Rowan Ashford's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

The snow came early that year, and Rowan's water broke before the road crews finished plowing. Collin carried Lovley to the truck while Rowan held the seat and counted between pains. He drove slow. He said one word the whole ride. "Breathe." The hospital lights were on when they pulled up, bright against the white lot. Nova was already inside. Brock had driven her in the night before. Rowan learned that in the elevator. A nurse told her Nova was two doors down. Charlotte Winter was three doors past that, further along than anyone had planned. Brightlee had brought her in at dawn. Rowan sat in the wheelchair and laughed once, short and surprised. "All of us," she said. Collin held the back of her neck the way he did in the kitchen. "All of us," he said. Lizzy came first. Rowan pushed for an hour and heard her cry before she saw her. Liza came eight minutes later, smaller, quieter, pink under the lamp. Collin cut both cords. He did not speak. He put his hand flat on Rowan's forehead and left it there. Rowan looked at the two babies on her chest and understood she had done a thing she could not undo. A nurse came in and said Nova had her girls. Maybell first, Mayple second. Both breathing on their own. Brock was with her. Then the nurse said Charlotte had a boy an hour ago. Brightlee had named him Carlos, after Charlotte's father. Seven babies in one building in one day. The nurse smiled like it was a story she would tell for years. Collin went down the hall and came back with Nova in a wheelchair. Nova had Maybell in one arm and Mayple in the other. She looked at Rowan's twins and nodded once. "Girls," she said. "Good." Rowan started to cry. She had not cried during the birth. She cried now because her friend was across the room with two babies of her own, and because Collin was standing in the door with Lovley on his hip, and because the room was full and warm and real. Charlotte came by later in a robe, slow on her feet, Brightlee at her elbow. She held Carlos wrapped tight. She looked at Rowan and Rowan looked at her, and neither of them said the thing about how strange it was. Charlotte touched Lizzy's foot through the blanket. "They're beautiful," she said. Then she went back to her room. That night Rowan lay in the hospital bed with Lizzy on one side and Liza on the other. Collin slept in the chair. Lovley slept on his chest. Rowan watched the snow at the window and counted the breaths of her daughters. She had won him already. She knew that now. What she had not known was how much of him she was still going to learn.