Taking The Place Of

Going into the delivery room, I see Dr. Brooks standing by Terry's side, talking to her. He looks up at me.

"You good, Richy?" He looks back down to her. "Maybe we should give him the Demerol?"

Terry smiles. I can see that she already looks exhausted. She looks up at me, and I kneel down till I'm right next to her head. I take her hand in mine when she offers it.

"Okay, Richy. These are the rules."

I look up to see Dr. Brooks move around to between her feet.

"This is my side, that's your side. I won't bother you up there, and you do the same for me down here." He taps a little wall of blue fabric that crosses her waist. "This is to give her some privacy. If you look over it not only will you probably be emotionally scarred from having seen your sister naked, but watching a woman delivering might just turn you off sex for a while so...keep your head over there."

"Got you."

A wave of pain shoots up from my thumb! Looking down I see Terry has it white-knuckled in her hand. It's a good thirty seconds before she loses her grip. I pull my thumb loose and shake blood back into it.

"Oh yeah...Women have been known to break bones if they are holding your hand wrong. Nurse, show him," he says.

A nurse with blue eyes moves over and taking my hand she places it into Terry's fingers, so that mine are curled into hers.

"There you go. That will give her something to grip, and we won't have to cast you up after the delivery." She tells me in a sweet voice. I smile and nod my thanks.

She smiles back.

"Richy, please stop trying to flirt with the sexy nurse and pay attention to the preggers!" Terry tells me, giving my hand a hard squeeze. "I know you have a thing for nurses, thanks to M.A.S.H., but now is...Not the time!"

Smiling down at my sister's sweaty face, I lean in and place a soft kiss on her cheek.

"I'll always have eyes only for you," I tell her.

She smiles.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

Holding her hand over the next hour, I find that my ideas of which is the stronger sex have been so very wrong. I watch her, gripped with pain that would have me puking. One of the nurses gives me a small cloth, and I keep her face wiped. It's something to do other than feel useless while she's in pain.

Finally, I have to push all the sounds in the room to one side and focus on her face. Her eyes find mine, and we just stare into each other's gaze. Whenever she unclenches her eyes, I'm there for her to look at. When her fingers aren't crushing mine, they are caressing my hand. That she's trying to comfort me is ridiculous but it does feel that way...

The cries of my niece came as almost a shock.

Terry is crying in relief and joy. Moving to the side I put my hand on her shoulder as the blue-eyed nurse comes around and places a chalky white bundle of wrinkles and dark hair into her arms.

"Well, hello little Audry Marie," I say to the pair of little eyes that look up to my face. "I'm your Uncle Richy. I'm the one you come to when your Mom tells you no, you can't have something."

Reaching in, I brush her soft cheek with the tips of my fingers. I follow her little arm down to her hand. God, she is so tiny!

Her little fingers curl around my smallest finger like grains of rice.

"Did I do good?" Terry asks me then.

Looking down at my sister's face, I blink and feel the tear run down my cheek.

"I saw this magic trick. I know how it happens, and I'm still amazed. You did beautifully."

Leaning, I place a soft kiss just beside her mouth. Her lips turn just a bit towards mine as I do.

"I need to take her and get her weighed and cleaned up. We also have to get you cleaned up still, my dear," says the blue-eyed nurse.

Moving out the way, I let the nurse get to Terry. She lifts little Audry Marie, and almost immediately, the baby starts to cry again. Seeing Terry's expression, I move back into her sight and smile at her.

"Just like her Mom, already can't keep her mouth shut," I say with a smile.

Terry smiles and lightly pops my arm.

"Don't tease me. I've had a hard day."

Leaning back in, I stop just inches from her face.

"I know you have, my beautiful sister. I know you have." Leaning down, I place a second kiss on her cheek. Her mouth moves this time, and I feel her lips against mine. I smile at her and give her a peck back. "I'm going to go tell Aunt Jean while they clean you up," I say with a half glance towards her waist.

There seems to be even more activity going on down there now that the baby is here than there was before!

Terry nods and leans back onto the bed.

As I start to walk out I see the nurse writing on a pad. She looks up when I stop. Those blue eyes smile.

"Seven pounds even," she says.

I nod my thanks.

