In Our Words Canadians Reading Together

The Family

DELORES PORTER

As the storm raged outside, Nicki sat in front of the fire in her mountain cabin and hummed contentedly. The screaming wind didn’t seem to effect her as she rocked and sewed. Her long auburn hair hung down her back in a thick plait and her emerald eyes glowed from her alabaster face. Her golden retriever, Buster, lay on the hearthrug that her grandmother had made. Nicki was reaching for the kettle that was suspended over the fire when Buster jumped and let out a low growl. Her heart pounding, Nicki went and opened the door. At first she believed that she was seeing an apparition but when the form moved closer to the door Nicki realized that it was a woman.

“Oh, come in” Nicki ordered, “You must be nearly frozen.” The woman staggered in out of the swirling snow and passed a bundle into Nicki’s arms. “Please help” the woman whispered as she crumpled to the floor. The bundle in Nicki’s arms squirmed so she pulled back the blanket to reveal the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. A groan escaped from the unconscious woman’s lips, so Nicki gently laid the baby in her sewing basket and went to the mother’s aid.

After wrestling the mother’s prone body on the cot, Nicki hurried to the kitchen to fix a painkiller and something to clot blood. The mother was seriously in labour as Nicki had felt the powerful contractions rippling across the mother’s abdomen when she had placed her on the cot. Returning to the front room, Nicki administered the medicine to the mother with an eyedropper. Buster sat by the sewing basket watching the child as it played with scraps he had pulled from beneath himself.