look at Larry because he was starting to wonder what he saw to make him jump to that conclusion. The fact was that Eric knew nothing about kids. Other than the time he spent with Joe and his family when in port, which wasn’t often, he didn’t think he was a natural at all. Eric glanced up at the doc, doing everything he could to keep his expression blank, but it was next to impossible, holding such a precious bundle, a new life
who looked to him to protect her.

Thankfully, Larry said nothing further and left the bedroom. Eric could hear him on the phone, though. A few minutes later, there were voices, and Larry carried in a couple more blankets and some bedding. Eric glanced out and glimpsed Petey.

“Abby, let’s get you up, and we’ll get some bedding on this bed and you back in it,” Larry said. Abby sat in the chair while he made the bed, quickly tucking in the sheet and flicking a couple blankets over it, then helping her scoot back over. “We need the baby to nurse now, Abby. It’s really important that you try. I’ll be right back,” Larry said as Eric set Rachel in her mother’s arms. He then set a couple more pillows behind her back so she could sit up.

“I think she’s hungry,” whispered Eric as Rachel turned her tiny head into Abby’s breast.

Abby glanced at him with an expression of sheer panic. “I don’t know how to do this.”

”I can’t help you there, but it’s the most natural thing in the world, Abby. You were born for this. Your breasts were meant to feed and nurture a child.” He reached down and unbuttoned the shirt she was wearing, exposing her breast. It was so natural to be helping her, sitting with her while she struggled to figure it out,
to awkwardly set the baby to her breast. When the baby latched on, she jumped, and her vibrant blue eyes seemed to dance with color at this new feeling they were both experiencing.

Eric was content to sit there on the edge of the bed beside her and just watch mother and child. For a moment, he imagined this was his child, his woman, and it felt so right. The cabin door clicked open and closed, and footsteps and whispers had him shooting a glance over his shoulder at Petey and the doc. Petey carried in an armful of bedding, and the doc carried a steel drawer.

Eric met them just outside the bedroom door. “What’s that for?”

“It’s a drawer and will be perfect for a cradle.” The doc carried it into the bedroom and stopped beside the bed. He said something to Abby as he watched her nurse, and Abby smiled up at him and then at the drawer beside the bed.

Petey cleared his throat. “Sir, is there anything else I can do?”

Eric glanced at his young ensign, who
’d been dragged from bed in the middle of the night. His hair was sticking up, and he looked very tired. “Thanks, Petey. That’ll be all.” Eric headed into the bedroom and heard his cabin door close, and he knew Petey had left.

“It looks like you got the hang of it,” the doc said. Then he faced Eric. “I’ll be back in the morning to check on them. Call me if you need me before that.”

“Will do, Doc.”

Eric watched as Larry left. Rachel soon fell asleep, slipping off her mother’s breast. Eric was mesmerized, watching Abby snuggling as her own eyes drooped. Then she blushed and started pulled at the open shirt to hide her breast. She was so innocent in some ways.

“I’ll get her settled in,” Eric said. He slipped the baby into his arms and settled her in the padded drawer, tucking another blanket around her and moving the nightstand over so the drawer was secured by the bed in case of any sudden movements by the ship.

After he settled Rachel, he leaned over Abby, who was watching him as if she had just handed him her heart on a platter. With his large, calloused fingers, he slid back her hair and
traced his hand down the side of her face. He pulled a second blanket over her and watched as she closed her eyes and relaxed in a way he hadn’t seen before, as if she felt so safe that she could drop her guard and sleep soundly.

Eric closed the door behind him and strode over the carpet to his desk, glancing over the papers and files covering the desktop where he had been working and reading just a few hours before. He left everything where it was, a disorderly mess, as he sat in his black leather chair, settled his hands behind his head, his feet on the desk, and rested, dreaming of how lucky he’d be if this truly was his life, his wife and his child, with no nightmare hanging over his head.

Chapter Twenty Three

The sharp knock rattled the door, and Eric opened his eyes and blinked a couple times as he struggled to orient himself. When everything slowly came back to him—Abby, the baby—he leaped from his chair, glancing at the closed bedroom door as he yanked open his cabin door.
Petey stood on the other side with a boyish smile and a tray with Eric’s breakfast and coffee.

“Good morning, sir.”

“Abby’s sleeping. Keep it down.” Eric gestured to his desk. “Just set it there. Listen, can you get another tray for Abby? I’m sure she’ll be hungry when she wakes up.”

“Yes, Captain,” he replied, as if having Abby there was the most normal thing in the world. He hurried out while closing the door with a soft click behind him.

Eric realized then that the whole ship probably knew that Abby had had the baby, and here she was, occupying his cabin, because no one on this ship could even sneeze without everyone knowing.

There was a tiny cry from the other room, and a rustling. Opening the door, Eric walked in as Abby struggled to get up.

“What time is it?” she muttered, groggy.

“It’s six thirty.” Bending over, he lifted Rachel, whose tiny mouth was open. She was crying and waving her tiny fists. He couldn’t help but breathe in the newborn scent of this innocent bundle before setting her in her mother’s arms.

Abby allowed her long, mussed hair to fall over her shoulder, peering down as she awkwardly pulled the gray bedding blanket up to cover what she could of her modesty. Her cheeks glittered a hint of pink, but all he could think of was the natural essence from the plump rounded breasts that still appeared over the top of the baby’s head.

“Breakfast is on its way. I hope you’re hungry,” he said.

Abby offered a shy smile. “You know, I don’t remember ever being so hungry.”

Enchanted, he reached over and put his hand on Rachel’s head, touching the soft dark hair that lightly covered it. “Well, I’m not surprised. You had a busy night.” He watched
her as she looked hesitant at first, then looked around the room, eyes wide as if seeing it now for the first time. He looked to see what she saw from the double bed that took up half the room. There was a nightstand beside the bed and a private bathroom across the room. The walls were bare; the room was impersonal, with no pictures or anything displayed.

“I’m sorry to put you out of your bed,” she said. “Where did you sleep? Did you get any sleep?”