As I take off the gown outside, I'm shaking like a leaf.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

They keep my niece in the maternity ward for two days due to a bit of jaundice. I had thought she looked yellow. I had just passed it off as the lights.

They keep Terry as well. She had a problem in the post-delivery that cost her a bit of blood. I'm glad I was gone down to the waiting room when that happened or I would have been a stark-raving loon very quickly.

Aunt Jean helps me get Terry home then settles in to stay for a week to help get us into a routine.

Never would I have though that something that weighs less than a pair of shoes could turn your whole house upside down. But my god, am I learning.

From the start, I decided to refuse to do nothing.

I washed baby, changed baby, rocked baby, fed baby, but for the most part, I seemed to just hold baby.

I notice that at about the same time my aunt does.

"Richy?"

"In here." I call over my shoulder.

I hear my aunt's shoes on the hardwood floor as she walks into the nursery.

"I love what you did to this room. You are so talented an artist."

"Well the paychecks are few and far between," I complain with a sigh.

I finish changing the little girl's diaper, and in a cloud of powder, I settle her back down to sleep.

"Richy, I need to talk to you for a bit," she says after a moment.

I turn to look and see the expression on her face.

"Okay. What's up?"

"I've fixed some sandwiches. Let's go out to the patio to eat," she says with a tilt of her head towards the outside.

"I'll get Terry."

"No. She's sleep. Let her sleep." She shakes her head.

I feel my eyebrows knot at the look on her face.

When we get out onto the back patio, I sit down with the food, but I've lost my hunger due to worry.

"What's up?" I ask.

Aunt Jean looks up at me then sighs.

"It may be nothing, but I noticed that Terry's not wanting to hold little Audry Marie all that often. When I had Victor and Jessie, I wouldn't hardly put them down unless they were pried from my hands. I'm worried that she's got...Oh, what do they call it?"

"Post Maternal Depression... PMD?"

"Yea. I talked to the doctor about it before we left the hospital. He said that a lot of young, single moms come down with it. The idea of being a mom is great till the reality of twenty years of work and worry, followed by the rest of your life of worry and work. I would love to stay here, but if I do, I might come home to find that your uncle's burned down the house. I need you to keep an eye on her."

I nod.

"I'll give you a call if I see anything out the ordinary. I'll make sure that I talk to Dr. Brooks as well. I promise."

After a moment of just looking down at her food, she looks back up at me and grimaces.

"I know you're just trying to help with all you're doing, but she's getting her strength back. Let her start to do a few of the things that need doing. She needs to get her hands on her daughter as much as she can."

"Okay."

My aunt smiles.

"I also want you to find her ex-boyfriend and beat the crap out of him. That baby girl needs a father, and your sister needs a husband to take care of her."

"I'll do my best."

"I'm just joking, but not by much." She picks up her sandwich and starts to eat.

Inside I know I wasn't agreeing to find the ex, but to be the father. To be there for little Audry Marie. To be there for my sister as well.

Somehow I'll find the time.

As I bite into my sandwich, I'm almost too tired to eat.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Sitting on the couch, I look over and something catches my eye. Terry is half-asleep, the nearly constant state for the both of us for the last month.

On the bottom of her breast there is a large wet place appearing on her shirt.

"Terry?"

"Humm?"

I slide down the couch to tap her arm. Her eyes open, and she looks up at me blinking.

"What?" she asks.

"I think you're leaking," I say with a soft smile.

She looks down at her chest and there is an exhausted sigh.

"God! Will these things never stop? I feel like a dairy cow!"

"Oh, come on Sis. That's 'udderly' ridiculous." I try to hide the grin.

The look she gives me is priceless.

"Not in the mood for humor at my expense, big brother," she tells me in warning. She brings her arm up and covers her breast where it's wet.

"Sorry. Want me to go get Audry? It's close enough to her feeding time to let her take care of that." I half point to her breast.

She shakes her head.

"Just fix her a bottle, please."

Slowly I get up and drift out the room. I hear my sister get up and go upstairs to her bedroom. Standing, looking up the stairs, I make a decision. I go up the stairs and into the nursery. My niece is awake, and I can see she's on the edge of getting fussy. I pick her up and hold her to my chest as I walk down the hall.

The door to my sister's room is open about half-way and I see her pulling on a different shirt. She turns when I walk into the room.

"What?" she asks.

