Free THE WAR BRIDE CLUB by Soraya Lane Page A

rough waves that she feared might kill her before the night was over.  
          “You’re going to have to push this time,” instructed Madeline. “Hard.”  
          Her friend’s face was stretched into a determined grimace, much like the other two women crowded around her.  
          “No!” she wailed, delirious with pain. “It’s too early. I can’t.”
          “Betty, you don’t have a choice. This baby is coming now!”
          The pain built in a series of spasms, each more painful than the last. She tried to fight it, to ignore the wave of despair, but Madeline’s words kept echoing in her ears.  
          “Push, Betty. Push!” 
      I can’t, she thought, I can’t. No…
          “Push!”
          A hand slipped into hers and she squeezed it tight, holding on as hard as she could. Another hand pressed a cold cloth to her forehead, and still the word echoed in her mind.  
           Push.  
          As the next contraction bore down on her, Betty fought for oxygen, sucking in sharp bursts of air. It built with all the fury of Neptune in the sea below her, and this time she tried to weather the storm. To push with all her might and force this baby out, because she knew she wasn’t strong enough to ride out the pain any longer.  
          “Ooohhh…” She cried out as a pain that threatened to deplete all her energy tore through her body. A pain so bad she wondered if she was even alive. “I can’t, I can’t push anymore,” she sobbed.  
          “You can do it,” soothed Madeline, her voice softer, kinder now. “You can, honey, just a couple more might do it.”
          “I can see the head!”  
          The excited squeal from one of the other girls gave Betty the confidence she needed. Maybe she should have called for the doctors, but right now she felt safe, knowing that the people around her would look after her.  
          “Come on honey, come on,” Madeline soothed.  
          Betty waited the seconds until the next spasm hit and then pushed as hard as she could, holding her breath as she fought.  
          A burst of noise filled the room, like a kitten meowing, and suddenly she couldn’t feel the pain, the hurt, not even the worry she’d felt only seconds before. She could hear her baby!  
          “Oh Betty, it’s a little boy!” June had been waiting with towels and warm water, and was now wiping down a bloody, messy little scrap of a child.  
          Tears of joy fell in cold drops against Betty’s hot skin. She had done it. She’d done it! Charlie’s face swam before her, and she let her eyes drop shut to hold him there in her mind, to trap the memory of him and not let go.  
          “We’re not quite done yet,” said Madeline. “You should feel another contraction and then…”
          Betty hadn’t been prepared for any pain to continue, but Madeline seemed to know what she was doing.  
          “Done.” Madeline smiled. She looked relieved. “Now we need to get you cleaned up.”
          “Here, Mummy.”
          Betty looked up as June spoke. The pure joy of seeing her little bundle, wrapped in a soft towel, brought on a fresh wave of tears.        
          Betty held her arms out, trying to stop them shaking as she waited for June to release him. The girls were all cooing and smiling, weeping and giggling as he squirmed then let out a giant wail.  
          “Good set of lungs,” said Alice with a laugh. “That’s what we like to hear.”
          “Your dad will be proud, little one,” murmured June, tucking one finger against the baby’s cheek. “What will he say when he sees you getting off the ship, huh? A son already.”
          They all stood in silence, united as only women can be, as Betty swallowed her modesty and pushed down the front of her nightdress. The baby squawked