Free Gold Hill by Claudia Hall Christian Page A

off.
Delphie?” Camila asked. “Samantha?”
    With Dephie and Samantha’s
help, Valerie undressed. Tanesha set a fleece blanket near
Valerie’s head and checked her pillow.
    “ Blane?” Camila
asked.
    “ I’m ready,” he
said.
    “ You want the husband? Or
no?” Camila asked.
    “ Yes,” Valerie said. “He’s
my coach.”
    Camila shrugged. She went
to the door and called Mike. Very quietly, in Spanish, Camila gave
him instructions. He asked a question and she responded. When he
nodded, she let him into the room. He went to Val’s side. Tanesha
moved behind Camila to assist.
    “ Let’s have a
baby.”

Chapter One Hundred and
Ninety-Three Jump
     
    Wednesday afternoon — 2:15
p.m.
     
    “ And?” Jeraine opened the
sliding door and Tanesha followed him out to the patio of the
Penthouse.
    “ And whoosh – Jackie was
born,” Tanesha said. “It was unbelievable.”
    He set their iced tea on
the table and pulled a seat out for her at the table. His laptop
was open next to his seat.
    “ Why? After all that
madness, actually having the baby seems kind of predictable.”
    Caught up in her excitement
and story, she didn’t notice the chair until he touched her arm.
She sat down.
    “ Because Val had
effectively lost her mind,” Tanesha said. “I mean, she was so crazy
that her Dad was afraid she’d had a stroke or something. But
Camila, the midwife . . . I guess she’s seen it all
before. And Val’s so fit that once she settled down to business,
the rest was pretty straight forward.”
    Tanesha gave him a bright
smile.
    “ Camila set Jackie on
Val’s chest and Val had this beautiful smile,” Tanesha said. “I
mean, she’s gorgeous, right. But she looked . . .
heavenly. Mike took her picture for her website. You can see her
glowing in the picture.”
    “ They’re going to post the
baby’s picture?”
    “ You can only see Jackie’s
hand touching Val’s face,” Tanesha said. “Jackie is gorgeous. She
opened her eyes for Mike and he cried. He just broke down and
cried.”
    “ Delivering babies makes
you really happy,” Jeraine said.
    Tanesha nodded.
    “ And Blane?” Jeraine
asked. “Did he get his treatment?”
    “ Camila really took over
the place,” Tanesha chuckled. “His doctor came in to take care of
the cord blood. Camila insisted on learning how to do it. She
thinks she can get her ladies – that’s what she calls pregnant
women she works with – to donate their cord blood for
Blane.”
    “ How did the doctor
respond?”
    “ He didn’t have much of a
choice,” Tanesha smiled at the memory. “Blane gave himself some
acupuncture while the doctor taught Camila how to extract the cord
blood, clean it, spin it, stuff like that. Anyway, Blane had his
first treatment for his liver today.”
    “ And how is
he?”
    “ He seems fine,” Tanesha
said. “It’s hard to tell. Blane’s a con artist. He spent most of
his early life either on the streets or in foster care. He can look
just fine and be really sick.”
    “ I bet he doesn’t fool
Jake,” Jeraine made a gesture to his head. “Jake’s always had this
connection . . . ”
    “ He doesn’t fool Heather
either,” Tanesha nodded.
    Jeraine smiled.
    “ This is really it for
you,” he said.
    “ What is?”
    “ Delivering babies,” he
said.
    “ It’s wonderful,” Tanesha
said. “I feel so alive when I’m there. Camila said I was good too.
She asked if I was a mid-wife and gave me a pitch to become one.
She said I could come with her any time. I may do that just for
experience.”
    He smiled.
    “ Is that okay?” Tanesha
asked. “It means I’ll always be on call and I’ll have a crazy
schedule.”
    “ I’ve had a crazy schedule
all of my life,” Jeraine shrugged.
    “ We’ll be crazy together,”
Tanesha said. “What did the doctor say? Was your mom able to make
it?”
    “ She went with me. I
recorded it on my phone so that you could listen. We talked with my
doctor then we went to a rehab guy. The