'Roy-you best worry about the governor.'
Jesse Rincon rolled on the stool from bed to bed, from birth to birth. Four babies were born within minutes of each other. Only the most difficult birth remained.
'?Hijo de la chingada! ' Delilah screamed with the pain.
The fourteen-year-old child was not ready to have a child. But have it she would. The baby was coming, ready or not. They gathered around her bed. The wall thermometer registered ninety degrees. The windows were open, and the fans were blowing, but only hot air. Everyone sweated.
'She is dilated eight centimeters,' Jesse said.
Delilah screamed as the next contraction began.
'It hurts!'
'Remember that the next time Gustavo wants to romance you,' her mother said.
'Not helpful, Ruby,' Sister Sylvia said.
'?Jodale! '
'Listen to the mouth on her,' Ruby said.
'It is just the pain talking,' Jesse said.
'No, she talks like that all the time.'
The contraction passed, and Delilah breathed as if she had just run a sprint. Sylvia wiped her sweaty face with a wet towel and gave her ice chips to suck on.
'The first birth can be difficult,' Sister Sylvia said, 'but it will end soon.'
'When?'
'Soon.'
'Keep your legs tight together next time,' Ruby said.
'But, Mother, if I do, the baby cannot get out.'
'Not now. With Gustavo.'
Delilah screamed again. The next contraction had already begun. She shouted in Spanish, 'I will never have sex again!'
The three Texans stepped out onto the New York City sidewalk.
'That went well,' Bode said, 'until he brought up his bullshit word for the day. He just wanted to prove he's smarter than me. Who the fuck knows what fatuous means?'
'Foolish or silly,' the Professor said.
'Who?'
'That's what fatuous means.'
'Oh.'
The Professor slapped Bode on the back.
'Don't worry about it. Palin makes up her own words, and tea partiers don't care.'
'?Empujon! '
Jesse sat on the stool at her feet, Lindsay stood next to him, and Sister Sylvia stood at Delilah's head. The other mothers nursed their babies and watched.
'Crowning.'
The baby's head crowned but did not come out.
'Big baby, small hips,' Jesse said. 'Hand me the block. Time, Sister.'
Jesse had anticipated a difficult delivery, so he had prepared a Pudendal block. He took the hypodermic needle and injected the numbing medication into her vaginal wall. Wayne Newton was singing 'Danke Schoen.'
'Scalpel.'
Lindsay handed him a sterile scalpel. He performed an episiotomy.
'One minute, Doctor,' Sister Sylvia had said.
'Forceps.'
Jesse took the forceps and maneuvered them into the birth canal and tried to guide the baby out. Delilah dropped her iPhone.
'Two minutes, Doctor.'
'We have got to get this baby out.'
Delilah turned her head to Sister Sylvia and vomited.
'Doctor!'
'It is okay. Just make sure she is not choking. Delilah, I need you to push hard.'
'I cannot.'
'You must.'
'No.'
'Push!'
'Delilah,' Ruby yelled, 'you push that baby out or I am going to come over there and push it out for you. Now push!'
She pushed.
'?Carajo! '
The baby's head cleared the birth canal.
'Good, Delilah,' Jesse said.
The amniotic membrane still covered the head, so Jesse tore it with his fingers, releasing the fluid onto the towel in his lap.
'The cord is around the neck… clamp.'
Lindsay grabbed two clamps and handed one to Jesse. He clamped the cord. She handed him the second clamp; he clamped the cord again. She handed him surgical scissors; he cut the cord and unwrapped it from the baby's neck. Without looking at her, he held a hand out; she placed a ball syringe in his hand. He suctioned mucous from the baby's mouth and nostrils.
The baby did not breathe or cry.
Jesse suctioned again, but still nothing from the baby. The shoulders were stuck in the birth canal. Jesse rotated the baby enough to allow the shoulders to clear; the baby slipped out into his hands. It was a girl. Delilah breathed out as if her life had just been saved.
But her baby's life had not yet been saved.
Lindsay held out a sterile towel. Jesse put the baby on the towel then held her in his lap. He suctioned again then rubbed her back. She still did not breathe. He gently slapped the bottoms of her feet. Nothing.
He stood and kicked the stool away. It rolled across the clinic until it struck the far wall.
'Hold her.'
She took the child. Jesse leaned over and began mouth-to-mouth. He blew soft breaths into the child. Lindsay realized she was crying, and the clinic had fallen silent except for Wayne Newton singing and Rosie saying the rosary. Sister Sylvia crossed herself again.
'Breathe!' Jesse shouted.
The baby breathed. And cried. Loudly.
'Now I know that is my granddaughter,' Ruby said.
Sister Sylvia took the baby in a warm towel. Without thinking, the governor's wife embraced Jesse Rincon.
An hour later, Delilah said into her iPhone, 'Oh, Gustavo, our daughter, she is beautiful. I love you so much.'
'God help me,' Ruby said.
It was just after six.
'It is too late to drive back to Laredo tonight,' Jesse said. 'Border bandits. We will drive back tomorrow morning.'
'Jesse,' Lindsay whispered, 'I can't be seen in Brownsville.'
'We will go over to the island. There is a small motel I know.'
Jesse went to each mother one last time. Lindsay said goodbye to Sister Sylvia, who hugged her like a mother.