"Sit down." I point to the chair by the bed.

"What?" she looks from the chair back to me, blinking.

"I want you to sit down."

Terry looks at me then slowly sits down. I walk over and kneel down in front of her. I see the look on her face as I place her daughter into her arms. When her hands have the slight weight held, I slip mine out from under my niece and bring them around to the half-finished buttons of Terry's shirt. I start to undo the three she had done.

"What are you doing?" she asks suddenly.

"Feeding my niece," I say without a pause in the unbuttoning.

I place a finger on the white cotton of her bra, my fingertip resting on the freckled skin just above.

"Do I need to move this out the way so she can eat, or will you?" I ask.

"I'm not a milking goat!" she says with some anger and tries to shift Audry in her hands so she can get a hand free to close her blouse.

"No, you're not. You're a pretty pig-headed pain in the posterior. Your daughter is hungry, you're leaking milk." Her eyes catch mine, with a look I can't classify. "Apply one to the other and solve two problems at once."

My niece chooses that moment to let it be known she's really getting hungry.

A tear rolls down Terry's face.

"Please look away," she says softly.

I turn my back to my sister. After a moment I hear the crying stop. Then a soft sound comes to me. A nuzzling sound. I smile when I hear it. There is a sniffle then a little chuckling laugh. I glance over my shoulder at Terry holding the little girl to her breast, gently brushing a finger through her hair.

Her eyes come up to look at my face. I turn then and kneel back down. I bring my hand to rest on top of Terry's.

Looking down, I watch my niece feeding for a second. When I look back up, Terry is blushing slightly.

"That has to be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

She looks down from me to Audry and just watches her, then I see the small nod.

I get to my feet.

"Where are you going?" Terry asks.

"To get me something to eat. She's making me hungry." I glance down at the unoccupied breast. "And I don't think she would share."

Terry blushes and places her arm a little higher till her other nipple is covered. Then I see the edges of a grin come to her lips

I smile as I hear a little girl-like voice come from my sister's mouth.

"Uncle Richy that's my lunch! You go get your own."

Chuckling, I head for the door.

"Richy."

I turn and just pause for a moment looking at Terry feeding before I answer.

"Yea, Sis?"

"Thank you," she says.

I smile at her for a moment then shrug.

"Maybe I did it to get out of filling formula bottles." I glance down at her half-bare breast. "Or maybe I just wanted to see a beautiful woman's nipples."

I hear her laughing as I walk away towards the kitchen.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

Listening to the thunder in the distance, I rock Audry to my chest. I have the local news on, and I'm watching the weatherman highlighting counties. They are going red one after the other in line with mine.

I see the banner start across the bottom of the screen at the same time I hear the siren on the top of the school down the road start to scream.

I raise the volume on the TV a little.

"...currently tracking a center of rotation to the southwest of Centerville. All people in the path of this storm should seek shelter..."

I see the lightning flash outside as I get to my feet. I grab the car seat from by the front door and head towards the stairs. Little Audry has grown in the last two months, but she still looks lost in the car seat. I cover her with the shade blanket we carry in it and set her by the base of the steps. I take the stairs two at a time and then all but sprint down the hallway to Terry's room.

It was once said that my sister could sleep through anything. Well, I've seen her sleep through closer storms than this one. I move over to her bed, and leaning down, I give her shoulder a shake.

"Terry. Wake up, Sis." I sit down on the side of the bed behind her and give her another shake. "Sis, bad weather's coming in. Wake up."

As she opens her eyes and turns over to face me, I see her buttons on her shirt have opened.

"What?"

A pop of lighting pops close outside.

Reaching down, I pull her shirt closed and look up into her frightened eyes.

"Bad weather's coming in. We need to get down into the basement," I say.

"Okay." She looks down, blushes and starts to button back up her pajama top. Then she blinks and looks around. "Where is Audry?"

"Down at the base of the stairs in her carrier. Now hurry they were saying it might come this way."

I'll give her this. While the woman could sleep through anything, she wakes up fairly quickly once her eyes are open. She also doesn't panic easily.

All she takes the time to gather up is her cell phone off its charger and her purse from the back of the doorknob.

I grab up the handle on the carrier as we get to the bottom of the stairs. Looking under the blanket, I see her just nursing away on her patsy, sound asleep.

"Is she okay?" Terry asks as I open the door to the basement.

"She takes after you. She's asleep," I say softly.

The basement of the house was one of the reasons I bought the place. Big enough for a nice size game room eventually. It also has an area that took only a little work from some mason friends of mine, and I had me a very nice tornado shelter.

As I turn on the light and pull the door closed behind me, I feel the money was very well spent. I watch my sister sit on the old sleeper sofa I put in down here. She takes Audry's carrier from me and sets it beside her.

The TV turns on, and I switch to the news.

"...a strong hook echo in this area here. Doppler shows an intense center of rotation in this area. Folks in Centerville and the Collinswood areas should be in their shelters at this time. The following townships should also be getting prepared, Morris, Wilksburrow..."

"I think it might be a bit south of us," I say after a moment of listening.

"You're sure? He was saying Centerville." Terry asks, looking at the screen and the list scrolling across the bottom.

"Yea, but he also said Collinswood. That's south of here."

I watch and listen on the edge of nerves as the sound of thunder just makes its way into the shelter. The concrete filled walls and the ceiling I had poured block out most sound. I go over and check the door to the outside I had put in. Double lined, opening out and in, it cost a fortune, but again at times like this it seems like money well spent.

Walking back to my sister, I sit down just as the lights go out. I'm just about to get up when my ears pop and I hear a growing sound in the distance. I place a hand on the car seat, my finger come to rest next to hers, and Terry moves her hand on top of mine. There is a sound of breaking glass from outside.

"Richy?"

"Give it just a moment, and I'll find the flashlights and lanterns." With a calm I'm not feeling, I try to keep her from worrying.

"My ears popped," she says, her fingers tightening on mine.

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my cell phone and flip it open. The light from the phone shows me my sister's face. Her eyes are wide.

I give her hand a pat.

"Let me get the lights."

Two battery-powered camping lanterns and two Maglight flashlights add a lot to the feeling of security. I notice then that the sound I heard has faded almost as quickly as it came.

Ever-so-slowly, a smell starts to make its presence known in the room. It's is a familiar odor that has dominated the lives of two adults for the better part of the last two months.

Looking at Terry, I grin. She smiles back at me. Then I see her expression fall.

"The diaper bag's upstairs," she says.

I grab one of the flashlights and head towards the door.

"Richy? Be safe."

"I will. I think it may have passed."

Walking through the near empty basement, I do manage to trip over the rack from the pool table. I set it back on top of the pool table and make my way up the stairs.

The fact that I hear wind blowing in the house, and I can smell a thousand pine air fresheners is not good.

When I follow the sound, I find the large window by the front door broken and a chunk of wood lying halfway through it. Recognizing it as a fence post, I open the front door and look out across the street.

"Holy shit!" The house across the street has a second roof lying on top of it. There are dozens of trees behind it laid over. What I took to be a fence post has part of a porch roof on the end of it. I see house numbers when I shine my light on it closer.

They're from about four blocks away!

"Holy shit!" I say again.

I can hear sirens in the distance.

Going back into the house, I grab up the diaper bag and rush back down stairs. I startle Terry when I come rushing in.

"What's up?" she asks.

"It looks like one touched down a couple of blocks away. Look I'm going to go see if I can help." I wave her off when she starts to offer to go too. "You stay here and watch after Audry. Try getting Aunt Jean on the phone to let her know we are all right. When the news people start getting cameras out here, she'll be a nervous wreck if she hasn't heard from us."

She nods.

"Remember that's a sleeper sofa. Once you've talked to her just pull that out and try to get back to sleep. I'll be back in a bit."

"Richy, be safe and look out for downed power lines." I can see that she's worried about me going out into the storm.

"I will."

Seeing the look on her face I go over to my sister and give her a quick hug then leaning, I place a soft kiss on her lips.

"Be right back," I say when our lips part.

"Be careful." She says, clearly worried for me.

"Will, already."

Back up the stairs, I open the closet by the front door and grab my raincoat out. I head out then circle around to the backyard. I grab my chainsaw from the shed. The fuel got topped off a month back so I hope it lasts. I don't have any more mixed-gas.

A distant pop of lightning and a deep rumble tells me this is far from over for the night. I head towards the growing sound of sirens.